Large Scale Skips Finished

After some very enjoyable work and a long drawn out weathering process the two laser cut 1/10 scale skips from Dutch  Feldbahnfactory are finally finished. They are now ready to be taken into use as conversation items on a cupboard next to my table in the company office where I work.

Summer is here and it's nice to photograp skips on a newly mown lawn.

The two skips were taken on as a challenge to build something  in an even larger scale than 1/19. Being 1/10 scale the skips are massively larger than anything I have ever done in my modelling career. I placed the two skips on my 1/19 scale layout and they simply dwarf my usually rather large skips. 

'Huge skips in my yard!' shop manager Petersen is obviously thinking, wondering where they might have come from.

Comparing with a pair of his own steel skips the size becomes even more apparent. The brake skip is 22 cm in length.

I placed a H0 scale mine skip on the brakeman's platform to illustrate the difference in size between 1/10 and 1/87. The close-up photo also shows up some of my hamfisted assembly of the skip body. I should have spent a little more time sanding...

Primarily the skips have been done as a fun and relaxing project like the Ukrainian futuristic drones and their Niva mothership. Something to revitalize my modelling mood and give me an understanding of different ways of handling kits. 

Last time I mentioned the skips they were almost finshed and lacking only the last weathering, having been held up by the need to replace my air compressor. With the compresser situation fixed both skips were given a very thin overall spray with light earth and sand paints. I'm merely misting the paint on. Several light passes are much better than too heavy a first spray. I added more paint (but still only a light cover) where dust will usually assemble. in advance both skips had been washed with a thinned rust coloured oil paint. I added graphite powder inside the skips bodies to represent the wear from gravel sliding out of the skips. I also used graphite to represent wear on the brake handle and buffers. Some oil spill may get represented with gloss black later, but I'm giving it more consideration. I'm not sure the effect will work in the large scale. 

Ready for service. Or not, as the gauge of the skips are 60 mm compared to Nystrup Gravels gauge of 32 mm.

The 1/10 scale skips have been a really fun and relaxing project. Many thanks to Feldbahnfactory for bringen the kits out. I wish the little company luck with their endeavour. Should I ever wish to explore more modelling in 1/10 scale another skip and a small loco would be tempting.

Two well used skip resting in between construction tasks. Skip IV appears to have the logo of the Borzhava narrow gauge railway in western Ukraine.

With the two skips finished the modelling table needs some cleaning before I continue adding lights and final layer of paint on the 1/19 scale Fowler loco. I'm looking forward to get that finished and continue a long list of projects on my small Nystrup Gravel layout.