Andy's Modelmaking Misadventures

[Andy in Germany]

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.

 

[Andy in Germany]

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…

 

[Andy in Germany]

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…

 

[Andy in Germany]

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…

 

[Andy in Germany]

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...

 

[stephec]

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.

 

[Andy in Germany]

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...

 

[Kempstonian]

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

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...

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.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Project Model Bench has begun...

The planning and brainstorming:

The design:

The beginnings:

Next step tomorrow...

 

[classic33]

Project Model Bench has begun...

The planning and brainstorming:

View attachment 539965

The design:

View attachment 539962

The beginnings:

View attachment 539966

Next step tomorrow...

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

 

[Andy in Germany]

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.

 

[Andy in Germany]

The workbench project is moving along, slowly:

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

 

[classic33]

The workbench project is moving along, slowly:

View attachment 542338

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

Jar caps, glued into place.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Jar caps, glued into place.

I need them a little deeper than that...

 

[classic33]

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.