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A tale from the Tin Shed..An Armoured Train from Cereal Packet.

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tin shed gamer:
The aim is to produce a useable Armoured train for 28mm figures.(this method will work in 20mm & 15mm).

I won't be covering making wheels as this has already been covered in the tutorials for the vehicles in the first to pictures.

An advance warning to those of a scaling,or Railway modelling disposition.

No definable scale is in use.

The only hint of any attempt of scaling would be does it sit well with my idea of how big a 28mm figure should look next to it. Equally important does it fit into my storage.
And that's as far as it goes.

As for materials and tools . Pretty much as usual .

Cereal packet card, cocktail sticks , an old figure painting brush, and cheap super glue . The exotic items (for this type of build) a dozen nails /tacks,and either thin wire or linen thread(simply depends on what's nearest the door in the workshop.)
Tools, craft knife, metal rule ,a couple of sand paper nail files,a compass,and a Pen. ( tray with a cutting mat. As always built sat on the sofa not in the workshop.)

As for the train . It was proposed in another thread ,So here's the one I'm interpreting.All be it loosely.

Mark.

tin shed gamer:
The actual construction of the whole train is very simple.
Once you've decided on the dimensions of your train. The it's simply a matter of making a universal template for the bracing formers.
That in itself is simple. As its nothing more than a rectangle or square. The width of your train body, with the upper corners equally rounded off.
This will do for the train and the carriages.The height of the template doesn't matter as you move it up or down to adjust the height of a former.

First construction stage will give you something similar to the top picture. The number of formers you use is entirely upto you. For me this is the bare minimum to hold the shape of the train well enough to game with.
Then it's a case of bending card to cove the formers.
Always pre curve the card before you glue it to the formers as it reduces the creasing your likely get in the card once you bend it around the formers as you glue.
The stacks on the boiler are simply tubes of card. Again you pre curve the card before rolling the tubes.If your not confident about rolling a tube. The roll around a pen ,or a larger former.

Windows and hatches are deceptive. You only need to make a rectangle slightly larger than the window (slightly more than twice the length, plus a third on top of the height.) then attached a parallel pieces of card running the length of the window.so the space between them is reduced to the height of the window.Then you cut out half the length of the window between the parallel lines so your left with a U shape.

The level of detail is upto you. Normally at this stage I spray under coat.(before the final details are added.As some card likes to fur once paint is applied. This give me chance to find these areas ,before I start to paint . Once you've found them a light sand quickly removes it,and a re spray seals them ready for paint.
I've in clued a picture of the engine at around 80% done just to give you an idea of the colour scheme.

tin shed gamer:
The carriages follow pretty much the same construction method as the engine.
The only difference being the use of a circular former.To help retain the shape of the turret wall.
The turret is nothing more than a short cylinder. The sides of the turret are two layers thick ,and again pre curving the card saves heart ache when glueing. On the outer layer Mark out the gun slit then pre curve the card. If you note the position of the space in side the turret you can avoid hitting any formers inside the turret when positioning the gun slit.

If you want a turret that turns use a smaller disc of card glued to the base not the turret, (a layer of candle wax on the disc helps.) It makes it easier to turn by reducing the surface area in contact and the friction as you turn. Otherwise it'll stick and you'll end up leaving it one position or throwing it at a wall.

An aid for fixing the roof on the carriage is to have a double layer of card on the sides and cut the outer layer back at the top slightly as it gives the roof curve something to grip when glue and is easier to keep a clean profile on the sides.

tin shed gamer:
The roof and gun emplacement have been simplified for speed. While aiming to keep the feel of the original . As it's not a feature that instantly says Armoured train,and as I'm not building a scale model . Only a representation of one.

Andym:
How do you get the card round!?! :o I don’t understand how you managed the top of that turret! :o

“You’re a wizard Harry Mark”

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