Mountain Goats Train Thread.

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I will wait until daylight to take a few photos.

I used superglue to seal the DAS modelling clay and give it a stronger surface.

Remind me not to play computergames while I am using superglue. I was wondering why my finger was stuck to the game controller!

Looolz. MountainGoat appears to have developed sticky fingers ...looolz

I can't wait to see them when they're done.

Okay, but who's going to remind me to remind you of that thing you wanted me to remind you of?

Lolololzzzzzzz he..he..he

I gave up with the idea of the feet, but the results so far are good. It is not quite perfect but I am happy with them.





I applied runny superglue to the modelling clay to give it a durable finish.

That's what counts!


And that counts as a thing I would probably never have thought of.
Will have to store that idea for future use.

Thank you for sharing your progress ...... looking forward to your progress with the carriage part .
Smart idea about using the superglue .

Hve you seen the superglue and baking soda trick? It can also be used with powdered resin (Filings of resin which one gets when sanding down) and other materials. The only downside is one may need to alter pints as some paints tend to need the surface mildly roughening up to help them stick where superglue has been used.

I have used modelling clay and superglue on doing repairs when a corner got knocked off a resin kit and dissapeared. Also I use clay as a filler as it is cheap and cheerful. Saves my spending money on buying proper filler for models.

The other good thing with clay is that if it goes hard, it can be rescued by soaking it in water.

Did not know that!
Does it depend on the exact kind of clay

I would imagine that all clays that have air hardened can be rescued as it is the moisture that keeps them soft. Only the clays that have been fired to make bricks or jars etc would be difficult to bring back... In theory a brick can be crumbled and moistened to bring it back but it would be too much work! Easier to find more clay!

But going back to modelling clays... If they go hard they can be rescued but it will take a little time to work the moisture back into the clay.

A couple days ago 4 of my 0-6-0 locomotives needed mistake recovery.
After proving that deciding to go ahead and work on models while having ME/CFS brain fog was not the smartest thing I've ever done.
But in my defense, sometimes that brain fog is so insidious you aren't really aware you are having it.

Anyway, the end result was 16, yes, sixteen, tiny .020 holes drilled in all the wrong places.


Went to add some representation of the manual control rods to the fore and aft sand domes.
Decided to, at 1/87 scale, just use bent wire, which at normal viewing distances will be just as acceptable as modeling the flat lever and round rods and shafts.

Each rod required drilling a hole on the side of sand dome & one in cab front.
Well ...

I drilled domes above a fitting where I should have drilled below.
And ...
Drilled cab front inboard of electric generator when I should have drilled outboard.

2 of my 6 locomotives were saved from the error because my hands hurt too much to continue after doing 4 of them.
Drilling was not with a power tool, but with a sewing pin sized drill bit in what is called a pin vise - totally by hand.

Made the error even after looking at reference photos for a couple days straight.

Grrr.

Oh well. Fortunately the .020 inch holes were simple to plug with some .020 styrene rod on hand.

Here's a reference image for what I was trying to represent, it enlarges quite a bit, and also has other interesting details such as electrically-powered turntable the locomotive is on.
https://www.shorpy.com/node/11371
That locomotive has a bell with pull ropes on both sides while the bell casting I used has rope only on left, fireman's, side and has an air-powered mechanical ringer on right, engineer's side.

(NOTE: Most, not every one, of the US railroads had engineer/driver and fireman on opposite sides from UK.)
(a note for those perhaps unfamiliar with railroads/railways: whereas automobile drivers sit inside/toward center of 2 lane roads, locomotive engineers sit toward outside of double track so as to better see the trackside signals)

And the photo of the incorrect rod placement does hint that when completed - PROPERLY! - the details will look good. I like the feel of three-dimensional depth they will give.
Other side of domes will have pull rope for bell and pull rod for whistle.

Hmm, double-sided tape ...

Where I want to add cab front door detail to these moldings which do not have it ...
And want to leave the door closed ...
And do not want to disrupt the model's existing paint ...
Would cutting the door panel framing out of something like .010 styrene sheet
Then painting it and attaching it via that double-sided tape work acceptably
Of course slicing tape out of the glazed area since the exposed tape there would merely get dusty.

Here's one I have stripped and will be totally repainting but will use to illustrate the location,


Here's a real one with the door there open,

Good detail exceptional that your getting it done with ongoing brain fog and fatigue .

In the UK it varied from railway company to company. Since grouping in 1923 where many companies merged to form "The Big Four", and then the railways passed into governments hands in 1948, some locos were built to be driven on the left and others on the right. Some of the foemer companies had to have their signals repositioned so they could standardize the driving on the left which meant the firemen had to also look out for the signals (Which they did anyway because one would be a fireman for so many years before one became a driver, so it was good practice to learn where all the signals were as the majority of firemen were seen as apprentice drivers, and indeed on very cold days with the drafty cabs of the British Railways standard class locos where the designers thought they knew better, they were so cold that the driver and firemen kept having to change places where the fireman would drive for a while unofficially, as one side of their bodies would be toasty and hot and the other side was freezing cold... So by swapping jobs now and then they could keep going!
But what I am saying is that it was not until British Railways was formed, that there was a standard side, as prior to this each company decided for themselves and positioned their signals accordingly... So you can imagine the situation which British Railways was in when they took over (Or the big four companies were in when they took over from the great number of different companies before them) running locomotives dating from around the 1860's to their own new designs from 1948 onwards, what a difficult task they had. (Some locos like the ones from the 1850's to 1860's were kept on the rails as no other loco would turn such sharp curves on the lines they ran, hence why they were rebuilt so many times, but there were a great many more elderly locos from the 1880's onwards that had plenty of life left in them and hence why they were kept in service, or they had been rebuilt and maintained and were in good condition so they carried on in service as it was cheaper then building a new loco. The GWR (And others) were well known foe standardizing parts and adapting elderly locos from other companies using their parts, so they ended up looking like a GWR loco. Example of an entire class were their 56xx locos which looked like they made them, but in reality they were much modified locos built by or for an entirely different company that the GWR took over in the act of Grouping in 1923).