Liver & Fry's workbench

[Liver & Fry]

I always feel the photos I take of the inside of wagons don't necessarily show the subtlety of tones I'm seeing with my own eyes, but here goes anyway...



I've tried to work in some black alongside my usual layers, particularly in the corners, given coal dust gets everywhere!

I have a sheet of Scottish region HMRS transfers that I believe have the appropriate "LOCO COAL" lettering on the sheet, but I need to look again to see what numbers are available or if I need to source an alternative. I need four sets as the ends of the wagons were also numbered on the third plank down.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Made a start on one side of one wagon tonight. Reminded myself why I prefer waterslide to pressfix...

That said, it's not looking too shabby so far!



- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

More progress tonight, with both sides getting 'H R', 'LOCO COAL' and the wagon number. The ends have also been numbered accordingly.



No.2769 will get done when the other sheet arrives.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

"Always read the small print"



Generic Fox Transfers 1mm lettering, but it works for what is required! My eyes on the other hand no longer do...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

The HMRS transfers arrived in the post today so I was able to finish No.2769:



This gives me a pair of completed loco coal wagons and adds to a total of 10 wagons built so far this year!



There's going to be a short pause for a few weeks as I'm about to start night shift 3 of 6 and then next week I'm off to Silverstone, followed by a wedding, so modelling will have to take a back seat briefly.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I had a pleasant surprise this week!

I have long believed that a Jones era brake van was not currently available in 4mm. However, I recently stumbled across 'Walsworth Models', who mostly seem to deal in 7mm, but, something caught my eye - "4mm scale HR 6 wheel Dia 25 Goods Brake van kit available now"

An email enquiry later and I was asked to provide delivery details. I sent these on Tuesday morning and the kit arrived in the post yesterday! Outstandingly efficient service (no, I'm not affiliated, but I will give praise where it's due!).

What you get is a rather heavy box of bits and a thick instruction booklet:



I call that a win!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I've learnt that I can indeed hold a paint brush. I don't *quite* have the freedom of movement I'd like, but I have enough to give something a go.
So what have I chosen? Well the threadmark no doubt betrays me, but I shall elaborate!

I have three kits for some M&GN 3 plank opens (I know, finally something closer to my stated modelling aims!). These were sourced from 'Pre-Grouping Railways' and are, I believe, the easiest wagon build I have in the queue currently, hence why I decided their time had come!

Any additional information on the prototype would be welcomed. I have a copy of a drawing of M&GN No.287 and the accompanying information suggests these were a GNR design, however, I could not find any matching vehicle in Tatlow's LNER wagons series, in either the GNR or M&GN sections. Nos. 283/5/6 are however listed as "lowside open wagons" that passed into departmental use as ballast wagons in later days.

The kits consist of a 3D printed body, springs, buffers and a selection of brass etchings for W-irons and brake gear. These are all nicely turned out and are of a good quality. For the most part the body matches the drawing well, although the outer strapping on the sides of the wagons is a bit too close to the corner plates.

Here are said wagon (bodies):


 
These required a minimal amount of clean up before I gave them a coat of brown oxide, as seen below:



For now, this is as far as I've got, but given I feared I'd be out of modelling for the summer, I'm pleased to achieved this much! I'm not going to push myself. These will be worked on as and when but at least I'll have something to update you with!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I'd like to start by retracting/clarifying a comment made previously regarding the model matching the drawing I have - Whilst this drawing does not match 100%, @Dave Sutton was kind enough to share a drawing that matches these wagons perfectly and would, I imagine, be what these kits are based on. The dimensions for this drawing were obtained in 1920 which leads me to ponder my next question:

I have here a wagon kit that is accurate for 1920, but how much earlier can I push it? My interest in the M&GN is much earlier (but at latest, pre-WW1). I would imagine I can get away with painting these in a pre-1917 scheme (brown oxide, as I've started to do) but if anyone knows different, or has something to add, please let me know!

In the meantime, I have given an initial undercoat to the inside of the wagons, as well as painting the undersides black. The insides of the frames with be touched up in brown oxide at a later date.



- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Interestingly the only two photos I can find showing M&GN 3 planks pre-war are photos from 1900, during the construction of South Lynn, and 1912 at the rebuilding of Blackwater Bridge - both photos being of engineers trains...

Red oxide, maybe?

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I took my time yesterday to slowly work on the wood effect inside each of these wagons. Hand ached a little by the end which was my cue to stop, and I need to touch some of the brown oxide back in, but I'm pleased with my efforts so far:



"Ah, but James, there's only two wagons there? What about the third?"

Well, about that...



I've decided to go all in with the theory that one of these would be relegated to engineers use as a ballast wagon, and so using Nigel Digby's livery guide for the M&GN and the photo I have of the construction of South Lynn, I'm going to add some variety to this trio by having a red one. I'll probably be proven horribly wrong when the book on M&GN rolling stock comes out later this year, but based on what I currently have available, this should work nicely...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I had a choice of soldering the w-irons and brake gear, or lettering and finishing the bodies. I chose the latter. I think soldering will have to wait til I have both hands, or at the very least, til I'm feeling a bit braver in this cast!

Still, here's the progress thus far:



One side only, but you get the idea!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

The other sides have now been lettered to match, posed here with the "extended family" for interest's sake:



This may well be where this project pauses for a bit, but it was nice to get them this far rather than not being able to do anything at all! And I'd just like to say thank you again for all the kind words and positive responses in the past few weeks - It's helped a lot!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Apologies for any offence cause, but for me personally, I hate leaving a project unfinished. Generally when I start something, I like to get it done before I move on. However, because I'm still unsure about the wisdom of soldering with a wrist in cast, I've put the M&GN wagons on hold and my need to keep busy has pushed me in another direction.

@Herb Garden has previously dabbled with (what I hope he won't mind me calling) an experimental form of kit design, whereby a wagon should be made from the corresponding materials of a prototype; wood bodies being made of wood and metalwork being made of metal. Me and him are originally cut from the same GER cloth and so when he decided to use this method to design a kit/parts for some GER open wagons, how could I say no? Especially when it's a concept I fully endorse!

What I ended up with was some laser cut wood and a sheet of brass etch. My focus currently is on the wooden body so, here's what I had to work with:



These parts will specifically make a Dia.17 open, of which 12,050 were built between 1886 and 1903 - Basically, if you model the GE, you need this wagon!

I also have some 7 plank sides which will allow construction of either a Dia.48 or a Dia.17R should I desire.

I started by fixing the ends to the floor using PVA:



You may note I've slide a section of plasticard under the floor. This is to bring the floor to the correct height in relation to the half-plank at the bottom of the bodyside.

Next I affixed the sides:



And once dry, I then cut a section of plasticard to the correct size and fitted it under the wooden floor:



This has two benefits; the first is that the bottom of the wagon needs to be a flush surface to allow continuation of the kit built (raising the floor was me being unnecessarily pedantic) and the second is that this way provides additional floor strength.

So currently I now have a structurally rigid body for my wagon:



The nature of laser cut wood at this thickness means that only one side can be given planking, so my next move will be to add my own, in a similar manner to how I did the floor planking on the GE lowmac back at the start of my workbench thread. Yes, that steps away from "wood made from wood" but the final product will still, I'm sure, be something of great interest!

I'd just like to thank George for letting me have a go with these - I wouldn't have (and didnt) tackle these previously but now I feel like I can and I'm quite excited for the challenge of a different medium to work with.

As with the M&GN wagons, this may be a stop-start project depending on how I feel when I get to the metalwork section, but at least I've started it and done something!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

And I quite liked planking the inside by hand.

I have to say, it is satisfying!



- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

And for completion sake, here is the rest of the internal planking:



This, however, hits the same stumbling block, as I'm told the next step ought to be w-irons; so, like the M&GN wagons, this one goes on hold... I do have 3 more bodies to make up though!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Remember how I recently said "I hate leaving a project unfinished"? Well, how's this for a throwback:



Having been fortunate enough to receive a set of GC transfers, I've finally been able to work toward completing this wagon, which has been on hold since the beginning of March.

It's amazing how something as simple as a pair of letters can change the look of a wagon...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Now just the other side to do...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Having finished the GCR wagon, I took a small step away from modelling this last week, finding my motivation had dipped slightly. That said, the production line for the GER opens has slowly soldiered on, with a second five plank and a seven plank body being put together:



These will, in turn, gain internal plank detailing too.

I've also been planning another wagon build, but as I say, motivation has dipped this last week so it'll happen when it does!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I'd argue most of us are guilty of going down a rabbit hole once in a while. Well, here is the tale of my latest such adventure!

When I was working on the M&GN opens, I found myself looking through photos of the M&GN system for reference, as once does, and I came across a photo taken at Attlebridge showing a mix of wagons in the yard, including one of each of the ubiquitous MR 5 plank and GN 4 plank, some private owner wagons and a 6 plank wagon from the LDEC. The latter caught my eye, because I remembered that in one of the 'Stations and Structures' books, there is a photo at Wisbech docks in which the caption specifically highlights the presence of such a wagon.

I saw this as a sign, so I began looking into LDEC wagons (a challenge in itself!). It turns out the LDEC hired a fleet of 6 plank end door wagons for coal traffic in 1900, but had them painted in their own colours. Below is a cropped example from a photo showing the entire fleet lined up upon delivery:



So, how could I model this? Well, a quick Internet search gave me Slaters kit 4036 - A Gloucester 6 plank with end doors. This wasn't an exact match, but I figured it was a good starting point.

In the kit you get the following:



And instantly decisions were made:

- The solebars would need replacing (the ones in the kit are flat as if to represent a wooden frame and the prototype has a steel frame). This would also allow me to add detailing as I pleased.

- New brake gear would need to be sourced as the prototype looks more akin to a Midland Railway style than that in the kit

- The strapping would need altering/adding on the wagon sides

- The trussing under the floor would need removing to allow me to fit MJT W-Irons

So with that, brake levers and shoes were sourced and the floor was modified accordingly. Then I turned my attention to the wagon sides...

... And made a bit of a hash of it!

Inspired by the ongoing (never ending) plank work on the GE opens, I then figured "why not make my own sides?". So I cut some plasticard and planked it up accordingly (3mm top plank and the rest 2mm)



I then ordered an etch of wagon strapping, corner plates etc that I'll use to make the sides up to how I want them to be.

With that, I began putting the main body together, as if I were building the kit as intended (so sides first, then the floor):



Then I used some 4mm deep channel section for the solebars and planked the inside:




Which brings me up to where I find myself currently! At the same sticking point as the other on hold projects... (hopefully the cast comes off next Friday and I can get on with all the metalwork for, well, everything!)

Still, I'm quite pleased with this so far! It's more akin to a scratch build given I've discarded half the kit, but I feel it'll be worth it in the end!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Just a quick update for today:

The two GE opens I've been slowly planking have now been brought to the same point as the original was:



I have one more body left to put together - Another 7 plank which is likely to become a Dia.17R for the sake of adding variety. However, after that I need to stop as I'll have nine unfinished wagons on the go!

- James