Rebirth in 009...
Entry posted by James Hilton
2,205 views
I've finally 'taken the plunge' in 009 after many years in 4mm (both OO and a toe dipping in P4) and more recently a G scale (Austrian narrow gauge) project in the garden. The draw of British narrow gauge, in particular the L&B, the L&M and the W&L - big(ish) locos and English (or Welsh!) countryside, rolling hills, trees and not a bit of slate in sight... I have to admit I've been slowly drawn back into smaller scale modelling and have been browsing this site for many months...
Who knows what my layout project will end up becoming - at the moment I have no real firm plans - just 1930s - 1970s, a Great Western influence and a freelance location - but with real engines, a mix of freight and passenger and also some standard gauge transporter wagons!
So where to start - I've not built anything in brass for over 12 months and money is tight this side of Christmas so a Backwoods kit seemed perhaps a little ambitious. I found the Worsley Works scratch aid kit for the ex-admiralty inspection car, nick-named 'The Wasp', designed to fit on the Kato tram chassis - this seemed a perfect place to start so I ordered the kit from Allen and sourced a chassis via E-bay.
It arrived before Christmas and I was initially suprised how little there was to the kit, but it is ONLY £15, and it is a tiny prototype. I've taken the Worsley parts as far as they go and the rest is to be scratchbuilt.
For anyone who's not worked in brass before I thought it might be useful to list my tools - to show you don't need a miniature engineers's workshop to work with solder and brass...
- 1 x Antex 25W soldering iron
- Carr's liquid flux
- Carr's low melt (145degC) solder
- Two old needle files (flat and triangular)
- 1 x Mini-drill (12v - powered from my old H&M clipper for variable speed)
- A selection of small drills (0.3, 0.45, 0.7 and 0.9mm if I recall correctly)
- 1 x Swiss Army Knife with small scissors
- 1 x 'small' Hold and Fold tool (an extravagance but it does produce lovely straight sharp folds!)
So upon opening the packet this is what you get...
I start with using the Swiss Army Knife scissors to carefully cut the required parts from the fret - taking care not to bend anything. Once removed you can snip right up to the piece to minimise the filing required, then use a needle file and gently rub this along the edge of the fret to remove any trace of the tab.
The tricky start to this 'kit' is to get the ends soldered into the body - there is a tiny half etched rebate but it's still very difficult to get it all aligned, held, and hot enough for the solder to flow. I always gently burnish the surface first, then use some flux before tinning both surfaces with a little low melt solder. Then 'assemble' the parts on a piece of cardboard or wood, apply some more flux and then the soldering iron. This should start to bubble the flux quickly and you'll see the solder liquify and hopefully join the surfaces. On other kits I've done this has been much easier and there was a little swearing after a failed attempt and lightly scorched skin!! However once together the soldered join is very strong and allows you to gently file the edge, removing any sign of the join and put on a slight rounding to the corner - that would be difficult with superglue.
The other end is then a little easier. Once they're in I applied a 'fillet' of solder along the roof folds to stiffen it all up.
On to the 'chassis' - very simple with a slot and tab construction. Again tinned and joined with plenty of flux. The end tabs need filing down afterwards so that the body can be mounted neatly.
More swearing when trying to get the body mounting plates in neatly, but again worth doing in solder for the strength. 
The next job was adding the cab doors - for this I chose to use superglue, very sparingly, as I was worried with solder I'd end up with a gently curved edge giving the impression the doors were permanently welded to the body rather than a sharp crisp edge.
The Kato tram chassis arrived. For £15 this is an excellent value drive unit, compact, smooth running and easily modified!
First up, the chassis requires a little modification to fit - namely removing about 4mm from each end. I unclipped the couplers and then used an X-acto Razor saw to cut through the moulding - quick, easy and harmless to performance.
The etched body then needs some adjustment - I've filed diagonals on all the corners, and extended the size of one of the cutouts. These were done by trial and error, both on the chassis and the body, until a good fit was achieved. In addition, the chassis has a couple of clips moulded either side of the motor -I filed these down a bit, as brass isn't too flexible. They still locate the chassis snugly, but makes pushing it in a lot easier!
I've then moved back to work on the body. I used 0.45mm diameter brass wire for the handrails - superglued in position. I also applied a fuel filler panel, using a scrap from a Shawplan 4mm Class 37 diesel end grill etching. The same scrap also supplied part of a grill to use to replace the massively overscale 'radiator' grill on the original kit.
The next thing is the sand boxes, these were built up from 10thou plasticard, 2 sides, front and top. I used a scrap sprue sliced up for the cover on the top and a sliver of plasticard as a handle on top of that. These were mounted using superglue to the chassis.
The foot steps are small staples I've had in my scrap box for a long time. The perfect size without modifying, superglued on although if I'd have thought I'd have soldered them on before the sandboxes.
The battery box is a small piece of 60thou plasticard from my off cuts box. Next to it are two small plugs/covers which came out of the scrap box. I think they were originally MU sockets from an American HO detailing kit.
The axle boxes are quite simple, so far, just strips of 10thou micro strip. I'll apply a couple of water slide rivets to them after a coat of primer on them (if I remember!).
The roof is 60thou plasticard, scored down the middle and then shaped with files and sandpaper. It's fixed with Superglue and will need a little filing and shaping to blend with the body.
The gaps in the end roof have been filled and smoothed, I've fitted the door handles, door hinge cover across the top of each side, extra underframe details (including sand pipes) and my favourite, the windscreen wipers. All is scratch-built from off cuts of plasticard, waste kit sprue or brass rod.
It's a long time since I've modelled in the smaller scales and I've enjoyed working with plasticard, small knives and files and just making stuff from scratch has been good fun. So much so that I've ordered another kit... The Worsley Works IOM Schoema diesel!
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