What's on your S Scale Workbench?

[DLT]

stunning work on those wagons Scott,

Cheers, Dave.

[steverabone]

Superb work Scott. Put's my crude cardboard wagons to shame. I've learnt one or two useful tricks from this thread so may incorporate them in my next batch of wagons.

[ScottW]

2 hours ago, steverabone said:

Superb work Scott. Put's my crude cardboard wagons to shame. I've learnt one or two useful tricks from this thread so may incorporate them in my next batch of wagons.

 

Not at all Steve. It's a diverse hobby and what works for one person might  not work for another. I'm pleased that you, and others, are getting something out of my posts. That's the beauty of these forums.  

[Lacathedrale]

I replaced the pivot rod with some larger 40 thou dia brass and it's much more solid, the waddling much reduced. I have decided that it is time to move on and glean learnings from experimentation rather than through the power of thought, so laid down a base coat of brown with some very rough shading - everything under the solebar will get a dirty black, and a good amount of weathering on the lower third after I have some decals to put on it:

 

 

Underside has some ball lead:

 

 

It is only as I write this that I see that one of the springs has come off - fiddlesticks!

 

 

[Lacathedrale]

Gibson MR van started:

 

https://i.imgur.com/JCQNEuT.jpg

 

Seems like a pretty elegant compensation solution, using bend down tabs which fit into the rockers.

[Lacathedrale]

 

Not super exciting, but the solebars are now on to the van - a little tricky with four layers of brass that all need to be aligned well across the full length, but I think it's come out nicely:

 

[ScottW]

Not much happening on the workbench of late. Some W irons and wheels arrived last week from the Society store, these have subsequently been soldered up and destined for the four NBR 3 plank wagons.

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by ScottW

[Lacathedrale]

Those look wonderfully clean!

 

Here's my latest progress:

 

 

I'm a little stumped on the brake v-hangers - they had a dog-leg bend, but which was the wrong size to fit under the edge of the solebar. In any even I soldered them in behind and will add some strapping on the front.

 

[ScottW]

Made a little more headway on the NBR 3 plank wagons. The end supports, iron work and bolt heads have all been added, only the buffers to install and that will be the bodies finished.

 

Edited January 23, 2021 by ScottW

[Lacathedrale]

Thanks to Scott and others' advice in his thread, I've started dimensioning up a drawing:

 

 

Some of those measurements are overkill I'm sure, but I'd rather have more than less to start with:

 

 

 

This is from one of the Southern Wagons series, my thought being that there are a couple of photographs as well as this drawing and some paragraphs of information. I would be interested to know what the large protrusions off the solebar are (approx under the 'To' and '1') - wooden wedges to stop the drop-sides clouting the brake gear? I've had a look around the internet on other wooden drop-side wagons and can't seem to see and equivalent...

[Lacathedrale]

It's taken some time, but here's the wagon from November closer to a state of completion:

 

 

No lettering, nor three-link couplings, and missing a brake ratchet - but I'm quite chuffed. The body is in the same middle brown as previously, equivalent to SR Freight Brown, with the ironwork in weathered black. I've painted the solebar and everything under it in weathered black too. Inside weathered with black pastel.

 

 

[Lacathedrale]

And now, taking whole a sheaf from @ScottW, here are the first steps towards the aforementioned LCDR drop-side wagon:

 

 

Certainly I'm finding some challenges - particularly reliable measuring and marking (I just don't have a method yet) and I can already see things I'd do differently - but I guess that's the benefit of actually doing someothing rather than just thinking about it!

 

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, Lacathedrale said:

particularly reliable measuring and marking (I just don't have a method yet)

You can use a pair of dividers, if they have a screw setting, to take measured distances from your ruler, and thus ensure that the marking out is the same all the way through. You can also use callipers. I use a vernier calliper for marking out, as the the thumb screw adjustment is very precise.

There are other ways, of course, but think thrice, measure twice, cut but once is a good mantra.

[Lacathedrale]

@Regularity you're not wrong there - mistakes so far:

• initially scaled the drawing horizontally but not vertically, so everything was 11% taller than it should have been
• cutting the floor out way too short initially
• cut the floor out of 2mm stock instead of 1mm (hopefully this doesn't scupper my chances of fitting the association W-irons..)
• cut the floor out of plain styrene instead of the v-groove bought specifically for this purpose
• somehow managed to mark the buffers too wide

I see you commented in the thread on the sale of NWSL - have you used their chopper? I am having to cut lots of strip to the same length for various bits and bobs, and it feels like that would make life easier!

[Regularity]

Yes, the NWSL chopper is very useful. you can cut things to length, nip the corners off with a knife to create a \_/ shape, then wound them with a file for the final U.

 

As to mistakes...

 

Barry Norman built some wagons on a demonstration stand, using 4mm scale drawings and scaling up to S. Except that he forgot to increase the width. The result? The world's only true S4 models... That evening, he took them apart. The next day, he made new sides and floor as part of the demo.

So it happens to the very best of us!

 

Personally speaking, I have done all sorts, such as forgetting to make the floor and ends 2mm narrower than the drawing, and then wondering why that pair of wagons were wider than everything else, and why the buffer beam (made correctly) was narrower. In the end, I took the sides off and cut the floor and ends to the correct width. Then there is the 6 wheel brakeman. Carefully marked out the separate underframe. (I build mine on brass, with the axle guards, brakes, etc fixed to it. This provides extra mass, but also mean I get a clean paint line between these bits - black - and the rest.) Couldn't work out why the position of the footsteps wasn't aligning properly, but fudged ahead. Only after glueing it all together did I realise that I had made the wheelbase 5'+5', rather than 5'6"+5'6"...

...and those are just the mistakes I will own up to!

 

[ScottW]

Unfortunately, the internet is so bad here that it won’t load your pictures. But with regards to the floor, the society W irons are designed around the floor being of prototypical thickness. Any greater than 40thou you may find that this particular wagon sits too high. Not to mention the solebars protruding down lower than the headstocks. To save any heartache further down the line I would bite the bullet and make another.

 

Making mistakes is how we learn. Put it down as practice and have another go. 

[Lacathedrale]

Thank you, (by the way, do you prefer @Regularity or a Christian/given name?) I think I'm going to complete at least a couple of wagons before I invest in yet more tools - having just sorted out my lathe with tools, and a bundle of brass for 2mm scratchbuilding!

 

 

More progress - there's a little cusp on the 5 thou strapping to knock down with some high grit sandpaper before this is finished!

 

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, Lacathedrale said:

Thank you, (by the way, do you prefer @Regularity or a Christian/given name?)

See my signature.

[Lacathedrale]

Signatures disabled but I see now, thanks Simon.

 

@ScottW The side view of my wagon shows a floor thickness of 5" - I assumed this was all the way across so used 80 thou styrene sheet. Are you suggesting that this is infact a vertical plank, and the 'real' floor is only 2-3" ?

 

 

[Regularity]

Usually the side sill is 5” deep, with the top level with the top of the floor. The floor itself is usually 2-3” deep.

 

(Re-)read Chris Croft’s articles in MRJ: he explained it far mor com-rehensively and clearly than I ever will.

[Lacathedrale]

Ah, understood - I'll see if I can separate everything - if not, this wagon will be a testament to not reading properly and end up 2 scale inches higher than intended.

 

I did review MRJ No. 33 and didn't see anything from Chris Croft. Did you mean 31 (improving slaters PO wagon) or 12-15 (scratchbuilding wagons) ?

 

Cheers!

Edited April 29, 2020 by Lacathedrale

[Regularity]

12-15.

Essential reading to anyone modelling British wagons prior to the modern (last 40 years, maybe?) era?

[Lacathedrale]

Wonderful, I'll check it out. I can't disassemble the wagon sides from the bottom at this stage, so it'll just have to be chalked up to a learning experience. Here's the progress - all the ironwork is done, bar the crown plates for the W-irons, and is awaiting bolts to be applied, pictured nearby.

 

 

I really like how it's coming together!

[Lacathedrale]

The wagon lurches closer to completion:

 

 

 

 

The sharpness of cut 20-thou rod for the bolt heads is obvious - the rest are Rocket Card Glue dots. The latter certainly feel more sane, taking only around 15 minutes to apply bolts on the whole wagon, but obviously sacrifice the relief and sharpness of the rod.

 

Hinges for the drop sides, crown plates, buffers, hooks, brake gear and wheels still to go...

[Buhar]

The moments after that waft of primer are always very satisfying, even if a blemish or two are revealed. 

 

That's an interesting painting stand, you can get almost everywhere with it raised on the wires. 

 

Alan