Thursday, February 20, 2014

Almost There

As you can see I've now finished the workman's open coach (other than fitting couplings, but I'm going to wait until I have something to couple it to). It took me a little longer than planned as I managed to misplace one of the sprues which forced me to tidy and clean my study before I could finish it. Given that I'm intending to use this wagon when the layout is dressed as a modern day industrial museum I've kept the weathering quite light and mostly focused on adding some dirt to the wooden floor. This treatment of the wood doesn't show up too well in the photo but I'm fairly happy with it.

The one thing that concerns me is that the model is very light which might affect it's running quality. On larger OO models there is nearly always somewhere to add some weight but on this model there really isn't any spare space. One option would be to box in one or more of the under seat areas and fill this with liquid gravity, but I think I have a better solution; I'm going to hide the weight in plain sight. My solution is to add reasonably heavy white metal tourists to the wagon. They will not only help bring the layout to life but will easily add extra weight. The only problem is, I'm struggling to find any appropriate figures. Dart Castings do a set of seated figures, but a) they are cast in pewter specifically to keep the weight down and b) I'm not sure from the picture that they will really work as modern day tourists. Does anyone know where I might find some more appropriate white metal seated figures?

4 comments:

  1. I can only suggest casting the tourist in lead. Make the mould in plaster of Paris. It is a real pain but if you want to know how to do it I'll think of an easyish way. Cerre Purdue or lost wax is the obvious way to go but how to get the wax figure is the hard bit.....Find an artisan. You can always sell the figures.
    Have fun.

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    1. Maybe if you sat your tourist down and drilled a hole in the seat under it then you could fill the hole and all behind itself with lead. I would go for a her with a big frock.

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  2. Have a look at Aiden Campbell's range of figures, they're cast metal although I'm unsure if they are pewter or whitemetal.
    http://www.aidan-campbell.co.uk/76catalogue.htm

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    1. Thanks Paul, there are some excellent figures in his range which I think will be perfect. Even if they are pewter they will still add some weight, and they are definitely the best option I've come across so far.

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