airnimal

Nick, up to your usual high very standards.

I am struggling with my work at present, I cannot get the quality I seek to achieve. I have remade the coupling chains on the LSWR wagon and tried to make the saftey chains from 4mm scale links. I bought some mail order but they were poor quality and I didn't use them. I was given some more at the Macclesfield's show on Saturday by a very kind gentleman from Wigan who was demonstrating 4mm wagon building. I came home and attempted to make them up with a Ambis hook on the end with only limited success. This is all down to me with Arthritic fingers and poor eyesight. I have made some in the past but I have made these using larger hooks and thicker links. I may leave them off altogether and use rule 1. My mojo is sadly lacking at present possibly due to the lack of movement with the house and other stresses.

Having managed to touch up the paint on this last LNWR wagon I went back to the LSWR wagon to replace a pin that holds the tarpaulin bar on. I lost one out of the end and had to make a new one. I glued the new one in with superglue which I don't like using. I didn't realise that the tube was leaking and I managed to stick my finger together as well as getting the glue all over the door on one side. Much bad language was used before I attempted to make amends. I went over the dried glue with superglue debonder with took the paint off the door. More bad language. So I have had to rub the paint down and reapply which is going to take several thin coats before I try and match up the weathering again. So there is a couple of photographs of the interiors of this and the Arniston wagon not previously seen.

I have managed to paint and replace the V-irons. I have touch up where I have made adjustments so as to blend it in with the paint that was already there. It never quite looks the same or as good as originally first done. I went out for an hour this morning on my bike. I need to get some miles in because we are going to Hungary in June for a fortnight cycling with the gang of geriatric pals. Basically it like the last of the Summer Wine on tour, average age 69.4.

I am sure if we move house the railway stuff will fit in somewhere, they won't take up much room. We have had another offer on the house but again it appears that it is the silly offer season. We need to obtain a near market value for us to move forward and buy something half decent. I have been trying to clear up some loose ends rather than starting something new. One of the wagons that I built several years ago that hadn't had the etched numberplates fitted. So I thought it wouldn't take to long to fit. How wrong was that assumption because the location of the plates was between the V-irons, and there wasn't enough room to fit the plates. I had used commercial etched V-irons that were not wide enough to accept the plates. I went through my stock of etched parts and nothing fitted the bill. So the only thing to do was get out the metal and start again. A couple of bits of 10 thou nickel were cut out and soldered together. Once marked out, the saw came out along with the saw table and a couple of V-irons were quickly made. The square nuts are going to be made from filed down pins. But that is for tomorrow.

Thanks for all the endorsements, it is appreciated. I have now attempted to put the load lettering on with mixed success. I got one side on perfectly in line but on the second side I got it wrong. I tried to correct it but unfortunately I had to remove it. This left a badly marked bottom plank which I have had to repaint with several coats of thin paint. I will leave it now until tomorrow before trying again. Then it will need another coat of varnish to match the rest of the wagon. Another problem is I made a mistake on the chains on the end underneath the tarpaulin bar. The chain should be attached on one side of the bracket and then on to the tarpaulin bar's bracket it's self. It's obvious now I think about it but at the time I didn't notice it. We may have news on the house front. A couple have been around for the third viewing and seem very happy with most aspects, and they have sold there house and are ready to go. They are aware we are not going to let this house go cheaply so we don't think they will come back with a silly offer.

I am now able to finally finish this wagon thanks to the generous nature from one of our members. I don't know how to drag someone's profile here to thank them for the help that I have received so I will just say thank you to Terry here. I will now have to weather it again after varnishing.

Stephen, I have the timetable here and the route doesn't change at all. It runs every 30 minutes and is the same Monday through till Friday. Why would they put Friday only and not Friday on the same line both showing the same time ?

When is not Friday, Friday only ? I caught the bus at 20.34 and it was Tuesday.

The white metal buffers from ABS have a collar that goes over the drawing pins to make the buffer ram thicker. Unfortunately the hole drilled through was slightly off line making the buffers sag a little. So I made new rams from brass rod and skimmed the drawing pins heads in the lathe. Because of the low floor height these buffers are going to be non working. I just have the brake lever and brake rack to make and the tie down rings to finish it off.

Having abandoned the steel body wagon because of technical issues ( I can't make to it to my satisfaction ) I found another shelf queen awaiting completion. I had originally going to use some brass buffers with steel heads but I used them for another project. So I found some white metal buffers from ABS with Adrian's trade mark drawing pin heads. I don't mind using them but some of the pins are not central. I had already made the buffer bases in plastic which I had to cut off because Adrian's have the bases cast in. I will try and find some better pins before I finish it. Another problem is my usual method of construction includes screwing the W-irons in the floor but with the floor being at a low height there isn't enough room to do this. I have temporary stuck the W-irons in with double sided sellotape, but this is not a acceptable solution. I will have to get my thinking cap on to figure out how to overcome this problem. The domestic situation is proving interesting to say the least. I am down for retraining in hanging out the washing amongst other things. It's like the last of the summer wine here at present with Nora and the other ladies getting on to poor old Joe and Compo. I didn't realise I couldn't do so many things.

Tim, I can't help you locate the correct 4mm buffers because I work in S7. I am building one from scratch at present and I have used the buffers that used to be available from ABS. I believe someone took over the 4mm range but I don't know if the 7mm range was the same in 4mm. But these are the buffers you are looking for.

Stephen, the drawing and photograph were from the collection of Mark Smith who is a leading light in the NSR society. I looked them at the AGM a couple of weeks ago and thought that would be a unusual prototype to model as well as a challenge. That challenge has proved how difficult a model of one of these wagons is. I was a member of HMRS as well as several more society's about 40 years ago but about 10 years later I was made redundant for the second time. By that time I had got married and had 2 young children so when the subscriptions were all due at the same time I had to let them all relapse. I looked at the photograph again and realised that the top angle iron piece was twice as thick as the corner plates. This meant that I would have had to make the corner plates out of very thin metal for it to look correct. So I decided to see if I could make the angle parts out of Evergreen plastic which is thicker. I drilled a series of holes in some 80 X 80 thou angle and tried to glue this to the top edge with superglue. This proved impossible for me so I think the amount of work needed to make a success of this doesn't warrant the time and effort involved. I do have my work cut out for me at the moment with being head cook and bottle washer. One would think at 72 I would be able to do most household chores without instructions but my better half is a hard task master and I have had to sit on the naughty step more than once.

Tom, yes I agree that these wagons would get dents and knocks but trying to model something like that is not the easiest thing to model. Although I would like to complete this wagon I have a feeling this is just going to be an exercise in making some more scrap to add to my pile of unfinished projects. I have riveted a thin strip and soldered it to the basic side before cutting it back to leave a thin piece that represents the top angle iron. The amout of work involved in just to make one side out of metal leaves me to think that I would be better to make a basic shell and then add the strip from plastic glued on.

Terry, thank you for your very kind gesture, I will take you up on your offer. I will post you a PM. Because our house doesn't seem to shifting, I am getting brass off waiting for things to happen. I can't get any baseboards to start a diorama or layout because until we know what sort of house we may move to, or the space I will have for a workshop or layout room. I am not really in the mood to finish the few wagons that still need some work on them so I have started something a bit different. This is a steel body private owner wagon from North Staffordshire belonging to Robert Heath and sons. This is a bit of an experimental departure for me because I have never built a steel open wagon before. I have cut out a pair of sides from some scrap brass etch and riveted the bottom row of rivets. I wish I had looked a bit more closely at the brass because there is a few holes and marks in the brass. So I may get some better material and try again.

Dave, the padlock came from a small set of castings for hand tools from CSP who make all sorts of bits and kits. I have used another one because looking at the first attempt I was a bit heavy handed drilling a hole for the key. I use their castings for couplings hooks which are very good. Marc, thank you for the information about tranfers. I don't have the Southern sheet only the English company's ones. I don't think buying the Southern sheet would be very economical because I probably wouldn't be building any more wagons from the Southern part of the country.

I have given up on trying to hand letter the LSWR wagon for the time being. So while i was in my workshop I noticed that the brass container that I made from an old Andy Duncan kit had lost one of it's length of side bars. So out came the bits of scrap etch of a similar size and this was replaced. While I was doing this I also fitted some copper clad bracing inside because the body is made of just one thin sheet which has a tendency to bow inwards. I realised that I had not quite finished this build because I had missed off the locking door bar. So this was fitted along with a small brass pad lock. I was thinking I might go to the York Show over the Easter weekend where I may be able to find some 3mm white tranfers as one or two other things. I was wanting some small parts from a manufacturer whom will be attending. I have tried to buy through several dealers who stock their products without success. They all tell me the same story that they only stock items that are the big sellers, so they don't stock the small parts. So not wishing to pay p&p on a small order I e-mailed the company and asked if they could bring a couple of packets with them to the show telling them that they have done this for me in the past. I received back a reply saying that they were unable to do this and they are happy for me to buy from them mail order. I wonder if other people think as I do, this is not good customer service. I mention that my better half has broken her foot, she hasn't. She has broken her leg . I think this is going to be an interesting 6 weeks.

I have managed to number this wagon using some old Meth-fix tranfers, unfortunately I haven't got any for the lettering. I need 3mm size for the L&SWR to match these numbers in white. I will be going to York show over Easter and hopefully I may be able to buy some there but does anyone know who would have them ? I need to get this finished so I can start something new. The gentleman who was enthusiastic about buying our house has disappeared probably another time waster. We joked last year would we be gone from here by Christmas and we are thinking very much the same now. In other news my better half has been struggling with her leg after her fall 10 days ago and her leg didn't seem to be get better. After much chatting amongst our 3 daughters she agreed to got to a walk in centre who sent her to hospital for a X- ray. Sure enough she has broken her foot. So for the next 6 weeks I will be on call 24-7.

Jim, I have used enamels and acrylic paint as well as ink all applied neat and let down with what ever is appropriate. Sometimes I appear to be able letter and other times I can't even draw a straight line. I have tried using pens as well as brushes so I know I have to be in the mood to attempt to hand letter. I will wait now before I try again. I tried to use some Meth-fix tranfers for the numbers and I couldn't get them straight. So I will put it away and come back to another time.

I also bought some brushes from the same company at one of the many exhibitions that they have attended. I am more than happy with them and will purchase some more when I next see them. The brush I used for the painting of the body was 3/8 wide which proved perfect to cover with the tinned down Tamiya paint. I will attempt to hand letter this wagon if I don't find any tranfers at the 2 shows I am going to in the next 2 weeks. I have hand lettered before with mixed results as seen here. My first attempt if definitely not up to standard but with a bit of careful attention with a scalpel this may prove more fruitful.

I have assembled this wagon after giving 3 thin coats of brown paint and then dusting all over with weathering powders. I still need to attach the safety chains either side of the main couplings which look as though the smaller links need squashing in the vice to make them more oval . The tarpaulin bar still needs painting which will probably be like weathered wood. I can't imagine that there would be any paint on this having been subjected to years of rough canvas rubbing along on a daily basis. I don't have any tranfers for the lettering that are the right size but with several exhibitions coming up in the next 2 weeks I may be able to source them at one or the other.

I've taken the bull by the horns and gone right in with my paintbrush. I did the ends first using the Tamiya XF-10 and about 15 % Tamiya retarder and it dried within a few minutes. The finish wasn't that bad but then I tried lettering it down with about the same ratio water and using a larger brush, I did both sides. The finish on the sides was much better so I think I have found a formula to brush painting that I think will work for me. I will leave it now until later and give the whole wagon another thin coat. I must admit that I was skeptical on my ability to hand paint again after so many years avoiding it like the plague.

Trying to photograph this wagon without any special lights or a decent camera is not easy because the underframe is lost in the darkness. Close ups like this show every fault and can be cruel. I have dusted over the wheels with some weathering powders to highlight the details in depth of the gloom underneath. This wagon is now finished bar the final brown paint and lettering. I am not looking forward to hand painting as I have never had much success doing this.

Seen in a local public house. I've no comment to make.

Richard, thank you for the kind offer which I may have taken you up on if I hadn't spent yesterday making 4 new rings. If fact I had to make about 10 in total because I made them from 10 thou black plasticard and they are very brittle once the holes are drilled in them. I was hoping to go out on the bike yesterday with my cycling chums, but my wife had a fall outside going to get some plants out of the garden shed and hurt her ankle. So it was a day of looking after her because she is will be unable to do anything for herself for a few days at least. Inbetween being head cook and bottle washer I made the replacement rings.