Pass the Dettol

No there hasn't been any medical procedures happening on the Bogong and Geehi. Nor has there been any need to kill any germs. I have been stripping paint and using Dettol antiseptic disinfectant to do it.

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to buy an Alco Models On30 brass Victorian Railways Na locomotive. It is a beautiful model, but it came painted in an orange paint scheme that Puffing Billy used in the 1990's. It wasn't really suitable for a late 1940's era layout.

I decided that it was time to paint it a nice basic black. The issue was, how do I remove the paint. After seeking advice from modellers more knowledgeable than I, we decided that soaking in enamel paint thinners was the way to go. I don't know what the orange paint was but after three days of soaking no amount of scrubbing would remove any paint.

So it was on to plan "B". A google search of " removing enamel paint from models " came up with this link to wikihow which suggests using Dettol. I had read on a forum sometime ago that modelers had used Dettol with success so looking for a non toxic approach I thought I would try it.

I followed the instructions on wikihow which recommends mixing one part Dettol with one part water. I don't know if it was because the loco had been in enamel thinners or it happens normally but when I put it in the liquid it started to bubble. It continued to bubble for hours. The kids thought it was great. Wikihow suggests soaking for 24 hours but the bubbling was making me nervous so I pulled it out after 12 hours. I still had an unharmed loco but the paint was literally falling off. Some of the details had thicker paint that wouldn't budge so I put it back in for another 12 hours.

Virtually all paint was gone. It did take a bit of scrubbing with a toothbrush and tooth pick to get the last of it off . A wash under running water has now gotten me a model ready for the paint shop

Cheers

Murray

Welcome to Buckland

Last weekend I had a visit by a couple of friends and so I had a bit of pressure on to get a few tasks completed and make the layout look more presentable. The first task on the list was to get the track laid in the village of Buckland.

Buckland is the highest point on the mainline and will be a small place with maybe a shop or two, a pub and a church. Industries served by the railway will be a goods shed, the wool merchants and maybe a mine. As it is the high point helpers will probably be used from Geehi to here on the ore trains if operations ever happen.

I decided to use Micro Engineering code 83 flex track and points. While I am happy with the appearance of the Custom trax that I have been using, once I started running trains I am less so. I have had a lot of issues with the flex track being out of gauge and it isn't easy to adjust. I have also have had issues with the Custom trax turnouts being out of gauge and having intermittent electrical shorts. While the Micro Engineering track doesn't look as good the quality is much higher and that makes for more happier train running.

 

The next task I wanted to get completed is the fascia. A busy Saturday saw the bottom fascia installed the entire length of the layout that has track laid. In my eyes it has dramatically improved the appearance of the layout and given it a more finished look. Once the fascia was in, I couldn't help myself and I have started installing the landform.

 

My preference is to use wire netting that is used for fencing. As I live on a farm I have an almost unlimited supply and it is easy to work with. I attach it to the fascia by sandwiching the wire between scraps of wood and the fascia. Once I am happy with the shape I install risers under the hills to keep it in place. I then cover it with multiple layers of chux wipes soaked in white glue thinned with water. In the photo above the section of roadbed in front of the loco will be cut out and a bridge installed but it could be some time before I get to it.

 

The next task that I am about to tackle is painting the backdrop. I did consider using a photo backdrop but putting good photos together proved to be more difficult than I thought it would. Joining the different panoramas together was also an issue. The cost of the many metres of photos I would need was enough to get me motivated to start painting.  

 

Cheers Murray

 

Weathering

The bright green paint of my modified loco has gotten the better of me. It was looking to pristine and dare I say it, a little too toy like. It badly needed to be weathered. It has been a while since I have weathered an engine, so I was a bit apprehensive at taking to a perfectly good paint job.

 I am a fan of the Wild Swan book The art of weathering by Martyn Welch and have used the techniques as described with some success. Having said that modelling techniques are always evolving and I have been watching with interest at what the military modellers have been developing.

In the past 12 months I have bought a DVD & a book from the European firm AK interactive. They can at times feel a little like adds for their products but there is no denying that the results are spectacular. I recently bought some AK interactive products from BNAmodelworld who are great to deal with. They also sell the book & DVD as well as paints like Vallejo at prices very competitive with overseas retailers( no connection - just a happy customer).

The first thing I did to my engine was give it a coat of satin clear acrylic which protects the paint and lets me remove the weathering if something goes wrong! Once that was dry I gave it a thin coat of MIG deep green wash. This really made the details like the rivets stand out.

Once that was dry I gave the whole loco a dusting of Floquil weathered black. I made sure that I only air brushed from the top to simulate the grime and cinders that would settle over a working engine. I then gave the running gear and underframe a dusting of Floquil grimy black. After the paint had dried for a few days I added some streaks of AK interactive streaking grime. With this technique you paint on in vertical lines, the streaking grime with a thin brush and let it dry for 5-10 minutes. You then come back with a flat brush that has been dipped in white spirits and work the lines down the side of the tender thinning them as you go.

It is harder to explain than do, which is what makes the DVD and the many photos in the book so useful. As you can see from the photo of the tender, it makes the model look like that while it is well looked after, it is still a hard working loco hauling trains over the Buckland Gap on the Bogong & Geehi. I am planning to add a little of the track brown and some earth pigments to the tender trucks and counter weights on the engine.

I could have weathered the engine even more with rust streaks and more grime but I wanted something that looked well cared for. If you have another look at the first photo of this post I hope you will agree with me that I have achieved my aim.

Cheers, Murray



Bashed Bachmann completed!

A couple of post's ago I wrote about my efforts to turn a Bachmann On30 2-8-0 into something more Australian. Well a few weeks back I put a cold weekend to good use and spent my time completing my project and here are the results. With the very cold winter we are having it has been a bit of a challenge to get it painted. I extended the tender sides with some brass strip and added rivet details to the cab and tender with Archer transfers resin rivet transfers.

I am very pleased with how it looks. The green is a NSW government railway colour from Railey paints. It is a bit bright at the moment but some weathering should tone it down nicely. It has also had a Tsunami sound decoder fitted.

As you can see I am enjoying watching and listening to her trundling back and forth on the track that has been laid so far. You can also see in the photo that I have started work on some scenery. I have started work on the river and some basic land forms. I hope to do a post soon with more details soon but with the weather the way it has been I am not spending much time in the shed so progress has been slow.

Cheers Murray

Inspiration

I've been fortunate enough to visit a couple of exhibitions in the last month. I haven't had a lot of opportunity to railfan at exhibitions in the last few years, so it has been great seeing where the hobby is at & catching up with friends.

Albury held its annual exhibition at the end of May and it was very enjoyable. I am amazed at the quality of the rtr Australian models now available and it is pleasing to see that  Australian prototype layouts are now the norm. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but I remembered it for the Epping clubs exhibition at Thornleigh over the long weekend.

Again it was great to see so many Australian prototype  layouts and the quality of the layouts was exceptional. I have heard a lot of good things about the 7mm scale standard gauge layout Arakoola and it didn't disappoint. I liked the photo backdrop and the size of the models.

 If I ever decide to model something other than narrow gauge I will give 7mm standard gauge a lot of consideration. I have spent the last few days pondering if I have enough space for an interchange between the Bogong & Geehi and the NSWGR, but I don't think I have enough room unless I redesign the layout.

There were lots of excellent HO layouts but unfortunately most of my photos aren't good enough to show. This photo of Wyee shows the quality of modelling on display. Ray Pilgrims blog Bylong has some good photos of the show.



The only narrow gauge layout was exhibited by Geoff Nott. It is always inspiring seeing Geoff's work and makes me want to get into modelling some scenery on my own layout

Geoff and friends ran clinics all weekend showing the modellers of the future how much fun building scenery can be.

It has been worthwhile for me visiting these two exhibitions even if I didn't see many On30 layouts. I find exhibitions thought provoking and they help me to work out what aspects of the hobby that motivate me. Not only have I caught up with lots of people I haven't seen for awhile but I have been inspired to get working on the layout and to try and lift my standard of modelling to somewhere closer to what I saw.

Cheers

Murray

More modifying loco's

It has been some time since I have made a post and unfortunately the need to make a living has meant that progress on the railway has been slow.

Out in the shed I have been laying track and wiring. For me these are probably the two least favourite aspects of the hobby. In the past I have rushed these jobs to get to more favourite tasks like scenery. As you would expect this has meant that I have been rewarded with layouts that look nice but don't preform the way they should. As someone said on a podcast I was recently listening to, "if the trains don't run theirs not much fun". So this layout I am determined to get good reliable running before the scenery work starts.

You probably don't want to look at photos of my wiring ( because I don't!!!) so here is a photo of another project I have been working on.

I recently picked up another Bachmann On30 2-8-0 of ebay. For the price they are a great but they do look very American. I decided that I would have another go at making one look like it belongs here in the Aussie bush. Regular followers of this blog will remember that my February post talked about replacing the whole superstructure with a new brass one. I am yet to complete that conversion as I wasn't completely happy with the appearance. Also a couple of the next steps had me stumped on how to proceed. A visit today with master metal worker Bernard Snoodyk has helped and I plan on getting back to finishing it soon.

Meanwhile back to the loco I just bought, I decided to save some work and keep the boiler that comes with the engine. I removed the steam dome with a jewellers saw and replaced the chimney as well with castings from O-Aust kits  A new cab based on the Commonwealth Railways NM class has been soldered up out of brass sheet. The photo shows the model in a very rough stage and I still have a lot to do like finish the cab and add styrene sides to the metal frame to extend the tender. Even so I hope you would agree that it has a certain charm and will look more at home than the engine straight out of the box.

The background is an experiment in using photo backdrops. I like the realism that a photo provides, something that I think my painted backdrop struggles with. Having said that I have seen layouts where photos haven't worked that well either. There is also the cost which is not something to be sneezed at, but then the work in painting a good backdrop is a considerable investment as well.

I am going to do some more research and if anyone has some experience please feel free to share

Cheers, Murray

Concrete bridge abutments

March has been a quiet month on the Bogong & Geehi. Work has been very busy and a couple of trips away for the month has meant that not as much has been happening as I would like. I have also been in a bit of a flat spot with the railway as several projects haven't worked out the way I had hoped.

One of the best ways to get motivated is to spend some time with some train mates . I had a very enjoyable weekend in Melbourne attending the Southern Forests narrow gauge meet a few weeks back.

 The evening before Gavin Hince held an operating session on this On3 North Coast Railroad. It is always great to visit Garvin's layout and see what changes he has made. Thanks Gavin for the invitation.
The organisers of Southern forests arranged for Puffing Billy to a run a special train for attendees. It was also a great opportunity to photograph some of the Victorian Railways narrow gauge equipment.

All the presentations were excellent but the two stand outs for me were Michael Johnson's history of his freelanced railway and Dan Pickards tree building clinic. Michael has developed a history that includes freight traffic and how it changed over time. The different industries affected motive power and rolling stock requirements and has helped him develop a realistic roster.

Dan is a very talented modeller and his skills at creating realistic Australian scenery are plain to see. Seeing his Splitters creek module in the flesh was great and I am keen to try his techniques for eucalyptus. Dan has covered building his module on his blog Somewhere on the workbench He also has a great post on the Southern Forests weekend.


I finally found some free time this weekend to do some work on the railway. I am keen to get started on some scenery around my pin truss bridge. I needed to build some abutments for the bridge to sit on before I could start creating the landforms.I decided that if the bridge had been an upgrade from a wooden bridge in the 1920's that the abutments would be made of concrete. I began by making them out of wood. It took a couple of attempts to get all the angles right but this is what I ended up with

Nothing glamorous but the right shape. To get the concrete effect I like to use plaster. I had some cornice cement left over from a recent project.It is ideal as it comes already mixed, sticks well, drys quickly and can be spread thinly. I just trowelled it on with a spatula.

I leave the plaster for about 15 minutes, and then use my finger dipped in water to smooth out the finish

After the plaster had dried, I stained it with a wash of Polyscale aged concrete acrylic paint that I diluted with water. Here is the end result with the bridge re-installed.

I have also installed a piece of MDF at the height of the river. I also spent a bit of time moving trees around, to get an idea of how the completed scene might look.

I am happy with how it looks but I will need more trees. I think it will need at least another two willows to help hide were the river meets the backdrop as well as quite a few smaller gum trees. All in all a very productive weekend.