Nearly ready for paint portraits

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Is the honeymoon still a week behind the 'fridge?

We have been upgraded to behind the chest freezer. :))

Today, Life and its bottomless bag of spanners is playing a big part. All kinds of shenanigans going on, mostly being sorted satisfactorily, but which will leave me feeling vaguely unsettled for the rest of the day.

I realised I hadn’t taken any overview photos of the coaches.

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Let’s see if I can get this right. This is a D.2102 BTK Brake Third.

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This is the other D.2102 BTK from the corridor side.

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The fancy end of the D.2301 CK composite.

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D.2301 CK, wide view compartment side.

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A slightly lower angle that more or less shows that lovely fiddly stuff under the frames.

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Finally, the D.2401 BCK brake composite. This is the "strengthener" coach, and has all the end details save for the couplings.

Still a fair bit to do, but I think the paint shop beckons early next week. I have to admit to feeling pretty good about these models. They’re turning out just fine.

(Famous last words!)
 

Terry Howlett

Active Member
I have to admit to feeling pretty good about these models.

And indeed I think you should Heather. They do look rather nice. As you probably know I'm sure, railway carriages construction is all quite new to me, so I'm not sure where in the build sequence we start to see paint going on. Soon I assume?

Terry
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I'm not sure where in the build sequence we start to see paint going on. Soon I assume?

I hope so. I’ve already done the bogies. With other kits, where the body can be fitted to the underframe at a later stage, I’d have painted the underframes by now. With these, as the body is attached to underframe as part of the construction sequence, I’m going to have to be a bit canny with the masking tape!

I have been working to get the coaches all to the same level of completeness, which I think they’ve now reached. Interiors still need work, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get on and paint underframes and exterior bodywork now. With luck, as the weather looks set to get warmer, I’ll get the paint shop set up next week.
 

76043

Western Thunderer
Great build Heather. The thing that surprises me about O gauge kits is the lack of demountability for painting. I would have thought that when something is larger than 4mm it would be easier to make a kit that can come apart easily, but clearly not. I'm still shocked by wagon kits that do not have removable wheels.

Tony
 
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Michael Osborne

Western Thunderer
image.jpeg I have asked several times why 7mm wagon bearings are so long ?
Folding up etch W-irons with such long bearings isn't easy. I personally think they are a left over from older course scale days when people built wagons from wood with crude white metal axle guards .
When building wagon now I try to split the W-irons and make them screw into the floor for easy painting or maintenance.
As I said I have question this on several sites and never had a single comment or theory.
 

76043

Western Thunderer
I've done the same myself on my O gauge builds, on my VANilla thread. Good to hear I'm not the only one who has questioned this strange behaviour. Makes things a doddle to paint and maintain when you can take it apart later. I guess kit makers aren't really that interested in this.

VANilla - 7mm - ready for painting

I made my roofs removable too for painting.
Tony
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
View attachment 140888 I have asked several times why 7mm wagon bearings are so long ?
Folding up etch W-irons with such long bearings isn't easy. I personally think they are a left over from older course scale days when people built wagons from wood with crude white metal axle guards .
When building wagon now I try to split the W-irons and make them screw into the floor for easy painting or maintenance.
As I said I have question this on several sites and never had a single comment or theory.
Slaters Wagon axles haven’t changed since I first bought some in the mid 1970s. Coarse scale models were relatively more common then. Slaters use the pin point to control side play as their wheels fit to the turned down part of the axle. Alan Gibson bearings are open ended so the flange takes the side thrust from the turned axle end with the wheels on the 1/8 th inch axle. The AG axles and bearings can be easily shortened by a few mm. Not sure whether increased wear is a real issue, could be for heavily weighted models. Exactoscale bearings were much shorter and allow the axles to be removed, but they are phosphor bronze so harder wearing. Slaters can be shortened but need a bush outside the wheels to take the side thrust.
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Or a spacer between the face of wheel and the flange of the bush.

Or drop out axleboxes in functional W irons
 

lankytank

Western Thunderer
Is message #265 et al a mis posting or is it looking for a new home? Seems a bit off from 'multiple maunsells' - if I've missed something, I apologise now :confused:
 
Attaching roofs

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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Apologies for the silence. I’ve been taking a little time off for domestic and personal stuff, as well as mild diversions into model fire engines. The appetite for faffing about with the coaches is taking a while to return, but my brain cell has been attempting to work out fixing the roofs.

So, experiments with magnets. This is the second version. You can see a strip of old biscuit tin in the end of the roof, and a shelf with a pair of neodymium magnets glued to it. Experiments have shown magnets are resistant to most adhesives - :D - so I think embedding them in a pool of epoxy resin might be the long term solution. Still, proof of concept and all that, it does actually work and holds the roof in place. I will need to add guide strips to ensure the roof remains aligned correctly, but now I just have to repeat the method for all the coaches.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Well, the magnets work well - only I’ve run out of the size that worked best!

Where do you get your magnets from? Do you have a recommended supplier? Pray, do tell!

While I wait, I’ve fitted blocks to each roof to make sure they drop into the right fore-aft orientation on the body. I’ve also installed the tinplate strips, but the rest must wait for new magnets.
 
Coupling games

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Right, magnets on order. Time to think on couplings.

This is one of those things I’ve been leaving, in the vain hope some obvious solution would appear. Sadly, it hasn’t. Time for some tests.

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The most obvious solution is to use what Slater's provide, in other words the cast knuckle and coupling hook arrangement. As it turns out, with the gangways in place - which, if you recall, on the real thing provide most of the buffing action - it would actually work. The biggest problem is the act of coupling the coaches together. Because the cast knuckles are not working in any real sense you can’t simply push the two vehicles together to latch them. One has to be carefully lowered on the other, and that isn’t easy with the gangway blocking right above the coupler.

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The client's original intention was to use fixed cast pipework like this. This would also work, but involves some surgery to the ends of the underframes. It would also need the knuckles to be permanently joined, and perhaps glued to one coach, probably the one with the connecting pipework attached, so the illusion is complete.

Having had a chance to play, the first option, using the kit parts, behaves like the real thing. There’s give in the coupling, and movement sideways and back and forth between the gangways. The only hardship is coupling/uncoupling, and simulating the brake and steam pipework. The second option would be more rigid overall, but that may well be an advantage when, for example, propelling vehicles.

A solution, then, remains elusive. More testing, required.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
One solution to the knuckle coupling conundrum might be to chop out the bottom of the gangways. When coupled in a rake, you won’t see the missing section.

I have done that before, on some Mark 1s. Hmm. :)
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Left field thought... are the gangway connectors "removable"? If so, could you join rubbing face to rubbing face as a single unit thereby allowing coaches to connected easily via buckeye with corridor inserted between coaches after making the coupling?

regards, Graham
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Left field thought...

Funnily enough, that thought had struck me. :thumbs: Great wossnames and all that.

There are little pimples on the coach ends that engage with holes in the back of the gangway etch, so it could be possible.

I'm about to consult with the client on the various options. We shall see what he thinks.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
One solution to the knuckle coupling conundrum might be to chop out the bottom of the gangways. When coupled in a rake, you won’t see the missing section.

Turn the bottom of the gangway into a hinged fall plate which will rise as a coach is lifted out of the set. It'll also preserve the illusion of a Pullman gangway if the coach is left in a siding.

The most obvious solution is to use what Slater's provide, in other words the cast knuckle and coupling hook arrangement. As it turns out, with the gangways in place - which, if you recall, on the real thing provide most of the buffing action - it would actually work. The biggest problem is the act of coupling the coaches together. Because the cast knuckles are not working in any real sense you can’t simply push the two vehicles together to latch them. One has to be carefully lowered on the other, and that isn’t easy with the gangway blocking right above the coupler.

Personally I'd try and talk the client into the advantage of using Kadee couplers with their operating knuckles which, in turn, allow the coaches to be coupled by pushing them together. The trip pin can be removed and the fall plate will allow them to be lifted out of the set.
 
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