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STEF French ferry van in 4mm scale, and 12 days.


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http://www.rmweb.co....-to-a-deadline/

 

A bit of background.

 

I have an interest in the ferry service vehicles used between Great Britain and the Continent for some time - all eras, all companies, and I've already scratchbuilt several vehicles in 4mm scale, because there is relatively little available RTR, and what there is, tends to be HO.

 

Back in the spring I was browsing the continental railway magazines in a booksop on Leipzig station, whilst waiting for a train, and I came across an article on STEF ferry vans in a French magazine called Ferrovissime (issue 47 published April 2012) so I aquired a copy, typed the text into Google translate, and when I got home, looked up my copies of the ferry diagram books, to see if I could find a diagram to match.

 

This is Diagram SFV6143, and of the various revisions I have, this version seemed the most detailed.

 

post-336-0-59686800-1351449883.jpg

 

All of this was put to one side however until a) there was a thread on building models in a week, and b ) the CMRA modellers workshop day in July. I always enjoy the modellers day, and find that it gives me a chance to sit down and have a run at building something, however I hadn't planned what to build, and most of what might have been on my shortlist needed special parts, which I didn't have in stock. The evening before the modellers day I finally reduced the this Diagram to 4mm/ft.

 

One of the complications, is that these wagons were all rebuilds from various pre-war wagons, therefore there a a number of variations of with and without end ladders, however I deliberately chose one that didn't have them.

 

So at the begining of the day I had a diagram (which are not always accurate, but which seemed to match the photos OK) a translation of the french article, a few photos, and a big box of Evergreen styrene

 

post-336-0-30230900-1351449924.jpg

 

First job was to cut sides and ends from a sheet of 'planked' styrene, the sides were straightforward, and the ends cut and then shaped with a big file.

 

post-336-0-62658100-1351449927.jpg

 

and glued together

 

post-336-0-39937800-1351449929.jpg

 

If I had been building this as a master for casting, I would have tried to get away without the internal roof bracing, but as this was to be a one off, I added them, otherwise arc roofs tend to try and flatten out.

 

post-336-0-48232500-1351449931.jpg

 

I've never got on with the hot water method for bending plasticard, so the roof was done by wrapping arround a pipe, and gradually encouraging the sheet to bend to shape (or slightly over) and then gluing to all of the formers.

 

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Then corner caps were added from L section, the solebar from a length of [ section, with the upper leg removed

 

post-336-0-03350700-1351449936.jpg

 

and a start was made on the doors.

 

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which I regard as a pretty good days work - probably only about 4-5 hours.

 

On the Sunday I got my guilotine out and cut some rod into lengths for the door hinges - if you need to cut lots of bits the same its a lifesaver.

 

post-336-0-17614600-1351449939.jpg

 

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and added the underframe trussing from more L section

 

post-336-0-81620100-1351449922.jpg

 

I probably only spent a couple of hours working on it that day.

 

Monday evening saw me build up some MJT W irons and steps from L section brass.

 

post-336-0-46839100-1351449984.jpg

 

post-336-0-61538300-1351449985.jpg

 

And Tuesday evening the ventilators went on - these were from a German company called Kuswa Modellbau, I had seen them at Intermodellbau Dortmund a couple of years ago, and laid some into stock 'just in case'.

 

 

 

Wednesday the whole thing was sprayed with a quick coat of Halfords white primer, followed by Halfords 'Ford diamond white'

 

Thursday I brushed the roof with a coat of Revel grey paint, then the underframe matt black.

 

post-336-0-02192800-1351449828.jpg

 

And at that point I was caught out by my lack of planning - I'd ordered transfers and springs during the course of the week, but alas hadn't given enough lead time - only 6 days of modelling had been done, but I hadn't beaten my self imposed deadline...

 

a couple more days passed, and deliveries from MJT and Carpena arrived.

 

I used MJT GWR swing link springs and axleboxes - not quite enough leaves in the spring, but I feel close enough, then added a vac cylinder, and some MJT bits to the underframe to suggest the brake gear.

 

post-336-0-41702300-1351449829.jpg

 

The decals came form a French supplier 'Decal Carpena' and whilst they are HO, I don't think it notices too much - certainly spreading the STEF lettering out helps.

 

post-336-0-29291500-1351452971.jpg

 

The finished article (well almost - it still needs couplings).

 

post-336-0-42858800-1351449836.jpg

 

Probably a rather faster build than most of the challenge entries, and never really intended to even be an entry, but I would hope a demonstration of what can be achived in a couple of hours every evening over a couple of weeks.

 

Jon

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