Time I posted something here and we have the next of our Slim Gauge Circle get togethers on May 9th. Decided to see how far I can get on this project before then- I have very little evening time but can put in a long lunch break each day so lets see how it goes...
The project is a 1/43 scale diecast RIO Fiat Omnibus which I was given last Saturday as an unfinished project by John Hughes' widow- John was a prolific modeller and fan of American Narrow Gauge Railroads since the late '60's over here in the UK so this will be a memento to remember him by.
John had already started the conversion to rail use as can be seen in the photo's. John had already replaced the radiator grill with some mesh and there is a Portescap coreless motor and gearbox installed through a slot in the floor and a brass frame built to attach a front truck to. A broken set of wheels through the gearbox and that's about it- everything else will come from the scrap box.
James
another
one more...
last one for now
James,
a nice deviation from the peat cars...... ;) ;)
Is this the railbus conversion Wiseman offered some time ago ??
Jacq
Hi Jacq,
...no I don't think so though I'm not familiar with the Wiseman product. The Portescap is held in place with Milliput so I doubt it's a commercial offering!
Been making a few plans- just made a live one side axle and planning a split axle front truck so I can pick up power from all 6 wheels with the minimum of wipers. Taken the glazing out of the firewall/ windscreen moulding and cleaned it up and added some texture/ extra scribing. I'll reglaze the whole bus with Microscope cover slip glass. Am going to make new step supports next for replacement wooden running boards and then I can get the brass parts primed with etching primer and maybe still have time to get some finish paint done before my deadline.
James
That's going to be a really nice railbus when it's finished!
Hi James ,
I'm glad to see that you are getting stuck into sorting out the railbus , I didn't think you would get going so soon . I'm also glad to see it survived the attentions of young Liberty May ( I'm afraid I might accidentally call her Liberty Belle one of these days ) . So will you get it done in the next ten days ?
As you know , I shall be missing the meeting this time as I hope to be in Leverkusen admiring two of Europe's best layouts with "The Scarlet Pimpernel" ( Malcolm Ferriday to everyone else ), so I hope it goes well ,
Nick
Love the Fiat Bus. Sounds like quite the undertaking....and diecast is always such a PIA to work with. Look forward to what your progress.
MR
Nick,
whether or not it is finished in time remains to be seen- just decided to postpone some of my other projects and get on with this one first- partly in response to your challenge- have you started the tractor yet? ;) :D
I'm sure Liberty ROSE won't mind too much being called Liberty May or Liberty Belle but you are a braver man than me to try! ; :)
Hope the trip goes well and you manage to avoid too much of a surfeit...
Marc,
yeah I know- I hate diecast too (except for the amount of cheap vehicles available in 1/43)- I'm just trying to decide whether to open up and square the window apertures or just leave well alone. Tricky enough scribing around the door panels etc- any suggestions?
James
James ,
Sorry about this misnaming of your "little precious" , I knew I should have checked with Angela before writing . Maybe I'll hold off from calling her the other names until I've got myself some Dutch courage .
No I haven't started the tractor . I opened the box and got it out , had a look at what Chuck has been doing with his Fordson and put it back in the box . Maybe I'll get it out again in 10 years time ! For anyone who is curious about what we are talking, I was given one of the Universal Hobbies 1:16th scale Fendt Dieselross tractors that was being discussed a couple of weeks ago elsewhere on the Forum by the same person who gave James the railbus . I really don't know what I could do with it , so I'll just store it for the time being .
Nick
So a bit of progress- sorry for the horrible quality of the photo's- very overcast and rainy here today! So, I didn't find any wheels suitable for a split axle arrangement on the front trucks so this is what I came up with instead. These are steel rimmed KB scale wheels with new turned stepped axles to set the correct back to back (.672" if memory serves). One tire of each wheelset is shorted to the axle by soldering fuse wire to the front of the tire and passing it through a hole in the plastic centre then wrapping it around the axle- you have to be fairly ginger with the soldering iron so as not to melt the plastic wheel centre!
The truck sideframes are some old brass HOn3 ones from the scrap box and copper clad bolster to allow the pickups to be isolated.
Once I get some brake beams and shoes on there you won't notice the pickups quite so much...
...other side...
because I've ended up with pickups on the front wheels (I hate having pickups on un-powered wheelsets) I'm adding a shed load of lead wherever I can to the body to help the wheels track properly under the pressure of the pickups.
I've also scribed around the door openings- a pretty fine scribe but will be more visible when painted. I am loathe to strip all the paint off the body but as it has chipped so much may end up having to... the paint has all been keyed slightly with a fibreglass pencil...
...and finally the finished and primed frame. I have added brass step supports as I am going to add wooden footboards and hate the coarse look of the cast plastic step supports. supports are 1mm wide brass strip. Primer is two pack etching primer from Phoenix.
Will post more when a little more is done- the 9th of May is rapidly approaching!
James
This is great fun to watch.
Cars with flanged wheels are the bomb-diggity.
I would strip the paint. The stuff they use on diecast is so thick and horrible, it hides the detail of the casting which is often much crisper....it also tends to fillet and radius things/corners that shoudn't be, and generally aren't, on the casting underneath.
It's a PIA...but I seriously think you will be happier afterwards, and end up with a better looking model.
Marc
Marc,
you are right on both fronts... the paint did need to be stripped and it was a serious pia. I should have stripped the model down more before I started- taken all the glued in plastic parts off and done the job properly- would have saved time in the long run. In my rush to get done before Sunday I thought I'd get away with leaving the paint on. In the end I masked up the plastic parts and motor and just stripped the outside of the bus with cellulose thinners- actually the paint was not that thick- these busses have been in production a long time and I suspect the paint was just sprayed cellulose 'cos it came off ok. Took a bit of care to keep it away from the plastic and motor though.
So, some progress- paint stripped and new base coat of Humbrol Tank Grey applied from a can. Prior to that I test ran and tweaked everything so it runs really well. Ended up adding more weight so it comes in at 10oz. Done some work to the firewall/ windshield molding and it has its microscope cover glass installed, radiused all the fender edges too- they looked a bit square to me. Also while the paint hardens I've made up a base.
Remains to be seen if I can get the painting done before the weekend- Paul's cement mixer truck photo's reappeared just in time! I'm now trying to decide whether to paint it green as per the photo's or stick to my original plan for blue but using Paul's photo's as a reference.
James
other side...
base...
next up- some painting but I have to fill those horrible gaps between the body and the rear fenders first. The roof has had a layer of tissue applied but needs some more sanding and painting. I also have the running boards to make up and will do a dash board and some work inside the cab.
James
Looks better already. -- Russ
OK, so, some progress (of sorts) this was last nights effort- I knew a lunch hour wasn't long enough. I have to say I am VERY unhappy with these results but hopefully I can pull it back...
Salt technique over an oil paint/ Bragdon powder layer. The problems as highlighted in the photo's are
1. Rust far too orange- though my camera tends to make stuff more orange than it is to the eye.
2. Far far far too much salt- this is meant to be a running vehicle not a junkyard bus!
3. Ditto above this has just gone far into the realm of cliche.
I would have gone over this stage anyway and am happy with some elements but the plan for today is...
1. Shade the rust down. Especially the underside of the bus
2. Loose some of the rust patches higher on the body panels
3. Try not to get too depressed about it! ;)
Any suggestions welcome, I know it's horrible so fire away! Having the Sunday deadline has made me pretty much do everything back to front on this and in my rush to get things done it is by far less 'considered' than I my usual work. Oh well.
I'll see what I can do next session.
James
another...
hood...
opposite side...
not quite as bad but still...
Am fairly happy with the windshield which lost it's glazing to the masking but that's quick to redo.
James
What a neat project! Love the base, too.
I am thinking to tone down the rust may be a wash of dark brown or powders.
Then misting over a lighter shade of the blue?
??? ??? ???
-Marty
James -
Great job on the conversion and especially the finish.
However, it seems to be a little higher off the track at the back end.
it sorta "leans forward". Is that prototypical?
Carlo
Hi All,
have toned down some of the rust as suggested and shaded out the undersides with black oil paint- thanks for your suggestions Marty. Also brushed over some of the lighter blue that I'd airbrushed over the corners and top of the hood to cover some of the rust. My camera definitely seems to accentuate the orange tones of the rust- it is far less vivid to the eye.
Made a dash and footboard, running boards done and added some fuse wire hinges. Glazed with microscope cover glass and painted the glass where the inside framing would be on the windshield. Finished the roof and run out of time before the weekend. I've learned a lot on this project- mainly that rushing to a deadline doesn't always work out! Still I think I've made an improvement over the model as I received it- it runs really well too.
I may go back and redo some elements one day but I set my deadline and, for now at least after 12 hours of work, am going to call it a day.
Thanks for all the feedback.
James
Right side...
Left side...
last one... second image has some of the saturation removed which seems to have corrected the orangeness of some of the other shots- far more representative of the actual colours.
Any tips on camera settings to stop the orange?
James
Your friend would be proud!
-Marty
You can't modify your camera to tame the reds and yellows. That must be done after the fact in Adobe Camera Raw or Photoshop. Most camera sensors have too much sensitivity to one shade or another, especially those in less expensive cameras. That's one reason they invented software. I routinely adjust overall color saturation or individual color saturation as I prepare photos for publication.
Suggestion: Concentrate on the model. Then take the best photos you can. Leave the tweaking to drones like I.
Russ
Russ,
thanks for that- I routinely use Photoshop CS3 on my mac at home getting my prints fettled and the camera is Nikon D40 SLR so not the cheapest camera in the world- just wondered if I was missing something with the camera setup and I don't have PS on this computer so used the 'tools' option in 'preview' which btw is much quicker at reducing file size for posting photo's than PS.
I'll try harder with the next model- or maybe just give myself the time to do things properly.
QuoteYour friend would be proud!
-Marty
Marty...
thanks! I think he would have approved. Attached is a portrait of John Hughes that I painted for his widow- a good man and a great modeller.
James
The model is looking good. Nice portrait, too!
James,
The railbus is looking very nice. I'm working on a 1/87 scale version of the Mack ACB right now so this holds a particular interest.
If you're interested in a very nice and inexpensive photo manipulation program for the Mac, I might suggest Graphic Converter from Lemke Software. It falls short of PS but for cropping, sharpening and color and light balance it's worth the money. I actually use it more than PS because it's user interface is a bit friendlier.