Cookie's Workbench - 7/8ths Alan Keef K40
- Thread starter Steve Cook
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Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Thanks for all of the kind comments Gents, much appreciated.
I hear ya ;D Brake lever back in the 'off' position... :
CME - think the best way to answer your question is a list of what I did on the wagon:
Once everything has been assembled and given a coat of primer -
Interior Woodwork:
Base coat of beige scrubbed on.
Drybrush with above, mixed with different amounts of light grey, dark grey, white and brown.
Dirty wash of black / brown mix
Drybrush again
Spillage put down with blend of black/brown/grey paint (from now on known as BBG)
Ground pastels applied (blend of BBG)
Ironwork / Wheels:
Painted with mix of BBG for base coat.
Various shades drybrushed over top (grey, beige, brown, black - either as colours on their own or added to base mix)
Bodywork:
Base coat of wood colour applied using beige, brown and grey.
Maskol applied
All painted again with thin coat of primer
Diamonds stenciled on with white
Diamonds faded using Isopropyl Alcohol (diluted 75% strength)
Maskol removed
Drybrush with various shades of grey (in upward direction)
Drybrush with light grey in downward direction.
One coat of dirty wash
Another bit of drybrushing
BBG pastels dusted on, then taken off, then applied again.
HTH
Steve
28ten said:
I hear ya ;D Brake lever back in the 'off' position... :
CME - think the best way to answer your question is a list of what I did on the wagon:
Once everything has been assembled and given a coat of primer -
Interior Woodwork:
Base coat of beige scrubbed on.
Drybrush with above, mixed with different amounts of light grey, dark grey, white and brown.
Dirty wash of black / brown mix
Drybrush again
Spillage put down with blend of black/brown/grey paint (from now on known as BBG)
Ground pastels applied (blend of BBG)
Ironwork / Wheels:
Painted with mix of BBG for base coat.
Various shades drybrushed over top (grey, beige, brown, black - either as colours on their own or added to base mix)
Bodywork:
Base coat of wood colour applied using beige, brown and grey.
Maskol applied
All painted again with thin coat of primer
Diamonds stenciled on with white
Diamonds faded using Isopropyl Alcohol (diluted 75% strength)
Maskol removed
Drybrush with various shades of grey (in upward direction)
Drybrush with light grey in downward direction.
One coat of dirty wash
Another bit of drybrushing
BBG pastels dusted on, then taken off, then applied again.
HTH
Steve
lancer1027
Western Thunderer
Hi Steve , i have to agree with the others, the weathering is absolutely FANTASTIC 
Thanks for posting the pics and also the proceedure for achieving that result.
Rob :wave:
Thanks for posting the pics and also the proceedure for achieving that result.
Rob :wave:
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Dragged my Pannier out of its box this afternoon to see if anything could be done about pulling the wheels out from a back to back of 39.5mm to a more ScaleOne32 size of 42.25 mm.
In short the answer is yes, nothing more complicated than dropping the wheels sets out, cutting a small slot into a thick M8 washer and using said washer to spread the load onto the back of the wheel as its pulled out.
Alas, the good news pretty much finishes there! At the new b2b, the front face of the wheels hit the brake pullrods, the brake shoes sit against the wheel flanges, the pickups are miles away from the wheel backs and the combined width of the wheelsets is so large that they only just fit into the cutouts in the footplate. You could live with the footplate issue by limiting the sideplay to a maximum of 1mm, but I need a little more than that with 9' radius curves in the garden. There is a bit of positive light in that the splashers could actually have backs to them at the new b2b which would look a lot better.
The chassis is unfortunately soldered together, so despite the initial promise of being able to pack out the bolted spacers, jacking the frames apart by the same amount that the b2b has increased by involves a complete strip down and paint job.
At this point, I am drifting a long way from the hoped for easy solution, and I've currently got a Pannier with mis-matched wheels sets which isn't going anywhere!
The obvious, if expensive, fix is to get new wheels with a width much closer to scale, rather than the 6mm that the current ones are. This would solve all of the clearance issues (perhaps bar the brake shoes, but small job to tweek out) and only leaves the pick up issue which I need to deal with anyway.
At least I've managed to answer my question, 'Is there an easy and cheap way of getting the Pannier to ScaleOne32 standards (ignoring wheel width and flange profile' - No. Bugger.
In short the answer is yes, nothing more complicated than dropping the wheels sets out, cutting a small slot into a thick M8 washer and using said washer to spread the load onto the back of the wheel as its pulled out.
Alas, the good news pretty much finishes there! At the new b2b, the front face of the wheels hit the brake pullrods, the brake shoes sit against the wheel flanges, the pickups are miles away from the wheel backs and the combined width of the wheelsets is so large that they only just fit into the cutouts in the footplate. You could live with the footplate issue by limiting the sideplay to a maximum of 1mm, but I need a little more than that with 9' radius curves in the garden. There is a bit of positive light in that the splashers could actually have backs to them at the new b2b which would look a lot better.
The chassis is unfortunately soldered together, so despite the initial promise of being able to pack out the bolted spacers, jacking the frames apart by the same amount that the b2b has increased by involves a complete strip down and paint job.
At this point, I am drifting a long way from the hoped for easy solution, and I've currently got a Pannier with mis-matched wheels sets which isn't going anywhere!
The obvious, if expensive, fix is to get new wheels with a width much closer to scale, rather than the 6mm that the current ones are. This would solve all of the clearance issues (perhaps bar the brake shoes, but small job to tweek out) and only leaves the pick up issue which I need to deal with anyway.
At least I've managed to answer my question, 'Is there an easy and cheap way of getting the Pannier to ScaleOne32 standards (ignoring wheel width and flange profile' - No. Bugger.
Simon
Flying Squad
Curses!
Well, if you do end up going for new wheels you can console yourself with the fact that you will undoubtedly have sorted out its slightly graunchy running too
.Now if we had a ScaleOne Society you, oops I mean we, could be lobbying all those clever manufacturers to design new products with consideration for "scalifying" designed in. I don't suppose it would cost them any more to produce such items and it would actually increase their potential market.
I'd vote for you!!
Simon
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Curses!
Well, if you do end up going for new wheels you can console yourself with the fact that you will undoubtedly have sorted out its slightly graunchy running too
Think the graunch is a function of having the motor and gearbox solidly mounted, while the axle and driven gear are free to move on the suspension. I guess the mesh changes depending on which way round the engine is running, which is why running backwards always seemed quieter.
Not sure how big the problem is..... the Autocoach (and by inversion the other Tower coaches) could be converted to ScaleOne32 with hand tools and replacement wheelsets. I'm not sure how many of us are modelling to this wheel / track standard, but I suspect it is not yet anywhere near enough to have a measurable impact on sales.
As for locos - well if they were made with a fine profile wheel rather than a standard profile wheel, there is some merit in being able to pull them out and thus a little increased clearance wouldn't go amiss. If you take the Pannier for example and consider that the wheels are to the Standard standard, with the wrong profile spokes and the crank pins inline rather than inbetween, it seems kind of fruitless moaning about track standards and then accepting that level of compromise (not to mention it would look like the wheels had argued with the frames when you see the gap between them!). Ultimately, whilst it would be nice to have come up with a quick fix, the best option is a new chassis, with decent wheels and a proper gearbox that more accurately reflects what ScaleOne32 is about.
Steve
the trouble is where to stop, what should be a quick project becomes a mammoth task. Im resigned to Mark Wood wheels in the short term and probably a new chassis/coupling rods for the 03 in the longer term.
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Thats the problem Guv. If the wheels could just be pulled out and there were no other issues, I'd be happy to run like that (in the short term) just for the sake of having something capable of running on Simon's track. Once you get beyond that point, might as well go the whole hog....which is what I'm looking at now. Of course, one could just get on with the Ruston, Warship or Class 22, all of which have the wheels to the desired profile, back to back etc....
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
I'm not sure - the current axles are 4.5mm in diameter to suit the roller bearings in the hornblocks. I think Marks wheels would be on 3/16" axles which means I'd need to source and fit new bearings - I've not yet taken it all apart to measure up and see if there are suitable bearings available that would do the job.
Trouble is, at the moment I could get it back together and run it up and down the line in the garden, take any of the wheels off and it suddenly becomes a much larger task to put back together (yeah, I know, wuss
).
Having looked at the motor / gearbox and heard the noises it makes (all of the 03's I've heard have been much quieter) I'd want to replace that anyway. So wheels, bearings and possibly hornblocks, plus new motor / gearbox...that big job again! As an aside, it would be a tragedy to put MW wheels on it and leave everything else!
Trouble is, at the moment I could get it back together and run it up and down the line in the garden, take any of the wheels off and it suddenly becomes a much larger task to put back together (yeah, I know, wuss
).Having looked at the motor / gearbox and heard the noises it makes (all of the 03's I've heard have been much quieter) I'd want to replace that anyway. So wheels, bearings and possibly hornblocks, plus new motor / gearbox...that big job again! As an aside, it would be a tragedy to put MW wheels on it and leave everything else!
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Put the Pannier back together again over the weekend so it remains usable whilst I think about which route I'm going to take in terms of making it ScaleOne32 compatible. With the workbench clean, I thought it a good idea to glue the rail and chairs onto an S scale display track that has been half finished for far too long.
Despite putting the gluing off for a while, it was relatively painless in the end - lining everything up and holding every third chair on the sleeper with blu-tack meant it was possible to check the alignment before it was all stuck down. Its not very big, about the size of an A3 cutting mat and is really just for placing the odd bit of stock on and grabbing a photo.
The rail and chairs are those produced by the S Scale society whilst the sleepers are cut from 0.8mm ply which is also available from the society. The base is mdf, with a softwood box as a track bed, polystyrene filled the gaps and the edging is from hardboard. Grass is a selection of heiki fibres, with ballast from woodland scenics.
The aim was not to go overboard (just act as a nice base for some future models), although as an experiment I have cut all of the keys down so they are offset within each chair
There are quite a lot of grass fibres which need removing and a bit of a tidy up to the ballast edge etc, but its getting there.
Steve
Despite putting the gluing off for a while, it was relatively painless in the end - lining everything up and holding every third chair on the sleeper with blu-tack meant it was possible to check the alignment before it was all stuck down. Its not very big, about the size of an A3 cutting mat and is really just for placing the odd bit of stock on and grabbing a photo.
The rail and chairs are those produced by the S Scale society whilst the sleepers are cut from 0.8mm ply which is also available from the society. The base is mdf, with a softwood box as a track bed, polystyrene filled the gaps and the edging is from hardboard. Grass is a selection of heiki fibres, with ballast from woodland scenics.
The aim was not to go overboard (just act as a nice base for some future models), although as an experiment I have cut all of the keys down so they are offset within each chair
There are quite a lot of grass fibres which need removing and a bit of a tidy up to the ballast edge etc, but its getting there.
Steve
Dan Randall
Western Thunderer
Nice work Steve - I love that close-up shot!
Regards
Dan
Regards
Dan
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Very nice bit of trackwork
Cheers John, I'm sure we can agree on a rate
....now then young man......48DS ??
Ah yes, urm, well, er
No further progress to report I'm afraid I've been rather distracted earning a crust. In fact I can't even remember which section I posted the build story in - I shall have to go hunting (and probably sort some pictures out when I find it, which will keep me busy). I shall tinker with the S Scale track above and endeavour to make some progress soon - just don't hold yer breath!
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Thanks for the positive comments gents
Jordan - A bit of both if I can get away with it. The sides of the rail were chemically blackened on advice from BJ, but the top was just painted to make it easier to try and remove just that bit that the wheels would run on - not sure how well it will turn out, I'll let you know!
S scale is a lovely size Guv, it just requires a certain mindset all of its own IMO. I guess that is part of its attraction
Jordan - A bit of both if I can get away with it. The sides of the rail were chemically blackened on advice from BJ, but the top was just painted to make it easier to try and remove just that bit that the wheels would run on - not sure how well it will turn out, I'll let you know!
S scale is a lovely size Guv, it just requires a certain mindset all of its own IMO. I guess that is part of its attraction
Jordan
Mid-Western Thunderer
I agree. They are a nice "in between" - not so tiny as OO/HO, but not so space-hungry as 7mm . Being "All Imperial" makes it seem just the right scale for good British Trains, too! £.s.d. if you please, Sir - never mind the Euro threat - some of us are still fuming over decimalisation!!S scale is a lovely size Guv, it just requires a certain mindset all of its own IMO. I guess that is part of its attraction
There are a couple of makers of S Scale US-outline trains as well, but prices tend to compare to or even exceed O Scale, not helped by the cost of importing, so I can resist temptation there...