Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Scenic details next

[Atlantic 3279]

Put my name down for one o' these, willya?

By all means. Which one? If you're thinking about the chunk of W1, just that, or do you want to see whether I come up with the rear end undergubbins too?

John is wondering whether you still want those coaches, nudge nudge. He's keen to get them packed and sent before his holiday starts.....

a lovely scenic addition

Good idea. Everybody should have one!

an a2/2 cab

Surely the V fronted cab IS an A2/2 cab in original form, for four of the six? File off the extra side vents and fill the remaining depressions in the roof and it's also an A2/1 or V2 cab. Saw the nose of the V off, plate it over with a piece of plasticard if necessary, and then it seems to me that it's also a viable cab for a reboilered A2/2. Am I missing something in your suggestion?

[marksouthcoast]

Not at all. You are spot on as always.

[Atlantic 3279]

Ta for the clarification.

[Atlantic 3279]

I'm in the process of moving on to to making the second half of both of the moulds. I'll show some details later. I also need to remember to make moulds for the rear half of the W1 cab floor, combined with drag beam, the front "buffer apron" that seems to be missing from nearly all available spare A4 shells, and a better version than I currently have of the mould for the side-pieces of A1/1 running plate.

[marksouthcoast]

Could we see resin kits for lner big locomotives as your next project when your current projects are compleat.

[Atlantic 3279]

A touch of Isaak Walton there? Too cryptic?

I still rate full kits as too difficult and time-consuming to produce on a part-time, amateur, hobbyist basis, also they are probably un-necessary when the facility is there to adapt today's good RTR locos, saving the best features and saving cost compared to a full kit-build.

[marksouthcoast]

Fair play sir.

[Atlantic 3279]

Another look at the mould making stages:

1. The rubber has set after the top (first) pour.

2. I've inverted the boxes and detached the bases, and rather obligingly, although the cabs were glued down (no raising of the Titanic unexpectedly this time) the glue has given way just where I hoped it would, releasing the bases cleanly from the undamaged, undisturbed cabs. The "keying" pips and strips have also been left behind in the rubber. This illustrates how invasive the rubber is, creeping into any slight gap in a glued joint and tending to pull that joint apart if "tested". This time I've benefitted from the effect. Quite a layer of rubber had managed to sneak under the rear edges of the V-front cab, rising inside and compressing the trapped air to some extent. Thankfully, the master bodywork itself does seem to have been fully sealed by my efforts, so no rubber has crept through in really awkward places.

3. Closer view of the opened base. I've dug the key strips out of the rubber to open up the impressions for the second rubber pour.

4. The unwanted ragged tongues of rubber have been torn and trimmed away to leave a clean face.

The next stage:

I've built an extra new layer of bricks around the edges of the box and added provision for some large tubular feeds (with conical mouths) to take poured resin down to the depths of the closed mould (once it's made) and some finer breather airways to let air out of the top as the resin level rises. The long mould will be slightly tilted as I fill it to drive air progressively from the deep end first and towards / out of the high end. I hope this will more easily and effectively drive out all air bubbles than my earlier technique of pouring resin into the open bottom-mould and then letting the top part sink down into the resin and cause overflow.

After this, I wiped vaseline on the rubber face, paying particular attention to the keying impressions which must be thoroughly coated with parting agaent but not choked up with it. The vaseline (which I forgot, in a rush, to use in the first pour, hence the leakage) can also be used to block the gaps between the bricks.......

The second pours are setting as I type.

[Horsetan]

.....the last-minute wheel clearance aid, following helpful comment by ****tan......

Did someone call

[2002EarlMarischal]

In my Lego days, (and those were the days when the blocks did not come in all the model-specific shapes and sizes they do now), one had to use one's initiative to create those marvellous figments of imagination. My frustration, being sadly particular about such things, was that I never seemed to have enough pieces of the same colour. Graeme, the assorted colours of your mould boxes suggests you may have had the same problem!

[marksouthcoast]

Lego isnt cheap to buy nowerdays is it on loan from juinior members of the household.

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up. Graeme!

Payment for the coaches is being sorted as we chat.

I'd like the rear end plus the undergubbins, if that's poss?

[Atlantic 3279]

You are obviously an observer of human nature, Mark. The Lego is indeed "borrowed" although the kids in question are now 22 and haven't played with Lego in a long time...

Okay Nige. Hang fire while I get the undergubbins masters made.

[marksouthcoast]

Greame, i see you know how to use household items to your advantage.

[Atlantic 3279]

There could be good news for once. I've now opened up the cured W1 cab / firebox mould and all appears to be as it should. I may try a casting tomorrow.