Brian's 7mm Diesel Workbench, Belated up-date!

[Tove]

The 37 look`s the dog`s do dar`s,but i especially like the buffer beam mod`s.

 

I`m hoping to do the same with mine when i get it,but had`nt found a suitable re-placement/new buffer beam for the Heljan 37.

 

But having looked at Pete Harvey`s site, i`ve been unable to find the part`s you`ve used from him.

So are these a special order,or are they to be produced in the future?.

 

Thanks,

 

Brian.

[Pete Harvey]

The 37 look`s the dog`s do dar`s,but i especially like the buffer beam mod`s.

 

I`m hoping to do the same with mine when i get it,but had`nt found a suitable re-placement/new buffer beam for the Heljan 37.

 

But having looked at Pete Harvey`s site, i`ve been unable to find the part`s you`ve used from him.

So are these a special order,or are they to be produced in the future?.

 

Thanks,

 

Brian.

 

I will be releasing a complete set of etches for the 37/4 conversion during October this will include all of the etched parts needed to convert the Heljan CH & SH 37's to the 37/4 variant.

 

I will post more info on the PH Designs section of RM Web soon. 

[Tove]

I will be releasing a complete set of etches for the 37/4 conversion during October this will include all of the etched parts needed to convert the Heljan CH & SH 37's to the 37/4 variant.

 

I will post more info on the PH Designs section of RM Web soon. 

 

Thanks for the info Pete.

 

I`ll look forward to getting hold of the detail part`s.

 

Brian.

[brian daniels]

Finally got the numbers for 37425 from Rail-Tec so they are on and varnished over so will give it a bit of time before weathering.

 

I have received and painted blue another Heljan 45, complete with nose seam! I will not put any pictures up until Heljan have used it for their advertising etc.

 

Also built another JLTRT Prestwin wagon to go with my other one of these. I have finished a pre-production JLTRT Warwell. I believe they are doing a little bit of modifications to it before it gets released. I will be adding a wooden deck over the recesses in the middle and then chaining down the load. The transfers I used on this are from Appleby for the modern Warflat/Warwell really but a few useful bits for the vac braked ones.

 

 

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Well the TC can now get the other coaches painted, so that's going to take a while.

 

In the mean time I did get round to painting the new Heljan 37 ETH re-furbishment. At the moment it's still a bit glossy as I am waiting for some number transfers from Rail-tec and once they are on I will tone it down and weather it.

Superb Brian! It will look even better when toned down....

 

Those that saw me at Telford saw I was building a pre-production JLTRT Warwell kit. Well I have finished building it with all the bits I had plus a few others to get it this far. It is still short of some tie down lugs that go under the solebars at the ends and these will be sent on soon. I have added Slaters lampirons and a modified vac pipe. I also added the small etched rings on the top to tie the load down to and an etched wagon label clip. The bogies are straight forward to do and if you are sparing with the superglue they do work, and mine do!!!!! As it comes it has a hollow deck but I will add some wood strip to it after painting to cover the hole.

Very nice! Werent you tempted to solder the bogies? I must admit I often use cyano and/or epoxy for bogies as they are often hard to get the iron into without unsoldering other parts, or melting others...perhaps that's just me

 

BTW Brian I have pinged you a PM.

 

ATVB,

 

CME

[brian daniels]

I have been building a Mercian Models PWM shunter kit recently which whilst it does indeed look like a PWM has a few shortcomings.

 

 

 

 

The first problem when making the body is the bonnet top. It's made of such a thick gauge nickle silver it could have been used as a spare for the real thing. What a job to bend it, even after annealing. Then you have to try and punch rivets out in an upturned trough. There are also no holes provided for the turned handrail knobs that go down the middle of the curve. Getting the radiator cowling to match, as near as damn it, was fun. I had to make a surround for the rad slats in the front as there is just a flush etch front provided without four holes needed for handrail knobs at the top. Still got to work on the cab roof, not too keen on it's fit at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

I made the body removable from the footplate to ease painting I hope but I think I might do this in all over yellow so being able to split it might not be an issue. The buffers I used are JLTRT, whilst not 100% they are self contained and do not rotate. Vac pipe is as supplied in kit but re-bent to a lower position. Couplings are from Exactoscale.

 

 

 

 

  With the chassis I decided to use wiper pick-ups as I thought 6 plungers on a little shunter might be too much.

 

 

The sandbox casting supplied are not quite correct for these so I used some from a JLTRT 45. Again not 100% but better than the supplied ones I think.

 

 

 

 

The parts supplied for the lubricator are a bit of a mystery, I just can't work out why I need a whitemetal 4mm flycrank? I am working with the bits here to hopefully make it work ok.

 

 

A few other bits to use or not!

[Tove]

It seem`s like you`ve had a bit of a headache with this one Brian,but the result`s so far are looking good.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

I have been building a Mercian Models PWM shunter kit recently which whilst it does indeed look like a PWM has a few shortcomings.

 

pwm 01.jpg

 

pwm 02.jpg

 

 

The first problem when making the body is the bonnet top. It's made of such a thick gauge nickle silver it could have been used as a spare for the real thing. What a job to bend it, even after annealing. Then you have to try and punch rivets out in an upturned trough. There are also no holes provided for the turned handrail knobs that go down the middle of the curve. Getting the radiator cowling to match, as near as damn it, was fun. I had to make a surround for the rad slats in the front as there is just a flush etch front provided without four holes needed for handrail knobs at the top. Still got to work on the cab roof, not too keen on it's fit at the moment.

 

pwm 04.jpg

 

pwm 03.jpg

 

pwm 07.jpg

 

 

I made the body removable from the footplate to ease painting I hope but I think I might do this in all over yellow so being able to split it might not be an issue. The buffers I used are JLTRT, whilst not 100% they are self contained and do not rotate. Vac pipe is as supplied in kit but re-bent to a lower position. Couplings are from Exactoscale.

 

pwm 06.jpg

 

pwm 05.jpg

 

pwm 08.jpg

 

  With the chassis I decided to use wiper pick-ups as I thought 6 plungers on a little shunter might be too much.

 

pwm 10.jpg

 

The sandbox casting supplied are not quite correct for these so I used some from a JLTRT 45. Again not 100% but better than the supplied ones I think.

 

pwm 09.jpg

 

pwm 12.jpg

 

 

The parts supplied for the lubricator are a bit of a mystery, I just can't work out why I need a whitemetal 4mm flycrank? I am working with the bits here to hopefully make it work ok.

 

pwm 11.jpg

 

A few other bits to use or not!

Hi Brian,

 

That's looking very nice, despite the challenges - is it the same type that were stabled at Gloucester Shed for Pt Way workings? I do like those.

 

If someone with your skills (especially with brass and NS) has faced challenges then perhaps a note from you to Mercian might be useful for Mercian (and those customers who follow in your footsteps), I would say that there is an argument here to substitute the Eng. Compartment Bonnet and perhaps the Grill/Rad area with resin castings. I have some very nice Mercian 0-16.5 kits to do and they come as brass, NS, resin, ie multimedia, and they look like they will go together very well and fairly easily too.

 

BTW are the coupling rods milled or etched/layered?

 

Kindest,

 

CME 

[brian daniels]

Hi CME

 

This is indeed one of the little permanant way shunters the Western had.

 

The rods are 3 laminations to solder together and are in two halves so you can compensate this loco if required.

 

I spent about 4 hours yesterday making the lubricator work from the parts supplied. One big problem was the long etched rod from the crank was too long! So after I had made it and found this out it was out with the cutters to shorten it by about 2mm. The nice machined crank on the end of the crankpin was fitted by a 10BA bolt. I tapped the wheel and the Slaters top hat bearing as well and screwed the whole lot together from the back, finishing off by filing flush the front face so the operating rod can pass it on it's circular motion. One little problem to sort out now though is the cast wheel infront of the footplate should be below it. I can't lower the lubricator casting by much or it will be on the wheel rim. I think looking at the wheel casting is a bit big so will look in the spares box for a steam loco cab control etch wheel to replace this cast one. Forgot to say I added a little bracket on the chassis to attach the lubricator as I did not want it on the footplate so you could not separate the two easily.

 

 

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hi CME This is indeed one of the little permanant way shunters the Western had. The rods are 3 laminations to solder together and are in two halves so you can compensate this loco if required. I spent about 4 hours yesterday making the lubricator work from the parts supplied. One big problem was the long etched rod from the crank was too long! So after I had made it and found this out it was out with the cutters to shorten it by about 2mm. The nice machined crank on the end of the crankpin was fitted by a 10BA bolt. I tapped the wheel and the Slaters top hat bearing as well and screwed the whole lot together from the back, finishing off by filing flush the front face so the operating rod can pass it on it's circular motion. One little problem to sort out now though is the cast wheel infront of the footplate should be below it. I can't lower the lubricator casting by much or it will be on the wheel rim. I think looking at the wheel casting is a bit big so will look in the spares box for a steam loco cab control etch wheel to replace this cast one. Forgot to say I added a little bracket on the chassis to attach the lubricator as I did not want it on the footplate so you could not separate the two easily.

Thanks Brian, I love those prototypes, maybe one day, when I clear the decks, I will build one.

 

The effort and details you are putting in will make it a well worthwhile model.

 

Yellow or BR Corp Blue??

 

Kindest regards,

 

CME

[brian daniels]

Made a start on weathering this Heljan up-grade to ETH. Sorry the MU and ETH cables are still not connected but I still have to wire up the tail lights and rad fan to the chip so will plug the wires in once I screw the body back on.

 

 

[Tove]

Cracking work as usual Brian.

 

The upgrades & your weathering have really lifted this loco.

 

Brian.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Made a start on weathering this Heljan up-grade to ETH. Sorry the MU and ETH cables are still not connected but I still have to wire up the tail lights and rad fan to the chip so will plug the wires in once I screw the body back on.

Hi Brian,

 

That looks cracking, the weathering etc really does bring the loco to life.

 

May I ask where you got the brake actuator arms from, they help to make the loco come to life.

 

Kindest regards,

 

CME

[JeffP]

Hi Brian, Nice build of the PWM, I went all over during my spotting days to get all five.

 

I don't know if you've seen this: https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1161&bih=634&q=PWM+shunter+inside+Gloucester+Horton+Road&oq=PWM+shunter+inside+Gloucester+Horton+Road&gs_l=img.12...3216.19431.0.22443.41.32.0.0.0.0.1087.2737.6-2j1.3.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..38.2.1647...0.C4ZE9VTAcoM#imgrc=n7ORGVahOrBjuM%3A, Nice pic of one, don't forget the angle iron under both front and rear bufferbeams, it was fitted to all class members afaik.

[brian daniels]

The class 37 handbrake arms are on a Pete Harvey etch.

 

The angle iron deflector is included in the PWM kit but if you solder it to the bottom of the bufferbeam with the angle inwards as it should be you can't get the chassis out past it! Thinking caps on about this little oversight.

[Tove]

The class 37 handbrake arms are on a Pete Harvey etch.

 

The angle iron deflector is included in the PWM kit but if you solder it to the bottom of the bufferbeam with the angle inwards as it should be you can't get the chassis out past it! Thinking caps on about this little oversight.

Looking back over the chassis photo`s,i `ve noticed that the end rear frame spacer (?) is inset a little,where`s the front is one is flush.

If the front had of been like the back, than you might have been able to just cut two small grove`s for the chassis to slide through the deflector.

 

I would  imagine it`s probably a bit late in the build to do this with the front as well now?.

 

Brian.

[deltic17]

Brian,

Out of interest on 37425 - or other similar locos - you mention about finally varnishing over the transfers - do you like to use say a ??gloss?? Railmatch varnish and then tone down when dry with weathering colours which are matt.

 

I have used Railmatch Satin varnish as the final coat on a few locos recently and these produce a lovely very weatherworn appearance when later weathered with frame dirt say. Next up on my workbench is a Deltic and I think I need a cleaner/more polished finish with less weathering.

 

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

[boxbrownie]

Cracking work as usual Brian.

 

The upgrades & your weathering have really lifted this loco.

 

Brian.

 

Well if Brian kept the real things clean it would save us modellers a lot of time 

[brian daniels]

I don't get the real ones dirty these days David as I don't seem to do much mainline work these days, which to be honest suits me down the ground.

 

When I varnish the finished models I use a satin for wagons and underframes but for loco and coach bodies I add a bit of gloss to it. Full gloss is too much but by adding gloss and satin together you can get it just right. I then weather over it, just like the real thing is. The majority of the blue diesels still had a nice shine to the paint under a bit of grim. Ok you did get the odd ones like a few Westerns and 50's where the paint seemed to just sort of rub off down to the primer. Even now if you look close up to an EWS 66 it's still gloss paint.

 

I have been busy this week finishing off my Warflats and Warwells at last. The reason it's taken so long to put the vehicles on them is once they are on it makes it difficult for me to pack the wagons away. But I now have a very useful underbed storage box from Wilkinsons at £3 I just had to give it a go. And look, all my flats and well sit in it side by side. I have since made some dividers from free cardboard fruit box bottoms from Sainsbury's, didn't want to spend too much. So I have finally got round to chaining the vehicles down with CPL chains. I still need to get a couple more chain packs to tie down two Saxons on a Warflat, boy is that a heavy wagon now as these vehicles are whitemetal.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

The class 37 handbrake arms are on a Pete Harvey etch.

 

The angle iron deflector is included in the PWM kit but if you solder it to the bottom of the bufferbeam with the angle inwards as it should be you can't get the chassis out past it! Thinking caps on about this little oversight.

Thanks Brian.

 

I did wonder, some of these details often look superb, especially when viewing a model in isolation, ie a display cabinet, yet very often on layout models things dont quite work out for ease of use...

 

I don't get the real ones dirty these days David as I don't seem to do much mainline work these days, which to be honest suits me down the ground.

 

When I varnish the finished models I use a satin for wagons and underframes but for loco and coach bodies I add a bit of gloss to it. Full gloss is too much but by adding gloss and satin together you can get it just right. I then weather over it, just like the real thing is. The majority of the blue diesels still had a nice shine to the paint under a bit of grim. Ok you did get the odd ones like a few Westerns and 50's where the paint seemed to just sort of rub off down to the primer. Even now if you look close up to an EWS 66 it's still gloss paint.

 

I have been busy this week finishing off my Warflats and Warwells at last. The reason it's taken so long to put the vehicles on them is once they are on it makes it difficult for me to pack the wagons away. But I now have a very useful underbed storage box from Wilkinsons at £3 I just had to give it a go. And look, all my flats and well sit in it side by side. I have since made some dividers from free cardboard fruit box bottoms from Sainsbury's, didn't want to spend too much. So I have finally got round to chaining the vehicles down with CPL chains. I still need to get a couple more chain packs to tie down two Saxons on a Warflat, boy is that a heavy wagon now as these vehicles are whitemetal.

Nice work Brian, very nice, I know what you mean about storage, I dont have many models but moving up to 7mm the extra space needed, especially prior to having storage on/or under under the layout, ie just the garden section makes life a bit tricky.

 

When on special offer, I think that they are called 'Really Useful Storage Boxes', can be used to good effect (and picked up cheap), especially if one can find a source for foam to cut to shape for the insides etc.

 

ATVB

 

CME

Edited October 16, 2016 by CME and Bottlewasher

[brian daniels]

Done a bit of weathering on my Heljan 60's to pull my MoD train. Why do pictures not look as good as the real thing? Still do a bit of dry blushing on them I think.

 

 

[boxbrownie]

Done a bit of weathering on my Heljan 60's to pull my MoD train. Why do pictures not look as good as the real thing? Still do a bit of dry blushing on them I think.

 

Is that you Brian reading the JLTRT catalogue? 

[brian daniels]

I am pouring my tea out, can't go anywhere without first having a brew.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Done a bit of weathering on my Heljan 60's to pull my MoD train. Why do pictures not look as good as the real thing? Still do a bit of dry blushing on them I think.

Yep, I know what you mean, the MK1 eyeball is often the best judge - they still look very good to me, superb in fact!

[JDW]

If the pictures don't look as good as the real thing, the real thing must be a very impressive piece of work, as the pictures already make them look excellent!