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AC Electrics- Classes 81 & 85

 

Hi Folks,

 

These two specimens have been in the ongoing project box for quite some time, eighteen months or there about. They have been made form old Trix body shells that I bought in the late 1980's and are mounted upon modified Hornby class 86 chassis.

 

The 81 has had its transfers applied and been varnished along with flush glazing and a some cab interiors that I made up fitted. The 85 is slightly behind, the transfers are applied although as yet it requires varnish, glazing and cab interiors. The double arrows will be fitted after varnishing.

 

Both locomotives yet require air and vacuum hoses and ETH cables to be fitted.

 

post-34584-0-50497300-1547494377_thumb.jpg

81 015

 

post-34584-0-09461000-1547494414_thumb.jpg

85 024

 

Gibbo.

 

Edit: I missed a detail out !

Edited by Gibbo675
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Hi Folks,

 

Cow catchers have now made an appearance upon the Y6, quite a fiddly job but they worked out well.

 

I decided to fill in the space under the buffer beam to the depth of the skirts with plasticard and then attach a .030" X .030" strip to the front face of this piece directly under the buffer beam. Across the bottom edge I glued a .030" X 5mm strip at a right angle to the infill piece, this along with the smaller strip formed the framework to which the bars of the cow catcher were to be glued.

 

The bars of the cow catcher are made from .020" X .020" micro-strip 10mm long and there are 19 in each assembly, if I have counted correctly the real ones had 24 but not to worry to much about such matters. The bars were cut so that they were just slightly long so that once the glue had cured they could be trimmed and filled back to the supporting framework.

 

I may well have made a bad decision not to have painted the areas behind the bars before fitting them into place.

 

post-34584-0-14901400-1547495303_thumb.jpg

 

Gibbo.

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Hi Folks,

 

Buffers and shackles have now been fitted. The buffers are cut from some Hornby 75 ton crane bogies that have just arrived that are for four future scratch builds with some filled down Plastruct tube collars fitted at the base to make them look like GER buffers. The shackles are some that I found in the bits box, unfortunately I don't have any vacuum pipes so I might make some from copper wire.

 

Painting is next although I'm not sure what shade of brown was used, does anyone know ?

 

post-34584-0-97210400-1547581285_thumb.jpg

 

Gibbo.

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Kearsley Power Station - Hawthorn Leslie Electric / BTH Locomotives.

 

After some amount of thinking, measuring and drawing I have satisfied myself that I have enough information to be able to build a reasonably accurate models of the locomotive that worked at Kearsley Power Station sited on the north west side of Manchester. I have vague recollections of seeing them in the exchange sidings on rare trips to Manchester in the 1970's and early 1980's and actually have worked upon two of them, No.2 and No.4, fitting air brake equipment to them in 1993. From what I remember only No.4 was converted for use with No.2 as a spare. The reason for the fitting of air brakes was that both the railway and nuclear inspectorates were not impressed that Heysham Power Station were pulling the strings on the flask wagons and taking them in and out of the loading bay as swingers !

 

The four locomotives were built by Hawthorn Leslie, latterly Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn in 1928, 1936, 1944 and 1946 respectively with BTH traction equipment. Powered by a 500 volt overhead system the first pair were 180 hp and the second were up-rated to 260 hp. All four of the locomotives were withdrawn in 1982 with No.1 going to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, No. 2 is at the Tanfield Railway, No.3 was scrapped and No.4 converted to battery power for use at Heysham Nuclear Power Station, now at the Suburban Electric Railway Centre along with No1.

 

I have been busy with the knife and file having cut out the bed plates and the buffer beams which wee fabricated into the underframes using some 3mm deep Plastruct channel section which then received some gusseting behind the buffer beams. The next job was the sides and cab spectacle plates in which I have cut and filled out all of the windows. There are differences in the body styles in that No.1 has a smaller cab and consequently the angle of the bonnet is shallower, and also the spectacle plate of No.4 has three windows instead of the two of all of the other locomotives.

 

I am using cut and shut Hornby 75 ton crane Stokes bogies for the side frames of the bogies, two of which gave up their buffers for the Y6 projest just the other day. The side frames of Nos. 2, 3 & 4 have so far been dealt with as they are of the same pattern but those of No.1 have an equalised spring arrangement which requires more work that I have not yet done.

 

To make the side frames I cut off the "W" irons of the Stokes bogies removing the ladders and the brake detail from one spring and then inserted a piece of 10mm X12mm X .040" plasticard between them and two 3mm X 10mm X.040" pieces onto the ends while mounted upon a flat surface with the lower edge against a straight edge. The under side of my aluminium mitre box is just the job for this. To reinforce the joints a strap piece of 6mm X 48mm X .020" was glued to the inside face of the bogie frames, this will allow clearance for the wheel sets when assembled.

 

It is intended that the locomotive will be motorised using either Black Beetle or Tenshodo motor bogies with 10.5mm wheels and 26mm wheel base but for now they will be built as static models and converted as funds allow.

 

post-34584-0-34352200-1547765683_thumb.jpg

Progress so far.

 

Gibbo.

 

Edit: I only spot spelling mistakes after posting

Edited by Gibbo675
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Hi Folks,

 

I've been busy with the Kearsley electric shunters today having cut out all of the cab windows and assembled the body superstructures. First, each of the the cab spectacle plates were glued in place to a body side piece in a handed manner and then, once cured, the two sides, each with a spectacle plate, were glued together.

 

Doing four at once gives time for the structures to cure to a reasonable set that they may be handled and once at that stage the assembly was checked for square and placed upon the underframe. After again checking for square and that all datum points sit in a centrally placed position I ran a bed of glue around the inside of the cab sides to stick it down to the top surface of the underframe.

 

When the cab section of the superstructure was sufficiently cured I then checked the bonnet sides for position along the edges of the underframe and ran a bead of glue to secure them also while using a steel rule as a straight edge to ensure that they remained true.

 

Most handily Plastruct 3/8" tube is just right for the radii at the front ends of the bonnets, the distance between the side pieces were measured individually and a piece cut and the ends filed square so that they are a sliding fit in between the sides. Some of the tubes required a slight flat to be filed upon the under side as fitted to make sure that they fitted flush with the top edges of the sides but only by a fraction of a millimetre.

 

Across the front of the bonnet a 3mm strip of .030" plasticard was fitted with the top edge feathered to allow for a reduced step onto the tube, this will be later filled with Milliput and sanded back to flush. The tops of the bonnets were similarly treated except that I fitted a piece across the fronts of the spectacle plates so that the bonnet top had a location to allow for accurate positioning, again the edge that met the tube was feathered to allow for a neat fit.

 

I also decided an N gauge version was in order so that is going through the works at the same time as the production batch !

 

A pleasant surprised arrived in the post in the form of a rebate from the thieves at HMRC which was immediately banked and spent on two Tenshodo motor bogies. At least half of the fleet will be motorised as built and the second two may be built in a way that conversion is a very simple operation. Winner !!!

 

One job that didn't go too well was that I was not happy with the depth of plating between the spectacle plate windows and the tops of the bonnet so I glued fillets of .040" plasticard into the bottoms of those windows which has improved the looks considerably. In 24 hours or so they will be sufficiently cured to be able to pare back and sand flush.

 

post-34584-0-62682200-1547832633_thumb.jpg

Shewing the tube arrangement at the front of the bonnet and the location for the bonnet top fixed to the cab front.

 

post-34584-0-56308800-1547832660_thumb.jpg

The production batch and the N gauge extra.

 

As I forgot yesterday here is a link to gallery with photos of three of the four locomotives;

 

https://mikemorant.smugmug.com/Trains-Railways-British-Isles/Miscellaneous/Industrial-railways-North/i-ZWzqRm2/A

 

 

Gibbo.

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Gibbo quick question regarding the 'Toby' roof, I have heard that pouring boiling water over plasticard while fastened to a former (in this case a jar) or submerging it in boiling water, helps to keep it in its new shape, something to do with the properties of styrene I think.

 

Do you know if this is good info, it would seem to make sense as in the past I've experimented with curving plasticard in this way (without hot water) and it sometimes warps over a few weeks, trying to return to its untensioned (flat) state.

 

 

Hi There,

 

I glued it "cold" so to say and didn't pour boiling water over it, that said the curve was a lot tighter than I required rather than a matching radius so it might be alright.

 

 

 

The water trick usually works well for single sheets.

Laminating and letting set in a curve should be good for double (or more) thicknesses. In theory, one should resist the other in trying to straighten out.

 

(I've laminated flat sheets and they are far more stable than a single sheet of double thickness.)

 

I would go so far as to say that the best bet is to do both. Bend with heat around a former,then glue, setting around a former. I will bear it in mind the next time I need curved styrene.

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited by newbryford
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The water trick usually works well for single sheets.

Laminating and letting set in a curve should be good for double (or more) thicknesses. In theory, one should resist the other in trying to straighten out.

 

(I've laminated flat sheets and they are far more stable than a single sheet of double thickness.)

 

I would go so far as to say that the best bet is to do both. Bend with heat around a former,then glue, setting around a former. I will bear it in mind the next time I need curved styrene.

 

Cheers,

Mick

Hi Mick,

 

I've not had any bother doing it cold previously but there are three stiffening ribs for a belt and braces job.

 

Thanks for the input all the same.

 

Gibbo.

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Hi Folks,

 

Here is the first of the Kearsley electric shunters, it is the N gauge one. So far finished with the exception of its pantograph which is currently on order.

 

The bogies are from a Graham Farish bolster wagon and are of the diamond type. They have been altered by gluing a top stretcher over the pivot boss that is formed from a cross with a hole in it, to which false sides were attached. The false sides are glued around the top and ends of the original bogie frame which were then attached to the ends of the top stretcher by end plates. Once cued they were filled u to make sure they were square and also to shape the top edges over the ends and then representations of springs and sand boxes were attached. Attachment of the bogies to the underframes is via two stainless steel self tapping screws salvaged from my erstwhile shower screen.

 

The cab roof was fitted after the inside of the cab was painted black and is made from a square of .080" plasticard that fits to the same size as the cab sides and front and is filled to form the arc of the roof. Once secured a .010" square of plasticard which was cut slightly oversize to finish dimension was glued to the top of it, when cured it was filed to suit giving the required overhang.

 

The buffers are made from Triang Mk1 brass buffer heads that scale at 24" which seems about right when scaling from photographs. They also give good representation of the industrial type short shank buffers too

 

The body is painted in Humbrol Matt 104 blue which seems to be a good match against various photographs with the buffer beam painted yellow and black. The style of marking on the buffer beam is of alternate diagonal lines and not the more usual chevron pattern.

 

post-34584-0-85254100-1548005219_thumb.jpg

 

Gibbo.

 

Edit: Forgot to mention buffers.

post-34584-0-85254100-1548005219_thumb.jpg

Edited by Gibbo675
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awesome! Love seeing it come together and that you are making a batch of 4. Will you be motorising any of them?

Hi Corbs,

 

I've just had a quick edit in that the one shewn is the N gauge one.

 

The OO gauge ones will all be motorised with Tenshodo motor bogies, I have two on order at the moment and should I do enough (too much) work next week I'll buy another two.

 

Already planning more possible avenues of nonsense.

 

Gibbo.

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Hi Gibbo, can I ask what was that book, behind the pullmans, on the first page?

Hi Edward,

 

The book is one of a series by Anthony M Ford called "Pullman Profile", there are five books on the series so far listed below;

  1. The 12 Wheel Cars
  2. The Standard 'K-Type' Cars
  3. The All-Steel 'K-Type' Cars
  4. The Brighton Belle and Southern Electric Pullmans
  5. The Golden Arrow

Book 2 is the book you will have noticed in the picture, unfortunately it is out of print and had to wait some time to get a copy. My copy was supplied by the book shop form the NYMR at Grosmont. George the chap that runs it was very helpful in sourcing and supplying it, his email is below.

 

shopgrosmontbooks@gmail.com

 

The book does not contain full drawings in all cases but as carriage lengths and window sizes and spacing's are fairly standard working from photographs is quite easy once you have had a good look at what you wish to model. The book does give excellent information of names, numbers and services that the cars were used upon and also in a lot of cases what colour the both the lamp shades and the upholstery of the seats were so you may paint them the correct colour. The wooden panelling in mine are painted BR Bauxite, no marquetry !

 

Gibbo.

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Hi Edward,

 

The book is one of a series by Anthony M Ford called "Pullman Profile", there are five books on the series so far listed below;

 

  • The 12 Wheel Cars
  • The Standard 'K-Type' Cars
  • The All-Steel 'K-Type' Cars
  • The Brighton Belle and Southern Electric Pullmans
  • The Golden Arrow
Book 2 is the book you will have noticed in the picture, unfortunately it is out of print and had to wait some time to get a copy. My copy was supplied by the book shop form the NYMR at Grosmont. George the chap that runs it was very helpful in sourcing and supplying it, his email is below.

 

shopgrosmontbooks@gmail.com

 

The book does not contain full drawings in all cases but as carriage lengths and window sizes and spacing's are fairly standard working from photographs is quite easy once you have had a good look at what you wish to model. The book does give excellent information of names, numbers and services that the cars were used upon and also in a lot of cases what colour the both the lamp shades and the upholstery of the seats were so you may paint them the correct colour. The wooden panelling in mine are painted BR Bauxite, no marquetry !

 

Gibbo.

Thanks Gibbo, and it’s actually Donald, I really should get round to fixing that quote.

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H Folks,

 

Here is the now painted Y6, I'm not sure about the colour of the body work for I used BR Bauxite. I think the shade is a bit too dark and a bit too red, I have compared it too a van that I built about thirty years ago that was painted in the early BR Bauxite which I think looks better. The early shade is both lighter and less red, it is a more yellow brown.

 

As a result I decided to hold off transfers while I think about it or even until until I get some more paint. The livery is going to be early British Railways written on the sides and not the early crest version although I don't have a suitable for that livery yet number yet.

 

Other details that I have added are the vacuum pipes which I made from 1mm diameter copper wire with some fine copper wire tightly wrapped around it, the ends secured with a dab of cyanoacrylate glue.  The 1mm wire was a piece of scrap twin and earth cable and the wire wrapper came from a multi strand flex, this measured .15mm diameter.

 

post-34584-0-10293400-1548151203_thumb.jpg

 

Gibbo.

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love it. I scratchbuilt a rather cruder Y6 in 3mm scale a few years ago. Colourwise, I'm sure I read something in one of the monthly magazines , I'm guessing Model Rail, recently that described the colours of the J70s over the GE/LNER/BR years (I imagine the Y6 would be the same?) 

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love it. I scratchbuilt a rather cruder Y6 in 3mm scale a few years ago. Colourwise, I'm sure I read something in one of the monthly magazines , I'm guessing Model Rail, recently that described the colours of the J70s over the GE/LNER/BR years (I imagine the Y6 would be the same?) 

Hi Mog,

 

Did it say what the colour was ????

 

Gibbo.

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Freightliner Caboose

 

Hi Folks,

 

Here is a little project that I have been thinking about building for a while. As I am waiting for both paint to dry and filler to harden it is something else to clutter the bench up with.

 

It is a model of one of the cabooses that were used for the guard's accommodation on Freightliner trains before the guards were allowed to travel in the rear cab of the locomotive by way of union agreement. Apparently the cabooses were rather unpopular with the guards and did not last long in service. Another solution was to use passenger brakes that were surplus to requirement, these were very often marshalled behind the locomotive.

 

Below is a link that shews the one that is preserved at the NRM:

 

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-freightliner-guards-caboose-at-the-national-railway-museum-york-england-141362553.html

 

post-34584-0-34658000-1548196405_thumb.jpg

 

Gibbo.

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H

 

I'd heard of these but didn't think any were preserved. When were they brought in, Gibbo?

Hi Corbs,

 

Originally the guards were to ride in the rear cab of the locomotive but the unions objected so the first trains including the trial trains in the summer of 1965 had air brake fitted goods brake vans at the ends of the trains. These vans were borrowed from the Southern Region as that was the only region that had air fitted goods brakes at the time. Goods brakes were used at first, as with the trial trains, and then the caboose's were brought in during the autumn of 1965.

 

The cabooses were unpopular because the ride was allegedly worse than even a goods brake van and latterly passenger brake stock was substituted, marshalled behind the locomotive. Eventually the guards rode in the rear cabs of the locomotives as had been originally intended, and then eventually, many years later, the trains went to driver only.

 

Gibbo.

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Hi Gibbo, what an interesting variety of models you have been working on, always nice to see scratchbuilding and kitbashing etc going on, will follow with interest! :yes:

Cheers Martyn,

 

I enjoy seeing your work also. Your little Fowler Diesel was an interesting pug conversion.

 

I shall shall stop now I don't want the thread to turn into a "love-in".

 

Gibbo.

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Cheers Martyn,

 

I enjoy seeing your work also. Your little Fowler Diesel was an interesting pug conversion.

 

I shall shall stop now I don't want the thread to turn into a "love-in".

 

Gibbo.

Thanks Gibbo, could do with a "Thanks and friendly and supportive and funny" button for that!!!

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