Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Scenic details next

[Atlantic 3279]

Kind of Mike and others to comment favourably on the counterfeit!

I'll be amused and amazed if I have unwittingly created something close to a real coach diagram

[manna]

G'Day Gents

I thought they were Hornby's, I wonder if the Hornby six wheel bogie would fit underneath !!! that would make it/them look even more ECJS

manna

[Atlantic 3279]

I suspect that you might have to extend the coach length to something more like a scale 62 to 65 feet in order to make the 12 wheeler "look" work.

[nzpaul]

Hi
I stared at that 3rd for quite a while before I realized what hasn't been done to it. It makes me wonder if I have wasted quite a lot of time chopping things up to make them look closer to the real thing, I need to learn to do better paint jobs.
Quick question, would it be inappropriate to rip off your idea with the clearstory roof on the Hornby coach body ? They look magic and I'd like to have a go.

[Atlantic 3279]

Go ahead. I don't think there's anything wrong with copying a general idea. I pinched at least half of the idea from eleswhere anyway, as we so often do.

[Atlantic 3279]

I should have been finishing off a tender last night, but I decided to have a go at scrap piece of coach as a test piece for the "Howlden look". Fitting the extra glazing bars is a little fiddly until you get a technique developed and the right tools organised, but it is tolerable. These obviously need to align with the existing door tops. In order to see how it might go, I also tried a couple of methods for removal of the ventilator hoods above the doors to create top-lights instead, the latter being far more common on the general style of coach that I'm aiming to produce. Neither drilling out and then filing to shape, nor taking the whole thing out by an attack from below and then trying to refit a door top in the large gap gave me quick, neat, easy results. I may leave the ventilator hood in place!
Also, although I've taken out the piece that you would imagine that I might want to leave in, and left in the pieces that need to come out, you can see that chopping the roof in readiness for clerestory conversion is not a nightmare.

STA78849

[auldreekie]

What implement do you use to cut, and how do you achieve such relatively precise straight lines?

I ask, because I think it is mainly my known proclivity for messing-up such hacking jobs which inhibits me from undertaking serious locomotive-restructuring along lines such as the ones you have demonstrated so effectively!


auldreekie

[Horsetan]

Go ahead. I don't think there's anything wrong with copying a general idea. I pinched at least half of the idea from eleswhere anyway, as we so often do.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[Atlantic 3279]

I was tempted to say that too....


Regarding the narrow straight-line cuts in the model, I always use a fine-toothed razor saw, and if there's no edge or contour line to follow I lightly scribe or knife the intended cut line into the surface first, then run the tip of the saw blade along that line a few times to deepen it before beginning to saw in earnest. For some jobs the fairly shallow blade on a fine toothed razor saw combined with the backing on the blade make it impossible to get the blade in deeply enough, or at the correct angle to complete a cut without causing unwanted damge to other parts of the model. I've catered for this by keeping one of my old saws on which I eased open slightly the folded backing pice that grips the blade. This makes it possible to slide the balde forward in the saw when necessary so that the first 20mm or so of the blade protrudes, backless, from the end of the saw.
You can't hurry the cut with a slim bladed razor saw as you risk stalling the blade in the cut and kinking on snapping it under the momentarily increaed force of the balde. If you are trying to cut accurately then there's no point in trying to hurry anyway, you need instead to watch constantly the progress of the blade so as to see that it is cutting to the intended line. The finest razor saw blades seem to work best, with least tendency to stall, if arranged to cut on the pull-stroke of the saw rather than on the push.

[earlswood nob]

Good morning all
An interesting tip about using a razor saw and moving the blade relative to the backing.
I, also, now prefer to cut with a saw on the pull stroke rather than the push stroke. I have broken less piercing saw blades, get straighter cuts, and less jamming since I've turned the blades round. The finer blades seem to jam less as well.
I must be the world's most inept user of a saw, and for me to get nearly straight cuts is amazing.
Earlswood nob

[auldreekie]

Atlantic,

Many thanks for that response. It's obvious when you know....

Strangely enough, that has been quite a significant stumbling-block for me for longer than I care to think.

I should think it not at all unlikely that some of the sincerest form of flattery may start to be undertaken when present commitments would benefit from a pause (late winter?)....


auldreekie

[Atlantic 3279]

The resin topped tender for Wolf now stands complete all bar final painting. It may be that I should have gone for the reduced-height front bulkhead configuration, but at this stage I'll turn a blind eye to that point. The fittings are a simple approximation to the detailed Hornby original put together from nothing but wire, handrail knobs, rod, strip of waste brass and a spot of solder or glue here and there.
The strong neat steps on the back of the tender were a doddle to make and fit once I thought about it: A piece of wire folded into a tall narrow U-shape and both uprights soldered at right angles across a strip of waste brass. Clip off the excess strip and file up the edges, trim off the base of the U-shape to leave only straight wire, and trim the wire flush to the strip at one side but leaving two legs protruding at the other - plant these in holes in the tender so that the wire is above the tread of the step representing the upturned edges.
I didn't want to bother putting the vent pipes in the bunker, but I knew one of our friendly group would point out my "slack" attitude if I failed to fit them....

[mick b]

Top work Graeme

Hopefully it ends ebay searches in the future

[45609]

..... I knew one of our friendly group would point out my "slack" attitude if I failed to fit them....

Who? Me? I don't do that do I....

Anyway I thought you, in particular Graeme, would be interested to see the results of my efforts on the A1/1 conversion. There's not much left to do now. Nameplate crests, cab glazing, crew and something that I only noticed late last night on the tender. Can you spot it? In all honesty its not that easy on the one photo showing the whole tender.

Cheers...Morgan

[strang steel]

I'm glad that the result seems to be so convincing at first glance. The underframe fittings are no doubt all-wrong, and it may be that the roof ventilator layout is "unlikely" as possibly are the door top vents. I may consider a similar conversion of the equivalent brake compo too. I'm also wondering whether duplicates of the adapted body shell, or possibly just the new roof, ought to be done in resin.
2750, 3390 and 4479 who have kindly "played along" with my little guessing game are now, with my thanks, released from their vows of silence .

I am going to don my tinfoil hat now.....

And just mention that from a pedants point of view, when that particular carriage stops at the station, the only way for 3rd class passengers in compartments 2 and 4 to exit onto the platform would be to go into the corridor and then out through an adjacent compartment. This might cause a little light panic in the travelling public.

However, they do look very good and amazingly realistic.