John’s Workbench

[John Duffy]

A new project just getting started. There is not currently much available that suits me for the Caledonian, so this 812 class has been pushed to the front of the queue. It’s a Gladiator kit and so far, so good.



Progress at least.

John

 

[John Duffy]

A little further forward.


Starting to take shape.

John

 

[John Duffy]

Posed on the window sill. My current workbench project is slowly making progress.



John

 

[John Duffy]

Ah, this can only cause trouble!





Planning starts now.

John

 

[John Duffy]

Strange things are definitely afoot.



Testing ideas. (That’s my excuse at least!)

John

 

[John Duffy]

Wagons of a different nature;









John

 

[John Duffy]

Back to Caledonian wagons. These are 15’ trader wagons by RY Pickering. 2 started, another 2 to follow. They will eventually be lettered for local merchants.



John

 

[Dog Star]

Oh so many questions... let me start with these:-

1/ what surface preparation is required / desired before assembly?
2/ what glue is used for assembly?
3/ how is the floor set at the correct level (relative to the side sheeting / headstocks)?

thank you, Graham

 

[John Duffy]

Oh so many questions... let me start with these:-

1/ what surface preparation is required / desired before assembly?
2/ what glue is used for assembly?
3/ how is the floor set at the correct level (relative to the side sheeting / headstocks)?

thank you, Graham

Graham I try to clean up the surfaces by giving the a blow with air from the airbrush, generally that gets rid of any carbon residue. For butt joints, like the sides to the end, I give a rub over with emery paper or sand paper, which ever is closest to hand.

For glue, I use a PVA based product. Art and craft stores tend to have these for paper crafts and they are more tacky than straight PVA. It is very easy to work with.

The floor height on these wagons is determined by the ends. What looks like a thin plank is actually the last board of the floor, so it is simply a case of lining the floor to this.

Cheers, John

 

[John Duffy]

The floor is lined up with the ends before the buffer beam and solebars are then added.



John

 

[John Duffy]

Stage II

Some friends together for a work day so I got some good progress made on the Pickering trader wagons. I’m doing 2 with Caledonian axle boxes and 2 with private owner.










Starting to think about liveries now. The unpainted interiors should be fairly straightforward!

John

 

[John Ross]

Stage II

Some friends together for a work day so I got some good progress made on the Pickering trader wagons. I’m doing 2 with Caledonian axle boxes and 2 with private owner.

View attachment 182386


View attachment 182387

View attachment 182389

View attachment 182388

Starting to think about liveries now. The unpainted interiors should be fairly straightforward!

John

Good looking kits, attached are a few choices

 

[John Duffy]

A little progress has been made on the Pickering trader wagons.

The first has received lettering. Still got to be set in, oversprayed and weathered but they are starting to look the part.



John

 

[John Duffy]

One of the various distractions was developing this wagon. A North British Diag 63B bolster. A friend was needing some in 4mm but it would be rude not to make big brothers for them as well.







The only problem is getting the buffers which were a little unusual so I have a request for help running on another thread;

Help required producing unusual buffers.

Following a recent conversation with a friend where we were looking at the need for some North British bolsters, I have managed to get the body parts prepared. Other fittings are available and the bolsters themselves can be fabricated. The one thing that I cannot see a way to produce is the...

www.westernthunder.co.uk

hopefully I’ll get some progress made during the week.

John

 

[Purple-haze]

John, I have to admit I know diddley squat about your subject, but can I say that the modelling is top class!

regards Rog

 

[John Duffy]

John, I have to admit I know diddley squat about your subject, but can I say that the modelling is top class!

regards Rog

Much appreciated Rog. I have fittings and wheels on the way and will look to build the bolster itself from plastic channel.

Hopefully progress is reasonably swift.

thanks again

John

 

[John Duffy]

I have recently been progressing some other wagon types. There are currently a few GNSR wagons running on the layout and I wanted to add some extras. The previous ones were all built scratchbuilt and each one involved measuring, marking out, scribing and cutting in plasticard, however by using the laser to produce them in ply I have sped up this part of the process. Also, I have been able to adapt my CAD drawing to quickly take account of the variations in this type of vehicle and allow for the other types to be produced and for the repeatability of each type.

These photos show the GNSR diagram 3S 8ton open. This type is a 3 plank design with centre door on one side only and a 2'1" deep body. From this design I have also been able to draw the 1'9" version (the 5S) and from the 5S I have drawn the 1'9" drop-side 4S. As a bonus, the same body from the 3S can be mounted on a steel under frame as a single sided door 6S or a both side door 7S.







Still a bit of detail work to do and a visit to the airbrush for livery but it is definitely coming on.

John

 

[John Duffy]

I’ll need to change this thread simply to “Workbench” as this project is in 4mm.
This is a testbed for ideas. The subject is n L&Y diag 83 wagon in P4.



I have miscalculated the width (absolute schoolboy error) of the ends and the lock so it looks odd, but I was more interested in how the ironwork material would behave. I am rather optimistic about its use.




This last photo shows how the engraved marks help locate the square nuts accurately on the ironwork.



John

 

[John Duffy]

Having amended the drawing and recut some bodies, I am making some progress with these vehicles. I have done these two with wooden underframes as L&Y Diagram 81 wagons. One of the biggest advantages of working like this is the re-use of elements of the drawing. These two have the distinctive double ended door, but the same basic wagon was also produced with fixed ends Diag 91 and with fixed ends on a steel underframe - Diag 92. So from the same basic drawing I can produce 4 versions, allowing me to represent some of the 5,632 vehicles covered by these 4 diagrams.




Progress continues.

John

 

[adrian]

I really do like the look of these wagons - using wood makes all the difference. As a swag - is it laser cut thin ply? Which source and thickness are you using? Also it's bleeding obvious to me now but I presume using the black styrene will make painting the ironwork easier.