Make Believe Becomes Believable! The movie!

My chaotic antics with the five Hornby R131 wagons has been recorded by the WMD Film Crew and issued to the World on YouTube! Here it is!

I'm chuffed with how they have turned out!

I started with five of theses a few days ago...

...and with some repairs, upgrades , painting and weathering I ended up with five of these...

...and here are all five on the layout!

I'm chuffed with how they have turned out! I have managed to turn what was a 'make believe' wagon made by Hornby, basically as a toy, into something that actually looks believable and at a total cost including the purchase price of the wagons, of just over £40 which means each wagon cost just over £8. At todays prices you can easily pay over £40 just for one wagon so a bit of a bargain as well especially as it kept me entertained and out of Mrs. Woody's way for a few hours!

It makes things that dull that even cosmic black holes shine compared to it!

More of the repetition as the five sets of parts for the Hornby Flat wagon are sealed with an airbrushed coat of matt varnish. 

I used my favourite brand of varnish - Lucky matt Varnish. It makes things that dull that even cosmic black holes shine compared to it!

With this all done and after it dries I can get onto the final stage of this project - putting things back together! Now that will be one repetitive task I won't mind!

It is more efficient dealing with several of the same but it does also get very repetitive!

The thing about modifying a number of the same model at the same time is that there are savings in time to be made as it is more efficient dealing with several of the same but it does also get very repetitive! Weathering all the parts to the five Hornby flat wagons is a case in point especially as there are twenty pairs of wheels! Enough to drive you round the bend!

However, that works has now been completed!

I just need to coat all those parts with some matt varnish to seal in the weathering. That will be another repetitive job!

Wood would soon get dirty and worn!

The floors of the Hornby wagons look as though they are supposed to represent wood. 

That wood would soon get dirty and worn so my initial coating of a light brown paint needed further work doing to it. Using a mixture of paints of suitable wood like colours, I picked out individual planks creating a more natural look than just one shade of brown. It will also get some weathering to tone it down and bring the colours together but in the meantime I will get on with the other 4 wagon floors that need doing!

There is no exact science to it just as nature has no exact science as to how dirty it can make an object over time!

Just like nature makes things dirty I can do the same with models using what I tern as 'dirty water'!

That dirty water is just brown paint diluted with water to somewhere 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 and a few drops of IPA AKA rubbing alcohol added to break down the surface tension of the water.. There is no exact science to it just as nature has no exact science as to how dirty it can make an object over time but by brushing a coat or two of the dirty water on a model and allowing gravity to work you can replicate nature. Just got the five chassis to do and the five superstructures! 

Almost like an episode of Train Truckers but with no film crew!

Now here is something that you don't see everyday but it was what I sighted as I came into the Rocks By Rail Museum. 

Always worth investigating what is going on I chatted to the driver who had arrived to pick up steam loco Rhos that is going to the Foxfield Railway where its new owner plans to restore it. Almost like an episode of Train Truckers but with no film crew!

Down the line John had Mr. D at the back of Rhos ready to propel it up the slope to the awaiting truck and trailer. That was my que to join him and Pam on the footplate for the ride up the line.

Taking it slowly up the line we were soon in sight of the truck.

Once at the truck a winch rope from the trailer was attached to Rhos and it was hauled onto the trailer which has rails fastened to it.

Once Rhos was on and safely chained down along with a number of other parts the tractor unit came down to back onto the gooseneck of the trailer. Hydraulics made short work of lifting the reattached trailer clear of the tracks so that the load could go on its way and with that it was back to doing normal things at the Museum...

 ...like the continued painting of Uppingham...

...more repairs to the Southern brakevan that now has some new timber in its sides....

...and the Euclid is slowly coming together!

For me, it was back to the wheelbarrow, brush and shovel as I continue to clean up the storage area.

There is a lot more to do but at least with six barrow loads of weeds and dust out of the way the concrete looks more like...well concrete!

With some rust weathering powders it all becomes a bit more like the real thing!

I have started on the weathering of the various parts of the Hornby wagons including the wheel load.

A coat of rust was airbrushed on and then the running rim was painted silver. With some rust weathering powders it all becomes a bit more like the real thing! Now how many wheels are there? Twenty! That will keep ,e bust for a while!

Surprisingly, following yesterdays post regarding Mrs. Woody's toothbrush, I am not moving into the trailer in the nearby field!

Surprisingly, following yesterdays post regarding Mrs. Woody's toothbrush, I am not moving into the trailer in the nearby field! 

The photo does also show just how early the harvest is this year in the UK which also indicates we are over half way through the year  so where did the first half go?.

Whilst debating the half way mark of the year I have also been busy with the refurbishment of the Hornby Flat wagon 

I had thought long about what colour to paint the upper part and eventually decided on a neutral light grey similar to other wagons that British Rail actually had. To confirm my choice I trialled the colour on one side of wagon upper part.  I liked that!

The five upper parts were therefore painted light grey and once that was dry the wooden floor was brush painted with a wood colour paint that I mixed up. The wheels were also airbrushed with some rust coloured paint which will form a base for weathering. 

A toothbrush makes a good gentle scrubbing implement and Mrs. Woody should never know what an important part hers played in cleaning these models!

Time to paint the wagon parts but first a bath! Now much as Mrs. Woody is keen on me keeping clean and keeping bodily odours on the pleasant end of the scale of acceptability, the bath was not for me but for the wagon parts. Over the 50 years of their life they have picked up a lot of grease and grime to which paint is not going to adhere.

A toothbrush makes a good gentle scrubbing implement and Mrs. Woody should never know what an important part hers played in cleaning these models!

Once dry painting started with a basecoat of black.

There are a lot of parts once you include the wheels which I had initially forgotten about. However its all base coated and just needs to dry off just like Mrs. W's toothbrush before it gets put back!