Oh dear, was it really October since I last posted? It was only when talking to Dikitriki at Bristol show on Sunday that I realised I hadn't posted any of my projects for a while...
Anyhoo, currently the workbench is taken up with a rescue job in hand at the National Collection of Southern Railway Model Brake Vans (or NCSRMBV; catchy eh?). This poor ABS d.1579 25t 'Pillbox' came to grief in the recent re-ordering of the workshop. It was nearly complete when packed, I failed to hear the crunch and when unpacked afterwards I realised two things; 1. 70degree lowmelt solder is utter rubbish and 2. I had a terrific opportunity to 'do more' with this kit, as the chassis was back in kit form.
A pleasant afternoon followed, blasting the kit parts with water from a freshly-boiled kettle soon got rid of most of the lowmelt solder on the parts and was also responsible for the premature failure of a couple of bonded joints. This gave me the opportunity to replace the w-irons with something a little more representative. A quick run out with my nice new soldering station soon had it lined up and the main frame back together with some 145 degree solder. That won't come apart again.
And so to the state of play this evening. After a particularly trying day at work, it was great to be able to tinker with a few bits:
As you can see the cabin survived the proceedings and the frame is now back together. I'm just tinkering with the W-irons. The old set (which I think may be for a BR 20 tonner) I knew weren't correct and, to be honest, the new versions still aren't, but being a plain plate type (from Slater's LMS 'van) are more representative of later vehicles to this design. I've also made the base of the ballast box in styrene, with a slightly cheeky fiddle:
Which means it can fit around the soldered brake levers:
I'm on to doing the safety loops, w-iron spacers and brakegear next. Some of this will have to be scratchbuilt; unfortunately the triangular brake cross-frames didn't survive and so will need replacement and the safety loops weren't part of the kit (or the Parkside one for that matter). I've got all the brake shoe assemblies, even if one of them is broken (it's repairable, so I'm not too worried). The next shot shows one of the W-iron and brake shoe assemblies lined up, so you can get a feel for what I'm trying to accomplish; even if they're the wrong way round in the photo:
Incidentally, NCSRMBV is looking to make further acquisitions. I'd like to model one of the uneven-planked 'Pillboxes' (d.1579 or d.1582) and can't find a kit of one; does anyone have an ABS list handy and could check for me? As an alternative, is anyone doing good deals on Parkside Dundas kits at the moment? I'm not worried about potentially re-scribing the planking on a plastic kit...
Steph