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GWR Twin Railcar pt1

The Fatadder

Entry posted by The Fatadder

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One of they most important items of stock for Cheddar will be the twin GW railcar no35/36

 

Working from drawings in MRJ no5, and with a method based on that used by the late Monty Wells (MRJ no6) the aim is to chop 3 Lima models into the twin set (then to build a Comet coach kit for the centre coach).

 

The first step is the drawings, unfortunatly for some reason MRJ decided to put the drawings for no35/37 and 36/38 across a page joint (no33 and the roofs however were on a single page). This results in some distortion to the published drawings. As such I have spent the train journey from Chester towards Bristol preparing my own set of drawings in CAD based on the GA. I have also drawn an outline drawing of the single railcar for which I intend to add the windows/doors from the Lima model to aid with my cutting plan.

 

At the moment I have two potential approaches,

Option 1) cut the sides/roof from the 'spare' railcar to length and glue together. finish my drawing off as an etch and use a set of etched sides on the model. Potentially the roof and sides could be extended with plasticard removing the need for a third base model (and hence mitigating the additional expense of the etches). Holes would be cut in the sides (as per the usual method with brass coach sides) making flush glazing easier. The main prep work would be in adapting the area between cab and end to ensure it accurately matches the Lima model, it would also need adapting to adjust for the body profile, potentially needing a couple of iterations of etches to get this profile correct (with the associated expense)

 

Option 2 is to follow an adapted version of Monty's method, I would cut the sides from the roof/cab on all 3 models, prepare a new roof section from the third model to extend to the new length (rather than Monty's multiple roof sections I would prefer a single joint).

The sides would then be chopped to get the windows and doors in the new location, and glued to the roof/cab/plasticard end as a single unit. To ensure rigidity the roof and sides would both be strengthened with metal strip.

The first task would be to update the drawings to ensure dimensions for length/window&door dimensions to ensure the cutting plan will match up. The cutting for no36 would be pretty complicated, with no35 not that much better (Monty had it easy here by modelling 33!)

 

I was originally planning to use my first unit as the single car No28, but given it will need a respray to re brand out of shirt button into the later GW livery I dont fancy the respray (and relining). Instead for No28 I think I will go for a Hornby model on which I should be able to remove the shirt button logos using the good old Microsol method. (and keep Hornby's paintwork)

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7 Comments

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richbrummitt

Another option (if you haven't got the 3 railcars yet) is to wait a while longer for the etched version from worsley works and build that.

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The Fatadder
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Interesting option, and one that would be very tempting, assuming a full kit

Will drop them an email and get an idea on the eta. Another option might be grafting Lima cabs onto the kit, (given getting the curves right on the roof ends would be very difficult out of sheet metal!)

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Trebor

There is one on ebay old perserverance kit Item number: 140598980706 might help you, nowt to do with me but to provided the link.

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chrisf

Your option 2 sounds like an improvement. I have always thought that Monty deserved a gallantry award for that mega-kitbash! I would say use the Hornby/Lima sides if you can because the thick sides provide a better base for flush glazing. AS an aside, I have often wondered why we have gone down the etched brass road for flush glazed prototypes when you cannot possibly have flush glazing unless you either add a layer of something to thicken the sides or find a way of stiffening cling film!

 

I hope it wasn't my scanner that distorted the drawings btw. Apologies if it was!

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The Fatadder
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Its only minor distortion, no worse than it would have been working direct from the source material. Its just a flaw with any publisher deciding that they should put a drawing across a page joint...

 

Hopefully the first donor railcar will be waiting for me once I get back to Bristol on Thursday, will then be able to ensure that my CAD drawings do actually match the model dimensions...

 

Just need to keep looking out for cheap railcars now, fingers crossed scaleforum will come good!

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Neal Ball
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This also sounds interesting. I have long been fascinated with the GWR railcars and also like the idea of having a go at the twin. But the idea of all the kit bashing certainly puts me off!

 

Has Chris Leigh covered this in an early edition of Model Rail? I am sure I've seen something in a magazine and didn't see MRJ that far back.

 

The Worsley works option sounds interesting: http://www.worsleyworks.co.uk/4mm/4mm_GWR.htm presumably you would still need a Lima / Hornby donor body?

 

Regards,

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