Garden Railway Forum

I am getting some cab doors for "ol' reliable" (the resident Silver Lady which runs at every meeting ALL day).
The question is, what colour? Mine is a Gamboge Lady, but I was initially thinking of black doors...
It does have lining, but not black edging, so I thought it might look silly with black doors.
What's everyone else's opinion? I cannot post pictures or links because I'm on a Tablet PC (similar to an IPad), but Lightline has a picture on their website, it's the only Gamboge Lady on the list.
Thanks.

I have some of these on my SL and I was going to get them matt black, however, looking at prototypes they always seemed to be the same colour as the loco.

Here are mine fitted:



I still need to paint the grab handles and door handle black though as I do not like the brass look.

Ah I see, there you go then, Gamboge it is!
I've seen your Lady on the Forum before: You've done a great job with it! Especially the new bufferbeam!
Cheers!

My SL (like my railway) is still very much in progress, however, the cut down buffer beam does make a big difference in my humble opinion so thanks for the compliment.

tom_tom_go:79654 wrote:I have some of these on my SL and I was going to get them matt black, however, looking at prototypes they always seemed to be the same colour as the loco.

Here are mine fitted:


I still need to paint the grab handles and door handle black though as I do not like the brass look.

May I suggest getting some 1.5mm piano wire from your local model shop. Cut to size, blacken with a blowtorch then paint the handrail knobs matt black. Slip the rods in and it will look much better than painting 'em.

I had a look at my local model shops website and the closest they do is 16 SWG PIANO WIRE which is 1.6256mm. Do I need 17 SWG which is 1.42mm as I can't find 1.5mm on the net?

Cheers Tag.

Tom

tom_tom_go:79667 wrote:I had a look at my local model shops website and the closest they do is 16 SWG PIANO WIRE which is 1.6256mm.  Do I need 17 SWG which is 1.42mm as I can't find 1.5mm on the net?

Cheers Tag.

Tom

Blimey I always have asked for 1.5mm – or just compared sizes at the model shop. If you can't find I will send you enough.

tom_tom_go:79667 wrote:I had a look at my local model shops website and the closest they do is 16 SWG PIANO WIRE which is 1.6256mm.

Roundhouse handrail knobs have a 1/16" hole drilled in them. RH specify 1/16" on the packet for handrails to match the knobs, so 16SWG piano wire should be fine.

Piano wire is harder than most wire cutters and a lot of saw blades. I usually use a cut-off wheel to cut the stuff, but it will soften if you can make it cool down slowly after heating it to red heat.

You can get a nice hard wearing black patina on brass handrails by using gun black, which should be available from your local purveyor of death and destruction. It also works well on steel of course.

Regards,
Graeme