Liver & Fry's workbench

[simond]

I wonder. It seems to me that the manufacturing cost of “getting it right” is pretty much exactly the same as “getting it wrong”, and the upside is that potential customers are not put off by having choose to fix whatever it is, or live with it. It might take a wee bit more time at the design stage, and cost a little more in tooling (but not in that case, I think).

Some of us enjoy some of the tasks. I thoroughly enjoyed upgrading my Minerva siphon, but on the other hand, I simply did not buy any Dapol milk tankers as they were rather more of a challenge. And of course, some RTR buyers will not modify anything.

I suspect brake errors are as common as they are because whoever designed the model either didn't understand how they work, or was careless.

 

[Liver & Fry]

Well, Part 3 has come about sooner than I expected! Turns out I'm pretty in tune with these vans and what needs doing to them now, so I was able to add another example to the rostrum quite quickly!

So, having created four variants from the Oxford Rail vans already, what else could I possibly create using them? Well, in 1905, order D59 was placed for 100 Dia.47 vans; however, six of these were to become meat vans, using the Dia.47 as a basis but with a few modifications. Numbered 31395 to 313400, the only visual differences on these new vans were the fitting of two pairs of torpedo vents, a Westinghouse through pipe and screw couplings. These were christened as Dia.74.

The first thing I did was correct the Morton clutch error, which I posted about recently when I did it. The solebar was painted French grey and weight was added to the chassis. This was then set aside whilst I focused on the body.

I removed the running number and then masked the roof, using landmarks such as the bodyside uprights to get the correct position of the torpedo vents. I drilled out the holes for these and fitted them accordingly, as can be seen below:



I then fitted some Westinghouse pipes to the ends; the position of these having been a discussion between myself and @Herb Garden where we believed these to be to the left of the draw hook as you look end on, in keeping with how the GER used this arrangement on it's locos. After much searching, I found reference to a gas holder wagon (Tatlow) which was Westinghouse fitted from new and this too had its pipe to the left of the draw hook. As such, this is the arrangement I have gone with:



All that was left then was lettering and painting. I confess to using a generic font (Franklin Heavy 2mm, Fox Transfers) for the lettering, but it is one that is close enough to matching the GE style and with no alternative option, this works for me! With only six examples to choose from, I settled on GE 31398, simply because I hadn't lettered anything with an 8 in its number yet!



So there we are! Five GE vans that can be modelled using the Oxford Rail van as a basis. I have one left that remains untouched but this will probably just have the corrections done and be kept as a standard Dia.72.

Hopefully this has been as interesting a conclusion to this topic for you as it was for me in modelling it. I quite enjoyed this one, I must say!

- James

 

[Herb Garden]

Goodness gracious James! We only started chatting about this type on Thursday morning! That's pretty quick turnaround.... very impressive mate!

 

[Liver & Fry]

Goodness gracious James! We only started chatting about this type on Thursday morning! That's pretty quick turnaround.... very impressive mate!

Thank you! Only possible due to the speed in which Royal Mail delivered the detailing parts! I was a rather happy chap Saturday morning when the Westinghouse pipes arrived knowing I had two days to go at it (and this was done around me also painting the bathroom ceiling).

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Oh, and I also finished the two Highland wagons I've been working on on Saturday as well...



But I'll cover them another time!

- James

 

[76043]

Franklin Gothic works for me, especially when you look at the history of it, being a grotesque font puts it in the style of the period. I hadn't realised that the font itself dates from the late Victorian period.

Franklin Gothic - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Much lesser mortals would have gone with Helvetica from the 1950's.

Cheers
Tony

 

[RichardG]

When I built my GER van from the Connoissuer Models kit (7mm) I found myself writing to Jim to confirm the arrangement of the brake gear. This was before I went to Mangapps . . . .the vans preserved there have at least four different arrangements!

James, these posts showing the livery of French grey have come at a perfect time for me. My unfitted van can be French grey not plain grey and bring a bit of fresh colour to my project.

 

[Liver & Fry]

So, what's the logical follow upto a thread about GE vans? Why, another GE van of course! But this one is a bit more involved...

The subject of this entry is the Dia.62 gunpowder van. 18 of these were built between 1909 and 1914 and they were finished in a rather colourful livery (as many gunpowder vans seem to have been - E.g the GNR vans).



These vans bear a striking resemblance and dimensional similarity to the later RCH design as produced by Rapido and so it made sense for me to see what I could make of one...



Initial work would include removing the buffers, removing the brake gear on one side of the wagon, removing the lamp irons on each end, removing the wheels, sanding off the lower door locks, sanding off the surface detail of the axleboxes and reprofiling these so they angle inwards towards the top (I had no way of representing an X type oil axlebox but I figured removing the offending features and getting the profile correct was good enough), removing the printed bodyside detail (bar the warning notice which is a raised feature and a detail I'd like to try keep) and sourcing some GER buffers from the spare sacrificial Oxford Rail van:



I then masked off the bodyside in order to repaint the lower half. The building of the Dia.62 vans coincided with the GER changing their livery for gunpowder vans. This was now to feature a "light grey" upper half and a red oxide lower half, separated by a black line, with chocolate solebars and bufferbeams. I struggled to pinpoint what constituted as "light grey" given contemporary photographs show this to be much darker than the usual GER light grey (French grey as used on ventilated stock) and so I simply kept the original colour used by Rapido:



I then began to line the bodyside:




Another interesting aesthetic feature (and something new to me from a modelling perspective) is that the words 'GUNPOWDER VAN' and the running number were white, shaded in black (whilst the G E was done in the standard white style). In order to replicate this, I started by lettering in plain black and then adding white lettering over top, offset to achieve the desired affect:




By this point I had also fitted the buffers. The next challenge was the footsteps that adorned either side of the van; step brackets were made by folding thin strips of brass and the footboards were made using cut down planks from a plastic fence kit. the planks however had a triangular shape to the rear and so the brackets had to be shaped suitability so that the uper face of the footsteps would sit on the level:




And with that, the project was deemed complete!



Hopefully mine bears enough of a resemblance to that which it's meant to represent! I would later use the lessons in shading to tackle a quirky private owner wagon that had been on my wishlist for some time, but more on that in a future update!

- James

 

[Mick LNER]

Re the Wood interior on the wagons. Unless they used Mahogany?, the wood should be shades of Grey?. Very nice modelling.

 

[76043]

Having been a member of the GERS for years I obviously haven't been paying attention to wonderful liveries and typography used on GER vans. Love these vans. As a cheapskate, is the rapido van the same as the parkside kit?
Cheers
Tony

 

[Herb Garden]

Having been a member of the GERS for years I obviously haven't been paying attention to wonderful liveries and typography used on GER vans. Love these vans. As a cheapskate, is the rapido van the same as the parkside kit?
Cheers
Tony

Having worked on research with @Liver & Fry on this one sadly it's not. Although based on an RCH design the GWR one has a very GWR underframe... if you get what I mean

 

[Liver & Fry]

Re the Wood interior on the wagons. Unless they used Mahogany?, the wood should be shades of Grey?. Very nice modelling.

Thank you!

I would argue it depends on the age of the wagon. Freshly cut timber will be more vibrant than that which is sun bleached and it is this process that adds the silvery sheen to wood. As an example, an RCH 1923 wagon during WW2 will predominantly feature shades of grey internally vs the same wagon in the mid-1920s.

That said, on the next wagon I do I will experiment further with additional highlight layers of grey (vs the one layer I use currently) to see if this gives a more desired effect. Modelling is one of those things that's never finished and I do find myself going back over "finished" projects and fettling with them further so I'm always happy to learn and develop.

The other thing to consider is whilst I'm attempting to add some depth to the tone of the woodwork, most of my pre-grouping wagons are currently finished pristine, as I have no layout and thus for now they are effectively nice display pieces! When the time comes to revisit weathering, the finish will inevitably change again.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Thank you!

I would argue it depends on the age of the wagon. Freshly cut timber will be more vibrant than that which is sun bleached and it is this process that adds the silvery sheen to wood. As an example, an RCH 1923 wagon during WW2 will predominantly feature shades of grey internally vs the same wagon in the mid-1920s.

That said, on the next wagon I do I will experiment further with additional highlight layers of grey (vs the one layer I use currently) to see if this gives a more desired effect. Modelling is one of those things that's never finished and I do find myself going back over "finished" projects and fettling with them further so I'm always happy to learn and develop.

The other thing to consider is whilst I'm attempting to add some depth to the tone of the woodwork, most of my pre-grouping wagons are currently finished pristine, as I have no layout and thus for now they are effectively nice display pieces! When the time comes to revisit weathering, the finish will inevitably change again.

- James

Having posted this, I immediately stepped outside and walked past a fence I installed only a few years ago to noticed that, actually, in a relatively short time it has bleached more than I had considered. As I say, next wagon I do, I'll experiment and then when I work out the best formula, I'll revisit the wagons I've already done and tweak accordingly...

- James

 

[Mick LNER]

Presumably the planks would be softwood e.g Pine a pale Yellowy/Cream shade at best for a short period.

 

[Liver & Fry]

Whilst I'm busy populating my thread with GE modelling projects, some of you are probably wondering "But aren't you called Liver & Fry? Where's the Lynn and Fakenham modelling?". Well, for starters, there is little to no L&FR stock available on the market, meaning most things would have to be scratch built or at the very least designed on CAD for etching or 3D printing. And secondly, my soldering skills are currently non-existent and so the ability to competently built from scratch is, well... Let's just say it's going to be a little while before you see anything that meets the L&FR criteria.

That said, I do have one item in my collection that qualifies and its actually a locomotive!



It's a TVR (later GWR) S class by Keyser Model Kits. What's the relevance to the L&FR I hear you ask? Well, time for a history lesson!

In 1878, Wilkinson and Jarvis, the contractors of the L&FR, took delivery of Hudswell, Clarke & Rogers No.183. This was followed by Works No.192 in 1880. The former was named 'Alpha' whilst the latter was named 'Vici'. These locos were used by the contractors during construction of the line until 1881 when they passed into L&FR stock proper, becoming Nos.4 & 5 respectively, but retaining their names (the only locos to do so after the L&FR was amalgamated into the Eastern and Midlands). The link? The S class (as depicted here) were almost identical to the L&FR pair, bar a different smokebox (circular on the L&FR engines) and different buffer casings. This means that, remarkably, I effectively have a kit for an L&FR loco! I'm yet to decide if this will become 'Alpha' or 'Vici', but I'm leaning towards 'Alpha'. Aside from the interest of it being the first loco on L&FR metals, I've found there are far more photos of that loco than that of 'Vici'.

Both were delivered in "green" with black lining, bordered on both side by white. This is the same as later locos built for the L&FR and so it is fair to assume that the green used was also the same shade, especially as the first locos built for the L&FR, the 4-4-0 tank engines ("B Class" under later M&GN parlance), were also built by Hudswell, Clarke & Rogers. The L&FR shade has been described by R.S. McNaught, and latterly Bob Essery and Nigel Digby, as "Great Central" green - I.e a mid chrome green. The only uncertainty is whether the contractor engines carried what was to become the full L&FR livery by having brown underframes (a shade described by Alan Wells as approximating to "Venetian Red" as used by the Midland, who called said shade "Chocolate"). I've found no reference to confirm or deny the use of brown frames for 'Alpha' and 'Vici', only what later (L&FR proper) locos carried. Discussion on this is welcomed!

And so, whilst not yet built, I can claim to have something in the pipeline that fits with the intended criteria! Now to work out how to source the rest of the fleet...

- James

 

[Osgood]

Well, the GWR 1361 0-6-0ST is apparently based on the CMR 0-6-0 side tank design - in fact the chassis looks remarkably similar - e.g. wheelbase, cylinders etc.
So I wonder if the Kernow Model Centre / Heljan model might provide an excellent starter pack for a conversion?
And maybe even to the rebuilt 2-4-0 version?

 

[Liver & Fry]

Well, the GWR 1361 0-6-0ST is apparently based on the CMR 0-6-0 side tank design - in fact the chassis looks remarkably similar - e.g. wheelbase, cylinders etc.
So I wonder if the Kernow Model Centre model might provide an excellent starter pack for a conversion?
And maybe even to the rebuilt 2-4-0 version?

Now there's a thought! Time to do some reading I think... (Thank you!)

- James

 

[Osgood]

And Taff Vale Models supply a Sharp Stewart 4 wheel tender kit that looks to be a pretty good match!

 

[Liver & Fry]

Continuing on from the lessons learnt in shaded lettering (see #28) I decided to model a quirky footnote of local history.

Did you know there used to be an oil refinery in Setchey, Norfolk? In 1918 'English Oilfields Ltd' was established to mine a known seam of oil bearing shale on a site bordering the A10 in the vicinity of what is now 'Beers of Europe'. The venture, fronted by a Dr William Forbes-Leslie, saw its capital increased to a ridiculous £1.5 million by the AGM of 1919, based on positive initial samples and promises of a further 2,000 million tons of shale in the ground. However, the whole venture was a massive fraud; the initial samples had been "salted" with Pennsylvania crude-derived oil and the shale oil later extracted in 1921 was found to have a sulphur content of 8-9% vs the industry accepted 0.25% meaning it had no commercial value whatsoever. Understandably the company rapidly saw a massive decline and the shareholders lost their money. That is except for Dr Forbes-Leslie who ran away to Somerset with his new found fortune... (He was later arrested for trying the same scam again).

So what of the wagon I've modelled? Well, to serve the new refinery, a long siding was built from Clarks Drove on the mainline to King's Lynn, across the fens to Setchey. 10 wagons were built by the Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. and numbered 11-20 (a common practice made to make wagon fleets look bigger than they were). It is believed that these were to serve the refinery by moving freshly mined shale from the pits into the facility. In the end, it appears the majority of their use within E.O.L was for the extraction of gravel, which is all the site became good for following the collapse of the oil extraction side of the business!



My interpretation is based on a Mousa Models kits of a Midland D.305 3 plank wagon, as the nearest "that looks the part" 3 plank wagon I could source. This was built as intended but painted and lettered to represent No.14 of the fleet. I also added the battens to the solebars that prevented the doors hitting the running gear beneath, aswell as a removable gravel load.




It's a quirky addition to the collection that I couldn't resist given the story behind it and the fact it is also a local tale.

Until next time...

- James

 

[ICH60]

So what of the wagon I've modelled? Well, to serve the new refinery, a long siding was built from Clarks Drove on the mainline to King's Lynn, across the fens to Setchey. 10 wagons were built by the Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. and numbered 11-20 (a common practice made to make wagon fleets look bigger than they were).

View attachment 199789

May I ask where you got the photo from? It looks like an official Midland Railway Carriage and Wagon Co photo