As you can see and following on from yesterdays post I have added some window frames from plastic strip to the 34D printed platelayers hut. I have also put some filler around the top of the chimney breast to simulate the cement flaunching that is there in rea life.
With that done it was out with the rattle can of grey primer to give it a base coat.
Having added some brick detail to the chimney breast of the 3D printed platelayers hut it was time to add some texture to the walls. A sheet of embossed corrugated iron plastic sheet provided this. Some careful measurements and cutting produced the necessary parts.
I even added some plastic strip for the door. Just need to do something about that window and then it will be paint time!
Looks a bit more interesting then what it started out as!
I must admit that when I bought it I did not examine it that closely otherwise I would have noted the lack of any detail surfaces. No representation of brick or stone on the chimney breast or wood planks for the hut itself.
A bit disappointing but not a problem especially when the WMD Stores have the necessary items to improve matters in stock! So work has started on the chimney breast with some embossed brick plastic card being cut to size and glued onto the flat surface of the 3D print.
Took a bit of time but worth the effort. Next up are the walls of the hut which should give a bit more interest to the model.
Given the rather garish nature of the blue paint applied to the 3D printed signal box, it needed toning down. That was done after the tiles on the roof were painted and the ridge tiles painted a contrasting clay colour. Several washes of dilute black paint and gravity have tones it all down making it look a bit more life like.
still a few things to do like glaze the windows but it is progressing well!
I removed the masking tape from the signal box with some trepidation having airbrushed the wooden parts. There is always a danger of bleed through or slight misalignment but happily and probably unusually, my efforts were fairly successful with only a slight bit of bleed on the roof which will be painted over.
With the masking off I attended to the brickwork using my favourite method where the brickwork has some relief to the mortar courses which is the three coloured pencil method! By randomly rubbing the pencils over the brick faces a random and varied brick colour appears whilst the mortar remains a grey colour.
With that done I have started picking out the roof tiles in random shades of grey to provide some variety to the overall look of the roof.
More to do on that but the signal box is taking on some character!
Whilst I wait for the paint to harden on the Italeri Mercedes MP4 truck cab parts I made use of the time by digging out the 3D printed signal box from its resting place on the My Last Great Project 00 gauge layout. Apart from playing operating it over the last few months nothing else has been done to it since probably Christmas time so it is time to get something done!
I had already primed the signal box with a coat of rattle can grey so I had a base on which to put some top coat. As with the station building built from a Dapol kit last year, the woodwork is a dark blue. Given the expanse of wood and the intricacies of the window frames my choice of paint application system was the airbrush! First off though I had to mask the parts that were not to be blue as it would be a job to paint over the blue with other colours.
In the meantime I need to let the paint dry and then see how effective my masking was!
It may look like Pam had decked John at the Ricks By Rail Museum...
It was a case of masking tape woes as I head back to building the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 started at the beginning of the year. There are some cab related parts that require painting on both sides. As is my normal way, I attached the smaller parts to a board with masking tape. The problem was that having been sprayed on one side so long ago, the glue on the masking tape had in the recent heat begun to melt onto the parts that were attached yo it! The result was that I had to rub down a number of parts before respraying them and once touch dry, removing them from the masking tape to avoid another similar woe situation!
The Braham Farish Pannier that I got running for Mr. B had no couplings. I did not have the necessary mounting to put conventional ones on the model so I improvised! Some brass wire was bent to a L shaped rectangle.
Then it was superglued to the rear of the Pannier.
I did paint the brass black but forgot to take some photos before returning to Mr. B! However, at least he can attach some rolling stock to it now.
With the Easter weekend out of the way the Rocks By rail Museum can look back with some pride in having had a great attendance from visitors and providing a fantastic first show in 2026,
There were brake van rides...
Locomotives running...
Shunting in the quarry...
Excavators digging and cabs to explore...
Bacon cobs and drinks to eat at the cafe...
A Weighbridge Office that was officially opened...
