Building and painting Teak coaches.

Hopefully this will be a tutorial on scratch building and painting teak coaches. Now I know this may turn into a farce of several acts but I hope I can help others who may be thinking of building and painting their own rolling stock.
First an admittion, I started on my GC coach years ago using a very old and tatty photo copied drawing. I had made and really badly painted one side and started on the second side. I was so disheartened with the first side that I stuck them in a drawer and left them.
Recently I read a thread on RMWeb by a chap called Mike Trice who had painted some Hornby teaks and the finish he got was amazing!
Anyway here is my attempt at building and painting some coaches.
First my starting point, the GC coach sides, built from styrene. I will do a more in depth tutorial on how I made them later.

These are not up to the standard that Rob Pulham builds but I hope they will finish up ok.


And my GE 6 wheel coach sides.



These are the paints and materials that Mike Trice used.

Rather than start on my coach sides first I made a coach/ish panel using some Ian Kirk kit spare parts.

Now assembled I have given it a spray with some white primer.

Once it has dried I will give it a coat of the Pumpkin orange acrylic as a base coat.
I will be giving it the teak finish with Burnt Umber oil paint but more on that later.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Hi Paul, yes, my brother in law has a couple of Kirk coaches, one finished, the other ready for the paint shop. He's done the first in Carmine and it looks brilliant! Not sure what the other is going to be, maybe I will paint it teak for him if I make a decent fist of mine.

Pete.

 

OK, I have made a start on painting the panel, yesterday evening I painted the orange/pumpkin under layer. Being a fairly thick paint I have chosen to just use one coat, it has quite good coverage without filling in the small details but I think I may need to go for something a little yellower next time, its quite cheap, £1.55 I think, any way this is the finish.


After 24 hours drying I have started the faux teak finish.
I have mixed the burnt umber 50/50 with the Liquin. The Liquin is an additive to help the oil paint to dry a bit faster but not so much that it makes it difficult to work the graining effect in later, thats the beauty of oil paint.

I also picked up these brushes, they have a fairly stiff bristle which leaves a brush mark in the paint which is bang on for the teak effect I'm going for and for £4.99 they were a bargain.

Right here we go.
The panels are mostly vertical above the waistline of the coach so brushed them bottom to top, then top to bottom, below the waistline the panels are mostly horizontal, I painted them in a similar manner.
Left to right.

Then right to left, filling in the middle.

And finally, the end result.

The light reflecting on the panel doesn't show how well it really looks, (to me at any rate).
I will take a shot outdoors once the paint has dried.
The only thing at the moment, is I reckon its a bit dark. I'm considering going for a yellower base colour and a lighter finish coat.
I will have to make up another small panel and experiment!

Anyway thats it for now, we have our first rally of the year this weekend coming and are quite busy so it may be a little while before doing anymore work on it.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

I have taken another pic in daylight now it has dried. The paint has settled a little flatter but I still think it should be a bit lighter.

So I have knocked up another panel, sprayed it white again and using some different acrylic paints for a base coat, painted it in two halves.
One pale ochre, 'tother a mid yellow.



Thats about it for now. I need to make a trip to Range and pick up some more oil paints to try out.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Finally got to Range to pick up some more paint. I went for.

After mixing the 2.
This is the shade I came up with. The upper panel uses the beige-r base coat.
The lower the more yellow. Not much to choose between them.

Now I have got a bit in front of myself!
I managed to get hold of a drawing of the brake coach, the end is different but gave me some dimensions from which I made a card template.



This is where I got a bit in front. I didn't take any photos but I used the card template to cut a load of plastic card formers for the ends and partitions. I fixed these in place after using micro strip for the end panelling then I painted it.






I'm fairly happy with the result, for a first go at a full coach it looks ok to me.
Still loads to do yet, I'm hoping to get a pair of bogies from Invertrains at Doncaster next week, I have some wheels in stock which were for a different project.
Any way, thats all for now.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Hi Rob, will do mate-if I can get by the crowds that you usually get

Pete.

 

Not much done lately, I've had a few health problems. But I have ordered some bogie kits from Invertrains and will be picking them up from Doncaster on Saturday. That should get me motivated again!

Pete.

 

Thanks Paul, its a long term mobility thing that is driving me nuts!
If I do nothing and just sit around it generally improves but that is also driving me bonkers.
Its affecting me driving, I get pain operating the clutch, though I reckon that is half of the problem, and I also can't sit in the same position for too long as that causes ( forgive me ) a PITA....
Still mustn't grumble eh?

Pete.

 

Well despite the weather (I believe) causing me some 'orrible aches and pains I managed to get in the shed this afternoon and did a little more on the coach.
First up I cut some 2mm wide 20thou plastic strips 28mm long and glued them each end of the compartments.

Next I cut some 3mm strips the same length and glued them on top of the 2mm ones.

This makes a pocket to slide in some 20thou clear for the glazing but that will be one of the last jobs.
I need to fix the end seating in before the floor is installed but I needed to paint the interior first. I don't know what colour it should be but I thought maybe a brown/wood, this is what I came up with.

I haven't painted all the way down as the floor will be inside up to the level of the inner partitions. Thats the floor in front of the coach, 4mm mdf.
Any way I can't do much more until the paint has dried.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Ok, moved things a little further by painting some coach seating and glueing them onto the inner end walls with 5 minute epoxy.
After leaving them over night for the glue to set hard I drilled through the coach floor and screwed it to the underside of the seats.

Fixing the floor this way means I can glue the roof in place but still be able to access the interior. As can be seen the screws were a tad long but I can place a couple of passengers over them.


Next up I made a start on the underframe, I needed some 6mm square channel but as I only had some 10mm I cut that down and glued it to some 1mm card and laminated some 80thou to make the headstocks.



Last up the GCR Clayton bogie kits from Wayoh that I got from Doncaster.

Thats all for now.

Cheer,s, Pete.

 

I managed to get in the shed again and made a start on the bogies. They are very nicely etched but a basic model, no brakes or operating linkages, but from usual veiwing distance they should look fine.
The bolster that is fixed to the coach body was first up. The fold half etches were cleand before folding then a little solder run into them to give a bit more strength though I imagine a bit of epoxy resin would do the job.
I also soldered the pivot bolt in place fist before doing the folds.



Next up I made up the pivot plate that fits over the bolster.


More to come.

Pete.