Saturday, February 1, 2014

GSV...

HI All,

Last week I decided to weather an Austrains GSV. 

I have already added P87 wheels and Sergent Couplers.
Check out Model Design Studio for Wheels.

This is going to be an interesting task as there is one tricky aspect, and that is the wood grain. This is a big downside to this model, in my opinion the wood grain would be next to invisible in HO scale. The grain itself is horrible to say the least, and spoils the model completely as it does with the BSV by Eureka which I believe was made in conjunction with the GSV. So how to remove it?

My plan is to hit it with the sand blaster. I picked up one of these after I saw Ray Pilgrims blog on the cheap version available at supercheap.

So first step is to pull it all apart, an easy thing to do and did make me think if these could be sold as kits rather then RTR. It would make things easier for me as the sides and ends are on small sprues that holds it all together, you will break some when you pull it all apart.


The grain gets blasted away pretty well but not completely, the rest I removed with a scalpel by dragging the blade over it. Below is the before and after pic. I am much happier with the result, and I continued on the sides, just to knock the shine off  to help the paint stick.

The grain isn't completely gone but its much better I think.

Now I don't recommend pulling the model right down as it is rather painful to put back together, so the next one I will try to leave it together less the roof and bottom floor and see how it goes. So into the paint booth and a coat of Floquil Grimy Black (Should have got more of this), and some more weathering to do but you get where I am going.


Now if I can just get John Easie to return my emails for the correct roof, I can complete the model.

Cheers

Andrew

12 comments:

  1. Andrew,
    Certainly an improvement to say the least...Looks great...And another job for me to put on the "blaster" to do list...They are a handy tool. Like every wagon refurb...one down many to go.
    Good luck with a result on the last paragraph!

    Regards,
    Rod

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  2. Looks much better with the 'grain' removed from the ends, well done!

    Good luck getting the correct roofs from Austrains. It took him 8 weeks to send the correct roofs to me! As for emails, I've never received a reply to any of my emails that I sent him, so I suggest picking up the phone instead. Very pathetic service in my opinion, and he knows he can get away with it because people will keep buying his product as there's no competition.

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    1. Will do Brendan, it was the only way I got the decals for the FO and CCA.
      Cheers

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  3. G'day Andrew :) Are you going to change the roof to the post WW2 configuration? Plus, you do realise that the wooden underframed GSV was pretty much gone from the scene by about 1966... pretty much only the 1948 steel underframed version lasted past 1966, and their were precious few of them. The introduction of the BSV pretty much removed the need for four-wheel sheep vans and they disappeared far more quickly than did the four-wheel cattle wagons.

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    1. G'day James. Yes the change of roof is going to happen one way or the other. I will have to ring JE as Brendan has suggested.
      I actually bought this wagon for the Kurrajong layout which is now unlikely to happen. Not prepared to part with the GSV's yet as you never know, the layout may get back dated to 1960 one day :) ... Cheers

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  4. Andrew

    Interesting use of the blaster, I must keep it in mind.

    Incidentally, it is Pilgrim, there isn't any Pilgram surname that I am aware of.

    Ray.

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  5. D'oH...Sorry Ray, I am an average speller at the best of times.
    Andrew

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  6. G'day Andrew. It's a shame these great looking pieces of rolling stock are spoiled by the woodgrain effect, it looks like the manufacturer was given some bad advice here. Very good effort in trying to remove it. Peter

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  7. Andrew, Gary at MRRC have lots of them...send him an email and we can organize sending a pack out to you. Nice job too!! Ben Small

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  8. G'day Andrew.

    I'm not sure who is in the R&D teams at Austrains and Eureka, but WTF with the 'Log Cabin' finish on these wagons??

    They musn't have been given the right advice from the manufacturer at the time or didn't spec these models right or didn't check test shots thoroughly (handbrake mounting bracket wrong shape for the timber underframe); inexcusable in this CAD age and the 'Table of Knowledge' these guys have access to - especially when you consider that their CV, LV (ex-MV) and PV are made in the same factory and have the correct representation of timber planking....look at the SDS BCW as another example of getting it right.

    Look forward to more progress shots!

    Tom P.

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