Traeth Mawr -Painting Season, (mostly)

[ChrisN]

3 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

It may be the angle of the last photo but it looks as if the footboards are not parallel. Guess why I noticed?

I have had a lot of trouble with lower footboards, both their getting brittle over time and getting them properly aligned. And the overall width has sometimes been a problem. My outside framed GWR brakevan for Sarn will not go into the back siding because the footboard catches on the scenery, even though the scenery is outside the loading gauge,

An I have had to replace the time expired footboards on a pair of Rhymney brake vans but cannot now match the paintwork for the rest of the vehicles when touching up the underframe. It wouldn't be a problem but I have no more Rhymney lettering so am loth to completely repaint the vehicles.

But the reason for the post is a bit of a warning that it is very easy to make the footboards too wide as one allows something strong enough to support them and uses available brass angle.  And drawings do not by any means always give the overall width over the footboards.

Jonathan

 

Rats, you noticed!  Yes the footboards are not completely parallel.  I did have a problem with these as I was trying to sink the staples into the MDF.  I tried to drill all four holes and then push the first two in and having attached the footboard make sure it was parallel, then add the other two.  It was not so easy.  I use plastic strip, reinforced with an 'L' shaped piece at the back, but of course, as you need to cut out a recess for the axle boxes the whole thing is quite flimsy.  A thicker strip would be stronger but then it would look overscale.

 

Thank you for the warning on width.  They did look a bit wide to me, so I ran it through the station and it seemed fine.  I do not think that there will be anything in future that might cause trouble.

[brumtb]

On 30/06/2024 at 09:12, corneliuslundie said:

 

An I have had to replace the time expired footboards on a pair of Rhymney brake vans but cannot now match the paintwork for the rest of the vehicles when touching up the underframe. It wouldn't be a problem but I have no more Rhymney lettering so am loth to completely repaint the vehicles.

 

I'd have thought that, by their very nature, individual footboards would  quickly weather to varying shades of their original colour. So you could make a feature of their differences?

Tony

[ChrisN]

41 minutes ago, brumtb said:

I'd have thought that, by their very nature, individual footboards would  quickly weather to varying shades of their original colour. So you could make a feature of their differences?

Tony

 

Tony,

Yes, I think I have done that on previous ones.  Maybe I shall paint them a wood colour and dry brush black.

[corneliuslundie]

It wasn't the actual footboards which were the issue, but the solebars after I had removed the old footboard supports and replaced them with brass ones. It wasn't obvious as a problem until the paint dried. If I had known in advance I would have tried to keep the new paint to the solebars, but as some of the body paintwork had been damaged a bit I touched that up too.

Anyway, this is Chris's thread, not mine.
But it gives me a chance to say that I like the siphons. It is a pity the Cambrian ones are too modern for Chris.

Chris

[Dana Ashdown]

On 29/06/2024 at 16:50, ChrisN said:

I thought, what colour should I paint the running board, footboard and even the solebar?

The sole bar should be black, but for the turn-of-the-century era, I paint running and footboards a woody colour. I found that on on the Ratio four-wheelers, you can get a weathered look by allowing some of the black plastic to show through.

 

There is a Humbrol colour (not the wood one) that works well for wood, but I can't remember which one — I think its No. 93 Desert Yellow.

 

 

[ChrisN]

1 hour ago, Dana Ashdown said:

The sole bar should be black, but for the turn-of-the-century era, I paint running and footboards a woody colour. I found that on on the Ratio four-wheelers, you can get a weathered look by allowing some of the black plastic to show through.

 

There is a Humbrol colour (not the wood one) that works well for wood, but I can't remember which one — I think its No. 93 Desert Yellow.

 

 

 

Dana,

Just the one I do not have.  😒

 

One more to buy! 🙂

 

(In looking to see if I had it I found 121 which was 'missing'.  Hiding in the wrong drawer.)

[Dana Ashdown]

Chris,

 

I checked my paint box, and it is No.93

[ChrisN]

It is summer, and the back door is open.  This means that I can get my paints out as the smell will disappear.  (I can paint in winter, and sometimes do, but I hide upstairs in the railway room so it is a bit anti-social.)

 

I have been painting the station building.  I decided, after a couple of tries with other greys that Humbrol 246, Grauviolet was the best.  I decided that I would use a modified @SteamingWales method of doing the mortar.  The method is basically painting the stonework in enamel, and then painting the mortar using acrylics.  This was then wiped at an angle to mortar lines, then when it was dried, wiping the stonework again with a cotton wool bud dipped in acrylic thinners.  I am not sure how well it worked, but here it is.

 

 

The stone painted, the plain stone will be painted later.

 

Then with added darker areas, I only used one colour.

 

 

Then the end.

 

 

So mortar was painted and wiped.

 

 

Plus the end.

 

 

When having used this method on brick it has never been this pale, but perhaps that was because I used enamels for the mortar and it had not dried as much   Hmmm.

 

Then cleaned,

 

 

and the end,

 

 

 

It looks too pale to me, here is what it should look like.  This is downloaded from my favourite web site, but I could not find the original.

 

 

The big difference is that the stone blocks are much bigger on the station at Barmouth.  I thought before I made it that I should try and find a bigger set of stonework, but in the end thought I was wrong and decided against it.

 

The stonework on Mr Price's house is bigger, but still seems small compared to the stonework on the photos of the house in Barmouth.  I asked Squires at Expo EM if I could see the Southeast Finecast '0' Gauge embossed stone, and they said, "We have not brought any, as this is a 4mm show........"

 

If you have been, thanks for looking.

 

 

 

[Mikkel]

Hi Chris, for me the bigest visual difference between your station and that at Barmouth is the absence of the large square blocks. Did you use the SEF stone sheets?

 

 

 

 

[Donw]

 

This is the only one to hand as most on here disappeared in the great crash. It does look darker than I remember

 

Don

[ChrisN]

47 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Hi Chris, for me the bigest visual difference between your station and that at Barmouth is the absence of the large square blocks. Did you use the SEF stone sheets?

 

 

 

 

 

Mikkel,

No, I used Slater's stone sheets.  I am using SEF stone sheets on Mr Price's house.  The blocks are bigger, so are the mortar courses, and this looks right for the house but even so the blocks still look too small.  Perhaps I should have done what I first thought and used the SEF above the top plain course of stone.

[ChrisN]

I have started painting Mr Price's house.  (Yes, I know, I know, you usually paint it when you have finished it, but you  do not have Mr Price, or even Owen Price asking, Ad nauseum, 'When is my house going to be finished?')  Also, it is easier to paint this one before the windows go in.  So, this is what it looks like, after a first coat.  (Of paint that is, too hot for an actual coat.)

 

It has the sort of mottled effect that I have been wanting.  It might have too much pale. and perhaps I should go over it in patches with a darker colour, not sure about a light colour, although the lintels all have different colourings.  The picture I wanted to show of the Barmouth house, from the 1950s when I went to post it I noticed that it just had a great deal of pointing done on it, so demonstrated nothing.

 

I had thought of using @Simond's method of Polyfilla for mortar on this as the gaps are quite large but now I am wondering, especially if I do not darken it with a complete second coat, if I can do the thinned paint dribbled into the cracks technique?  Just to say that the paint is the same as for the station, Humbrol 246 Grauviolet, and the mortar colour will be the same as for the station, Revell Light Grey acrylic.

 

So, what do you think?

 

If you have been, thanks for looking.

 

[Sasquatch]

Already looks like a Welsh structure to my eye! So, you must be doing something right Chris!!

 

When you find the method that works for you, I say stick with it. Practice makes perfect as they say and if you start using different techniques on buildings in one scene, it might affect the overall appearance of the town which you're trying to represent. 

In the picture of 78000 above  below, the building middle distance has the same "All Of A Piece" look as the main station building. It looks a different shade because the light is falling more directly on it though. (Compare the two walls on the middle of the platform buildings! This looks like a much younger addition, if I'm not mistaken?)   

 

 

Regards Shaun.

Edited July 31 by Sasquatch
To add the image of 78000

[ChrisN]

7 hours ago, Sasquatch said:

Already looks like a Welsh structure to my eye! So, you must be doing something right Chris!!

 

When you find the method that works for you, I say stick with it. Practice makes perfect as they say and if you start using different techniques on buildings in one scene, it might affect the overall appearance of the town which you're trying to represent. 

In the picture of 78000 above  below, the building middle distance has the same "All Of A Piece" look as the main station building. It looks a different shade because the light is falling more directly on it though. (Compare the two walls on the middle of the platform buildings! This looks like a much younger addition, if I'm not mistaken?)   

 

 

Regards Shaun.

 

Shaun,

Yes, I was concerned about the difference between methods, although I am using a different stone sheet which may make a difference.  I think I shall have to do it the long way.

 

You are right about the low building being new.  If you look at this image from 1889, you will see it is not there.  There is a nice train of 4 and 6 wheelers though.

[MikeOxon]

14 hours ago, ChrisN said:

So, what do you think?

It looks good to me.  I think it is often easier to do painting before assembly, when you can place things in the optimum orientations for working on.  It's always good if you can lay the workpiece on a flat surface so you don't have the problem of trying to hold things in awkward positions..

[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]

15 hours ago, ChrisN said:

I have started painting Mr Price's house.  (Yes, I know, I know, you usually paint it when you have finished it, but you  do not have Mr Price, or even Owen Price asking, Ad nauseum, 'When is my house going to be finished?')  Also, it is easier to paint this one before the windows go in.  So, this is what it looks like, after a first coat.  (Of paint that is, too hot for an actual coat.)

 

It has the sort of mottled effect that I have been wanting.  It might have too much pale. and perhaps I should go over it in patches with a darker colour, not sure about a light colour, although the lintels all have different colourings.  The picture I wanted to show of the Barmouth house, from the 1950s when I went to post it I noticed that it just had a great deal of pointing done on it, so demonstrated nothing.

 

I had thought of using @Simond's method of Polyfilla for mortar on this as the gaps are quite large but now I am wondering, especially if I do not darken it with a complete second coat, if I can do the thinned paint dribbled into the cracks technique?  Just to say that the paint is the same as for the station, Humbrol 246 Grauviolet, and the mortar colour will be the same as for the station, Revell Light Grey acrylic.

 

So, what do you think?

 

If you have been, thanks for looking.

 

I usually paint a mortar colour in first as a primer, then dry brush diagonally for the brick /stone work, then dribble in a weak mortar colour where needed and finally touch up different bricks with different shades.

[ChrisN]

27 minutes ago, Isambard Kingdom Brunel said:

I usually paint a mortar colour in first as a primer, then dry brush diagonally for the brick /stone work, then dribble in a weak mortar colour where needed and finally touch up different bricks with different shades.

 

Thank you.  When I do the individual bricks/stones it makes the walls look 'spotty' and only the mortar wash brings it all together.  I probably need to do the individual stones with a lighter touch.

 

I think Shaun is right though, I ought o continue with the same technique, at least for the station building and Station Masters house.  I shall have to think about the rest of Station Road.

[Dana Ashdown]

The Station and Mr. Price's house both look fine to me. I think the lighter colouring of the station walls actually shows the detail better than if it had been darker.

[ChrisN]

2 hours ago, Dana Ashdown said:

The Station and Mr. Price's house both look fine to me. I think the lighter colouring of the station walls actually shows the detail better than if it had been darker.

 

Dana,

Thank you. I am certain that it looks so light because the blocks really ought to be larger.

 

I have decided to give the house walls walls a second coat, as I think Shaun, @Sasquatch, is right and to use a different method would make them look too different.  Therefore, I need to do a second coat so that when I do the mortar it is not too light.

 

One thing I have noticed is that on modern photos the stones have a brown tinge, as compared to the photo posted above which is at least 60 years old, so perhaps it is due to further ageing, or as there is less smoke about things are growing on it, or camera/ film sensitivities are different................

Either way there appears to be a brown tinge in Barmouth in the 21st century, but I am sure I have seen pictures of Traeth Mawr in 1895 to show that it is merely grey

[corneliuslundie]

The "right" colour is very subjective and also depends on a large number of factors: the film used if a photograph, the weather, the time of day, the surroundings, the distance for a start. I have seen a pair of photos of the same loco in the same location taken a few minutes apart on the same film where you would not think it was the same colour, simply because the light had changed - probably the sun had come our or gone it. And the most important factor is the lighting under which the model will be seen on the layout, as opposed to on your workbench or in the garden when being sprayed. Basically, what is right is what looks right to you in the circumstances you are seeing it.

Jonathan

[ChrisN]

1 hour ago, corneliuslundie said:

The "right" colour is very subjective and also depends on a large number of factors: the film used if a photograph, the weather, the time of day, the surroundings, the distance for a start. I have seen a pair of photos of the same loco in the same location taken a few minutes apart on the same film where you would not think it was the same colour, simply because the light had changed - probably the sun had come our or gone it. And the most important factor is the lighting under which the model will be seen on the layout, as opposed to on your workbench or in the garden when being sprayed. Basically, what is right is what looks right to you in the circumstances you are seeing it.

Jonathan

 

Jonathan,

Yes, I agree with you.  Trying to get the 'right' colour is difficult.  The photo above with the new small  building that is grey, in a later photo the building appears to be brown.  I probably should drive to Barmouth and look at the station, and the house, taking my walls with me, then, so as not to forget the colour, which is most probable, I should sit on the platform and then in Cumberland Place and paint it there.

 

 

Perhaps not.  I would also need to know how the stones have weathered in the last hundred and thirty years.

 

(My method of making sure I get the colours exactly right is to paint something then say to Mr Price, "This is correct?  Please tell me if it is not."  He never disagrees with me."  😉)

 

Note how large to stone are in comparison to the SEF sheet.

[corneliuslundie]

"I probably should drive to Barmouth and look at the station, and the house, taking my walls with me"

On a sunny day or a rainy one?

Probably the latter as we are talking  about Wales.

Jonathan

[MikeOxon]

8 hours ago, ChrisN said:

then say to Mr Price, "This is correct?  Please tell me if it is not."  He never disagrees with me.

You can;t do better than that.  Anything based on how it looks today is pure speculation.

[ChrisN]

4 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

"I probably should drive to Barmouth and look at the station, and the house, taking my walls with me"

On a sunny day or a rainy one?

Probably the latter as we are talking  about Wales.

Jonathan

 

2 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

You can;t do better than that.  Anything based on how it looks today is pure speculation.

 

 

After what Jonathan said, I was doing the second coat in a thunder storm!  Ok, I was inside, but I did think it funny.

[Donw]

Do not forget in the past there was a lot of sooty deposits from coal fires. 

 

Don