It just needs a bit of T-Cut...

 

After a slightly random conversation at the model boat club, I find myself custodian of this GWR station lamp. The previous owner had inherited it and didn't want to throw it away. He had no desire to  own a rusty relic though - so passing it on to me for free solved all his problems. 

I can't resist a bit of railwayana but this isn't without it's issues. The main one being that quite a lot of it is composed of rust. The frame around the glass is OK, but both the bottom and top are basically knackered. 

Sensible people would throw this away - or at least find some other numptie to pass it on to. 

I'm not sure what to do. Replacing all the rust wouldn't leave much of the original. There's little metal to weld to so replacing rust with steel isn't likely. My initial thoughts involve some automotive glue. Maybe if I stabalise the rust, I can glue metal inside the rotten bits. 

Dunno. For the moment it's in store while I think. Suggestions welcomed.

Coulls traction engine - life imitates art

Many years ago I built a W&H whitemetal traction engine kit for the Hellingly Hosptital Railway. It's the sort of mobile powerplant that contrators would have used in the late 19th Century as opposed to those thumping modern diesel boxes littering out high streets now. I'm not sure what my miniature railway builders were using it for but I like it and it's my train set etc. etc.

At the time I was looking for a suitable name to emblazen along the roof and thought of my friend Pete Coulls. He used to own a traction engine, and his son Ant was also into them. So much so that he now is in charge of some real Chuff-Chuffs and Nee-Narhs (I know all the technical lingo you know) and spends his working days plotting different ways to desecrate Flying Scotsman.

Anyway, Petes name seemed as good as any for the model traction engine, although I still managed to spell it wrong, just so he couldn't claim copyright you understand...

Now, life now imitates art. Its seems that Coulls junior has his own road going steamer which some of us have been watching the re-build of thanks to the WWW. Needless to say he hasn't got all the details right. As you can clearly see, the front end hasn't got enough wheels and he didn't go with my suggested paint job either. Still, not a bad effort.

Lifeboat pin cushion

Lifeboat pin cushion
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

On Sunday, I showed the lifeboat pin cushion as I acquired it and after a week of sporadic work, here is is in it's shiny glory.

Projects like this are a bit of fun and also a useful chance to try new techniques and materials. In this case it was gloss paint. Not a big stretch I hear you say but this time it was to be brushed on rather than sprayed. I reason that this is how the model was originally painted so for a restoration project, I should do the same.

Colours are all from the Humbrol rage: Red, Dark Blue and Ivory.

I cheated a bit with the red and used a base coat of matt paint before a couple of gloss layers. From many buffer beams I know how hopeless the covering properties of this stuff are !

Rather than use pure white, which I think would look a bit stark, I plumped for ivory. The boat arrived with cream paint but a test coat on the top showed this would look terrible. I doubt that the original paint was cream, it's just turned that way through the years. These boats were around when this model was popped out to the souvenir shop so I can't really see them getting it wrong ! Again, the covering properties let me down and three coats were required to get a decent depth of colour. In retrospect I'd have preferred to spray this as the rope detail has been filled in a bit.

The blue was the final challenge. I masked the bottom edge even though there is a line in the moulding to delineate the colours. The paint went on OK and by using a puddling technique (applying a thin coat and then piling the stuff on on a pool) I managed to fill it in with a single coat. Luckily gloss takes a while to dry and spreads a little to fill the areas between the raised detail. Of course it's vulnerable to dust during this phase so all the model was left under a box to keep particles out.

I'm please with the results. Hand painting gloss isn't something I plan to do in the future - it's back to the airbush for me ! Alternatively I will paint in matt and gloss varnish. Still, I think I've save something from the bin. Collectors will probably tell me it's value has been ruined by my work but that's their problem.

Lifeboat rescue

Lifeboat pin cushion
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

I'm a bit of a sucker for lifeboats and lifeboat memorabilia. Worse, I often feel sorry for old and battered things and want to repair them no matter how much more sensible it would be to check them away.

So, when I spotted this little lifeboat pin cushion on eBay a few weeks ago it ticked all the boxes. Ten pounds later I was the proud owner of a valuable antique. After a few days my ship came in, 10cm long and as you can see, a little bit battered.

Nevertheless, we have the technology to revive this boat. Fortunately the cushion part is in good condition and none of the sawdust it's stuffed with has leaked out. That just means I need to repaint the lead (as in lead soldiers) casting. First stop was a dunk in some Nitromoors to get the remains of the old paint off. The basic casting is lovely and sharp. Better still, all the lines delineating the different colours are moulded in so no masking required !

I'll be hand painting this as it was originally. This is partly for authenticity but mostly because it's going to kick around my modelling bench while I work on other things being picked up and put down for odd moments.