4mm An EM workbench - Peckett, The Marshal

[AJC]

One of Mr Bulleid's off the wall experiments, the penthouse roofed van. There were three of them, apparently, and amazingly, one of them (at least), managed to survive until 1966 if not a little longer. Some information, including an elevation of the end, is in the fourth volume of Chorley, Bixley, et al's 'SR Wagons'. Part of the idea was to solve the problem of leaking roofs that the usual shape SR vans were prone to (solved, apprently, by the adoption of plywood side sheeting) and partly, this was a rebuild of a bomb-damaged vehicle, no. 49363. The Ratio kit crossed my path subsequently and thus temptation had to be yielded to.



The modifications should be fairly obvious but weren't, in real terms, very complicated. The next couple of shots should show how things are going. So far, so good.






More as and when. The pictures remind me that I must do something to make the hinges more prominent...

Adam

 

[AJC]

The sun is shining this morning in Southampton and a few bits have been added so I popped outside to take a couple of pictures of the van in the sunshine. There are still things to do, some immediately obvious - upright vac' pipes, brake levers - and others less so. It does now have safety loops, door retaining chains, lamp irons and boltheads, etc. In other words, all the things that make this vehicle 'different' are done and now I just have to do the run of the mill stuff that all wagons need. Still, it's getting there.



One thing I'm considering is whether to add chalk boards. A lot or SR plywood vans had these added but neither of the prototype shots of the vehicle in BR days show the sides/ends clearly enough. The lamp iron is something not shown in the 1944 shot in 'SR Wagons' but I find it difficult to believe that it wouldn't have recieved one later. Chalk boards seem to be more discretionary.

Adam

 

[AJC]

One last thing. The van is now finished barring the levers and lever guides - I've run out of the latter - including scratchbuilt vac' pipes. Nothing wrong with the cast variety, it's simply that I've run out of those too.



I wouldn't normally bother with wrapping the fine filiament wire around the brass core - certainly not for pipes which hang down below the headstock but it seems worth it on this occasion.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Well, the van has now emerged from the paintshop - well, been hung out of the door and had a can of Halford's finest pointed at it - and treated to a coat of Humbrol Chocolate on the underframe and appropriate colours on the roof. Since the sun is shining this morning, there are pictures to be had, and here they are:






It's quite surprising how similar it looks to a standard SR plywood van it looks from the side; you might think the flat roof planes would be more apparent. The differences in the brakegear are also obvious and I'm pleased with this; it's always a relief to find the additional effort has been worth it! Next up for the sides are two or three coats of Klear to prepare for transfers which will be followed up with a dose of Dullcote over the top.

Something less exotic next I think...

Adam

 

[AJC]

After a bit of a modelling hiatus, a quick project to hopefully get me going (or at least, to relocate my tools following a house move). This is not especially complicated, turning a Hornby iron ore tippler into a Coil J. the real thing wasn't complicated either; take one tippler, cutting and welding gear and some lengths of timber and assemble.



The cradles seem to have varied a bit - I just copied this Paul Bartlett picture (thanks Paul): http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brcoilj/h20b474e9#h20b474e9


There will be a few bolt heads on this, but otherwise it's done and the complete wagon is ready for the paintshop.



Adam

 

[AJC]

Thanks Steve (and to everyone else who clicked the 'like' button; I'm glad someone is following this!). Another vehicle on the go - and you can blame Modelzone for this as well - is rather more involved and pushed at the very end of my modelling period. This suitably Western Thunder friendly image should give you all an idea.


Western Invader in Sonning Cutting by robmcrorie, on Flickr

Paul Bartlett, as is so often the case, has a gallery (and my heartfelt thanks - this resource makes modelling wagons much, much easier): http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/stsclaylinertta

The raw materials are a Bachmann 'TTA' chassis - in fact from one of a pair of heavily reduced Modelzone special edition spoil carriers - and an ancient Tri-ang model of the Clayliner tank. Why on earth Tri-ang chose this prototype I cannot begin to imagine since there were fewer than 20 of the things and they operated of a reasonably restricted flow between Burngullow and Sittingbourne, or from Burngullow to the Potteries. Still, they make for a nice blue tank wagon and it isn't impossible that they made their way in ones and twos on occasion. Besides, they were air-brake only and this makes an interesting change as a project. So far as the tank is concerned, all I have done so far is to remove the stickers and the tampo printed lettering before glue the tank together and filling all the various sink holes and making good the joins. I have also removed the pedestal and made a new one.

It's the chassis that needs the work, however. Monobloc tanks are subject to phenomenal amounts of variation in terms of things like spring hangers, vee-hangers, brake levers and the positioning of various components although the solebars, W iorns and axleboxes are reasonably uniform. I've only really got as far as the vee-hangers so far but I'm quite pleased with them so here we are. These are mounted on the outside of the solebars (Tri-ang got these about right) so had to be changed. I fretted them up from scrap etch - three layers, soldered together. The holes were marked out on a 20 thou' plastic template since this is easier to mark out than brass and the template superglued on top.



The lousy image above shows the sandwich and the now discarded template; The holes in the brass were done using the trusty Dremel. I'm only doing the one, if I wanted a rake, an etch would be called for. Below is one of the vees fitted with pins (I used the vee itself to mark out the solebars for drilling):



Finally, here's the finished item:



As you can see, the next step has to be the spring hangers before the links between them and the springs break and disappear from repeated bending.

Adam

 

[AJC]

More work on the Clayliner tank. The spring hangers started above have now been completed and installed as has the internal vee; you can see the latter more clearly than I thought might be possible but eventually it will be hidden by the discharge pipe and all the various linkages for the brakes. There's a sense now of how the completed chassis will look but there's lots still to do.





Next up, brake levers.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Moving on from the post above we're now more or less back where Bachmann started - albeit hopefully to a higher standard! The brake levers and linkages (a satisfyingly complex thing to look at but relatively easy to do) are easily to most obvious bits and I've knocked up the basic discharge pipe and its associated brackets from bits of brass tube and scrap etch. Check the pictures of the real thing by way of a comparison [thanks, as ever, to Paul Bartlett]:

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/stsclaylinertta/h8114c50#h8114c50

At this stage it might be worth a quick run down of where the bits come from:

• AB Cylinder: No Nonsense kits (it was meant to go under a 4TC until I realised that the AB gear is on the bogies of these units).
• Brake levers: adapted etch from Dave Bradwell (I don't thnk the etch is on his list but he usually has some at Scaleforum. It also has some rather nice lever guides, not used here because I've run out).
• Lever guides: CraigWelsh/Scalefour Society - if truth be told these are not quite the right pattern (they should be longer) and I'm not altogether impressed with them. Being dead scale - I'm not convinced that they're slightly underscale even in their intended use - they're a bit of a fiddle and that's fine but Nickel Silver is too brittle for the number of half etched folds used here. The one visible in the picture below has been re-assembled from the bits that resulted. Yes you get a spare on the etch but...
• Not quite visible are the AB distributer and resevoir cylinder. These come off a new generation Hornby MGR hopper. I had acquired this with a view to making one hi-fi vehicle but what with the strange compromises and errors present in that model one of the earlier versions might be a better bet, The seperately applied details are nice though.

If anyone is interested I can show how I did the linkages from little bits of 40 thou plastic? In 7mm you might do it properly - i.e., to replicate the prototype - but that's rather fiddly in this scale as anyone who's had a go at early Masokits clasp brakes can tell you. Waving a hot iron around all your carefully assembled existing detail and nicely moulded plastic underframe is not always the best idea either.



Next up is a set of safety loops, a little plumbing and, most significantly, some more detail on those discharge pipe ends.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Thanks Pugsley. Having had a few spare hours this weekend, I've completed the making phase of one of my longer term projects - another Bachmann conversion from earlier in the thread, a Bogie Bolster D from a BBA, sorry, BDA; I don't speak TOPS. It's a bit of a pig to photograph but here's my best effort. It's since had a couple of coats of paint and is ready for lettering and then the fun bit, weathering. There may even be a load at some point...








I'll come clean and admit that I've left off a few of the brake linkages since they really cannot be seen with the vac' pipe and vee hangers that are in the way.

The brake levers and guides are more of the CraigWelsh/Scalefour items and look about right in this application. The levers are simply bent about from items intended for 10' wheelbase Morton brakes. Again, these are somewhat over-designed: I see no reason to make the reversing clutch a serperate item. A half etched line representing the gap between the two bits (or etched through with the fold over layer at the back in one piece) would have been much, much easier to assemble for no loss in fidelity in appearance.

You would be right in thinking that the guides are somewhat fragile; that's unavoidable even at full size! My dodge is to have reinforced them with a bit of 0.5mm Nickel Silver wire soldered to the back of the guides and anchored firmly in the floor. I can't abide bent fittings and this relatively discreet bodge will hopefully make the wagon durable for layout use.

Adam

 

[AJC]

After something of a hiatus, one evening last week I got back to grips with my Clayliner tank. Aside from actually doing other things this was partly because I'd reached the difficult bit - mounting the ta-nk on the chassis. On the prototype the tank was let into the frame but the thing that stopped the tank parting company with the wagon - and this was true of all monbloc designs, including the 4-wheel tanks known to modellers as the TTA - was length of angle iron welded or riveted to the tank and in turn mounted to a fabrication built onto the chassis forming a sort of pedestal. Now there was one moulded as part of the tank but was far too shallow and left the tank too close to the solebar so it had to go; there's not a lot of the original wagon left now...



Anyhow, first I built up the 'tray' inside the top to the chassis with plstic sheet and then with a bit of Miliput to match the height of the solebar and giving a nice flat surface to bond the pedestal onto. The angled sides and ends of the pedestal are challenging to do in plastic (they'd be a fiddle in metal too) so, not being sure whether plan A would work, I assembled it away from the wagon. Basically, I made up a sort of picture frame from layers of plastic sheet - the number of layers and the approximate thickness were gauged from the height of the solebar; this game of modelling without drawings is all about proportions - which was crudely shaped using files and the edge of a knife followed up with a bit of wet and dry paper. This seemed promising and, compared to photos, looked about right so I offered it up to the tank and then blu-taked the whole to the chassis. This looked fine so the pedestal was popped on with some medium thickness cyano'. Amazingy, it still looked right so I returned to the tank and gave it another flash of primer to see how the filling was getting on before assembling it to the chassis and pedestal. It bacame very clear that the filler needed another go and a dose of Halford's filler primer to get everything nice and smooth (but only on the tank, I masked everything else off). Anyway, here it is. I think it looks about right so the detailing can proceed when I'm in the mood.







You would be well advised not to hold your breath, there are lots of simpler projects to get on with and while this is good fun you have to know when to take a break.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Well, in which case Jeff, you might like this:



Nothing very complicated - copies of spare Heljan headcode letters and yellow and red paint over white undercoat) as appropriate. The white diamonds seem to have been somewhat unusual on green liveried Warships but Highflyer acquired a pair some time in late '67 and besides, I like the appearance of them. I've replaced the overhead warning flashes and will get around to touching up the noses and skirts just as soon as my jar of Railmatch has seperated out sufficiently to drain some of the oil off; currently it is too thin to be of any use for brush painting. Give it a week or two... The aim is that it will come out something like this so the quality of finish isn't vital (and the yellow doesn't look so ragged in reality), but it would be useful if the green wasn't actually translucent:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertcwp/2410751563/in/set-72157603648348394

Another quick project comes from the stock items drawer. This Parkside 16 tonner body will end up atop one of Justin Newitt's new sprung chassis - http://www.rumneymodels.co.uk/12.html. The result will mirror one of my early (now recycled) kitbashed efforts, a minfit with 8 shoe AVB. Hopefully this one should be reasonably
quick - the body took about 25 minutes of non-continuous work so watch this space.



Adam

 

[AJC]

It's a nice shot isn't it? I can't tell whether the second loco is under power in the picture. Anyhow, I've been doing other things too and here is my clayliner tank which is now complete below the solebar (the label clip needs finishing) which is a relief because all that remains to be done can be seen relatively easily in photographs or, failing that guestimated from known details of similar wagon types.





The air pipes are spares for a Hornby class 50; time will tell how long they last...

Adam

 

[AJC]

Thanks for that Pugs - having scribed some panel lines onto the tank and tidied those up, I've given the wagon a flash of primer and will put it to one side until the mesh I've ordered for the catwalks turns up; there is more detailing to do on the hatch and the valve that sits on top of the tank alongside it. For the moment, however, I've decided to make a start (and the rate it's going, possibly a finish) on the Rumney Models chassis for my Minfit. First impressions are very favourable, the instructions (downloadable from the website - needless to say, I've deviated from the order of action suggested) are good and the parts fit well. They'll be more flannel later, but here are some photos:





The brakeshoes, which are quite ingenious, have gone on now in order that I can set up the springing - not that springing a 9' wheelbase wagon in 4mm makes a lot of difference - and I can report that there is enough clearance that I can proceed though I've only progressessed as far as the axle keeps since I took these pictures which represent perhaps an hour and a bit of effort; the next one will be quicker.

Adam

 

[AJC]

So here's the result of half an hour's noodling. Spring stops have been added as have the apparently fiddly brake yokes. These are modelled like the real thing, fabricated from rod and strip but because they're assembled in situ with four fixed points (the two brakeshoes, and each end of the transverse brake linkage), it's simply a case of bending the strip into a 'v' - there's a small notch in the centre which clips over the link - and threading the wire through the relevant holes. A drop of flux, four touches of the iron, clip the excess wire and, er, it's done. Good design, well executed.





There's not all that much left on the fret now...

Adam

 

[AJC]

While I was in the mood for soldering, I embarked upon another Rumney Models production, a BR 1/403 Strip Coil:

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brstripcoil/h3d61539a#h294aa921

As was typical of the early BR coil fleet, only a small number were built - in the case of this particular diagram, only 15 - though there were another 35 broadly similar vehicles (dia. 1/401) but these had different bogies and were built unfitted and later converted to vacuum brake (as dia. 1/407). The kit will do both the fitted versions but not the unfitted (the reasons are in Justin's instructions if you're interested), but only the BR plate bogies for the 1/403 are available at the moment; these can be had from Cambrian. Because I was enjoying myself, I've got to the point of assembling almost all the etched bits before taking any pictures but, in all honesty, this is a reasonably straightforward kit of a relatively simple prototype. You get two sheets of etchBeing riveted there are quite a few of the things to emboss, but roaundabout half are represented by the etching process which means overlays and all the associated fun and games they represent; RSU owners would doubtless snigger.



Note that the bogie mounting haven't yet gone in because I haven't got my hands on a set of bogies. Other things on the to do list are acquiring and fitting the castings and vacuum pipes. I have a etch worth of Masokits screw couplings to do as well. Really the dummies supplied for the vacuum pipes are too short but since they're properly modelled I shall lose no sleep over this! The distinctive interior, shown in this Paul Bartlett picture - http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brstripcoil/h3d61539a#h2b070267 (note the colouring, muck and scale off the coils) - will be assembled on a false floor from plastic sheet and section. The etches give you the strip with the holes.



Adam

 

[AJC]

A bit of a leap and some rather dodgy pictures (I shall have another go in the morning), but I've galloped ahead and all soldering is now complete prior to the solid details - vacuum cylinders, lable clips (included, but I shall glue these), axleboxes and springs - being added. The safety loops are formed around a shape that is part of the etch fret which is quite neat; they could, perhaps, be more securely located, but I think that's being picky.





The underside view shows off the rather indifferent quality of my soldering! The coupling hooks are Masokits - I have yet to assemble the screw couplings that will hang from them, while the vac' pipes are from copper electrical wire wound round with some very fine stuff from a defunct pair of headphones - since the dummy is modelled in proper detail I left it hanging. A dose of metal black next, I think...

Adam

 

[AJC]

After what was a longer pause than I thought it might be, the Strip Coil now sits on its wheels. The bogies are a set of BR plate types derived from GWR practise from Cambrian. Now these aren't blessed with absolute dimensional fidelity but this is only really obvious when shown next to a picture of the real thing so I am not too concerned about this. From a practical perspective, they come as a one-piece moulding with seperate axleboxes which is a great improvement on the last set of Cambrian plate bogies I built the better part of twenty years ago. I had to countersink the bearing holes a smidge to get the wheels to run properly but that is no big deal.

The designer's preference is for compensated or sprung bogies so he only provides a locatioal hole for a bolt. Cambrian provide a suitable bolt (c. 3mm diameter) with the bogies and a moulded mounting plate; I used both. I opened the etched plate out sufficient to clear the bolt and soldered that in, cut the collar out of the moulded mounting plate and epoxied that around the bolt. There isn't much thread protruding above that but there's enough - a bit of thread lock after painting will fix it.



The bogies need packing to the correct height and the easiest way to do that is a bit of 60 thou' plastic. Using an old dodge, I've placed packing as shown in the picture below to keep the body more or less level at one end and to allow rocking at the other; simple three point compensation really.



Brake cylinders and buffers still to do...

Adam

 

[AJC]

I know that it's all gone quiet, but now the strip coil is all but finished (in construction terms). Curiously, the packet of buffers I had contained one pair each with different sized heads, so it's not quite ready for painting until I get that sorted. Anyhow, the interesting bit is the interior fabricated from plastic sheet and section with etched strips full of holes; on the real thing, these were used for stuffing locating pins (of indeterminate nature) in to stop the coils which were loaded 'eye-to-sky' from shifting. On the model, these strips have been superglued to some Evergreen 30 thou x 60 thou strip glued to a dummy floor of 10 thou'. The interior of a real one is shown in this Paul Bartlett picture:
http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brstripcoil/h3577f06d#h3577f06d

My interpretation is below; yes, I did drill out all those holes and yes, a couple of drills bit the dust. It'll show up better under a coat of paint, hopefully.









Adam

 

[AJC]

And now, with added primer, almost none of which got to the bottom of the holes. Since I took these pictures, I've given the interior a first pass with a weathering mix of thinned Humbrol Metalcote gunmetal and matt chocolate. While this has reached the bottom of most holes, I daresay that another pass or two will be needed yet but the underframe will come first.





Adam

 

[AJC]

Following this wagon's brief excursion into the outside world (and into P4!), my Clayliner tank is slowly heading towards completion. Actually, all it wants is a suitable length of ladder and a few bits and bobs on top of the tank before it can head off for painting.







You should note that fitting the walkway has caused a certain amount of damage and thus dreaded green putty has made an appearance just to tidy up the holes. More prosaically, one Bachmann Covhop mid way through detailing (new couplings, vac' pipes: that's it). TOPS numbers have come off and re-lettering beckons.



Adam