Black Notley - BR Eastern

[pwr]

Well I have started to put the chains on the conflats  and the two broken ones are being glued together and left 24 hours to set. I may have to give up on this and use real chain (I have some small enough) with some 4mm screw couplings but I will see how I get on. There is absolutely no strength in these which are plastic and are always likely to get broken. Also the offset links are solid so not prototypical either being solid shapes of plastic.

 

In the meantime I did a it more to the BG. I have fitted a strip of plastic on each side at 7mm up to retain the floor and prevent the floor pan moving too fat into the body. This is not covered in the instructions.

 

 

 

 

I am also still fitting fillets of epoxy round the ends and end support strips which project down below the 7mm. I have therefore cut the floor to clear these as per the next photo

 

 

The floor is now a snug fit to the body.

 

 

 

 

The body needs some gentle finger pressure to adjust the sides as one of these bows out. I'll do that after 24 hours once the glue has set.

 

You can see in the third picture the quarter round small pieces of wood. These are supposed to be glued inside the ends as a mount to attacj=h the floor and there are some brass wood screws in the box to do this. The buffer beams will be glued on the the floor ends and the screw can then be passed through those - they need drilling first - and through the floor into these small bits of wood. Not sure I am entirely happy with that as there is not much surface area on which to get a fixing. Depending on how I work out the gangways I may have to put a bolt through this into the ends. Still not sourced a satisfactory gangway yet and about to look at Gaugemaster for some Heljan spares.

 

I'll keep the photos coming but next job is back to the BAA.

 

Paul R

Edited April 2, 2022 by pwr
Load photos

[brossard]

Those shackles sound like a waste of time.  Slater's do some proper ones, M7022.

 

John

[pwr]

1 hour ago, brossard said:

Those shackles sound like a waste of time.  Slater's do some proper ones, M7022.

 

John

 

I think you are right John.

 

I need to place a Slaters order for wheels so I might get some of them too

 

Paul R

[Hal Nail]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265211545322?hash=item3dbfd706ea:g:N9YAAOSwGatg2ffE

 

Given your comment elsewhere....

[pwr]

4 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265211545322?hash=item3dbfd706ea:g:N9YAAOSwGatg2ffE

 

Given your comment elsewhere....

Ooh will have a look - thank you

 

Paul R

[Hal Nail]

1 hour ago, pwr said:

Ooh will have a look - thank you

Ended early with 1 bid - suspect someone did a deal. Was it you?!

[pwr]

No. I was tempted but I got that impression it was built from spares or had a lot of work done on it so I didn't go for it.I didn't like the look of what had been done to the cab.

 

Paul R 

[pwr]

A bit more work on the BG today

 

 

 

 

 

I' ve glued these to the wooden floor with epoxy metal but intend to put an M4 bolt through each of these holes to get a strong fit. The last thing I want is a heavy train pulling the buffer beam off the bottom! 

 

I've still to find a way to fix the floor to the body. The kit provides a 1/4 round block of wood to be fixed to the end into which the floor can be screwed using a wood screw. However the hole in the buffer beam is too far towards the centre of the coach to be of any use and  may need to mount this further in. However I am biding my time on this until I finally sort the gangway. The owners manual that comes with the Dapol MK1 suggests that the gangways are available as spares from DCC supplies but when I contacted them they advised these have not yet turned up which is why they are not carried on the web site. I'll have to keep an eye out. An approach to Gaugemaster brought the response that they have yet to catalogue Heljan MK1 spares so could not help and to watch the website. I have to say Gaugemasters approach to Heljan spares is not easy to navigate and was much better when Howes had it as you could buy the whole sprue and you could see from the photos what you were getting. Gaugemaster sell the individual parts (which collectively is more expensive of course). 

 

In other news the PFA wagons have had some buffer heads fitted. I also noticed that whoever built them fitted vac hoses to these need to come off and be replaced by air. I have some in stock which will do nicely. Still not sourced any screw couplings yet. I was tempted to get some more Dapol spares but the links seem shorter than other makes so I may be Slaters again.

 

I'll post some more pictures of these next time. I got the correct colour of yellow (following a very helpful e-mail exchange with Accurascale) from Amazon who can source RAL colours. I just need to finish cleaning up the containers ands wash them before priming.

 

Finally a MK1 BSK in carmine and cream turned up yesterday for the steam set. So I now have a maroon BSK, SK and a  carmine and cream BSK for a 3 car set. I can substitute the BSK for a Gresley BCK and I have a blue and grey CK and BSK on order so I can run an early BR mixed rake if I want. Once I get the EasyBuild SK finished I'll have a full set of B/G stock - well three cars anyway which is as much as my fiddle arts will handle with a loco. 

 

My long time passenger stock shortage is finally coming to an end!

 

All for now Paul R

Edited April 3, 2022 by pwr

[brossard]

Good to see progress being made on the BG.  I haven't done any aluminum so interesting to see how this goes together.

 

I'm afraid I am wincing when I see the buffer beam casting.  If it were me I would replace the buffers. 

 

The box in the casting looks to my eye to be designed for Kadee.  Choice of coupling will be driven by what couplings are used for companion stock.  I assume the BG is Mk1 so, in life, they would have a hook combined with a buckeye capable of being dropped. I used an Invertrain* casting to produce this for my Gresley BG:

 

 

For intercoach coupling of my Heljan Gresleys I used Kadee:

 

 

0 gauge Kadees are much better than 00.  The draft gearbox is diecast and there is no stupid spring to ping away.  The buckeye goes through the buffer beam.

 

*Invertrain also have a large range of couplings (incl. Kadee) and other bits and bobs.

 

John

[pwr]

Hi John

 

Yes I agree the buffers are not the best. I have some on order from Invertrain so once they arrive I may replace them with those.

 

Thanks for the advice on couplers. I have some buckeyes similar to those at the top of your post - made by RJH. These would allow me to couple a screw link shackle  and use the buckeye feature (I think).

 

The Kadee idea would allow them to couple to the Hattons Gresley but then I would not be able to use it to couple a non Kadee fitted coach. Its a bit of a conundrum as Kadee's are by far the best solution but I don't want to equip the rest of the stock with them.. 

 

The BG is supposed to be the one allocated to the RTC for use in POP train trials but I also want to be alble to use it as a loose coach in a parcels rake. In reality I think the BG was at some point converted to a generator van but the photos I have with the POP train don't suggest that to be the case at the time of its derailment at Old Dalby. I still haven't finally worked out which number it was apart from the fact it was a Midland Region Vehicle. According to the lists I have the RTC only ever had one BG and that was latterly the generator van.

 

Anyhow back to pondering.

 

I have fitted the bolts referred to in my last post.

 

 

In used M3 bolts in the end as the holes would not accept anything bigger. There is no mention of this in the instructions and the diagram suggests separately fitted buffers.

 

The other side.

 

 

Its a bit of a make it up as you go along kit and I don't think you could class this as a scale model but it should look the part and aluminium takes paint very well once cleaned up.

 

The next problem is the solebars. I have cut them to length but the width of the trussing underneath is too wide to allow the sole bars to be fitted in the correct position and I will have to compromise. I will glue them on with metal epoxy but I have run out right now so will have to take a trip out to the DIY shop tomorrow. 

 

Paul R

Edited April 3, 2022 by pwr

[brossard]

Glad to know we are more or less on the same page re. couplings.  As you say it is a conundrum.  Using screw links between coaches is going to be just about impossible, especially with gangways.  Kadees are probably the best for this, but that does drive you to fixed rakes with some kind of hook arrangement for the loco ends.

 

I got some very old wagon kits given to me at a show a couple of years ago.  I thought I wouldn't build them but in the end I did.  I ditched a lot of the horrid castings and made a number of parts myself.  The end result was acceptable but still far from the standard of a Slaters kit.

 

John

 

 

[Hal Nail]

5 hours ago, pwr said:

The owners manual that comes with the Dapol MK1 suggests that the gangways are available as spares from DCC supplies but when I contacted them they advised these have not yet turned up 

 

An approach to Gaugemaster brought the response that they have yet to catalogue Heljan MK1 spares 

There is usually a long delay before Dapol spares come through. I've always assumed they keep them back in case there turns out to be a particular problem and they need to replace something in numbers.

 

Sadly the price rocketed not long ago. I used to buy various bits such as smoke box darts for the spares box but not as keen at current prices.

 

I've been waiting for 43xx spares from Gaugemaster for about 6 months and it must be a couple of years since it actually came out. Every time I e mail they just say we are still in the process of listing the spares.

[pwr]

12 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

There is usually a long delay before Dapol spares come through. I've always assumed they keep them back in case there turns out to be a particular problem and they need to replace something in numbers.

 

Sadly the price rocketed not long ago. I used to buy various bits such as smoke box darts for the spares box but not as keen at current prices.

 

I've been waiting for 43xx spares from Gaugemaster for about 6 months and it must be a couple of years since it actually came out. Every time I e mail they just say we are still in the process of listing the spares.

 

Probably worth a complaint to Heljan then as the service clearly isn't up to scratch.

 

Paul R

 

[pwr]

16 hours ago, brossard said:

Glad to know we are more or less on the same page re. couplings.  As you say it is a conundrum.  Using screw links between coaches is going to be just about impossible, especially with gangways.  Kadees are probably the best for this, but that does drive you to fixed rakes with some kind of hook arrangement for the loco ends.

 

I got some very old wagon kits given to me at a show a couple of years ago.  I thought I wouldn't build them but in the end I did.  I ditched a lot of the horrid castings and made a number of parts myself.  The end result was acceptable but still far from the standard of a Slaters kit.

 

John

 

 

 

 

John

 

I think I am going to go with the buckeyes on this. Its unlikely to run in a rake of other gangway stock, more likely a GUV/CCT combination when its not in the POP train so I should be OK coupling screw links to it. I'll give it more thought though.

 

I too have some really old etched kits in the loft - DA models I think. Not sure about these! I also have some RJH  coaches which I think are ex Parkin and these look like a proper job. I looked at the etchings and castings the other day and was really pleased with what I found.

 

Paul R

[brossard]

Do you mean cosmetic buckeyes?  My Gresley BG is part of a parcels train combo so screw links are appropriate and the buckeyes are in the dropped position.  I did have to cut the bottom of the gangway away to access the hook for coupling.  Had to do that with the Heljan Gresleys and Dapol Mk1s as well.

 

It will be interesting to see what you make of those old kits.  BTW you can see mine in the link below.

 

Parkin kits are excellent.  I think I have to limit the kits I do because they take so much time.  There are two part built Kirk kits in boxes - don't know if they will ever get done now.

 

John

 

 

[pwr]

12 minutes ago, brossard said:

Do you mean cosmetic buckeyes?  My Gresley BG is part of a parcels train combo so screw links are appropriate and the buckeyes are in the dropped position.  I did have to cut the bottom of the gangway away to access the hook for coupling.  Had to do that with the Heljan Gresleys and Dapol Mk1s as well.

 

It will be interesting to see what you make of those old kits.  BTW you can see mine in the link below.

 

Parkin kits are excellent.  I think I have to limit the kits I do because they take so much time.  There are two part built Kirk kits in boxes - don't know if they will ever get done now.

 

John

 

 

 

 

Yes cosmetic buckeyes for this one!.  

 

I recognise those DA black boxes. I have a BR brake van and a 21T open from that source but not sure if I will ever build them. I've also got a half finished Kirk third composite kit which I started many moons ago. Its a shorty GE line version and is scheduled to be finished in Carmine and Cream to match the BCK from Hattons. I might fit that with Kadees to match the BCK. wouldnt take too much to finish it to be honest. A bit of under framer detail still needed and the solebar vac pipe plus the gangways which will be the Slaters Pullman type. 

 

I have not had the Dapol MK1's out of the box yet so still to see how they look. 

 

I will be investing in some more trestles for the layout to remove the fold down legs which quite honestly are a pain in the neck and just means I cause damage to the layout every time I set it up. They should also speed up the time it takes to put it up. Next running session may well be in September when I can be a bit more confident on the weather. I need a dry but cooler day to stop the rails heating up and boy do they heat even in modest sun. 

 

I've ordered the vents for the BG and will do the same for the door bump etches later. Still not got any wheels. I ordered some from Invertrain but have had no contact since the order acknowledgement and he rings you for card details. I may have to ring him up. Slaters do not do a plain 3' 1" coach wheel and you have to accept a plain wagon wheel for B4/5 bogies which is not ideal.

 

Paul R

[brossard]

Right, still on the correct page.

 

I know nothing about the DA kits.  I assume they are old just from the style and part materials.  It was more of a gauntlet throw down to myself to build them.  It sure expands ones skills.

 

My Kirk kits are also the short Gresleys.  I have the Isinglass drawings which are quite useful.

 

My layout isn't the most elegant but whether I eventually take it to shows is up in the air.  Shows will probably start next year I think.  Getting it up the stairs and out of the basement may be a challenge.  At least I didn't build a boat.

 

John

 

[pwr]

1 hour ago, brossard said:

Right, still on the correct page.

 

I know nothing about the DA kits.  I assume they are old just from the style and part materials.  It was more of a gauntlet throw down to myself to build them.  It sure expands ones skills.

 

My Kirk kits are also the short Gresleys.  I have the Isinglass drawings which are quite useful.

 

My layout isn't the most elegant but whether I eventually take it to shows is up in the air.  Shows will probably start next year I think.  Getting it up the stairs and out of the basement may be a challenge.  At least I didn't build a boat.

 

John

 

 

 

I know that feeling - mine have to be carried downstairs, through the house and out on to the patio. I then seem to spend all morning fixing issues and making it run! Hopefully the new trestles will help.

 

Paul R

[pwr]

OK so not much to report today. I started to put the transfers on the PFA which will be a lash up from bits of other left overs. I don't have a full sent and Railtec don't seem to have them in their range. It won't be perfect but then the wagons are not either!  I am not complaining as they were given to me!

 

On the BG front I have started to mark out where the angles and trusses go on the underside of the floor. Keith Parkin's books on MK1's are invaluable here given the absence of a drawing in the kit. The necessary measurements are all in the book!

 

 

The trusses like much of the rest of the bits are poor castings and I have had to repair a couple of them with low melt solder. 

 

 

Once cleaned up and assembled they should be strong enough and mostly hidden away with other gubbins. The prototype in question will have been air braked (probably dual but I need to check) and I don't have any air brake bits so these will need to be sourced (or made). 

 

I am out of metal epoxy so I can't glue the sole bars yet and they didn't have the sort I was using at the local DIY. The Araldite metal on display was in my book a bit pricey. A quick check on Amazon (other retailers are available) suggests I can have it tomorrow  for less than half the price so an order has gone in. However that said far too many of their next day deliveries are delayed and I don't know what their couriers are doing. The paint for the containers which should have been here yesterday seems to have got stuck in Hermes warehouse and is now slated for delivery today but I am not holding my breath. I feel a complaint coming on.

 

Right onwards and upwards.

 

Paul R

Edited April 3, 2022 by pwr

[brossard]

I am kind of a nerd when it comes to underframes.  It can be difficult to find the correct info.  A question to this forum as to what goes where is usually answered quickly.  I've done that several times for my builds.

 

John

[pwr]

53 minutes ago, brossard said:

I am kind of a nerd when it comes to underframes.  It can be difficult to find the correct info.  A question to this forum as to what goes where is usually answered quickly.  I've done that several times for my builds.

 

John

 

 

Yes you are right there although Parkin's books are also the bees knees when it comes to details

 

Paul R

[pwr]

A bit more time available tan I thought so I did a trial fitting of the EasyBuild window frames. 

 

 

Easy job and fixed with super glue. The paint and varnish should also seal it in eventually.

 

Paul R

Edited April 3, 2022 by pwr

[brossard]

Since you mention you have some Kirk Gresley kits to build, I thought I would point you to this source of incredibly useful info:

 

https://www.kemilway.com/kemilway-manual.html

 

These manuals are for the really excellent coach kits.  However I found a wealth of information on details and layout that I was able to use to superdetail my Kirk Gresley BG.

 

These download to a document of biblical proportions.

 

John

 

[pwr]

2 hours ago, brossard said:

Since you mention you have some Kirk Gresley kits to build, I thought I would point you to this source of incredibly useful info:

 

https://www.kemilway.com/kemilway-manual.html

 

These manuals are for the really excellent coach kits.  However I found a wealth of information on details and layout that I was able to use to superdetail my Kirk Gresley BG.

 

These download to a document of biblical proportions.

 

John

 

 

 

Thanks John will have a look. 

 

Paul R

[pwr]

Well not much to report today although I have ordered some parts from CPL and some Slaters wheels.  Once the latter arrive I will build the bogies and work out the best way of affixing them to the floor.

 

In the meantime I have glued on the sole bars as the package came from Amazon with the metal epoxy in it.

 

Here is a photo of the first one done

 

 

I need to clean off the excess epoxy but the joint is much stronger than I was expecting.  The next stage will be to fit the angle strip to the centre of the chassis.

 

All for now

 

Paul R

Edited April 3, 2022 by pwr