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33 years on...


cabbie37
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1986 saw me as a part time modeller, dabbling in a few whitemetal and plastic kits with no real ideas in mind, just an aimless hobby. It was then I bought 2 LSWR 20t Brake van kits from Falcon Brass (Jidenco) and set about them. Upon reflection, I think the frustrations of assembling those kits may have brought an end to my railway modelling days and I moved on, consigning all my accumulated bits and pieces to a large box in the loft. Fast forward 33 years and a chance encounter with RMWeb was a bit like a hit for a long term addict And within a few weeks, I was up in the loft gazing lovingly at the contents of said box. The first to come out were the part made (shockingly) Falcon Brake van and another, barely started. I set myself a challenge of honing my skills by finishing one of them off. My progress so far is attached. For a ham fisted, clumsy modeller, I am encouraged and disappointed in equal measure. However, I persevere.. 

 

There is a real question behind this, however. As I get closer to completion, I am thinking about adding the roof. I have some plasticard shaped by wrapping round an old tin which I filled with boiling water. However, I am not sure whether the thin section of the van ends and internal portions will give enough ‘purchase’ for what I guess will be superglue. Can the assembled minds give me a better option? I worry that the roof simply wont stay in place.

 

However, the true irony of this is I’ve just been reading the thread on the Hornby version of this that is just about to be released and, no doubt, will be better than anything i’m Likely to produce, so some might say, i’ve Just been wasting my time! 

 

Hey-ho, if nothing else, it’s been good practice...

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My solution for the roof is to cut from 20 thou' plasticard two pieces to the roof profile and attach to the underside of the roof.Position them so that they fit firmly against the inside of the compartment.I use contact adhesive to attach this to the top edges and the inside of the compartment above the windows.

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You are all being very kind. I should point out that the precise angle of the photo is to eliminate from view the worst of my ham-fistedness! I found it particularly tricky to add some of the whitemetal parts (which, I should point out, did not come with the kit, but I found in the bottom of my treasure chest - the etched kit was particularly '2 D' is some respects) with superglue. A wobbly hand when trying to stick on such pieces as the uprights on each end of the veranda is something I must learn to overcome - or find a more forgiving glue. 

 

On that, I am using yellow top Gorilla glue that I found by chance in Aldi the other day. Do we have any better recommendations for a fast acting glue that would give just a little more time for final positioning adjustment?

Edited by cabbie37
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Very impressive - You are doing an excellent job---my first attempt at brass kits was a Falcon LMS horsebox so I know your pains and frustrations. Great for learning how not to solder, how not to glue, how not to assume everything with fit together and be square/straight and how they are nothing like making plastic kits!

It did give me the confidence though to move onto loco's mind. 

 

For the roof, I used thin Plasticard as already suggested, rolled to shape using metal roller and foam mat (same as you would a brass sheet), glued using Deluxe Models thick super-glue (5 sec re-positioning time) held in place using elastic bands until it was set. The rain guides were 0.5mm sq strip from Slaters. Another option could be to use the Comet coach roof, cut down to size. https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/carriage/c10/ 

 

Might be worth trying them.

 

Ian

 

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Edited by ianLMS
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Very old school but cardboard takes a good curve and has a good textured surface. Once fixed with contact adhesive it can be sealed with PVA and sanded smooth. The recycling bin should provide a good selection of materials to play with.

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13 hours ago, polybear said:

No reason why you couldn't solder some brass strip or angle inside the body in order to increase the surface area for the roof to be glued to.

Or form two curved supports from scrap brass and solder them in as prototypical roof supports.

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Thanks for the continued input and encouragement. I’ve mulled over the suggestions and advice and, taking into account my coefficient of bodgery, i’ve Decided on the following approach. I’ve made up some little ‘under roof’ supports as suggested by nerron but was worried that the outer corners may not have enough support and may curl up or whatever. Here, I have taken into account other suggestions (thanks polybear, doilum and jwealleans) and have made up a small section of brass I have soldered in as you can see in the photo. The idea being that this will give an extra place to add a dab of glue when I finally mount the roof. Before I go much further, what does the team think of the approach?

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Edited by cabbie37
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Well, if nothing else, this is refining my soldering skills.. the 4 strengthening corner pieces are now all in place. By the 4th one, I was getting quite pleased with the result. Don’t look at the other 3 though. My saving grace is that this all will be covered up...

 

I will attempt a trial fit of the roof tomorrow once I have come up with a way of being accurate with the positioning of the ‘mounting lugs’ so they ‘pinch’ between the two partitions..

 

I’m assuming that I won’t fit the roof until the rest of it is painted and I have fitted the glazing. Is that a reasonable assumption?

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So I’ve started work on the roof today. First thing was I realised I didn’t have sone plastic and formed to shape as I thought, so had to make new.First blunder was not realising that all the tins I had available have a ribbed side which, as you can see, transferred itself to the end product. I scratched around for something smooth sided and came across a (sacrificial) can of beer. This has proved ok, though not as tall as I needed (so had to have 2 goes at it) and a beer can isn’t as robust as a normal can. I’ll need to find a suitable can for future projects, or drink a can of beer each time..

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Coo, this is fiddly...

 

I drew a centre line on the underside of the roof panel and marked the centre of each mounting ‘lug’. Having fixed one in position, holding it a right angles to the centre line as best I could by eye, I then measured the distance between the faces of the internal partitions and got the second lug in place as best I could. It’ not perfect - I wanted an ‘interference’ fit between the portions and the lugs, but its not quite. It wil have to do. I think any further fiddling will only make maters worse. 

 

At the last minute, I did realise one mistake, I had made the lower part of the ‘lugs’ too wide and they would have meant I didn’t have anywhere to glue in the glazing material... they are now slimmed down.

 

Next is to mark up the roof and trim it to size and then put it to one side until I’m ready to fit it...

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Final post for today. The roof is trimmed down and trial fitted. I’m fairly happy with it and am hesitant to try too much more improvement today, I’m bound to ba%%s it up and ruin a days work.

 

Tomorrow I will be at the Royston show where I will be picking the expert brains on hand over painting and also the possibilities of automatic couplings that I’m thinking of  adopting..

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Yesterday proved a very worthwhile day out and I enjoyed the Royston show very much. I took the opportunity to spend time with Derek Bunting and his B&B couplings and have come away with a couple of sets of etchings to make up for the rolling stock I hope to get made over the winter.. I also spent some time talking with Geoff Haynes about painting and lining and I would like to publicly thank Geoff for his time and generosity in sharing his methods and advice. Although I'm not quite ready to set about painting just yet, I do need some advice on livery. My era is early/mid 1930s, so we are talking 'large logo' SR era. My question is I know that the van ends were painted red but would that have included the inner partion or just the actual end of the brake van?

 

It may be that there is a better place on RMWeb to ask such a question so, as still a 'novice' here,  if any advice is forthcoming as to which sub-fora that should be, I'd be happy to hear suggestions..

 

thanks..

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Thanks Barclay. That ties up with other info I have had, though that suggests the inner partition was only red from half height to the top. ie, where it was concealed behind the verandah wall, it still remained the brown of the rest of the body. That could be tricky to mask up and paint!

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