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A half decent van train?


Recently been working on some GNRI vans, from drawings found via the website. These are 9 ton versions & were made from my own resin castings. A picture of the master is also shown.

As I've mentioned before, there is nothing difficult about making your own castings and there has been a regular advert in Railway Modeller for the all important materials. however, have found that the silicon mould material has a definite shelf life & the stuff I used was a bit too viscous, resulting in some bubbles. Think I will make another mould & add some detail differences to the master to make what I assume were later versions of the vans, with different door fastenings. either way, it seems from photos that one can never have enough vans on an Irish layout!

The eagle eyed amongst you may just notice that the trackwork has been weathered somewhat, prior to getting busy on the ground cover over the next few weeks. No less than 9 tree skeletons are in the process of being coated with PVA/filler & I am looking forward to getting some colour on the layout. In the meantime, have also been building brake vans, so will hopefully be adding pics of these in the next couple of weeks.[attachment=:name]

6 Comments


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popeye

Posted

they look great, very realistic. Can you tell me what resin you have used as i have been using one myself from Sylmasta and it leaves

a lot of bubbles in the casting so i might try a different type. I will post up some pic's shortly of the 20ft flat that i have made from

resin. it has turned out ok, just about another 30 to go. I will use them for Ballast wagons & Cement bubbles.

David Holman

Posted

Got mine from Easy Composites as a casting kit. The resin lasts well but the silicon mould stuff definitely has a shelf life. The vans mould had bubbles that needed trimming. Will get new moulding stuff before I have another go!

Will look forward to seeing what you are making

popeye

Posted

Got mine from Easy Composites as a casting kit. The resin lasts well but the silicon mould stuff definitely has a shelf life. The vans mould had bubbles that needed trimming. Will get new moulding stuff before I have another go!

Will look forward to seeing what you are making

 

Hi David, I got my moulding rubber from Sylmasta, The rubber mould is pretty good just pour over your master and wait

12 hours, i gave it 24hours but it worked out ok. the resin sets very quick 4 minutes but you need more time to get the

bubbles out. What is your resin like? I have put some Pic's up on My workbench thread you can see how it looks.

David Holman

Posted

The resin [a 50-50 mix] sets more slowly than your stuff. Instructions suggest an hour, but it is removable within 30 minutes, when it is still flexible - which may or may not be helpful!

Have not had any problems with bubbles in the casting process, though I've so far only done wagon an van sides, hence thin & open at the top. The detail the resin picks up is very good indeed. Scrubbed the master with a glass fibre pencil to impart a bit of wood grain and it is all there, along with finger prints etc if you are not careful!

popeye

Posted (edited)

Thanks David, 50-50 is easier to mix. The longer cure time gives more time to mess about with it before it starts to set, i think i will try your's. the rubber mould i use capures every detail and is tough. It doesn't say anything about shelf life, but it's good.

Edited by popeye
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