S
SteveO
Guest
I started building these wagons just before Christmas and was experimenting by documenting the builds using the blog system of RMW but I'm still undecided whether I like that or not. Anyway, in the spirit of The Guv's legacy and the suggestion by Adrian that we try something new, I will also start a thread here.
In early December I saw a few ABS wagons for sale on ebay and decided on a speculative punt and put a low on on the six wagon kits for sale. When I later checked I found out that I'd won five of them! Brilliant. Although these were all GWR and pre-grouping wagons – nothing could be further from my modelling preference – but what the hell, I already have a few ABS wagons and brake vans for my future layout so I thought I'd test out gluing the kits together instead of soldering. This is my basic toolkit:
Among the kits were two V6 Mink vans with upgraded DC1 brakes so thought I'd start with these. I worked on the principle that superglues work best with a large, flat and smooth contact area for a good bond so I concentrated on filing all glued surfaces to as level a plane as possible, test fitting as much as possible. As it happened, the surfaces were very slippery and working with 10 second superglue proved a bit more difficult than I thought, so even though the fit was perfect they still moved a little while I was holding them, but I had not noticed until I let go and rechecked the fit. Here are the bodies being made up in stages:
As this was an experiment with glue rather than building something for appearance, I decided to build the kit as-is so used the supplied buffers (drawing pins inserted into brass tubes). Had I been building them for a layout I would have definitely replaced them.
With the help of you I managed to solve a problem with misfitting wheel bearings (using Heywoods bearings with Peco wheels!) and I'm now using Heywoods wheels. As Jeff pointed out, getting a totally square fit on the bearings is essential so I made sure the inside axle guard surfaces were filed smooth and true.
As of tonight I've fitted the wheels and the lever of the DC1 brakes, ready for the next stage. I'm going to a funeral tomorrow so probably won't be able to fit any more in until next week.
In early December I saw a few ABS wagons for sale on ebay and decided on a speculative punt and put a low on on the six wagon kits for sale. When I later checked I found out that I'd won five of them! Brilliant. Although these were all GWR and pre-grouping wagons – nothing could be further from my modelling preference – but what the hell, I already have a few ABS wagons and brake vans for my future layout so I thought I'd test out gluing the kits together instead of soldering. This is my basic toolkit:
Among the kits were two V6 Mink vans with upgraded DC1 brakes so thought I'd start with these. I worked on the principle that superglues work best with a large, flat and smooth contact area for a good bond so I concentrated on filing all glued surfaces to as level a plane as possible, test fitting as much as possible. As it happened, the surfaces were very slippery and working with 10 second superglue proved a bit more difficult than I thought, so even though the fit was perfect they still moved a little while I was holding them, but I had not noticed until I let go and rechecked the fit. Here are the bodies being made up in stages:
As this was an experiment with glue rather than building something for appearance, I decided to build the kit as-is so used the supplied buffers (drawing pins inserted into brass tubes). Had I been building them for a layout I would have definitely replaced them.
With the help of you I managed to solve a problem with misfitting wheel bearings (using Heywoods bearings with Peco wheels!) and I'm now using Heywoods wheels. As Jeff pointed out, getting a totally square fit on the bearings is essential so I made sure the inside axle guard surfaces were filed smooth and true.
As of tonight I've fitted the wheels and the lever of the DC1 brakes, ready for the next stage. I'm going to a funeral tomorrow so probably won't be able to fit any more in until next week.
