Green & Grey

[valkyriepm]

3 hours ago, Kamome said:

Looks great!  Perhaps a dull coat spray would do the trick to tone down the shininess. You could also add some brown wash in areas that would collect rain/dirt or stay damp to show some of the oxidisation of the bolts etc..

In addition to what he said, also try whiping out some excess wash with a cotton swab. Also, you should start considering investing on an airbrush if you plan on working on scenery on the amount you have worked lately 😀

 

Martin

[John P Boogerd]

On 3/1/2020 at 10:24 PM, Sheffie said:

The station entrance is done. 

In the end, I didn’t have to bash the kit very much, because I altered my layout a little, which means that there’s room for this at the West end of the platform. There is still a gap under the DX platform end, which I will have to think about.

 

 

The major differences are removal of a wall and roof over the platform steps. I skipped building the kiosk outside the front, and moved the telegraph poles away from the very edge of the layout. So some holes were drilled and others filled with putty. 

 

There will be other fencing along the trackside, later on, and a bus stop outside the entrance. 

 

Overall I am quite happy with the kit although the selection of stickers was s little odd. There were a lot of big advertisements and no obvious place to put them.  I’m still loving the rich red of the roof. 

You have given me some hope. I have an HO Cosmic station kit that is all white plastic and I wondered if I could use brushes and still look that nice. I really don’t want to buy an airbrush kit. 

[Sheffie]

8 minutes ago, John P Boogerd said:

You have given me some hope. I have an HO Cosmic station kit that is all white plastic and I wondered if I could use brushes and still look that nice. I really don’t want to buy an airbrush kit. 

 

I read up on airbrushes in the Tools forum and they sound very complicated. So I’m going to try to get the best results I can using classic paint brushes. 

 

In general it seems like the key to nice brushwork is to get a feel for your paint and how quickly it dries. You need an even coating before the paint is too dry, so that surface tension can smooth out the ripples caused by the bristles. These ripples get worse the more the paint dries and the harder you press down.

 

It’s much easier to get good results with multiple thin coats than with one heavy duty load of paint. If your brush has gobs of paint, you need to spread that over the surface before you can start smoothing it down. 

 

So: not too much paint on the brush, and use quick light strokes to smooth out the paint before it begins to dry. And don’t worry about color coverage. You can always do another coat. 

 

Caveat: I’m still learning, and your mileage may vary. I know that professionals can get away with larger quantities of quicker drying paint, and I’m at the other end of the spectrum. 

[cteno4]

Sheffie,

 

you are on the right track. Thinning your paint to brush well and not glob up or dry too fast is very important in brush painting. Dilution also effects how paint goes on different textures. Again it’s all how you get to Carnegie hall, practice, practice, practice and experiment. I’ve had good luck with very cheap craft acrylic paints when I’ve thinned them properly for the texture I’m painting on. But good priming always helps, especially with cheaper pints. Also wash everything with a soft scrub brush and warm soapy water before any priming or direct painting as the mould release is usually still around.

 

simple airbrushes are not that fiddly if you are using good acrylic spray paints. The cheaper the paint the more they can clog and get fiddlier to clean out.

 

john,

 

on the cosmic kits are they mostly flat sheets of styrene? If so these will be the worst for showing brush strokes. Any texture usually helps kill brush strokes a lot (but with textures you then need to battle with too much paint going down into corners and valleys and any protruding bits getting too much paint brushed off of them) and differences in paint coverage is more noticable. One option is to see what can spray paints you can find in your paint/hardware store. A big can goes a long long way, it’s just finding colors that work. Model spray paints have a broader range of color but are more expensive and smaller cans. There are also better spray heads you can get to get better spray results. Light coats from a bit of distance usually works best. At HO you will have 4x the area to paint so spray cans may be the cleanest option. Practice on some scrap styrene or cardboard to get use to how to do the nice light coats. Practice and experimentation are key here as once you start painting it can be hard or impossible to remove it.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Sheffie]

The middle of the layout is on hold, for now, as my wife and I have discovered Metcalfe Models’ range of stone buildings with a Yorkshire/Cumbria feel. We both feel strongly that these need to be on the layout. 

 

So. 

 

The coal mine will no longer be an isolated industry served by a Kato rural station. It’s going to be a mining village and, if I can make it work, a Settle & Carlisle Line station. 

[Cat]

Ratio models by Peco also have a couple of lovely small stone buildings, a goods shed, engine shed, and probably a few others if you haven't come across those yet.

[railsquid]

Excellent location for a Class 37.

[Sheffie]

Not only is Metcalfe Models slightly cheaper than ordering from an online retailer, their website also lets you download scale floor plans (and building  instructions!) so you can decide if a particular model is going to work for you. 

 

Or just print them at 100% and plan your village!

 

[cteno4]

That’s nice! Next step simple walls and tabs so you can cut out quick and tape up to 3D!

 

jeff

[Sheffie]

While waiting for the card building kits to arrive, I’ve been trying to make sure that everything is ready at that end of the layout. 

 

I had originally planned to use the artisan plaster-cast tunnel portals for my mainline tunnel, but after seeing the quality and price of the Metcalfe Models entrances, I was more than halfway convinced to get a pair of those instead. 

 

And then I spotted a discussion on another forum that questioned whether that model was actually wide enough. 

 

So. 

 

Long story short, trains were run, bits of wood were positioned, bumped, nudged, and adjusted, measurements were made, and it looks like (1) the Metcalfe portals might be 1mm* too narrow (2) the ones I already have are far worse. As in, they’re not even wide enough to fit two Kato tracks with standard spacing, not even on a straight. 

 

So there may need to be some kit-bashing on these card kits to make them work. 

 

* edited to add: this measurement might be inaccurate. The measured separation between the blocks, when trains passed without contact, was 64mm. Or maybe a bit less. I wasn't able to measure precisely. So I suspect that it's going to be possible to arrange a 63mm wide tunnel (the card model) in such a way that the front corner of the loco doesn't catch on the outside, and maybe possibly the middle of a coach will just brush the inside. We'll see.

Edited March 14, 2020 by Sheffie

[Sheffie]

In happier news, I discovered an unused EP481-15R, so I was able to redesign my village station.

It now has a passenger/goods siding (shown here with WaMu-1 and Yo-8000) on the other side of the island platform, in addition to a siding going into the goods shed (shown here with a Taki-15000(?)). I’ve also got various trucks out there as proof of concept for loading operations— you can’t tell from the paper floor plans but there are various loading docks in the two station buildings. 

 

Said buildings are two days away, according to FedEx. I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re like!

[Sheffie]

The first one is always a throw-away.

 

I only need three single track tunnel entrances, so my first attempt at building a Metcalfe Models kit was always bound to be the fourth entrance. I didn't complete the kit, because having built the tunnel entrance itself I didn't feel like there was anything more to learn from adding the retaining walls, so I saved them for possible future use.

 

I also took advantage of the opportunity to experiment with some different approaches to concealing the external corners.

1 is a plain old scored/folded corner for comparison

2 is a double corner colored with a dry erase marker

3 is a Tomix rust pen, showing how easy it is to color outside the lines

4 is painted with my all-purpose magic weathering paint (ivory black acrylic well diluted with 70% isopropyl alcohol)

 

Notice that the designers opted for whitish mortar. This means that many of the edges don't need to be treated at all. Nice.

[Sheffie]

Gradually moving to the more complicated and fiddly work. This is just a shed from one of the workers cottages. 

(For reference, the squares on the cutting board are one inch.)

 

The Tomix rust pen helped on the ridge tiles, and I mixed a slightly darker wash for the corners of the stone walls. I think they will lighten as they dry. 

[cteno4]

Sheffie,

 

check your Michael’s or art store, there are felt pen sets that are shades of gray for doing illustration work that are great for cardstock edges.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Sheffie]

9 hours ago, cteno4 said:

check your Michael’s or art store, there are felt pen sets that are shades of gray for doing illustration work that are great for cardstock edges.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, Jeff. 

 

I worry that felt pens are too clumsy for me in this context. But I’ll think about that. 

[cteno4]

Light application with an art pen usually works well without bleed. It’s the cardstock modelers white edge trick. Experiment some and practice some. Michael’s has discount coupons as well usually!
 

also good to hit the back sides of the card stock with some matte medium and then the outside of the structure to protect from humidity changes. You can always mark up edges after spray as it will help with any potential bleeding.

 

jeff

[Cat]

5 hours ago, Sheffie said:

I worry that felt pens are too clumsy for me in this context. But I’ll think about that. 

Stay away from the Sharpies, they bleed bad and run if varnished.

Micron Art aka Sakura Pigma pens are superb, archival quality ink doesn't run.  Ditto for Faber Castell.

I haven't had any problems with the Prisma Color markers.  They are expensive, so I buy those one at a time at the big box craft stores here in the US with their weekly 40%–50% Off coupons.  I have a couple of Michael's stores on my regular driving routes, so I rarely buy anything there without coupons or on sale.

[cteno4]

Yes sharpies bleed like mad! I only use the sharpies on tomytec plastic models to cover up small dings and sprue cuts quickly. 
 

Some of the alcohol based markers also don’t bleed, but some do. It depends I think on the binder resin used and how heavy the fibers are pressed in the cardstock you are using. I always test on scrap bits to see which markers work and give the desired effect.

 

jeff

[Sheffie]

This one took me all evening. But it felt worthwhile. 

 

The little village is beginning to take shape!

[Cat]

That's a good accomplishment for an evening's work!

[cteno4]

Nice! Cardstock like many things in the hobby are practice, practice, practice! Looking forward to the village erupting!
 

jeff

[Sheffie]

This is, I hope, the most complicated and difficult of the kits in my village.

Officially it’s a parcel office for attaching to their mainline station, but for me it’s the passenger station building. 

I can now, finally, start to build the platform, which will extend to the left in the above pics. 

One major modification I made was to cut the “ramp building” down to a simple ramp. This is much more in keeping with a small village station, I think. 

 

Next up, probably: the goods shed, which will straddle the branch line itself, and allow loading of materials from the mine. 

 

I’ve been struggling with the thought that the “Blue Coal Depot” kit on my shelf just... does not fit in with the rest of the village or station. It’s a rickety wooden structure that obviously wasn’t built to last, and the stonework and sheer craftsmanship of the other buildings make it impossible to believe that this village would be built around that industry. I have not been able to find any other coal or mining depot that looks suitable. The nearest thing is the Settle & Carlisle Line goods shed. So I’m left waving my hands and saying that raw materials (coal or otherwise) are transferred from the mine carts onto the branch line inside that building. 

[cteno4]

Sheffie,

 

are these kits all just preprinted cardstock? Could you snap some picts fo the materials of a kit with a little description? They look nice and a bit different than other kits like this.

 

thanks

 

jeff

[Sheffie]

The materials are of several different types. The newer kits seem to be shifting towards higher tech / quality...

 

 

The majority of the kit materials is color printed, die-cut card. 

 

Every kit also contains a sheet of thicker reinforcement material, also die cut. 

 

These will of course be glued to the former sheets to provide walls that are reasonably strong as well as pretty. 

 

 

Kits may also contain one or more sheets of laser-cut card, which will have the appearance of weathered timber, roofing lead/tar etc. 

 

And of course there are the windows, which are printed onto acetate sheets, providing “free” window frame details. 

 

Bonus point: the instructions are generally very good. Some kits just show you where each part goes, leaving it up to you to figure out the wrong order. Some give you the correct sequence but don’t include more than “insert tab A into slot B”. These ones also provide tips on avoiding pitfalls. 

 

Overall, I’m liking Metcalfe Models a lot. Be aware:

- The customization options are largely limited to not installing certain parts. 

- They don’t have the interior details that would leave you feeling that you ought to install lighting to show it off.

- Don’t even think about buying a kit without also getting a micro glue applicator (a squeezy bottle with a pin-sized nozzle).

- You will have to roll your own chimneys. 

- And of course folded card inevitably shows a white line.

 

Those caveats aside, the models provide a very decent return for the money and for the effort. If you like the look of Yorkshire stone and / or Manchester brickwork, I don’t think you’re going to regret it. 

[cteno4]

Thanks sheffie!

 

really interesting mix up of materials and Manufacturing! Nice reinforcement materials.

 

jeff