Saturday 2nd - it was all going so well...
At the time of writing, it still hasn't been decided what the latest government announcements mean for us turning up to volunteer. Obviously that's the end of running trains for a while, but for us there's still something of a question mark. Rest assured regardless of whether we're in or not we'll make sure we carry on blogging here, we've got plenty of content lined up regardless.
Steve kept up a never-ending supply of various panels requiring priming for George, who had a field day with all sorts of bits and pieces.
Ah, that's looking more like it! There's still another layer of shading to go on yet, a translucent shadow, which will have to wait for anther day.
Anyway, to Saturday. I spent the day doing some signwriting, and playing with some (imitation) gold leaf. Having chalked out the design last weekend, I could start straight away by applying the gold size. This is a bit like a varnish, you leave it for a while until it goes tacky.
If you zoom in you might just be able to see it! It's a bit tricky signwriting when you can't see where you've been. Whilst I was waiting for that to go off, I went to see what everyone else was up to.
Out in the barn, Andy (left) and Ken were both busy making lots of noise cleaning various components up:
Andy had some bits of brake linkage as pictured the other day, I'm not quite sure what Ken had, I suspect it was probably some more components for a gangway connection.
Also in the barn was Ainsley, ploughing a lonely furrow doing some more filling and sanding on the bodyside of the CK.
Although we've definitely made noticeable progress on this front in the last few weeks, there's still quite a lot to do before we can even consider greying up.
On the jack road SO 4787 was in for some bogie checks, so while it was in Bob took the opportunity to effect some quick roof repairs:
Steve's attention was once again on panelling for the BSK in the workshop, here I captured him finishing off the edges with a planar in the woodwork shop:
Here painting up a new battery box, by the end of the day the paint trestles were filled with primed panels.
He was kept company by Pam:
Who once again found piles of metal brackets and other components to paint. These are all corridor connection parts.
Meanwhile, Dave was tidying up more door thresholds:
Packing them with wood and filler to protect things.
A small tapping noise from upstairs suggested John was working on armrests
and sure enough, these are for the BSK. The little hammer along with a little metal "basher" is perfect for tapping the edges of the moquette in to give a tidy finish.
Chris was today armed with a door pillar, the mission being to fettle it in 1 dimension to it matched the curvature of the carriage:
Mission accomplished by the end of the day, although it will need adjusting in the other dimension when the door is being fitted.
Inside the RMB, I caught Russ sitting down on the job (not that I can talk!)
Continuing with the repaint of the serving area from executive grey to cream. It's certainly looking much brighter now!
Back at my poster board, once the size had gone tacky, it was time to apply the gold leaf. Because neither I nor the railway are made of money, this is "Dutch" or imitation gold leaf, made from an alloy. It means it will tarnish over time unless you varnish it afterwards, unlike real gold leaf.
Here I'm half way through brushing off the excess to reveal the basic lettering. It never seems to look quite right at this stage, so I quickly pressed on blocking it with black. At this point Dave decided just because I was writing the blog, didn't mean I could get out of appearing in it:
And the state at the end of play:
And finally, a couple of photos from Sunday afternoon, when I had a TTI turn on what turned out to be the last train until, well, who knows...
Social distancing doesn't get in the way of Dennis spinning a yarn to everyone!
It was beginning to get dark by the end of the day...
Which really showed up the lovely authentic station lamps under the canopy:
A strange atmosphere, not knowing when we'd be seeing this again.
The GWSR blogs epitomise the "can do" spirit of Heritage Railways and ,from Canada,I always enjoy them.The last two atmospheric shots say it all.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris! I do like steam in the dark, there's something about it that really does it, and all the little heritage details wvee worked hard to add really make the scene. Hopefully we can run some trains over the Christmas period and I can take a few more night time shots.
DeleteA small tip that may help with leaf-ing, you can add a little oil colour to the size to make it more visible. You can also dust a very little gilder's whiting over the surface before applying size, then you can see where you have worked, plus the whiting stops the leaf sticking where it isn't sized.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that, as it happens, the way I chalked up the lettering tends to leave enough chalk dust on the surface to have more or less the same effect. My main problem, and I don't know if this is down to me, the size, the leaf, or a combination, is not getting clean edges all the time when brushing the leaf off. I usually have to go back to touch some bits up which is annoying, even if I leave it all for 24 hours before brushing the excess off it makes no difference.
DeleteNot only does the darkness enhance the scene, I find that being from the Midlands (Stourbridge), that cloudy days also make scene seem 'right'. Whether it be industrial areas or country, the murky daytime seems right, and that goes for steam or diesel, goods or passenger.
ReplyDeleteRegards, Paul.