Mark's workbench - lockdown loco build (page 17)

[Craigw]

Well, it's been a while...

 

Modelling has been on a bit of a back burner over the summer months, with any time I did have being spent on getting Fryers Lane ready for DEMU Showcase in June and tinkering with detailing a Hornby OAA, the first of a pair of these that will (eventually) find their way into the Fryers Lane stock box.

 

As far as my "between the wars" stock goes, I've recently started to remind myself where I'd got to with a few open wagons.

Firstly, a pair of LMS diagram 1666 from the Cambrian (their ref. C58) kit. One of these is almost finished, just needing lettering, door springs and couplings to complete. The other is at a less advanced stage of construction having only gained axleguards and brakes last night.

IMG_20180912_194330~2.jpg

As usual, I've used the body and solebars from the kit, but the rest is a mixture of parts from various suppliers. Buffers are Lanarkshire Models & Supplies castings (B003), coupling hooks are also from "LMS". Axleguards are from Bill Bedford (sprung), soldered to a Palatine models baseplate. I had started to move away from using these baseplates, mainly because a metal subfloor means care needs to be taken avoiding short circuit if the brakes touch the wheels, but I'd used one on the first of this pair and had one left in stock so have used one on the second to get a matching pair. I'm trying to work out which brake lever and vees I used on the first so I can use the same. They are either 51L or Craig Welsh etches (from S4 Soc stores), cast brakes are 51L from Wizard Models.

 

Next up, a pair of GWR diagram O11 opens from the Parkside (PC81) kit. There is actually a third of these lurking somewhere, although I've lost a couple of its bearing carriers so it's currently without wheels. Assembly of these has stalled due to the complexity of (or at least my unfamiliarity with) GWR DC brake gear.

IMG_20180912_194412~2.jpg

Those chunky self contained buffers are " LMS" again (B022). On these wagons I've attached the Bedford axleguards directly to the underside of the floor. The solebars were filed back to thin them down until just the axlebox and spring remained.

My plan for brakes involves using the Mainly Trains etched brake gear which is now in the Wizard Models range. I've not used these before but had good results with the LNER and LMS clasp brakes from the same supplier so hopefully it will turn out OK.

 

Mark,

 

I would suggest using the Morgan design underframes for the GWR wagons. they do versions with centre and offset V hangers - and the 011 and 015 were a mixture of both. They are a bit of work to get your head around first off but look very nice when assembled.

 

Regards,

 

Craig

[Mark Forrest]

Mark,

 

I would suggest using the Morgan design underframes for the GWR wagons...

Thanks Craig. You've reminded me that I've got one of the Morgan underframes that I'd been planning to use under a Coopercraft Mink; I just need to invest the time in getting my head around how it goes together.

[Adam]

Thanks Craig. You've reminded me that I've got one of the Morgan underframes that I'd been planning to use under a Coopercraft Mink; I just need to invest the time in getting my head around how it goes together.

Ah, Morgan Design - a nice set of parts, but massively over-engineered and with instructions that are a bit... unnecessary, and are at the same time not comprehensive. It does work though. Some thoughts here:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37002-adams-em-workbench-wagons-on-tour/?p=3112361

 

I soldered the 'bolt in' W irons up solid rather than bolting them on (partly because I ran out of bolts and nuts but I see no reason not to simply spring the wheels in in the normal way).

 

Adam

Edited September 15, 2018 by Adam

[Craigw]

Mark,

 

Here are two of my Parkside 011 with Morgan under frames. Also a Hornby TOAD and a David Geen 3 plank wagon. I am modelling around 1922 - 1923.

 

The chassis is fiddly in parts and the instruction take a bit to get used to, but in my opinion the effort is worth it.

 

Regards,

 

Craig

[Mark Forrest]

Thanks both Adam and Craig.

Yes, I think it was the instructions that resulted in the Morgan underframe that I have being filed under "too difficult", I don't have the attention span to follow wordy instructions!!!

 

What I like about the Mainly Trains etch is (assuming it's the same as the LMS and LNER ones I've used before) it comes with a nice exploded diagram which will help me figure out what goes where. With a bit of luck I can use this to help demystify the Morgan underframe too

[Mark Forrest]

As we approach the end of 2018, this seems a good time to have a bit of a round up of my current work in progress projects. It hasn't been a particularly productive year of modelling for me, with other interests and real life taking precedence, but I've enjoyed what little I've done and keep chipping away at various wagons as and when the mood takes me.

 

So, first up, the "modern" stuff. This Chivers Crab is one of a pair I started to build ages ago. I seem to have misplaced the brake gear for the other but this one is ready for paint and couplings. It might have been painted before Christmas, but the lid on my ancient jar of Railmatch olive green is well and truly stuck on, so I need to get some more.

To keep it company I've recently acquired a Bachmann brake van (Christmas present). I've popped some P4 wheels in, but there are a few other details needed to make it a more accurate match to the prototype.

 

The first of my pair of Hornby OAAs hasn't really progressed much, other than deciding that this one would be in red/grey livery and painting the bottom half of the sides grey. Currently pondering axlebox and spring options.

 

Finally for stock intended for Fryers Lane, this old Hornby ferry van had been rattling around in a drawer for ages so I thought I'd do something with it. So far I've increased the width of the body and removed most of the details from the underframe. Still quite a long way to go with this one!

 

 

Turning now to my "between the wars" stock, again it's been slow but steady progress. Latest addition to the queue of part built wagons is this Midland open from the old Slaters kit.

 

Second of these LMS Opens (Cambrian) is still waiting for its brake levers, but there isn't much else needed to get it finished off.

 

The Bill Bedford 3 plank open hasn't had any more work done since I last posted a photo of it here, although I do seem to have lost the buffers. This Ratio LNWR coal wagon recently gained some axle guards and wheels having spent the last couple of years as just a body and solebars.

 

Thanks to all who have visited this thread and especially to those who have commented for their supported, much appreciated.

[Guest WM183]

On 18/01/2016 at 11:00, Mark Forrest said:

I think I've been bitten by the scratch building bug:

 

MR diagram 353 8T van. At this stage I'm undecided whether I'm building it or using it as a master for resin casting.

Completely non sequitur, but does anyone know what book this is?

[Darryl Tooley]

R J Essery, 'Midland Wagons' Vol 1, OPC, 1980.

 

D

 

[Mark Forrest]

It's been a while...

 

Last year was a bit of a write off in modelling terms.  Scrolling back through the last few posts in this thread I find myself looking at photos that could have been taken today, not in December '18 most of the wagons above are still in the same state now as they were then.

 

My shopping list for Stafford exhibition did include the olive green paint for the Crab above, but I managed to forget to buy it!  What did buy was one of these Oxford Rail 6 plank opens.

 

P4 wheels fitted, without any problems, although the brakes needed realigning to get it free running.  Luckily the brake components are separate parts so it was a relatively easy job to adjust them.

 

[Stubby47]

That's quite an adjustment. 

[Mark Forrest]

I didn't seem to be able to post any further photos when I tried before, but seems I can now.

The square holes that the brakes clip into needed to be enlarged, I also found I needed to file a small amount off the top of the vee to get the brakes fitting properly.  NEM pockets removed too.

 

One of the door bangs fell off while I was working on the brakes, so I added a spot more MEK to each to make sure they stay in place.  Near enough done, I'll probably give it so light weathering at some point, just couplings to do.

 

[MartinWales]

That will give the kick I need to do mine! Cheers Mark!!

[Mark Forrest]

9 minutes ago, MartinWales said:

That will give the kick I need to do mine! Cheers Mark!!

I'm really impressed with the detail on them, as I said over on my layout thread, it has me thinking I need to raise my game with my kit builds to bring them up to a consistent standard with these sub-£10 RTR wagons.

[Weskie]

Are the buffers sprung?

There doesn't look to be much room if not, without hacking away some more plastic.

[Mark Forrest]

56 minutes ago, Weskie said:

Are the buffers sprung?

There doesn't look to be much room if not, without hacking away some more plastic.

Metal heads, but not sprung.  TBH, that's fine with me, I've always found sprung buffers to springy.

 

I've not tried, but it looks like the black plastic of the underframe should unclip somehow.  With it removed it would be easy to trim away enough to make space for buffers.  For info, there is plenty of room between the inside faces of the solebars for fitting sprung axleguards.

[jwealleans]

Mark, if you pull the buffers out the underframe will come away.    The brake gear is wrong as supplied and Steve Pearce shows you how to correct it here.  Shame as the body moulding is excellent.  Another near miss from Oxford.

[Mark Forrest]

10 hours ago, jwealleans said:

Mark, if you pull the buffers out the underframe will come away.    The brake gear is wrong as supplied and Steve Pearce shows you how to correct it here.  Shame as the body moulding is excellent.  Another near miss from Oxford.

Thanks for this.  Somehow, despite looking at some photos (because I wasn't sure if it was right to only have a vee on the inside of the solebar) I'd completely missed the two shoe Morton brakes!

Looks like some further hacking of plastic might be required.

[Mark Forrest]

Made some progress with correcting the brakes on the LNER open last night.

Still need to add safety loops to the brakes.

[Mark Forrest]

Well, it’s been a while, but I’ve not been entirely idle; that LNER open did eventually get finished and I’m reasonably happy with how it turned out.

 

At the same exhibition (remember them?) I bought a couple of cattle wagon kits, a Parkside LMS diagram 1661 and a Slaters MR.  I made an start on the LMS one in the early days of lockdown, although the build stalled (I can’t remember why) and it got stashed away in a box in this state.

These two opens (one LMS, the other MR) had been hanging around the workbench for far too long, but are now close to finished.  They just need door bangs (almost always the last thing I add) and a bit of paint and lettering.  Really must sort out some more appropriate motive power, but more of that some other time.

[Mark Forrest]

Turning my attention to the motive power problem, with layout plans now fixed on the exchange sidings serving a quarry I needed something suitable to shuffle wagons.  Luckily I had a High Level Kits Black Hawthorn 0-4-0ST stashed away so, keen to make good use of the time I wasn’t spending commuting I made a start as a bit of a lockdown project.

As you’d expect for a High Level kit, everything went together very nicely and it was a real pleasure to work on.

 

The body consists of three sub assemblies, two of which you see here, the third is the saddle tank.

Having made up the frame of the tank I was faced with having to form the wrapper that covers it.  I really didn’t want to mess that up so ended up putting the kit on one side - which coincided with better weather, lighter evenings and (eventually) lifting of lockdown travel restrictions, so mountain biking overtook modelling for a while.

[Mark Forrest]

The loco stayed in that state throughout the summer, but this week, with the weather starting to feel autumnal and the prospect of several more months of WFH ahead I decided it was time to do a bit more.

Still avoiding the saddle tank wrapper, I jumped ahead a few pages in the instructions to make a start on the chassis. 

As expected,  everything aligned perfectly and the end result was a nice sturdy set of frames.

Next I need to have a rummage around to find some horn blocks for the (compensated) front axle.

[Mark Forrest]

Having reached the stage where I couldn’t really put it off any longer, I plucked up the courage to shape the wrapper for the saddle tank.  Following the instructions very carefully I used a length of 3.5mm diameter steel rod to form the two outer bends, then some 8mm rod to roll the curve of the top of the tank.  One slight deviation from the instructions was that rather than rolling it on an open phone book (who has a phone book these days!) I found an old mouse mat turned upside down seemed to work reasonably well.  Anyway, here it is tacked in place over the tank.

 

And from the other side after a bit of a clean up.

It’s not perfect, but I’m happy with it.  Next there are a few detail parts to fit to finish off the tank subassembly.

[Daddyman]

1 hour ago, Mark Forrest said:

It’s not perfect

Why not give it another go? It doesn't look like there's any rivet detail on the etch, so you could easily replace it with some 10 thou, made to the shape of the original (you can get accurate dimensions over the curved top of the tank by using masking tape). It's a job of 30 minutes, which is nothing in the context of the years (or even decades) you'll have to look at the model for. 

[relaxinghobby]

Hi Mark

For a sheet metal rolling pad instead of a phone book you could also use an Ikea catalogue or a Screwfix one?

[Mark Forrest]

On 29/09/2020 at 09:54, Daddyman said:

Why not give it another go?

That’s a fair point, I sometimes forget the (comparative) ease with which things made of brass can be taken apart and reassembled.

 

To be honest though, on reflection I’m happy enough with it.  I’m reasonably confident that it should end up looking ok once it’s painted and weathered.  If the end result isn’t good enough I’m happy to learn from the experience and (if necessary) build another.