Liver & Fry's workbench

[Liver & Fry]

And that's a wrap!



Lettering done and varnished; I can generally say I'm pleased with how this went together and if Three Peaks Models keep this up, they're definitely worth a look. I've heard whispers that they might consider an L&Y brake van next...

So, now what? Well, a small pause as I need to get a few other jobs done, but the options are:

Highland loco coal wagons
L&Y fish van
GE brake vans
M&GN opens

But, knowing how these things go, I'll probably find something else to do!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

But, knowing how these things go, I'll probably find something else to do!

And thus it'll be no surprise to anyone that I found something else to do...



Recently acquired from a well known auction site is this Model Wagon Co. Highland Railway cattle wagon. This is a Drummond design introduced in 1899. The kit looks fairly straight forward but I'm going to take my time on this one, doing this amongst other (non-modelling) jobs.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I've been dabbling at the cattle wagon last night and today, getting the body together using Araldite and then working on a floor section... Plank by plank... I'll probably never see it once the roof is on but I'll know it's there!



These photos are of the test run to make sure I had enough strips, but you get the idea...

I'll likely continue Monday as it's meant to rain all day in true bank holiday fashion!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Update one of two to come today (you lucky people!)

I've cracked out the soldering iron again and had another (unguided) go at w-irons and I hope you'll agree with me that it's gone OK:



I have done some more detailing work since I took this photo, but as this is ongoing, I'll post a full update later...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Late in the day but as promised, here is the fruit of todays labour:



Essentially all that's left is to paint and fit the roof!

Aside from the w-irons, todays work included:



Adding batons to the floor - losing a lot of the plank effect but ultimately being more prototypical to the wagon.



Adding wire to the lower windows (Do we call then windows on cattle wagons? Seems the most appropriate term...)



Drummond style buffers and drawhooks



And finally springs, axleboxes and brake gear. I removed the original moulded springs as they were warped and somewhat less detailed than the ones I picked up at the York show.

I have an evening lecture tomorrow so no work on this for a day or so now but I'm really pleased of how this has come together!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Now, if I said "Pat" and "red van" you'd probably think I was getting nostalgic for children's TV shows about postmen, however, those words perfectly sum up this evening, for the paint came out for the cattle van!

Yesterday I did the base colour for the wood and painted the ironwork below the solebars black. Today I finished the wood effect on the interior (see below) before essentially covering it up again with progressively lighter/whiter layers of grey to give a lime wash effect inside the van.



Did I need to paint a full wood effect first? No. But I like to build things up as they would be in the real world. Even in 4mm it adds depth if some of the undertones show through; this is the same as me asking did I need to make a fully planked floor, or add the batons when this will mostly be hidden once the roof is on? Also no, but it's nice to know it's all there.

So, leading on from that, did I need to model cow pat? Also no, but I did it anyway! Tiny balls of liquid lead, glued in place and painted brown. Works a treat!




And, as you can tell, one side got a coat of red oxide as well...



Once the wagon has been fully painted and lettered, the outside will get some lime wash staining as well.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Not much progress to report as I made the most of the weekend sun, but I have now painted the body in its main coat of red:



Detailing such as black ironwork and buffers will follow, then I will varnish, letter and weather*

It's getting there...

- James

*Weathering insofar as external staining of lime wash, which even with my current "not weathering" mentality is something that can't be ignored with such a wagon...

(I can and have weathered stock before and I will get back to doing so one day but whilst these are confined to being display pieces for lack of a layout, I prefer to look at them in display condition)

 

[Liver & Fry]

And now we have black ironwork...



Need to check my lettering sizes but all being well, that's tomorrow's job...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

It has been a productive evening! Lettering and a roof have found their way onto the cattle wagon...



These features alone seem to have completely transformed how the wagon looks, I think for the better!

And how appropriate it seems that it's (almost) complete just two days before I take a solo jaunt up to Inverness for a wee tour of the Highland lines (a little treat to myself as I see out my twenties next week...)

(I promise my goal is still to model the Lynn and Fakenham!)

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

So, as is pretty standard for how these things go, I've decided to build something completely different to that which I previously alluded. Mostly because the mystery items haven't arrived yet and the L&Y vans are a bit more involved, and right now I want something... Simple? Untaxing is probably the right word...

So here we have a pair of Highland Railway Loco Coal wagons:



These are Sutherland Models kits featuring plastic bodies and white metal underframes. I'll clean up the parts for the bodies and build these before working out what's what in the underframe department.

I figured it's easier to batch build both kits at once as they're identical. I still maintain these shouldn't take too long, even with two to go at!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I can confirm, for those who have never had the pleasure, that these kits are a bit fiddly...

Namely getting the correct alignment for the solebars on the body. The thankful thing is that as these are white metal, any discrepancies can be flexed to shape with patience.



So, here is where we are at; bodies together with solebars and floors fitted.

I imagine I'll be making up some brass w-irons tomorrow rather than using the white metal ones supplied, but I may find a way to incorporate the details of these (axleboxes etc).

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Yesterday was a fruitful day insofar as I built and added the brass W-Irons to the wagons



The kits, as designed, have whitemetal W-Irons but these do not allow for compensation so I've gone down the brass route, with the intention to overlay the whitemetal detail overtop.

This has proved a slow process, as the fine tuning of filing to get them to sit flush to the brass W-Irons is taking its time.



On the left are the cut down versions for the compensation units, the middle is the version going on the fixed end and the right is what I've started with.

Rome wasn't built in a day! Better to take time and get it right...

Hopefully I'll have an update for you all tomorrow!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

So, whilst I wait for some springs to arrive in the post, I figured I'd share the other Highland wagons that arrived recently:



A pair of Jones Dia.17 sheep vans! These iconic double-decked wagons are available from 'Scottish Wagon Works' and are a very fine quality of kit. They are 3D printed, but with my examples, there was little to no flash and all the pieces fit together nicely in a demo-run build. The quality of print on the side bars is particularly notable.



Provided in the bags of bits are W-Irons, springs, axlebox covers, buffer casings and builder/number plates:



I will use brass W-Irons, but the other detailing parts are a welcome addition!

I've ordered some larger 14mm coach wheels (8 open spoke) in anticipation, along with some more W-Iron etches. I also now wonder if I need to revisit my Jones 8T goods van as that may also require larger wheels (something I overlooked before now!).

I half wonder if I'll shelf the coal wagons for now and start on these instead as I'm feeling rather impatient and these look lovely!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

So, let's try this again shall we?

In light of realising I needed larger wheels on the Jones 8T van, I decided to revisit the brake gear. There's items available on the market for the later style 'long lever acting on a single shoe' set up but I have yet to find anything that represents the earlier Jones style of brake rigging.

In my previous attempt I had spliced together a Highland shoe and a North British push rod - The reason being I had erroneously used a photo of a model for a reference and this model had a guide just behind the shoe, which I took to be integral and so tried to represent. The finished item was, as you'll see, a bit big and so the brake lever was then too short. It didn't look right, but I left it until I could figure out a better solution.

Having looked at drawings of this van and the Jones sheep vans, I realised my mistake and so decided to attempt another cut and shut job using the same donor parts:



On the left are the parts used, in the middle is the "original" part removed from the van and on the right is a cut down (and more accurate) version of the part and this is what I shall now be using both on this van and the sheep vans.




I feel it looks far better with this tweak and, with the larger wheels also fitted, I'm much happier with the look of the model now. Hopefully someone else will agree with me!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

And a final post on the Jones van...



All painted and complete!



And for comparison - The wheels on the cattle wagon now look really small by comparison, especially as the wagon is taller! I did have to smile at my realisation that the buffers were now the correct height on the van. It hadn't even occurred to me as to why that was the case before the wheel swap!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

"Yesterday I successfully managed to glue my fingers together" - is not what I am here to report!

No, yesterday whilst killing time before a night shift I decided to do what I could on the loco coal wagons whilst still waiting for the spring to arrive.

I started with the buffers and drawhooks before tackling the brake gear. The shoes provided were not up to scratch so I did another bodge (I mean, I skillfully used what was available) to create a part that actually aligned with where it was meant to.

I also fathomed out how to incorporate the dual sided release mechanism, albeit with a replacement cross shaft as the whitemetal component was both bent beyond comprehension and, strangely, too long for the width of the wagon.



The axleboxes remain unfitted whilst I await the springs, however, they have been prepared accordingly:



I do believe they were due to arrive by courier today so maybe I'll have an update later involving a physically complete pair of wagons?

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I'm currently playing a game of how far can I get before I can't work on the loco coal wagons because I need to fit the springs?

So far the bodies have had two coats of red oxide and the insides have had an undercoat for painting as wood...



I'll focus now on finishing the insides of the wagons and then once the springs arrive and are fitted (along with the axleboxes) I can do all the black ironwork and underframe.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Well, the "game" ended rather swiftly this evening with the arrival of said springs (thank you @Overseer and @AJC for the pointers).

This evenings task has been fitting these and the axlebox covers and now I can happily say I have finished physically building the wagons; it's simply a matter of painting and lettering now.



- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Nothing much to say other than I did the underframes and the corner plates last night.



By time I'd got both wagons to here I figured I'd stop as painting the strapping needs extra concentration (I hate doing it...).

I'll hopefully finish the ironwork tonight.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Patience is a virtue...



In the end I just carefully edged with a paint brush and touched up any parts I went over on. I've certainly done worse before now!

Just the inside wood effect to do now and then it's time to letter and number!

- James