Making Do

[37255]

Loughborough engine shed is not a good place for little tank engines like Thomas.

 

 

The nearest boiler has the name 'Bagnal' chalked on it.

 

Bagnall 2469, according to google, is this monster! http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bagnall_040ST_2469_a.jpg I hope that means it's getting an overhaul

[relaxinghobby]

 

This picture shows the Alan Gibson etch for 4mm wagon strapping,

 

There are enough parts for two open wagons and a van, I'm building up the rivet detail on the tanks with parts from it.

 

I'm having problems with the double tank wagon;

 

i) I find it is very difficult to cut the ends of the pen tube body square and

ii) The bolts as domed ends look to heavy I need to find a better alternative.

 

 

Using the Gibson etches to add detail to the ancient short wagon.

[m0rris]

Keep up the good work, are there any updates on the Not Terrier?

 

m0rris

[relaxinghobby]

 

Some more strapping added to the wagon and some detail to represent the end door.

[relaxinghobby]

 

The not-Thomas conversion has stalled, it has a separate motor/gear box which is a sort of black box I need to somehow

attached it to the chassis, it originally attached to the footplate and then the body on top of that, but this left a gap under the tank edges

so I glued the body to the footplate and lost access to the screw holes and now must attached the motor/gearbox in another way.

 

Perhaps I can somehow use that sticking up bolt?

 

 

The not-Terrier now has a smoke box door but needs the circuit board and motor wires reattaching so I can test run it before I can add the final detail.

[relaxinghobby]

 

The Ertl Not-Terrier has had some buffer beams and a smoke box door added after the smoke box was filled with lead and scrap white metal castings to act as ballast, some attempt at profiling the plastic frame extensions has been made between the ends of the metal Bachmann Diesel Junior chassis and the buffer beams.

 

The motor still needs to be wired up and be test run before I am happy to add the smaller bits of detail.

[relaxinghobby]

Should I transfer this thread over to the Modified/Detailed RTR section?

[relaxinghobby]

The shorty wagon is finished apart from painting and lettering,

 

This type originated in the South Wales coal fields and held 8 ton although it does not look big enough for that compared to the large RCH wagon on the left.

 

The second wagon is on the way, these have maybe taken 15 years to get this far.

 

 

[Courtney]

 

 

I'm having problems with the double tank wagon;

 

i) I find it is very difficult to cut the ends of the pen tube body square and

 

 

I bought a small circular tube cutter from the pound shop. It's designed to cut copper tube for plumbing but I doubt would last long doing that! It's great for plastic and cuts by revolving around the tube giving a straight cut.

[relaxinghobby]

 

This was an exhibition club sales bargain. If any second hand item can ever be a real bargain from that source. There are always problems that have to be solved. It's a Ratio Iron Mink wagon, I am making it into a model of the ubiquitous pre-grouping metal gunpowder van used by many different 19^th century railways. So far it has needed a new end where the original was missing, the doors filled in and new fittings added to represent wooden doors, the vent duct removed at the other end, MJT cast W iron axial boxes and buffers, Hornby wheels and some brass bearings, Bachmann couplings. The roof edges have been filed to a thin edge to represent the thin iron sheet of the prototype.

 

The grey bits are the original Ratio kit, this bargain basement model from the sale does not so seem such a bargain now. Certainly it has provided plenty of modelling value and opportunities.

[relaxinghobby]

Some progress on the double gas tank.

 

 

 

[relaxinghobby]

This is the sort of project the narrow gaugers do, converting a Ratio coach kit into something else.

 

Why should they have all the fun, I'm making mine into a sort of early 4 wheel passenger brake with a row of windows

in the end, using a London Brighton and South Coast Rly one as a pattern.

 

[J C Fenton]

The proportions of the Not Thomas seem too tall, sort of pulled upwards. The wheel base is very short, it's difficult to find a prototype

that would fit it.

 

It's 23 + 23 mm and 18mm diameter wheels.

 

I am impressed and inspired. Great work. The choice of prototypes might be greater with small wheels fitted. Has anyone tried to pull the wheels off the Bachmann Junior chassis?

[Tiptonian]

Absolutely love it!

 

There are a small group of modellers on this and other forums who do this (if you will excuse the term) RTR-bashing brilliantly. I will be joining you when I have pieced together some form of layout. Keep up the brilliant work and inspiration.

 

I may be some time......

[relaxinghobby]

 

The van finished and painted as a gunpowder van with transfer lettering from the HMRS. I had trouble squeezing all the words in and I'm sure I used flat varnish. It's still shiny with the camera's flash light.

[relaxinghobby]

A better picture of my new gunpowder van, taken with natural light, no flashgun flair. HMRS transfers, I had trouble squeezing them on.

 

 

Also shown; the cut down Triang brake van, the roof may or may not sag.

[scots region]

That Ertl stepney really turned out quite well, Was this the small model as the diecast or was it something else?

[relaxinghobby]

This Stepney was a one piece hard plastic moulding similar to Dapol/Airfix kits, it was easy to cut and glue plasticard to, the scale was near to 00 4mm. Although the body had the London, Brighton and South Coast look it was too big to be a Terrier. I should take a picture of it next to the Dapol Terrier.

[relaxinghobby]

 

 

This started out as a Cambrian Models kit for a Gregory and Wheeler,4 plank,15 footer with round ends, a 4mm model of a late Victorian era mineral wagon. My project is working from a photograph to build an end door wagon. the strapping is made from a take away plastic coffee cup lid, the thinest polystyrene I can find. Rivet detail is pressed in with a pointed tool and strap strips cut out.

 

I find these kits quite hard to make, getting the floor level and the sole bars the correct distance apart is the hardest part. The grey one is the same kit but unmodified. The picture also compares the shiny Jackson/Romford wheels to the blackened Gibson wheels. I'll try and blacken the Jacksons later with some Gun Blue.

 

The bit of balsa wood in front of the track is my wheel spacing jig made our of strips of balsa wood that fit between the wheels and two notches to hold the axles the correct 36 mm apart for this kit. If the Balsa wood is cut using a set square these sorts of jigs can be made for 0p in any size required.

[tom82]

Did Thomas ever get completed?

[relaxinghobby]

Answer to tom82 above, I'm sorry to say the Thomas project has stalled, the problem is what to do with that big circuit board that Bachmann fit into their locos, is it important, can I do without it?

 

Here are some other slow projects;

 

 

More kit bashes, a toy coach on it's way to becoming a model, the face has been sanded off and the eyes/windows filled in, the chassis sits too high so something will have to be done about that. The other is a Ratio 4 wheeler bash into a short brake and luggage van, it's been at this stage for sometime.

 

 

 

[relaxinghobby]

 

The Thomas coach now looks like a kit, but with home made parts, seats and partitions. Each partition has a 20 thou'  rebate each side to allow

glazing material to fit between them and the insides of the coach walls. The slab om the right is the ceiling which will rest on top of the partitions

and will be flush with the top edge of the coach, the curve of the roof will be built up upon it.

[flyingtardis]

thr diode (circuit) board is not needed so long as you rewire red and then the corresponding one opposite red first tand then do black afterward so it is wired the exact same way as it looks on the board ... never cross the streams (wires)

[relaxinghobby]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes a modeling project gets stuck at some stage.

 

Here it is the roof for the 4 wheel passenger luggage brake van seen earlier in this thread.

 

I always find it difficult to get a coach or wagon roof that is a snug fit to the top of the sides and ends and that does not sag in the middle of the ridge line. I've already had several goes at this one, the current one on the right of the photo shows the end and the construction, 40 thou plastic base with more stips of 40 thou to make londitudinal supports. With a 10htou curved roof that was pre-curved around a hot tin can.

 

The old one on the left kept curling up, was made with thin 10 thou ribs but over all was much too flimsy and saggy, I kept trying to repair and strengthen it which did not work and so the project got stuck at that stage.

 

[relaxinghobby]

 

That cattle wagon

 

Hi agr613

 

Thanks for the text I'll answer it here as it as we will need further information that others

may be able to supply.  If it's this picture from post 17 the end of a cattle wagon you can

just see is a Slaters model of the old Midland Railway one. All that heavy timber framing

gives it the 19^th centuary look. Is it similar to the Bachmann one?

 

Slaters no longer do 4mm models but I think Coopercraft Kits took them over. Is it still

available, can anyone answer that?