My way to make a tarp

I was asked by shelton on how I did a tarp for my E wagon and I thought why not share it for all to see and have ago if you wish.
I built a couple of AMK engineering E wagon kits that are availible from Vic Hobby Centre in swanston street melbourne that need a tarp to complete them. After searching all over the forums and having a million ideas trown at me I thought about a model plane I built as a kid and wondered if you could still get the tissue paper and dope to skin the plane. Off to the local hobby shop and asked the question and hey presto they had it in stock. I purchased a metre and a can of dope and returned home. Then it was back on the net to find the size of the tarps. I did have it written down some where but I seamed to have missed placed that for now so I will continue. Whilst I was at the hobby shop I got a single peice of balsa which was about 2 mm thick 100mm wide and about a metre long.
First thing to do is work out the height of the support arm at the end of the wagon and I found that answer on a recently purchased ELX wagon from powerline. Once I had determined the height I made a former for the wagon as the next photo shows

Once the former had been fitted I cut out the tissue paper to suit the wagon. I honestly cannot find those dimensions so what i suggest is measure from the highest point of the rib to where you want the tarp to finish. I would also suggest to over lap the two tarps as you must keep in mind these tarps were made a standard size which fitted the GY's and other similar four wheeler's.

Once your happy with the size draw a line down the middle of the tarp to align it to the rib. Glue the tissue to the rib first then once the glue has dried begin on the sides. If you use super glue be careful as the wagon can become part of your finger in no time.

Once your happy with the side you can finish of on the ends. All the photo's I could find had the tarp's wrapped around from the sides to the ends. Once the glueing is finished you can apply the dope. Please use it a well ventilated room. You can use multipal coats and heavy brush strokes can create a pulling effect on the tissue to simulate a stretched tarp. Set the model aside for the time suggested on the dope instructions then paint the tarp to the desired colour.

And there you have it, a realistic looking tarp that you can say " I did it myself ".

All the best

Wayne ( Ollie )

Not long til christmas

I just realsied that its less than 10 weeks until christmas and thats scary. This year has gone so fast and with all the new models coming out lately and more soon to arrive, the old wallet has copped a battering.
The train shed I started 18 months ago has come to a grinding halt and each time I begin to to something regarding the shed something else pops up like a couple of A's from auscsion or a couple of T's from powerline. Not to mention the horrible evilbay. I have managed to put a couple of things together and are awaiting the warmer weather for the paint shop to start up again.
I did finish one item that came up rather well and I would encourage any SAR or VR modeller to have a go at for their layout. The San Mateo Line search light signal which appeared all over the VR and SAR systems are a fiddley kit but well worth the time and effort ( even my son was suprised how dads fat fingers managed to put it together ).

The finished product actually suprised me as well as it actually works?.

Another little fun thing I have been planning and finally started was a kit bashed On30 0-6-0 diesel for my Vr narrow gauge that fictionally had introduced diesels to replace the ageing steam fleet and try to make the railway run at a profit ( I call it modellers licensce ). The loco is a bachmann 09 diesel shunter with the cab removed and a Boulder Valley Models side door cab bash kit fitted to it. The floor has been widened and thats about as far as I have got with it so far.

Its fun to do something freelance for a change and using the knowledge of VR practice I have applied it to this model as I beleive the VR was in a state of decline in the early sixties and costs had to be managed well. This loco will ooze local depot charm with simple structure and basic mechanicals.

Enjoy

Regards

Ollie