Alex3410's April 2015 Competition thread

[Alex3410]

Hi all,

This will be my thread for the April competition (more information here so please do take part if you want to).

This month i am going to repaint a rake of coaches into SECR colours, its not going to be historically accurate but i really just wanted something to run behind my SECR locos and the colour of the coaches is really nice.

I have attempted this before but after really crappy varnish (Humbrol) ruined the finish i have opted to strip them all back and start again.

The plan this time is to leave the sides with a glossy finish and leave painting the roof and ends until last so they maintain a matt finish - thats the plan anyway

This is my starting point:
Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

so far i have spent ~ £80 on the coaches

[carnehan]

I guess when you spend 80 quid on a rake of coaches you want the paint job to be just about perfect. If your workbench thread is anything to go by, these are going to look stunning when finished. I look forward to a crash course on spray painting.

Do you have a pic of the real thing you are trying to accomplish - not well versed on the SECR colours.

Paul

[Alex3410]

The style i am hoping to replicate is similar to this:
Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

from the Bluebell railway

i have chosen RTR coaches that match it as closely as i could find, hoping they will look the part behind my C class anyway

[Alex3410]

i have made some progress with these - wanted to wait until the 1st but also want to get them done ready for my birthday (one of my SECR C class locos is a present so its not allowed out of the box until my birthday so need these ready to run along side it)

i am so glad i have made a start the transfers on these is taking about an hour per side probably more to do with my speed!

anyway they have all had two coats of paint and a coat of gloss varnish:
Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

I got myself one of the Humbrol workstations so i can sit with the other half in the living room and still make progress - keeps her happy anyway
Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr


After about an hour i had completed a single side:
Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

managed to do a second half of another coach which also took around an hour - at that speed i have another 8 hours of transfers to do

I am doing a single side at a time to make sure they dry fully before handling them to do the other side, once done i will coat them with a protective coat of varnish (gloss) then finally paint the roof and the ends which i am planning on leaving with the matt paint finish

the Fox transfers work brilliantly but the only thing thats bugging me about them is the need for warm water - the problem is the water does not stay warm for long and you would need to be up and down like a yoyo if you replaced it every time it went cool. The benefit of changing the water (for warm) each time it cools is that the transfers seem to active allot faster then in cool water.

I have taken modellers licence with the position of the transfers etc (as they are not the correct coaches for SECR i figured why not!) - the crest on the left is from the loco pack rather then the coach packs, i have used it partly because i liked the idea of a crest but also because the running numbers on the right are a pain to get lined up nicely and the thought of having to do it four times per coach was to much

I think it looks the part anyway so thats the main thing i was aiming for

[carnehan]

That's nice neat work you have done on that coach. The repetition of railway modelling can be a real pain at times but the end results always make it worthwhile. The carriages are going to look terrific in a rake behind that loco.

Paul

[Alex3410]

Update time, the coaches have had all of their transfers applied - next time i think about a project needing so many someone shot me

Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

One of the buffers on one of the coaches was missing so i have removed the one next to it and fitted a replacement pair - not the same as the others but wont notice once its all done but opted to replace both to help blend them in.

Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

the end is in sight

[Alex3410]

With the end in sight i have given it a big push and i think i have finished

i have given them a coat of dark grey paint on the roofs using the airbrush, then once dry i have given them several coats of black on the ends with a brush.

Once this had dried i was able to put them all back together - had to trim some of the windows down a little where there was excess glue from their first fitting. I also needed to remove part of the chassis for the coach that has the replacement buffers fitted as these protruded though and stopped it fitting to start with.

I have been busy running them this afternoon.

I did try taking a video with my camera but it didn't go to well so instead there is one form my iPhone - apologies in advance its rather shaky Video available here

SECR Coach repaint by alex3410, on Flickr

SECR Coach repaint by alex3410, on Flickr


Finally an shot of each of the five + the C class:
SECR Coach repaint by alex3410, on Flickr
SECR Coach repaint by alex3410, on Flickr
SECR Coach repaint by alex3410, on Flickr
SECR Coach repaint by alex3410, on Flickr
SECR Coach repaint by alex3410, on Flickr
SECR Coach repaint by alex3410, on Flickr

Really looking forward to my birthday as i will get to run my other SECR C class double heading which i think is going to look brilliant

[dougalmac2]

They definitely look the part alex. Well done, and well inside the time.

Mac

[carnehan]

They are lovely looking carriages Alex. That video of them running really shows them off - particularly when the light gleams off them. It helps show up the quality of the painting and decal fitting. Congratulations on the build and being the first one finished.

Now that you are done you will have plenty of time to get out and cut that lawn!

Paul

[Alex3410]

Thanks guys

The grass was only cut two weeks ago but your right needs doing again - probablem is it takes ten times longer to get mower out then actually doing grass

[glencairn]

Excellent coaches Alex. Well done! Love the engine too.

Thanks guys

The grass was only cut two weeks ago but your right needs doing again - probablem is it takes ten times longer to get mower out then actually doing grass

And even longer to put away

Glencairn

[Peterm]

Very nice job Alex. How about a working holiday in Queensland ?

[Alex3410]

Having some trouble with the running quality of these, checked the wheels only to discover some are wagon wheels and some are coach wheel sets so the difference in height is not helping things! also some have plastic wheels and others have plastic axels and the wheel is lose on the axels taking them out of gauge

i have ordered a new set for the rake and will replace them all to hopefully cure things - as a side note it will be interesting to see how many of the wheel sets have correct gauge as i am still shocked by the number of wagons i get new which need correcting.

As i finished in time i am now working on a loco repaint so watch this space

[Alex3410]

Well 6 months after starting the project i have finally gotten around to putting my C class back together again see here for the rest of the build

Here is the result:
Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr


pleased with it - its not 100% historically accurate but i really like the colour and its close enough that i am happy

I had planned to do a second to run them as a pair - mainly because the fully lined SECR livery C class is fetching crazy money on ebay so this plan was the next best thing, I have managed to get a second SECR livery one to run in a pair (getting it for my birthday soon so will post soon). Anyway i had started the repaint for the second one but now not needing it to match thought i would try something different with it so here it is:

Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

Untitled by alex3410, on Flickr

The blue is defiantly not historically accurate but they look brilliant as a pair

The next step is to clean the wheels and get them running in around the layout, i also need to take the blue one to bits again as i forgot to put the tender weight in and its noticeable when running it on the layout - the green one has it removed and a speaker fitted so no room but will see how it gets on.

I dont know if you can tell but i am a bit of a fan of the C class (it gets worse i have another two )

[skyblue]

The blue C Class is interesting - and it should certainly look good with that rake of coaches.

I dont know if you can tell but i am a bit of a fan of the C class

I had guessed as much!