7mm F*** Parkinson's - Occasional 7mm Workbench

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James

James

Western Thunderer
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A nice way to relax :)

It goes together rather nicey, I've deviated from the instructions suggested ordering of assembly. I have suitable Ambis brake levers and lever guards in stock which make such a difference to the final appearance.

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I also want to try the more recent Dapol screw couplings as they look rather good. Five pairs for £24 seems very good value too.

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James

James

Western Thunderer
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A bit of time spent in the workshop today, catching up with The Archers whilst getting on with this

Normally I find Parkside kits need bearings pushing inwards to avoid unnecessary side play but this one, the bearings end up in the right place and there's zero side play. I've glued the suspension solid - I don't like the floppy, sloppy Parkside 'suspension'. Having modelled in P4 for most of my life, proper, well engineered suspension is a joy but not this. A decent amount of lead flashing has brought the weight up and the van glides along my test track beautifully.

Brake shoes are in place too - the wheels still rotate which is a bonus! Back playing trains tomorrow so it'll have a few days to set properly before the rest of the brake gear is added.
 
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James

James

Western Thunderer
Pencarrow said:
Good work there chap. Not built a wagon kit for years and have quite a few in the stash.
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Thanks Chris!

I'm slowly building up stock for the big project :)

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While the van's paint dries I made a start on this ex-LMS open which I bought from @adrian last week. Two halves being test fitted - I've left the next stage for the morning to have give it another check before committing.
 
James

James

Western Thunderer
Thought I'd fit the buffers to the van before bed but a couple of issues.

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The springs are too large in diameter and the buffer shafts too short if you have a decent amount of thread within the nut.

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This is one the more recently produced Parkside kits from Peco - not great quality control.

Back to work for a couple of day shifts (with a brand new panel at Hessle Road!) so I'll reconvene with this on Saturday.
 
James

James

Western Thunderer
I contacted Peco regarding the buffers and they're sending me a replacement set which is good of them :) very good customer service.

So I've left the van for now and got on with these two.

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Both ABS kits - the one primer I bought for £10 on eBay, nicely built but in LMS livery so is getting a repaint. The other is the one from further up the page. I couldn't get it perfectly square so I've built it without wheels and I've got inside bearing units from First Class Kits to fit. These will sit

I don't blame the kit; I suspect it's me not holding things perfectly still when assembling the main components

Next is a slightly rough round the edges LMS van from the rummage drawers at Ellis Clarke's - I got a couple of other projects too.

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It's square but I think replacement brake gear will make a world of difference.
 
James

James

Western Thunderer
Four wagons, one finished and three very nearly finished.

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The LNER 12T van is getting there, it's a little distorted after being left too close to the heater... Thankfully to the naked eye it's not noticeable!

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My 'first' 7mm wagon is finally finished - a proper shelf queen, started in 2014, lettered in 2025 and couplings finally fitted today!

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It was originally built to Scale7 standards but I've swapped the wheels for finescale ones a little while back.
 
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James

James

Western Thunderer
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I took a punt in one of these -

ebay.us

O Gauge 24 ton BR Iron Ore Hopper Wagon Kit Unpainted Truck LMS Dapol 1950's | eBay UK

O Gauge 24 Ton Iron Ore Hopper Wagon Kit. Wheels and Bearing aren't included.
ebay.us

They're prints of Iron Mink's via Thingyverse and they're quite nice designs and fun £10.50 it's pretty inexpensive.

The bearings each had a couple of M2,5 washers to eliminate slop.

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The print has has the bearing holes extended through the axle boxes for an unknown reason so these will need filling and the axle box fronts rebuilding. I contacted the seller and it sounds like an error on his part.

New brake gear and decent buffers and I think it'll have decent potential.
 
James

James

Western Thunderer
One of the kit's vacuum has gone walkies so a basic replacement was fabricated from brass tube with Hobby Holidays coil vacuum piping and split pins.

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Basic but enough to fill the gap - I'm always in two minds whether to fit vacuum pipes to wagons. A fitted freight with no pipes connected looks odd, but would wagons lacking obvious brake pipes look equally odd?

In 4mm I've left brake pipes off wagons as they don't mix well with Sprat & Winkle couplings but wonder if in a larger scale their absence is more conspicuous?
 
Dan Randall

Dan Randall

Western Thunderer
James said:
A fitted freight with no pipes connected looks odd, but would wagons lacking obvious brake pipes look equally odd?
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I think Jim Smith-Wright managed to get his vacuum pipes to connect to each other (in 4mm scale, at that!), using tiny magnets, so it could be worth searching this forum (or possibly RMweb?), to see how he did it.


Regards

Dan
 
James

James

Western Thunderer
Dan, Jim did indeed do this - it's on his website. I'm tempted to try it on the rake of HOP ABs for the NRM.

IIRC Ken Payne had a train of perishable vans which had all its pipes connected :)
 
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