I returned home earlier this week and have been busy processing photos from the trip. I finally got back to work on my gravel car today. I’m still working on mixing the paint for the body color of the car. I made three attempts today. The photo shows the third and best attempt. I want to try a few more to get a slightly more faded and slightly lighter color. I played around with which paint colors to use to create this color, and concluded that my original combination of carmine red, Naples yellow, titanium white, and burnt umber is best.
It looked a better match in reality than it does in this photo. I think I’m going to mix a slightly pinker version, just to be sure - use less of the burnt umber. I still am getting a niggling feeling that it needs blue. Sigh. The Naples yellow, the carmine red, and the titanium white combine to make a nice bubblegum pink. I played around last night with subbing neutral gray for the burnt umber, which didn’t work. And I tried adding ultramarine deep, which resulted in an ugly purple/mauve kind of color. […]
Yes, this is another one of those philosophical posts.
One of the things that I’ve been thinking about while visiting the RhB, has been - what to model? I spent considerable time looking at pictures on the internet, and studying maps to figure out where the interesting looking things are located and what relationship they have to each other. By going there and riding the trains and hiking through the woods and valleys, I learned a whole lot more about how these pieces and parts fit together and function. It has become fairly finely honed in my mind that I might consider the model train layout to be Chur to Pontresina - essentially Albula Bahn. And maybe someday, do an extension to add the stretch from Pontresina to Tirano - the Bernina Bahn. […]
Maybe I’m starting to split hairs - these photos never look the same as reality - but I think this is a closer match than the previous attempt. I’ve been trying each combination of my reds and yellows, with white, and with either cerulean blue or cobalt blue. So far, I’ve learned that it only takes a smidge of the blues to get an effect! This color is scarlet, Naples yellow, titanium white, and cobalt blue. Not exactly in my color pallet - but hmmmmm. I’ve got a few more color combinations to try tomorrow. If nothing else, I learn a lot about what colors combine to make what. I made a hideous green color that might be useful someday on an oil tank.
Ok, I’ve made a decision to go with that last set of colors I mixed last night. I’m going to use the color on bottom for the base color, and the color on top for the dirt. They are both made of scarlet, Naples yellow, and titanium white. The bottom color has cobalt blue added, and the top color has cerulean blue added. This totally messes up my creating a color palette for my train cars, which might be a good thing. I mean, have you ever seen a train that matched? […]
I’ve marinated for a couple days about the blue in these gravel car color mixes. The basic color has cobalt blue and this first coat of dirt has cerulean blue. I’ve decided for the moment to go with it - I could always start over if I decide later if it doesn’t work, but my gut feeling is that it will be ok. This is the first color of dirt, next will be a light gray. The one on the right side of the photo, came out a little more heavy-handed on the dirt. Typically, I have found that as I do this, I will think something looks too heavy or gaudy, but at the end of making the car, I will think it wasn’t gaudy enough. It’s sort of like stage make-up, it really has to be over-done.
I added some light gray. I mixed a little Holbein Neutral Gray #4 with a titanium white. Again, I used the dry brush technique of just jabbing the paint brush at the surface to be painted. I rubbed a lot of the paint off of the brush first, since I don’t want the dirt to make solid coverage. I’ve got a number of old paint brushes that have gotten fuzzy, and this is a good use for them. […]
I painted some basswood pieces that will become the supports for the bristol board pieces that I have been painting. The basswood supports won’t really be seen, but it works nicely to paint them both sides at one time as they don’t warp that way. I smushed them under a pile of books nonetheless.
I made a cut-out guide from bristol board to use to draw the shape of the sides onto the painted bristol board pieces. Then I trace out the shape with a pencil, and will next cut these out - cutting just inside the pencil line.
Wheee! I took the boxcar and the logcar that I did this past winter/spring to be judged at the sub-region NMRA meet just before I left on my trip to Switzerland. My boxcar received 110 points, and my logcar received 107 points. Both are good enough for merit awards. Also, the boxcar won 1st place in the freight car model contest and the logcar won 2nd place. There were a number of items entered total, and they all scored very well. It was stiff competition. And I won “Best in Show”! Total shock to win that! I’m tickled pink that my models did so well. […]
I trimmed off the extra basswood. I had cut out the sides made from the painted bristol board, and I had glued them to the painted basswood. Then I let them dry overnight under a hefty pile of books. They still managed to warp a little. I also put too much glue on; the glue oozed out from under the edges of the bristol board. Oh well. That made the trimming not go perfectly - the x-acto knife cuts very nicely (and I put in a new blade), but it won’t quite cut straight through dried glue. I sanded the edges lightly with 600 grit sandpaper, which helped some. […]
Well, I cheat. I start with a dark gray and mix white into it, then add whatever I want to make it cooler or warmer. I have had some luck with mixing gray using the three primary colors plus white, but it is difficult to get gray, and even more difficult to get it more than once. […]
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
I decided to go with the dark gray that I mixed last night. So, I assembled the wheel hubs and painted them. I made them the same as last time - basswood pieces plus styrene rod to hold the axle, and a little light filing. After I got them painted with two coats of dark gray, I used the “dry brush” technique and added a little Studio Lascaux mix of anthracite and a dab of titanium white. I wanted to lighten the anthracite a little without making it lighter than the gray. The idea being to add some “dirt” in hopes that it will make the wheels look more real if the paint job isn’t so perfect. This will be more effective on the wheels and especially the journals.
This time I’m filing basswood instead of balsa wood. The basswood is tougher and doesn’t smell as nice. But this isn’t too different from using the file to shape part of the undercarriage for the boxcar before this. This difference is that on the boxcar, I could cut and glue all the pieces of basswood for the undercarriage together and then file them into the correct angles - this gave me something to hold onto while filing. This time since the angle are not at an edge, I need to file them before I glue the pieces together - and there is really nothing to hold onto. Much more difficult. I made the pieces to be filed at an angle longer than needed, and filed about half the length, thus solving the problem of something to hold onto. I will cut the filed portion off before gluing it into place.
And yes, I am going to paint those wheels!!!
I pieced together the undercarriage for the gravel car [Schüttgutwagen] using pieces of basswood. I did a rather sloppy job…no particular reason, just lazy. This is the first attempt at making one of these cars, so despite my need to sharpen my skills, I don’t feel strongly that this car has to be perfect. It is sanded and ready to be painted. There will be some additional basswood pieces added as this car has a low part between the wheels, but I think that it will be better to add that after I get the wheels, brakes, and journals on.
I painted the entire thing with the gray (Studio Lascaux mix of anthracite, titanium white, with dabs of cerulean blue and bright red). Then I painted the edges the dusty gray mix that I had made from the Holbien paints for the sides. I also added the dirt - both the darker pink and the light gray that I used on the sides. I left the underside and deck the gray. The deck gets some wood decking eventually. It is really tough to tell from the photos what color the deck is - I’m guessing it is dirty and thus gray where there is no decking.
I initially used a brush to paint the gray. I then used the paint knife to apply the dusty pink - two coats. This gives a smooth finish more like that of painted metal, whereas the brush leaves brush strokes and leaves a rougher finish. I used a dry brush to apply the two dirt colors.
I painted the wheels and glued them on. This time, I set the wheels the same distance away from the closest end. I always wonder about the front end having the wheels set back further because of the front porch thing - thus centering the wheels on the length of the car excluding the front porch. But the drawings that I have for this car indicate that the wheels should be centered on the entire car, so I did. This car doesn’t have a clear front porch like the other cars, though it does have the front railing. […]
Yup, I made the brakes for the gravel car [Schüttgutwagen] today. I did the same as the last two times, though with a few tweaks.
I used the micro basswood “lumber”, 8 x 8’s, cut to make triangle shaped pieces. I then used the flat jeweler’s file to file down the 90 degree point. And one of the rounded jeweler’s files to shape the things sort of moon-like so that they fit the wheels. This time I didn’t file them as much, because last time I over-did-it. […]
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
I glued the brakes on and started working on the wheel journals. This set of brakes turned out quite nice. They fit better than the previous sets, but they rub against the wheels. Rubbing was expected, but it sometimes stops the wheels from turning. The irony - the brakes actually work as brakes. *sigh*
Thinking back, I should have spaced the wheels correctly.
I started on the wheel journals for the gravel car [Schüttgutwagen]. I made a tiny adjustment to the dimensions - I made the bottom 2mm wider. In the photo you can see (upside-down) the bristol board piece without any paint or other pieces glued to it. Pieces just being started look so incongruous at this point.
I spent a little time this evening pouring over photos of a gravel car that a friend gave me copies of - starting to think about how I will make the underside part. This is the really hard part - deciding which details to include and how detailed to make them, and how much to omit. Some details add more to the realistic appearance than others, but I have found that I am a lousy predictor of which these are. This gravel car in particular, is one of those cars that looks simple, but is really quite complicated.