Rambler's Wagon Works

[Rambler]

In addition to my blog, that will concentrate on loco building, I have created this Topic to cover my wagon building projects.

 

I've been repainting some second-hand wagons and got to the lettering stage. In 4mm I usually use kit transfers for the wagon plates, paint out the numbers and then add the correct number with white Drawing Ink. In 7mm the transfers in Slaters kits have some wagon plates with no numbers, which makes it easier, and then I realised that I could use 4mm wagon number transfers (scale 3" in 4mm) for the numbers and the results (see below) are much better than I could achieve using ink.

This is an ex-NER 20T Hopper from the Slaters kit. The transfer has an extra bit of black at the top but this won't be noticed when it's weathered.

 

..and this is a Slaters MR 5 plank open.

 

Note: Carr's Transfix is a big help whenever applying these transfers, either Methfix of Pressfix, and I always varnish the plates to seal the numbers.

[Rambler]

North Eastern Railway 10.5 Ton Hopper Coal Wagon

 

(or Scratchbuilding a Kit)

 

Noting that there aren't a lot of North Eastern wagons readily available in 7mm scale (although I have managed to pick up a good selection of the Roundfield Engineering wagons) I decided that I would try to get a kit produced for the Diagram P4 hopper wagon. These are a must for my planned "East Yorkshire in the 1920's" layout.

Initially I toyed with the idea of doing it in etched brass, as I have some experience in etched brass carriages (albeit in 4mm), but chats with likely customers indicated that, while etched brass might be OK for the odd wagon, it wouldn't be a good idea if you wanted to build ten or twenty. I then noticed that Finney and Smith have managed to accumulate a good range of 3mm scale wagons in plastic and, after a chat at an exhibition, they suggested a plastic moulder who might be willing to make the required moulds.

 

Some time later, the first test mouldings for the body arrived.

 

 

After some discussion with the moulder, we agreed that the next step would be for me to build a mock-up of the interior because this is quite involved, there being no floor to the wagon; instead there is heavy framing at the bottom and hoppering in two directions. So far I have got to this stage:

 

 

The individual parts are as shown here:

 

 

Apart from the inner-solebar/w-iron pieces, which are pinned to the body, all of the pieces slot or fit into place and "just stay there", so that I can break it down whenever needed.

NB: There is one part in this last picture that isn't fitted in the previous one, i.e. the central cross framing (top left in the photo). This can't be fitted until I have made cut-outs in the side hoppering.

[Allegheny1600]

Hi there,

Your wagon plates look superb, well done!

I'm most impressed by your wagon kit too, looks to be coming along very nicely! Good clean mouldings too!

Wishing you sucess with your venture,

John E.

[Poggy1165]

Yes, highly impressed with your work. The idea of using 4mm scale transfers often works in 7mm, not least because 4mm versions are quite frequently overscale to start with.

 

Also interested in the plastic kit concept, given that conventional wisdom is that the production of plastic kits is prohibitively expensive.

[Rambler]

My how time flies... The NER hopper wagon kit is still progressing, albeit slowly. I'll post an update later...

 

In the meantime I've been diverted onto other things, among which is the PECO kit for a GWR Van, which I intend to build with end ventilators. I've started preparing the sides and doors, which mainly involves removing the provision for making the doors open and squaring off their outer edges. The recesses on the backs of the doors also need be deepened so that the doors don't protrude so much - they should be level with the side stanchions. This isn't a new idea - it appear in the MRJ years ago.

 

I've also scraped back the planking to make the "wood effect" less visible - in the photo the right hand door and the other side (partially visible at the top) haven't yet been done (although it isn't very obvious in the photo - you may wonder why I bother...).

 

[Loxborough]

Very impressed by the wagon plate transfers; almost (but not quite) make me want to work in 7mm! (confession; wagon plates generally get overlooked in my 4mm efforts.)

 

Interesting to see that you are building a P4; I will watch closely for progress as I have been playing the same game (see coal empties link in signature) in 4mm. I wondered about whether to go the mass production route (would have been resin bodies in my case) but in the end went for mass (well, only three for the time being) scratchbuilds as I liked the idea of producing different versions of the same diagram.

 

Keep 'em coming...

 

George

[Rambler]

North Eastern Railway 10.5 Ton Hopper Coal Wagon

(With a little lot of help from my plastic-moulding colleague) I've made quite a lot of progress with the P4 hopper, and photos will appear soon. In parallel with the plastic bits, I've been designing some parts in etched brass and nickel-silver, although its a moot point whether these are the ideal solution as they don't half take a long time to assemble. For the moment they are a useful stop-gap.
 
In 2011, I drew up a pair of frets for converting Peco and Slaters buffer so that they look like NER mineral wagon buffers with a step. This is the fret for the Slaters buffer (the Peco variant is the same except that the hole in the middle, for the buffer shank, is smaller):

 

 

The parts to make up one buffer are shown here. There's one extra part that isn't on the fret - the step looked a bit flimsy so I made up an extra bit (the square bit with a cut out) to go between it and the buffer turning.

 

 

When its all soldered up it looks like this:

 

 

..and like everyone else I wish I'd cleaned it up a bit more, but you won't see the solder when its painted.

[Rambler]

Another digression

 

In 2005 I took my first step in 7mm modelling by buying a Parkside LMS Goods Brake Van, and I was hooked. The amount and quality of detail was outstanding. I've since found out that this isn't always the case in O-gauge....

 

It took me some time to work out how to do the suspension - the kit comes with axleboxes that will slide in the w-irons but there's just too much stiction for my liking. I also tried coil springs but eventually settled on Exactoscale springing units which seem to work well. There's a pile of lead in the body to keep the springs compressed, so they work by pushing the wheels down when the track has a dip.

 

The next hold-up was the step-boards. In 4mm I'd always replaced plastic ones with metal and eventually I got round to doing the same with this model. I could probably have bought some brass section of the correct dimensions but I made some up from thin angle packed out with brass strip. I had made up the second step-board and put it away for the next modelling session when I thought "that would make a nice photo".