4mm An EM Workbench: Mineral allsorts

[Jon Fitness]

My mate Steve had one; the whole thing was from whitemetal so I presumed it was ABS. I think it was binned eventually for being way too er...flexible! By the time I saw it, it had been battered, repaired, was missing some of it's smaller parts and already too far gone to save.
JF

 

[Jon Fitness]

Somebody here may have had one...
JF

 

[daifly]

Just looked at an 'old' ABS catalogue - no Mermaids that I can see.
Dave

 

[Jon Fitness]

I see that list is from 2012; the wagon Steve had was from about 14 years ago. I Notice there's a few gaps in the ref numbers of the BR wagons list! A few may have been deleted perhaps?
That said, I'm now intrigued if it wasn't an ABS kit...!
JF

 

[AJC]

As ever, a lovely bit of work, Adam. The lever guides are Craig Welsh's, I think? They really are a nifty piece of work - once you've worked out the bending sequence (and directions!).

Cheers

Jan

Thanks Jan - yes, they're 'Craig Welsh's'. Nifty, yes, but I reckon they'd be better in brass since they'd then be more tolerant of slight errors in folding - both of those fitted to the Mermaid have been reassembled having failed. They'll survive well enough like that but it's work I could do without. In any event, I've now primed and painted it black (primed the ferry van and GW open at the same time). Time for something else while the paint cures...

Adam

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Thanks Jan - yes, they're 'Craig Welsh's'. Nifty, yes, but I reckon they'd be better in brass since they's be more tolerant of slight errors in folding - both of those fitted to the Mermaid have been reassembled having failed.

Adam

Yes. They are a wee bit unforgiving. It took me a few to get my eye (complete with trusty loupe - a must!) in.

Cheers

Jan

 

[Ian G]

The only person I can think of to shed a light on the 7mm mermade would be David Parkins of the is parish, some time ago PRMRP had them on there website.

Ian G

 

[AJC]

Moving on, though we'll return to the Mermaid later - paint is on, panels varnished for transfers and so on. In the meantime, looking for a quick win, I found this BR-built, LMS-designed fruit van which has been kicking around for far too long - Parkside got the end profile and top of the sides not quite right and my efforts at repair were sub-standard. Having given the thing a new roof of 20 thou' plastic sheet, formed in a cool oven round an empty wine bottle, I proceeded to do what is often referred to as a modellers' cliché, to wit, modelling a van with a leaking roof kept in traffic by adding a wagon sheet. Such a cliché this is that I cannot, for the life of me, recall the last time I saw it done: perhaps it once was? So here we are, two layers of tissue from my new shoes and a bit of watered down PVA later.





I'm happy enough with that so once dry, it'll be time to sort out the brake levers, a missing safety loop and then, paint!

Adam

 

[Colin Parks]

Hi Adam,

Nice looking Catfish there, replete with a good covering of Modelmaster ex-Cambrian decals. (No, I didn't produce the artwork for those. That was my brother.) I did not know about them being use on the Southern , though I undestand that Mermaids and Dogfish were, being formed in sets and branded 'Merdog' for a time.

Colin

A handful of finger-numbing tasks later - strip steps (the easy bit, even allowing for the drilling of pairs of 0.5mm holes at less than 2mm apart on thin strip) and the retaining chains which led me a merry mile or two before they were finally secured. Before that, of course, came the brake levers which are 1. an unusual shape, and 2. slightly longer than any of the etches I had to hand. The length was made up at the handle end with a bit of scrap etch. The nickel silver lever guides came from the Scalefour Society (bought via their public e-shop).

View attachment 63345

The results of the intricate work is shown below - that's 40 link per inch chain modelled per this picture from @hrmspaul - GWR and BR Mermaid ballast wagon | DB989001 ZJV [1]

View attachment 63346

Again, this is waiting for a bit of warmth before paint. Off to the Southampton show tomorrow so tools downed while I ponder what to do next...

Adam

Crikey Adam, I have just seen the latest Mermaid photos! Fantastic job.
Seeing the model in such detail, I wonder how on Earth it was produced cutting the details at 1:1 - all those rivets for example. The side-operating lever chain (cannot think of a better term) looks almost dead-scale. Very convincing. By strange coincidence, I found a small plastic bag in my scrap brass tray at the weekend. It contained the milling guides for the Mermaid mould's roller guides which straddle the chasis and support the body.

Colin

 

[Colin Parks]

Thanks all. @Dog Star - the chain is from AMBIS as Dave suggests. @Kylestrome - the buffers may not be a perfect match for the prototype:

GWR and BR Mermaid ballast wagon | DB989001 ZJV [1]

Mermaids seem to have acquired a variety of self-contained buffers and I used Lanarkshire Model Supplies B042 - I happened to have these in stock having bought them in error. B014 are also applicable as are OLEOs, of course.

GWR and BR Mermaid ballast wagon | DB989001 ZJV [1]

Adam

Brief post scrpit on Mermaid buffers. The ones we saw during the reasearch phase for the kit were like these: BP01 As seen on the Wetsern Region at Bristol East Depot. Many variations applied during the very long history of this design though. (I think the Lanarhshire buffers are as good as it gets for unsprung components.)

Colin

 

[AJC]

Following a frenzy of paint, Johnson's Klear, transfer application and matt lacquer, quite a lot of wagon-related progress has been accomplished and one of the results is shown below, with the basic clean finish starting to emerge. Following a Friday trip to the V&A's superb Opus Anglicanum exhibition I've just put a coat of brownish grey on the tarp', chalk boards and vac' pipes, but pictures of that can wait until daylight appears.



The lettering arrangement is based on this picture from @hrmspaul - BR ventilated Fruit vans ZQV ZRV | DB875120 VENTILATED FRUIT VAN ZQV @ Lowestoft 80-08-10 [1W] which must be fairly plausible since my model is the next along in the build sequence...



Adam

 

[AJC]

And here's a bit more - the lettering on the tarp (I should probably use the correct terminology from hereon: these are sheets in most railway parlance, I think) is based on the sheet shown at the centre of this picture: Lancing Station, 25? June 1965 from Ian Nolan's wonderful Flickr galleries. Would not, by the way, Lancing's goods facilities make a fantastic model? Since neither the sheet, nor wagon, will be clean then the raggedness of the lettering (white ink drawn on with a mapping pen and filled in by brush) should be hidden.



One feature I wanted to include was having at least some of the lettering changing planes on the tarp' - I think this is fairly successful?



Next up, weathering.

Adam

 

[Lyndhurstman]

One feature I wanted to include was having at least some of the lettering changing planes on the tarp' - I think this is fairly successful?

View attachment 63630

Next up, weathering.

Adam

Nicely done, Adam. I think the changed planes - where are we; Paris Nord? - works very well.

Just a thing. I may be stepping into a minefield here, but I've always understood vac pipes to be black. Since seeing your post earlier this evening, I've done a bit more digging (mostly Over There) and I'm no more enlightened than when I began. I'm worried, because most of my stock has black pipes. And I hate Humbrol Red

Cheers

Jan

 

[AJC]

Just a thing. I may be stepping into a minefield here, but I've always understood vac pipes to be black. Since seeing your post earlier this evening, I've done a bit more digging (mostly Over There) and I'm no more enlightened than when I began. I'm worried, because most of my stock has black pipes. And I hate Humbrol Red

Cheers

Jan

Thanks Jan - the rule (an like all rules about painting, inadequately applied and far from fully followed) was for fitted wagons and vans for the pipe to be painted red:

Green Stnd 5MT 73090 light at Chester. Jun'64. - the recently-repainted van, bottom right seems in fact to be bauxite (otherwise, in some quarters, freight stock red) which extends on the pipe down to below the headstock. This brake van, below is a nice clear red however:

8F 48012 with a Brake Van at Edge Lane Junct. Feb'68.

as is this LNER-pattern steel high at Tebay:

Stnd. 4MT's 75032 & 75024 at Tebay. Jun'67.

And this cattle wagon:

9F 92187 heads north on a Cattle Train at Welwyn Apr 63.

I've chosen these rather than Paul Bartlett's pictures just to show that these are visible in trains rather than simply in study shots. Through piped vehicles (mostly brakevans) had white pipes:

LMS Brake Vans ZTO ZSO ZFQ RHQ RFQ | DM730129 ZTP @ Brent Sidings 86-03-21 © Paul Bartlett W

Now, I'm not sure when this rule came to pass, but it's worth noting. As for Humbrol red, I always undercoat in white for this purpose, or sometimes, pink.

Adam

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your response. Nice digging; appreciated.

Thanks Jan - the rule (an like all rules about painting, inadequately applied and far from fully followed) was for fitted wagons and vans for the pipe to be painted red:

Green Stnd 5MT 73090 light at Chester. Jun'64. - the recently-repainted van, bottom right seems in fact to be bauxite (otherwise, in some quarters, freight stock red) which extends on the pipe down to below the headstock.

Adam

That SR van in front of it looks like it may have a red pipe too...

I think I'll go with it being an indiscriminate application of an early 60's ruling. IMR applies Which means most of the dreich and dross that ends up on Watkins Wharf can stay black and I can save my eyesight. Thanks for the tip on the undercoat, too.

Cheers

Jan

 

[AJC]

I should add that I've had a wee dig about too and come across this - uncited (per usual in the railway history world) ref to the LNER:

Brake pipe colours - The LNER Encyclopedia which gives, in LNER days, black for through piped and red for vac' fitted. Perhaps one of Tatlow's books might be the origin? Whichever, body colour seems a reasonably safe compromise, and much less effort. Having said that, this LNER van (very obviously fitted) van has a pipe that might well be black:

LNER and constituents vans, includes Fruit, Fish, Meat

Adam

 

[Lyndhurstman]

I should add that I've had a wee dig about too and come across this - uncited (per usual in the railway history world) ref to the LNER:

Brake pipe colours - The LNER Encyclopedia which gives, in LNER days, black for through piped and re for vac' fitted. Perhaps one of Tatlow's books might be the origin? Whichever, body colour seems a reasonably safe compromise, and much less effort. Having said that, this LNER van (very obviously fitted) van has a pipe that might well be black:

LNER and constituents vans, includes Fruit, Fish, Meat

Adam

Hi Adam,

I read that as the reverse:

Vac braked (i.e stock with vacuum brakes) has a black standpipe, whereas Vac piped (i.e through piped) has a red standpipe.

I spent a half hour on Flikr getting more and more concerned, but my searching seems to suggest (notice how equivocal I am there? ) that the pipes of vacuum-fitted BR-built vans were red. However, all the colour images I've seen are later than 1960. One for the Yahoo Group. perhaps...

Cheers

Jan

 

[AJC]

Hi Adam,

I read that as the reverse:

Vac braked (i.e stock with vacuum brakes) has a black standpipe, whereas Vac piped (i.e through piped) has a red standpipe.

I spent a half hour on Flickr getting more and more concerned, but my searching seems to suggest (notice how equivocal I am there? ) that the pipes of vacuum-fitted BR-built vans were red. However, all the colour images I've seen are later than 1960. One for the Yahoo Group. perhaps...

Cheers

Jan

Quite right, but if I will post when I'm supposed to be doing other things, that's my own look out. I would be surprised if this was a post-'60 thing: the proliferation of colour (or Color if it was Kodak, I guess) would explain that to some extent.

Adam

 

[hrmspaul]

I'll admit I had never considered they were ever anything other than red for Vacuum brake and white for vac pipe. I can confirm they were these colours in BR instructions of December 1958 - and important!

Paul Bartlett

 

[AJC]

A quick trip back to Somerset and a bit of a play in the very cold home of Yeovil MRG and with South Junction which, I learn, will be at the Taunton show in October - I seem to have volunteered to erect a new signal box - the layout has been extended (again, this is extension no. 3!) and thus the crossover the wagons below are sat on are over scale quarter of a mile away from the existing 'box. Anyhow, here's a short freight of recently completed wagons:





The Merchant Navy on the front is typically Southern overkill...

Here's the other side of the ferry van before weathering:



Adam