Dr. Pan's workbench

[David Holman]

Enjoy!

[DoctorPan]

A rare evening to myself saw me trying to clear my workbench backlog and so the first subjects I came across was a Pullman and a wannabe Bredin sitting in GSR maroon for over a year awaiting some of Des' wonderful decals.

Little bit of work and vollia, two less models on the to-do list.

[DoctorPan]

Another two coaches finished and my steam era carriage fleet continues to build up.

[Westcorkrailway]

5 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

Another two coaches finished and my steam era carriage fleet continues to build up.

Great job in these coaches, the 1st coach has a near identical livery to the ones in my Rosslare coach transformation (probobly same paint and transfers) 

 

 Very soon, from a small pack of transfers and paint, you could have a huge variety of coaches in a variety of liveries

 

[DoctorPan]

8 minutes ago, Westcorkrailway said:

Great job in these coaches, the 1st coach has a near identical livery to the ones in my Rosslare coach transformation (probobly same paint and transfers) 

 

 Very soon, from a small pack of transfers and paint, you could have a huge variety of coaches in a variety of liveries

 

Yup, Humbrol and Railtec. 

Small fleet still sitting in various stages of repaints, some just needing transfers to others still in primer. Big push atm to clear my workbench of WIP (as according to my notes, these coaches repaints started Jan 1st 2020!)

[DoctorPan]

And now for something a little smaller. I've decided to dip my toe into narrow gauge modelling as a chance to have a small running layout in an apartment set up. 

A choice of prototype was debated and I decided to lean into the "whimsy" nature that narrow gauge can inspire in some people and so I turned to an old childhood favourite, the Rev W. Awdry's Thomas books and one book in particular always interested a young me, "Duke the Lost Engine" set on the "Mid Sodor Railway" about "Duke", "Falcon" and "Stuart". So I've taken the opperunity to model the "MSR" seriously as Awdry himself did. Jumping into his lecture notes and additional material on the history of his world, the MSR has a lot more to it then what appears in the books, including 5 more engines then the 4 who were mentioned in the books plus it pulls inspiration from the Corris, Ffes and Snailbeach railways in real life, all which had enjoyable elements for a model. 

 

One of the MSR's major traffic flows was the mines at Cas-ny-Hawin, the owners of which, had been major supporters of the construction of the railway, as to give their goods a direct line to the Port of Arlesburgh for export then the currently existing mineral tramway they had constructed cheaply to improve movement. 

One source of traffic for the MSR would be the transport of mine workers to the various mines at Cas-ny-Hawin and so they are one of my first main projects. 

 

All they are missing are decals and couplings as well as their engine, "Tim"

[DoctorPan]

And finished.

 

[DoctorPan]

First proper venture into narrow gauge locos. MSR No.7 "Tim" was one of the fledging company's newest engine, purchased from Sharp, Steward in 1887 to an adapted design of similar loco class Sharp, Steward was building at the time for a tramway railway in a nearby country of Ireland. "Tim" suited the MSR's needs of replacing some of the old tramway's smaller and slower locos with a more powerful loco. Tim was fitted with tram skirts to allow him to run along parts of the old tramway towards the mines although in later years this legal requirement was ignored while Tim was out of service or after his sale in 1936.

 

[David Holman]

Full of character.

[DoctorPan]

On 22/4/2022 at 8:15 PM, David Holman said:

Full of character.

Thanks David, really enjoying the modelling when you don't take it too seriously.

Finished one of the Granite block train rakes and seemed to have aquired one of the MSR's more famous fleet member then Tim.

[jhb171achill]

Wow! That's amazing stuff, Dr Pan - reminds me of my teen years job on the Festiniog Railway way back in the day........... excellent realistic weathering.

[DoctorPan]

On 26/4/2022 at 3:38 PM, jhb171achill said:

Wow! That's amazing stuff, Dr Pan - reminds me of my teen years job on the Festiniog Railway way back in the day........... excellent realistic weathering.

Thanks Jonathan, must be doing something right if I'm evoking the spirit of the Ffes!

[jhb171achill]

Just now, DoctorPan said:

Thanks Jonathan, must be doing something right if I'm evoking the spirit of the Ffes!

Very much so!

[DoctorPan]

Not much is known about the original MSR No.2 except they were named Jennings after their builder Fletcher Jennings and looked to be a bog standard Dolgoch model repainted.

 

 

One of the reasons why I picked the Mid Sodor is the gaps in its "lore" compared to the Skarloey which is a very tight 1:1 with the Talyllyn inspiration so I wasn't going to take a standard Dolgoch model and repaint it. So out came sketching and research. Awdrys lecture notes state that Jennings was a Flecher Jennings 0-4-0WT like Dolgoch, however it was fitted with a home made cab by the Mid Sodor in its works hence the half cab and other minor differences between  real life basis and model.

[DoctorPan]

Next job was fitting the funnel and the distintive pipework around the boiler.

 

First coat of primer to check areas, including the new vac bags added to the model.

Rudamentary cab controls were added from a Comet Models etch, we see the Regulator, reverser, steam valves for the injectors and the blower on the backhead. A necessary considering the open half cab.

Now for my favourite part of any model build, painting!

Finished model complete with crew and crests. Just awaiting an order from Light Railway Stores for her name and numberplates and then for a spot of light weathering.

And a fleet photo so far, Nos 1 "Duke", No.2 "Jennings" and No.7 "Tim"

 

[murphaph]

A fleet to be proud of. They all look smashing.

[DoctorPan]

 

Passenger and goods brakes recieve their final touches.

[DoctorPan]

On 23/12/2021 at 8:41 AM, DoctorPan said:

A brief and quick cameo of some tins, and like all good Christmas tins, whisked off to be kept until the big day!

And promptly get forgotten about and buried under 009.

 

 

Until tonight that is. Test fitting the roof. Interesting learning curve working with brass but it's nice to be working with a big vehicle again.

[DoctorPan]

 

And joined by the TPO van with roof just placed for a sense of what it will look it. An extremely enjoyable build and I must give credit to the kit designer for a great product.

[jhb171achill]

The whole lot look amazing, Dr.Pan. I love the 009 stuff.

[flange lubricator]

1 hour ago, DoctorPan said:

 

And joined by the TPO van with roof just placed for a sense of what it will look it. An extremely enjoyable build and I must give credit to the kit designer for a great product.

Yes they are great kits to work with and a brilliant way to start with brass . You have done a nice job on them.

[DoctorPan]

37 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

The whole lot look amazing, Dr.Pan. I love the 009 stuff.

Cheers Jonathan, the 009 stuff is fun, researching Awdry's writing and notes on the line and filling in the gaps with prototypical practice, something fun and different compared to my 00 gauge exploits.

[DoctorPan]

 

Ready for the paint shop,now to get the luggage van ready to join it too!

[DoctorPan]

 

And then there was two, awaiting painting.

[DoctorPan]

Tonight's work, spraying a base coat of white onto the vans to allow the aluminium paint to shine through properly as opposed to direct application to the grey primer. 

[jhb171achill]

Those look perfect!

 

[DoctorPan]

Got around to adding transfers to the Tin Vans.

 

 

There's few Irish prototypes that I think look wrong in a clean condition. One of them being the double beet wagons. The other being the silver Tin vans. So out came my oil and rust washes and my smoke, black and rust powders and I went to town on the luggage van, taking care to use cotton buds to wipe the powders down vertically to simulate rain washing dirt down the sides.

 

However I did want to keep one clean to highlight the contrast between the two and how filthy silver things got in the era of steam.

 

 

[Westcorkrailway]

9 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

Got around to adding transfers to the Tin Vans.

 

 

There's few Irish prototypes that I think look wrong in a clean condition. One of them being the double beet wagons. The other being the silver Tin vans. So out came my oil and rust washes and my smoke, black and rust powders and I went to town on the luggage van, taking care to use cotton buds to wipe the powders down vertically to simulate rain washing dirt down the sides.

 

However I did want to keep one clean to highlight the contrast between the two and how filthy silver things got in the era of steam.

 

 

[jhb171achill]

11 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

Got around to adding transfers to the Tin Vans.

 

 

There's few Irish prototypes that I think look wrong in a clean condition. One of them being the double beet wagons. The other being the silver Tin vans. So out came my oil and rust washes and my smoke, black and rust powders and I went to town on the luggage van, taking care to use cotton buds to wipe the powders down vertically to simulate rain washing dirt down the sides.

 

However I did want to keep one clean to highlight the contrast between the two and how filthy silver things got in the era of steam.

 

 

Sheer artistic genius; nothing less. Faded Post Office signs too - perfect! Yes, beet wagons don't look at all right clean, and nor do these things - nor, come to think of it, do steam engines any time after 1955!

(Senior recalled looking at loco buffer beams on some locos, which were painted red (at SOME distant time past) in the 50s and noticing that they were indistinguihable from body colour (dark grey) given the level of filth.......)

[DoctorPan]

New builds together really give the striking impression CIE was going for when both the As and the vans rolled out of the shops but both look more natural in trains of mixed colours.

[murphaph]

Lovely stuff. Is the P&T van the same kit as the Heuston tool van?

[DoctorPan]

9 minutes ago, murphaph said:

Lovely stuff. Is the P&T van the same kit as the Heuston tool van?

Yup, the tool van was a rebuild of the TPO. 

[DoctorPan]

Continuing the theme of Big 4 wheel vans, my two copies of Leslie's wonderful kits finally enter into the paint shop. Not fully sold on the green, Humbrol Brunswick No.3 doesn't look exactly like UTA green in my eyes. Any shade recommendations from off the shelf?

 

 

[jhb171achill]

24 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

Continuing the theme of Big 4 wheel vans, my two copies of Leslie's wonderful kits finally enter into the paint shop. Not fully sold on the green, Humbrol Brunswick No.3 doesn't look exactly like UTA green in my eyes. Any shade recommendations from off the shelf?

 

 

Yes, that's more like the lighter CIE green. The UTA green was much the same as the ahde used on the RPSI's Whitehead Mk 2s - in fact, that was done deliberately so, to look "UTA-esque" but with the RPSI's own style and colours of lining. If someone here knows the RAL number (or whatever it's called now) for that green, that's the one to go for. Maybe our IRM clleagues might know the reference number for that?

The maroon is a slight bit light too, but nothing that a bit of (very prototypical!) weathering won't solve.

I should have added, very dark grey roofs.

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by jhb171achill

[Lambeg man]

47 minutes ago, DoctorPan said:

Not fully sold on the green, Humbrol Brunswick No.3 doesn't look exactly like UTA green in my eyes. Any shade recommendations from off the shelf?

The Brunswick' green from Humbrol is too light for UTA 'green'. I am not aware of an accurate off the shelf product. I have always added a small dollop of MATT black to the Humbrol GLOSS 'Brunswick' green and achieved a reasonable representation of the darker UTA tone.