Chuffnell Regis

[Graham T]

I finally got around to adding some details to the Dapol Mogul.  Decided against a front steam pipe, but have added:  screw links, brass number plates, crew, fire irons, real coal.  Time for some light weathering next I think...

 

I also had a play around with my real camera, as opposed to just using my phone.  But unfortunately I haven't read the manual yet (obviously), despite having the camera for years, so most of the pics were only good for the bin!  Here's a few that survived.

 

 

 

[Graham T]

Heart in mouth time as I make a start on weathering 6385...

 

First step was a Mig dark wash on the tender, liberally applied and then almost immediately wiped off with a cotton bud, using downward streaks.  It seems to have taken away the plasticky shine, so I think I'll attempt the same on the loco itself.  Wish me luck!

 

 

And the next step was a mix of Vallejo black and leather brown brushed onto the wheels, as well as the loco steps, the soleplate (?), and the cylinders.  That again looks just subtly different, I think, so I'll do the same to the tender chassis.  I also need to get rid of the various bits of fluff!

 

 

A question for any experts who might be looking in; would the draincocks have been black or something else?  Should I pick them out?  Copper?

 

[MrWolf]

I would say that they were gunmetal/ bronze. Copper is too soft for such castings.

Even if they were painted (not a good idea as it can gum up the taper) they wouldn't have stayed painted for long due to the heat and steam and being remote operated, they need to operate smoothly. 

[Graham T]

Thanks Rob.

 

[Graham T]

So, poor old 6385 has been under the weathering cosh this evening.  Another go with the Mig dark wash, over the loco itself this time, and all the black areas painted with the mix of black and leather brown Vallejo acrylic.  The black/brown mix was done using a sable watercolour brush, which seems to have helped me to (mostly) avoid any brush marks.  I also used some Railmatch frame dirt, Humbrol rust, and Vallejo oily steel acrylics here and there below the footplate.  I can see that I've managed to get too much oily steel in the mix on the tender axleboxes, so that will have to be fixed tomorrow.  The wash is still a bit wet and glossy looking on the boiler below the safety valve as well.  I think some of the wash has gathered under the safety valve moulding and is still gradually seeping out, because I've blotted that area with a cotton bud several times already; hopefully it will dry out ok by morning!

 

As I suppose the Mogul would have been a mixed traffic loco, rather than passenger only, I've tried to make it look reasonably hard-working but not too dirty.  Hoping that I haven't overdone it?

 

I should have put the lamp on when I was doing the weathering, because I've forgotten to paint it as well!  

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe I should add a little brake dust as well, what do people think?  Bueller?

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Graham T
wrong worms

[MrWolf]

Well I think that it's transformed it and reminds me of yet another loco in my collection which needs a little bit of weathering.

 

So I'm taking notes!

[Neal Ball]

The mogul is looking great Graham, I probably wouldn't go any further.... GWR locos were not particularly dirty in the 30's - grubby after a days work, but that would be cleaned off when they were back on depot.

[John Besley]

Bit of brake dust very subtlety would be good. A small scatter of coal dust in and around the corners of the back tender by the tank filler area as well as paint wear from the daily passage of the firemans boots scrambling around there it doesn't take long for the paint to wear back to bare metal in places along with water / rust staining in the corners as well

 

The easiest way to get there for the fireman is over the coal as it saves climbing up the back of the tender, this obviously only works on an engine with a small tender - been there done it and got the T shirt

 

How about a light touch with a graphite pencil to show where paint has worn away on the cab handrails as they wouldn't stay freshly painted for very long

 

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by John Besley

[Nick C]

2 hours ago, John Besley said:

How about a light touch with a graphite pencil to show where paint has worn away on the cab handrails as they wouldn't stay freshly painted for very long

The same with the edge of the cab footsteps as well, the paint soon wears off there. 

 

This is where looking at photos of preserved locos can work, as they too are kept clean, but still develop subtle weathering.

[Graham T]

11 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Well I think that it's transformed it and reminds me of yet another loco in my collection which needs a little bit of weathering.

 

So I'm taking notes!

 

Thanks for that Rob, I'm fairly pleased with how she looks so far.  A little more work required yet though...

 

3 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

The mogul is looking great Graham, I probably wouldn't go any further.... GWR locos were not particularly dirty in the 30's - grubby after a days work, but that would be cleaned off when they were back on depot.

 

I'm fighting the urge to overdo it!  I found an interesting short article here on loco weathering, by Allan Howles.  Personally I think some of his may be a little too dirty for my liking, but then I guess it's all a matter of taste (I can sense Cupid Stunt waiting in the wings...)

 

3 hours ago, John Besley said:

Bit of brake dust very subtlety would be good. A small scatter of coal dust in and around the corners of the back tender by the tank filler area as well as paint wear from the daily passage of the firemans boots scrambling around there it doesn't take long for the paint to wear back to bare metal in places along with water / rust staining in the corners as well

 

The easiest way to get there for the fireman is over the coal as it saves climbing up the back of the tender, this obviously only works on an engine with a small tender - been there done it and got the T shirt

 

How about a light touch with a graphite pencil to show where paint has worn away on the cab handrails as they wouldn't stay freshly painted for very long

 

 

 

Thanks for the tips John, I'll do that.

 

1 hour ago, Nick C said:

The same with the edge of the cab footsteps as well, the paint soon wears off there. 

 

This is where looking at photos of preserved locos can work, as they too are kept clean, but still develop subtle weathering.

 

And that too!  🍻

 

Here's a pic in daylight.  I can only get these in the mornings due to the orientation of my flat.

 

 

 

[Graham T]

It's a weird business, this weathering lark.  I spent a fair bit of time on 6385 earlier today, firtling this and tweaking that.  The axleboxes were redone, some brake dust added, and some graphite rubbed onto the loco and tender steps and handrails, as well as the odd part of the footplate that I thought might get some wear.  I also added some boot-mark wear on top of the tender, as per @John Besley's advice.  That was done by stippling on some soft pencil marks, and then rubbing it in with a cotton bud.  A small amount of rust was added to the tender top as well - although I don't think you can really see it to be honest - and some crushed coal in the corners.  The PVA is still wet on that as you can see.

 

And the upshot of all that work is that the loco hardly looks any different!  But I think I'll leave her alone for now and move onto something else.  (I should probably do some work, for one thing...)

 

Thanks all for the advice, always much appreciated!

 

 

 

 

 

[88C]

I don't Know why I haven't written a comment on here before, I have been following progress and liking what I see.

You are creating a lovely layout and making it look spacious and natural. Well done Graham.

 

Brian

[Graham T]

Thanks Brian, that's very kind of you - and I'm glad that you like it!  At some point the layout will metamorphose into Chuffnell Regis Mk II, which will be similar in layout but more spacious (about 15' x 5').

 

[Neal Ball]

Ages ago @Graham T we were talking about lamps for your Platform at Chufnell Regis. Whereupon we found that seemingly everyone had discontinued them...

 

However, DCC concepts have just introduced some: https://www.dccconcepts.com/product-category/lamps-lighting-and-signals/station-lamps/ 

 

Hope that helps

[Andy Keane]

37 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

Ages ago @Graham T we were talking about lamps for your Platform at Chufnell Regis. Whereupon we found that seemingly everyone had discontinued them...

 

However, DCC concepts have just introduced some: https://www.dccconcepts.com/product-category/lamps-lighting-and-signals/station-lamps/ 

 

Hope that helps

I looked at these on the stand at Warley. The are quite nice but I thought a bit pricey for what they were? Also they make no claims as to company style or colour but the brown did not look far of the GWR colour. 

[Graham T]

Thanks for the heads-up Neal.  They look pretty good but I have to agree with Andy that the price is a tad steep.  I bought some gas lamps a while ago from Layouts4u, which I was very happy with (and not nearly so expensive).  But having just  taken a look at them I think they would only be good for yard lamps (I have one near the engine shed), as they're probably too tall for on the platform.  I would need to check my reference books - yes I do have a few!  If I remember rightly some GWR platform lamps were quite short?

 

[MrWolf]

The posts on some GWR lamps was only 6ft, they also made an extension piece about 18" long as a modification. The actual subject is far too large to elaborate on here.

Let alone all the other pre grouping companies. 

As for the price, I'm rather glad to have non working Oil lamps, as I think that there's eleven or twelve, plus the big yard lamp.

 

That would blow a fair sized hole in £150 with wiring and control.

[Gopher]

11 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

I looked at these on the stand at Warley. The are quite nice but I thought a bit pricey for what they were? Also they make no claims as to company style or colour but the brown did not look far of the GWR colour. 

I installed these lamps (or their very similar predecessors on Dewchurch 2).  Painting them was not a problem, but they seemed overscale to me (as well as being expensive).  I also found it a pain to solder the very fine wires to the small circuit boards.  

 

I came across these at Warley

 

https://www.kyteslights.com/product_info.php?products_id=228

 

Never used them, but they look a bit more to scale for platform lights but not sure if they are proto-typical GWR.  They look the part and are certainly cheaper and easier to install.

 

Like Graham I have used Layouts4you lights on my new layout.  Cheaper and easy to install   

[Graham T]

I'm not intending to have any lights working on the layout, so would balk at paying over the odds for something I'm not going to use.  I think I'll probably go for something from Dart Castings or similar for the platform lamps.

 

[clachnaharry]

Your cordon wagon looks great, and has prompted a bunch of questions as to their use.

 

Were they for supplying gas for station lighting, coach lighting, or both?

Were they dedicated to a particular station - as in restricted user brake vans?

If they were required at a particular station, was there always at least one present there to provide supply, or was the gas transferred to some fixed storage tank? (you might need to build a second to effect the swap!)

Where were they replenished?

Did they usually travel to and from their stations on passenger or goods train?

If they were replenished at a central location (Swindon?), Were they dispatched on any convenient passing goods train or did they leave as a block train for drop off remarshalling at various yards until they reached their destination?

[Graham T]

10 minutes ago, clachnaharry said:

Your cordon wagon looks great, and has prompted a bunch of questions as to their use.

 

Thanks.  I can only answer one of your questions I'm afraid, so for the others I will send up a flare for @The Stationmaster, who I'm sure will be able to tackle them 🙂

 

10 minutes ago, clachnaharry said:

 

Were they for supplying gas for station lighting, coach lighting, or both?

 

I believe for both.  The reason I modelled one is that Chuffnell Regis is (very) loosely based on Lambourn, where they used to house a Cordon for replenishing all the horsebox traffic if I remember rightly.

 

10 minutes ago, clachnaharry said:

Were they dedicated to a particular station - as in restricted user brake vans?

If they were required at a particular station, was there always at least one present there to provide supply, or was the gas transferred to some fixed storage tank? (you might need to build a second to effect the swap!)

Where were they replenished?

Did they usually travel to and from their stations on passenger or goods train?

If they were replenished at a central location (Swindon?), Were they dispatched on any convenient passing goods train or did they leave as a block train for drop off remarshalling at various yards until they reached their destination?

 

Those are good questions - hopefully Mike will shed some light for us.

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

I've just been reading some posts about growing old (dis)gracefully over at Aston.  I'd like to add eyesight, manual dexterity, and patience to the list of things that become more problematic as one accelerates past 50, as I did a few years ago.  Ahem.

 

Proof of the pudding this morning, with my first foray into the wild world of Pressfix transfers.  

 

 

The 3-planker has the Ratio waterslide transfers, which of course I hadn't actually lost, as previously reported.  I was just a little - erm - confused, as to which set of transfers belonged to which wagon!  The Cambrian D1666 of course came without transfers.  Anyway, once I'd sorted all that out in my head, I was able to use a spare set of LMS waterslides from the Ratio kit for the D1666; the wagon number and tare weight are from Pressfix.  Which is why they're wonky 🥸

 

Also, the Pressfix sheet doesn't appear to have any hyphens to put in the tare weight, unless they are hiding somewhere on the sheet in plain sight?

 

 

[Andy Keane]

6 hours ago, Gopher said:

I installed these lamps (or their very similar predecessors on Dewchurch 2).  Painting them was not a problem, but they seemed overscale to me (as well as being expensive).  I also found it a pain to solder the very fine wires to the small circuit boards.  

 

I came across these at Warley

 

https://www.kyteslights.com/product_info.php?products_id=228

 

Never used them, but they look a bit more to scale for platform lights but not sure if they are proto-typical GWR.  They look the part and are certainly cheaper and easier to install.

 

Like Graham I have used Layouts4you lights on my new layout.  Cheaper and easy to install   

I think the Layouts4you lights are the ones I like best in terms of price and shape though the kytes ones are also nice. They all make the DCC Concepts ones look very pricey.

these ones https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts/item-code-lhm611-oo-scale-lampposts-pack-of-3 look rather like the GWR oil lamps while these ones https://www.layouts4u.net/oo-scale-lighting/oo-scale-lampposts/item-code-lhm612-pack-of-3 seem a good match for gas lamps. I think for my period in distant Cornwall the oil lamp effect is what I really want, especially in the yard. I may mix in some "gas" lamps on the platform.

Andy

[Graham T]

I agree on shape and price.  The one I have in the engine shed yard (if that's what it's called), is one of the 611 models.  It looks the part there, I think, but much too tall for on the platform.

 

[Andy Keane]

14 minutes ago, Graham T said:

I agree on shape and price.  The one I have in the engine shed yard (if that's what it's called), is one of the 611 models.  It looks the part there, I think, but much too tall for on the platform.

 

This photo I took of an original in the Helston museum shows just how short platform lamps where in the old days:

This image is around 1910 I believe and the oil platform lamp can only be about 10 feet tall overall judging by the porter standing there.

The photos I have of yard lamps show one that is noticably taller than a 45xx - I guess quite deliberately given locos and stock would be all around the yard and thus shorter lamps would have been of little use.

Edited November 29, 2022 by Andy Keane