I Can Count To Seven, Honest!

You may remember that back in February we learnt that I can't count, in that I printed two 8 plank wagons when I had transfers for 7 plank wagons. Well in the last 3D print run, along with the N scale experiment, I included two 7 plank wagons which I have now painted and finished.

As before these are finished with transfers from Modelmaster, and again I've chosen to stay fairly local; Silkstone is very close to Penistone and Pontefract is less than an hours drive away. With the addition of these two wagons to my fleet I can now build up quite a locally themed train of open wagons.

... And Two More Makes Three

I've now finished painting and adding transfers to all three wagons from the last 3D print run. You've already seen one of the wagons but I thought I'd include it's photo again to show you the final roundup.

I'm really happy with how all three turned out, although the General Refractories wagon was hardest to paint as it was difficult to get a good covering of the creamy white paint (I used ivory from the Model Color range). The vinegar trick seems to work well though as I had no problems with the transfers on any of the three wagons, so the white wine vinegar has definitely earned itself a permanent spot in my modelling toolbox.

Now that I've painted the wagons and have been able to photograph the finished items, I've added them to the growing list of products available through Penistone Railway Works; each wagon can be bought with any of the three different brake configurations, so in theory that's nine new models.

Modelling Supplies: White Wine Vinegar

When I blogged about not being able to count on Sunday I didn't envisage being able to fully complete the wagon until next weekend at the earliest, as I would have to wait for the transfers to arrive and then find time to apply them and finally varnish the completed model. So it's with some surprise that I present the completed wagon for you today; the transfers arrived in the post this morning, were applied in about 20 minutes during my lunch break, and then the varnish applied while waiting for the kettle to boil mid afternoon. After a couple of panicky moments the final model looks pretty good, although for some reason there isn't room to evenly space the main logo (and my wagon is slightly larger than the one the transfers were designed to fit).

If you remember from my past attempts to use waterslide transfers (here and here) they weren't exactly an unqualified success. There are a number of solutions you can buy that you either apply to the model before the transfer, or in which you soak the transfer to remove the backing paper, and which are supposed to help but I thought I'd try a cheap trick that I saw mentioned in a forum (I can't now remember which one); vinegar. The suggestion was that you can soften the transfer slightly by adding a few drops of vinegar to the warm water you soak the transfers in. I decided that I wouldn't go this route but would try something slightly different.

I applied the transfers as normal (soak in warm water, position with a paintbrush and then remove excess water with a cotton wool bud) and then used a cotton wool bud soaked in vinegar (white wine vinegar to be precise) first to get vinegar under the transfer (if you simply put vinegar along the edge of the transfer it gets sucked under the transfer nicely) and then to rub the transfer to mould it to the details of the model. This seemed to work really well leaving me with transfers that had folded nicely into the creases between planks etc. and it has the advantage of not making the transfer any more delicate than necessary when you try to position it on the model which is when it is most likely to rip.

The other tip I picked up is to ensure that the aerosol of varnish is both warmed (I stand it in hot water for about five minutes) and then well shaken. This apparently stops the white dots that plagued my previous models from occurring. This worked really well, although I did have a worrisome ten minutes after I'd sprayed the model as initially the transfers (especially the large logo) crinkled up badly, but as the varnish dried they flattened out again.

It's taken less than two months from my first attempt at printing a wagon to a fully painted and detailed wagon that I'm really happy with. I call that a successful experiment with more complex 3D printing than the small accessories I'd designed in the past, and if I can do it then so can you!

Working Brakes

So as I previously mentioned I've been building another coal wagon. This is an 8 plank, 12 ton open coal wagon again built from a Parkside Dundas kit, painted with Humbrol paints and detailed with Modelmaster transfers.

As you can probably tell this was a lot more complex to paint than the all black Lofthouse Colliery wagon. I started by masking off the undercarriage and spraying the top red. I then reversed the masking and sprayed the bottom black. Unfortunately my skills with the masking tape weren't perfect so I used small pots of matching paint to touch up those areas were paint had leaked under the tape. Once this was completely dry I then painted in all the metalwork detail on the upper section in black. Which was time consuming but well worth while.

The transfers still aren't perfect; some didn't even go on straight but wouldn't move without risking tearing them, and from the photo it's clear to see there are still areas where there is air under the transfers. Clearly I'm going to have to work on perfecting adding the transfers, but when viewed from further away than the camera was it looks fairly decent and I'm certainly happy with it.

The one problem, as alluded to in the title, is that the model brakes actually work! I've obviously not quite aligned the brake detail properly and with the extra layers of paint and varnish one set was close enough to a wheel to stop it rotating unless I added more weight to the wagon. I've sanded the break block back and touched up the paint and it seems to be going round now, but I'll have to keep an eye on it and possibly file it back even further.

Yet again the transfers I used were to make the wagon appear local. This time I'm even closer to home. When I take the train to work the first place it calls is Silkstone Common before it heads towards Barnsley stopping first at Dodworth. I'm not sure where the Old Silkstone colliery was but it can't have been too far away.

Wagons In Black Satin

Having now reached the end (sorry I'll stop with the bad puns... honest) I thought I'd show you the completed wagon. As you can see it's had transfers applied, been varnished and had couplings fitted since you last saw it.

A plain wagon would have been boring so I knew I would want to add transfers but I also knew that I wanted it to represent a wagon from somewhere reasonably local. Fortunately Modelmaster produce a wide range of transfers for private owner coal wagons so there were quite a few local options to choose from. I picked Lofthouse Colliery simply because it recommended applying them to an all black wagon, which, as I mentioned before, simplified the painting. The transfers were easy to use although I'm not entirely happy with how they went on. The raised areas of the wagon tended, in some places, to trap air which I couldn't remove no matter how hard I tried.

The final step (other than sticking on the couplings which is the work of a moment) involved varnishing. Varnishing serves two purposes. First it protects the paint and transfers from wearing off when the model is handled, but it also reduces the shiny surface left from the gloss paint (which is needed to help the transfers stick properly). As with the primer and paint I used an aerosol of Humbrol satin varnish. Whilst it was easy to apply (easier than the paint anyway), I'm a little disappointed that in a few places it has left little white dots. It's unclear exactly what has caused this although a little research on the web suggests that I may not have had the varnish warm enough and well mixed.

I'm fairly happy with the result and I've learnt a few things which I can apply to the next model I build and paint. I have an 8 plank, 12 ton coal wagon (also from Parkside Dundas) that I'm in the process of putting together. This will be a slightly more complex project as it won't be painted black.