7mm Rob P's Coaching Stock Workbench - Kirk Twin Set Diag 105/125

[Rob Pulham]

Having got Don's All 3rd well on it's way and despite spending quite a bit of Saturday stripping off the roof canvas and filling in the holes for the wrongly placed roof vents with stubbs of styrene rod. I also managed to do a bit more at my stalled Kirk parcels van. my last job the previous weekend was to break off the dynamo which in my earlier builds I had stuck onto a fabricated I beam. Now that I have done a more realistic job for Don's coaches it seemed only fair to do the same for me so I knocked up the mounting brackets and stuck them on.

This is Don's roof awaiting the roof vents mounting in the right place, just perched on my parcels van for the moment. I managed to rescue the destination board brackets and reinstate them on the new re-canvassed roof.

It's also now sporting hinges and door handles etc.

 

[Rob Pulham]

Somewhat embarrassingly, I have had a JLRT Gresley Diagram 113 full brake sat on the edge of my workbench for the last couple of years. it had stalled at the final fitting of the roof stage. - Graham @Dog Star may recall enquiring about it last year?

On Sunday morning Chris asked me if I was ever going to finish it (it was a Christmas gift from her

) So late morning I got stuck into fitting the roof and by the end of the day I had not only fitted the roof I had added most of the underframe fittings too - I had prepared the buffer beams a couple of years ago.

So here it is sat on a pair of borrowed bogie - I put the original Gresley bogies supplied under my first Kirk Parcels van build - I have a pair of Newbould Models 8.0' Fox to go under this but they need making up.

I hope to make more rapid progress on this going forward....

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

On the other hand.... if you were modelling BR then as shown in the last photo it could be painted black and the ironwork rusty and leave it in a siding as an aftermath of a 1970's football special.....! But then you'd never hear the end of it .

So late morning I got stuck into fitting the roof and by the end of the day I had not only fitted the roof I had added most of the underframe fittings too -

And hey presto a finished model . I think we've all done it - idly fiddled with a kit and the next minute found you've built it.

 

[Rob Pulham]

One of the jobs that I did over the last week was to knock up some partition details for the All 3rd.

The carriage prints are Chris's paintings shrunk to fit and the mirrors are also one of Chris's ideas.

I had tried to print them using a grey but they didn't come out that well. The next thought was to use baking foil cut on the Silhouette but my concern was that they would damage easily while removing them from the cutting mat. Chris suggested that I try the foil lined plastic sachets that family sized pack of nuts come in.

She duly cut one up and gave it a wash (this is from a bag of Cashew Nuts, other nuts are available of course).

I quick visit to Inkscape drew me some circles and ovals (I need ovals for my D114 when I get to it).

It almost took more time sticking the two small sheets of plastic to the cutting mat than it did to cut them out - a single cut with the blade set at 1 was enough.

Not the best photo in the word but you get the idea

A better idea when they were removed from the mat

They look the part when attached to the partition - the printed efforts gave a location point if nothing else

A couple more for the carriage ends.

 

[Rob Pulham]

At the beginning of each session on the B16 recently I have sprayed the All 3rd in either Carmine, matt varnish or lastly masked up and sprayed the black.

The paints were both from the Vallejo Model colour range - Carmine and Black. The varnish used was Ronseal water based let down with Vallejo thinners.

I also made a start on adding the teak varnish to my Kirk Parcels van.

Again the finish is Vallejo Model Colour Orange covered by (so far) 7 coats of Ronseal waterbased Teak varnish applied by brush so not let down.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Rob, the teak looks really effective and will look good when lettered . Such a simple solution for varnished teak coaches.

I see the varnish has also done some of the weathering for you by collecting in the corners .

 

[Rob Pulham]

Although I have been concentrating on the B16 I have done a little on the All 3rd by picking out the handles in brass.

I popped all the bits together to see how it looked - it's still just plonked on the bogies with the roof just resting in place.

I hope that I might get the transfers on this weekend.

 

[Rob Pulham]

Although I have only one photo, the All 3rd is nearing completion. The transfers are on, it's glazed and the roo vents have been re-fitted - right number in the right place....

I left it on Sunday night with the glue in the glazing drying so unless I discover anything that I have missed I should have it all put together next weekend.

 

[Osgood]

...

Just caught up with your build, Rob. Now I wonder where those compartment pictures came from.........

 

[Rob Pulham]

A concerted effort this weekend has seen the All 3rd nearing completion. Still to do are fitting the roof and having seen the photos sticking part of one of the rain strips down.

Having chosen to ultimately glue the roof on last I had, had some debate about how windows that became dislodged through handling would be replaced. After a bit of head scratching I cam up with a cunning plan.

Each window is an individual pane which is glued into the rebate inside the coach but I have also added a strip of secondary glazing which rests on the strip that strengthens the sides and runs the full length of the coach. It's is held in place by the edges of the compartments which I filed down to allow the glazing strip to fit. This will prevent the individual panes from being dislodged.

To fit the no smoking transfers I made up a little jig from a piece of 20thou styrene which was the width of the window from the outside. I measured half way up the window and marked the styrene. I then added 1mm and marked it again. After measuring the with of the transfer I subtracted this from the total width and divided the remainder by two. I measured the result from each edge and marked a vertical line from the high line to the middle line at each side and then cut the styrene out leaving me with a rectangle of styrene with a notch cut out that centres the transfer in the middle of the window both vertically and horizontally

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

The No Smoking signs adds to the finishing. Just like the blue First Class window totems.

I also see the odd door handle is not straight, again prototypical and completing the overall effect.

 

[Rob Pulham]

I am back on the trail of Kirk coach builds, this time it's an all 3rd/brake 3rd twin set (Diags 105/125).

It's for the gent that I built the last two for and this time he has gone for using the supplied Kirk bogies so I thought that I might upgrade them a little.

First I added some of my Silhouette cut leaf springs and then looked to make some springs for the bolsters.

I am aware that others have used 2ba screws to do represent the bolsters springs but to my mind the coils are a little too sharp in profile so I wound some 3mm styrene rod with 0.8/mm styrene rod to make the springs.

I also added the spring carriers and in hindsight I should have added the springs before sticking the carriers to the bogies because it's going to be interesting getting the springs in position now.

I have also assembled the sides but didn't take photos of them.

 

[Rob Pulham]

When fellow modellers came along to see me when I was demoing at Pontefract show, the parts that I was cutting were some brakes for my Kirk coach bogies

Once glued together (5 layers) they came out looking like this.
Apologies for the poor photo, white on white isn't the best combination

The demo must have been well received because I have also been asked to demo at Telford as well as Doncaster this year.

Not much modelling got done last week due to having a busy week compounded by minor surgery, but over the weekend the Mojo returned and I made progress on the twinset.

The first bogie now has it's bolster springs an I have the parts prepared to fit to the other two. I did end up having to remove the bolster frame to fit the springs so a lesson learned.

I also managed to get three of the ends attached to their respective sides. The fourth one needs cutting down for the narrower brake end.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I am aware that others have used 2ba screws to do represent the bolsters springs but to my mind the coils are a little too sharp in profile so I wound some 3mm styrene rod with 0.8/mm styrene rod to make the springs.

Another neat idea to plagiarise. Thanks Rob

 

[Rob Pulham]

This weekend saw much progress on the Twin set.

Timely posting of a photo of the brake end allowed me to cut the windows while the end was in the flat and then both coach bodies were assembled.

I also blanked of the inner ends by filling the holes for the buffers and coupling hooks and then overlaid a piece of 20 thou to form a solid foundation for the shared bogie pivot.

Lastly I made a start of building up/detailing the battery boxes (although there are five I only need four for this job). Next I need to cut out the end straps with the silhouette because I have run out.

 

[john lewsey]

Hi Rob these coaches really are very nice

 

[Rob Pulham]

More done on the bogies over the weekend.

The brakes and yokes are now fitted to all three bogies. not exactly like the real thing but will pass muster hidden away underneath the coach.

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If you are wondering why the rod between the two yokes? It's to hold the brakes away from the tyres to prevent friction.

They just need guard irons over the yokes and they are well on their way.

 

[Rob Pulham]

Although I haven't posted on this for a while things have progressed but there hasn't been much to take photos of.

We had decided to try the Sparmac queen posts from Invertrain while all the other fittings (vac tanks, roof vents, grab handles etc.) came from JLRT late last year before they closed although they look similar the key different in the Sparmac queen posts is the fact that they don't have holes for the truss rods to go through. I popped them with a punch, deepend the mark with a pin vice and then used my Proxxon Pillar drill to finish them off. Sadly taking the photos has just highlighted to me that I have missed drilling through one the holes so I will need to do that one by hand since they are now stuck firmly on.

I also added the vacuum tanks.

 

[iak63]

Delicious naughtiness mon.
That is fantastic stuff...

 

[Martin Shaw]

Hi Rob
A quick question, the articulated bogie, is it the same as those at the outer ends, or is it a heavyweight one? I have in the stash an RJH kit for a twinart that I rather fancy doing in due course although at the current rate of progress about 2025 looks likely.
Regards
Martin