murrayec

Hi Brian Thanks I'm now a fan of your work, when I saw the way you put the mould together I said 'he's done this before' - GRP - I did a bit of that years ago working on boats n stuff- a long time ago!! Even the master model for the mould is very neat Eoin

Hi brianmcs Yes, when I start moulding and the pot is up to temperature I lay the mould on wire mesh support on top of the pot. I let it get very hot- cant touch it 'Hot'. This needs to be done during moulding as it makes a noticeable difference doing so. I'm told 'blackening' the mould also helps but I cannot find a suppler of the material to do this Eoin

Hi Nelson I use a Lee melting pot, for making ones bullets you know!! I used to use the gas stove but this machine is much handier and cleaner. I've been looking at a dentist moulding centrifuge to add to the WM moulding experience, their not to expensive and would give far better castings, though only small moulds can be mounted in them which limits it a bit.... Eoin

Hi brianmcs The mould looks cool, though it looks like you had an air problem also! the silicone looks like it needs to be evacuated when mixed and before pouring to make the mould- this may help in casting bubble free casts. Also you could try a mould spray loubricator it may stop the plastic cast forming bubbles at the bubbles in the mould! if that makes sence? SSM do the bogies sides your looking for or you could the Y25 bogies from Bachmann which are a bit smaller then Irish ones Eoin

Thanks Guys brianmcs, Yes, air was one problem, cooling was the other- when one has a spru going to small parts the metal solidifies at the connection! I'm thinking on a differant location to fill the mould next time around, somewhere a bit thicker... Eoin

Hi Not had much time to work on this project, been tipping away at bits but nothing complete yet- though, here are a few photos of the white metal bogie sides fresh out of the mould, some cleaning up to do, make the ladders, a few pipe details, and then stick them on the motors. This should make a change to the model;- You can see a few mods made to the mould while trying to get it to work correctly. I'm fairly happy with the results but there are a few small snags in definition so may make another mould. I'll work with these for the time being.... Eoin

A little project for Sunday afternoon, getting ready to grass the Greystones layout- Static Grass Applicator a la 'Boulder Creek' Youtube video. Cost about €40.00 in bits and some items I already had;- Very simple to put together, all parts easily available Eoin

Cool, thanks Dave When one compares the photos in the previous Commuter post there is an incredible difference- no shiny bits, and the weathered track has a better scale, it looks real... well almost... well! Eoin

Hi All And now for a little track weathering... Just used Humbrol 70 matt and matt black, this is not really the time to do this but the paint on the ballast tones the colour down and I reckon it looks better- The ballast train has neglected to service this area! First shots are the first coat;- Next the second coat and a third with matt black added at points and track centre only;- We'll give the rail tops a scarp in a few days, I'd say the points blades will need it to Eoin

Same file with a slight audio upgrade;- [video=youtube;BDytC0-JHN8] Eoin

Hi All A DART was seen up Dundalk way last week;- [video=youtube;V-7ODKHqkv0] It's on one of Baseboard Dave's & client creations, if you want to see more tune in to 'Insight' UTV Ireland next Monday night... Eoin

Kirley That's cool it looks amazing I have this project in mind also, I have a Fouler F4 to do the same thing but cant bring myself with a knife to do it- the F4 is cool itself! Eoin

Hay Noel Did you never see the kids party magician, two rainbows, a bang, and a hammer! It is an optical illusion and it still mystifies people today- that's why its all over tinternet Eoin

Hi wrennie I know a man, besides yourself, that is fluent in Irish! he told me that in olden times there were different Irish dialects- all depending on where one was in the country! Would it be somit like that? Very nice plate though....hint!! Eoin

Hi David This is a shot of white ink and a Standardgraph stencil if you haven't seen one of these... Eoin

Hi Glenderg Same as above, if you look closely one can see the two blue logo colours peering out through the caked cement;- http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww198/ttc0169/HPIM1792.jpg Eoin

Oooooohh! very nice there David Rotring do white ink for their isograph or technical drawing pens, they also do red, blue, yellow and of course BLACK, again rotring did stencils, not sure if they still do, if you can get your hands on small ones there great for this work.... Eoin

Just Home Had a splendid day at the show, great to meet all the guys again, loads of stuff n loads of chat, some of the MRSI guys turned up and they even crashed me DART- those dublin bousies! Never got to take photos but maybe someone else did Eoin

Hi All Was by the Greystones layout dropping off the now illuminated commuter train, DCC directional and coach lights added, it looks great but needs a few holes filled here and there...... CM took a few photos;- I reckon another resistor is required on the coach lights Eoin

Yes Broithe .....that's the plan- to install lights after I raise the back of the lid a bit, headroom is a bit tight with the reservoir on the gun banging into it, when the back of the lid is raised this should not happen. Eoin

Hi Yes it was a good show, the layout was far better than previous shows but advertising was on the light side, 'twas great to meet IRM members and have a chat- even me Ma turned up. Sunday was buyers day, Monday was lookers day..... Eoin

Hi richrua Its done like this;- Stick down art cardboard and grey undercoat it, then with a watery mix of Baseboard Dave's Polka powder 5101, paint on and keep the brush lines going in one direction, I then did a second coat even waterier all over and then added a bit of black water-base paint to the mix for around the tracks. I dashed on water in places to get a ware and pooling effect to the concrete surface around the tracks. note;- I used polyfiller to fill in the track where the card didn't! use another filler the polyfiller bloated with the water in the concrete mix when painting it on- I had to clean out the track twice so wheels could run!! Then mark out the concrete joins with straight edge and a sharp HB pencil or softer, then cut into the marked lines with a craft knife to give depth, then stick the pencil in the cut and draw it again freehand filling the cut with pencil lead. Take some pencil lead dust and smudge it around with fingers and paint brush- use a piece of paper to mask the edges of the concrete slabs to get variations. In the end the whole thing will be sprayed with a matt varnish before green stuff and wood-chip is laid down, there is more to go on it yet- keep watching Eoin

Another useful tool I've been sticking together for a while and finally got to test it on a bit of 'Scot Stuff' see sample in my Workbench. The airbrush blast gun is from Expo Tools, it works quite well but the grit reservoir needs to be twice the size. The cabinet is a medical display case from a friend and Woodies best chemical gloves from the gardening section. I gave my white metal 121 parts a blast and it worked an absolute treat, far easier than trying to do it in the full size blast cabinet with a nozzle for blasting an ocean liner! the little air brush still uses 60psi but the blast is tiny. The lid of the cabinet still needs to be finished, it needs to be set at an angle as the glare from the workshop lights reflected off the lid make it hard to see in. Eoin

Hay Kirley Your post on the G2 progress reminded me to post up a few shots- the G2 is looking great by the way. So over the Christmas and many nights here and there I got all the linkage and cylinder bits together, a mammoth task in the end. A cautionary warning here if anyone is building one of these kits or one of the newer ones- do not follow the instructions to the 'T' if you do your heading into trouble. Check and double check the fit of all parts and don't rely on the instructions alone- especially if soldering the parts, for example;- they would have you stick on the rear die-cast part of the cylinders (pretty tough stuff), then they have you stick on the cylinders and when you have done that all other parts don't sit square to this assembly. They then tell you to take a file to the cylinders to square it up- not an easy task stuck on to the chassis n all, far easier to do this before sticking it all together!! I caught this one just in time and took the easy route. Another key one is- the instructions indicate hand drilling some of the components- deep drilling of white metal up to 6mm! and drilling brass in any thickness!! don't do it by hand unless you want to destroy the parts- do it with the parts clamped to timber in the drill press- it needs speed. Carefully with the white metal though. The majority of the parts are soldered, the cylinders will be epoxied on as the die-cast wont take solder, I modified the cylinders so that they can be removed from the frames during construction and will steel rivet the linkages instead of BA brass bolts.... This is a shot of a component after a little sandblast in my new mini sandblaster- see 'useful tools' for more info, it darkens down the parts and gives a more realistic look to it. Mod to the cylinder assembly- a nut epoxied in so that the mounting screw through the frame can be removed when the cylinders are stuck on. And back in the bags until next time.... Eoin

Hi All Well now I'm sure you noticed things are moving along slowly what with other commitments and the like.... but here are a few shots taken today of the concrete paved surface of the timber yard. As seen in previous posts the surface is cardboard with several coats of coloured plaster, the replica joints are knife cuts with a soft pencil line run in the cut, lead pencil dust is also smeared around to give contrasting effect More layers later... Eoin