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Black Country Blues


Indomitable026
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Keeping on the BC topic, my favourite graffiti was on a toilet wall during a pub crawl round Netherton or Dudley in the 70s which read

 

"You don't buy beer - you only rent it"

 

Been part of my life's philosophy ever since....

 

Mike

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EDIT : Paul, I've just remembered something else - I'm pretty sure Avocado Green wasn't introced until late 1973-ish, which means your K' plate might need changing to an M' onwards... the last one (a 3500 V8 'VVC 700S') coming off the line in March '77.

Avocado Green was available from October 1975 as the P6 range was now offered only in colours that the new SD1 would be wearing.

Avocado would have an optional Ebony roof and sills, from this year the roof trim was offered on the 2200 range also.

Depending on which year you pick for the P6, be careful of the seat trim style, interior mirror shape and stem, colour of "wood" inserts and a few other things, not to mention engine options. If I can be of any assistance.

 

Mike. (Not a P6 fan in any way!)

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Having got the roof sorted, before I put it all together the windows, oil cupboard, barge boards and guttering need to be made up.

 

First task was the windows. It would have been nice to get some etches but I've not had any done before and nothing available was a dead fit without modification. I opted for a method I first used about 30 years ago which was to build up the frame and glazing bars with various sizes of microstrip glued to clear poystyrene sheet stuck to a drawing.

 

post-9767-0-90748500-1357495548.jpg

 

This is how the trial came out. Firstly a test fit.

 

post-9767-0-76549500-1357495811.jpg

 

I tried a bit of painting of the back and washed the front with a thin black wash.

 

post-9767-0-37118400-1357495958.jpg

 

On my 17" monitor the last picture appears about twice full size so all the warts are visible especially against the stark white of the unpainted end wall. I've refixed one small glazing bar which looked a bit out and cleaned it up. At life size from 2-3 feet and mounted in the side I coloured up as a paint test it looks quite presentable.

 

 

 

 

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There is nothing wrong with showing a bit of skrim... its after the watershed.

 

 

I did get a shot but then realised that Geoffs piercing saw was between the bridges but if you don't mind that...

This is from the back of the layout looking under the industrial line at the main line and Geoffs quick drying varnish and a pack of very old grout....

 

attachicon.giflotties pics! 023 v2.jpg

The viaduct west of Shoreham-by-Sea is very similar to this one.

 

http://www.glaucus.org.uk/ViaductS.jpg

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Well after the weekend's fun and frollicks the train room has been converted back from a temporary bedroom, the dust sheets are back down and one of the two boards back up to work on again. All my modelling crud that was shoved out of the way in a cupboard is out again too - joy.

 

Action this week is to pick up another couple of low A frames from Ikea on the way home from work - they are ideal for working on boards.

 

Glad folk have enjoyed the photos and videos posted above.  

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Oh, just thought, five weeks today and the layout will be on its way back from the first show!

 

 

 

 

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Flavio, a video to place your buildings in context

Thanks Herr Spams, looks good (and is very much motivational) and I can see the holes for the buildings I'm bunging together, which brings me to:

 

A QUESTION: I'm in London this weekend, with a large suitcase (SWMBO has a "list"..), which means I could bring with me the cardboard mockups of both the Oldbury Road building and the Tennants building and chuck them in the post to the BCB mob - they can serve as placeholders until the "reall" ones turn up. Please let me know ASAP if you want me to do that, 'cos I've got to find a suitable box to put them in (RSVP, in other words)

 

STATUS REPORT:

Well, a complete disaster befell the Oldbury Road building, the - what I thought was - subtle colouring of the brickwork looked utterly hideous when dried. So I had to strip the building back to bare plastic and undercoat the model again. I then painted in the bricks... one by one. The results is now acceptable but will certainly benefit from extensive weathering.

 

Pictures tonight (promise!)

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A whole world of it's own. Luvly :-)

 

Will there be more weathering to blend the colours and tone down the fire escape handrails and the mint-flavoured wall?  :pardon:  

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Yes, lots more blending & toning of colours, but not too much so Chris has no margin to work with.

The colours also look a bit brighter in the image than they really are.

 

Hopefully the junk I add to the yard will again help blend and soften the overall view.

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Just a quick posting to show the current state of play;

 

post-6861-0-19649400-1357584523_thumb.jpg

 

Just a trial assembly, some lettering applied, mirrors fitted and a load on the trailer. 

 

Hopefully, it should be finished on Wednesday and I'll write up details, with more photos, of the last stages of the build then.

 

 

After that, we'll move onto the second BSC vehicle.

 

TBC

 

 

 

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As promised, progress pictures of the Oldbury Road Building:

 

post-123-0-69403600-1357584368.jpg

 

post-123-0-08219300-1357584378.jpg

 

post-123-0-29019700-1357584392.jpg

 

post-123-0-65849600-1357584408.jpg

 

Unfortunately, the various lighting types I have, combined with the cruelty of the digital camera, means that depending upon what lamps are on when I take photos, the final outcome appears variable:

 

post-123-0-90618200-1357584517.jpg

 

However, I can say that the middle image of the above 3 is the closest to "real life" (I paint under a "natural light" lamp, supplemented with low voltage halogens and incandescent lamps - so I reckon it's fairly close to OK in terms of colouring).

 

As mentioned above, I tried dry brushing my brown brick colour over the "mortar" undercoat and wasn't very satisfied with the result, so I ended up painting or touching up all the bricks on the entire building, tedious but it did improve the model's appearance  - the following are some detail shots:

 

post-123-0-28180200-1357584791.jpg post-123-0-61217700-1357584798.jpg

 

Of course, the building still has a long way to go, with painting the undersides of the guttering and the downspouts (I've done the tops) and the assembly and painting of the roof the next steps. Once I've done ALL the construction and basic painting, I then will "grot things up" (like "bigging it up", but grubbier)

 

As always comments, etc....

 

F

 

p.s.I'm starting to think about a Heath Robinson style home tampo printing apprach for the Tennants building - any thoughts/ideas?

 

p.p.s. Chris, can you PM me with your address before Wednesday, so that I can pack the parcel of cardboard mockups on Thursday? Thanks.

Edited by iL Dottore
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