4mm An EM Workbench: n shades of grey
- Thread starter AJC
- Start date
Palbricks
AJC
Western Thunderer
I confess that I didn't know of the BR (semi-plywood?) version, so this will be a straight GW version - if only there were a kit available for the GWR plywood van... Anyhow, here's where it's got to:
Buffers refitted, safety loops (office staples) and vac' cylinder in situ and those fiddly little struts between the bottom of the verticals and the solebars. While doing fiddly brackets, my batch of Palbricks has been coming together but they still don't look especially Palbrick like.
Finally, the pair of Coil Rs are resplendent, if that's the right word, in Freight Brown and even a first coat of Klear to enable transfers to go on though those are a while away yet.
Adam
Buffers refitted, safety loops (office staples) and vac' cylinder in situ and those fiddly little struts between the bottom of the verticals and the solebars. While doing fiddly brackets, my batch of Palbricks has been coming together but they still don't look especially Palbrick like.
Finally, the pair of Coil Rs are resplendent, if that's the right word, in Freight Brown and even a first coat of Klear to enable transfers to go on though those are a while away yet.
Adam
Corridor Connections
AJC
Western Thunderer
Somewhere is a forgotten drawer are some guilty secrets: coaches. I suppose one has to have them... Anyhow, dragged from the depths is a Bachmann mk1 BCK which is intended to form the rear of a rake of Western Region stock which dad and I have knocking about. I rewheeled the thing and did a certain amount of detailing ages ago, but have only now got around to thinking about tedious things like corridor connections. There are lots available from the trade and at one point, I considered using a set of Masokits items but dad has had success with the idea Chris Pendlenton (lifted in turn from Mick Wakefield) described in MRJ 200 and this is straightforward, simple and quick. It goes like this:
Disassemble, score around the corridor moulding. You can remove the moulded corridor by sliding a curved scalpel blade between the corridor moulding and the end - there are four spigots holding it in and a couple wiggled out, while the rest were cut. Cut out around the scored line with a piercing saw (you can chain drill if you like but I generally confine myself to a hole in each corner: it makes less mess) and through the full width of the end as far as the outer face of the buffer beam. Check that the corridor moulding can pass through the hole easily and if not, ease with a blade.
Next, thicken up the corridor - you need to add 2.8mm of material according to Mick Wakefield - a couple of layers of 40 thou' and one of 30 thou' will do it though I can't see why 3 layers of 40 thou' wouldn't do the job. Allow to set and then trim.
Next, a backplate must be added to the corridor, trapping the corridor in place, and yes, that's more 40 thou.
Remember to trim the top corners to clear the roof strengthening ribs. For this to work, springs are required. These are from 0.31mm phosphor bronze and soldered to a piece of scrap brass:
These are mounted a little behind the end (you'll need to trim a bit of the floor of the interior moulding) and, this done, secured the spring to floor using a leftover screw from something or other and a smear of epoxy since I really don't want to take the lid off again any time soon. So here's the finished item, first pressed in:
And released:
And there we go, a durable, hassle free gangway for 4mm stock. The remaining detailing should be easy and quick enough, assuming I can find my Mk 1 buffers. The Masokits bits for the Hornby Hawksworth will not be quite so easy...
Adam
Disassemble, score around the corridor moulding. You can remove the moulded corridor by sliding a curved scalpel blade between the corridor moulding and the end - there are four spigots holding it in and a couple wiggled out, while the rest were cut. Cut out around the scored line with a piercing saw (you can chain drill if you like but I generally confine myself to a hole in each corner: it makes less mess) and through the full width of the end as far as the outer face of the buffer beam. Check that the corridor moulding can pass through the hole easily and if not, ease with a blade.
Next, thicken up the corridor - you need to add 2.8mm of material according to Mick Wakefield - a couple of layers of 40 thou' and one of 30 thou' will do it though I can't see why 3 layers of 40 thou' wouldn't do the job. Allow to set and then trim.
Next, a backplate must be added to the corridor, trapping the corridor in place, and yes, that's more 40 thou.
Remember to trim the top corners to clear the roof strengthening ribs. For this to work, springs are required. These are from 0.31mm phosphor bronze and soldered to a piece of scrap brass:
These are mounted a little behind the end (you'll need to trim a bit of the floor of the interior moulding) and, this done, secured the spring to floor using a leftover screw from something or other and a smear of epoxy since I really don't want to take the lid off again any time soon. So here's the finished item, first pressed in:
And released:
And there we go, a durable, hassle free gangway for 4mm stock. The remaining detailing should be easy and quick enough, assuming I can find my Mk 1 buffers. The Masokits bits for the Hornby Hawksworth will not be quite so easy...
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
Out and about enjoying Southampton's (woefully poorly advertised) Heritage Open Days, mainly an excuse to nose around the Eastern Docks. Two particular highlights - aside from the engine room of the SS Shieldhall which was a bit dark for pictures - Southampton transport old, in the form of Leyland Titan PD2A, number 335:
And, er older, in the form of Southampton Corporation number 11. They've got all the bits, including a fully fitted out truck, and one day, with luck, it will run again. Would that I had hours in my week to help achieve it.
Adam
And, er older, in the form of Southampton Corporation number 11. They've got all the bits, including a fully fitted out truck, and one day, with luck, it will run again. Would that I had hours in my week to help achieve it.
Adam
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AJC
Western Thunderer
After what seems like a while, some modelling. Just bits and pieces really, but some appreciable progress. The most basic is slapping a coat of paint on the hoods of my pair of Coil R which really gives a good impression of how it will look when done. I think the hoods now give an excellent impression.
From the coaching stock end of the bench more progress has been achieved though I have come to halt in both instances through lack of parts. The reworked Bachmann BCK wants for a set of buffers (one pair retracted, one extended) and couplings. End detail includes a lamp, alarm gear, dropped knuckle coupling and a couple of steps.
I've rejigged the brakegear too using parts from Masokits and replaced the brake cylinders: every 4mm Mk 1 I've ever seen has massively undersize vacuum cylinders so this one has ABS examples, along with vac' pipes and steam heat bags.
The Hawksworth is no longer carmine and cream but there have been a handful of casualties - a commode handle some nicely moulded gutters and a handful of vents. Now the handle is easy and the gutters fairly manageable (tiny bits of 0.8mm angle) but the vents will have to be ordered in before I can paint the thing maroon. Would it have been easier to buy a maroon one? Um. Perhaps.
Other details - lamp irons and corridor connections - are from Masokits, as is the brake gear which makes a difference. Even better, there are lots of spares for future coaches.
Adam
From the coaching stock end of the bench more progress has been achieved though I have come to halt in both instances through lack of parts. The reworked Bachmann BCK wants for a set of buffers (one pair retracted, one extended) and couplings. End detail includes a lamp, alarm gear, dropped knuckle coupling and a couple of steps.
I've rejigged the brakegear too using parts from Masokits and replaced the brake cylinders: every 4mm Mk 1 I've ever seen has massively undersize vacuum cylinders so this one has ABS examples, along with vac' pipes and steam heat bags.
The Hawksworth is no longer carmine and cream but there have been a handful of casualties - a commode handle some nicely moulded gutters and a handful of vents. Now the handle is easy and the gutters fairly manageable (tiny bits of 0.8mm angle) but the vents will have to be ordered in before I can paint the thing maroon. Would it have been easier to buy a maroon one? Um. Perhaps.
Other details - lamp irons and corridor connections - are from Masokits, as is the brake gear which makes a difference. Even better, there are lots of spares for future coaches.
Adam
Trestrol
AJC
Western Thunderer
Despite the sunshine over the weekend, I managed to get a few things done, but shots of RCH underframes with brake levers aren't awfully exciting so unless you desperately want to see them you can wait until the wagons themselves are a bit further along. Meanwhile, in the absence of parts to complete the coaches, I've made a start on something new, a private venture kit for a BR-built Trestrol AD by Ian MacDonald (who made this known over there) and can report that so far, so good. There aren't nearly so many rivets as one might expect, but all that should be there are there, so far as I can tell and everything fits with a modicum of tidying up. There's an awful lot of wagon...
Given the size, I've tack soldered rather than seam soldered which has thus far avoided problems related to differential expansion. Cleverly, the sides only fit one way round and the tabs protrude all the way through enabling really positive location. Seen above with one side on, and below with the second one. The intermediate stiffening beams are assembled separately and installed as a unit. The top flanges, as might be expected, take on quite a bend once release from the etch but straightened out ok.
All square so far and, as a bonus, just to prove that both Coil Rs are progressing:
Adam
Given the size, I've tack soldered rather than seam soldered which has thus far avoided problems related to differential expansion. Cleverly, the sides only fit one way round and the tabs protrude all the way through enabling really positive location. Seen above with one side on, and below with the second one. The intermediate stiffening beams are assembled separately and installed as a unit. The top flanges, as might be expected, take on quite a bend once release from the etch but straightened out ok.
All square so far and, as a bonus, just to prove that both Coil Rs are progressing:
Adam
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Trestrol
Trestrol
AJC
Western Thunderer
So here we go, next phase along the road, the end frames look a bit like this and were a bit of a fiddle.
The small holes just visible behind the headstock are for springs for the couplings - such a long wagon with three links will probably benefit for these but not until after painting.
It is also now on its bogies which are fitted to little pivot arrangements so as to ensure all wheels are on the track - the pivoting cradles are arranged at right angles - and I've added a short length of tube to the pivot screw as this pretty ordinary picture shows:
Finally, a close up of the bogie.
Trestles next, but in the meantime, the Palbrick project inches forward. At the minute, pretty much all of them look like this:
Adam
The small holes just visible behind the headstock are for springs for the couplings - such a long wagon with three links will probably benefit for these but not until after painting.
It is also now on its bogies which are fitted to little pivot arrangements so as to ensure all wheels are on the track - the pivoting cradles are arranged at right angles - and I've added a short length of tube to the pivot screw as this pretty ordinary picture shows:
Finally, a close up of the bogie.
Trestles next, but in the meantime, the Palbrick project inches forward. At the minute, pretty much all of them look like this:
Adam
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Palbricks
Palbricks
AJC
Western Thunderer
Hi Simon,
The only drawing I know of is in Bartlett et al's Wagons part 1 - this is a 8 shoe Palbrick B - but the text accompanying it gives the internal dimensions of the various different types. Phil Hetherington, who is restoring a real one almost certainly has more data http://www.palbrick.co.uk/
The bodies, as far as I can tell, are all the same in side elevation but differ, quite substantially, in plan. In 4mm you can get away with a certain lack of precision better (e.g., channel with a wooden packer in can simply be solid, most of the time) than you can in 7mm so the absolute minutiae of such details is less important.
Adam
Trestrol
AJC
Western Thunderer
And now, we actually reach the disticntive bits, the trestles. These are, inevitably, fiddly, but the end result will be good (they require some wooden packing - I have the coffee stirrers in stock... http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brtrestrolao/h488f5dfe#h488f6442).
The unseen stuff is the easing of the drawhook holes to allow for springing and all those shackle lugs, ten natty little fold-ups. The shckles themselves are quite nifty, but I'll come to those later. Getting there.
Adam
The unseen stuff is the easing of the drawhook holes to allow for springing and all those shackle lugs, ten natty little fold-ups. The shckles themselves are quite nifty, but I'll come to those later. Getting there.
Adam
Trestrol
AJC
Western Thunderer
So here's the Trestrol, now under a coat of paint (well, three, including a layer of etch primer) and assembled on its wheels. At present it displays a list towards the trestle side, which is unsurprising, so it probably wants a bit of lead under the other side to level it up. It's really quite an impressive beast.
Adam
Adam
Trestrol
Coil Wagons
AJC
Western Thunderer
After a fair old wait, I've had a nice email from Steve at Railtec advising me that a small commission I'd enquired about some time back had reached fruition, to wit, lettering for my pair of Coil Rs. These were based on (inevitably), Paul Bartlett's pictures: BR Bogie Coil R JRV Cable drum YVV and cover both as built well, so far as we can tell, and as they appeared in the pictures, with TOPS codes and pool numbers, also a TOPS thing as far as I know. Anyhow, I've got around to applying and varnishing them...
Adam
Adam
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Lyndhurstman
Western Thunderer
Hi Adrian
I think it's very much depends on whT you want. I used Railtec for the lettering on a Smallbrook coach for a commission. Steve did the following:
8 x "THIRD" in gold at approx 4mm wide and 1 mm tall.
2 x "W. S. R." in gold at approx 9mm wide x 2mm tall
For £15.00. I was well happy with that. And the detail was marvellous. I've just been putting some Railtec LNE 12T numbers on a few vans, and the level of detail and finesse is mightily impressive. Takes a steady hand mind...
Cheers
Jan
adrian
Flying Squad
Hi, thanks for that. I understand that each commission would be unique. I guess that multiple colours and shading will add to the price, for my current requirement it would be something simple with just plain white lettering so I think Adam's Coil R commission would be broadly similar. However the price you quote seems very reasonable when consider the time and effort involved and something I'd consider contacting them for a quote.
AJC
Western Thunderer
I should add that there is another important variable which effects the price and that is whether Steve wants to put the item in his main range. Now for some reason he has for this commission which saves me money, but I'm not sure how many more sets he'll sell: Coil Rs are fairly unusual! That said, @SimonT , how about 7mm?
This set, therefore, came in at £4.50, which gives me enough for three wagons, but probably at the expense of lead time. Since the glass wagon is from a kit, there might well be scope for further sales.
I've always found Steve helpful and the products really are good and follow the reference material closely just as the strip coil set commissioned earlier did. The result compliments the models I think and are well worth both the modest outlay and the wait.
Adam
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