More Pre-Grouping Wagons in 4mm - the D299 appreciation thread.

[billbedford]

22 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

.... with the printed buffers - partly because I managed not to break any, partly because drilling out the holes for the metal buffers is fraught. However, I think the MJT buffers look better, so I may change my mind. The knack is to drill out up to 1.2 mm then use a circular needle file to open up the hole - this puts less stress on the material, so the headstock is less likely to crack, as it does if one tries do drill out to 2.0 mm...

 

 

 

The real knack is to get some of the proper tools for the job

[Compound2632]

21 hours ago, richbrummitt said:

Running the drill anti clockwise can help. Most drills are sharp for drilling hard stuff and are way too sharp with too much bite for this kind of material. 

   

5 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

Some time ago, I posted a link to the following video on my blog:

 

I now keep some blunted drills handy for brass and plastic.

 

Mike

 

3 hours ago, billbedford said:

The real knack is to get some of the proper tools for the job

 

Thank you all. I have replaced the word "knack" in that post with the word "bodge".

 

5 hours ago, Rail-Online said:

It could be me, or a camera aberration, but does the Birmingham RC&W Co. one on the left have a solebar that bends up towards the left end?

 

Tony

 

I double-checked - you are right. The translucent green material is a bit rubbery and flexible and I think may have distorted when I was cleaning it with toothbrush in warm water. 

 

Nothing photogenic today. On the D418 fruit & milk van, I've removed the brake gear and filed down the back of the solebar flange to accept the Bill Bedford axleguard units. I've bent those up but didn't quite have time to set up the suspension wires before I had to clear the table for dinner. 

 

I've been piffling around trawling through the spreadsheets of Midland PO wagon registrations I had from Ian Pope, and also looking again at the NRM photo gallery of J.P. Richards' wagons. He made a number of models of wagons of Cannock Chase coalfield wagons; I'm wondering how reliable these are (never make a model of a model) or what his sources of information were. I've not come across good photos for a number of these - that is to say, photos of wagons before c. 1903.

[Quarryscapes]

15 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

I'm wondering how reliable these are (never make a model of a model) or what his sources of information were. I've not come across good photos for a number of these - that is to say, photos of wagons before c. 1903.

 

Well my sources list Cambrian Wagon 1947 as a 4 Plank Open of 1893 built by Metropolitan, not a 2plank so not sure who is correct on that front. 

 

The Cambrian cattle wagon appears to be correct, but the Box van carries a number I have down as allocated to a 1903 4 Plank . 

Many of the P.Os appear to be off the shelf kits, so don't be surprised if they are incorrect. 

[Compound2632]

41 minutes ago, Quarryscapes said:

Many of the P.Os appear to be off the shelf kits, so don't be surprised if they are incorrect. 

 

... but the ones I'm particularly interested in appear to be scratchbuilt, with wood (ply?) bodies. In LNWR circles, Richards has the reputation of having been a meticulous and observant modeller with a very thorough knowledge of the prototype, at least as far as that company is concerned.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Compound2632

[Rail-Online]

21 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

   

 

 

 

I've been piffling around trawling through the spreadsheets of Midland PO wagon registrations I had from Ian Pope, and also looking again at the NRM photo gallery of J.P. Richards' wagons. He made a number of models of wagons of Cannock Chase coalfield wagons; I'm wondering how reliable these are ....

 

I too had the same thoughts, thinking he would be an 'old boy' modelling from his notes or what he could see.  However given he was (later) using plastic wagon kits this must have been the 1970s (no earlier), so I came to the conclusion that even if he was 80 then (does anyone know how old he was when he was modeling?), it was highly unlikely that his information was taken first hand.  Sadly I think we now have better info than he had.

 

Was there not a question over the accuracy of the huge number of PO liveries sketched up and sold by the LYR society as photocopies in the 1980's, some of them were found to be ficticious?

 

I have however noticed some tinplate models where the livery is very accurate. These of course could have been made when they were 'modern image'!

 

Ton y

[Compound2632]

On 08/04/2020 at 17:55, Rail-Online said:

I have however noticed some tinplate models where the livery is very accurate. These of course could have been made when they were 'modern image'!

 

Some are, some aren't!

 

 

I quite fancy that. I wonder if POWSides...

Edited September 7, 2022 by Compound2632
image re-inserted

[Western Star]

On 08/04/2020 at 17:55, Rail-Online said:

... does anyone know how old he was when he was modeling?), it was highly unlikely that his information was taken first hand.

JPR was born 1902 and died in 1999...  see here ; he took many photos in the 1920s and some of those photos appear in the LNWR Wagon volumes (pub. Wild Swan).  I consider myself lucky to have photos of GWR wagons which JP recorded in North Wales (for example:- in the Barmouth area) .  The were given to me circa 1969 by Geoff Platt when he was on the academic staff of Kings College, London and I had just gone up to iniversity.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Western Star

[Compound2632]

I've fitted the Bill Bedford axleguards to the D418 fruit and milk van and given it a coat of primer - Halfords rattle can red, with grey for the roof - though the grey ran out on me, frustratingly:

 

 

Unweighted, it's riding a little high - the point of the bearings should be aligned with the etched horizontal line on the axleguard. Once that's sorted, I'll add the Slaters plastic spring/axlebox mouldings. I've also left off the buffers for the moment. The whitemetal ones in the kit are a bit too beefy - more like S scale, the guides and bases at least. The Slaters buffer guides look right to me but the problem is the base (as I realised with the S&DJR milk van). The whole buffer guide casting looks like this. (Thanks to the Vintage Carriages Trust - note the margarine tub being used to hold the spare parts for this kit - snap!) 

 

Talking of whitemetal bits, I had a fiddle around with the whitemetal springs for the ballast brake - I'm struggling to get them to fit. I think I need to thin them down considerably. 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Compound2632
image re-inserted

[Compound2632]

No modelling achieved today. This morning was taken up with the big Tesco shop. The glass fell out of the driver's side mirror during this - I've had this happen before, with the previous car, after it had been sitting in the sun for several days. It must be the glue the manufacturer uses! On the previous occasion, the glass fell onto the lawn at home, so I was able to glue it back in. The surface of Tesco's car park was less forgiving. I ordered a new one from Halfords, including fitting (just as well as it turns out) - it was available within the hour, so round I went, further 2 m queueing. Everyone in front of me seemed bent on haggling - must have been the way the shopman was sitting like an eastern potentate at his table in the doorway, under the shelter of a gazebo, waiting for each supplicant in turn. The online system isn't as clever as it thinks it is: despite it identifying my vehicle from the registration number, it came up with the wrong-sized mirror glass. The correct size is now on order - next Wednesday, I was told. Not a problem: my only driving since the lockdown started had been three trips to Tesco; six days turns out to be the optimum shopping interval.

 

It's also Maundy Thursday and our wedding anniversary, so there's been preparation work to do both on a domestic foot-washing liturgy and on food. The closest I've got to real modelling is to ascertain that Lanarkshire Model Supplies doesn't do any Midland carriage buffers.

 

After 26 years, we're still working together like a couple of old cranes...

 

 

... even through this train wreck of a year.

 

 

NRM DY 466 and NRM DY 607, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) licence by the National Railway Museum.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by Compound2632
Images re-inserted

[richbrummitt]

Happy anniversary. 

[Dave Hunt]

Happy anniversary Stephen.

 

Dave

[Annie]

Happy anniversary Stephen and many more of them.

[Mikkel]

Happy anniversary Stephen. It occurs to me that mutual foot washing would* be a suitable practice on anniversaries. Whether it would also be romantic depends on the condition of the feet, I suppose.

 

That first photo of the cranes, look at all the trouble they've taken to pose for the camera. Well I suppose people still do, only now they're Selfies.

 

*Or maybe you are already doing it? I have not come across the practice in connection to wedding anniversaries before.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Mikkel

[Craigw]

Happy anniversary Stephen and may there be many more.

 

We were talking about tarpaulin supports and the like a few pages back and I showed my O11 wagons. This is the Coopercraft O4 I am working on. two actually but this one is a little more advanced. The only Coopercraft bits are the sides and ends. Morgan DC1 underframe, styrene floor and Mousa Models springs, axleboxes and buffer bases. The tarp mechanism is the Parkside spares I mentioned. I will have the pair of them finished soon I hope.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

[Northroader]

After you’ve washed feet, was there an exchange of Maundy money to the poor and needy of the parish?

[Compound2632]

42 minutes ago, Northroader said:

After you’ve washed feet, was there an exchange of Maundy money to the poor and needy of the parish?

 

For the avoidance of doubt, which did seem to be present in some posts but not @Northroader's, the washing of feet was to do with it being Maundy Thursday, not our wedding anniversary! But no, I'm still the hard-up one of the household.

[Regularity]

7 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

But no, I'm still the hard-up one of the household.

On your anniversary, I expect your wife is pleased.

[Compound2632]

Hit the bottle again today - with 20 thou plasticard, sellotape, and nearly boiling water. Roofs for the ballast brake and tariff van. Rainstrips to follow...

[Mikkel]

20 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

For the avoidance of doubt, which did seem to be present in some posts but not @Northroader's, the washing of feet was to do with it being Maundy Thursday, not our wedding anniversary! 

 

Thanks for clearing that up. It is how I originally read it, but then I remembered cheese rolling and doubt crept in.

[Annie]

Washing feet, giving away money, rolling cheese down hills....... I suppose how you celebrate your wedding anniversary is entirely up to those who are celebrating.  Some people go skydiving or climbing mountains, others spend the day in bed.....um..... doing things.

 

I don't think there are any rules that must be adhered to when celebrating a wedding anniversary.

[richard i]

Mine is celebrated by my other half telling me how lucky I am to be married to her. 

[Dave Hunt]

On our fiftieth anniversary last year SWMBO celebrated it by tripping over a raised paving slab and breaking her arm as well as stunning herself so it was blue light time to hospital. Washing feet, cheese rolling or indeed most other activities are more to be recommended.

 

Dave

[Western Star]

On 21/09/2019 at 22:24, Compound2632 said:

This illustration of the accident near Belper on 29 October 1859 ....   A couple of Clay Cross Co. wagons, Easter Iron Mine (Forest of Dean) or Eastern Counties Railway? - either seem a bit unlikely, though possibly the latter as there's also Norfolk Counties Coal...

If the date of the illustration is correct then the Severn & Wye was still a tramway at that date so any wagon for the Easter Iron MInes has yet to be built.

[Compound2632]

6 hours ago, Western Star said:

If the date of the illustration is correct then the Severn & Wye was still a tramway at that date so any wagon for the Easter Iron MInes has yet to be built.

 

As I recall, there was other evidence for the date of this accident, though I'd have to dig deep to find it. I thought the Forest of Dean connection was a bit unlikely - good to have it definitely ruled out. Eastern Counties then? (Great Eastern formed 1862.)

Edited April 11, 2020 by Compound2632

[Tricky]

Happy (belated) wedding anniversary Stephen.