N Scale Tait Cars Part 2

Had a bit of time off on the school holidays and have finished the Brimbank Models Tait car set I'm been working on since April!

I'm really happy with the result, while the close ups below show a bit of grain at normal viewing distances they look great.

Here they are fitted with with a Tomytec TM-07 mechanism, Kato pantographs and Microace DT-11 bogies.:

Here is how I fitted the bogies:

And the DCC'd mechanism, nice and easy to do.

it is running very nicely !

Now back to work on the layout...

N Scale Tait cars by Brimbank Models

I ordered one of the Brimbank models Tait cars, the Std Cab Cler Rook Blank windows (245D) with my last shapeways order. I've been itching to do some of these for a while, and I wanted to check out some paint choices from the Vallejo Range suitable for VR passenger rollingstock.

Here is the nearly finished product (decals and final protective coat to go). It is on Fox Valley passenger trucks (for some unknown reason I ordered brown, not black ones, to try out).  It is painted in Vallejo 71.085 "Ferrari Red".

Prototype:

I think once the final coat is on and lightly weather it will match quite well.

Now waiting for the rest of them to arrive!

Back again and Paint

After a long hiatus on this blog I intend to catch up a bit and record some new information.

The first topic is paint.

For a long time I've been a fan of acrylic paints, the Modelflex / Accuflex range in particular. These are now very hard to get and my stock is used up, so about six months ago I began using the Vallejo paints. The benefit of these are:

huge range,
Used for military modelling - available in many hobby shops in Australia (and around the world),
Fantastic quality,
brush and airbrush versions.

Using samples of SEM colours as a guide I am now using the following:

VR Blue - "Model Air"range 71.090 Blue "Blue Angels"
VR Yellow - "Model Air" range 71.078 Gold Yellow. However I usually use Alps printed Yellow decals so use "Game Color" range 72.005 "Moon Yellow" (Brush version) or 72.705 "Moon Yellow" (Airbrush version)

VLINE Orange - "Game Color" 72.008 Orange Fire (Brush version), 72.708 Orange Fire (Airbrush version)
VLINE Grey - "Model Air: 71.056 "Panzer Dk Grey"


Victorian Rolling stock red - "Model Air" 71.105 Brown RLM 26


Here are the VR colours, photographed in sunlight the Walker on the left in Vallejo. The T is a bit dusty/weathered.

Here are the VINE colours, again Vallejo on the left. I think the orange is a closer match on the left. The Vallejo grey is very close to a fresh painted colour, but that tended to quickly age. There are lots of other grey's in the Vallejo range to get the right amount of weathered look.

Frosted Extreme Detail

Today I received some prints in the new shapeways Frosted extreme detail. At 16 microns it is about twice the resolution of the Frosted Ultra Detail at 29 microns.

You can see a difference in the print quality. The following have had no surface finishing, just painted grey to help photograph.

First the plateframe bogie, this is the best and worst print that I received,both are crisper than the FUD, showing the rivet detail much better.

The QR is also much crisper with far less surface roughness. There does appear to be one disadvantage though, the material is bowing in much more than the FUD, meaning casting these will be important

The QR end, showing the slight bow along the top of the sides.

The QN also shows a marked improvement in surface finish.


Overall a marked improvement on what was already "good enough" direct from the manufacturer. However the bowing is already a concern, indicating that these are great for making masters for casting, rather than finishing and placing on the track as is.


Regards

Rob

The Sparks are Coming! - Comeng model from Brimbank

On Shapeways there are some very nice 3D models being developed by Brimbank models:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/J2CA9TN4N/comeng-3-car-set-m-t-m-no-chassis-n-scale?li=shop-results&optionId=41947453

I ordered some a while ago and finally got in to cleaning them up, getting them in undercoat and then last night managed to do some decals.

Aust-N-Rail will be marketing these in the future as a kit with mechanism, pantograph and decals.

Series 1 T Class new production

Well after many years Aust-N-Rail has begun the new production of the Series 1 T class, thanks to a new master from Robbie Popovsk, who has created another work of modelling greatness!

Aust-N-Rail is not sure when it will be available, in part as we are searching for a new manufacturer in China, otherwise will will do it ourselves in Australia. Like the first run it will go on the Atlas VO-1000 mechanism and will be DCC ready, or will be able to be ordered with DCC fitted.

The following pictures are from the test casting.

E Class progress

G'Day all, merry Christmas, happy New Year, hope you had a great Australia Day!

A quick update with progress on the E class, in the process of adding lots of rivets at the moment....

Lots more to go!

Cheers
Rob