Simon's workbench

Simon

Flying Squad
As observed from the trenches of one of the Cameo threads, I have made a bit more progress with the Hudswell railcar. Last night saw the buffer backplates finished and a radiator cap made and fitted. I dropped this last on the floor and it literally took me an hour to find the blessed thing, I couldn't give up as it had taken me ages to fashion it from plastic sprue:rolleyes:

Spurn2.jpg
Spurn1.jpg

It has been finished in my stock "Vauxhall Reed Green", a colour last deployed in anger on my Manning Wardle in 2012.

Next stage is glazing and some sort of running gear I guess…

Simon
 

Simon

Flying Squad
I have more or less finished glazing the railcar, here are the last few pieces clamped in place. I have used formula 560 canopy glue from Eileen's purchased at Railwells on Sunday, and it seems to me to be a pretty effective material.

Glazing.jpg

You can clear off smears etc with water when freshly applied, but once it has gone off then marks are impervious to water. Following an Internet search, isopropyl alcohol is the suggested solvent, and having got some this afternoon I have found it works pretty effectively.

I had to replace one sheet as I managed to scratch it, and can report that the canopy glue holds pretty firmly. Most of the glazing in the railcar sits and is located in a "slot" formed along the bottom edge, with the top edge being canopy glued. I also used it on some of the vertical glazing bars which were slightly deformed and it has held them down on to the glazing material very effectively.

Tomorrow should see all the clamps removed and some final cleaning up, then it's interior floor and seat painting before refitting the roof. I guess I ought also to make some attempt at drivers controls, but have no information on what these looked like on this vehicle.

Simon
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
For driving controls (although they are not the same vehicle) I'd try and locate photographs of the KESR railcars for clues.

I did come across this drawing of a US Mack-Brill railbus which may assist.....
Mack-Brill 1.jpg

......and selective crop.
Mack-Brill 2.jpg
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Railcar looks just like the photo(s)! Can't get better than that.
What glazing material have you used? Looks very thin but I'm guessing not glass slips if you are using canopy glue?
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
The power unit for the railcar would probably have been a standard Hudswell tractor - what about looking at the controls used on these? Seems likely they simply used the same controls relocated to the cab?
I think there are a couple of suitable views in R Nelson Redman's books?
 

Simon

Flying Squad
Hi Tony and thank you for the drawing Dave, certainly gives me some practical ideas. I have a feeling the parking brake was a rod rather than a wheel, there is precious little space in the driving compartments.

The glazing material is Bayer "vivak" which is ptfg, or something. We had a thread about it on here some years ago which made me go out and buy it, it came from an acrylic shopfitting suppliers who seem to have moved premises having just looked for them.

It's good stuff, optically clear and comes covered in a protective film on both sides. It's Mekpak and nearly everything else proof.

Regarding controls, I bet you are right. I don't have any suitable books, do you have a reference for any with relevant info?

Simon
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
....Regarding controls, I bet you are right. I don't have any suitable books, do you have a reference for any with relevant info?...

If only there was a decent railway bookshop down your way.....:rolleyes: :D

I've checked my 4 HC books and no footplate / control photos of tractors to be found (although some are preserved). However:

Hold your bet - I don't think my assumption is correct. The 20 seater railcar's power unit and driveline (4 cyl Dorman petrol, driving through a cardan shaft to the rear axle) are quite different to that of the 30hp tractors despite the outward similarity of the radiator/engine cover.

So I suppose the best guess is that the design of the controls would be more in line with the tractors / shunters (heavier style than the relatively delicate automotive controls).

I didn't realise until I read through the books again that it had a rear left driving compartment with duplicated controls.

The only other of info not found in The Railway Foundry is that it was transferred to Bicester Camp in 1952 and the chassis converted to a crane runner truck (HC & Co Locomotive Works List by Hardy).

Many thanks for the glazing info - I'll do a search for the thread.
 

Simon

Flying Squad
The glazing is now finished, the seats and floor are painted, the buffer rams are fitted and I think I'm happy with it. The next stage is to paint the buffer planks red. Actually, that's not true, two of the windows on each side were opening and need another half height pane of "glass" attached to the upper part of each window over the main glazing. I'm still thinking about how to fix these.

Glazed1.jpg Glazed2.jpg

I am adjusting the underside of the roof so that it slides on and off more easily, when it is fitted the interior is a lot less visible. Apart from a starting handle, door handles and driving controls what it really needs now is a chassis, time to deploy the piercing saw on some of my etch waste I guess…..

Simon
 

Simon

Flying Squad
Meanwhile back on planet sensible, I have got the trailing bogie for D6319 completed with roller bearings fitted and as of tonight pickups also fabricated and fitted.

Rollered.jpg

Thank you again to the estimable Dale Senior for the lifetime's supply of phosphor bronze, part of which has once again contributed to the "keep D6319 running" project.

This bogie now runs very sweetly, the powered one is already put back together, and so I am in a position to put both bogies back into the loco, connect everything up and run trains, I'm hoping to achieve this tomorrow.

Simon
 

Simon

Flying Squad
I have been bodging brass bearings on my lathe and have now mounted a set of Dave Hammersley's lovely scale coach wheels into a pair of bogies for my G1MCo Mark One coaches. As you can hopefully see, they fit perfectly into the bogies, even to the extent of matching the brake blocks fitted into the bogies. On the left you can see a bogie with the original (albeit turned down) wheels.

BigBogey.jpg

I now need to re-fit a brass tie bar, I cut off the heavy castings supplied which look a bit lumpen and also have a tendency to bend in the centre.

In the background you can see the interior being re-glued back together, the partition windows and doors as supplied are inexplicably lacking in height as you can see, the white lower edges being where I have extended them. Ungluing the partition sides is a hell of a job requiring knives and brute force, I have since filled the various resulting "craters" you can see.

At the risk of being labelled a fingerpointing and fretting finescale fiddler, I struggle to see why G1MCo and now Accucraft produce these very good coaches with undersized wheels. Well OK, the scale wheels will limit the minimum radius, but from casual inspection they'll go around quite a tight curve before fouling the sole bars, certainly no problem on my line. But then again I suppose they'll have the bigger flanges which might cause further problems - so much for doing it to scale being "harder":rolleyes:

I need to add handrails inside the corridor and do a bit of painting, then I can put my "improved" body on to the completed chassis and have a more or less completed Mark 1 coach. Three more to go...

Looking on the bright side it is nice to be able to upgrade and improve a "basic" product to produce something a bit more personal.

Edit: A bit of paint now thrown around the bogies:

Paintbog1.jpg

Simon
 

Simon

Flying Squad
Today I put a bit more paint around, fitted the missing middle step board to the chassis, epoxied "handrails" inside the corridor and have just assembled the whole thing.

So this is the Accucraft Mk 1 coach with the body extended downwards over where the "plinth" is on the original model and scale wheels of the correct diameter fitted into the bogies.

Green2.jpg

Green1.jpg

I think it looks a lot better, the ride height is correct, the whole coach has more "presence". Tie rods still to be fitted to bogies.

Arguably, the worst feature now is the prismatic effect from the moulded windows, although this notices a lot less "out on the line".

This coach now takes its place in the centre of the running set and I can start work on extending the bodysides on the next "victim", I have already cut the plinth off the chassis.

As far as the wheels go, I will endeavour to press ahead and re-wheel the other two coaches in the running set ahead of the body modifications.

Simon
 

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
It does look much better Simon, well worth the effort. :thumbs:
A waft of something dirty over the roof would help tie top and bottom together I think.
Steve
 

Simon

Flying Squad
It does look much better Simon, well worth the effort. :thumbs:
A waft of something dirty over the roof would help tie top and bottom together I think.
Steve

Thanks Steve, you are quite right, a grubby looking roof will add a lot - I'll see if I can't sort something out before the "closed season":p

And thanks for all your help and encouragement over bearings and the lathe:)

Simon
 
Top