Chris Ward Tank - In Progress

[Scott Rixon]

I've been working on this loco for what feels like ages.. Working might not be the right word though.. ;)

So last night I thought I would try some lining on the main part of the tank.



It wasn't as easy as I thought it might be! I started by marking it out in a light pencil, I then couldn't find a rubber and the camera was quite critical of the loco. :(

[Hugh Norwood]

The camera is always the worst critic. Thankfully the eye is much more forgiving. Don't worry about the odd lumps and bumps!

[Scott Rixon]

Managed to find the rubber and remove the pencil marks. I've then re-blackened the lines a little more, touched up the paint work and also added some spectacle rings to the front.

Roof still needs finishing, the driver and fireman are coming along, I also have hand rails and name plates to look at.

Taking a picture from a nicer distance, much better :)

[Scott Rixon]

A little more lining and the first hand rail going on.. That was really quite fiddly to do and not very easy to glue.. Any tips?

[Hugh Norwood]

Thread two handrail knobs onto a longer length of wire than you need.
You may find it helpful to put a small piece of BluTak on one or both ends to prevent the knobs falling off.
Seat the knobs into the holes in the loco cab (or wherever).
A drop of superglue from a pin will fix the knobs on the holes.
A drop of superglue where the wire passes through the knobs will fix the wire in place.
Trim off excess wire.

With practice you can save on waste wire by sliding the wire through the knobs after they have been fixed in place, so the you only have to trim at one end. (I don't bother - I am more concerned that the wire will slide completely out!)

Hope this helps

[DeadHorse]

I think the choice of 4mm handrail knobs is far too large & unsightly and prefer to use just bent wire fixed in place with a scrap piece of card packing to keep the rail square to the sides along its length. When set, simply remove the card.

[Hugh Norwood]

... and of course you can get different sizes of handrail knobs! Short is often adequate, IMHO

[Graeme Dunbar]

I think it is often the size of the ball rather than the length. I guess they are generally used on standard gauge locos where being overscale is not so obvious.

My impression is there are two schools of thought: include the detail even if it is overscale because you know it is there and it will look odd if left out, or leave it out because it is near enough invisible.

Selective blindness is a must. People may quibble that the wheel spacing of a chassis might be incorrect completely ignoring the fact that from one side at least there is perhaps a dirty great set of gears clearly visible between them.

[engerth399]

Hi
Try smaller hand rail knobs, 4mm scale ones are probably too big for our size locos.  BH Enterprises do a small one (they are primarily an N gauge supplier).  They're available as a pack of 20, P/N BHE 312, take 0.33mm wire.  This size wire may sound small it is about 1 inch diameter in 4mm scale.

Peter

[Graeme Dunbar]

Thanks - that's a good lead. I've relied just on what is available at exhibitions and that is generally 4 mm stuff.

[Scott Rixon]

Thanks.. But I don't really want to change the hand rails, or buy others, more cost :(..  I might get a chance to look again tonight, see how it looks in the flesh, rather than the picture.

Thanks for the tip on how to attach them. That sounds a little easier

[Graeme Dunbar]

Scott - they look OK to me! On a smaller loco they might be over-powering.

[Scott Rixon]

Thanks .  I've not made any progress though, sun came out so the gardening called.   

[Scott Rixon]

I had another look at handrails last night. I'm happy with them, they look quite nice to be honest!

So I drilled out the holes to fit the others and also repainted the dome, I was never happy with the finish of the paint I used, so I bought some humbrol to repaint it.

I might actually finish it one day soon!

[Scott Rixon]

Any ideas on how to glaze the loco? I like my spectical glass, but I think it would look better with glass in.

Cheers