West End Workbench

[Woodcock29]

Jonathan
The banana van looks great, I can see I'll have to improve my teaking based on what you can achieve.

Can you please email me the dimensions of the panel where the FOR BANANA TRAFFIC goes. As you know I'm going to have a go at producing the transfers myself.

Regards

Andrew

[Dave S]

Jonathan
The banana van looks great, I can see I'll have to improve my teaking based on what you can achieve.

Can you please email me the dimensions of the panel where the FOR BANANA TRAFFIC goes. As you know I'm going to have a go at producing the transfers myself.

Regards

Andrew

The half etched panel is 22mm x 2.8mm.

[Woodcock29]

Thanks Dave
Note I'm only planning on doing LNER transfers as that's what Jonathan and I need for various items of NPCS.
Andrew

[Chas Levin]

I imagine that if you hold it closer, to get a wetter application that dries to a smooth unified layer rather than something powdery, you'll need to move the aim of the spray can across the model a bit more quickly to avoid flooding it with paint

Yes, absolutely - moving at the right speed for different brands and types of spray takes lots of practice I'm finding, very enjoyable thing to learn though!

[Chas Levin]

Can I suggest practicing on some pieces of styrene.

Yep - my plan exactly Mike

[Dave S]

very enjoyable ting to learn though!

You've gone all Jamaican patois on us....

[Chas Levin]

I use it in the same way as all the other rattle cans I use and haven't noticed the powdery effect up to now. This is teaked directly onto the primer, to see what the effect would be like:



Question about this - do we think the end steps would be black or teak painted?

Lovely looking van Jonathan, just as cute as I thought it would be! And the filler primer forms a very good base coat for teaking I would say - one of the NPCS teak vehicles I built had it as the base coat too. Interested to hear you've never had powder problems with it - I'll be practising shortly, also noting other advice above, about spray can use

Re. your question about end step colour, I know there are lots of others on here with way more knowledge and research experience than I have, but for what it's worth, I would have expected them to be painted teak by LNER years, though I believe GN NPCS ends were black.

And a very nice job on the lining btw

[Chas Levin]

very enjoyable ting to learn though!

You've gone all Jamaican patois on us....

Ha - sorry, corrected now, more haste less speed

[Ocean Swell]

That dia.265 looks good, they are on the Isinglass to do list also. I have seen several photos of them in three coach sets with a CL and a BT in the 50s and in pairs of these sets forming 6 coach trains. Something different to mix in with the Hornby Thompson and Gresley non-vestibuled coaches.

[jwealleans]

I'll be honest, steel sided carriages are where I think the isinglass process may have a weakness if the striations on the one I've just completed are indicative. Time will tell, however.

Chas, the photo we're all working from looks to me to show the banana brake as having unlined teak ends, so that's what I've gone for. I'm still not sure about those steps, though. I think I'll probably go for teak to start with.

Finally on the subject of lettering, am i right in my belief that the GN letter forms (excluding the elongated script) are the same as the LNER ones but the shading colours are different?

[MikeTrice]

Finally on the subject of lettering, am i right in my belief that the GN letter forms (excluding the elongated script) are the same as the LNER ones but the shading colours are different?

Close enough, especially when reduced to 4mm. The shading style is different as well but again in 4mm can be ignored.

[jwealleans]

Thanks, Mike.

[Chas Levin]

Chas, the photo we're all working from looks to me to show the banana brake as having unlined teak ends, so that's what I've gone for. I'm still not sure about those steps, though. I think I'll probably go for teak to start with.

Agreed, I think they are too - and assuming they are, I think that would mean the steps are painted teak, wouldn't it? I know black steps were quite usual under doors and along carriage or vehicle sides, but did they ever have black steps on a teak end? Please excuse me if they did - I'll claim lake of experience and poor interpretation of B&W photos .

Finally on the subject of lettering, am i right in my belief that the GN letter forms (excluding the elongated script) are the same as the LNER ones but the shading colours are different?

Close enough, especially when reduced to 4mm. The shading style is different as well but again in 4mm can be ignored.

I would agree for express rated vans and NPCS like this Banana one, but if we were talking about the largest sizes of lettering on passenger coaches - dining cars and so forth - I think the differences in the lettering do become apparent, even in 4mm. They're both very attractive styles in colouring I think: red is my favourite colour so the LNER use of it always catches my eye, but the GNR blue / gold / white is just beautiful. It's very delicate shade of blue, and a slightly faded looking gold - rather than a gaudy one - and I think it makes a lovely combination .

[jwealleans]

Seems longer than a couple of weeks since I posted - busy time of year.

Most visible progress has been on the D265 carriage as it's all been fairly straightforward. It's been painted, end details added and it's more or less ready to reassemble. Here it's all just placed together, nothing is fixed.





It's clearly going to look the part when complete. As someone else observed to me, it will be interesting to see how it stands up to exhibition use.

There are a couple of inaccuracies which are both due to the material and its limitations. The end is too thick, so the windows are all slightly narrow to maintain the overall length. In addition, once glazed, the glazing will be recessed which is not right for a steel carriage. For a conventional wooden Gresley coach that wouldn't be a problem. Otherwise I've been impressed by the way it's taken paint and gone together and I wouldn't hesitate to build another.

[Chas Levin]

Very nice