4mm An EM Workbench: n shades of grey
- Thread starter AJC
- Start date
AJC
Western Thunderer
Anyway, one more completed vehicle. The last Coil J for a bit.
The transfers were commissioned by me from Railtec and the wagon is based on this picture from Paul Bartlett (thanks again Paul):
http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brcoilj/h3ff3ae8f#h3ff3ae8f
Time for something different, but what?
Adam
The transfers were commissioned by me from Railtec and the wagon is based on this picture from Paul Bartlett (thanks again Paul):
http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brcoilj/h3ff3ae8f#h3ff3ae8f
Time for something different, but what?
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
So, I've finally completed construction of my pair of Coil Rs and - a big moment of truth - applied primer. This has revealed a number of areas where additional work is required. This was expected and as you may be able to tell, is focussed on the vertical corners of the hood. I'm quite pleased with the ends and have now patched in with some filler, a touch of 5 minute epoxy (good for simulating folds, if you're careful) and the whole blended together with PVA. That was all after this pair of rather indifferent images were taken but hopefully they demonstrate the effect.
Time for another coat of primer - and a tidy up and more primer - well, as soon as the rain stops. Again.
Adam
Time for another coat of primer - and a tidy up and more primer - well, as soon as the rain stops. Again.
Adam
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AJC
Western Thunderer
And here we go, before the rain started again, one of the pair fully primed with the underframe sprayed black - solebars will be freight brown, hoods dark grey. I'm quite pleased thus far.
The detail shot below shows how neat and tidy the Rumney Models bits look under a coat of paint.
And finally, my Coil C, replete with a coat of paint and its bolster pins. I'm really pleased with how this one came out.
Adam
The detail shot below shows how neat and tidy the Rumney Models bits look under a coat of paint.
And finally, my Coil C, replete with a coat of paint and its bolster pins. I'm really pleased with how this one came out.
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
While I was taking pictures, I dug the Hornby 21 tonner which I'd finished but not recorded.
The interior was especially nice, all those lovely rivets, and I think it's come out well.
The RCH minerals have also come along a bit. Two will be fairly tidy, the third a bit of a heap. Here's the state of play earlier; the internal user crosses were applied using a mapping pen and (permanent) ink. This gave a very neat result.
And here's the tatty one after a second pass of weathering. The first was a coat of overall grime, based on the gunmetal/light grey/matt leather combo that I used on the interior. I think this left the wagon looking a bit flat.
Here it is after varying the density of the red and reinstating it on the corner plates. The same matt wine was used with a smidge of light grey to suggest fading. Note the spring on the left appears to have been squashed - this is a cock up which will become a feature. A chalk mark pointing out the broken spring will be added per this Gordon Edgar shot: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/5783756730/in/album-72157626724121567/
Next, lettering.
Adam
The interior was especially nice, all those lovely rivets, and I think it's come out well.
The RCH minerals have also come along a bit. Two will be fairly tidy, the third a bit of a heap. Here's the state of play earlier; the internal user crosses were applied using a mapping pen and (permanent) ink. This gave a very neat result.
And here's the tatty one after a second pass of weathering. The first was a coat of overall grime, based on the gunmetal/light grey/matt leather combo that I used on the interior. I think this left the wagon looking a bit flat.
Here it is after varying the density of the red and reinstating it on the corner plates. The same matt wine was used with a smidge of light grey to suggest fading. Note the spring on the left appears to have been squashed - this is a cock up which will become a feature. A chalk mark pointing out the broken spring will be added per this Gordon Edgar shot: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/5783756730/in/album-72157626724121567/
Next, lettering.
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
I confess that I didn't know of the BR (semi-plywood?) version, so this will be a straight GW version - if only there were a kit available for the GWR plywood van... Anyhow, here's where it's got to:
Buffers refitted, safety loops (office staples) and vac' cylinder in situ and those fiddly little struts between the bottom of the verticals and the solebars. While doing fiddly brackets, my batch of Palbricks has been coming together but they still don't look especially Palbrick like.
Finally, the pair of Coil Rs are resplendent, if that's the right word, in Freight Brown and even a first coat of Klear to enable transfers to go on though those are a while away yet.
Adam
Buffers refitted, safety loops (office staples) and vac' cylinder in situ and those fiddly little struts between the bottom of the verticals and the solebars. While doing fiddly brackets, my batch of Palbricks has been coming together but they still don't look especially Palbrick like.
Finally, the pair of Coil Rs are resplendent, if that's the right word, in Freight Brown and even a first coat of Klear to enable transfers to go on though those are a while away yet.
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
Somewhere is a forgotten drawer are some guilty secrets: coaches. I suppose one has to have them... Anyhow, dragged from the depths is a Bachmann mk1 BCK which is intended to form the rear of a rake of Western Region stock which dad and I have knocking about. I rewheeled the thing and did a certain amount of detailing ages ago, but have only now got around to thinking about tedious things like corridor connections. There are lots available from the trade and at one point, I considered using a set of Masokits items but dad has had success with the idea Chris Pendlenton (lifted in turn from Mick Wakefield) described in MRJ 200 and this is straightforward, simple and quick. It goes like this:
Disassemble, score around the corridor moulding. You can remove the moulded corridor by sliding a curved scalpel blade between the corridor moulding and the end - there are four spigots holding it in and a couple wiggled out, while the rest were cut. Cut out around the scored line with a piercing saw (you can chain drill if you like but I generally confine myself to a hole in each corner: it makes less mess) and through the full width of the end as far as the outer face of the buffer beam. Check that the corridor moulding can pass through the hole easily and if not, ease with a blade.
Next, thicken up the corridor - you need to add 2.8mm of material according to Mick Wakefield - a couple of layers of 40 thou' and one of 30 thou' will do it though I can't see why 3 layers of 40 thou' wouldn't do the job. Allow to set and then trim.
Next, a backplate must be added to the corridor, trapping the corridor in place, and yes, that's more 40 thou.
Remember to trim the top corners to clear the roof strengthening ribs. For this to work, springs are required. These are from 0.31mm phosphor bronze and soldered to a piece of scrap brass:
These are mounted a little behind the end (you'll need to trim a bit of the floor of the interior moulding) and, this done, secured the spring to floor using a leftover screw from something or other and a smear of epoxy since I really don't want to take the lid off again any time soon. So here's the finished item, first pressed in:
And released:
And there we go, a durable, hassle free gangway for 4mm stock. The remaining detailing should be easy and quick enough, assuming I can find my Mk 1 buffers. The Masokits bits for the Hornby Hawksworth will not be quite so easy...
Adam
Disassemble, score around the corridor moulding. You can remove the moulded corridor by sliding a curved scalpel blade between the corridor moulding and the end - there are four spigots holding it in and a couple wiggled out, while the rest were cut. Cut out around the scored line with a piercing saw (you can chain drill if you like but I generally confine myself to a hole in each corner: it makes less mess) and through the full width of the end as far as the outer face of the buffer beam. Check that the corridor moulding can pass through the hole easily and if not, ease with a blade.
Next, thicken up the corridor - you need to add 2.8mm of material according to Mick Wakefield - a couple of layers of 40 thou' and one of 30 thou' will do it though I can't see why 3 layers of 40 thou' wouldn't do the job. Allow to set and then trim.
Next, a backplate must be added to the corridor, trapping the corridor in place, and yes, that's more 40 thou.
Remember to trim the top corners to clear the roof strengthening ribs. For this to work, springs are required. These are from 0.31mm phosphor bronze and soldered to a piece of scrap brass:
These are mounted a little behind the end (you'll need to trim a bit of the floor of the interior moulding) and, this done, secured the spring to floor using a leftover screw from something or other and a smear of epoxy since I really don't want to take the lid off again any time soon. So here's the finished item, first pressed in:
And released:
And there we go, a durable, hassle free gangway for 4mm stock. The remaining detailing should be easy and quick enough, assuming I can find my Mk 1 buffers. The Masokits bits for the Hornby Hawksworth will not be quite so easy...
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
Despite the sunshine over the weekend, I managed to get a few things done, but shots of RCH underframes with brake levers aren't awfully exciting so unless you desperately want to see them you can wait until the wagons themselves are a bit further along. Meanwhile, in the absence of parts to complete the coaches, I've made a start on something new, a private venture kit for a BR-built Trestrol AD by Ian MacDonald (who made this known over there) and can report that so far, so good. There aren't nearly so many rivets as one might expect, but all that should be there are there, so far as I can tell and everything fits with a modicum of tidying up. There's an awful lot of wagon...
Given the size, I've tack soldered rather than seam soldered which has thus far avoided problems related to differential expansion. Cleverly, the sides only fit one way round and the tabs protrude all the way through enabling really positive location. Seen above with one side on, and below with the second one. The intermediate stiffening beams are assembled separately and installed as a unit. The top flanges, as might be expected, take on quite a bend once release from the etch but straightened out ok.
All square so far and, as a bonus, just to prove that both Coil Rs are progressing:
Adam
Given the size, I've tack soldered rather than seam soldered which has thus far avoided problems related to differential expansion. Cleverly, the sides only fit one way round and the tabs protrude all the way through enabling really positive location. Seen above with one side on, and below with the second one. The intermediate stiffening beams are assembled separately and installed as a unit. The top flanges, as might be expected, take on quite a bend once release from the etch but straightened out ok.
All square so far and, as a bonus, just to prove that both Coil Rs are progressing:
Adam
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AJC
Western Thunderer
So here we go, next phase along the road, the end frames look a bit like this and were a bit of a fiddle.
The small holes just visible behind the headstock are for springs for the couplings - such a long wagon with three links will probably benefit for these but not until after painting.
It is also now on its bogies which are fitted to little pivot arrangements so as to ensure all wheels are on the track - the pivoting cradles are arranged at right angles - and I've added a short length of tube to the pivot screw as this pretty ordinary picture shows:
Finally, a close up of the bogie.
Trestles next, but in the meantime, the Palbrick project inches forward. At the minute, pretty much all of them look like this:
Adam
The small holes just visible behind the headstock are for springs for the couplings - such a long wagon with three links will probably benefit for these but not until after painting.
It is also now on its bogies which are fitted to little pivot arrangements so as to ensure all wheels are on the track - the pivoting cradles are arranged at right angles - and I've added a short length of tube to the pivot screw as this pretty ordinary picture shows:
Finally, a close up of the bogie.
Trestles next, but in the meantime, the Palbrick project inches forward. At the minute, pretty much all of them look like this:
Adam
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AJC
Western Thunderer
Hi Simon,
The only drawing I know of is in Bartlett et al's Wagons part 1 - this is a 8 shoe Palbrick B - but the text accompanying it gives the internal dimensions of the various different types. Phil Hetherington, who is restoring a real one almost certainly has more data http://www.palbrick.co.uk/
The bodies, as far as I can tell, are all the same in side elevation but differ, quite substantially, in plan. In 4mm you can get away with a certain lack of precision better (e.g., channel with a wooden packer in can simply be solid, most of the time) than you can in 7mm so the absolute minutiae of such details is less important.
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
And now, we actually reach the disticntive bits, the trestles. These are, inevitably, fiddly, but the end result will be good (they require some wooden packing - I have the coffee stirrers in stock... http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brtrestrolao/h488f5dfe#h488f6442).
The unseen stuff is the easing of the drawhook holes to allow for springing and all those shackle lugs, ten natty little fold-ups. The shckles themselves are quite nifty, but I'll come to those later. Getting there.
Adam
The unseen stuff is the easing of the drawhook holes to allow for springing and all those shackle lugs, ten natty little fold-ups. The shckles themselves are quite nifty, but I'll come to those later. Getting there.
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
So here's the Trestrol, now under a coat of paint (well, three, including a layer of etch primer) and assembled on its wheels. At present it displays a list towards the trestle side, which is unsurprising, so it probably wants a bit of lead under the other side to level it up. It's really quite an impressive beast.
Adam
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
After a fair old wait, I've had a nice email from Steve at Railtec advising me that a small commission I'd enquired about some time back had reached fruition, to wit, lettering for my pair of Coil Rs. These were based on (inevitably), Paul Bartlett's pictures: BR Bogie Coil R JRV Cable drum YVV and cover both as built well, so far as we can tell, and as they appeared in the pictures, with TOPS codes and pool numbers, also a TOPS thing as far as I know. Anyhow, I've got around to applying and varnishing them...
Adam
Adam
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AJC
Western Thunderer
Little steps, and my natural modelling habitat; tiny bits of plastic sheet, based on the drawing in SR Wagons vol. 4 and, inevitably, @hrmspaul and his copious collection of wagon photographs:
SR Specially constructed wagons - Lowmac SD Flatrol ZVR ZXR | ADS61095 LOWMAC [2]
Axleboxes and springs to follow...
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
Little bits and bobs, notably the basis of axleboxes (the BR plate-front pattern that all seem to have ended up with) layered up from 40 thou' with 10 thou' plates to represent the journals.
The plank lines are scribed into 40 thou' sheet - the embossed stuff always looks like tongue and groove with a bevelled top edge, not that you can really tell here...
Adam
The plank lines are scribed into 40 thou' sheet - the embossed stuff always looks like tongue and groove with a bevelled top edge, not that you can really tell here...
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
Thanks for that Rob, I imagine that the colours were the same in other applications - not much call for weighing machines in my corner of academia! - so I'll need a matching weighplate when the time comes. Thank you also to the various button clickers.
Here's more examples of the difficulties of taking pictures of assemblies in white plastic in limited light. That said, you can see the plank lines in these. Otherwise, what's gone on is more gradual layering of detail onto the carcass of the SR lowmac. Since the last update, curb rails, wheel cover plates, angle brackets and the first pass of detail added to the axleboxes. It seems to be coming together quite well.
Adam
AJC
Western Thunderer
While looking for something else the other day, I came across parts of three Ratio GW opens late of the same estate that yielded the GW fruit van body (more of which anon) in a pretty awful state but which, when disassembled, have yielded sufficient bits to make two good wagons since the body mouldings are quite nice. The mouldings as supplied have axleguards moulded integrally at a 9' wheelbase and by my era of interest, the survivors mostly had 10' wheelbases and vac' brakes, the latter added by BR in the '50s. I don't suppose I shall get around to doing much more with these for the moment, but just to keep things tidy, I got them into something approaching basic rolling wagons. This means, in the one case, a new underframe from spare Parkside bits and a 40 thou' sheet floor with BR 'W irons' (quite a number of these GW wagons gained these when converted to vac'brake) and stretching the 9' wheelbase of the other.
The Parkside BD container just happened to be on the bench; I think it has found a home here rather than add to the Great Conflat Securing Chain Backlog. Slightly more of what was done to the stretched chassis can be seen in the picture below. The complete solebar assembly was sawn off the side moulding, dressed square with a big file and then cut into three bits.
The bits were reassembled on a strip of 20 thou' plastic sheet in approved Geoff Kent fashion (using the centrelines of the springs to set the wheelbase at the required 40mm (10' in 4mm scale - obviously the width of the saw cuts needs to be accounted for in the spacing) before being assembled to a new floor. The floor is part functional, consisting of 40 thou' sheet between the solebars and part cosmetic; piece of 20 thou' sheet cut to fit between the wagon sides and ends with a bit of 10 x 30 Evergreen strip to reinforce the solebar/floor edge.
They can now mature for a bit until I'm ready to do something about 'em. Meanwhile, back to the Lowmac.
Adam
PS - thanks, as ever, to @hrmspaul
The Parkside BD container just happened to be on the bench; I think it has found a home here rather than add to the Great Conflat Securing Chain Backlog. Slightly more of what was done to the stretched chassis can be seen in the picture below. The complete solebar assembly was sawn off the side moulding, dressed square with a big file and then cut into three bits.
The bits were reassembled on a strip of 20 thou' plastic sheet in approved Geoff Kent fashion (using the centrelines of the springs to set the wheelbase at the required 40mm (10' in 4mm scale - obviously the width of the saw cuts needs to be accounted for in the spacing) before being assembled to a new floor. The floor is part functional, consisting of 40 thou' sheet between the solebars and part cosmetic; piece of 20 thou' sheet cut to fit between the wagon sides and ends with a bit of 10 x 30 Evergreen strip to reinforce the solebar/floor edge.
They can now mature for a bit until I'm ready to do something about 'em. Meanwhile, back to the Lowmac.
Adam
PS - thanks, as ever, to @hrmspaul
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