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

[Penlan]

Rather crude: a piece of microstrip with the bolt-heads embossed - and hardly visible in the photo. I may have to drill through and insert some plastic rod instead.

Or use the 'S' scale resin bolts by Archer. 

Obtainable in the UK from DCC Supplies http://www.dccsupplies.com/item-p-103605/ar88015-resin-rivets-screws-011-inch

 

PS - They work on DC stock as well 

Edited March 1, 2018 by Penlan

[Penlan]

...... Roll on LNWR Wagons Vol. 3; 

Timescales seem to be slipping all the time, latest was this Spring, but.......

 

EDIT - The jungle drums are saying March - April (2018?)

Edited March 1, 2018 by Penlan

[Compound2632]

Or use the 'S' scale resin bolts by Archer. 

Obtainable in the UK from DCC Supplies http://www.dccsupplies.com/item-p-103605/ar88015-resin-rivets-screws-011-inch

 

PS - They work on DC stock as well 

 

Except it says out of stock...

 

I've been impressed by Paul Gallon's recent use of these which is making me think I should invest in some - my difficulty before has been working out which of the multifarious sheets is the right one to get for 4 mm scale wagons.

[Penlan]

Except it says out of stock...

My apologies for that... 

Perhaps following the Cardiff Show last year, a load of us were so impressed, we bought up all the stock..

I had mine from them in November, so perhaps an orders on it's way from the USA.

The best one to get is the 'S-Scale Rivet Starter Set', ref., AR88093.

There's a video on YouTube which at 42 secs seems to show a similar sheet.

Edit : I haven't checked, but as these are mainly used by the Military Modelling fraternity,

perhaps one of those UK outlets have some.

 

 

I'm using them on a 4mm model of a LNWR Gas Tank wagon - a work in (non-) progress, plus other incidental items.

Edited March 1, 2018 by Penlan

[Compound2632]

Hummm... Thinks... Those raised number transfers suggest a way forward for the cast number plates for Great Western wagons.

 

And the next video up was some fine footage of Millwall Goods, with some rather splendid 7 mm scale Webb compounds, including Adriatic and Greater Britain along with the fourth compound tank and one of those gloriously pot-bellied 0-8-0s - though quite what those express passenger engines were doing slumming it in the East End might be open to question! (And there was a D299 at 4:22...)

Edited March 1, 2018 by Compound2632

[Penlan]

Timescales seem to be slipping all the time, latest was this Spring, but.......

 

EDIT - The jungle drums are saying March - April (2018?)

I'm informed - Easter, Hardback, £40.

Don't know about an Easter Egg, more like a Nest Egg required.  

Edited March 1, 2018 by Penlan

[Jol Wilkinson]

Sandy,

 

all that valuable information for the price of a RTR carriage, what's not to like.

 

Jol

[Western Star]

all that valuable information for the price of a RTR carriage, what's not to like.

The price.

 

Compare with what is being done by Lightmoor Press, there are books of comparable quality, comparable number of pages, cheaper by a country mile.

 

Subsequent edit to clarify.

 

My belief is that Lightmoor Press provides a comparable product at a lower price.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Western Star

[wagonbasher]

Hummm... Thinks... Those raised number transfers suggest a way forward for the cast number plates for Great Western wagons.

 

And the next video up was some fine footage of Millwall Goods, with some rather splendid 7 mm scale Webb compounds, including Adriatic and Greater Britain along with the fourth compound tank and one of those gloriously pot-bellied 0-8-0s - though quite what those express passenger engines were doing slumming it in the East End might be open to question! (And there was a D299 at 4:22...)

 

I like the video, they just need a crew in the cab if the things going to move.

 

Andy

[Compound2632]

The price.

 

Compare with what is being done by Lightmoor Press, there are books of comparable quality, comparable number of pages, cheaper by a country mile.

 

Good as the Lightmoor Press books are, I find they don't have quite the quality of design and layout that has always characterised the Wild Swan imprint. If it's just information you're after I can appreciate that's not a factor and hence the price differential is frustrating; for myself, I do like the quality of presentation. Of course, they've got completists such as myself over a barrel. (I bought the hardback re-issue of Vol. 2 rather than the softback!) However, I shouldn't be so cynical: I expect the price reflects the current cost of producing this volume to a uniform standard with Vols. 1 and 2.

 

£40 is pretty good going for a top-end RTR carriage these days!

Edited March 2, 2018 by Compound2632

[Jol Wilkinson]

The price.

 

Compare with what is being done by Lightmoor Press, there are books of comparable quality, comparable number of pages, cheaper by a country mile.

 

I can't comment on the quality (although Compound Stephen's comment is notable), but a quick look at their respective web sites rather indicates that the cost per page is comparable.

[Compound2632]

I've answered my own question about brakes for the LNW D62 ballast wagon - close inspection of Penlan's ancient faded photo shows the chunky wooden brake-block in silhouette (RH wagon). I've fabricated one from 60 thou plasticard, with 10 thou overlay for the (slightly over-scale) ironwork:

 

 

My main reference for the wooden brake block is the well-known photo of D2 No. 42024, built in 1 hr 41 mins in 1878. That was built from a kit too; I've yet to beat that time with a Ratio LNW wagon kit...

 

The canvas flaps over the springs and axleboxes are also from 10 thou plasticard. I've also added sprung door bangers from the Ratio kit at either end, in line with the drop-side hinge ironwork. For these details I've followed another photo posted by Penlan, though the door bangers from the kit are more curved. The brake lever for the wooden flap brake is longer than that for the single push rod brake as supplied in the kit, so I've butted two together. A view of the underside shows how I've added strengthening lumps of plasticard in the hopes of stopping all this bodgery disintegrating:

 

 

I intend to finish this one lettered B D for the Birmingham and Walsall Division, if I can track down a 15" B - the Ratio transfer sheet only has the later 12" lettering IIRC.

[John_Miles]

The price.

 

Compare with what is being done by Lightmoor Press, there are books of comparable quality, comparable number of pages, cheaper by a country mile.

 

As someone who has been a co-author of a Ligtmoor book, I have had a good insight of their business model and if you think they are making lots of money you couldn't be more wrong. It's more like how do they manage to keep going on such thin margins. I did an article for the Welsh Railways Research Circle which gives the costs and income for a book, so my views are in the public domain. If you compare Lightmoor with Middleton Press:  a typical Middleton book has around 60 pages, 120 photos plus a few 6 inch to the mile maps. It costs just short of £20. A Lightmoor book will have around 250 page, 500 photos, good quality plans / maps and costs £30. As a cost per page or per photo they are an absolute bargin.

[Compound2632]

It's curious that these D62 ballast wagons had the characteristic LNW style of cut-away headstock ends, whereas the very similar D3 dropside wagons and D7 slate truck wagons had squared headstock ends, slightly projecting to act as dropside door stops. Hence the spring stops on the D62. Staring even more intently at Sandy's photo, I'm starting to think these two N W D wagons might actually be dumb-buffered, which plays havoc with my wooden brake block deduction. Looking again at another part of the same photo, Is there a hint of the toggle brake (per the D64 loco coal wagon) on the C D wagon?

[Penlan]

Sandy,  all that valuable information for the price of a RTR carriage, what's not to like.  Jol

Seems I've put my head on the block - a head that's full of 'cold' and headaches and......

There's nothing not to like, I agree, and the price of limited circulation books has to have some return, publishers are not Charities.

As John Miles has stated, the cost of meeting all the copyright issues etc., the pure time that the contributors have donated, etc., etc.,  the authors have a negative financial balance.

Vol., 1 is a hardback, that softback Vol., 2 for those of us who bought it when first out to support the project, was not an ideal scenario, especially when a re-print came out in hardback.  At least Vol., 3 is hardback to start with.

But, £40 (+ p&p) get's to the top end of a present from somebody.

Of course I will be getting the book, to complete the set (Including Suppliment(s)?)....

[Andy Hayter]

The problem with small publishers is that they can disappear overnight.  We can all (me too) complain about soft covers and cheaper paper, but if the alternative is that the company disappears...............................

 

We have lost two magazine (high quality art paper) publishers in the last 9 months here in France.

 

When they have all gone and all we can buy is revues of on-line games, what then?

[Compound2632]

OK chaps, I'm not going to mention LNWR Wagons Vol. 3 again until I've got a copy in my hands.

[Compound2632]

Heading off in a completely random direction, I've had niggling away in the back of my mind an unfinished kit I have for a North British Railway goods brake van. In last autumn's great garage sort out, I'd found it again, but the solebar and axleguards for one side were missing. This evening I dug out my three Slater's NER 20 ton hopper wagons to photograph for another thread, where it seemed to me a little calm modelling was needed. I found I'd forgotten that I'd never completed one of them but lo and behold! the missing brake van parts were lurking in the hopper:

 

 

I've no recollection of the manufacturer of the NBR brake van kit - I must have bought it at an exhibition sometime in the late 1980s.

 

 

[Penlan]

I've no recollection of the manufacturer of the NBR brake van kit - I must have bought it at an exhibition sometime in the late 1980s.

NBR 4mm Developments do one, but I don't know how long they've been trading.  http://www.nbr4mm.co.uk/brakevans/brake_vans.php

 

The main difference, seemingly, is your kit looks to have white metal (?) solebars, the nbr4mm ..... kits are etched.

Edited March 3, 2018 by Penlan

[wagonbasher]

NBR 4mm Developments do one, but I don't know how long they've been trading.  http://www.nbr4mm.co.uk/brakevans/brake_vans.php

 

The main difference, seemingly, is your kit looks to have white metal (?) solebars, the nbr4mm ..... kits are etched.

 

If I'm reading it correctly the four BV kits they describe are not available yet

 

Andy

[Compound2632]

NBR 4mm Developments do one, but I don't know how long they've been trading.  http://www.nbr4mm.co.uk/brakevans/brake_vans.php

 

The main difference, seemingly, is your kit looks to have white metal (?) solebars, the nbr4mm ..... kits are etched.

 

This is of earlier vintage - it's an all-plastic kit, apart from the wire handrails and footboard hangers. Somewhere I've got an A4-format soft-bound book on NBR wagons...

[Rail-Online]

Heading off in a completely random direction, I've had niggling away in the back of my mind an unfinished kit I have for a North British Railway goods brake van. In last autumn's great garage sort out, I'd found it again, but the solebar and axleguards for one side were missing. This evening I dug out my three Slater's NER 20 ton hopper wagons to photograph for another thread, where it seemed to me a little calm modelling was needed. I found I'd forgotten that I'd never completed one of them but lo and behold! the missing brake van parts were lurking in the hopper:

 

NBR brake van parts found.JPG

 

I've no recollection of the manufacturer of the NBR brake van kit - I must have bought it at an exhibition sometime in the late 1980s.

Colin Ashby kit, Produced for only a very short time and pretty scarce as you can imagine! 

 

Tony

[Border Reiver]

By coincidence having built one of the NBR developments brake van kits I'm now batch building the other 3. The impression from the 1st one was very favourable and building the 3 together is proving to be enjoyable.

 

I bought them on release about a year ago but I believe there was a problem with the castings supplier after that?

[Compound2632]

Colin Ashby kit, Produced for only a very short time and pretty scarce as you can imagine! 

 

Tony

 

Thanks - to the best of my knowledge, it's the only Colin Ashby kit I have. The parts are very crisp - quite as good as Slater's or the more modern Parkside kits. What else did he produce and what happened to the masters or moulds?

 

I've found the book: John Hooper, Wagons on the LNER: North British No. 1 (Irwell Press, 1991) - I take it No. 1 refers to a projected series on LNER wagons, rather than NBR ones - were there subsequent volumes? Anyway, the brake van in question appears to be NBR Diagram 69 (LNER SSA Diagram 34B), built 1902-1909. It looks as if it would be reasonably straightforward to convert it to the single-verandah'd Diagram 70 (SSA Diagram 35B) vans; There's also a photo showing one of these Diagram 69 vans, No. 458, alongside a very similar van without the central ducket, No. 526 - Diagram 21 (SSA Diagram 33B) according to NBR 4mm Developments. To do these variants in brass, one needs a separate etch master for each. Anyway, some useful signposts on livery there - though I'm not convinced by the off-yellow verandah interior!

[Compound2632]

In the 1992 Colin Ashby list reported in this old thread, I see the NBR brake van is reported as being ex-Kirk. If the Master is about, can he confirm or deny?