4mm An EM Workbench

[AJC]

Late night line up:



It doesn’t look a lot, but advances have been made. I’m going to try to keep the pair of LNER vehicles going in parallel so both have all the ABS bits in place and now buffers. Meanwhile the SECR brake has had its handrails straightened and the chassis painted. Handrails will be whitened before bed.

Adam

 

[AJC]

I thought it might be worth showing how I do the between frame details, representations of linkages, safety loops and so on.

These are necessarily simplified, but accurate and repeatable location is important, hence the bits of plasticard (40 thou’ in this instance, though 60 thou’ is probably the ideal). The white bits are for tails of the operating linkages, the tumbler has been drilled for the other ends.



The black are locations for the safety loops and are drilled with a pair of 0.5mm holes, 13mm apart, positioned under where the yokes go. The loops themselves will be bent up from 0.3mm wire - I’ll open out the holes to suit.

This set up applies to pretty much all the AVB I do, it’s simple, allows you to get the wheels out and looks pretty good from all valid angles.

Adam

 

[AJC]

One of the intractable projects noted above is this PMK LNER tube, first seen here: 4mm - An EM Workbench: NE Moderns. One of the problems with buying part-built models is the bits that are missing. For this one it was 2/3 of the vee hangers and half the brake shoes, so I’ve had to improvise. The brake shoes are simply cut up ABS castings soldered in place (a very deep breath needed there), while the vees were fretted out of scrap etch.





I’ve been putting both of these off for months, but it took an evening. NB, @Yorkshire Dave, this one does have a rocking axle with an internal bearing. The downside is that traps one of the wheels, but for the length of wheelbase it's a sensible precaution.

Adam

 

[AJC]

While the young man is having a nap (I’m on leave to look after him for a few weeks), a look at the LNER AVB. We started here:



And have, with the addition of a few bits of wire, reached this point:



Which looks like this the right way up:



Arguably, the solebar brackets make a greater difference to the overall look of the model than the brake detail. We’re missing the safety loop under the inter-vee linkage at this point, but once that’s done, the complicated bits will be over with just the levers to add. I might even use the cast ones this time: if they’re good enough for Geoff Kent…

The longer version of the same gear on the Tube:



I’m trying to keep this in step as a way of moving the model on. It’s more or less working.


Adam

 

[AJC]

Another step onward - the conflat is much the same - and what’s appeared are a collection of safety loops, spring stops (Rumney Models spares), and small details on the solebars along with brake levers. Lever stays and so on still to add.



The Tube is a struggle, partly because all that brass is a heat sink. Still, nothing has fallen off, the solebar brackets are in place (scrap etch), and we can move on to more interesting things. I might even remember to reshape the end stanchions.



Adam

 

[AJC]

The problem with Tubes and Pipes - anything with a lot of doors, really - is the accompanying detailing. I think the door control spring fittings were supplied as castings and I didn’t have those. Chances are they’d have been chunky and overscale so they’re no great loss, but you can’t very well afford to leave them off.

So what I’ve done is make up some triangles of brass, with a tail to insert through a hole I drilled through the solebar, from scrap. That provides the hinge pivot (left).



The arm that links that to the door is a bit of 0.7mm nickel silver wire filed square on three sides and bent through 90 degrees (I needed to file a Nick in that to allow the bend), poked trough a hole drilled through the planks. This was then soldered in place, through the door and to the pivot before being cut to length in situ.



Two done, six to do.

Adam

 

[Tappa]

The problem with Tubes and Pipes - anything with a lot of doors, really - is the accompanying detailing. I think the door control spring fittings were supplied as castings and I didn’t have those. Chances are they’d have been chunky and overscale so they’re no great loss, but you can’t very well afford to leave them off.

So what I’ve done is make up some triangles of brass, with a tail to insert through a hole I drilled through the solebar, from scrap. That provides the hinge pivot (left).

View attachment 217181

The arm that links that to the door is a bit of 0.7mm nickel silver wire filed square on three sides and bent through 90 degrees (I needed to file a Nick in that to allow the bend), poked trough a hole drilled through the planks. This was then soldered in place, through the door and to the pivot before being cut to length in situ.

View attachment 217182

Two done, six to do.

Adam

They are an improvement on those supplied with the kit. You can see the originals supplied on this one (the one in front is 4mm, the back one 7mm).

 

[AJC]

Closing in on the target now, with most of the brake rigging in place (no prizes for spotting what’s missing).



A little whitemetal to brass soldering and we’re ready for paint.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Since we have COVID back in the house again, and everyone else is asleep, I’ve done a bit more. All castings now in place (buffers, drilled for sprung heads from @Dave F., the rather lovely BR heavy duty axleboxes from Rumney Models, as were the worksplates and lever guides), and the vac' cylinder from one of the many Parkside sprues I have in the box. Note that there are a few bits of extra detail to be added in plastic, notably the capping strips - these are included on the etch and one door's worth have been fitted, but there's no way I have the patience to solder more of these on - so these will go on after primer.



All in all I'm quite pleased with that, but what a lot of work to get there! It is, I note, almost exactly the same length as the Bogie Bolster E with which it currently shares a shelf.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Another long(ish) term wrestle. This Geen tank is made of very soft alloy and turned out to have a lot of epoxy holding it together. But it has brakes, is now broadly square, and is well on the way to becoming a tar tank. Additions since we last saw it include buffers, obviously, proper mechanical fixings from tank to chassis and retensioning of the retaining straps. There’s a new discharge pipe underneath for good measure.

Less obvious, but more significant, is the reprofiling of the ends which were very flat. I added a disc of 40 thou’ stuck on with some JB Weld, took a big file to the result and tidied up with Milliput. It’s ugly (and parallax makes it look worse than it is).



I’m going to add heating inlets on one end and new end bracing, as well as solebar detail before thinking about a suitably anonymous small fleet owner eking out its last days. I have a kit for an Air Ministry tank in the drawer (from Rumney Models); I fear this is one instance where it might be better if they didn't appear in the same train...

Adam

 

[Herb Garden]

Another long(ish) term wrestle. This Geen tank is made of very soft alloy and turned out to have a lot of epoxy holding it together. But it has brakes, is now broadly square, and is well on the way to becoming a tar tank. Additions since we last saw it include buffers, obviously, proper mechanical fixings from tank to chassis and retensioning of the retaining straps. There’s a new discharge pipe underneath for good measure.

Less obvious, but more significant, is the reprofiling of the ends which were very flat. I added a disc of 40 thou’ stuck on with some JB weld, took a big file to the result and tidied up with Milliput. It’s ugly (and parallax makes it look worse than it is).

View attachment 217748

I’m going to add heating inlets on one end and new end bracing, as well as solebar detail before thinking about a suitably anonymous small fleet owner eking out its last days. I have a kit for an Air Ministry tank in the drawer (from Rumney Models); I fear this is one instance where it might be better if they didn't appear in the same train...

Adam

Wow that's a restoration challenge. Looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[AJC]

A little less parallax, and the start of the end stays added. The real thing (on 1911 spec’ wagons, which going on the drawings in Tourret seems to be what this is) had chunky square section ones, I can’t remember what happened to the ones from the kit, but they’re easy enough to make.



A bit of 10 thou’ represents the steel channel and I’ve pinned it to the tank with brass wire dowels. I’ll need to buy some T section for the uprights, but I have some suitable etches from Rumney Models - meant for detailing Bachmann tanks - that will resolve the problem of the diagonal stays.

Adam

 

[AJC]

More detail, of a minute nature. All the various solebar ironwork is on, and the end beams are drilled for the diagonal stays.



I suppose I should do the heating inlet detail next.

Adam

 

[AJC]

So, I’m intending the lettering to be fairly minimal, but I have made ‘cast’ plates before (for other tar tanks), from 10 thou’ with ‘letters’ fretted from 5 thou’ strip. The aim is the illusion of legibility. I’ll add a rim from fuse wire later. This is the sort of madness talking to Geoff Kent leads to.



To save your eyes, I’ve invented a subsidiary of the Bishops Lydyeard quarry owners, W.J. King - they of half the preserved steam waggons in the realm it seems - who, in my parallel reality, operated an asphalt division from Exeter.

Still haven’t added the steam inlet fittings…

Adam

 

[AJC]

And here’s the finished plate in situ.



The little bits of tube are part of the diagonal stay fixings. Label clips are missing, aren’t they?

Adam

 

[AJC]

It looks a little more complete with the stays on, doesn’t it?



The heating coil inlets are in place and I have found just enough T section that will connect the headstocks to the stretchers that support the stays. There’s half a chance it will make a reasonable model, I think.



Adam

 

[AJC]

More complicated details: the steam heating coils, mercifully fitted at one end only. Lots of 0.45mm wire and very fine tube. What you can see is about half of what will be, and it’s a little overscale, but it has to be there. It’s taken three sittings to get this far, and probably another couple to finish. The ‘ping’ rate is not quite as bad as I’d expected!



After this, however, it’s only the top hatch clamp to replace, before paint.

Adam

 

[AJC]

Rotten phone snap, but I’m away to a conference over the next few days. This is the complete livery: a few operators were pretty minimalist with branding and I’m choosing to believe that W.J. King was one such! So the plate gives the ownership details, and the rest is a bare minimum. This makes for a nice contrast with the remainder of my tar tank fleet, all heavily lettered.



The weathering - which will be extensive - can wait. The only other thing I’ve done reflects the age of the wheels: the tyres came off… I’ve glued them back on.

Adam

 

[AJC]

A nice simple project, by way of a change. Well, simple within parameters. A Rumney Models Air Ministry tank wagon, following on from @Mike Garwood's workbench, and @Chas Levin's lovely Masokits chassis, this is what has kept me ticking over for the last few evenings. Barring a few minor mishaps (the tank securing strap anchors MUST be opened out to take the tube that is inserted through them on the fret, for example - don't ask how I know...). Not my tidiest work, but with most of the chassis soldering done, it's time for the first 3D printed parts. I very much approve of the printed brake assemblies, putting push rod brakes together from etch is fiddly, difficult work and takes forever. Cleaning up and adding these took five minutes altogether.



The just about visible coupling spring assembly (yes, I have broken a bit, you won't be able to see it), is also in place. Owing to the Great Bufferhead Famine, I haven't used the - excellent - buffer stock prints but some of @Dave F.'s equally nice castings.



Not much more to do before I embark on the tank.

Adam

Adam

 

[AJC]

And just like that, the chassis was complete. Ok, couplings need to go on, but the remaining bits are tank fixtures, cosmetic buffer springs, and solebar plates and they can wait.



The 3D printed bits are excellent, fit as intended (the tank end components have moulded pins into to headstock), and the resulting structure feels very stable. The tank is still to come: never rolled a brass tube before, should be interesting.

Adam

PS - must tweak that lever guide.