my next kit - 3 plank Wagon
Photographs can be very cruel! Looking at the photo of the handbrake ratchet in my previous entry, all I see is the huge tab, which I have not filed smoothly. It's invisible in practice but not on the photo! It's a real test, to subject modelling to this type of scrutiny.
My favourite weapons for removing those pips, as well as flash on white metal, are emery nail boards from the pharmacy. They're cheap and disposable, and don't get ruined by white metal, so saving my precious needle files.
It was very pleasant to read the favourable comments on my N6 horsebox. Yes, it was a bit challenging at times but the sort of challenge that results in a real sense of achievement and of having learned something. Since building that kit, I have been thinking about other additions to my vehicle fleet, to replace several RCH wagons with something more characterful. I saw some three-plankers with rounded ends on Mikkel's blog. I rather liked the look of these and thought that, after the N6, they should be pretty simple ..... shouldn't they?
Well, most entries on this site seem to show how wonderfully people have overcome difficulties and produced beautiful models but that is not the case here. I've been making rather a mess of things but hope that it will all prove to be part of a learning curve.
The David Geen kit for the GWR three-planker contains some very nicely moulded and detailed (on both sides) castings for the sides and ends of the wagon, plus a few other small castings and a piece of planked plasticard, which I assume is intended as the floor (though not cut to size).
Kit components
The kit includes plenty of information about the prototypes but very little by way of building instructions, apart from a recommendation to use low-melt solder or epoxy but, preferably, not superglue. I soon found that there are no location pips or raised edges, to assist with location of the parts, either horizontally or vertically, The ends of the sides are simply mitred at about 45 degrees. Also, because of the curved tops to the ends, and the V-hangers below the solebars, I couldn't set up the parts upon a flat surface! I could not think of an easy way to jig it up for soldering, or to hold it firmly while epoxy hardened, so I decided to try superglue (against recommendations).
Actually, I quite like superglue and find it effective, with the proviso that parts must be close-fitting and free of surface contamination (including any residual mould-release agent.) These parts weren't like that and there was a distinct taper at the ends (which I think I can see on Mikkel's model also). So, a bit of gentle work with the nail boards provided bright, matching surfaces that seemed to fit together pretty well.
I decided to hand-hold one side and one end at right-angles (by eye) and then tack them together with superglue, then count to fifty as it hardened. Good! Next the other pair and now to put the two bits together, to make the rectangular plan of the wagon. I held the pieces in a pair of ratchet clamps but then realised that the side pressure from the clamps forced the mitred joints to push the ends apart! As the photo below shows, the thing looked far out of square and, in trying to sort this out, my tacked joints failed ... 'bother' ( actually, I used a word with different letters after the 'b') Oh well, clean up and try again with the delicate balancing act.
Use of ratchet clamps
By now, I had decided to use this wagon as an experiment, to discover better ways of building the next one. I cut the plasticard to size for the floor, fitted the rather horrible mis-shapen buffers, which didn't fit the holes in the buffer beams, and carried on with the rest of the assembly. When I slotted some wheels into their bearings, it was clear that things were very out of true - the axles were far from perpendicular to the axis of the wagon.
Mis-aligned axles
Right, I've now paused for reflection. I find that problems like this find some recess in the back of my mind and churn away there. A potential solution then pops out at an inopportune moment - for example, at 3am, when I am trying to sleep. In this case, the idea was to cut out a rectangle of brass sheet, to form a rigid floor / chassis, with fold-down tabs to support the ends. I could mount the sides onto this chassis and run a fillet of epoxy under the floor, to make everything secure. Then I could prepare the sides to receive the two ends, making sure that everything was square against my brass template.
I'll stop at this cliff-hanger, in case better ideas pop out in the next day or two, but I think (hope) I'm on the way to a successful model. I must find some nice buffers, too!
Edited by MikeOxon
Restore images
- 6
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