Rob's 7mm Rolling Stock Workbench

[Robpulham]

You may perhaps find the attached of interest. Just a shame I couldn't afford to take many colour photos of all the interesting stuff about. Hope the attachment works; 'preview' doesn't show it.

That's brilliant, thanks for sharing it.

[Robpulham]

My New Years resolution is still holding firm with shelf queens being worked on and completed.

The next long time inhabitant of my work bench is the Connosseur LNER refrigerator van. It has been painted fo quite some time but I had misplaced the buffers!

Buffers found body weathered by Chris and chassis weathered by me - my very first attempt at weathering.

I had the figure lying about too, I seem to recall it coming with a brake van kit but I struggled to fit him appropriately until I spied the ladder and tried him for size. It does restrict what I ought to do with the wagon - i.e. have it sat stationary in a siding but as always rule one applies......











The bogie coal wagon is now drying after it's trip through the Wakefield weathering workshop.

[will5210]

Super job!

[Robpulham]

Thanks Will.

[Robpulham]

Chris has finished weathering the Bogie Coal wagon so it will now joint the fleet. She went for a grubby used look as opposed to a rusty and decayed.

We tried something a bit different in terms of gluing the coal in on this one - using satin varnish (the water based type) and it has come out very well with a lot less needing remedial treatment than the last time that I used dilute PVA.

[52D]

Good to see yer man on the ladder adhering to the at least 3 points of contact rule whilst climbing. You've just passed an HSE test lol.

[Robpulham]

Good to see yer man on the ladder adhering to the at least 3 points of contact rule whilst climbing. You've just passed an HSE test lol.

[Robpulham]

Seeing Ian G's efforts on weathering wagons has stirred me to have a go myself rather than relying on Chris to do it for me.

Some time ago this featured on my work bench - a Slaters Midland open wagon.



It now look like this......

[Robpulham]

I am still working away on the can for my A3 which is now ready for glazing but in between that I have been progressing the shelf queens and doing some more weathering.

First up is the Slaters Midland van that featured earlier in the workbench. This is a joint effort in so much as Chris had made a start by weathering the roof and I picked it up and did the body and underframe. Some said to me that weathering is addictive and I have to agree...

[Robpulham]

After developing my techniques on the LMS van I started on an LNER Plate wagon another Parkside kit that graced the pages earlier.









That's all for now but I will probably start on another tonight in between other jobs.

[Robpulham]

I made a start on another wagon last night and made a discovery that I thought worth sharing.

When using enamels I am aware of and have used the technique of using a cotton bud soaked in white spirit to remove unwanted enamel paint - as long as it hasn't been on too long. I have seen examples of the technique used in weathering.

What I didn't know or appreciate until last night was that you can do something similar with acrylics by using a cotton bud soaked in meths.

These are a few shots of the wagon that I am now working on that I used the technique on last night.








It has quite some way to go but I feel that I have a bit more freedom to experiment knowing that even when it's gone on quite thick and had some drying time it's still maneuverable.

[Robpulham]

A bit more work on the bolster wagon revealed that you can in fact take the acrylic weathering coats back to the base paint finish with a cotton bud and meths - assuming that you have left that to dry long enough.

The wagon that I am working on has had it's grey top coat for 12 months or more and I haven't been brave enough to try it on something that has been painted recently. But I may for curiosities sake - I have a couple of wagons that are ready for transfers that have been painted in the last couple of weeks, so I will try a little on the undeframe to see what happens.

[Robpulham]

The bolster wagon is now finished unless I get feedback on what might be missing....

The Parkside kit very usefully comes with chains and shackles, so it would have been rude not to add a load to be shackled down!













The load is made from bamboo barbecue skewers - really good value at 69p per pack.... I didn't use a whole pack and the pointy ends will make another load for a different wagon (I just have to built it....).

[Robpulham]

In between the weathering projects another couple of shelf queens have reached completion.

First up is the GWR Horsebox that I started some time ago followed by an LMS Brake van. Both are from the Parkside stable and make up into nice models, albeit that the steps are quite vulnerbale on the brake van - they have been stuck back on at least three times....





The groom is modified from a Slaters seated figure - I am not really sure what he was meant to be but I filed his hat to represent a flat cap.







I have left the roof loose so that I can get in to weather the insides of the verandas.

[Robpulham]

Continuing the Bolster wagon theme, here is another heavily weathered LNER example. This time a Parkisde LNER 20 ton Hopper wagon.

I have a couple of the DJH/Piercy kits for a couple of these too when I get to them.