Tales from The Room of Doom. Dipping a toe in various bucolic backwaters.

[James Spooner]

Rob, it is wonderful to see you back and to enjoy those images of your superbly observed weathering. I also have a Rapido J70, which I have regauged to EM but not had the courage to weather. Is there any chance you could give a brief account of your techniques on yours as I am very tempted to try to follow?

Nigel

 

[Marc Dobson]

Good to see you back.

 

[SimonT]

You have just made my morning. Thank you and Welcome back.
Simon

 

[Ressaldar]

Glad to see you posting again Rob, keep the pictures coming.

regards

Mike

 

[Captain Kernow]

Glad you're back on here as well, old fruit!

 

[Herb Garden]

Western thunder has lit up with celebratory notifications!

Welcome back Rob and with some ex GER traction too! very such subtle and effective weathering. Very inspiring stuff. The wood effect on those tram bodies is particularly splendid

 

[Herb Garden]

Rob, it is wonderful to see you back and to enjoy those images of your superbly observed weathering. I also have a Rapido J70, which I have regauged to EM but not had the courage to weather. Is there any chance you could give a brief account of your techniques on yours as I am very tempted to try to follow?

Nigel

How on earth did you re gauge one? I was put off by the very thought of ruining a very expensive model....

 

[76043]

Yes, seems a fair swap, let's see how Nigel regauged one to EM and Rob's weathering of his J70.

Meanwhile, glad to see you back here Rob and here's a pic or three from Larkrail.

Tony

 

[Narrow Tom]

Yes, seems a fair swap, let's see how Nigel regauged one to EM and Rob's weathering of his J70.

Meanwhile, glad to see you back here Rob and here's a pic or three from Larkrail.

Tony
View attachment 193941
View attachment 193942
View attachment 193940

It's brilliant to see you're back, and even more brilliant to see your fabulous modelling. Inspiration for all.

 

[Richard Gawler]

Rob I am so glad you have returned to WT, it really is heartening to see you back.

I model in an almost monochromatic world of Victorian blacks, greys and whites (occasional reds), and you are reminding me, if I could apply myself to build a layout I can have plenty more colours. The grass, timber and gravel haven't changed over the years and I can visit here to see how it can (should) be done. Absolutely first class.

 

[James Spooner]

How on earth did you re gauge one? I was put off by the very thought of ruining a very expensive model....

OK, and apologies Rob for briefly hijacking your thread. The Rapido J70 has split axles, so not one for the faint hearted. My route was to revert to the old fashioned way of regauging to EM and essentially pushing the wheels out on the axles as far as I could go. It was pretty touch and go as there wasn’t a lot of meat left so, once I was comfortable it ran OK, I filled the hollow with glue. I also had to sacrifice the valve gear as there wasn’t enough space for it and the slightly over width Rapido wheels. I wasn’t overly fussed about that as mine has the full apron.

Nigel

 

[Marc Dobson]

You have answered my question on the J70. I think I might just scale down my Y6 instead. Hoping the Y7 isn't built in the same way.

 

[matto21]

Lovely recent photos Rob

 

[NHY 581]

Afternoon all.

Thank you all for the very kind words and the multitude of "likes" etc.

I actually did little in the way of modelling for a few months and it was the need to apply myself to prepping the layouts for their respective trips out that kick-started the modelling thing again.

The J70s were something of an adventure and in all honesty remain unfinished. Still to finish off are the windows which were plonked back in ahead of Railwells as a temporary job. I simply ran out of time ahead of the show.

That said, I am pleased with how they turned out..

Rob.

 

[NHY 581]

Rob, it is wonderful to see you back and to enjoy those images of your superbly observed weathering. I also have a Rapido J70, which I have regauged to EM but not had the courage to weather. Is there any chance you could give a brief account of your techniques on yours as I am very tempted to try to follow?

Nigel

Hi Nigel,

Thank you. In describing the distressing of the J70s, there will be a degree of duplication in the images I post.

Again, no air brushes were harmed. Paint was confined to a squirt of Humbrol Dark Earth ( no.29 ) applied to the lower parts and sprayed directly down onto the upturned bodies/skirts/ chassis frame etc. Paint was also applied by brush to the cab floors as detailed below. The colours referred to are as per colours of the Humbrol weathering powders.

The only chassis sprayed was that of 68225, the non-skirted job. The other two chassis, being hidden by the skirts, were left well alone.

So, first job was to dismantle the locos, in particular, removing the "wooden" bodies from the chassis and then removing the boiler assemblies. In doing this, reference was made to George Dent's article in the September 2022 issue of Model Rail.




Here is 68223 stripped down. The blue tools etc are from a mobile phone service kit acquired from Amazon which made the lifting of the wooden bodies so much easier.

The skirts and chassis frame were sprayed next as described above.



At this point, I masked off then painted a plank effect on the cab floors at each end using a mixture of humbrol 103, mast oak and number 29, dark earth.

Details were then picked out on the boilers as below.





Once happy, I applied a mixture of smoke, dark earth and dark rust powders to the boiler. All was then sealed using number 49 Matt Acrylic Varnish from a Humbrol Aerosol.

Attention then moved to the skirts.

Some rustage was suggested using dark rust and iron oxide powders applied very sparingly, mainly around bolt heads.

More dark earth weathering powder was applied, mostly working upwards from the bottom of the skirts. Some smoke powder was applied in a downwards direction "Highlights" were added to the edges using white. Top edge working down, bottom edge working up if that makes sense.

A few more photos.

Cab floor now weathered.



Boiler and skirts now reunited.





Dark Rust was added to the skirts, mainly from behind, then toned down using smoke powder.

Here's an out of sequence image of the skirts..



On the chassis frame, bolt heads were highlighted using a pencil.

Again, a cropped out of sequence shot highlighting the bolt heads.



Everything was then sealed using the matt varnish.

A comparison with the then as yet unmolested 68222




Next, I'll describe the weathering of the bodies.

Rob.

 

[James Spooner]

Hi Nigel,

Thank you. In describing the distressing of the J70s, there will be a degree of duplication in the images I post.

Again, no air brushes were harmed. Paint was confined to a squirt of Humbrol Dark Earth ( no.29 ) applied to the lower parts and sprayed directly down onto the upturned bodies/skirts/ chassis frame etc. Paint was also applied by brush to the cab floors as detailed below. The colours referred to are as per colours of the Humbrol weathering powders.

The only chassis sprayed was that of 68225, the non-skirted job. The other two chassis, being hidden by the skirts, were left well alone.

So, first job was to dismantle the locos, in particular, removing the "wooden" bodies from the chassis and then removing the boiler assemblies. In doing this, reference was made to George Dent's article in the September 2022 issue of Model Rail.

View attachment 193967


Here is 68223 stripped down. The blue tools etc are from a mobile phone service kit acquired from Amazon which made the lifting of the wooden bodies so much easier.

The skirts and chassis frame were sprayed next as described above.

View attachment 193972

At this point, I masked off then painted a plank effect on the cab floors at each end using a mixture of humbrol 103, mast oak and number 29, dark earth.

Details were then picked out on the boilers as below.

View attachment 193973

View attachment 193974

Once happy, I applied a mixture of smoke, dark earth and dark rust powders to the boiler. All was then sealed using number 49 Matt Acrylic Varnish from a Humbrol Aerosol.

Attention then moved to the skirts.

Some rustage was suggested using dark rust and iron oxide powders applied very sparingly, mainly around bolt heads.

More dark earth weathering powder was applied, mostly working upwards from the bottom of the skirts. Some smoke powder was applied in a downwards direction "Highlights" were added to the edges using white. Top edge working down, bottom edge working up if that makes sense.

A few more photos.

Cab floor now weathered.

View attachment 193975

Boiler and skirts now reunited.

View attachment 193976

View attachment 193977

Dark Rust was added to the skirts, mainly from behind, then toned down using smoke powder.

Here's an out of sequence image of the skirts..

View attachment 193979

On the chassis frame, bolt heads were highlighted using a pencil.

Again, a cropped out of sequence shot highlighting the bolt heads.

View attachment 193980

Everything was then sealed using the matt varnish.

A comparison with the then as yet unmolested 68222

View attachment 193978


Next, I'll describe the weathering of the bodies.

Rob.

Rob,

Many thanks and I’ll start collecting the requisite paints and powders. Mine still looks very much like the one on the right!

Nigel

 

[simond]

Rookie question unrelated to Rob’s weathering. Apart from the good Reverend, and an 0-gauge Lima-bogie-based caricature thereof built for my (3-yr old) daughter twenty years ago, I know next to nothing of these locos.

what are the chains on the sides for? Do they support the skirt doors in an open position during oiling & service?

 

[Herb Garden]

what are the chains on the sides for? Do they support the skirt doors in an open position during oiling & service?

That's exactly what they are for!

If you want a potted history of the class:

C53

www.gersociety.org.uk

Not to be confused with the earlier 0-4-0 G15 (Y6) class

 

[NHY 581]

Hi Simon.

Yes, as per H.G, you're spot on. The chains, by necessity, are significantly overscale on the Rapido model. I will look to replace with finer chain over the winter but the real thing was very thin in reality so it will be a challenge to come close to scale.



Rob

 

[NHY 581]

Prior to continuing the write up on the J70 weathering stuff, there are a couple of other things likely to encroach on plans to put together a new layout over the winter.......

A continental diversion, with no fixed plans has manifested itself in the form of some rather small Italian State Railways locos. Pencilled in plans are for a very small goods yard simply to allow these little chaps to play about. Timeframe is 1950s ish. No more advanced than that at this stage.

Here are the dinky diesels.















Rob