Zach's 7mm Workbench - Going Great Western, Back to Swindon

[brossard]

I'll add my congratulations Zach.  Your work looks brilliant.  Always good to have more people doing 0 gauge on this side of the water.

 

John

[nsl714]

Thanks Hal and Dave for the information, it is much appreciated! I will admit the Collett's are mighty tempting...

 

Hi John, thanks for the compliments! I agree it's nice to know more and more folk over here who are doing O gauge. You have a rather nice layout going yourself by the looks of it.

 

-Zach

[brossard]

Thanks Zach, good of you to stop by.

 

John

[Baggies1961]

Hi Zach,

superb wagon builds, just found your thread, very impressive. Im trying to master plastic kits these brass ones look lovely.

Regards

Julian.

[nsl714]

Thanks for the kind words Julian. The brass kits have been very satisfying to build, and I can heartily recommend them (particularly the Connoisseur ones) if you want to make the next step.

 

After a few weeks of working here and there on the Siphon F, it's in one piece. The number of laminations on this model really give it some depth, and I've been real careful not to unsolder those which I've added! This was a particular challenge when attempting to solder the sides and ends into one piece. I was also somewhat trepidatious about the roof. Some careful bending sorted that, and it's happily soldered in. At the moment it's just at the ends, I'm not sure how easily I can get under the eaves to solder the sides. It seems solid enough as is, so that may not be necessary. Having made the trucks/bogies ahead of time made it real easy to sit the Siphon upright and work on the roof without messing with the V hangers. Overall it's been very pleasant to build so far and suitably challenging/rewarding for my skill level.

 

 

And for good measure a cruel closeup of one end. Lots of neat detail incorporated here.

 

 

That's all for now, more soon.

-Zach

[Hal Nail]

Nice work on that Siphon. Can you tell me please are the bogies 9 foot (63mm so near enough 2 1/2 inches in American!) wheelbase?

 

I've been mulling over a potential conversion of the Dapol autocoach recently which is increasingly looking uneconomic as would need two coaches and not even use all of one of them. The latest hurdle is the bogies which are the wrong type as they are the 8 foot version and not the 9s but those Scorpio ones could be an option.

 

Cheers

Edited June 30, 2020 by Hal Nail

[nsl714]

Hal,

 

I measured tonight, and they are the 9 foot bogies. Scorpio has them on their price list for £20 each.

 

Thanks,

Zach

[brossard]

That siphon looks great Zach.  You say it is Scorpio.  Is there a website?  I told my friend that if he got a siphon kit, I would build it.

 

John

[nsl714]

Hi John,

 

Scorpio does not have a website, but do trade through phone and email. In the interest of discretion, I've pm'd those details to you. They have a variety of Siphons: C, F, G, and H. So far I can echo recommending them as I've got along okay with my Siphon F so far.

 

-Zach

[Hal Nail]

1 hour ago, nsl714 said:

Hi John,

 

Scorpio does not have a website, but do trade through phone and email. In the interest of discretion, I've pm'd those details to you. They have a variety of Siphons: C, F, G, and H. So far I can echo recommending them as I've got along okay with my Siphon F so far.

 

-Zach

I've just bought their shunters wagon via e mail exchanges and they were easy to deal with that way and I'm guessing might have a scanned catalogue although I didnt ask. The proprietor is doing the 7mm parcel train project under kitbuilding (back a few pages at the moment)

[brossard]

7 hours ago, nsl714 said:

Hi John,

 

Scorpio does not have a website, but do trade through phone and email. In the interest of discretion, I've pm'd those details to you. They have a variety of Siphons: C, F, G, and H. So far I can echo recommending them as I've got along okay with my Siphon F so far.

 

-Zach

 

 

Thanks Zach, info passed on and I will leave it to my friend to take it from here.

 

John

[Scorpio7uk]

Just to confirm - the 9' American bogie for £20 is an etched kit, not the original cast ones supplied with the Siphon kits.

 

 

Thanks

Jeff Ennis

Scorpio Models

 

[nsl714]

After a little time here and there poking at the brake rigging components over the past few weeks, today I was able to assemble it.

 

 

I was also able to get the balance of the castings cleaned up, and the buffers installed. I struggled a bit with the shanks and their keeper but got there in the end (the buffers are sort-of springy but not entirely due to my ineptitude).

 

 

It's looking more and more like a Siphon F all the time!

 

-Zach

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by nsl714
Grammer/English

[nsl714]

There's a small update this week to things on my desk. First, the Siphon has been finished, cleaned, and primed.

 

 

There's something satisfying about seeing the thing complete in primer after attacking it with the soldering iron for so long.

 

 

The Macaw has also gained a full timber load, chained down. The chains and shackles will be blackened. I do also appreciate that the rings on the car can be used to lash down the load.

 

That's all for now, more soon.

 

-Zach

Edited July 30, 2020 by nsl714
Grammer

[nsl714]

The Siphon F is now 99% complete. All that remains is finishing a repair to one step which I clumsily knocked off, then a coat of varnish over everything. The black and white were Testors rattle can enamels, and the brown was a Railmatch acrylic brush painted.

 

 

 

It will be weathered in due course, along with a few other wagons and vans which now need it. Overall this has been a very enjoyable build, I learned quite a bit more about brass construction in the process, and really solidified the methods learned building the Connoisseur wagons. It really puts me in mind to attempt an engine of some sort next too. I do quite fancy building one of Jim McGeown's Southern O2s, so that may coincide neatly with Connoisseur reopening in about a month. I have all the existing wagons to weather now, as well as a further Peco Wonderful Wagon GWR 4 plank open to build, so that will keep me occupied for a while.

 

More soon,

-Zach

[nsl714]

A few months on and the trio of Connoisseur wagons have been weathered. Some dry brushing, a mucky wash, and some powders were used. A load for the Loriot is still being contemplated.

 

 

 

 

Also, as previously threatened, I picked up a Connoisseur Southern O2 when they reopened. A few nights of work this week has taken me up through the initial body construction, as Jim suggests in the instructions. Chassis next. 

 

 

While not Great Western, I was suitably inspired seeing Calbourne on a visit to the IOWSR last summer, and decided I must have one. I had made up my mind a while ago to start building engines with one of Jim’s kits, and this one seemed most appropriate. There have been no issues on the part of the kit so far, only one or two by my own hand. I plan to finish it as Calbourne in 1930’s Maunsell Olive.

 

-Zach

 

[brossard]

Nice to see those finished wagons Zach, great job!

 

Interesting choice of loco, I hear good things about Connoisseur kits.  I have a second (or is it third?) hand Slaters MR 1F kit to do but it is on the back burner as I try to get through all the other more pressing jobs. 

 

My friend brought round a pair of NBR coach kits from 62C for me to build (just call me muggins ).  These are a 4 wheeler and 6 wheeler, should be fun.

 

John

[nsl714]

Thanks John. When I first started wandering into this hobby, Connoisseur kept sticking up as a good quality option for the beginner. Nothing in the kits have indicated otherwise yet, they've been great. The Slaters 1F and 62C coaches ought to be interesting too, best of luck on those.

 

Zach

[nsl714]

Another week has brought further progress to the O2. The frames have been started with some detail added.

 

 

I couldn’t also resist placing some castings temporarily while testing the frames to the body.

 

 

More soon,

-Zach

Edited October 9, 2020 by nsl714
Photo Adjustment

[pwr]

On 02/10/2020 at 17:10, nsl714 said:

Thanks John. When I first started wandering into this hobby, Connoisseur kept sticking up as a good quality option for the beginner. Nothing in the kits have indicated otherwise yet, they've been great. The Slaters 1F and 62C coaches ought to be interesting too, best of luck on those.

 

Zach

 

 

I have built  a number of Connoisseur kits (and have some more to do) and all I can say is that they are a pleasure to build with fantastic instructions.  Thoroughly recommended.

 

Paul R

[brossard]

I've only built one Connoisseur kit so far, a NBR brake for a friend:

 

 

A very enjoyable build.

 

Zach, that is great progress.

 

John

[nsl714]

Hi John,

 

That's a neat and tidy van, well done. With Paul's additional endorsement, It seems we can all agree that Jim's kits are second to none!

 

-Zach

[nsl714]

This week, the chassis has been worked up to completion. A lot of fiddling has resulted in a very free rolling chassis. The rods aren’t on in this photo, but they’ve also been laminated and fettled so they don’t bind.

 

 

And last night the chassis was primed. Black tonight. 

 

 

More soon,

-Zach

[nsl714]

A few weeks on, and the frames have been completely painted. Assembling with wheels and motor reveals a very smooth running (if a tad noisy) chassis.

 

 

Completion of the frames means its back to the body for the final detailing. One item which was suggested to me elsewhere was to prop the cab roof vent open. I set about cutting a hole in the roof and this is what resulted.

 

 

And here is the engine as it sits now, with steps and the air pump mounting bracket added tonight.

 

 

In the coming days/week, I'll be winding down the brass work and moving on to the whitemetal parts. I have a set of Markits LSWR buffers for it, and the corner braces on the frame will have to be slightly modified to accommodate them. Sightly annoying that I didn't catch that before I painted the chassis, but I'll deal with it. This is looking more and more like an O2 all the time!

 

More soon,

-Zach

[nsl714]

A few more weeks have passed and the engine is for all intents and purposes complete.

 

 

 

Now for the dreaded clean and some paint.

 

-Zach