4mm & 7mm Llanfair ....

Quintus

Western Thunderer
If I may comment , not wishing to pre empt Larry's reply, I had a very bad experience spraying varnish from an aerosol onto a recently completed 7mm coach side, which lifted the paint, resulting in a terrible mess. I had sprayed prescision paint with my airbrush, and thought acrylic varnish would be OK. I came to the conclusion that it was the propellant in the aerosol that caused the problem rather than the varnish itself.
regards
Mike
 

daifly

Western Thunderer
While awaiting a signalbox kit, I decided to spruce up a second-hand Small Prairie by rubbing off the original insignia, spraying it lightly with Halfords Satin Black and affixing large pre-1956 totems, varnished with Halfords Satin Lacquer.

The totem are 9mm high off Methfix sheet B3, replaced in later years by BR Sheet 14. Transfers on the latter sheet were slightly larger with the large BR totem coming out at 10mm high.

I intend making up a new smokebox number plate. 4560 worked on the Cambrian section in BR days...
View attachment 213649
I think we've discussed totem sizes before.

4560 nr Afon Wen 1956 PC.jpeg
4560 near Afon Wen 1956 - photographer unknown

'Nuff said!

Dave
 

sjp23480

Member
If I may comment , not wishing to pre empt Larry's reply, I had a very bad experience spraying varnish from an aerosol onto a recently completed 7mm coach side, which lifted the paint, resulting in a terrible mess. I had sprayed prescision paint with my airbrush, and thought acrylic varnish would be OK. I came to the conclusion that it was the propellant in the aerosol that caused the problem rather than the varnish itself.
regards
Mike
Mike (@Quintus)

This is also my experience of using Halfords Satin lacquer, I also found the nozzle (at least the one I have) tends to spatter and delivers the lacquer in more of a stream than a fine mist.

Should I persevere and buy another can from Halfords and try again?

Stephen
 

PhilH

Western Thunderer
If I may comment , not wishing to pre empt Larry's reply, I had a very bad experience spraying varnish from an aerosol onto a recently completed 7mm coach side, which lifted the paint, resulting in a terrible mess. I had sprayed prescision paint with my airbrush, and thought acrylic varnish would be OK. I came to the conclusion that it was the propellant in the aerosol that caused the problem rather than the varnish itself.
regards
Mike

Is the problem that while enamel might be touch dry fairly quickly it takes days for the solvents to evaporate fully, and spraying acrylic before this process is completed effectively seals the solvent in and causes the problem ?
Note I put this as a query rather than a statement and confirmation or otherwise would be helpful.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Been tied up with non-railway matters, so this is the first visit to WT for a few days.

Halfords Acrylic Varnish aerosols: I used the satin varnish straight from the can on the 45xx loco, but it was on top of Halfords satin black anyway. I have not had any problems on top of enamel paint, but enamel was only on the running plate. I often decant the varnish into a spraygun for a finer spray when spraying 4mm scale locomotives. Always best to test things beforehand.

diafly, thanks for uploading the picture of 4560. Sods law that it carried the early small BR totem. My mistake, so the loco will have to carry a different number now.

EDIT: I have since come across three photos of black 4560 with small totem. So I have an alternative 'Cambrian' choice of 4549 with large totems.
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
If I may comment , not wishing to pre empt Larry's reply, I had a very bad experience spraying varnish from an aerosol onto a recently completed 7mm coach side, which lifted the paint, resulting in a terrible mess. I had sprayed prescision paint with my airbrush, and thought acrylic varnish would be OK. I came to the conclusion that it was the propellant in the aerosol that caused the problem rather than the varnish itself.
I can imagine the anguish. I've used cellulose since the early 1960's, mainly for speed. Anyone remember the 'Celspray' spraygun? It was like a scent bottle with a hand activated bulb. I once sprayed 50 Hornby TT gauge coaches for George Mellor (GEM) using the darn thing. You should have seen the sags across my hand. By 1970 I was using a DeVilbis Type M miniature spraygun while dad built me a compressor.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Signalbox 'new', number goodness knows what, has been completed after two weeks of hard going. New spectacles allowed me to continue driving while reading became actually a pleasure. Then disaster struck with what was thought to be an eye infection. A week later a piece of wood was found embedded in the eye. It has been removed and I am now on antibiotics to prevent infection.

Anyway, Rail Model agreed to produce for me a right-handed version of their 4mm scale Llansantfriad signalbox. The parts helped me produce something akin to the box at Llanfyllin. The typical Cambrian wavy bargeboard trim is from Intentio as is the signalbox door and roofing slate....
WEB Signalbox new 1.jpg

The face of the locking room is below platform level and the entrance has steps down to the door. The gate was built from Plastikard...
WEB Signalbox new 2.jpg

The chimney stack and pot are 3D resin. An interior was added plus a signalman. I realise the brickwork is very simplistic, but it matches my other buildings and actually didnt look bad to me before I had an eye test....haha.... :D
WEB Signalbox new 3.jpg
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
The track needs to be sprayed with Howes Sleeper Grime to make an impression on the baseboard, then glued & ballasted down in convenient sections. I didn't have a catchpoint for the coal siding, so a point was used. Empty coal wagons could be pushed by hand into that short stub.....
WEB Track new 3A.jpg

Update : Bullhead track with flat bottom points below. All flat-bottom in picture above. Sprayed Howes Sleeper Grime....
WEB Track new 4A.jpg
 
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LarryG

Western Thunderer
The two sunny days we had at the beginning of the week were too hot for gluing down track using the glue & ballast in one go method. Since then, we've had more than a months rainfall in two days in North Wales. I've noticed water on the railway baseboard via a split roofing board, but there is no chance of investigation yet.
 

Richard Gawler

Western Thunderer
I've just done a test area using Ballast Magic. This is a powdered glue you mix with the ballast and set off with a mist of water. My result wasn't strong enough for a permanent installation, but it was strong enough to stay put while I added a dribble of diluted pva. The result has set rock hard so good for a siding, less so for a main line.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Track laying today at long last after months of messing about.....
WEB Track new 5A.jpg

Track laid aside while neat PVA brushed onto baseboard....
WEB Track new 5F.jpg

Track laid and ballasted before noon.....
WEB Track new 5B.jpg

All done by late afternoon....
WEB Track new 5C.jpg

Buildings in place just to see how things looked.....
WEB Track new 5D.jpg

Ballast was a mix of fine light grey and fine dark brown to give a speckled finish.....
WEB Track new 5E.jpg
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Please Larry, are you using the PVA neat to do this or are you adding something into it to help it percolate upwards?
It's neat PVA, and the best I've found yet. It is applied thickly with a soft 3/4" brush. Track is lowered onto it and straightened with 3' steel ruler, then ballast poured on. It is firmly tamped with the fingers and hand for a while and the track re-checked in case it had moved. Then strips of 3" x 1" timbers placed on the track with heavy books on top.

Only after the lot is dry do I vacuum off the surplus ballast. This way, the PVA has time to peculate and attach a thicker layer of ballast.
 
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