# Andy's Modelmaking Misadventures



## Andy in Germany (26 Dec 2019)

I've decided to start a new thread for my model making, partly to avoid clogging other people's and partly because I can't remember what I've posted here before*. I tend to make models of entirely fictional German railways in a very obscure scale of 1:55 that almost no-one uses, and "Pulp Alley" tabletop games with utterly bonkers machines and stories. It keeps me out of trouble when I can't go out cycling.

I'm currently working on a model railcar, which sat on a shelf making me feel guilty over Summer, so I finally got myself into gear the final details, or if I’m honest, distractions to stop people noticing too many of my mistakes.

First of these was the transfers I printed a while back after a considerable amount of dithering. This was a mixed success. Unlike the transfers on the touring bike project I couldn’t get the colours to match exactly so I had to paint as closely as I could to the numbers themselves, and unfortunately this shows.








The weathering is aiming for a “well used” appearance. This is appropriate as the railcar is supposed to have been built in the late nineteen seventies or early eighties, but also because to be honest, I’ve found that weathering is rather useful for hiding my mistakes, and I have plenty to hide. Most of what you see is made using artists pastels, I keep trying different ways to apply a dark wash, and attempted one on the roof. As usual it didn’t work.






After covering this minor disaster with black pastels I dry brushed the rest with light grey, a tiny bit of white and an even tinier bit of silver, then toned down the lot with more chalk pastel (black and brown, for those taking notes) then decided “what the heck?”, added black pastel to the side vents and dusted the lower body with light brown.

So much progress at once. After I’ve recovered I’ll have a go at the under gubbins…

*_That's my excuse if you've read all this already_.


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## classic33 (26 Dec 2019)

That'd be 5.5mm scale. http://www.55ng.co.uk


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## Andy in Germany (26 Dec 2019)

classic33 said:


> That'd be 5.5mm scale. http://www.55ng.co.uk



That's it. There's probably about 50 active members in the society, so it's fair to describe it as a bit of a 'niche' scale.

On the other hand it happens to be the same as the normal scale for Pulp Alley, although in tabletop games they call it "28mm scale".


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## classic33 (26 Dec 2019)

Andy in Germany said:


> That's it. There's probably about 50 active members in the society, so it's fair to describe it as a bit of a 'niche' scale.
> 
> On the other hand it happens to be the same as the normal scale for Pulp Alley, although in tabletop games they call it "28mm scale".


https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67926-hieslers-55mm-scale-models/


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## rikki (26 Dec 2019)

Andy in Germany said:


> View attachment 497957
> 
> 
> After covering this minor disaster with black pastels I dry brushed the rest with light grey, a tiny bit of white and an even tinier bit of silver, then toned down the lot with more chalk pastel (black and brown, for those taking notes) then decided “what the heck?”, added black pastel to the side vents and dusted the lower body with light brown.


Looks great 
You can come and paint stage scenery & props for me


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## robjh (27 Dec 2019)

Andy in Germany said:


> I've decided to start a new thread for my model making, partly to avoid clogging other people's and partly because I can't remember what I've posted here before*. I tend to make models of entirely fictional German railways in a very obscure scale of 1:55 that almost no-one uses, and "Pulp Alley" tabletop games with utterly bonkers machines and stories. It keeps me out of trouble when I can't go out cycling.
> 
> I'm currently working on a model railcar, which sat on a shelf making me feel guilty over Summer, so I finally got myself into gear the final details, or if I’m honest, distractions to stop people noticing too many of my mistakes.
> 
> ...


Are these vehicles modelled on a real prototype or are they from your imagination too? And what is KÖB?

Impressive work btw


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## Andy in Germany (27 Dec 2019)

robjh said:


> Are these vehicles modelled on a real prototype or are they from your imagination too? And what is KÖB?
> 
> Impressive work btw



Thanks.

The Railcar is a bit of everything: it started out as a loose copy of the then Furka-Oberalp, now Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn Deh4_4-II, until I found the very slightly tapered ends too difficult to reproduce accurately and changed the to the RHB Deh4_4-II because I thought it would be easier.

In between I added various bits that seemed a good idea at the time, which nearly came back to bite me when I realised that the grilles next to the sliding door meant there was some kind of machinery behind them so the door would have to open on the outside, not the inside which caused a certain amount of 'retrofitting' to make something that looked convincing.

Add to this the need to make mine a "diesel" version and to fit it onto a chassis built for a different locomotive ín a different scale and things got quite out of hand so it's pretty much unrecognisable now. Still, that's the joy of having my own railway: I make the rules.

"KÖB stands for "Körschtalbahn", pronounced Koerschtalbahn, and meaning "Koersch valley railway". This isn't remotely original because there's a Koersch valley near our house, but I pretend there is another one running west from Wildberg in the Black Forest.


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## Smokin Joe (27 Dec 2019)

Is that going to be a working model Andy, or just for display?

Top job whichever.


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## Andy in Germany (27 Dec 2019)

Smokin Joe said:


> Is that going to be a working model Andy, or just for display?
> 
> Top job whichever.



Thanks.

It''s going to be a working model, assuming I haven't been too generous with superglue. The whole sits on a rater elderly chassis and motor for an American locomotive, in fact one of the challenges will be making that chassis look like it is designed to be part of the railcar


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## classic33 (27 Dec 2019)

Would a vertical motor assembly be possible to fit?


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## Andy in Germany (27 Dec 2019)

classic33 said:


> Would a vertical motor assembly be possible to fit?



What do you mean by a 'vertical motor assembly'? Probably not though, as I built the body to be a tight fit around the chassis.


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## stephec (29 Dec 2019)

I take it this is all scratch built rather than from kits?


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## Andy in Germany (30 Dec 2019)

rikki said:


> Looks great
> You can come and paint stage scenery & props for me



Gladly, I've painted a few sets and props in my time. Flying a scene painter from Germany may be expensive though.



stephec said:


> I take it this is all scratch built rather than from kits?



Yes. most of my models are from bits of plastic, brass, card, guitar strings, and occasionally things like a milk carton lid. The Chassis on the raileay models are from commercial models though: I know where my limits are.


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## stephec (30 Dec 2019)

Andy in Germany said:


> Gladly, I've painted a few sets and props in my time. Flying a scene painter from Germany may be expensive though.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes. most of my models are from bits of plastic, brass, card, guitar strings, and occasionally things like a milk carton lid. The Chassis on the raileay models are from commercial models though: I know where my limits are.


That's impressive.


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## Andy in Germany (18 Jan 2020)

More 'bits and pieces' model making this week. I'm working on some buildings for tabletop games and in a minor step forward the "mess hall" for the game now has a roof, door and windows, which will no doubt come as a relief to the unfortunate soldiers who find themselves in this forsaken outpost of the British Empire. With that together it was time to focus on the reason excuse for the tower, so a water tank was called for. (If you’re wondering, the reason is that a swashbuckling adventurer/dastardly bad guy can use it as a high vantage point)


I’ve noticed that tabletop games, especially in this genre, are a lot less ‘scale’ than model railways: they tend to be chunky, even cartoony. I’m guessing it’s because the models are handled a lot more. Whatever the reason I’m all in favour because no-one gets to say I’m doing it wrong.






In keeping with this, the ‘tank’ is an ear wash bottle, the same one as donated the turret for the steam punk tank, come to think if it. I could try and make a terrible pun out of this but I can’t think of one at the moment.


The ear wash was utterly useless so it’s good to have got some value out of the purchase.


The steps are staples and the handle from the ‘inspection hatch’ is from a bit of wire that looks suspiciously like it was from a Chinese takeaway box.


Now I’ve got to make this look like a convincingly rusty lump of metal.


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## Andy in Germany (25 Jan 2020)

This update is brought to you by poor organisation and forgetfulness.

Again.

I made a couple of snowploughs for the railcar project a couple of years ago, which had a few extra bits like extensions to the bogies for couplings and hints of various bits of undergubbins. They even appeared on the chassis, held on with Blu-tack. They’ve been kicking about ever since, until I foolishly went and tidied my desk a couple of months ago, whereupon they vanished without trace.

“Oh dear”, I said, or words to that effect anyway.

And then, knowing that there’s a form of quantum physics that affects all lost items and keeps them from being found until they are replaced, I started making a new set.

This wasn’t all bad, as I’ve gained a bit of experience since I made the last set*, so I had lots of ideas for extra possible bits to stick onto the extra sections, plus some sand boxes which strangely did not go missing in the intervening time, tidying up not withstanding.

I’m not particularly mechanically minded so I have no idea what most of these extra bits are supposed to do. They look alright to me, so I’m not complaining.

*_If not much skill or ability_.


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## Andy in Germany (8 Feb 2020)

The next job on the railcar is getting the replacement snowploughs ready and generally disguising the chassis. This is because I know where my limits are, so I’m using a second hand chassis that started life as part of an American diesel in a completely different scale, which will be pretty obvious if I don’t add some the extra lumps of plastic to disguise it.

I followed my usual approach of adding whatever seemed a good idea at the time, unhindered by any understanding of the actual mechanical wossnames involved. I’ve decided the cylinders behind the snowplough are the drivers supply of hot chocolate.






To my rather great surprise, attached and painted they look reasonably presentable as long as you squint.

Of course, as is the way of the world, as soon as I was done and all the bits were painted and weathered, I opened a ‘bits’ drawer and found the original snowploughs sitting there…


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## Andy in Germany (23 Feb 2020)

The first Railcar is complete, and about time too. This project took a little longer than expected.

I’m pretty sure I started this version in 2011, as I have a clear memory of taking the design drawing to my Cabinet Making interview to prove I could understand technical drawings. By then I’d already started and abandoned a 7mm scale (1:43) version several years earlier, after realising the relatively large scale made the wheels look frankly ridiculous.






Even that was several years down the road, as the original idea was sketched during a geography lesson nearly a quarter of a century ago: I’d just discovered “foreign” railways and Narrow Gauge in one go when our family visited the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway and our train was pulled by 699.01 _Sir Drefaldwyn/County of Montgomeryshire_, a German/Austrian behemoth of a locomotive that completely scuppered my impression of narrow gauge as “toy trains” and incidentally began a process landing me in Germany today. 






With help from a geography textbook I created a story for a modern Welsh narrow gauge line in the Dovey Valley with these locomotives as the main motive power. By the time I actually got around to making anything the process I mentioned above had rolled along for a bit and I was married and living in Germany, (and Dick Wyatt had beaten me to it by a couple of decades with his classic “Dovey Valley” model) , so the story changed and moved to Germany with me. 






I’d started where I’d left off with a design based on the Furka Oberalb/Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn Deh4_4-II, but pragmatism meant the ends changed to look like the Rhaetian Bahn ABe4_4-II which had a lot less awkward corners to deal with.

The roof pieces and exhaust rattled about for the duration of my cabinet building training, making me feel very guilty, and eventually I added details like the pipes on the front, sprayed the model grey, faffed about for another year while working out how to make transfers, looked for the snowploughs, made another set of snowploughs and eventually managed to get everything together.

A quarter of a century from original idea to completion. Hopefully the next model will be a bit quicker…


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## Andy in Germany (11 Mar 2020)

I suppose one "advantage" of being stuck indoors is that I make more models, amongst other things I've managed to finish this project off. The “Water tank” has finally been primed, painted dark brown and given a topcoat, then scrubbed down to give a slightly rusty finished; twice, because for some reason it went weird the first time, but who is counting?
#





The paint didn’t chip as much as expected, probably because it is fairly smooth, so I added lots of black pastel on top to give the impression of a fairly inaccessible surface open to some very nasty weather. I’m still not sure if I should add a few more steps the that ladder, but overall it’s usable,so I’m calling it done.

Even I can’t quite fill an entire post out of a fake water tank, so here’s a completed motorcycle and sidecar so that when our hero jumps off the water tower in a shower of bullets, he has a suitable vehicle to make a fast getaway.






After a certain amount of dithering I painted the motorbike in army(ish) colours but didn’t bother to add any military markings. It’s probably obvious to anyone in the know, but I’ll live with it. It’s army surplus. Or something.






Anyway, another job to tick off the new years resolutions…


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## Andy in Germany (26 Apr 2020)

I've neglected this thread of late, but I've been building away; currently I'm reduced to building a kit because boith brain cells are occupied with getting ready to move to Freiburg next week. I'm trying out some weathering techniques:












I've been doing other projects as well, though. I'll inflict them on you when I have time and energy...


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## stephec (28 Apr 2020)

I like those. 

I normally build aircraft but I don't really like the heavily weathered look so all mine are quite clean, military vehicles always look better with a good dose of dirt through.


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## Andy in Germany (3 May 2020)

Investigating the new apartment I've discovered that what I thought was a fairly normal bookshelf in the corner has been fitted a pull-out desk:






I thought I was going to have to work something out on the dining table before I could make any models, which was going to take a while to get organised as I needed something to protect the rather nice table surface, but instead it turns out I have a separate workbench...

I'd get to model making straight away, but there hundreds of kilometres of cycle routes that require my immediate and undivided attention...


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## Kempstonian (2 Jul 2020)

Andy in Germany said:


> Investigating the new apartment I've discovered that what I thought was a fairly normal bookshelf in the corner has been fitted a pull-out desk:
> 
> View attachment 519619
> 
> ...


That box with the drawers sitting on the shelf above the pull out shelf is exactly what I've been planning to make! I have a Minicraft drill with a lathe attachment and I need somewhere for all the accessories, together with another two hand held mini drills - a Dremel-type Silverline and an Expo 12 volt. A friend gave me the Minicraft but I haven't used it much but the 12v drill got a lot of use when I did some 12th scale radio controlled car racing a few years ago (quite a few years, now I think about it!). I was up in the loft yesterday and found two sheets of plywood that were here when I moved in. They will be perfect for the carcass of the unit, so now I just need to get some thinner stuff for the drawers.


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## Andy in Germany (5 Aug 2020)

Project Model Bench has begun...

The planning and brainstorming:






The design:






The beginnings:






Next step tomorrow...


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## classic33 (5 Aug 2020)

Andy in Germany said:


> Project Model Bench has begun...
> 
> The planning and brainstorming:
> 
> ...


Why two different sizes for the holes, and why don't all three have only the two centre lines.


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## Andy in Germany (5 Aug 2020)

If you look at the bottles, you'll notice the one nearest the camera (for MEK) is a few mm smaller than the other two (Water and Alcohol).

The different centre line is because the "artist" was a sloppy oaf.


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## Andy in Germany (18 Aug 2020)

The workbench project is moving along, slowly:






Now I need to stop things falling through the holes somehow.


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## classic33 (18 Aug 2020)

Andy in Germany said:


> The workbench project is moving along, slowly:
> 
> View attachment 542338
> 
> ...


Jar caps, glued into place.


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## Andy in Germany (18 Aug 2020)

classic33 said:


> Jar caps, glued into place.



I need them a little deeper than that...


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## classic33 (18 Aug 2020)

Andy in Germany said:


> I need them a little deeper than that...


I was assuming you'd be leaving it on the flat, not wanting anything going through.

Second option would be four small pieces of wood glued in place, on the underside, onto which you glue a flat piece to stop anything falling through.

Another option would be plastic cups, stackable, that have a taper. Removable for storage.


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## Andy in Germany (19 Aug 2020)

classic33 said:


> I was assuming you'd be leaving it on the flat, not wanting anything going through.
> 
> Second option would be four small pieces of wood glued in place, on the underside, onto which you glue a flat piece to stop anything falling through.
> 
> Another option would be plastic cups, stackable, that have a taper. Removable for storage.



The holes will eventually contain these bottles:







The idea being that they will stay in the holes when the "desk" is closed.


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## Kempstonian (19 Aug 2020)

Andy in Germany said:


> The holes will eventually contain these bottles:
> 
> View attachment 542399
> 
> ...


Caps on or caps off?


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## Andy in Germany (19 Aug 2020)

Kempstonian said:


> Caps on or caps off?



Caps on: the "desk" needs to be lowered slightly in any case, so I'll make the gap big enough for the caps to stand tall of the surface.


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## classic33 (19 Aug 2020)

Plan B sounds as though it'd be best for you.

The small shelf on the back of the board. Spacing could be adjusted to suit.


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## Andy in Germany (19 Aug 2020)

classic33 said:


> Plan B sounds as though it'd be best for you.
> 
> The small shelf on the back of the board. Spacing could be adjusted to suit.



Sorry @classic33: What do you mean?


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## classic33 (19 Aug 2020)

Andy in Germany said:


> Sorry @classic33:What do you mean?


Strips of wood on the rear of the board, acting as spacers. Onto which you can fasten/fix a small board to prevent the jars from falling through.


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## Andy in Germany (19 Aug 2020)

classic33 said:


> Strips of wood on the rear of the board, acting as spacers. Onto which you can fasten/fix a small board to prevent the jars from falling through.



I think I follow. The current plan is to make containers that slide into place under the desk. I did think about making a grille on the bottom but decided to go for an enclosed box underneath; that way any dripping from a bottle is prevented from reaching the laminated floor. 

Ironically, the fact I haven't paid a deposit on this apartment is making me even more nervous and keen not to damage it.


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## Kempstonian (20 Aug 2020)

Andy in Germany said:


> Caps on: the "desk" needs to be lowered slightly in any case, so I'll make the gap big enough for the caps to stand tall of the surface.


My next question was going to be "Are you going to lower the desk top?". No need to ask now!


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## Andy in Germany (1 Sep 2020)

Near glacial progress continues:






The new workbench is taking shape very, very, slowly. This is a common theme of this thread I’m afraid, not least because I keep getting distracted by shiny things, random ideas, and interesting places to visit by bike.

Also, as is often the case, planning for this stage, preparing the tools, and making a makeshift guide for them took far longer than actually making holes in the wood. Not everything went quite as I wanted: the smaller hole for the plastic glue is a bit closer to the front than planned because the stand drills can only reach so far, but that’s just another example of the imperfect universe we inhabit, and it may well work out better to have the bottle closer, especially knowing my ability to drop things.

As the workbench currently stands it it will be a bit useless of course, so this week’s job is to make the bits to go underneath those holes.






Funny shape is because the undergubbins will have to be removable so I can transport them by bicycle.

Life would sometimes be much easier if I could just plan ahead…


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## Andy in Germany (21 Oct 2020)

The workbench is completed:






Also, this is why we have Xtracycles:





Now I'm getting all ambitious and thinking of my future model empire:


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## Oldhippy (21 Oct 2020)

To say jealous would be an understatement. I have a space for jewellery making/models and bike storage/maintenance but Mrs Oldhippy keeps putting 'stuff' in the room.


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## Andy in Germany (21 Oct 2020)

Oldhippy said:


> To say jealous would be an understatement. I have a space for jewellery making/models and bike storage/maintenance but Mrs Oldhippy keeps putting 'stuff' in the room.



Having the space is certainly nice. We'll have to see if I can make this before I have to move back in with the family (or they come to move in with me)


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## classic33 (21 Oct 2020)

Andy in Germany said:


> The workbench is completed:
> 
> View attachment 553799
> 
> ...


No fiddle yard!


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## Andy in Germany (22 Oct 2020)

classic33 said:


> No fiddle yard!



The two lines under the slightly green shading bottom left.

I decided it would make life more interesting if the station is Fort William style "junction terminus" the idea being that it is effectively a through station but with only one fiddle yard. We'll have to see if that works, especially as I don't have the space for a passing loop: the platform looks pretty long but the clearance needed for my rolling stock means that a loop would be so short it would be useless. I have wondered if a headshunt off the siding at top left would be a good idea, either with an industry, or for a station pilot.

The siding at lower right is one or possibly 2 industries served by the railway.

I'm trying to be disciplined and make _at least_ eight items of freight stock, one carriage, a railcar, "big" loco and shunter before I start on the layout, but it was good to start thinking in the vague direction of an actual model...


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## Andy in Germany (24 Oct 2020)

A bit of measuring in the bedroom and movement of a large wardrobe, and I've found a space to build the model , 15cm shorter than the 3 metres I originally wanted, but this is still more than I had hoped. Here's the (badly lit) version 2:






The "Train" at the top is standing in what would be the platform road, and the locomotive behind is in the loco stabling point. The far end of the model will be finished with a 2 road locomotive shed. The other siding may go right up to the end of the baseboard, it may not. I'd like to have a station building but that could just as easily bolt onto the front of the model and stick out a bit: certainly many rural European stations have a track running directly in front of the station, usually inset into the platform, and it would be handy to have that extra bit of length when shunting the siding.
At this end of the model, the wood wagon is standing in a siding that will probably end in a "farmers cooperative" with one wood-based industry or possibly just a loading ramp squeezed in further up. The angled tape marks where I'll have to cut off a bit of the baseboard so I can open the door properly.
Behind that the two sidings will be hidden for playing about with trains and getting them ready to appear on scene. The station is supposed to be an end on station rather like Fort William, Norwich or Inverness, where trains have to come in and reverse to continue, so they would enter on one line and leave on the other, so I'll have to have a couple of locomotives on call at any given time to make sure trains can enter and leave the station fairly quickly. This also means more playing, I mean "operational interest".


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## Andy in Germany (28 Oct 2020)

The track has arrived: only needed one set of points thankfully, and a few metres of flexible track.







The company making track seem to be going for retro packaging, or these have been sitting in Munich for a very long time...

Meanwhile, the workbench is in use, or being buried, depending on your point of view...


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## classic33 (28 Oct 2020)

It's old packaging.


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## Andy in Germany (21 Nov 2020)

This looks better than it is:

Those little brass bits next to the bottom of the pointy bits are based on a number of pictures of prototype wagons: the pointy bits are supposed to fold down so they are out of the way when loading and unloading and I assume this provides a bit more support or helps them stay straight when this happens.

A real model maker would doubtless make these movable on a model but as I am so far from being a “proper” model maker I couldn’t find one with a telescope, mine are firmly glued to the wagon.

In my usual style, I them managed to put the little curvy bits on backwards…

The vertical bits should fold down within the length of the wagon, which is why they are slightly offset. In the picture above they should all fold to the right. 

Now I’m sure you see the problem.

Somehow your correspondent managed to make both sides of the wagon before noticing this, and now an inability to see the mistake has been replaced by an inability to not see the result, so the next model making sessions will involve pulling bits out and turning them around…


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## Andy in Germany (22 Feb 2021)

Dearie me, I've been very sloppy about posting here... 

On the off chance that anyone still remembers the project, here are the two wood wagons, competed and with all the bits facing the right direction:






Also a pair sliding door vans:






These are part of a vague project that has been in my head for some time, known as the ERAG, or “Entirely Random Arbitrary Goal”. In this case my ERAG is eight freight wagons, three locomotives (Large freight loco, railcar, and shunter) and one or two carriages before making any serious moves on building a layout.

As the name suggests, there’s no real reason for these numbers, they just seemed a good idea at the time.

I’m still moving at a speed that would make a glacier complain bitterly at the hold up, so this years goal is essentially to complete the ERAG. So far we have:


Big freight Loco (complete)
Railcar (Complete)
Shunter (Drawing board stage)
Wood wagons x 3 (One complete, two ready to paint)
Vans x 3 (One complete, ready to paint as well)
Other wagons x 2 (Drawing board)
Coaches x 2 (Thinking hard about these, occasionally.)

It’ll keep me busy in the long lock-down evenings…


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## Andy in Germany (28 Feb 2021)

I've been busy with the primer:


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## Andy in Germany (10 Mar 2021)

I've been thinking...






A while back I made a "mock up" of the possible colour schemes on the two railway vans I'm making, partly to see how this looks, and partly to kick me back into gear and keep the project going.


I started wondering if I could take it a step further and use paper on the final model. There is some logic to this: the transfers for the van sides will have to cover the whole of the van, partly because I want white writing which can be hard to achieve with transfers, and partly because of those big pictures on one of them. Transfers that big could get a bit unwieldy but a piece of paper would hold its shape much better, and it would be cheaper. Also, as I don’t currently have a printer at my apartment, it wouldn’t risk gumming up the one at work.


On the other hand, would they be realistic, or would they look like a piece of paper stuck on a plastic model?

To answer this question I made a mock-up of the van sides with all the features of the final model like the “gaps” in the doors and the holes for the handles, cut one of the door “sides”, applied glue and stuck it down.






When this failed to cause an apocalypse I tried weathering powder which promptly stuck in the grain of the paper and looked a mess. I thought a bit, then sprayed the lot with matt varnish, and after a slight panic as the paper bubbled up in the wet varnish, weathered it again and added a final layer of varnish to seal it. 

So far, so good, so I've reprinted the sides with a few changes and try them on the vans...


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## Andy in Germany (27 Mar 2021)

I've been neglecting this thread again...

Sticking copier paper on the models to give the side panels worked remarkably well:






Although it would have been better if the builder had concentrated and got the "dirt streaks" straight. I'll have to work on that:


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## Reynard (1 Apr 2021)

Actually, chances are the grubby streaks wouldn't be straight, as the airflow at working speed would be enough to pull them off vertical anyway. Mud streaks on a car that's been on wet mucky roads is a classic case in point.

It's the same principle F1 teams use with the paint they daub on the cars during testing / practice in order to map the airflow over the bodywork and wings.

So I wouldn't be to anal about it, it looks perfectly fine.


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## Andy in Germany (1 Apr 2021)

Reynard said:


> Actually, chances are the grubby streaks wouldn't be straight, as the airflow at working speed would be enough to pull them off vertical anyway. Mud streaks on a car that's been on wet mucky roads is a classic case in point.
> 
> It's the same principle F1 teams use with the paint they daub on the cars during testing / practice in order to map the airflow over the bodywork and wings.
> 
> So I wouldn't be to anal about it, it looks perfectly fine.



This is a narrow gauge railway, not an F1 racing car: the maximum speed I can reasonably imagine it moving is about 100km/h or 60 mph, and that would be very limited.

Also, streaks would be pushed in both directions.


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## Reynard (1 Apr 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> This is a narrow gauge railway, not an F1 racing car: the maximum speed I can reasonably imagine it moving is about 100km/h or 60 mph, and that would be very limited.
> 
> Also, streaks would be pushed in both directions.



Indeed, but the principle is still the same. Just look at the airflow on an ordinary car pootling about town on a wet day. Or if you're sat on the train / bus / tram, you can see the effect it has on the rain on the windows. You don't need to be going a gazillion miles an hour to see the effects of fluid mechanics


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## Andy in Germany (2 Apr 2021)

I finished another two wagons:






I’m already thinking about what I want to change so they can carry different loads. I’d like to claim this is because the Körschtalbahn is becoming a living railway in my imagination and I’m already anticipating new traffic flows but we all know it’s because I didn’t plan and research enough before I starting gluing stuff together. 






The main point I’ve been thinking about is the “twistlock” fittings, those pointy bits sticking up from the base of the wagons so they can take containers. Unfortunately I later realised that swap bodies, which are used a lot in domestic European transport, have slightly different spacing for twistlocks, so I’m now dithering about adding extras. 






Ouch; that's a cruel enlargement...

I’m also curious that I used the same method to make “rust” as on previous projects but the paint seemed to hold on rather better than usual.

I’m wondering if there’s a more reliable method: I know some people prime over the “rust” layer then use sandpaper and cocktail sticks to scrape the paint off, and I’ve also found some ways of making real rust to apply to the more exposed parts of the wagon where dirt and dampness would collect and corrode the paint, so more experimentation is likely.






Am I getting obsessive about this? Tell me if I’m getting obsessive…


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## Reynard (2 Apr 2021)

Those look fabulous to me 

Only thing that's missing is a guard's van and one of those railway lanterns with the red blinky light hanging off the back...


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## Profpointy (2 Apr 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> I finished another two wagons:
> 
> View attachment 581974
> 
> ...



You're saying " getting obsessive" as if it were a somehow a bad thing. We're all geeks from planet geek in the constellation of sad and lonely on this thread

Teasing aside, very impressive work indeed !


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## Reynard (2 Apr 2021)

Profpointy said:


> You're saying " getting obsessive" as if it were a somehow a bad thing. We're all geeks from planet geek in the constellation of sad and lonely on this thread



Yup, I can totally relate to that. 

Geekette par excellence, and damn bloody proud of it


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## Andy in Germany (12 Apr 2021)

Had a bit of a misadventure this week. I've been working on a new project:






However, I think I needed to make them a bit more solid, as one is starting to look suspiciously banana shaped:






If it's not obvious, here's what a straight line looks like in comparison:






Maybe I could say it was used to carry something _really _heavy...


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## Reynard (12 Apr 2021)

If you make the long sections as an I-beam (an H turned round through 90 degrees effectively) then you should have fewer problems with sagging.

You might get away with glueing a web of, say, two thicknesses of card along the bottom edge (and perpendicular to it) in order to solve the banana issue without having to re-work anything.


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## Andy in Germany (12 Apr 2021)

Reynard said:


> If you make the long sections as an I-beam (an H turned round through 90 degrees effectively) then you should have fewer problems with sagging.
> 
> You might get away with glueing a web of, say, two thicknesses of card along the bottom edge (and perpendicular to it) in order to solve the banana issue without having to re-work anything.



The side is already a sideways U, but the next version will be an 'I' made with thicker materials. One suggestion was for a square section piece of brass along the lower section of the wagon: it'd be hidden in the I beam...

I can take the opportunity to redesign a few other bits of the wagon I wasn't entirely happy about...


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## Andy in Germany (12 Apr 2021)

Reynard said:


> Those look fabulous to me
> 
> Only thing that's missing is a guard's van and one of those railway lanterns with the red blinky light hanging off the back...



I missed this post.

Unfortunately German railways didn't go for brake vans; this is rather sad as that was my Grandad's job for almost the whole of his working life. 

German railways preferred a small cabin for a brakesman on each wagon, in pre continuous brakes days and would spread operators along the train. Bearing in mind the gradients on German railways I can understand this, but it was a pretty rubbish system and was replaced by continuous brakes by the 1930's.


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## Reynard (12 Apr 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> The side is already a sideways U, but the next version will be an 'I' made with thicker materials. One suggestion was for a square section piece of brass along the lower section of the wagon: it'd be hidden in the I beam...
> 
> I can take the opportunity to redesign a few other bits of the wagon I wasn't entirely happy about...



If you are re-making it, don't make it a continuous section - put webs in at regular intervals. What this does, is effectively turn one long beam into several much shorter ones, which will drastically improve the stiffness.


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## Andy in Germany (12 Apr 2021)

Reynard said:


> If you are re-making it, don't make it a continuous section - put webs in at regular intervals. What this does, is effectively turn one long beam into several much shorter ones, which will drastically improve the stiffness.



What are "webs"?

Your description sounds a lot like the way I'd use small bits of wood when making a wider plank that won't twist as much.


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## Reynard (12 Apr 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> I missed this post.
> 
> Unfortunately German railways didn't go for brake vans; this is rather sad as that was my Grandad's job for almost the whole of his working life.
> 
> German railways preferred a small cabin for a brakesman on each wagon, in pre continuous brakes days and would spread operators along the train. Bearing in mind the gradients on German railways I can understand this, but it was a pretty rubbish system and was replaced by continuous brakes by the 1930's.



Ah, that's a shame...

Mind, they're as rare as hen's teeth on UK railways now too. When I first moved out here, they were a regular on many of the freight trains that passed by; the Ely-March-Peterborough line carries more freight than passenger traffic. Now it's just a red lantern on the back of the last waggon.


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## Reynard (12 Apr 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> What are "webs"?
> 
> Your description sounds a lot like the way I'd use small bits of wood when making a wider plank that won't twist as much.



Basically, what I mean is that they are sections perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the beam. What they do is turn the beam into a cellular structure. And yes, it does improve performance under torsional loading as well as tension / compression.


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## Andy in Germany (12 Apr 2021)

Reynard said:


> Basically, what I mean is that they are sections perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the beam. What they do is turn the beam into a cellular structure. And yes, it does improve performance under torsional loading as well as tension / compression.



@Reynard: you're talking to a non engineer here okay? I'm taking a run at the post above and hoping I understood about half of it and throwing a wild guess at the rest. Are you talking about a beam that would look a bit like this from above?







Notice high level enineeringy type drawing


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## Reynard (12 Apr 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> @Reynard: you're talking to a non engineer here okay? I'm taking a run at the post above and hoping I understood about half of it and throwing a wild guess at the rest. Are you talking about a beam that would look a bit like this from above?
> 
> View attachment 583625
> 
> ...



If it's going to be made from square box section, then pretty well much if that's sliced through the middle 

Just think of it as loads of little boxes stuck end-to-end.


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## Andy in Germany (13 Apr 2021)

After some consultation here and elsewhere, I've made a badly executed sketch of version 2.0. Any suggestions welcome...






Is that the "webbing" you meant @Reynard?


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## Reynard (13 Apr 2021)

That looks promising @Andy in Germany 

Although given how long those sections along the outside edges are, i.e. the well of the waggon, I would make your I-beam flanges thicker than 1mm. That's probably the root of the buckling (i.e. banana) problem. If it fubars the scale, then either a switch to box section should help, or maybe look at using stiffer card.

There is maths to work it out though.


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## Andy in Germany (17 Apr 2021)

A minor misadventure took place on the Ingermany workbench over the last month.

The desk lamp I've been using has been gradually dying: firstly it would switch off at random, then only work on "white" light, then when the cable was waggled about, and finally refused to turn on at all, even though the little light on the switch was fine. I tried to work with the main light in the room, but this is a cellar apartment and it was casting deep shadows, so a week ago I finally caved and ordered a pair of LED Desk lights, as I'd long had problems with shadows from only using one light source anyway.

Those came this week; all was well until I found one was flickering. I swapped USB/plug adaptors and found the other flickered.

On impulse I put the original lamp back into a different adaptor; it worked.

Now I feel a twit.

On the other hand, I have no more problems with shadows: in fact the model making bench is probably now visible from space.

The disadvantage if this is that the messiest part of the room is now the best illuminated...


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## Andy in Germany (18 Apr 2021)

In anticipation of actually having a layout soon, I finally bought something shiny:






By curious coincidence, the German toy manufacturer Siku makes diecasts almost exactly the right scale for the model I'm building.

This will now be weathered to within an inch of its life and possible even repainted.


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## classic33 (27 Apr 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> In anticipation of actually having a layout soon, I finally bought something shiny:
> 
> View attachment 584508
> 
> ...


HO narrow guage(ON30)?

Siku's range is well sized to most of the model railway scales. Including N guage narrow. Used to recommend them to people who were looking for a certain type of vehicle. They were often cheaper than ones from the main named UK manufacturers.


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## Andy in Germany (27 Apr 2021)

classic33 said:


> HO narrow guage(ON30)?
> 
> Siku's range is well sized to most of the model railway scales. Including N guage narrow. Used to recommend them to people who were looking for a certain type of vehicle. They were often cheaper than ones from the main named UK manufacturers.



1:55 scale Narrow Gauge. In this scale 16.5mm represents, metre gauge; roughly... If you squint.


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## classic33 (27 Apr 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> 1:55 scale Narrow Gauge. In this scale 16.5mm represents, metre gauge; roughly... If you squint.


The Siku rep. managed to get me a list of the rail scales their vehicles were closest to. Should anyone be after something different.


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## Andy in Germany (8 May 2021)

I've been building a prototype swap body, which has answered a few questions about the sizes and general dimensions, but opens a couple more such as “What will it carry?” and “Why on earth didn’t I just make something simple like a parcel container?”

I’m leaving the second question as it is impossible to answer, but the container will be a rather nondescript carrier of “diesel fuel” operated by a company contracted by the Körschtalbahn. Like a lot of German railways, the KÖB will have a small maintenance and fuel facility at the distant end of the line, rather than at the connection with the national network as was more common in the UK. This is because a lot of these lines are paid for by the local authorities which generally prefer to bring as much maintenance in house as possible, on the basis it brings employment and keeps money in circulation.






This means that this container will make occasional appearances when the shed needs a delivery, and will probably find itself probably tacked onto a regular freight or passenger train as required. Other than that it will be kept well hidden so as not to disturb the public…


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## Reynard (8 May 2021)

That looks really good 

Did you manage to solve the saggy chassis issue?


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## Andy in Germany (23 May 2021)

This is the awkward stage, when the basic colour is there but the shading and weathering isn’t. Instead of the model taking in the form of “reality in miniature” it looks like a badly painted concoction of bits of pipe and wire. 

Still adding setails will help. To this end I’ve spent a couple of evenings finding out more than a same person would want to know about tanker chemical codes and hazard warning symbols.

Also, notice the thrilling debut of a colour other than green.



Reynard said:


> That looks really good
> 
> Did you manage to solve the saggy chassis issue?



Thanks @Reynard: The saggy wagons are gone, and will be replaced by version 2.0 which I hope will manage to stay straight.


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## Andy in Germany (29 May 2021)

The new low loader wagons take shape, heavier and longer than the previous versions.

Observant readers will have noticed that there are three instead of the two I was building earlier. I think the railway would be into containers in a big way so an extra wagon won’t hurt. And if the first one doesn’t work very well I can always call it a “prototype” and build the other two differently.

To build the side pieces I used a jig few bits of card to hold the plastic bits in place while I glued them together. The result isn’t that pretty, as the two bits on the bottom of the picture show. Unfortunately it was also not entirely accurate, but I laminated them onto other bits of plastic (middle) on either side to add strength and hide the worst of the gaps. Now I’ll add bits on the top and bottom to make them into rather substantial I-beam girders. Then we hope they don't try and copy the first versions...


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## classic33 (13 Jul 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> In anticipation of actually having a layout soon, I finally bought something shiny:
> 
> View attachment 584508
> 
> ...


German equivalent of £7.00?


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## Andy in Germany (13 Jul 2021)

Tatty container is completed:






It isn’t looking too bad considering it’s essentially a drainpipe wrapped in paper. The paper came close to causing a lot of trouble this time; glue only takes so long to dry after all, and it managed to dry quicker than I could pull all the awkward bits through the various gaps in the frame. As usual I’m relying on everyone to be too unobservant or polite to comment on the way the writing and hazard symbols are at slightly different heights on each side. I’m also not even going to show you the underside of the tank.


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## Andy in Germany (14 Jul 2021)

After the success of the paper wrap on the tanker, I'm trying to step things up by printing carriage sides:






Any thoughts welcome. It's based on the German "Silberlinge" carriages designed and built by German railways from 1958. With upwards of 5000 examples built they’ve been the main carriage for local and many suburban services in West Germany from that time. They were built until 1980, because in Germany “standardised” means what is says.

There are some “Silberlinge” in regular service today; yes you read that correctly: German still uses a design of carriage over 6 decades old on the main rail network, although thankfully they are now painted various colours and it has to be said that the surviving examples are refurbished and pretty comfortable on the inside.

The Körschtalbahn would have needed new carriages at about the same time as the rest of the rail network, so it would have been a logical solution to order some “mini-Silberlinge” to carry passengers. As they were originally built from stainless steel, they’d last forever, so they’d still be in use today. I’ll try a couple more designs, not least for a push-pull trailer, preferably with the usual trappings of a modern railway such as disabled access and bicycle storage.

If you’re wondering about the name, it refers to the original stainless steel construction which gave a silvery finish when new and probably for about ten minutes afterwards., hence the nickname of “Silver pieces”, a reference to the new Testament, specifically Matthew 26,14 where Judas Receives “30 silver pieces” for betraying Jesus to the authorities.

Apparently German trainspotters receive a very classical education.


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## classic33 (14 Jul 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> After the success of the paper wrap on the tanker, I'm trying to step things up by printing carriage sides:
> 
> View attachment 599143
> 
> ...


We've not long got rid of the Pacer's. First run round these parts in 1982.

If you're printing on your own printer, what's the output like on long prints. Can it handle the specialist paper/film required.


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## Andy in Germany (15 Jul 2021)

classic33 said:


> We've not long got rid of the Pacer's. First run round these parts in 1982.
> 
> If you're printing on your own printer, what's the output like on long prints. Can it handle the specialist paper/film required.



I always rather liked pacers, especially the class 142's. That said I didn't have to ride on them much.

Fortunately in 1:55 scale I can make this carriage 280mm long, and a sheet of DIN A4 is about 295mm, so I just print it on normal copier paper.


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## Cycleops (15 Jul 2021)

As far as I can see you haven’t added any couplings yet. What type are you going to adopt and can you see any difficulties with getting them all mounted at the correct height?
I don’t know how it might work with your models but Kadee are reliable and there is a great range to suit just about any mounting situation plus you can have hands free coupling and shunting.


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## Andy in Germany (15 Jul 2021)

Cycleops said:


> As far as I can see you haven’t added any couplings yet. What type are you going to adopt and can you see any difficulties with getting them all mounted at the correct height?
> I don’t know how it might work with your models but Kadee are reliable and there is a great range to suit just about any mounting situation plus you can have hands free coupling and shunting.



Kadees are a bit out of my price range, and don't really look right on a central European NG line. I had planned to use DG couplings, based in Hull (I think) and have already bought several etches, but I'm not sure how easy they will be to get now, I may have to change to some more locally available type or make my own.


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## classic33 (15 Jul 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> Kadees are a bit out of my price range, and don't really look right on a central European NG line. I had planned to use DG couplings, based in Hull (I think) and have already bought several etches, but I'm not sure how easy they will be to get now, I may have to change to some more locally available type or make my own.


These? 




What size, part number if you have one?


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## Andy in Germany (15 Jul 2021)

classic33 said:


> These?
> View attachment 599245
> 
> What size, part number if you have one?



Aye, those are they, I use the "7mm" etches. At the moment I've got several spare etches. I'm not building that quickly at the moment and my stockpile should hold out for a while.


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## Andy in Germany (17 Jul 2021)

More ideas:






In recent years, local trains have started appearing in an interpretation of the yellow and black of the Baden Württemberg flag, the lions from the coat of arms. the "bwegt" logo is a play on the initials of the state and the verb "Bewegen" to move.

Unfortunately they only seem to allow more modern trains to be painted in the fill colour scheme, so I think the Körschtalbahn's elderly carriages will have to remain in their normal colours with just the logo added.

A couple of possibilities, firstly one that came about by accident while I was changing the colours in the Gimp:





Perhaps a bit more modern than the original single colour.

Also a different style loosely based on German railways long distance trains:






I'm sure I'll come up with some more ideas before I finally make my mind up and actually get some model making done...


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## classic33 (17 Jul 2021)

Try "fictitious liveries" in a search.

GIMP any good to use?


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## Andy in Germany (18 Jul 2021)

classic33 said:


> Try "fictitious liveries" in a search.
> 
> GIMP any good to use?



I've come across the FL galleries before, there are some great ideas in there...

Gimp is pretty good once you've got used to it. To achieve everything it wants to do it has to operate differently from, for example, desktop publishing packages, and you need to learn it's ways. It's a very good package though and I suspect I only use about ten percent of it's full capabilities.


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## Retread (10 Aug 2021)

They look great. I model 1/43 scale cars and it usually starts off good then mistake and it's a turd rolling downhill.


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## Andy in Germany (11 Aug 2021)

Retread said:


> They look great. I model 1/43 scale cars and it usually starts off good then mistake and it's a turd rolling downhill.



We see our own mistakes far more than others do. Apart from this, I have the advantage that most of my models are of things that either don't exist in reality, or there's enough variation that I can just claim that they were built differently for my railway.

Failing that, I can always give the worst bits a good coating of muck to hide the problem...


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## Oldhippy (11 Aug 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> After the success of the paper wrap on the tanker, I'm trying to step things up by printing carriage sides:
> 
> View attachment 599143
> 
> ...


Japan is similar I think Andy isn't it? I remember some suburban were very old but immaculately kept. I lived on the Seibu Shinjuku line for a while and some were 50's or 60's. As with Germany they were well staffed and beautifully kept.


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## Andy in Germany (11 Aug 2021)

Oldhippy said:


> Japan is similar I think Andy isn't it? I remember some suburban were very old but immaculately kept. I lived on the Seibu Shinjuku line for a while and some were 50's or 60's. As with Germany they were well staffed and beautifully kept.



Japan certainly manages to keep their trains very clean: I've often wondered how they pay for it, to be honest. 

Germany isn't great: the new double-deck Desiro units seem to have been delivered with "out of order" on the privvy doors. One year later they still can't get them to work. Now DB is talking about replacing their entire fleet of reliable single deck intercity carriages with fixed-rake double deck units which are having "teething troubles" to say the least.


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## Andy in Germany (22 Aug 2021)

I don't think I've posted about this yet, but "Container wagons 2.0" are under construction:







They haven't gone bendy yet:






The production line has ramped up to the dizzying level of three (3) wagons at once:






Meanwhile, I'm getting distracted, as usual...


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## Reynard (22 Aug 2021)

Those look great @Andy in Germany 

I-beam throughout seems to have solved matters.


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## Andy in Germany (22 Aug 2021)

Reynard said:


> Those look great @Andy in Germany
> 
> I-beam throughout seems to have solved matters.



Indeed, thanks for the tip on that one... 

I've gone and got all obsessive about details like Brake rods and levers, so right now I'm messing about with tiny bits of plastic and wire...


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## Andy in Germany (22 Aug 2021)

Brake gear obsession continues. Do these levers look too big or too small? the wire under them will be clipped to length afterwards, but I've been looking at these bits all day so I've lost my sense of scale...


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## MontyVeda (23 Aug 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> View attachment 605552
> 
> 
> Brake gear obsession continues. Do these levers look too big or too small? the wire under them will be clipped to length afterwards, but I've been looking at these bits all day so I've lost my sense of scale...


no idea regarding the scale... but do you have a model human to scale? a lever, presumably would go in a hand, so eye up the model human's hand and your levers??


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## classic33 (23 Aug 2021)

MontyVeda said:


> no idea regarding the scale... but do you have a model human to scale? a lever, presumably would go in a hand, so eye up the model human's hand and your levers??


There should be a driver on the forklift he bought.


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## Andy in Germany (23 Aug 2021)

classic33 said:


> There should be a driver on the forklift he bought.



There wasn't.

Also my usual "Scale" human has gone AWOL.



MontyVeda said:


> no idea regarding the scale... but do you have a model human to scale? a lever, presumably would go in a hand, so eye up the model human's hand and your levers??



The levers seem to come in different lengths, so it's largely guesswork.


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## Andy in Germany (28 Aug 2021)

I've been figure painting today: I'm trying to improve my technique at the moment, which in practice means obsessively repainting the same model figure in different ways to try and get it to work_ just a bit better_...


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## Andy in Germany (1 Sep 2021)

Getting there. It's hard to get a decent picture and I'm still not delighted with the results in reality either, but I'm working on it...


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## MontyVeda (1 Sep 2021)

nice work, but the lines between the fingers are too heavy. I think the hands look more natural in the first photo (#104)


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## classic33 (1 Sep 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> Getting there. It's hard to get a decent picture and I'm still not delighted with the results in reality either, but I'm working on it...
> 
> View attachment 607156
> 
> ...


Needs something alongside for a sense of scale. €2 coin?


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## Andy in Germany (1 Sep 2021)

classic33 said:


> Needs something alongside for a sense of scale. €2 coin?



Not really. I'll look for something that is small and familiar in the UK...


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## classic33 (1 Sep 2021)

Andy in Germany said:


> Not really. I'll look for something that is small and familiar in the UK...


€2 & £2 coin almost identical size. 
The same with the €1 & £1 coins.


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## Andy in Germany (1 Sep 2021)

Does that help?


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## Andy in Germany (1 Sep 2021)

MontyVeda said:


> nice work, but the lines between the fingers are too heavy. I think the hands look more natural in the first photo (#104)



On the picture they are heavy, in reality the lines become fairly faint at normal viewing distances. The heavy shading on the jacket is the same.


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## Andy in Germany (4 Sep 2021)

After much swearing, a tiny step forward today:






I suspect anyone who actually knows about engineering in any real capacity will find this highly annoying/amusing, but still...


----------



## Andy in Germany (5 Sep 2021)

Trying some new methods for painting:


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## Andy in Germany (7 Sep 2021)

Moving onto the body of the wagons, and as usual I keep trying new stuff in the optimistic hope I'll improve. The Foremost wagon has had some carefully added wash painting to give it a bit of rust around the container anchor points and around a few of the details; the middle wagon started the same colour with a more liberally applied dark wash. 

The third one is... green.

I'll keep weathering the foremost two but just add a fairly subtle finish to the green one, so it hopefully gives the impression that this one is fresh out of the works, while the other two are really due for overhaul...


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## Andy in Germany (12 Sep 2021)

I'm a bit further on the wagons, and now looking occasionally at the next project: The Körschtalbahn is getting passenger coaches...






Just as soon as I've figured how to fit those frames on the paper sides...


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## Andy in Germany (24 Oct 2021)

Some time ago I set myself the Entirely Random Arbitrary Goal (E.R.A.G.) of having eight wagons, a “railcar”; a large “main line” locomotive, and a shunter, before attempting to build anything as exciting as a railway for them to play on.






Since then the entirely fictional Körschtalbahn has gained three vans, three wood wagons and and three container low loaders, meaning that for once I’ve actually had enough self discipline to keep working on a long term project. When I realised this I got all excited and started working on the carriages, forgetting that really they’re planned for the next stage of the project (E.R.A.G 2.0, watch this space if you think you can handle the excitement).

My excuse for this sudden burst of frivolity is that I do have a shunter, built over a decade ago when I thought the Körschtalbahn would be built to British “O” gauge or 1:43.5 scale. As this was was my first model making project, it has a number of issues, not least that I really didn’t know how big I should build the model and aimed high. It’s massively over scale for 1:43, let alone my current scale of 1:55, as demonstrated by the loco on a low leader:






So, change of plan: make new shunter, then carriages...


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## classic33 (25 Oct 2021)

Taking your thread off on a slight tangent with Cato Pass

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElGTKeh4tlw


https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/105061-cato-pass-sci-fi-model-railway/


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## Andy in Germany (17 Jan 2022)

Due to current levels of busyness, I'm making a few "simple" tabletop game models on the basis that I have to make stuff or implode...

As usual I’ve rather randomly decided on the current project. this time it's a “control tower” because… um… I’ll think of something.

This will join the slowly growing collection of buildings and other odds and ends which are developing into a sort of low budget “secret base”. If you think of NASA or the sort of things that usually comes at the end of the more expensive science fiction movies, and then think of the opposite, and about a hundred years ago, you’ve got it about right.


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## Reynard (17 Jan 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> View attachment 627085
> 
> 
> Due to current levels of busyness, I'm making a few "simple" tabletop game models on the basis that I have to make stuff or implode...
> ...



Hah, that looks like part of the tower complex on Brunel University's Uxbridge campus...  A prime example of 1960s concrete! When sat in the computer lab at the top of Tower C, you had a really good view of Heathrow Airport.


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## LeetleGreyCells (17 Jan 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> View attachment 627085
> 
> 
> Due to current levels of busyness, I'm making a few "simple" tabletop game models on the basis that I have to make stuff or implode...
> ...


Several years ago, I worked in an office that looked just like that on the third floor.


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## Andy in Germany (2 Feb 2022)

I decided that as I seem to be moving a speeds which could charitably be described as “geological” I may as well make some landscapes.

I’m assuming the builders of this low budget aerodrome decided that if you want an elevated building, the cheapest option is to use an existing hill, instead of making an expensive tower out of wood. In keeping with this philosophy I made the ‘landscape’ itself from old cardboard offcuts, before smoothing things down with clay and slopping a gooey mix of wood glue and paint over the top.






The hole in the landscape is a solution I’ve seen used by some makers of tabletop games. As collections build up, it seems you end up with a number of buildings, not to mention vehicles, sea monsters and apparently mandatory cosmic death rays. As these tend not to stack very well, one way to save space is to hang them up instead of letting them take up shelf space. I just have to work out how to cover the hole effectively.


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## Andy in Germany (6 Feb 2022)

Okay, that's a bad picture, sorry about that: this apartment isn't great for photography in winter.

I’ve been using "scientific experience-based methods and a feedback driven approach to ensure optimal results" this week. Or if I put it more honestly, trial and error until something works.

Long suffering readers will know this generally works on a ratio of about two false starts for every successfully finished model, and involves a lot of cutting, filing, sanding and other words that end in “-ing.” (like "swear-", "cuss-" and in the worst case "throw-")


Still, progress is progress…


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## Andy in Germany (13 Feb 2022)

I'll post pictures of the diesel locomotive as soon as it is presentable, but I'm still working on the control tower model for a tabletop game. Because tabletop games (or at least the sort I like) are fairly cartoony, I find I'm less of a perfectionist so I make more progress.






I expect the railing should be on the inside of the uprights, not hanging out over space, but that’s another compromise to allow for the large bases on tabletop model figures.

The aerial probably isn’t accurate as I suspect the convention of painting things red and white wasn’t around yet in the 1930’s, but I wanted a red and white aerial, and I think some artistic licence can be tolerated. I doubt they made them of wood either, but I had an old stirring stick and it seemed the right length. It was also so full of paint that after sanding there was no visible grain.






Nearly there now, just the glazing, steps, and a few details to go.


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## Andy in Germany (17 Feb 2022)

The locomotive now has a roof. This is the second attempt because… of course it is. The first insisted on sitting at a slight but noticeable angle whatever I tried, so eventually I gave up and started again. I was about to glue this version down when I remembered that adding things like driving controls or windows, and painting the inside of the cab is best done first; I never was much good at forward planning.

It also needs more detail besides the radio antennae on there. I’ve seen pictures of similar shunters with what looks like air conditioners on the roof, so I’ll probably add one for the general comfort of the Körschtalbahn’s staff.

I will get on with some soldering, eventually...


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## Reynard (17 Feb 2022)

That loco looks fabby Andy


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## Andy in Germany (17 Feb 2022)

Reynard said:


> That loco looks fabby Andy



Thanks @Reynard. I'm currently wondering whether to paint the cab green and the ends grey, or the other way around, and what shade of green to try for...

I mean obviously right now I'm not: I'm entirely focussed on work and all modelmaking thoughts are far from my mind. Ahem.


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## Reynard (17 Feb 2022)

I think it needs yellow and black chevrons on the front, but then what do I know?


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## Andy in Germany (17 Feb 2022)

Reynard said:


> I think it needs yellow and black chevrons on the front,



Of course it does; otherwise what would be the point?


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## classic33 (17 Feb 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> Thanks @Reynard. I'm currently wondering whether to paint the cab green and the ends grey, or the other way around, and what shade of green to try for...
> 
> I mean obviously right now I'm not: I'm entirely focussed on work and all modelmaking thoughts are far from my mind. Ahem.


Humbrol 134 or 104?


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## Andy in Germany (17 Feb 2022)

classic33 said:


> Humbrol 134 or 104?



Blue?

I haven't seen Humbrol pait in years. It's owned by Hornby now?


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## classic33 (17 Feb 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> Blue?
> 
> I haven't seen Humbrol pain it years. It's owned by Hornby now?


SNCF and GW Standard greens.


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## Andy in Germany (19 Feb 2022)

Return to the control tower:

The most immediately obvious change is the addition of a power or transmission cable on the roof:






But other plans are afoot, or possibly aroof:






Question is, which one of these works better? Straight sign as above, or...






Angled sign?

Any thoughts welcome...


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## MontyVeda (19 Feb 2022)

I'd say angled... but what do i know?

great work BTW


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## Oldhippy (19 Feb 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> Return to the control tower:
> 
> The most immediately obvious change is the addition of a power or transmission cable on the roof:
> 
> ...


Diagonal definitely.


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## SpokeyDokey (19 Feb 2022)

Function over form matters here imo. 

The front of the building will be facing in a certain direction because it matters - so maybe the sign should be parallel to the front of the building.


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## Reynard (19 Feb 2022)

SpokeyDokey said:


> Function over form matters here imo.
> 
> The front of the building will be facing in a certain direction because it matters - so maybe the sign should be parallel to the front of the building.



^^^ this IMHO

Good work tho


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## Andy in Germany (19 Feb 2022)

Sign now firmly affixed parallel to the front of the roof. Thanks for the thoughts...


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## Andy in Germany (20 Feb 2022)

Another quick project this week: control desks for the shunting locomotive:







These are showing a certain "chunkiness" associated with tabletop games; fortunately they'll be largely hidden inside the locomotive cab.

For size comparison, the squares on the mat are 1 cm each.


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## Andy in Germany (27 Feb 2022)

After putting off the inevitable, I decided to actually try and make the mass of railings around the shunting locomotive, on the basis that when it went wrong I’d at least know what didn’t work. 

This is optimism.

My experience is that something quantum happens when I’m soldering attempting to solder things, and previously inert objects move mysteriously in defiance of gravity. To try and reduce this I decided to make a set of jigs to hold everything in place and discourage it from misbehaving. Being me I made these jigs much more solid than I needed to, and it took much longer to make these than it took to actually do the soldering.

I was even more surprised that I managed that I also managed to solder all the joins without burning the apartment, making holes in the furniture or melting the model into a stinking lump. On the other hand I did manage to melt about a metre of solder, some of which inevitably found its way onto my clothes, and don’t ask me how much filing was needed to make the rather ugly joins even vaguely respectable.

Still, it generally went far better than expected and didn’t even get stuck in the jig, so now I’m looking for more interesting things to solder together…


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## Andy in Germany (5 Mar 2022)

I’ve been adding details to the tabletop game control tower this week. Some are pretty small, like glazing in the windows, steps out the back, and a cable to the aerial mount. As usual I realised too late that I couldn’t use wire without having to repaint the whole roof, so I cobbled a paper one together out of decorative string and a lot of stickiness.


I also added some more obvious details,, like the Really Big Sign, which is finally fixed:






Just in case there’s some confusion, perhaps, or a Swashbuckling hero is in danger of mistaking it for a lifeguard hut or furniture showroom.


I was feeling pretty pleased that I could read this sign from the other side of the apartment until I realised that was 4m or 15′ away, which is barely the length of a Zeppelin in this scale.





There may be a lesson in that somewhere.






Before someone asks, I'm not planning to make a scale length Zeppelin.

Probably.


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## Oldhippy (5 Mar 2022)

I think a scale length Zeppelin is just the thing to do. You may need to move though. 😁


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## Reynard (5 Mar 2022)

Is that the, erm, outhouse, at the back?


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## Andy in Germany (6 Mar 2022)

Oldhippy said:


> I think a scale length Zeppelin is just the thing to do. You may need to move though. 😁



It's would take a heck of a lot of cornflake packets, but as someone on another forum pointed out I could make a bit each week and it would then be a _cereal project_...


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## Andy in Germany (6 Mar 2022)

Reynard said:


> Is that the, erm, outhouse, at the back?



Of course: the Royal Navy Airship Service spares no expense in offering its staff the most modern and comfortable working environment...


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## Reynard (6 Mar 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> Of course: the Royal Navy Airship Service spares no expense in offering its staff the most modern and comfortable working environment...



You do realise you want to hang some cut up newspaper on the door...


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## Andy in Germany (14 Mar 2022)

I’ve yet to develop a consistent method of applying green to models; the colour always seems to go on garish and blotchy, or dull and grey. As green is the main colour for the Körschtalbahn, this is somewhat embarrassing.


This time I mixed a “light” green that I thought would look modern and smart, but which turned out to be seriously garish, and went on so blotchy the model looked like it was painted by someone who had been sampling interesting fungal substances. I cleaned it off rather than give you all nightmares and after very carefully priming the remains, tried again.


A green/grey mix covered the model better, but it was a bit… gloomy, as if the painter, having slept off the fungal substances, was feeling decidedly morose. In desperation I tried to mix something lighter, which would be described in a paint catalogue as “Toxic goo, visible from space” and dry brushed it on. Remarkably it worked.






I added a gentle brushing of white and a tiny bit of silver, then toned it down gingerly with black wash, although before I get accused of competence, this process was repeated half a dozen times before it managed to look vaguely acceptable.

Still, nearly there now: just the grey and yellow stripes to go… and the rust effects; brake pipes; interior; windows; weathering powders; varnish…

Oh yes, and putting all the bits together.


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## Reynard (14 Mar 2022)

I know you use acrylics - you might want to try layering and glazing techniques to get the greens right. Green pigments (like red ones) tend to be translucent, so maybe try a grey or brown base layer, and then glazing with thin washes of green.


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## Andy in Germany (15 Mar 2022)

Reynard said:


> I know you use acrylics - you might want to try layering and glazing techniques to get the greens right. Green pigments (like red ones) tend to be translucent, so maybe try a grey or brown base layer, and then glazing with thin washes of green.



I suppose that's what I accidentally did: the base was grey/green with a thin wash over the top of very light green to compensate. This also had the happy result of creating highlights on corners and details.


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## Andy in Germany (19 Mar 2022)

I've been combining my two interests this week: my touring bike will make an appearance on my model... 






Watch this space for a Bakfiets and an Xtracycle....


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## Andy in Germany (27 Mar 2022)

Well that’s a relief, the buzz-bee stripes are finally done. I don’t know what it was this time but they were a right headache to apply.

It started well enough; thin strips from masking tape, mark out lines on the buffer beam and apply tape… and then it all went wrong. The buffer beam was in an awkward place on the model with all kinds of details glued to the surface, so it was often a matter of painting to the tape for most of the way, then freehand from there. This which took several attempts, which it turned out were all wasted because the grey ran under the tape.

After a great deal of trial and error, some sanding and repainting, and making several jigs of various shapes and sizes, the stripes were straight enough that it only took a bit of touching up, and some weathering and “rust” application for them to look straight at a distance. Of course, being me I can still see a couple of mistakes on there.

I’m not going to point them out though.


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## Andy in Germany (18 Apr 2022)

I've been putting together a prototype for the carriages I'm building; my goal is to make them out of card as much as possible:







I'm currently working out how to make the rounded ends out of card, and also how to match them up with the printed sides. This is taking much straining of brain cells.


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## Cycleops (18 Apr 2022)

You might be better off making them with plastic card as paper card will warp with time.


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## Andy in Germany (18 Apr 2022)

Cycleops said:


> You might be better off making them with plastic card as paper card will warp with time.



So will plastic under a lot of conditions, in fact one reason I'm trying card is because it allegedly is less prone to warping than plastic.

I'm also finding that if I treat it like wood, i.e., let the air (and therefore moisture) get at both sides or neither, and give it time to stabilise after using glue, I can reduce the warping.

I'll brace the fascia where I can, and the windows will have one long clear plastic strip behind them. We shall have to see of this is sufficient...


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## MontyVeda (18 Apr 2022)

Providing it's supported it should be fine; of course it's all down to atmospheric conditions. The bedford van i made from cornflake boxes nearly 30 years ago still looks flat and square where it should be... the plasticine tyres have thoroughly dried out though.


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## Andy in Germany (8 Jun 2022)

Life is getting stressful at the moment so I'm reduced to painting figures and things are getting really rather silly again.

Tonight I finished this heroic chap:













I'm not sure what he'll be called yet, but he's the first of the _Württembergische Düsenjäger_ (Württemberg Jet Troops). Württemberg had a black and dark red flag, hence the red details. Also, if Germany did split into its constituent states after shorter World War 1, as the backstory suggests, then it would be Württemberg that would enthusiastically embrace anything vaguely technological, (see also: steam powered tanks) probably causing more danger to their troops than anyone they were fighting...


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## classic33 (8 Jun 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> Life is getting stressful at the moment so I'm reduced to painting figures and things are getting really rather silly again.
> 
> Tonight I finished this heroic chap:
> 
> ...


Any chance of secondary ignition?


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## Andy in Germany (8 Jun 2022)

classic33 said:


> Any chance of secondary ignition?



In this context I think "Secondary Ignition" would be his boots...


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## classic33 (8 Jun 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> In this context I think "Secondary Ignition" would be his boots...


I was thinking a methane afterburner.


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## Andy in Germany (8 Jun 2022)

classic33 said:


> I was thinking a methane afterburner.



Depends how much the canteen serves sauerkraut.


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## classic33 (8 Jun 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> Depends how much the canteen serves sauerkraut.


Will you be adding the additional detail to his jacket?


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## Andy in Germany (9 Jun 2022)

classic33 said:


> Will you be adding the additional detail to his jacket?



Probably not, although the explosive field kitchen would be an interesting model...


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## Andy in Germany (10 Jun 2022)

I managed to improve my photo quality. Still working on the "Gluing-figure-to-bases" quality.


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## Andy in Germany (11 Jun 2022)

Painted the other three today; once I'd got the colours right it went fairly quickly:






The officer above, rank and file below:















The next ones will be a bit slower, as there are no uniforms so each one has to be painted to make them look individual while not having too many colours so they look a mess on the table.


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## Andy in Germany (23 Jul 2022)

I’m getting ever more addicted to figure painting, as seen above. Currently named “Lev the Anarchist” who is carrying enough explosives that he’s probably a danger to friend or foe within about 20 metres in a combat situation.






I particularly like the way he has a detonator on his back but appears to be lighting a fuse on the dynamite in his hand.

He’ll soon be joined by some comrades in arms to travel the world and awaken the proletariat to their oppression, or possibly of course, oppress them a bit more in service of the highest bidder; even anarchists gotta eat.


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