4mm An EM Workbench: Mineral allsorts

[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

 

[Pugsley]

I love the Clayliner, it's looking great!

 

[AJC]

Thanks Pugs, I'm pleased with it; the walkways make an enormous difference to the overall look of the thing. It's in the home straight now and I simply have to work out how to paint and fully letter it. The Covhop needs a bit of work but mostly of a fairly basic nature. The most glaring thing is the buffers but I've tackled that; ABS castings with the Bachmann heads.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Despite the sunshine I've been active doing a couple of bits and pieces: I'm doing a bit of demoing at an EMGS event next weekend (first time for everything, details here: http://www.emgs.org/16.html?category=2) and what I've agreed to do is something along the lines of 'Wagons and Rolling Stock - Finishing Touches'. Having scratched my head a bit as to exactly what this means I've come to the view that this should be in two parts. First, the little extra details you can easily add to kits and RTR (and ways of making them durable) and second, painting and finishing.

These wagons are to be used as examples/talking points while I work on other things. Well, that's the plan anyhow.



This is the same Bachmann Covhop featured above, relettered with Cambridge Custom Transfers, treated to new buffers and waiting the rather curious angle iron assemblies that were on the end of the real things. I don't think I'd bother with the latter if I were running a block train but I only really want one or two so I shall bite the bullet and do the fiddly work.



Despite a couple of negative comments about the spec' elsewhere, the competition is Bill Bedford's kit. I'm sure that this is excellent but getting the thing running to a standard I'm happy with would cost c. £50 plus build time. This will be about half that which is relatively pricey for a tarted-up RTR item by UK standards I suppose but still quite a satisfying project from a very good basis.

The Cambrian range is increasingly prolific these days and this SR dia. 1375 is pretty representative of what is now produced. The one-piece, 'ready to detail', chassis means that assembly is about as easy as it gets. It would have been easier still have I used the supplied brake parts - which aren't bad at all actually but I for reasons of durability as much as anything else I fit metal brake levers and tiebars made from brass angle as standard.



Note the asymmetrical protector plates on the door - these wagons were retro-fitted with vac' brake and the left hand door bang seems to have been moved to the right at the same time - but only on the one side (the brake cylinder side).



Adam

 

[iak63]

Tasty Adam
I've just started prepping some of these Cambrian kits.
What axleboxes do you plan.
I assume you have found the set of pictures on the Paul Bartlett site - very handy if you like extreme scabbiness.

Slàinte
Iain

 

[AJC]

BR versions of the 2 part oil box filed up from MJT castings I think. It'll be in reasonably tidy BR bauxite, appropriate for the mid-60s period I model, a bit like this one:

http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/sropenmerch/h24ea3175#h24ea3175

Adam

 

[iak63]

Slàinte
Iain

 

[AJC]

Not a lot of activity on the workbench at the minute what with demo'ing last weekend and that was very enjoyable, I wouldn't mind having another go if anyone wants to offer me the chance, and the appearance of the sun. Still, here we are, the clayliner has gained its ladders while a couple of Presflos have made an appearance.





There's not a lot wrong with these - well, the W irons are a slightly odd shape, and the steps could be a bit better, but what can you do? Presflos hunted in rakes so how much attention are you really going to give? All I've done is replace the buffers and vac' pipes, add screw link couplings, take the TOPS lettering off, removed the Blue Circle roundel from one and added 'Presflo Cement' lettering, warning flashes, etc. as appropriate) and painted the white ladders bauxite. Ready to weather now.



Adam

 

[AJC]

A pair of post-completion portraits of my Parkside/Rumney Models hybrid minfit. Despite a near disaster with the first pass of weathering, I'm pleased with this. It's much, much better than my first attempt at one a decade and more ago.

The Presflos now look like this. One more weathering pass needed I think, but the overall impression is what I was after.



Adam

 

[AJC]

A game of spot the difference for a Sunday morning. A pair of LMS CCTs, one from Parkside built about a decade ago, the other from Hornby bought a month or so back with added detail, one in Crimson, the other Maroon. The results are broadly comparable and there isn't anything to choose between them really but I thought the pairing might be interesting. I think it's an attractive prototype anyway so I'm happy to have two.







The buffers are sprung - essential for a 4-wheeled vehicle this length if you're using three links - but the remainder of work concerned a standardisation of detail and replacing the plastic lever guides with metal versions for durability (there's a nice staple of 0.6mm nickel wire soldered round the back and anchored firmly into the floor to buttress them) but the big difference, I think, is made by the brake linkages and the safety loops.

Adam

 

[AJC]

After the diversion into parcels stock and with a desire to get some more projects at least physically complete, the last couple of jobs on the Clayliner tank were done last night. Nothing very exciting, just some bits of tank-top-ephemera, but the addition of hinges, screw clamps on the inspection hatch and whatever that valve arrangement is meant to do next to the filler adds to the sense of busyness up there and prompted a blast of primer while waiting for the cooker engineer this morning. I have now straightened that wonky ladder rung by the way.





Now it awaits its turn in the paintshop when it warms up again...

Adam

 

[AJC]

I've just spent an interesting hour or so fettling my Collett 0-6-2, 6680, which made a brief appearance earlier in the thread. This has achieved long term 'shelf-queen' status because the wheels on the driven axle (Ultrascale) kept slipping and my efforts at cosmetic improvements had got as far as the brakegear. Basically, the issue was that the very nicely modelled brakes supplied by Bachmann were nowhere near the wheel treads in OO and were, if anything, even further away once the EM wheels went in. Besides all this, I wanted to fit some cosmetic frames behind the wheels just for the look of the thing.



As you can see, there's nothing complicated about this. The cosmetic frames are simply strips of black 60 thou' epoxied to the chassis block in what is now a reasonably conventional fashion (see Tim Shackleton's conversions of Bachmann's std 4 2-6-4 tank and N class in MRJ a few years back). As you can see, I've made a few minor tweaks of my own in the form of the brass additions at the front which are really only there to provide a large surface area to fix the guard irons to.

The little bits of tube protruding from the frames are what I do with kit or scratch built chassis and copy an idea I first encountered in a High Level kit. Pegs of 0.7mm brass wire at the top of the brake hangers clip the brakegear sub-assembly into position. This not only allows the brake gear to be easily removed but generally allows it to be modelled properly though in this instance I have made it a bit representative compared to the very detailed Bachmann moulding. This doesn't really matter since the thing can only really be seen in profile. The bits of tube also have the function of providing a mechanical fixing for the dummy frames which is no bad thing.



All the various bits are from Mainly Trains etches, designed by Iain Rice. The scary operation of the evening was drilling through the boss on the back of the Ultrascale wheels, and pinning them firmly to the axle. The wheels are quartered, the chassis rolls and the epoxy is curing as I type. The slipping is not an issue I've had with Gibsons, interestingly enough, though I admit my experience with bigger locos is limited. I'd be interested whether anyone else has come across this. This one at least is on the home straight.

Adam

EDIT: Further work on 6680 will appear on its own thread, 'Swindon's Coal Tank' - there may be a couple more WR items to follow.

 

[AJC]

And back to wagons, and in time since this one was completed a month or so ago. Details of the conversion of this Bobol D from the Bachmann BDA begin earlier in this thread and was featured in my post, 'an afternoon shunt' but here it is, fully lettered by means of an ancient sheet of just-about-usable Woodhead transfers and numbering from CCT (usual disclaimer). Paint is my usual combination of Halfords' rattlecan and Humbrols and I'm quite pleased with it though I'm in no enormous hurry to do another.









The decks of these bolsters seems to have been darker than was usual for other varieties of open wagons - and this has been accentuated by the bright sunshine these pictures were taken in - I guess that the mix of 'hammerscale' and rust these wagons were subject to from their usual loads were responsible so I'm reasonably pleased with the finish but would be interested to know what others think.

Adam

 

[Pugsley]

I like it The deck finish looks pretty convincing to me.

 

[AJC]

Now here's a fiddly little thing - dad has been refurbishing the signal box on Yeovil club's big EM layout, South Junction, and since he's got to the painting stage I remembered that I had a little etch from AMBIS Engineering with the correct sort of lettering for LMS signal boxes (South Junction box is MR pattern) and have just spent 5 minutes soldering them to a scrap of Nickel Silver. Just have to paint 'em now...



Adam

 

[7mmMick]

Hi Adam,

Just catching up on a couple of weeks here and as always I come away thoroughly inspired. I love the deck on the bolster and the minfit looks absolutely spot on. As always I'm jealous of the amount of superb stuff you turn out so quickly. Finally I do also like the cabin name board, can't beat a bit of burnt fingers

ATB Mick

 

[AJC]

I'm surprised you think this is quick Mick! Some of these things seem to take an age but I suppose we all have our own perceptions of how long these things are 'supposed' to take. That bolster took nearly a year, on and off, the minfit was I think, about a fortnight, but then I didn't have to think about it too much and that's testament to Justin's design work.

I foresee that making the signboard will prove much, much easier than painting it! So long as it's done by Expo EM and I can hand it over to dad together with the rather natty 'No Admittance' and 'Beware of Trains' signs that were also on the etch. By that time there should be at least a couple more complete wagons and a Sentinel in primer and, weather permitting dad should have been able to bring his airbrush to bear on my Thomas Hill industrial and the Clayliner tank. He was telling me over the weekend that the appearance of the rake of these was chiefly notable for the appearance of a Brush type 4 over the Royal Albert bridge and passing through Saltash - these were the only things with air brakes that the Western had at the time. The ensemble looked very smart for the first few trips he says but he didn't take any pictures (no camera) though he did say something about sound recordings; long since lost.

Maybe I'm faster than I think?

Adam

 

[AJC]

So, about 3 times life size. Doesn't look too bad does it? and, contrary to what I thought when I started, it seems the London Midland (Region) really did paint these boards in black and white. In this case, Halfords' satin black a coat of Klear and Humbrol white enamel (satin) floated around the letters and cleaned up with a thinners-moistened brush and a cocktail stick.

The other ongoing work concerns the Cambrian-based SR open which has not received those fiddly little details which had been put off. Specifically, these include capping strips and clips - 5 thou' plastic - door bags, stays for the lever guides, safety loops for the brake push rods and a few bolt heads. Nothing very exciting but it all adds to the overall impression and it's now ready for painting.



On the back of these pictures, I've just given the lever guide a tweak and tacked the capping strip back on...



Adam

 

[iak63]

Very tasty details Adam.

 

[AJC]

Next up, a birthday present to myself, bought a few months back, is this Judith Edge kit for a diesel hydraulic built by North British. It's not what most people might think! This type of 330hp 0-4-0DH was built for industry, but BR had a handful and a look the JE website will tell you about those but I wanted the industrial version, a pleasantly bulky thing which differed in many, many details from the BR versions. The ScR bought quite a collection of different types of NBL 0-4-0 and Mike and Judith will cheerfully sell you just about all of them.

It assembles in the usual way for Mike Edge's designs with modular elements - bonnet/cab, footplate and chassis - all of which jig together and rely on each other to make assembly reasonably easy. The instructions assume that you know something about basic metal forming (why shouldn't they?) and that you are are capable of finding photographs to address which collection of details suit your chosen prototype. This is essential for this particular type; there seem to have been a collection of different bits which went together in various permutations, almost all of which are in the box with scale printouts from the CAD which answer just about any assembly question you might ask yourself. As such, it has rather flown together and I completely failed to take any pictures along the way so that we reach the point where the body and footplate are complete.





There isn't much more to say except that I couldn't find part number 22 (risers for the inner cab floor). This doesn't matter since there is no shortage of scrap etch; straight, parallel strip, basically, to use instead. You can just make out that I've modelled the LH cab door open and added the large industrial headlights. Only the bezels for these are in the box, there were various styles and would be difficult to cast in resin but easy to make from scrap etch and shim. Basically, you solder the bezel to the scrap, centre pop the resulting sandwich and drill through to lend the resulting lamp a bit of depth. Then cut and file the thing to shape using the bezel as a guide, solder that to the top of the bonnet. Then cut a sort of squat 'T' shape from shim to represent the 'brim' over the top, form and test fit, trim to length and then solder in place. This can be filed up to shape and then the back filled with Miliput for the back of the fairing.

Next for the technical bit.

Adam