Distressing Wagons !

[berryr99]

Please can anyone advise about how to distress some wagons such as I have seen on a layout somewhere (can't remember which). I think the technique involved making the side of the wagon hot (with steam ?) and then bending the sides out so it looked like the timber had sagged a little

Many thanks

Bob

[kevin_c]

I saw on a forum somewhere (sorry can't remember where) a pair of pliers was used to 'gently' distort the sides of some tippers (prototype metal 'V' tippers), no mention of heat though.

EDIT:

Found it HERE: http://ngrm-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=457.0

About half way down the page.

[vulcan]

Hi there,
           Brian Love did something like this to the  'D' class wagons on Fallgate - article in Railway Modeller a while back (sorry, can't find my copy of the article!). This, I think , involved steam as well as attacking with various sharp implements ;D. Peco might be worth a try for a back issue.

Hope this helps

Live long & prosper

[Graeme Dunbar]

I have tried distressing skips/vee wagons (they are often seen in much abused state) and note you should be very careful if heating polystyrene models. Sometimes they shrink in undesirable directions, as if they "remember" the direction the plastic was squeezed into the mould - pehaps stresses in the cooling plastic, or maybe it is just surface tension. Anyway, there is a quite a fine line between warming the plastic enough so that it does not crack or craze when bent and overdoing it.

[Isle of Stoner]

I had a go with a soldering iron when it was nearly cold (if you see what I mean) and put some quite convincing dents in ROCO Vtips and their larger metal sided (made of plastic of course) wagons. Mind how you go though, if the iron is too hot not only will you ruin the wagon but it will be very smelly too.

Cheers

[Darren Hedges]

I have tried distressing skips/vee wagons (they are often seen in much abused state) and note you should be very careful if heating polystyrene models. Sometimes they shrink in undesirable directions, as if they "remember" the direction the plastic was squeezed into the mould - pehaps stresses in the cooling plastic, or maybe it is just surface tension. Anyway, there is a quite a fine line between warming the plastic enough so that it does not crack or craze when bent and overdoing it.

I believe the term is 'memory plastic', once saw it on TV. If you heat a yoghurt pot in a pressure cooker (remember those ;D ) it will revert back to the disc it was formed from.

Darren.