Road bridge kit - released on Ebay

Hi all,

I have released the first of the two bridge kits on EBay, and I have added some photos of the finished kit.

The bridge kit is based on the Lions Rd-Cougal Northern NSW, border loop area. However it would look at home over any creek on most Australian themed layouts, and perhaps, other layouts based on a different country.

The "Lions Road" is a road running between the Summerland way in N.S.W, and a junction at the Mount Lindesay highway. It is a road that joins two pre-existing sections of rural road - Wilson Avenue in New South Wales, and Running Creek Road in Queensland. It was so named as most of the funding, planning and voluntary labour for the road came from the Kyogle branch of the Lions club. A Kyogle resident, Jack Hurley, was one of the most prominent advocates for the road and despite the NSW Government rejecting the idea in 1969, it was opened the following year.

A good deal of its length is a narrow one-lane road that cannot be used by trucks or cars towing caravans/trailers. It was only recently that the road was fully sealed with bitumen. The road has many creek crossings along its length, and several of the bridges are of wooden construction that can only support low weights.

Kyogle has over 240 bridges and around half are made of wood.  My research tells me the bridge I have based my kit on is much older than the Lions Rd itself!  It appears the pre-existing roads may date back to the late 1800's and were mostly used for logging. Timber cutters made serious in-roads into the regions resources, being red cedar, and bullock teams made their own roads and bridges as they worked the area.

  ^{.Cheers Dean.}

NSWGR 47 Class loco weathering.

Hi all,

Again way to much time has passed since my last blog posting. However I have been so busy, with my 75 year old father taking a fall and hitting his head, which put him in hospital for a week. Things have just been crazy!

For this post, I have weathered a N.S.W.G.R '47 class loco from a photo taken by Bryan Vandestelt, way back in 1989. I spotted it the in Railway Digest of October 1990 sometime ago, and I have used it for weathering inspiration more than once.

This time, however, I decided to match the weathering to the model, rather that just use it as a general guide. I must say a "thanks" to Railway Digest for tracking down Bryan, so I could get the O.K to use the photo. Another thanks to Bryan and his brother who went to so much trouble getting the image to me. Bryan sent the slide to his brother who scanned it, and sent me the photo so I could use it for this blog posting.

 

Cheers,
Dean

Better late than never!

Hi all,

It's about time I updated my blog - better late than never! I have been very busy of late with two stints in hospital not helping. I have managed to keep my Facebook page up to date with new Rails In Scale kits and detail items.

My work on the coil wagon kit continues, with much progress being made. I hope to have the re-release kit ready soon.

I have also completed two bridge kits. One is of a bridge that runs over a creek on the Lions/Border loop road in Northern N.S.W. The other, a rail underpass based on a few I have photographed around N.S.W.

I also have added a number of small detail items to my RIS range including line side water tanks, sleeper and rail platform facing, old sleeper junk piles, rail buffers (low wood type), brass turnbuckles and wagon junk loads. All will be listed on my eBay store.

In the RIS range of signs, there are five new sets available from petrol stations signs to cigarette billboards.

I also weathered a NSWGR 47 and some QR locos (see facebook page).

I will do a full post on the 47 class with some photos in a few days.
For now hears some photos of the bridge kits!

              The finished underpass, road sign, and billboards kits are all displayed in this diorama.

                                                 Above photo shows the rear of the diorama.

                                                  Front side with signs and 1980's billboard.

                                                        Close up shot of bridge detail.

 

                                         This new release bridge kit will be available at Gold Coast exhibition.

                                                           Tar covered wood plank.

                                                          Close shot of wood detail.

  .                                            Both kits will be listed on eBay asap.

Cheers, Dean

Weathering crusty cement

I received an email from a customer who purchased some of the weathering pigments I sell on Ebay, as linked below:

Shadow Grey weathering powder


The problem he had encountered was mimicking, that is weathering, the crusty dry cement found on cement wagons. I was asked if I could help out, so here we go! I should also point out he asked about dipping the wagons in real cement. I don't recommend this, as you have no control over where the cement goes and you may well just finish up with a wagon that looks like it's been dipped in wet cement.


The first thing is to build (or buy) your wagon. In this case I used an AR kits NPRX wagon with a Keiran Ryan Brass etch walkway kit which I then paint and decal. I used the gray primer as the finished colour plus a gloss coat for decals. I then dull coat the model and let it dry.  

The next step is to brush paint some clear (water base) paint on the model where you want the crusty cement .

Then add the pigment by dropping it over the wet paint and shaking the loose powder off. Don't dab at it, just leave it to dry. 

It may look thick but you can tone it down when dry by rubbing or picking at it until you have a realistic look.

I now use Extra hold hair spray over the model to blend the powders. I tone down the spotty patches by adding powder where needed, giving an even weathered apperance over the whole model.

Another layer of dull coat and some more powder work to finish off. I then weather the bogies, add the KD's, and it's ready to roll! 

Later Deano.

P.S. I will do my best to answer all your emails but please be patient some envolve a lot more work to get a blog post up with details and photos. Next I will show how to colour sand stone walls. 

NSWGR WATER TANK

Hi all,

As most of you know I have had some major computer problems that have caused me some big time headaches! I am pleased to say I'm back on track with a new PC. However, I lost all the art work for my kit instructions and sign kits. It was not an easy thing to come to terms with, as the data loss was the result of a mistake made at a PC repair shop. I kept this quite while I sorted the mess out with the repair guys. Efforts were made to recover the data, but in the end I decided to move on and get over it, before it got the better of me!

I do have printed copies of instructions and signs, so at least I will have something to go off, as I redo everything. I wish I could just scan it all but the images are not clear enough.

Once again I thank everyone for their patience and will do my best to get orders out ASAP.

Now for a modelling fix - I have worked from sun up to sun down, and then some, over the last few weeks whilst sorting my PC. I was burnt out and I needed a modelling fix! It came in the form of a Laser rail bits, timber tank stand.

An easy and enjoyable kit to assemble and I was really pleased with the end result. So I mounted it to a diorama, added extra details like bolts, inlet/outlet pipes and a tank of course (an old Rails North kit). I milled down the inside of the tank by screwing it down though the top half of each side, then ran the cutter over the parts and cut the top half off when finished. The end result gives a more realistic thinness to each side.  
 

                                               You'd be a Galah to drink that water!!!!

                                                        Water Column UNEEK kit 680

 

 

                     I adjusted the colour - see my Face Book page for the original and extra photos.
                            http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rails-In-scale/266244323495711

                                              Sole plates UNEEK and Woodland scenics
      Later, Deano

Modeling a Jacaranda tree in HO scale

Hi all,

I have completed a project modeling a Jacaranda tree that ended up turning into a diorama!

I noted the trees around the Northern Rivers NSW and Ipswich QLD, so I thoiught I would give modeling one a go by painting white sand, a few shades of pink and purple. I used water based hobby paint and airbrushed a small amount of sand in a ice cream bucket.Yes, it blows everywhere. But if you keep the airbrush well away from the sand it can be done! Shake the sand around as you paint.

I will be bringing the diorama along with me to the New England convention so I hope to see you there. The model was weathered using Dr Ben's weathering pigments on just about everything - cars, buildings, people and animals.The red Australian dirt was also pigment and looks very realistic however the photos made it much more reddish than it is.

New England Convention

I have been asked in a number of emails, and in person at the Ipswich exhibition, why I will not be demonstrating weathering techniques at this years New England Convention. The reason is that  I was not asked/invited. I thought the idea of a convention is to bring something new or different to entusiasts. If it was the same thing, done by the same people each year, wouldn't it just get boring? Anyway, if you have any questions just let me know, I'll be  more than happy to help.

                        

Cheers Deano                                       
    

Weathering rusty iron roofs - A how-to guide

Hi all,

Another update and some weathering tips. My PC is still under repair. Most of the problems are sorted, but it's now getting some updated parts, extra USB ports and a new case...so I'm posting this from my way too small keyboard on an older-than-I-am, very slow, laptop. With a battery that lasts five seconds!

I joined facebook a few weeks back and I was asked how I weather iron roofs on my sheep wagons. So I will do my best to show you all how I did it, and I've included pictures. You can find this Facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rails-In-scale/266244323495711

The first thing is to prime the roof with white primer. I use Turpentine based primer, not automotive thinner based primer, as the turps based takes longer to dry allowing the primer to stick to the surface. "Turps" primer is found in most paint shops, hardware stores and "discount stores".  If you not sure ask, and if they don't know, you are better of  shopping where they know the product. 

Turps primers white and gray - I often used gray first, then a light cover with the white
In this case I only used the white as it covers well over plastic..

The next pic shows the white primed roof with some brushed silver in random spots.  

Now coat the roof with Dullcoat as this will allow the Dr Bens weathering pigments to stick

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WEATHERING-PIGMENTS-that-work-DARK-DAMP-RUST-Rails-In-Scale-ebay-store-/140881189765?pt=AU_Toys_Hobbies_Model_Railways&hash=item20cd2c5b85.

Next you can add some Dark Damp rust pigments around but not over the silver. It will cover well over the white primer.

Now add fresh dry rust making sure you keep some of the dark rust showing and give the whole roof a light dusting with the dry rust. Now I cover with a light coating of dullcoat and reapply pigments, that is if some of the weathering has been toned down too much by the dullcoat.

And there you have it. A weathered rusty iron roof!

Later Deano