Weathered wood (Part 1)

A few years ago (blimey it was in 2011) I built a 7 plank private open wagon and tried to paint it to represent bare weathered wood. Though I liked the outcome at the time, on reflection, I feel I'm a little off the mark...I now think my attempt was a tad too yellow. It needs to be a little more silvery-grey with subtle light grey-brown tones along with hints of yellowy warmth. With the doors on the barn for Tredethy Wharf requiring similar effects, I though I'd return to some wagons to trial weathered wood painting techniques

I'm going to use the following three articles off the web along with Craig Welsh's article in MRJ 200 as examples.

Craig Welsh rmweb blog
http://thief.washboardabs.net/textures/wood/ 

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/weathered_wood/
(If you explore the last link you should find some nice techniques for wooden effects when startng out with a blank piece of white plasticard).

So, to start this little project off, I dug out a very old, part built, wagon which, I believe, is an Ian Kirk kit.

On the left: 7 plank built in 2011: On the right: old 7 plank kit to be used as a test

In the picture above is the aforementioned 7 plank wagon on the left, on the right is the very old kit with a poor attempt at representing bare wood. We all must have some items that have been put away in disgust at our attempt to create an effective model and this one must have been languishing in a drawer for over 20 years. Behind the two 7 planks is a Bachmann 5 plank wagon that is also up for a bit of a repaint

More to follow...

The clock is ticking

Only 208 modelling evenings before the Lincoln Show. This should be plenty but I'm starting to panic a little.

At the beginning of June I started with the best intention to really crack on with Tredethy. Unfortunately it's not turned out that way, a new pastime has grabbed my attention more than I expected. I'm now planning my days differently in the hope that I can claw back some lost time.

So during Sunday and early this morning I put in a few hours in the "Man Cave". I've solved a few issues with the track where there had been some random derailments as well as continuing the construction of the farm cottage and barn.

I think somewhere in a previous post I'd explained that for many years, after a failed attempt at scratch building Bodmin General's Weighbridge Office, I've been carrying a mental block about constructing buildings. So to get me started on the two I need for Tredethy, I chose two Wills kits. I'm building the cottage as a mirror image to the instructions that comes with the kit. This should enable it to fit well in its location on the layout. As for the barn, out of the box, its style is not very Cornish. When standing back and having a re-think I thought I could make a few minor alterations to suit its location on the layout. I moved the small door from the back to the side of the barn, along with replacing the timber walls with render and making the barn taller. I'm hopeful that his should bring it closer to what might be seen in Cornwall

Apart from the above, I'm only at the very early stages of constructing another rake of 8 clay wagons.

There is still much to do and the pressure is mounting...

Last year was a bad year for the train set

2015 turned out to be a year for wargaming. The fact that is was 200 years since The Battle of Waterloo enticed us to put on three ofthe four main battles that took place during the 100 days of the Waterloo campaign; Quatra Bra; Wavre; and the big one Waterloo. It took us most of the year to paint and collect enough figures for these games and especially for Waterloo but eventually we mustered well over 2,500 figures for game. More can be seen here.

2015 also saw us go though the procedure of gaining conservation planning consent for new windows along with planning further internal changes. With Waterloo out of the way it has been on with the internal building projects. This has entailed just about gutting our little house and putting it back together. We started by ripping out the existing stairs, kitchen, bathroom. Demolishing internal walls upstairs to create a new bathroom upstairs along with a slightly smaller single bedroom than making good with new starircase. We then carried on downstairs with solving some damp issues, a new kitchen and utility room, then installing pocket doors between dining and sitting area. Only two rooms have not been affected, both being bedrooms and both having to store, along with the "Man Cave", all our furniture and belongings. So again access to the layout has been severally restricted during this time. It has been interesting to say the least but hopefully we are in the final straight. All the plastering should be finished this week, a log stove will be installed at the end of the month in the sitting room area and then it's on with decorating and new flooring.

I'm so sorry that it's more excuses why this blog has become stagnated but I'm working towards mid May to get everything finished. Once finished the boss has promised I can spend as much time as I need in the 'Man Cave' getting the layout ready for the 2017 Lincoln show.

More posts will follow in May.

PS. To answer the question posed last April. I have managed to dyed some of the rope material and carefully coloured the rope on the first wagon that ropes were applied too and it looks good. So the answer is a resounding YES, ropes will be added to the other clay wagons. Photos to follow...

Are tarpaulin ropes worth the effort?

Will adding tarpaulin ropes to my clay wagons be worth the effort? Hmmm...

Last Thursday I entertained the members of the local Scalefour Group who thankfully gave my clay wagons the thumbs up. When I mentioned that I'd been debating whether to add ropes to the tarpaulins there was a couple of playful comments of 'Oh go on, give it a go', 'You've got to finish them'.

Next evening my first thought was where were the ropes tied off on the wagon. After spending a pleasant hour or two browsing though my library of books trying to find decent photos of clay wagons with tarpaulins, I eventually remembered Mr Russell's book on "GWR Freight wagons and loads..." and Bingo...

Many moons ago I'd purchased some scale rope from a wargaming show which I thought would be a good starting point for roping down loads. The question was how to represent the hooks? I thought they're too small to be created with wire especially after the rope is attached. So I've glued the rope to the approximate locations on the wagon and added a small knot of rope to represent some bulk around the hook.

Door End

Fixed End

I thought, 'so far so good' until I added the roped wagon to the rest of the wagons to see what the effect was. It then became a game of spot the wagon with the ropes...

Spot the wagon that has ropes...

So will I be adding rope to the other wagons? When applying the two foot rule, probably not, as it looks like the rope colour is lost against the background colour of these clay wagons. On darker backgrounds of wagon loads/containers or even bauxite coloured clay wagons I think they might look effective so I've not totally given up on the idea.

Getting back into the modelling chair

I've finally been able to spend some time on the toy train set. First task has been getting back to work on the first batch of clay wagons by finishing applying transfers, tentatively using an airbrush to finish dusting them with a thin coating of white, then trying to add a little more detail with a few brush strokes and playing around with creating a few more clay dusted tarpaulins. Results so far are below...

I've purposely left one wagon without a tarpaulin as I was beginning to like the way it looked without one. I'll have to fold one up and install inside the wagon if it's going to be left as an empty wagon.

Hopefully this last lengthy hiatus has passed and my mojo has returned which means I'll be able to make some serious progress over the coming months...

End of year report 2014

I recently received a gentle(!) nudge on the progress with Tredethy Wharf... so thought I'd create an end of year post as a round up of what little I've achieved this year.

To say the least it's been a dismal year for modelling and I'm starting to wonder how the guys who produce quality layouts in quick succession do it. With all that my wife and I have had around our necks this year; work, renovating the cottage next door, fostering, attempting to downsize (as we've decided to stay put and not move into a larger house) by clearing space in house and Man Cave, plus the normal life stuff, I've been seriously thinking of scrapping the whole project and waiting for retirement to make a fresh start. Many nights on the way home from work I've thought "Yep nothing much to do tonight so I'll crack on with a bit of modelling for once" only to get home and something gets in the way. All very frustrating.

What's not helped recently is my wife having fractured her knee cap and damaged cartilage after a fall. This has added another job to my list, that is me being her "man slave" as she's been on crutches for the last couple of months. Thankfully she's on the mend, down to one crutch and starting to weight bear. She's going to be off work until mid January but hopefully I'll get some free time for modelling soon... Well, we've heard that one before but I can but hope...

I've felt what little I have achieved this year has not been worth mentioning in individual postings on this blog. There have been a few little projects started but non completed and little progress on Tredethy Wharf, however, as an end of year round up here goes...

• Converted a few Bachmann wagons to P4 (a very easy task), still need to weather and renumber some of them and/or add detail to them.
  
• Laid down a few more lengths of Cornish Hedge on Tredethy Wharf but not applied any paint or foliage.
• Tested a couple of methods for the hard standing area around Tredethy Wharf sidings, but not decided on the best method or the paint/texture finish.
• Applied transfers to the first eight clay wagons and tentatively used an airbrush for the first time (with a spray can as propellant) dusting them with a thin coating of white acrylic to represent clay deposits/dust.
• Started cutting out the sides for the Farm Cottage that is required for a scenic break at one end of Tredethy Wharf.
  
• After the purchase of a lathe at Scalefour North... (a bit of an impulse buy to say the least)... In the last couple of months I've managed to receive one tutorial off a local S4 member but still trying to find time to do the 'set' exercise of turning a few washers.
• One of the S4 guys has kindly lent me a spare compressor for use with my old airbrush. Though all connections fit and it's ready to use I've not, as yet, found time to fully get to grips with it. 

Apart from the above it's been a very lean year for my hobbies, especially as on the wargaming front I've only had a couple of games. Oh... I've managad to paint one battalion of a German WWII Luftwaffe Field Division but still need to finish off the bases on those...

Headmaster's Report
Ian must try harder in 2015 and stop coming up with so many lame excuses.

Calmer times ahead

Well it's been a while...but hopefully over the coming months I'll be able to get back to working on Tredethy Wharf and finishing the first batch of clay wagons.

We both had no idea how much time turning next door into a holiday cottage would take up. But, at last, Spireview Cottage is finished and we have had resaonable success over the last couple of months with lettings. It's been a surprise how many enquires we have had considering, at the moment, we're only on one web site. Being new to this holiday letting malarky we weve been caught out with the amount of time involved in taking bookings also cleaning the cottage after guests have departed. As the weeks have passed we're gradually becoming more organised. There are still tasks to start and/or complete with marketing but we are both starting to allow ourselves some hobby time. Yipeee...

If anyone is curious about the cottage, more information can be found on the Owners Direct website. We have also created a Facebook page. If anyone would be willing to spread the word via likes and/or shares... we would be very grateful.