4mm rolling stock, mainly Southern...

 

by pete_mcfarlane

 

original page on Old RMweb

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??? posted on Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:05 pm

 

I was made redundant from my job last month (as my employers thought it was a good idea to replace me with 3 unskilled Indian graduates on ??5 a day, but that's a different story). The good news is that this gives me a lot more modelling time (in between job hunting of course), and so I'm trying to clear the backlog of half built kits that I've somehow managed to build up over the years. I'm also starting a few new ones as well.

 

 

This is a Slaters Midland van. I started this about 6 years ago, but it was sitting around 90% complete as i was never happy with the break gear. This (and the buffers) have now been replaced with some ABS castings and it's now ready for the paint shop. Brake gear aside its a reasonable kit.

 

 

A scratchbuilt SER van, based on plans in Vol 3 of Southern wagons. Again started years ago, and left half finished as D&S announced a kit. I've no idea if this ever came about before they dropped their 4mm range, but I never saw one for sale. It's now been dug out again and work has restarted. MJT running gear.

 

 

David Geen LSWR van. The body castings were up this usal standard and it took about 10 minutes to get this far. The body has been glued together with superglue and left to set (I'll reinforce it with epoxy in the morning so it doesn't fall to bits...)

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??? posted on Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:19 pm

 

A few updates.

 

The Geen LSWR van now has axleboxes on one side, and is setting overnight.

 

 

These aren't ones supplied with the kit, as I prefer the ABS examples as the castings are a bit cleaner. Not the best photo, but you should be able to see the difference. Geen on left and ABS on the right.

 

 

Next is a Chivers SR 20t mineral wagon. Built straight from from the kit and it took about an hour to get this far.

 

 

One of the best plastic wagon kits I've built. The only change I've made is to use ABS buffers, as the none of the photos I've seen of these wagons show the RCH type buffers provided in the kit. That said, cast buffers are a definite plus and beat the wonky plastic ones you get in most plastic wagon kits.

 

Lastly, an ABS LSWR gunpowder van. This has gone together OK, although the quality of the castings isn't as good as the Geen kit.

 

 

One thing I don't like about this kit is the use of one piece sides, with the solebars and axleboxes integral with the sides. On past ABS kits I've struggled to get these lined up accurately with the result that the wagon doesn't sit level on the track. So on this one I've only fitted one axle. The other will be in an MJT inside bearing compensation unit, which should avoid any problems.

 

Also in the early stages (no photos yet) are a SR Gunpowder van (converted from a Ration Iron Mink as per the prototype) and a Geen LSWR refrigerator van. The SECR van has had a few more rivets added as well, but this is mind numbingly tedious and will take a while.

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??? posted on Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:30 pm

 

The Chivers Southern open is now waiting to be painted.

 

 

The only trouble I had with this kit was getting the lift link brake gear to fit, although this may have been due to my replacing the plastic v hangers with etched ones. It needed a bit of platic stip padding between the lever and the small V hanger. I've also added detail to the door springs, as this is very obvious in photos.

Now finished are a couple of BR 16 ton minerals that had been kicking around half done for years...

 

 

Th eone on the left is a weathered Bachman with 3 link couplers. The one on the right is a Parkside kit, with ABS break gear, door springs from metal strip and real coal. The coal was added before the last coat of Matt varnish to tone it down, and avoid the horrible shiny look that you get from using crushed coal to represent the full size stuff. It's actually hard to spot the difference between the two, but the kit build has chunkier brake gear.

 

Now waiting on parcels from ABS, MJT and Mainly Trains before I can complete a whole load more wagons...

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??? posted on Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:29 pm

 

Some more progress. The slaters Midland van is now done.

 

 

The MoT mineral next to it is a Parkside BR riveted mineral, with the undergear replaced with MJT W-irons/axleboxes and ABS brake gear. Finished in the red oxide livery used during WW2 and the years afterwards. The transfered were cobbled together from the HMRS LMS and LNER wagon sheets.

 

 

This is a BR fish wagon, from the Parkside kit and detailed as per the instructions in Volume of "the 4mm wagon". The only deviation from these instructions was to replace the brake handles with cast ABS ones (because they were fragile and I broke them...). Ready for painting once I've sorted out the grab handle that's at the wrong height.

 

 

Finally, a photo of the previously mentioned SR gunpowder van, converted (as per the prototype) from a GWR iron mink. This has MJT running gear, and I'm in the process of modifying the doors.

 

 

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Comment posted by lbsc123 on Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:40 am

 

looking good,

 

have ypu had any more progress on te david geen kit?

 

would you recomend it?

 

cheers,

 

will.

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??? posted on Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:31 pm

 

It got this far before I realised I had no moreMJT compensation units, so had to wait for them to arrive.

 

I then realised I had no more split spoke wagon wheels, and then discovered that mainly Trains were on holiday.

 

Hopefully they should arive in the next day or so

 

 

I would recommend this or any other David Geen wagon kit. The body castings are fantastic. I did replace the axleboxes, but that's mainly because the ABS ones are better, rather than ther being anything massively wrong with the Geen ones.

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Comment posted by lbsc123 on Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:35 am

 

cheers for that.

 

i might palce an order with david geen for some of his kits then.

 

cheers

 

will

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Comment posted by Anglian on Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:45 am

 

Some lovely work there. Hope the job situation eases for you. I had similar situation about 18 months ago and got masses of modelling done. Situation is better now for work (for the time being at least) but I enjoy my model making even more as I'm not swamped by lots of half done things. Much nicer to buy something new, finish it and move on than forever be chasing ones tail.

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??? posted on Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:09 pm

 

I've been doing a bit of short term contract work over the last month of so, so progress has been a bit slow. The LSWR van still isn't finished.....

 

A Ratio GWR MOGO. This has had much of it's chassis replaced, using MJT irons and springs and the spare axleboxes from the Fish van kit.

 

A Parkside meat van, with ABS buffers and brake gear. The new Parkside BR van kits are fantastic and go together really well.

 

This started out as another Parkside kit, this time for an LNER van. The ends were remodelled to remove the vents, using Evergreen half round plastic strip (which is great for end corrugations - much better than the thread and shellac method I saw in an old RM ) Usual ABS bits, all of which have since been straightened..

 

And now for a few old models. Not having a layout at the moment, everything is packed away in stock boxes and I'm in the process of digging them out to check what I've got so I don't end up with two wagons with the same number... Some of my older models suffered from a less than matt finish, so are being resprayed with the latest and much better Humbrol matt varnish (which actually is matt)

 

Parkside BR minerals. The further is the less common riveted version.

 

A Parkside BY van, with lotts of extra detail. A couple of weeks after finishing this I went to the Rutland Railway museum, whoo have one of these in a siding you can access, thus allowing me to spot all of the mistakes I'd made on the underframe

 

Another Parkside mineral, and a Cambrian LMS steel van . Like most of their earlier kits, the underfrasme isn't brilliant and was replaced with a combination of MJT w irons, ABS bufferss and barkes and Evergreen channel for the solebar.

 

A Bachmann SR bogie rake van with detailing and new bogies from Comet, which look better than the plastic original. It now weights a ton and rides perfectly. The open is a D&S LSWR 8 plank and has a tarpaulin from tinfoil.

 

A Hornby LMS full brake modified to 1970s condition and resprayed blue.

 

A D&S LSWR horsebox - a lovely kit. Shame you can't get these kits any more

 

A detailed and repainted Lima CCT. This has a fantastic body, but the chassis was poor. This has had new wheels and some extra detail, but retains the slightly ropey W irons. It looks OK for now and will do until a decent model emerges

Edited for dodgy spelling

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??? posted on Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:44 pm

 

A bit more progress.

A Parkside BR van, and a Ratio LMS van. These were at opposite ens of the difficulty spectrum for plastic kits. The Parkside one was dead easy, like all of their recent kits although i did use ABS brake gear as the stuff with the kit looked a bit spindly.

The Ratio one was hard - this was my second go at one as I messed up the first by getting the sides attached too low to the ends (which you shouldn't be able to do with a well designed kit). It's had a new chassis from the usual MJT/ABS parts and soldebars from Evergreen channel section

 

 

A Bachmann GWR Fruit van on a Parkside chassis with ABS brake gear. I started this ages ago before I discovered that the body is 2mm too wide, and didn't fancy narrowing it.

 

 

The much modified Iron Mink GPV is now finished and ready for painting. Luckily Fox do transfers for the complex livery these carried!

 

 

Lastly a couple of shock opens from Parkside kits, one with a hood and one without. These required quite a lot of work, and the Shochood had it's underframe replaced with an LMS pattern one from the ever useful PA16 underframe pack (with modified axleboxes). Another one that had been hanging around half complete for about 5 years.

 

 

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Comment posted by Young Fido on Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:26 am

 

Nice work Pete, Have you noticed on the Slaters kits for Midland wagons with 9ft wb how the solebars and headstocks dont line up vertically . I've taken to shortening the floor to get the things to sit right.

 

I do like your brakework - Inspirational .

 

Richard

 

p.s. Do you find that your plastic wagons need ballast and if so, how much?

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Comment posted by Cheesemonger on Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:53 pm

 

Just stumbled on this - great stuff. Exactly what I was looking for as I ponder the purchase of new buffer, etc for the Parkside kits I've just built.

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??? posted on Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:20 pm

 

I did after building the Midland van .

It depends on how much metal I've added - the various buffers, brake gear and W irons add quite a bit of weight. If the wagon is still too light I add some liquid lead (fine lead shot) to increase the weight until the vehicle runs freely. This is a bit trial and error and I dont ballast up to a specific weight.

You may struggle to get some of the ABS bits I used as they don't seem to be available by mail order any more which is a real shame MJT and Wizard do alternatives in most cases.

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Comment posted by Pennine MC on Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:29 pm

 

Tsh, you racy young whippersnapper I like that Pete, an original slant on the kit

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Comment posted by MartinWales on Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:38 pm

 

Same here.

 

Some very nice models there, keep up the good work, and hope the job situation has improved!

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Comment posted by rugd1022 on Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:04 pm

 

Also only just fond this wonderful thread, well done Pete, some lovely modelling going on here . . . . was wondering about three of the vehicles in particular :

 

the Bachmann SR bogie brake van - are the Bachmann bogies 'wrong' or are they just not detailed enough?

 

the Hornby ex-LMS Full Brake - nice repaint job, good to see one in blue, it looks like you've removed some of the ribbing on the bodysides as per the real thing - did you have any trouble doing this at all? 9I've got one to do on the workbench )

 

and finally...

 

the Lima CCT - looks very good in lined maroon - the last time I tried to flush glaze one of these I managed to split the roof / glazing moulding in two when I prised it out of the body - how did you do yours?

 

Cheers, keep the pics coming

 

Nidge

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??? posted on Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:39 pm

 

There's nothing actually wrong with the Bachman bogies, but the Comet ones are more detailed and easier to add footsteps to. You could also add proper brake gear, although I didn't.

 

I scraped it off *carefully* with a new scalpel blade and rubbed the remains with fine wet and dry paper. Take it carefully otherwise you'll gouge chunks out of the bodyside, the trick is to make several passes rather than trying to take it all off in on go.

I think (it was a couple of years ago) I stuck knife blades between the bodyside and the glazing and eased it out gently. I think the trick is not to use too much force since the Lima glazing is very brittle (as you've found out the hard way).

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Comment posted by rugd1022 on Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:13 pm

 

Thanks Pete, much obliged

 

I've noticed with the blue liveried ex-LMS vans that the amount of ribbing removed isn't always the same on each vehicle, a sure case of needing a photo as a guide.

 

Cheers, Nidge

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??? posted on Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:25 pm

 

Thanks for all the positive comments! This evening I''ve added couplings and finished off a few wagons and vans.

 

The Parkside LNER van and BR fish van.

 

 

A couple of Cambrian minerals converted to represent MoT 16t wagons ordered during WW2.

The one on the left is an LMS mineral converted to BR diagram 1/102 and modelled in rusty later 1960s condition. I experimented with salt weathering on this one (as per this article http://www.rmweb.co....thering#p322306) and I'm quite pleased with the results.

The one of the right started out as an LNER mineral and has bbeen converted to a diagram 1/103 wagon in original condition. The end door was replaced with one from a Parkside riveted mineral (these come with a choice of doors so there are spares left over). Based on a not too clear picture in volume one of the 4mm wagon sso there's a degree of guesswork in this one.

Both have the usual MJT/ABS underframes with evergreen solebars (and loads of rivets cut from 5 thou sheet ).

 

 

The David Geen LSWR van and Chivers SR mineral shown earlier in the post, now finished at last!

 

 

Finally a Chivers Pigeon van in BR condition - built pretty much straight from the kit. There's little I can add to what's been said already about this kit, and iit went together really easily.

 

 

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??? posted on Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:57 pm

 

A few more today. The Parkside meat van and Ration MOGO are done. Somehow I messed up the varnishing of the MOGO, which is hard as I used a Humbrol rattle can, and it left some white stains on the lower part of the body that look just like some skilfully executed weathering

 

 

The has been languishing in the box of stuff to be finished for about 3 months before I bought a pack of Smiths tarpaulins to finish it. It's an ABS LMS open. I built this many years ago but was never happy with it's running. As I've noted before it's hard to get the so0lebars top line up, so it's been rebuilt to use an MJT inside bearing rocking unit on one axle. As far as i can tell (as I've not got a full layout to testt it on at present) it now runs a lot better.

 

 

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Comment posted by The Fatadder on Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:23 pm

 

Do you have a reference for those bogies? I have a similar SR bogie break (all be it in a much more recent livery) which has broken bogies, and really need to get on and buy some new sideframes for it..

If they are better looking than the original, thats even better still!

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Comment posted by Adam on Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:46 pm

 

Pete

 

Glad to see that thread was useful (I'd forgotten about that one!), nice patterning on the mineral. A good selection of prototypes there too. Good stuff.

 

Adam

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??? posted on Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:04 pm

 

You can (or could) get the Bachmann bogies as spares.

The Comet ones are reference BS1 http://www.cometmode...category.php/BR,%20Pullman%20and%20SR%20Coach%20Kits%20and%20Sides. I like them because the have the heaviness and ease of assembly of whitemetal sideframes, plus a fold up brass frame to ensure accuracy (which I've always had problems with on 100% whitemetal bogies).

Other sources of SR steam bogies that I know of are ratio (plastic), Roxey (brass) and Phoenix (whitemetal). And possibly also NNK but I've not tried them.

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Comment posted by The Fatadder on Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:10 pm

 

Thanks for that, will try and get hold of some post exams and try and get the model finished. Not keen on the Bachmann bogie, clearance between bogie frames is much too tight preventing fitting P4 wheels.

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Comment posted by 10800 on Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:47 pm

 

Actually this reference: http://www.cometmode...o.uk/modules/vi ... Components

 

They are just standard SR 8ft steam bogies, so you could also use Bedford spring units with cosmetic sideframes as for Maunsell coaches.

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4mm rolling stock, mainly Southern...

 

by pete_mcfarlane

 

original page on Old RMweb

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Comment posted by Barry Ten on Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:05 pm

 

Some really nice stuff here... I'm particularly taken with the LNER van and the Blue Spot (one of my favorite Parkside kits, actually).

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Comment posted by Adam on Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:27 pm

 

The best sideframes I've seen are those from No Nonsense Kits, the etched inners could be better (if you're after springs and so on), but there's enough 'spring' to make them work in EM.

 

Adam

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??? posted on Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:30 am

 

A couple of works in progress - detailing jobs on Hornby brake vans.

 

An LMS van (the ex-Airfix type) has had it's chassis stripped down, cut in two and widened by 2mm. As supplied it seems to be too narrow and the triangular support brackets are too far from the edge of the body for my liking. I wouldn't have bothered with this, only I wanted to replace the W-irons and springs, and there wasn't enough room in the original chassis.

 

 

The chassis is made out of solvent resistant plastic, so the spacer is stuck in with araldite. As has been commented before on the forum, this is a pretty good model and the body won't need that much detailing.

 

 

Secondly, one of the LBSC vans has been stripped down. This is a strange model. The body is generally good, but is missing 2mm or so off the bottom edge when compared with photos and drawings so the steel sheeting doesn't go low enough (it's too low for an original one without the sheeting as well.

 

 

The chassis is poor and will probably have to be replaced, due to the crudeness of the footsteps and axleboxes that look nothing like the real thing (luckily the Cheona book on brakevans has a close up). There's also some strangeness with the panelling on the ends not lining up with that on the body, and then there's the holes for the fixing lugs. All of this can be fixed with some work, and the model has some nice features such as flush glazed ends and is generally to scale.

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Comment posted by number6 on Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:03 am

 

You do all the things I hope to get around to one day - including that Hornby LBSC van. Look forward to finding out what you have to do to it. Really like the subtle changes and alterations you make.

Raphael

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??? posted on Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:30 pm

 

Funnily enough the Brighton van has been in my "to do one day" pile for about 7 years

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Comment posted by santene on Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:05 am

 

Wow! I dont know what project is your best!

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??? posted on Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:21 am

 

Finished some more stuff tonight.

 

The ABS Gunpowder van:

 

 

Ratio LMS van:

 

 

Ratio banana van. The transfers that came with the kit were hopeless - the yellow was out of register with eveything else. This has Fox transfers instead.

 

 

Finally, a Parkside BR open that was in my to do box for years, painted but unlettered. I finally tracked down a source of the boxes that surround the lettering (Fox although the ones around the XP marking are made up from an HMRS lining sheet)

 

 

It's good to get stuff like this finally done!

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??? posted on Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:04 am

 

Some progress with the brake vans. The LBSC one is currently in this state:

 

 

Something went a bit wrong at Margate when they designed this one. The body height is about .5mm out for the van as built comapred to the drawing in Southern wagons (OK in most people's book), but for some reason they've modelled it in the later condition with the bottom part of the sides steel sheeted. These extended below the solebars for several inches so the model sides ended up too shallow for the van in this condition. Some of the detail is the correct distance from the bottom, even though the sides are too short, leading to compression of things further up the body (like the doors) and compromises to the handrail position

 

I reckon somebody got a bit confused, especially as all of these vans appear to have been scrapped so there's no prototype tp measure up.

 

Anyway, I've extended the sides to include the steel side sheets and added the missing .5 mm (might as well while I'm at it). The headstocks have been added from 4mm Evergreen channel and I've filled the holes for the bodyside lugs (the paint is to make sure these are now nice and smooth).

 

The LMS van now sits on a set of MJT w-irons, and has had it's handrails and other moulded on detail removed.

 

 

Doing this involved cutting away even more of the chassis, so there's not much left now.

 

 

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??? posted on Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:15 am

 

This is an LMS Plywood sided van, converted from a Parkside fruit van kit. In Vol 2 of the 4mm wagon Geoff Kent comments that the end is the wrong shape and reprofiled it. I cheated by swapping the ends with some spare ones from the BR standard van kits.

It's also got LNER pattern axleboxes, but retains the original Parkside springs and hangers

 

 

This is an ABS Southern banana van - built as per the kit except that I cut off the cast axleguards and boxes and used MJT brass ones, due to my inability to get these kits completely square. This caused some fun with the brake shoes, which are cast in pairs and needed to be cut apart to fit around the MJT compensation units! The wonky edge to the roof is an optical illusion!

 

 

Both will be finished in Bauxite.

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??? posted on Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:51 am

 

As I've already mentioned, the planking on the end of the LBSC van doesn't line up with the sides. I've filled it with .5mm Evergreen rod, which wil be sanded down to leave a smooth (hopefully) end.

 

 

I've not quite got to the point where I wish I'd made the whole thing out of Evergreen, but it won't be long.

 

The scratchbuilt SECR van is finally done. I started this in 2000 when Vol 3 of Southern wagons caame out, so it's not been quick! The buffers were a major headache as I couln't find any suitable 3 rib ones. In the end I've haacked about some 51L NER ones which are now close but not quite right.

 

 

Also scratchbuilt, but hopefully due for completion in less than 9 years, is this LBSC car truck, made from Evergreen strip and sheet. Their strip is very useful, it's cut accurately and available in endless sizes. The axleguards are ABS.

 

 

Also finished tonight were a Coopercraft GWR open and a David Geen LMS cattle truck.

 

 

 

The open is as per the kit except for the door springs and some MJT buffers. The cattle wagon suffered from a poor chassis, so this was replaced with MJT components. The brake gear was a problem as I couln't find any 11' wheelbase push rod brake shoes so I lengthened a set of spare Parkside 10' ones. The levers are from a Mainly trains etch and it's ended up a bit more detailed than usual.

 

The next David Geen kit I'm working on is this LSWR frozen food van.

 

This is one of his more recent kits, and has a decent set of axleguards and etched brake gear. This is as far as I've got due to not having any 14mm Mansell wheels and Mainly Trains not havoing any either....

 

Lastly, a bit of an experiment. I wanted to try scanning in a drawing and printing on sticky paper, to avoid marking out (which I hate and always seem to cock up). It's a GWR designed (but BR built) plywood van. As a further experiment I've left the paper labels on the body to avoid having to mark out the positions of the framing.

 

 

Time will tell if this works out. It has a Parkside underframe to save yet more time.

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Comment posted by craigwelsh on Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:15 am

 

Unless the BR end shape was very much off BR I don't understand how this would fix it? The LMS profile is high and flat whereas BR used the GWR profile from the later 17'6" vans.

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??? posted on Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:41 am

 

Judging by photos these plywood vans had a more curved roof than the traditional flat LMS van. There's a photo of one next to a planked van in 4mm wagons vol 2, and the roof profiles are noticably different. Using the BR ends also avoided having to carve off the moulded on chalk boards as my prototype didn't have them - not easy without messing up the corrugated ends.

The GWR profile is lot more curved than the one BR used and the GWR vans have shallower sides (as I discovered when I tried to use a spare set of Parkside doors on the scratchbuilt GWR van).

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Comment posted by Pennine MC on Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:46 am

 

Pete, I'm with Craig on this. It's not something I've ever noticed; and assuming you mean Geoff Kent's book, I cant readily find the pic you mean. I cant see why they would be different, given that plywood body sheeting came about as an almost interchangeable alternative to planking on many van designs - and a different roof profile would also have meant changing the pressings for the corrugated ends

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Comment posted by jwealleans on Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:41 am

 

Enjoying this thread, Pete - nice stock and I love it when the wagon enthusiasts start debating points of detail - the rest of us learn so much.

 

Like your idea for using drawings on the model. There was a thread on here some time ago from a chap who printed the drawing directly onto the plastikard and used that to cut out to. Of course, now I want it I can't find it but it did strike me as a good idea.

 

Not in a laser printer, though.

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??? posted on Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:21 am

 

I've dug a copy of LMS wagons vol 1 out of Nottingham library (which has a good selection of books on wagons ) and that doesn't help, showing diferent roof profiles for the supposedly identical D2106 and D2097. The D2097 drawing matches the Parkside BR end I've used, and neither matches the end that came with the kit. There are also differences between the drawings that aren't obvious from photos of vans from the two batches. I'm a bit confused.....

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Comment posted by Pennine MC on Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:10 pm

 

Mmm, drawings...

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??? posted on Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:38 pm

 

Having gone over the plywood van and compared it against the drawings and photos, I think the cause of all the prroblems is that there's about 1mm missing from the tops of the sides. This, and the too wide roof, mean that you loose the key feature of these vans - wide strip at the top of the sides with no roof overhang.

 

I've now fished the van out of the dust proof shoe box and will have a go at fixing these problems. Luckily it's was only in primer.

 

Interesting idea - is this the one you were talking about? http://www.rmweb.co....rint+plasticard - It would be a goodd way to mark out coach panelling.

 

You could use a laser, but only once

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??? posted on Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:39 pm

 

Two drawings of identical vans in the same book and they are different. I think you might be right....

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Comment posted by Pennine MC on Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:47 pm

 

Yep, that's it. It's easy for me to sound clever here Pete, but when I did mine, I started with the correct roof and worked backwards, so that was self-evident. Sorry I cant link straight to the post but it's about half way down:

 

http://www.rmweb.co....&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

 

But at least you get yours finished

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??? posted on Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:02 am

 

Thanks for that - your's looks a lot better with the sides extended upwards.

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Comment posted by craigwelsh on Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:25 pm

 

Thanks to Pennine for commenting on my point, when you came back I wasn't quite sure so went off for some more research..

 

Assuming the meat van used the standard BR shape then this would seem to be a good reference photo for height http://gallery6801.f.../p24903737.html

 

Parkside don't seem to have the anglework for the door runners anywhere near this but from guestimating I can see how Pennine has got a much closer look with the extra height. Now to go check if I stuck the roof down on mine... .

 

I think I may attempt to increase the height of mine so the height above the runner matches the height of the horizontal section at the top of the door. I've used the Parkside ends so i'll have to stick with them on this one and use a Ratio kit in future.

 

Its come full circle for me and the further comments remind me where i've gone wrong too! Hope we haven't sent your thread off too far Pete.

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??? posted on Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:43 pm

 

Not much progress to show from the last few weeks, although I managed to finish these two cambrian Southern opens tonight. To tell the truth they'd been nesrly finished for a while, I just had to summon up the enthusiasm to do the door springs. It's my least favourite railway modelling job. Those people who hate ballasting have obviously never tried bending up a set of matching door springs from brass strip

 

 

 

Both of these are modelled on accountancy rebuilds of LSWR wagons, and have ABS axleguards. The 5 plank uses them as is, but as an experiment the 8 plank had the axlebox and spring carefully removed and attached to MJT axleguard units. Hopefully this should look better than the cast W-irons on the ABS casting.

The 5 plank doesn't photograph well as it's moulded in a dark colured plastic. It's the first time I've built this kit and I've kept it as a D.1380 LSWR rebuild, but it looks like there are all sorts of later RCH underframed Southern wagons that could be converted from it.

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??? posted on Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:44 pm

 

Some more stuff finished tonight.

 

The Iron Mink conversion is finished mainly using a Fox pack intended for the GWR version of these vans, plus HMRS numbers. It's painted black as per Southern Wagons volume 4, but I've since read in Russell's "Freight loads and wagons on the GWR" that the GWR ones (which are almost identical) were dark grey, so I'm a bit confused although happy with the result. Full marks to Fox for doing a livery pack for these fairly obscure and short lived conversions.

 

The Midland and GWR 5 planks (Slaters and Cooper Craft respectively) have been finished. I'm not 100% happy with the (lack of) interior detail, so I'm going to load them with some timber to hide this.

 

 

At the opposite end of my timescale is the Parkside 12T van, now finished in grotty early 1970s condition (although it doesn't seem to have aquired any boxed lettering). Done using a photo from Paul Bartlett's ever usefull site.

 

 

Lastly is a Bachmann AF container, weathered and with some internal strengthening to stop it bowing inwards.

 

I really need some more containers, but models of anything other than type BD seem to be thin on the ground.

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??? posted on Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:56 am

 

The scratchbuilt plywood van is ready for painting.

 

It was a lot more straightforward than I expected, thanks to using the stuck on drawings. Most of the hard work was in doing the various bits of angle iron bracing, which is made from various widths of Evergreen strip. I'm now going to prime it and then attach the bolt head detail using Archer transfers (another experiment).

The SECR van is now painted and done. I'm pretty pleased with this, since it had been hanging around incomplete for years. My ancient digital camera didn't like the brown body though and this is the best of a bad lot of pictures

 

This one was a late survivor and was still around in early BR days.

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??? posted on Sat Mar 28, 2009 12:41 am

 

Just finished the Geen LMS cattle wagon and the Mainline/Bachman Fruit van conversion.

 

 

The sharp eyed will spot that the fruit van is no longe in use for fruit traffic and is now just a normal Vanfit. I'm rather pleased with both of these, even if the van is too wide. The cattle wagon looks suitably decrepit looking!

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4mm rolling stock, mainly Southern...

 

by pete_mcfarlane

 

original page on Old RMweb

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??? posted on Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:04 pm

 

The two shock opens are now painted and complete. The squares on the one with a hood were a bit of a challenge - I tried spraying transfer sheet white and cutting it using a scalpel, but this wasn't entire successful so a lot of touching up was needed. The hood is tinfoil painted grey.

 

The two Cambrian opens are now painted as well.

 

 

 

The Brighton cartruck is ready for painting.

 

The brake gear is a mix of lengthened Parkside brake shoes (as I couldn't find any the right length/pattern) and levers from a Mainly trains etch. It also has some strange 4 hole disk wheels, these were done by drilling holes in plastic centred Gibson disk wheels. This wagon is a bit freakish all round - it has a 10'5" wheelbase for starters.

 

Finally these two LMS D.1986 flat wagons were sratchbuilt from plasticard. I need one as a runner for the train of opens loaded with timber, so built two at the same time. Batch building seems to be the way forward as it didn't take much longer than doing one.

 

 

The one on the left is unfitted as built and has Parkside solebars and MJT axleboxes and W irons. The one on the right is in 1960s condition, and has been fitted and had replacement buffers, axleboxes (of 2 types) and LNER pattern W irons. It uses a Parkside LNER chassis with one set of axleboxes carefully removed and replaced with some plate fronted ones cut from another of their chassis moulding. The rather nice Oleo buffers are from 51L

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??? posted on Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:44 pm

 

The latest two wagons to come off my workbench are Chivers LMS long lows, which must be one of the easiest kits to build ever. Everyting fits first time, and apart from some tweaking of the brake levers (which were a bit chunky and two dimesional for my liking) they flew together.

 

 

The biggest challenge was finding photos of the real thing- this diagram seems to have been a bit camera shy. LMS wagons vol 1 has one photo, and Working wagons vol 1 has another. Both had replacement axleboxes, so one has MJT LNER ones and the other has scratchbuilt plate fronted ones.

 

The Parkside LMS plywood van makes it's second appearance, after a lot of modification.

 

After a lot of faffing around trying to modify the ends, I gave up and went for Pennine's approach of using Ratio ends instead. The sides have been built up to match and the roof replaced with a new narrower one. It's now looking a bit more like the real thing, although the strip at the top of the sides is now a bit too deep - most likely because it starts too low down on the Parkside side. Oh well....

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Comment posted by MartinWales on Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:55 pm

 

Nice work Pete! I also find the Chivers kits are very user friendly after building four Lampreys-two for myself and two for Mike at N.E.Models in Darlington, and having recently completed the Pigeon Van from the same manufacturer I'm impressed with their ease of construction

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??? posted on Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:47 pm

 

I always surprised by how little of the Chivers kits I throw away, which must be a good sign!

 

The ABS banana van is now done, the transfers are Fox and are expensive but very good.

 

All in all a good kit.

 

The GWR plywood van is had had it's bolt heads added using Archer rivet transfers. I sprayed it white first to seal the paper overlays and show up any imperfections. It took a couple of hours work to get all of the rivet transfers on and they are only a representation of the original bolt pattern. But I'm not a rivet counter....

 

 

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Comment posted by midknightbass on Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:27 pm

 

Just come across your postings, our tastes are somewhat similar, mine is 1930s Southern. You have solved one problem for me, the LMS livery for the Slaters Midland van, thanks. What paint do you use for your Southern goods stock, I have had trouble with paint giving a very purple shade when dry. Keep up the good work, great to see someone else building the same kits as oneself.

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??? posted on Wed Apr 08, 2009 4:35 pm

 

I used a Precision spray can on the Southern stock, having had loads of problems with brush painting SR goods brown (some of which was down to not mixing the paint properly!). The cans are quite expensive but cheaper than having to endlessly strip and repaint models to get a decent finish. Almost all the Southern stock is lettered using HMRS pressfix transfers.

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