Mark's Workbench: back in the village again!

[2996 Victor]

Just to prove, if only to myself, that I haven't been entirely idle on the model making front, the Cambrian Railways wagons now have buffer housings, approximately 50% of their ironwork has been "blacked", and brake gear is mostly prepared. I'm hoping to get them finished this coming weekend! Lol!

 

I've also put together a couple of PO coal wagons, one Wheeler &  Gregory and one Gloucester RC&W, both Cambrian Model Rail kits. The latter is almost finished pending a fictional livery that I alluded to previously.

 

I've finally also ordered some trackwork from the EMGS! Once I've worked out a layout I can see about a baseboard, although it'll be a micro.

 

I was thumbing through my copy of The Mawddwy, Van and Kerry Branches (OL32) by Cozens, Kidner and Poole, when a photo of the Kerry branch train c.1903 piqued my interest. The two-plank dropside wagon behind the carriage appears to be in pre-1899 livery, but bizarrely the brake gear has a left-handed lever! Looks like another wagon build.....

Edited April 1, 2020 by 2996 Victor

[Phil Traxson]

Going back to warping of plastic sheet wagons, and to add my two penn'th. I built a few 7mm narrow gauge wagons some years ago (30 according to the date underneath them!) and found that an odd number of layers gave the best anti warping results, usually 20/10/20 thou. The one wagon I built with two layers is still reasonable but has warped a little, but the others not at all. I also discovered that with outside frame vehicles the framing counted as one of the layers.

0-16.5  4 wheel drop side wagon No.7 by Phil Traxson, on Flickr.

This one is one has inner and outer layers of Slater's 4mm space planking and a centre layer of 10 thou plain.  

 

0-16.5  Festiniog Rly. Bogie open wagon (A) by Phil Traxson, on Flickr

This one has two layers of scribed 20 thou and then the outside framing.

Both were built in 1990 and photographed in 2010 but ten years on have still shown no signs of moving and are still in regular use on my layout. As an aside they both have 4 mm commercial underframes even though they are 7 mm models. At the time I'd never been able to make decent under frames and the "Ratio" LNWR wagon underframes (and their GWR plate frame  bogies) seemed most suitable and were available as a separate  pack. Even better there were two in each pack.

Phil T.

Edited April 1, 2020 by Phil Traxson

[2996 Victor]

Phil,

 

Those are excellent vehicles, and the FR always makes for interesting prototypes!

 

The odd number of laminations is intriguing, and not something I would have thought of as being a contributory factor in maintaining the stability of the model.

 

Have you tried the same method on any 4mm scale vehicles?

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[Phil Traxson]

The reason I showed those wagons is that they are a similar size to 4 mm standard gauge wagons. I use widened 4mm bogie wagon kits to produce wagons of a similar size to the scratch built FR one.

0-16.5  Bogie open wagon No.34 by Phil Traxson, on Flickr

 

Steel bogie coal wagon No.18 by Phil Traxson, on Flickr

This is modified from kit for a 4 mm LNER Bogie sulphate wagon

 I do think that the temporary spacer method is a good one as I have had similar problems with 4 mm standard gauge open wagon plastic kits. I think it may also be down to the method of joining the sides to ends, there may be some sort of shrinkage as the solvents melt and then dry out the plastic, borne out by the fact it seems more noticeable on kits with bevelled corners rather than overlapping square ones.

These are only my opinions based on my experience in the past, and may well be incorrect. I can't see the reason for the odd number of laminations, it just seems to work better for me.   

 

Phil T.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Phil Traxson

[2996 Victor]

Nothing to report other than the arrival of my EMGS track work, and very nice it is, too! I'm looking forward to playing around with a few ideas for a small layout, and with time on my hands from the end of this week - one of the hazards of being a contract worker - I'll be able to hopefully get my ideas to gel. I should also be able to get a few more things done on the growing stock of part-built and almost-finished wagons!

 

Stay safe and stay well, everyone!

[Compound2632]

4 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Nothing to report other than the arrival of my EMGS track work, and very nice it is, too!

 

Certainly worthy of report and, indeed, celebtation - a gloat photo would be permissible,

 

On 02/04/2020 at 14:29, Phil Traxson said:

The reason I showed those wagons is that they are a similar size to 4 mm standard gauge wagons. I use widened 4mm bogie wagon kits to produce wagons of a similar size to the scratch built FR one.

 

 

I really like this re-imagining of the Ratio Caledonian bogie wagon - an otherwise completely useless kit, since there's doubt if more than one of the prototype ever existed!

[Quarryscapes]

On 01/04/2020 at 12:38, 2996 Victor said:

Just to prove, if only to myself, that I haven't been entirely idle on the model making front, the Cambrian Railways wagons now have buffer housings, approximately 50% of their ironwork has been "blacked", and brake gear is mostly prepared. I'm hoping to get them finished this coming weekend! Lol!

 

I've also put together a couple of PO coal wagons, one Wheeler &  Gregory and one Gloucester RC&W, both Cambrian Model Rail kits. The latter is almost finished pending a fictional livery that I alluded to previously.

 

I've finally also ordered some trackwork from the EMGS! Once I've worked out a layout I can see about a baseboard, although it'll be a micro.

 

I was thumbing through my copy of The Mawddwy, Van and Kerry Branches (OL32) by Cozens, Kidner and Poole, when a photo of the Kerry branch train c.1903 piqued my interest. The two-plank dropside wagon behind the carriage appears to be in pre-1899 livery, but bizarrely the brake gear has a left-handed lever! Looks like another wagon build.....

 

The Cambrian has a habit of using weird brake gear, Watch out for the OS framed brake vans, they have an interesting implementation of clasp brakes. As for that on the coal wagons, it's the same as used on the Timber trucks:

 

See Great Western Way (landscape format edition) page 230 fora photo of the Twin bolster set which shows both sides of the gear. 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Quarryscapes

[Compound2632]

The L&Y was addicted to the left-facing brake lever on the offside, too. In the early 20th century, it looked like a cheap and cheerful way of effecting a both-sides brake but in due course fell foul of the BoT's requirement that the brake should always be at the right-hand end of the wagon.  That also killed of the first version of the Dean-Churchward brake along with other similar but less widely-applied novelties.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Compound2632

[2996 Victor]

Thank you Alan @Quarryscapes and Stephen @Compound2632 - the left-handed brake is certainly an oddity, but the reasoning is easy to follow as the arrangement allows one-sided brake shoes to work both sides of the vehicle.

 

Looking again at the photo of the Kerry Branch train, the wagon appears to have its brake-gear on the side furthest from the camera, hence the left-handed lever is the duplicate.

 

On 07/04/2020 at 16:47, Compound2632 said:

a gloat photo would be permissible

 

A gloat photo:

http://

 

This afternoon, I did a bit of raw track-planning for Stage 1 of my project, which has the working title of Llanmaddog. Its inspired by Steve Howe's Lower Rose Goods. What we have are three terminal sidings and a goods loop, the goods shed being situated on the latter, the two lines leading off-stage to the fiddle yard. Stage 2, if I ever get that far, will have a passenger facility inserted between Stage 1 and the fiddle yard. Once I'm happy with the layout, I'll commit the design to paper with a few facilities drawn on.....

 

View from the "front", terminal sidings to the left, fiddle yard to the right, goods shed front right

http://

 

view from the fiddle yard toward the buffer stops, the goods shed will be front left

http://

 

The whole will be about 6ft x 18ins, if I actually build it - next thing will be baseboards.

 

Stay safe and stay well!

[RectoryLane]

Mark

 

Scanning through your pages I can’t spot where you have said which “grey” you have used for your Cambrian wagons. Apologies if I missed it. 
 

My son and I are building a number of Cambrian Railways wagons as a distraction from our main model railway project. 
 

Thanks

 

Kevin

[2996 Victor]

On 25/10/2020 at 18:45, RectoryLane said:

Mark

 

Scanning through your pages I can’t spot where you have said which “grey” you have used for your Cambrian wagons. Apologies if I missed it. 
 

My son and I are building a number of Cambrian Railways wagons as a distraction from our main model railway project. 
 

Thanks

 

Kevin

 

Hi Kevin,

 

many apologies for not having replied sooner - I've been over on Britmodeller for several months, playing with aeroplanes!

 

The greys I've used for my Cambrian wagons are from Tamiya, from their aerosol acrylic range. I'm at work at the moment, and can't quite remember which it is (I used a similar colour for the light grey for my S&DJR items), so I'll check when I get home to be absolutely certain. The ironwork was Tamiya XF-84 Dark Iron, again acrylic, in the little jar. For the interiors, I used Tamiya AS-29 IJN Grey-Green as the base for the wood colour, then tinted planks individually with a thin dark/dirty wash, building it up in layers to create the variation in tone.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[2996 Victor]

On 25/10/2020 at 18:45, RectoryLane said:

Mark

 

Scanning through your pages I can’t spot where you have said which “grey” you have used for your Cambrian wagons. Apologies if I missed it. 
 

My son and I are building a number of Cambrian Railways wagons as a distraction from our main model railway project. 
 

Thanks

 

Kevin

 

Hi again, Kevin,

 

apologies for not posting last evening, but unfortunately some family matters took over and I wasn't home until after nine o'clock.

 

The colours I've used are both from Tamiya's aviation range of aerosols. I like the even finish these give, and the choices of colours were merely what appeared good to me eye. Both the colours are available in jars if you prefer to airbrush.

 

For the dark grey pre-1899 livery, I've used AS-10 Ocean Grey (RAF), and for the light grey post-1899 livery, I chose AS-2 Light Grey (IJN). I mentioned the external ironwork and interior base colours above, the internal planks being tinted progressively with a wash of dirty brown-black. The external weathering is by Humbol weathering powders. I tend to seal everything with a light coat of matt clear lacquer, again Tamiya acrylic.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[2996 Victor]

Well, it's been nearly seven months since I made any progress on anything railway related. Thanks to Covid in fact, in a very real sense, my railway modelling took a huge leap backwards.

 

I was out of work until early September, and in order to try to maintain a degree of input into running the household virtually my entire model railway collection was progressively sold off. Not that my better half at any time ever suggested that I should do so, wonderful girl that she is. The part-built wagons are lined up on the shelf in my work room but otherwise its back to square one.

 

In the meantime, in an attempt to maintain a degree of sanity in these insane times, I got a few aeroplane kits out of the loft and latterly have bought a few new ones. I've been rather enjoying the experience of building some of these, something I've not done in 25-plus years, even digging out my Badger airbrush from all those years ago. On the bench at the moment I have a Tamiya 1/72 scale Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, which has been an absolute revelation in quality with incredible detail and amazing parts fit.

 

Now that things seem to be on the up again I've decided to enter the EMGS Chairman's Competition, and I actually hope to do something rail-related. Realistically, it'll be after Christmas, and the first step will be to order some new trackwork and see about those baseboards, and I can also complete all those part-built wagons!

 

Cheers for now,

 

Mark

[Mikkel]

Hi Mark, good to see you posting in the thread.

 

Sounds like it's been a trying time. A shame about the collection, but at least there was something to sell. I did the same thing during the 2008 crisis, and have found it didn't really matter that much in the long run, as long as there were a few kits left to work on.

 

I look forward to seeing progress on the wagons in due course. And good luck with the Chairman's competition - I thought at first you were running for Chairman, but I take it that's not what it means 

[2996 Victor]

On 20/11/2020 at 05:25, Mikkel said:

Hi Mark, good to see you posting in the thread.

 

Sounds like it's been a trying time. A shame about the collection, but at least there was something to sell. I did the same thing during the 2008 crisis, and have found it didn't really matter that much in the long run, as long as there were a few kits left to work on.

 

I look forward to seeing progress on the wagons in due course. And good luck with the Chairman's competition - I thought at first you were running for Chairman, but I take it that's not what it means 

Hi Mikkel,

 

many thanks  its good to be back! I know many people have had a much harder time of it than Jane and I have had, so we're being thankful for small mercies, and in many respects, its helped to have a bit of a de-clutter and rationalise. For instance, it's made me realise that I'm never going to build that HO scale Colorado Midland layout! I don't think the EMGS are looking for a new Chairman just yet  

 

I'm having fun building aeroplane kits at the moment, but the time is coming to restart the wagons. A gentle start by finishing off all those Cambrian opens will be a good way to begin. And I'm surfing eBay to try and replace some of those CooperCraft kits I sold!!!

 

Cheers for now,

 

Mark