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2996 Victor

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Blog Entries posted by 2996 Victor

  1. 2996 Victor
    Part 2 of this particular saga will, perforce, be shorter than my usual wordy waffle. Basically, I've been messing about with some etched brass DC1 brake gear parts from Masokits - I've had them all of twenty years!
     
    Now, one of the main reasons why I've done so little modelling in recent years is that I allow myself to become bogged down by obsessing over the minor details, instead of going for a more broad brush approach and actually getting things built and enjoying them! Everything is a compromise, of course, but I thought I'd actually try one the Masokits etches and see how much of a faff it is. Will the end result be worth the expenditure of time and swearing? It is a bit of a faff and the jury is still out on whether its worth the effort, of course, as until the van's axleguards are packed so that the buffers sit at the correct height, I can't do much more with the brake gear than I have already:
     
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    Cheers,
     
    Mark
  2. 2996 Victor
    He's actually building something!
     
    The subject of this entry is the start of a GWR Diagram V5 Mink, to be completed in as-built condition. 325 of these vans were were constructed between 1902 and 1904, so they fit perfectly with my "early period" project.
     
    The kit is of course CooperCraft's offering, and it is a nice, finely-detailed kit that goes together fairly well straight from the packet. However, I want to add a few refinements by way of etched brass axleguards, improvements to the brake gear, sprung buffers and the like.
     
    Like the majority of CooperCraft's kits, this one has High Floor Syndrome. This Syndrome is all too apparent if you have an unladen open wagon, but being a van, its' not so much of an issue, and I chose to assemble the floor in its' intended location. However, I did turn it over in order that the flat surface faces downward to make fitting the etched axleguards a bit easier. One thing that I don't remember being an issue when I last assembled one of these kits is that the floor was too narrow - you can see the light coming through the gap in the photograph - so to prevent the sides bowing inward, I inserted fillets of plastikard. To provide some weight to the finished van, three large nuts were superglued to the inside floor. If anyone is interested in which thread, let me know  The weigh of the van body is now about 95 grammes. I've also added a couple of braces across the van at the tops of the sides, again to prevent bowing inward.
     
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    The etched axleguards were folded up as rigid units, and as my soldering is messy, small dobs of Roket Gel Cyano were used to fix their corners. The pinpoint bearings were also superglued into the axleguards for the same reason, one side at a time to ensure the axles turn freely but without sloppiness. The solebars were stripped of their moulded axleguards and brake hangers, sanded smooth on their backs and, after ensuring that the etched axleguards would fit between them without  futher thinning, were assembled to the floor. A small amount of Squadron Green filler was needed at the ends of the solebars where they meet the headstocks. The holes in the floor are to make sure any solvent fumes can escape!
     
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    The axleguards will obviously need to be packed to provide the correct height, and to that end, I've cobbled up a buffer height gauge that I can use to set this and all my subsequent builds. Unfortunately, I'm a bit disappointed with the sprung buffers I've got. The whitemetal housings are quite badly flashed, not at all like the lovely clean cast housing of the unsprung units I've got from the same munufacturer. I've ordered some Gibson lost wax brass ones, so I'm hoping they'll be rather nicer. But until they arrive, I can't do much more as the running gear all depends on the wheels being correctly located.
     
    Cheers for now!
     
    Mark
  3. 2996 Victor
    What with one thing and another, not much has been happening lately on my workbench. So, just to keep things moving, if only at a snail's pace, here is my Lynton & Barnstaple 8-ton Bogie Open Wagon.
     
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    It is, of course, PECO's rather nice 4mm scale rendition. As my projected layout will be set around 1905, this particular vehicle is only very lightly weathered as it would have been almost new. At that time, it was vacuum-braked only, so the hand brake lever has been removed - a simple job to just pop it off! The weathering was carried out using Humbrol powders, mainly dark earth and a little smoke, which when I was happy with the effect was fixed with a dusting of acrylic lacquer.
     
    The biggest job was the interior - when new it comes in bare black plastic finish. The floor is a separate piece, so this was popped out, and it and the interior of the sides and ends painted in enamel in my new wood mix cobbled together from Humbrol pale cream + white + pale blue, which gives a light cream with a slightly greyish tint. When that's dry, I then over-paint the individual planks with thin washes of acrylic, mixed from dark earth, a little mid-grey and a touch of bright green. The differences in the hues of the planks is achieved by over-painting some more than others. I think it works quite well. A little dusting with weathering powder ties it all together, and again the finish was fixed with acrylic lacquer.
     
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    Hopefully, there should be some more entries soon!
     
    Cheers,
     
    Mark
  4. 2996 Victor
    This wagon was built to sit at the end of a transfer siding to be on my Ashover Light Railway project:
     
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    And this a bit of a close-up on the brake gear:
     
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    It's fairly obviously built from the Slaters MR kit, modified as per an article that appeared in Railway Modeller for September 1983, modifications being the canvas axleguard covers and wedge-shaped door drop buffers. The kit's brake gear was largely used, with the shoes, suspension roads and push rods being retained. The safety loops, vee-hangers, lever and rack came from a Masokits Morton brake gear set, and I think they improve the look quite well. The lever is pivotted on a brass pin that also passed through the outer and inner vee-hangers, so that it can be in the "on" position. Just my little fancy 
     
    It was painted with Rustoleum Red Oxide, lettered with HMRS Pressfix "ED", and weathered with Humbrol powders. I'm not happy with the interior, though, so I'll revisit that at some point soon.
     
    Cheers,
     
    Mark
  5. 2996 Victor
    To kick off my blog, here are a few of my Ashover Class D bogie wagons. They're all from Bachmann's rather good rendition, and started life as their Nocton Estates wagons.
     
    Factory lettering was removed by rubbing with a cotton bud soaked in acrylic thinners. Interiors were painted in Humbrol enamels and then either washed over or plank-painted with thin washes of dirty brown acrylic to build up a semblance, I hope, of worn timber. A coat of Tamiya acrylic gloss lacquer prepared the exteriors for transfers courtesy of Old Time Workshop, variety of numbers being achieved by cutting and shutting the ones provided.
     
    Weathering is with Revell and Humbrol powders built up in layers, each being sealed with a dusting of matt acrylic. The lacquer reduces the intensity of the powder, of course, hence the layered approach, but I wanted to seal them so that they'd be able to stand up to handling.
     
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    They all have detachable false floors with some form of load, for instance:
     
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    All these are pre- or during weathering!
     
    As for couplings, they'll probably be replaced in due course with ones from Greenwich.
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