DLT's NG Workbench - Back to The Hunslets

[DLT]

My main modelling interest is narrow gauge in 7mm scale, I'm still building rolling stock to run on Bridport Town and Charmouth. Much of this has appeared on the Narrow Gauge Online Forum, but its high time I put some of it on RMweb.
A recent project has been a set of tramway-style balcony ended coaches. The origin of these are the etched-brass kits by Branchlines for the Irish Clogher Valley Railway coaches. I've adapted them slightly to make them less obviously CVR and fit in with my existing stock. The main change was loosing the clerestory roof and fitting a plain one; its suprising what a difference this makes to the appearance.







Constructionally the main difference was to make the bodies removable to assist with painting and interior fitting. This was done by screws through the floor from below, into captive nuts in the corner of the compartments.The roof had to be fixed to the body, as it retains the end balcony railings





The roof itself is a plain piece of brass, with various bits of wire soldered in place to provide positive location for the railings and the bodies.



More to come shortly,
Dave.

Edited December 30, 2018 by DLT

[DLT]

With such large windows I was going to need interior detail. Longitudinal seats were fabricated from plasticard and the slatted appearance was done by printing black lines on a sheet of paper using Excel and then gluing the paper to the plasticard using Mekpak

 

 

One all was hardened I painted the seats in a sort of varnished-pine colour, making sure the dark lines showed through. Instant slats!

 

 

To represent roof-canvas I glued strips of tissue paper tot eh roof, and painted it dark grey

 

 

 

All thrtee coaches were brought to a state of completion beofre painting began

 

 

 

Cheers,

Dave.

[mudmagnet]

Good to see these coaches on here Dave.

[DLT]

I had decided early on that I wanted a varnished teak livery on these coaches to contrast with the maroon & ivory of the existing stock. Undercoatd were a spray of white primer, followed by a pale crem colour. The the "varnish colour" was brushed on with a wide flat brush, deliberately streaking it in the direction of the grain. The photos shows them after one coat.

 

 

A second coat followed, and I was very pleased with the result. Once lettering was done, they were given a coat of Humbrol Satin Varnish for protection.

 

 

 

Transfers came mainly from the HMRS Pressfix sheet, LSWR Coach Insignia, while the company initials were from the Mabex lettering range. BHTC by the way, is the "Bridport Harbour Tramway Company", my latest attempt at further mangling the railway history of this part of Dorset.

 

Glazing was done with 1mm thick microscope-glass, slipped behind the seatbacks where a recess had been left. and secured by a blob of glue at the top corners. The final task was a touch of weathering by the Martyn Welch method; running a touch of diluted matt-black around the corners of the panelling, and cleaning it off a bit later with a cotton bud moisted with white-spirit.

[DLT]

To complete the train a matching brakevan was needed, the vehicle that Branchlines never got around to producing. My version is the Clogher Valley Van with the addition of one end balcony. The model is a "cut & shut" job on a secondhand coach that came my way. A section was removed from the middle of the coach sides, and the two ends put together. The section removed from the sides is used later for the sliding door.

 

 

 

Construction began with by re-uniting the sides using a strip of brass to blank off the windows.

 

 

From then on the procedure was similar to building the coach kit. The floor is two-thirds of the coach floor (with one set of end steps) screwed to the body as before.

 

 

 

For chassis parts, I turned to yet another Branchlines Clogher Valley kit, this time the standard wagon chassis.

 

 

Parts from this etch were added to the underside of the van, and wheels added separately on a circuitboard plate. This was all a bit of a lashup to get it ready for Warley at the last minute

 

 

The sliding door and other detail were added to match the coaches.

 

 

I've got a complete end-balcony and steps left over, which will form the basis of another brakevan.

Dave.

[DLT]

Finished in matching style to the coaches, the result is one of my favourite vehicles. I seem to have a bit of a thing about brakevans, I've got almost as many as I have coaches, and theres another one planned.

 

 

 

 

The limitations of the waterslide transfers are apparent in these pictures; some of the cut edges are a bit too obvious. Still, you dont notice it when the train is moving on a layout.

 

All the best,

Dave.

[Stubby47]

Some great looking stock there Dave, you make it look so simple...

[DLT]

.... you make it look so simple...

Hi Stubby,

 

Thanks very much, I must say that this is the shorter edited version. The full length "Directors Cut" is on the Narrow Gauge Online Forum at http://ngrm-online.com/forum/index.php

 

See you on Sunday, well thats the plan anyway. I might bring some stock along.

 

Cheers,

Dave.

[DLT]

The current project is a Hunslet tram engine. I have always liked the locos that ran on the Bideford Westward Ho and Appledore Railway in North Devon, and at one time even considered a layout based on it.

 

A narrow-gauge version was more appropriate, and the kickstart for the project was the recent re-introduction by the Chivers family of their War Department Hunslet loco:

 

 

A quick bit of sketching showed how it looked with sideskirts and cowcatchers. I dont know why theWD opted for the 4-6-0 wheel arrangement, but the assumption is that the tram was a 2-4-2. similar to the BWH&A locos.

 

 

Chivers very kindly supplied me a set of castings only from their complete kit to get me started, and I'm building the rest of the loco around them.

 

 

I like using copperclad circuitboad to make loco footplates, its easy to cut, shap and drill, and provides a good solid slab to attach the rest of the loco to.

 

 

As the underside was to be covered by the sideskirts, a simple 0-6-0 chassis devoid of cosmetic detail was all that was needed

 

 

Dave.

[James]

I'm really enjoying this thread!

 

Are these vehicles for a completely new and unrelated project?

[DLT]

I'm really enjoying this thread!

 

Are these vehicles for a completely new and unrelated project?

Hi James,

 

Not entirely unrelated; the "Bridport Harbour Tramway Company" is a sort of narrow gauge cross between the BWH&A and the Wantage Tramway, running from the town to the harbour. It allows me to get a bit more variety into the rolling stock running into Bridport. I'd had the Branchlines coach kits for years, but acquiring a part built one recently was the impetus to get on and build them. So then I needed an excuse to run them, and a loco to pull them.

 

I dont know if a layout will result; at the moment I don't have the time or space for another one. Besides, the wife would have a fit if I started on a new layout! However, something small and compact, based on Wantage, and set in the streets of Bridport is very appealing........

 

Cheers,

Dave.

[dajt]

Great thread, I really like your work.

[Ralph R]

Those coaches look great Dave. I have a couple of those Clogher coaches too and been wondering how I could use them on a non-Irish based layout. Thanks for the inspiration.

[dana]

thanks for the sliding door coach idea . Might use it my self onmy oo guage stock

[DLT]

Those coaches look great Dave. I have a couple of those Clogher coaches too and been wondering how I could use them on a non-Irish based layout. Thanks for the inspiration.

Thanks for the comments Guys

I was amazed by just how different they looked without the clerestory roof, a complete transformation.

 

thanks for the sliding door coach idea . Might use it my self on my oo guage stock

Very much a case of "waste not, want not" and everything was just the right size. The doors dont actually slide I'm afraid, but it could be done.

 

Cheers,

Dave/

[DLT]

The top surface of the footplate is made from left-over sections of etch, soldered to the top surface of the circuitboard. This job required a quite a bit of clamping to keep the etch in place, and the whole assembly flat. I held it in a vice using soft-jaws made from some sort of hard fibre.

 

 

The cab, bunker and tanks from the Chivers kit, all soldered together to form a single unit.

 

 

Had great fun with my new GW Models Riviting Machine (truly a rivit-counting control-freak's dream) producing the side-skirts and buferbeams. All done on one piece of brass and cut out afterwards. The GW machine is designed to act in this way, and its perfect for producing accurate repeat items.

 

 

And attached to the footplate to form one immensely strong sub-unit.

 

 

In the end I replaced the boiler parts with a slightly heftier version, turned from a chunk of aluminium rod that I managed to lay my hands on. The larger diameter section is the smokebox, complete with the beginnings of the saddle attached with Araldite.

 

 

Balancing all this lot together, its starting to look like a locomotive.

 

[James]

Thanks for your reply

 

I dont know if a layout will result; at the moment I don't have the time or space for another one. Besides, the wife would have a fit if I started on a new layout! However, something small and compact, based on Wantage, and set in the streets of Bridport is very appealing........

I hope in time it does! I think it could be a very intersting one!

[DLT]

Instead of getting on with the cowcatchers, prevarication has prevailed and I’ve been fiddling with boiler fittings instead.

 

Boiler backplate is adapted from the one in the kit, smokebox door I’ve had in a box for many years, intended for a loco project that never happened. Chimney and sandpot are from the original Chivers kit, and the brass safety-valve casting is from EDM Models.

 

 

Definitely starting to look the part now. The turned brass dome is another leftover from the loco that never was.

 

 

Dave.

[mudmagnet]

That's coming together very nicely there Dave. Will look great pulling the tram coaches!

All you need now is the Wantage-style layout!

[DLT]

That's coming together very nicely there Dave. Will look great pulling the tram coaches!

All you need now is the Wantage-style layout!

Thanks Mudders,

 

I must admit I've been doodling around with a few sketches for a Wantage-style terminus, but if it ever happens its a long way off yet.

 

Next job (which I've been putting off) is tackling the loco cowcatchers; I will probably have a few tryouts in plasticard to start with, before committing to brass and burnt fingertips.

 

Cheers,

Dave.

[DLT]

After a bit of an interlude, the Hunslet Tram engine is at last aquiring cowcatchers.

 

The photos show my first test attempt, soldered up in a rudimentary jig. I' reckon it looks ok, even if the soldering is a bit clumsy.

 

Its all made from 1.5 x .5mm flat brass strip from Eileens Emporium

 

the verticals are fixed in the jig and the horizontal bars are bent and twisted by trail & error until they fit, held in place by fingertip and soldered. I now need to make the proper version, with boltheads produced by riviting tool.

 

Please dont look too closely at the photos of it attached to the loco, its stuck on with Blue-Tac.

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Dave.

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[Kempenfelt]

Looks superb David! There's something very Manning Wardlish about that cow catcher, but I guess there's not too many variations of a fairly generic feature!

I see there's some nice open space below the front of the boiler, I don't suppose there was any inside valve to be found hiding in there!

 

Hope to see it out again on the circuit sometime soon, i'm sure you've got a few bookings up your sleve!

 

Best Wishes

 

Paul

 

 

[DLT]

Quote

Looks superb David! There's something very Manning Wardlish about that cow catcher, but I guess there's not too many variations of a fairly generic feature!

I've added boltheads by drilling and soldering wire in place, rather than trying to rivit the strip before assembly.

Laborious, but the results are very worthwhile

 

Quote

I see there's some nice open space below the front of the boiler, I don't suppose there was any inside valve to be found hiding in there!

Not yet, but there may be some dummy assemblies to fill in the yawning cavity.

Cheers,

Dave.

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

Just to show that theres always cleaning up to do, heres a comparison between the finished cowcatcher and the second one fresh from soldering

 

Cheers,

Dave.

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[mudmagnet]

Dave,

 

Ah! makes me feel better about my soldering brass - I usually end up with too much solder.