4mm On Heather's workbench - on a Holden to…Yarmouth?

[Heather Kay]

Exactly the same with ex-NER carriages, Heather

It was probably the done thing for most pre-Grouping companies. I had a chat with the client, and he's pretty sanguine about it. I think, for my sanity in the main, I’ll fit the steam heating pipework along the same relative side on all the underframes. The variations will come from the placement of cell boxes among all the other gubbins.

The late gaslit coach was photographed in the scrap yard at Stratford. Many broken windows and paint peeling off. From my researches, the tank arrangement was common on catering vehicles, particularly restaurant cars, so I wonder if the scrapper had been demoted from such a previous existence. The lamp tops and pipework on the roof was evident, so it was certainly gas lit until the end. The things you learn!

 

[Heather Kay]

Today it was time to work out how all the underframe bits went together.



So I made up some cell boxes, folded up and down the various parts to support brake equipment, made up the long footboards, and installed a bit of 0.9mm copper wire to make the steam pipe along the solebar. This is after a tidy up and deciding the hot soldering has been completed. This means I can think about soldering the whitemetal queen posts, air cylinder and dynamo.



This is a slightly closer view of the mess. Having put one lot together, I think there is a different order of assembly that will make life easier. You can see one of the door window parts still in situ, but there’s no point removing it. The dynamo slack adjuster folds up from the floor. This one had snapped off at some stage, so I’ve cobbled a reinforcing part to hold it. Brackets for brake cross-shafts fold down and have inner ones fitted, and both cell boxes have been made up and attached at one end. This underframe is for a brake third.

It was at this point that Present Me got caught out by Past Me, who hadn’t bothered to make a note about how the bodywork is to be attached. This will need me to have a good think about how to overcome this problem, which will save Future Me more headaches.

 

[Heather Kay]

Whitemetal bits attached. I have still to fit the brake cross shafts, but I’ve hit a snag: there are no operating levers in the kit. From what I can tell, the bogie brakes are operated by a rod passing below the bogie. The cylinder needs a lever to reverse its movement. I’m going to have rummage in my Bits Box, but might struggle to find anything suitable as most of my bits are for larger scales. Any suggestions from our 4mm brethren as to likely providers of etches of suitable parts would be welcome, considering I will need 32 of the blighters for this build.

 

[Daddyman]

Did the battery boxes come with the kit, Heather? Do you know if they are in any way particular to the Great Eastern, or are they to an LNER standard design?

 

[Daddyman]

The lamp tops and pipework on the roof was evident, so it was certainly gas lit until the end. The things you learn!

Thanks for the clarification. There's nothing surprising about a carriage being gas lit to the end. Modellers are, I think, only surprised by this if they've been misled by D&S instructions and other sources into thinking all pre-grouping carriages went from gas lighting to electric; most went from gas to gas - i.e. burner to incandescent - and stayed gas.

 

[Heather Kay]

Did the battery boxes come with the kit, Heather? Do you know if they are in any way particular to the Great Eastern, or are they to an LNER standard design?

They did, but I don’t know if they are particular to GE. My client has talked to Mr Pinnock, mainly trying to see if he had any information on gas fittings. Danny admitted he hadn’t been able to pin down any details - and neither has John Watling found anything definitive. The kit boxes appear to match period photos, and that’s as far as I’m prepared to go!

Now I have an idea how the underframe details go together, I will document my findings with a bit more detail in future posts.

 

[Heather Kay]

Right, since Christmas I’ve been attempting to get things back under way.



I spent ages batch-building battery boxes. Then I spent a while trimming brass wire and forming it to angles for truss rods. I trimmed some soft copper wire to what I hoped was the right length to form up the external vacuum pipe.



And yesterday, after helping a friend deep clean his airbrush while also have a chinwag and catch-up, I wound the hifi amp up to eleven and blasted Dire Straits out, followed by a 1950s playlist. In no time, while bopping around the room occasionally, I had most of five underframes assembled. I began fitting the copper pipe run, but ran out of time after two. They’re a bit of a fiddle. The steps will be attached once I’ve finished bashing everything about.

You would think I’d get on with it today. Unfortunately, today is one of in-and-out domestic and personal stuff.

 

[Heather Kay]

I’m still here, between all this real life stuff.



The pile never seems to stop being a pile. There is progress, glacial though it is. Six brake thirds now have more or less full underframe detail, barring one or two tweaks. All 16 underframes have the external solebar steam pipe installed. I’m still dreading detailing all the bogies!



It felt prudent to check through the remaining castings for 10 underframes still to detail. Good job I did, as I found I was short of one dynamo and a single queen post. A suitable request has been fired off in the relevant direction. Now to just get on with the nine underframes I can complete!

 

[adrian]

That workbench is far too clean and organised to be productive! Even printed labels for the boxes - I know I have a few plastic boxes to keep each project in it's own little pigeonhole but they are scribbled on with a sharpie not a printed label.

 

[Daddyman]

That workbench is far too clean and organised to be productive! Even printed labels for the boxes - I know I have a few plastic boxes to keep each project in it's own little pigeonhole but they are scribbled on with a sharpie not a printed label.

In Heather's defence, you can see that some are also scribbled on with a Sharpie...

 

[Heather Kay]

Most are scribbled sharpie. I don’t have time to typeset labels!

If I wasn’t somewhat organised, I’d be in a complete mess - instead of just a partial one!

 

[Dog Star]

If I wasn’t somewhat organised, I’d be in a complete mess - instead of just a partial one!

In Heather's defence... these photos show how to have a partial mess, you build in 4mm. One does wonder what a complete mess looks like when building in 7mm.

 

[Heather Kay]

One does wonder what a complete mess looks like when building in 7mm.

Ah, now, then storage and logistics begins to take up space on the floor as well as shelving and bench.

 

[LarryG]

Batch building coaches never worked for me; I would have made more money delivering leaflets haha. I built one ~ painted one, then I could see that weeks wages building up. I tried to ensure I woke up to a new job each day if only to keep me interested. 7mm models never worked out this way, hence such work was avoided except for friends.

 

[Heather Kay]

except for friends.

I admit I’m never going to get rich doing this game. At present, between us, Best Beloved and I can manage comfortably, paying the bills with a bit left over for nice things. We are among the lucky ones in these dire times, and consequently aim to help those less able to cope where we can.

The fun part, for me, is so many of my clients have become friends - with the side benefit they like to pay me to build things for them!

 

[LarryG]

The fun part, for me, is so many of my clients have become friends - with the side benefit they like to pay me to build things for them!

That's how it worked for me Heather. I met many of the old 'famous' names within the hobby, plus interesting people from all walks of life.

Back in art school days, I wanted to work in a commercial art studio, be a Detective, a newspaper reporter, a teacher (note how I kept lowering my sights haha)...but eventually my artistic abilities brought in the bread. I am glad you and your best beloved are managing comfortably and are enjoying the one crack at life we are all given.

 

[Terry Howlett]

Hi Heather. I've not been around these parts for some time as the mojo was lost completely re the construction of the MTK class 59. I thought I'd come and have a look at what you are doing over here and I found this wonderful thread in 4mm scale carriage builds no less. Clearly a woman of many talents! You are doing a great job on these and have actually managed to get me inspired to review where I am on the 59! Keep up the great work.

Terry

 

[Chas Levin]

Hello Heather, that's some project! I've been reading through from the start, beautiful work and some very interesting things going on; I'm looking forward to future installments...

 

[Heather Kay]

Hello Heather, that's some project! I've been reading through from the start, beautiful work and some very interesting things going on; I'm looking forward to future installments...

Hi Chas! I'd seen my notifications go nuts, so thank you.

You'll be happy to know there should be some further progress to report soon.

 

[Chas Levin]

Hi Chas! I'd seen my notifications go nuts, so thank you.

You'll be happy to know there should be some further progress to report soon.

Sorry about the notifications - I was just hitting 'Like' without thinking about the long list you'd have!
I've built several D&S coaches and some NPCS and freight ones and I share your admiration for Danny's designs.
I'd also agree that the instructions can be a little gnomic but actually I quite like the added challenge… Not sure I'd feel the same if I were building over a dozen though!
I do plan to try building two at once in due course but I think that'll be my limit!