4mm An EM Workbench: Mini-Signwriting (rough)

[AJC]

While the Sentinel is shuffling back along the correct path, I've made a start on something new, though it is (yet another) brake van. This one is an early LMS vehicle, heavily inspired by Midland thinking and derived from a Parkside kit. This will be modelled as M802, pictured at York in 1963:

19/10/1963 - York.

As you can see, it's piped rather than vacuum-braked and unlike the 'pure' Midland vehicles built by the LMS has a ducket and ends with the sheeting on the inside of the framework, a design feature probably discontinued owing to water ingress at a guess. The Parkside kit of course is for the slightly later dia. 1657: LMS Brake Vans ZTO ZSO ZFQ RHQ RFQ | DM284824 diag 1657) but the main modification needed is in reversing the ends so I started there.



As supplied - much as I remember from when the kit was released there's an amount of flash around the apertures and noticeable wood graining which is perhaps a touch overdone.



Step 1 was to cut out the panels and, because I can and because the prototype pictures show it, I've decided to have the door open at one end (Parkside have the catch on the wrong side - real LMS vans seem always to have had left-hand hinged doors but no matter).



The new sheeting is scribed 20 thou'. For scribing I use the tip of a scalpel blade and a small engineer's square. Note that I cut the strip slightly over height and trimmed it down before fitting.



When assembled the basic carcass looks like this:





I've added a bit of 60 thou' amidships to prevent bowing and am now thinking about interior detail. What I did last time was to build that in situ which makes it a swine to paint. This time, I'm going to make and paint the bits separately and fit them afterwards; they'll be every bit as invisible as on the first van but it will all be much neater!

Adam

EDIT - Captain Cock-Up has visited for a second time this week! I hadn't noticed that the veranda screen on these earlier vans is lower in height than on the later ones. Now rectified.

 

[AJC]

The beginnings, or rather the halfway point, of a project. This is a Bachmann 7 plank which I picked up for next to not a lot and had planned to turn into another internal user, until I turned to the letters page of MRJ 250 which included notes on Lowestoft goods yard from the '50s. Therein were notes on the latter days of one of Staveley's numerous fleet of PO opens. A bit of investigation found that POWsides do suitable (well, almost) transfers, here we go:



The sky blue drop shadow may or may not be right, but it isn't what the notes said and so, out with the tiny paintbrush:



Lettering next...

Adam

 

[AJC]

Next stage - P-prefixed lettering (CCT) and the BR accoutrements of white stripes pointing to the doors. I can see that some of the red has worn off.



First pass of weathering to follow.



Adam

 

[AJC]

Another thing, finalising the wear on the ex-Staveley mineral. As we last saw it, the direction of travel was apparent but the whole was a bit clean and less than careworn. So the next stage (following Martyn Welch) was to add a fading wash over the top (a mix of Humbrol matt leather, 62 and matt black, 33) and then pick out the iron work in a rusty mix (Humbrol 100 and metalcote gunmetal). This was allowed to dry for a day or three before the next stage.



Here, I've faded the white in the lettering representing wear and paint loss by overpainting the lettering with very dark grey following a very good colour picture of a Denaby PO in internal use somewhere in the Kent coalfield in Jeffrey Grayer's Industrial Railways of Southern England in Colour (a really excellent book from Crécy with proper large format pictures featuring what it says on the tin). The chassis wants a bit more treatment, I think and a load prior to being released to traffic or, in time, Bradford's siding at Podimore for use as a semi-mobile coal bin.



Adam

 

[AJC]

The second wooden mineral on my radar is something less-decrepit, one of ICI's fleet of lime wagons which we last saw here: 4mm - An EM workbench - rolled into the long grass.

POWSides do transfers for this as well and in all honesty those that arrived weren't amazing:



I've botched the alignment here, too, but never mind.



With a bit of overcoating and tidying up the result is more or less acceptable (and note that I've taken the trouble to press the dry print transfers into the planks). These close-ups are still a bit cruel but the end result is what I wanted. Inside, as well as the low-tech-sheet rail, there's a folded wagon sheet - these would have belonged to ICI and have travelled with the wagon - made from two layers of tissue paper (I've bought some trainers recently and this time remembered to keep the stuff!).



At some point I must do a loaded one with the tarp in place to travel in the opposite direction...

Adam

 

[AJC]

And now for something more sophisticated. Dave Bradwell is best known for his hi-fi 4mm loco kits but also does a small range of wagons and wagon chassis. I've built several, all for coal hoppers but what I really wanted to have a go at, long before Bachmann and Hornby got in on the act with their plastic renditions was the chassis for the BR standard 20 ton brake van. The rarest of these standard vehicles was the unfitted version and this chassis will sit under an old Airfix/Dapol body (with a new roof). The chassis is fiddly, but cleverly and thoughtfully designed and goes together very well indeed.



No, my soldering is no tidier...



... but the results are robust.



Footboards next.

Adam

 

[matto21]

Excellent stuff!

Etched underframes are beyond me so I'll follow this with great interest!

Matt

 

[AJC]

Excellent stuff!

Etched underframes are beyond me so I'll follow this with great interest!

Matt

The word you're looking for is 'yet', Matt.

Some are more straightforward than others and this is a little tricky because of some of the small parts. and because the brakegear is fully modelled. That said, the visible bits - the brake shoes and trusses - are well-designed and robust. This chassis is less ingeniously self-jigging than some of @jjnewitt's designs but is pretty good. A handicap here is that I've not taken any pictures along the way because this has been my unwinding project over a few weeks: I know that Dave's designs will go together and will fit first time (some of the hoppers need a bit of fettling, but that's the nature of the beast). The basic frame is really simple and you can learn to solder - if you were closer I'd be happy to help!

Adam

 

[AJC]

Back to brake and a brief consideration of the footboards. These are made up from a laminate - two layers being stronger that one - with a half-etched layer, including the bracket detail and a full-thickness layer with the toe boards folding up at the back. As we can see the design doesn't have these folded back on itself which might make things a little easier but this doesn't matter all that much as working slowly from one end to the other carefully the two can be soldered together without a banana-shaped result. All this means that the brackets folds are reinforced with solder. Dave's got the half-etched lines spot on for bendability and durability.



A bit later - and using the clever jig supplied - the top footboards are added. The brackets are soldered through holes in the solebar and because, this once, I read the instructions and didn't use too much solder, this worked first time without having to re-drill or open out holes. These are really quite robust though not much more so that the comparatively unsophisticated D&S version of the very similar chassis found under LNER ballast brakes I built some years ago.



And here we are. The body has had very little attention thus far as I've just taken the handrails off. The axleboxes and springs are from Rumney Models and the buffers from Lanarkshire Model Supplies. The style of these items shows that this will be one of the early unfitted versions with the multi-part handrails like this one: BR Brake van diag 1/506 CAO, CAP, ZSQ, ZTO, ZTP, ZTR, ZTV | B950884 20T Brake van unfitted LONDON MIDLAND Photograph date 9-10-50 Tare 19-8 Diag 1-506 Lot 2137 Darlington 1950 © Paul Bartlett Collection w

Adam

 

[AJC]

Moving on a little to the body more or less adequate. Dave Bradwell's etches provide for new cabin partitions to replace the rather chunky Airfix ones. To fit them you have to file a rebate in the sides which meant levering them off the long assembled carcasss (pretty easy as the original join was less than substantial). This is messy, but far from problematic. Dave reckons that the sides are a mite low in height, probably to accommodate the armour-plate roof so I've added some 15 thou' strip along the eaves and a chunk of 60 thou' to space the sides firmly apart.



In these pictures you can see that I've temporarily placed one of the partitions roughly in position. I'll add strips of plastic to locate them properly before go much further. Note that the ends are made of two layers, spaced with scrap etch. The gap will allow glazing to be dropped in after painting which is rather nifty. Bachmann and Hornby both use a clear plastic moulding for this part which is probably the best production compromise, if a fiddle to repaint...



Note too that I've removed the horizontal glazing bars from the partitions (the earliest BR vans and their LNE precursors lacked them).

Adam

 

[AJC]

While I've been down in Somerset for Railwells and a week off, I remembered to bring my Sentinel down for a test on South Junction, Yeovil Model Railway Group's EM layout (about 30' long). This has allowed haulage trials and at their conclusion it managed 22 wagons over the flying junction/reverse curve combination in the fiddle yard which is the basis of our informal maximum load test. It's slow, controllable and now probably needs a wheel clean...







Adam

 

[AJC]

I mentioned above that a quick audit of the box of mixed industrials revealed a couple of mechanical duds and a burst bunker caused by the combination of lead shot and PVA. My fault, of course since I reweighted this model (it was made by Bob Alderman from the Impetus kit and acquired from him when he gave up EM to fully commit to O), alongside replacing the gearbox with something more sophisticated than the Romford cog it was built with. It's had a couple of passes of cosmetic work since, most recently a new chimney and dome/safety valve courtesy of Mike Edge and two repaints. So what's at stake?



All three soldered joints had failed as was revealed by a bit of drilling and soaking:



Removal turned out to be relatively painless and so I've soldered the rear plate back on and - since it's plain black - a patch repaint is worth trying at least, hence:



Time to harden off and retouch with a brush. Maybe some lining as well?

Adam

 

[AJC]

All done:



I decided against lining and settled for repainting the valance black, so that'll do. While the sun was out, I also introduced the Sentinels to one another. It's interesting to see how the family resemblance only extends so far; shapes and lines are similar, but angles and proportions are quite divergent, but they are the same height (the bigger one is quite a lot faster, too!).



Adam

 

[AJC]

A wagon round up:

1. Loads of lamp irons (and still more to add).





The lamp irons are from Masokits and consist of doubled-back 5 thou' brass, much stronger than a single etch of 10 thou'. In both cases, by the way, they would have been a retro-fit on the real thing as both had fixed side lamps as built in LNER fashion.

I've fixed the chassis to the body, too. Location is by means of small self-tapping screw and fixing is by means of epoxy. It seems solid enough.



More as and when it cools own a bit!

Adam

 

[AJC]

I'm putting off the handrails for the moment; not in the mood. So I've started (almost finished) something else:


A Cambrian kit for an SECR van - the progenitor of the 'standard' SR van. I've built almost all the other versions over the years so this is a natural regression. The differences - a bottom flap door, like a cattle wagon; a 9' 6" wheelbase and (because the SECR were too hard up to pay Morton's patent fees perhaps), lifting link brakes:


I've replaced the axleboxes, too (these are from Rumney Models). The wheels should be split spoke, I think, certainly the survivor at the Bluebell has: 15750 SECR COVERED GOODS VAN - a photo on Flickriver. Problem is, I've only got the one axle-worth...

Adam

 

[AJC]

Lettered



This one will be an internal user (hence the number beginning with 0 and the white cross - these from Cambridge Custom, the real vehicle in mind was from Folkestone Harbour). The idea is that it'll spend its days parked up at the end of a siding at Podimore as additional goods storage along with associated clutter.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Going back a bit to revisit the Warwell bogie bolster which I've now painted. Before that, this morning, a couple of work-in-progress shots:





The delay (I last did something to this model late summer last year!) is partly down to the house move, but partly because finalising the fine detail simply didn't appeal. The chains for the bolster pins were a right fiddle I don't mind telling you and the bolster pins themselves took more thinking about than was ultimately necessary - they're 0.7mm nickel silver wire with a wrap of shim strip round them. I subsequently drilled a hole to insert the securing chains through them.

Adam

 

[AJC]

A bit of a break in transmission, and modelling, for lots of reasons. Primary among these is paternity leave...

So a self-contained project. A resin kit from Milicast (as the name suggests, a purveyor of military vehicles, mostly, but not exclusively WW2 types in 1/76), this one for a Bedford OST, a short wheelbase tipper. Now they've chosen this because it was one of several pre-war types subsidised for military use and duly requisitioned for use by the BEF in France with inevitable results. Of course, this type was built again after hostilities and was utterly ubiquitous though not, strangely, in model form in 4mm ready to plonk form. Lots of kits, of varying quality, though. This one isn't bad - the windscreen pillars were a bit wide and the corners, oddly, square. There were a few more air bubbles than I'd have liked, but not the tiny pinholes that are the very devil to fix. Both easy to sort. More difficult, and something I intend to ignore (probably), is that the radiator grill should be raked back a little. The plastic headlights are simply because I seem to have lost the resin ones.





The chassis and tipper body are quite good (if possibly touch delicate around the axles), and the wheels especially well-detailed and cast. Quite nice, all in all.





Adam

 

[AJC]

Hi Adam,

Congratulations to you and yours, just take your time when opportunities present themselves to do any modelling, those opportunities will increase as time goes by and eventually, you will have something more to share with first born.

regards

Mike

Thanks Mike.

It turns out I couldn't ignore the radiator after all.



The rake is greater with the cab on properly and the beading has been rendered horizontal, with just the side grilles left to sort out.



Adam

 

[Heather Kay]

That’s a cute little lorry. I’ve a couple of Milicast kits for my other interest bubble, which may get glued together at some point. Considering the size, the castings don’t look at all bad.