Rick's adventures on the weathering bench

Oi…Guv…. give us a wash mate! 
Hard worked and dusty indeed. The tanks are especially good Rick.

That's a great bit of weathering Rick - just the right amount to make them look "used" without looking grotty.#

A "how to" on these latest subjects, particularly the vans, wouldn't give away too many trade secrets ……………………. :roll: :roll:

I'll just pop this link in here which also appeared in the Waddlemarsh thread recently.  There really are no trade secrets to my weathering.  It's largely self-taught and judging from the comments (and in normal times the exhibition invitations) I receive I seem to have found a successful formula and style.  

N-class 31874 might have had some problems. Is that washout or scorching on the smokebox door? 



Meanwhile the first in a rake of six Delabole presflo wagons has been weathered. 

Wow Rick,
This is the thread that just keeps giving! No shortage of great images and potential photos of the month here.This is the kind of modelling that leaves me gasping, the attention to detail makes it difficult to believe that it is in fact a model and not actual prototype photos of a real place.That sense of place is so strong, even without any locos or stock, the buildings and station furniture make it 100% Southern.The acid test for any layout! Remarkable!

 :pathead

Cheers,John.B.:thumbs

Thank you!  Very kind words. 

Here’s a tale of two N class locos. 31869 is short of coal, displays weathering inside the tender and has its headsignsl disc set for position 2 indicating Nine Elms - Windsor or Feltham Yard - Willesden via Gunnersbury. 







Meanwhile 31874 is fully coaled, displays seepage from the boiler, has had a problem at the smokebox door and carries the disc in position 6 for all stations to Feltham. 

They look great Rick.  Are the discs interchangeable or are they doomed to spend their working lives on those routes ? 

The discs are stuck with a pin-point of Contacta so they are not interchangeable.  If they were ….. well there's a thought for some enterprising manufacturer but how to attach them within the limitations of scale?  

I'm not sure of the name, but isn't there a temporary type of adhesive on the market that would make it possible to get them on and off?

Great pic's though.

Pete/Rick

My lamps are secured to the lamp irons by drilling a hole in the base and then filling that hole with Blue-Tac before sitting them on the iron.  Not my idea - borrowed from someone cleverer than me!

Not sure if the discs have the ability to have a hole drilled into whatever is behind the face?

Barry

[user=2006]Barry Miltenburg[/user] wrote:

Pete/Rick

My lamps are secured to the lamp irons by drilling a hole in the base and then filling that hole with Blue-Tac before sitting them on the iron.  Not my idea - borrowed from someone cleverer than me!

Not sure if the discs have the ability to have a hole drilled into whatever is behind the face?

Barry

Most discs are flat on the reverse though normally have at least a representation of the carrying handle on the front.  Bachmann moulds an inverted U-shape onto some (but not all) which allows them to be seated more readily on the bracket but I doubt that moulding would be large enough to take even a 0.5mm hole.  

 The flat ones could be fixed with Blue-Tac but I suspect they might fall off with a risk of becoming lost.  There is also a risk of damaging the very fragile brackets on the loco itself.  

Ah well, just a thought. They still look great though.

[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:

Ah well, just a thought. They still look great though.

If one looks at photos of steam-hauled trains there is usually a disc or discs on the front by day and lamps by night.  They are very seldom clean and often quite weather-beaten and well-used.  Discs on my locos are weathered with a stroke or two from a dirty brush rather than picking up more powder for such a small job.  That typically leaves a line of dirt around the moulded carrying handle and random patches or spots.  It seems to work.  

It certainly does.

[user=1753]Gwiwer[/user] wrote:

The discs are stuck with a pin-point of Contacta so they are not interchangeable.  If they were ….. well there's a thought for some enterprising manufacturer but how to attach them within the limitations of scale?  

I have experimented successfully with using some thin slices of U-shaped channel glued behind the discs to hook over the lamp irons. A very small amount of Blu-tack or black-tack (or even plasticene or tacky wax) stops the discs falling off if the locomotive is inverted (whetehr for maintenance or due to crashes!).

[user=321]SRman[/user] wrote:

[user=1753]Gwiwer[/user] wrote:

The discs are stuck with a pin-point of Contacta so they are not interchangeable.  If they were ….. well there's a thought for some enterprising manufacturer but how to attach them within the limitations of scale?  

I have experimented successfully with using some thin slices of U-shaped channel glued behind the discs to hook over the lamp irons. A very small amount of Blu-tack or black-tack (or even plasticene or tacky wax) stops the discs falling off if the locomotive is inverted (whetehr for maintenance or due to crashes!).

And if that isn’t an excuse to invest in more motive power I don’t know what is. 
 

The Q1 has only ever been lightly weathered and retained a bit of a plastic appearance. Until today. After a few minutes work she looks a lot more careworn. 

That does look good Rick. I should pluck up courage to do mine… or send it to Twickenham.  :)

That looks excellent Rick.  :thumbs


 Paint ?  washes ?  powders ?

Petermac wrote:

That looks excellent Rick.  :thumbs


Paint ?  washes ?  powders ?

Thank you gents. 

All powders. And Hornby’s plastic brim-full coal replaced by a card insert halfway down the tender void and some Woodland Scenics “mine run” coal