2mm Adrian's 2mm workbench.

adrian

Flying Squad
Hi Adrián
Anything happening here
John
Hi - thanks for the interest.

Little bits and pieces at the moment - the brake vans and open wagons have been finished and painted. I added the transfers to the open wagons and then tried to letter up the brake vans. Which is when I found that the transfers I have are either too small or too large - so that stalled.

The previously available transfers from the 2mmSA small scale suppliers no longer appear to be listed. I was also unhappy with the lettering for the cattle box so I'm currently scanning photos and converting letters and numbers to a sheet with a view to getting some custom LNWR transfers printed.

I'll see about getting and posting a couple of photos in the next couple of days.
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Another small update as I tried to clear the workbench of part finished projects and as promised for @john lewsey .

So the open wagons have been finished, painted and transferred! They will need to be weathered at some point but I'd like to make a few more first so that they can be weathered in a batch - so these are now clear of the workbench.

LNWR-wagon - 1.jpeg

LNWR-wagon - 2.jpeg

So on to the "Crystal Palace" brake vans. The build is completed and they have been painted.

LNWR-wagon - 4.jpeg

LNWR-wagon - 3.jpeg

As you can see the transfers still need to be applied and that's where I ended up going down another rabbit hole!! The transfers I have I had run out of the LNWR of the right size - used on other vehicles. Unfortunately the supplier is no longer listed on the 2mm small scale supplier list.

I was also unhappy with the lettering available for the cattle box and as luck would have it in a recent MRJ Andy Carlson walked through the process of producing custom made transfers so I had already started the process for drawing out the transfers for the cattle box.

Screenshot 2021-01-01 at 21.14.17.png

Unfortunately the numbers on LNWR vehicles are quite distinctive and I couldn't find a standard font suitable. So I had scanned in the letters and numbers from photographs and then used Inkscape to create little .svg image files for the numbers. The letters were fairly easy to align but fiddling with the individual numbers was getting to be a pain. Shuffling them along to get the site and spacing right and along a level axis was very time consuming. As I had other wagons to do I thought that there had to be a better way to do this.

As indicated below each image had to be manipulated individually to get the sizing, spacing and alignment correct.

Screenshot 2021-01-01 at 21.12.29.png

So basically I've ended up creating my own OpenType font for LNWR wagons so I can type in any number or tonnage very quickly.

Screenshot 2021-01-01 at 21.13.13.png

As it is an Opentext font it can be installed and used like any other font. I can easily change the size, it is all aligned along a line. When it is used in something like Inkscape I can modify the letter spacing, kerning, colour very easily.

So it is not a full alphabet - just the letters and numbers required for the LNWR wagons. The other advantage is that I can create the numbers required as one transfer. In all the wagons above all the tare weights are individual numbers all prodded into vague alignment with a toothpick!

So I'm currently go through all my wagon kits and drawing up a list of numbers, tonnage, tare weights etc. to include on a transfer sheet prior to getting them printed.

Screenshot 2021-01-01 at 20.54.50.png

So if anyone else would like to use the font then please message me - it should be suitable for any scale - you just adjust the font size as required! It should be able to install like any other font and be used in any application. Also any feedback on the typeface would be appreciated - I've used high quality photos where possible but I have noticed there is quite a bit of variation in the numbering. I still need to sort out spacing better and I think the "2" and the "8" need a little tweaking but in 2mmFS it isn't that noticeable.

If anyone else is daft enough to try creating their own font then the application I used was FontForge - a free open source application.
FontForge Open Source Font Editor

There is some excellent documentation to walk you through the process.
Design With FontForge: Introduction

Any queries then please feel free to ask.
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Thanks for sharing this, Adrian - for various reasons (the huge variations in what signwriters of varying skills and backgrounds did to wagons being the main one), I've been giving this some thought but failing to do anything very much about it! This might just be the kick I need, but first, there's a certain amount of research required...

Adam
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Adrian - you should make the LNWR Society aware of this. Just might encourage somebody to take up modelling 2mm, or LNWR, or both.

Mike
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Thanks for sharing this, Adrian - for various reasons (the huge variations in what signwriters of varying skills and backgrounds did to wagons being the main one), I've been giving this some thought but failing to do anything very much about it! This might just be the kick I need, but first, there's a certain amount of research required...
Yes I did notice quite a variation in the numbers when trying to find suitable photos to scan and trace. It might be possible to add a couple of variations in the font by using the italic and/or bold options - I shall have to experiment a bit and let you know.
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
So the open wagons have been finished, painted and transferred... Any queries then please feel free to ask.
Adrian (@adrian), not quite as you wrote the post, however I do have a question about those attractive models. I appreciate that there is a multi-volume tome on LNWR wagons and I read regularly my copies; as you have built the models then you are best placed to describe what you have built - diagram number, brake arrangement and period shall be helpful to me and (hopefully) other wagon-o-philes.

regards, Graham
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
to describe what you have built - diagram number, brake arrangement and period shall be helpful to me and (hopefully) other wagon-o-philes. regards, Graham

Open wagons L to R D2 (2 plank), D1 (1 plank), D4 (4 plank) All post 1912-ish because they have LNWR lettering (introduced 1908) but no diamonds (dropped a few years later). All have a single iron pushrod brake, maybe one side or maybe both sides (probably either would be correct). And all quite correct so far as I can see - and very nice too.

The brake vans are both D17b, sometimes referred to as Crystal Palace vans because of the relatively large number of windows.

Mike
 
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adrian

Flying Squad
Open wagons L to R D2 (2 plank), D1 (1 plank), D4 (4 plank) All post 1912-ish because they have LNWR lettering (introduced 1908) but no diamonds (dropped a few years later). All have a single iron pushrod brake, maybe one side or maybe both sides (probably either would be correct). And all quite correct so far as I can see - and very nice too.

The brake vans are both D17b, sometimes referred to as Crystal Palace vans because of the relatively large number of windows.

Mike
Thanks for annotating the different types - mea culpa - as usual I forgot to reply immediately to Graham's query and then it fell out of my head. Yes all the wagons are just single side brakes. All the transfer placement was based on photos in the Wild Swan LNWR books, hence all the variation in tonnage around the wagon. I couldn't work out if there was any logic for the placement for the 6 TONS - there seems to be all sorts of variations, lefthand side, right hand side, split both sides, at the top or near the bottom so I just worked from photos.
 

paulc

Western Thunderer
Thanks for annotating the different types - mea culpa - as usual I forgot to reply immediately to Graham's query and then it fell out of my head. Yes all the wagons are just single side brakes. All the transfer placement was based on photos in the Wild Swan LNWR books, hence all the variation in tonnage around the wagon. I couldn't work out if there was any logic for the placement for the 6 TONS - there seems to be all sorts of variations, lefthand side, right hand side, split both sides, at the top or near the bottom so I just worked from photos.
Hi Adrian , i have almost finished making two of the Majestic 7mm Crystal Palace brake van kits but cannot find what the paintwork colour was inside the verandah . I dont have volume three of the LNWR wagon books to know if that would have told me so is it the same grey as the bodywork . LNWR Liveries seems to skip over what the colour was as well and that is normally my bible .
Very nice selection of wagons that you have there but then I'm biased being mainly an LNWR modeller .
Cheers Paul
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Hi Adrian , i have almost finished making two of the Majestic 7mm Crystal Palace brake van kits but cannot find what the paintwork colour was inside the verandah . I dont have volume three of the LNWR wagon books to know if that would have told me so is it the same grey as the bodywork . LNWR Liveries seems to skip over what the colour was as well and that is normally my bible .
Very nice selection of wagons that you have there but then I'm biased being mainly an LNWR modeller .
Cheers Paul
Many thanks for the comments it is appreciated. My apologies for the delay in responding - I've been out of action for a couple of weeks due to "a virus" - genuine man-flu!!

I'm afraid vol3 isn't much help either in terms of livery. Likewise I had a scan through the LNWR liveries to no avail. Vol3 seems to discuss detail differences throughout their service and allocation, but very quiet on the inside of the verandah. The "works" photos seem to indicate a similar grey to the exterior - however they are black and white photo's so not easy to interpret, I also take the livery in the works photos with a pinch of salt as they seem to be more often than not dressed up for the photo opportunity and maybe not always what was seen in service.

For mine I'm just going to leave them as the exterior colour - the in service photo's just seem to indicate a dark and gloomy verandah so I think the dark grey interior will be representative enough.
 

paulc

Western Thunderer
Many thanks for the comments it is appreciated. My apologies for the delay in responding - I've been out of action for a couple of weeks due to "a virus" - genuine man-flu!!

I'm afraid vol3 isn't much help either in terms of livery. Likewise I had a scan through the LNWR liveries to no avail. Vol3 seems to discuss detail differences throughout their service and allocation, but very quiet on the inside of the verandah. The "works" photos seem to indicate a similar grey to the exterior - however they are black and white photo's so not easy to interpret, I also take the livery in the works photos with a pinch of salt as they seem to be more often than not dressed up for the photo opportunity and maybe not always what was seen in service.

For mine I'm just going to leave them as the exterior colour - the in service photo's just seem to indicate a dark and gloomy verandah so I think the dark grey interior will be representative enough.
Thanks for that Adrian , it was pretty much what i had decided to do .
Cheers Paul
 
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