H25 Restaurant Car

[Star-rider]

“Project Furlough” hath now delivered unto me a D56(LH), D56(RH), C46, E111, the H41 Buffet car plus a Parkside Mica. My E155 should be finished this evening.  A couple were from a standing start, others were already at various stages of completion.

Apart from the E117 which I have posted about in a separate thread, I have now run out of new projects so have taken another look at the Problem Shelf and pulled down an H25 that I had shoved up there several years ago having got frustrated with what was one of my early attempts.

 

Looking at it again, the standard of painting is pretty awful, even from a distance. I’m not sure what I used for glazing at the time, the material is really thin and has distorted and come away from the sides in a couple of places but the worst thing though are the bogies / couplings.

 

Something is definitely amiss. If I were to push the coach into my station the coupling hook would probably arrive three minutes ahead of the rest of the coach. Looking at the instructions issued by Comet the H25 should be on 9’ pressed steel bogies and as I had an aversion to building my own bogies it looks like I had robbed some from a redundant Airfix Autocoach which also suffers from an excessively protruding coupling mount. Checking back in Russell’s Appendix One, it states that the H25 was fitted with 7’ plate bogies and looking at the images in there the end of the bogies is well short of the end of the coach unlike on my model. Have Comet or Russell got it wrong, or were the bogies changed at the same time as the windows were modified (around 1938 I believe)? The model I am constructing is Comet kit W27 which has the later type of window.

 

If anyone could enlighten me on this I could then make a decision on how to resolve the problem with the bogies. Otherwise I think the H25 could be salvageable, the build is not too bad so I’ll start to strip the paintwork from the sides, repaint and re-glaze it whilst I still have this unexpected time on my hands.

[Taz]

There are 3 photos of H25s in Russell appendix 2. All show 7’ plate.

so I would guess Comet are wrong in their instructions.

 

However Comet W27 is a H57. These ran on 6 wheel bogies.

The Comet model of the H25 is W29A.

[Star-rider]

4 minutes ago, Taz said:

There are 3 photos of H25s in Russell appendix 2. All show 7’ plate.

so I would guess Comet are wrong in their instructions.

 

However Comet W27 is a H57. These ran on 6 wheel bogies.

The Comet model of the H25 is W29A.

 

Cheers Taz,

 

You are quite right, I quoted the wrong kit number in my post, but the instructions I was working to were for W29(A) which does state 9'

 

It seems you have confirmed what I was seeing, so now I need to think about getting hold of some seven foot bogies.

 

(The H57 is another model on my problem shelf, but in that instance the only problem is that having built a seventy foot restaurant car I have found that I don't need one!)

 

Pete.

[88D]

6 hours ago, Star-rider said:

“Project Furlough” hath now delivered unto me a D56(LH), D56(RH), C46, E111, the H41 Buffet car plus a Parkside Mica. My E155 should be finished this evening.  A couple were from a standing start, others were already at various stages of completion.

Apart from the E117 which I have posted about in a separate thread, I have now run out of new projects so have taken another look at the Problem Shelf and pulled down an H25 that I had shoved up there several years ago having got frustrated with what was one of my early attempts.

 

Looking at it again, the standard of painting is pretty awful, even from a distance. I’m not sure what I used for glazing at the time, the material is really thin and has distorted and come away from the sides in a couple of places but the worst thing though are the bogies / couplings.

 

Something is definitely amiss. If I were to push the coach into my station the coupling hook would probably arrive three minutes ahead of the rest of the coach. Looking at the instructions issued by Comet the H25 should be on 9’ pressed steel bogies and as I had an aversion to building my own bogies it looks like I had robbed some from a redundant Airfix Autocoach which also suffers from an excessively protruding coupling mount. Checking back in Russell’s Appendix One, it states that the H25 was fitted with 7’ plate bogies and looking at the images in there the end of the bogies is well short of the end of the coach unlike on my model. Have Comet or Russell got it wrong, or were the bogies changed at the same time as the windows were modified (around 1938 I believe)? The model I am constructing is Comet kit W27 which has the later type of window.

 

If anyone could enlighten me on this I could then make a decision on how to resolve the problem with the bogies. Otherwise I think the H25 could be salvageable, the build is not too bad so I’ll start to strip the paintwork from the sides, repaint and re-glaze it whilst I still have this unexpected time on my hands.

Looks like a very nice shelf of coaches there.

[Coach bogie]

As others have said, the bogies are set well in on the H25. I have gone for the earlier windows using the BSL kit picked up for pennies as the market is flooded with Hornby ones.

 

Just to be different I have made one of the tea car conversions. There were a few of these using various diagrams, even a dreadnought, around until the mid 1930's. This uses the Worsley Works etches.

 

Good to see lots of building going on. Nice work.

Mike Wiltshire

[kandc_au]

On 22/04/2020 at 23:43, Star-rider said:

 

 

 

(The H57 is another model on my problem shelf, but in that instance the only problem is that having built a seventy foot restaurant car I have found that I don't need one!)

 

Pete.

Easy remedy......just shorten it!! 
Khris

[Star-rider]

9 hours ago, kandc_au said:

Easy remedy......just shorten it!! 
Khris

 

Nah, I'll make the layout 15% bigger

 

 

[Star-rider]

Thanks for the drawing Mike, I didn’t have that and it gives conclusive proof regarding the bogies. (It does make me wonder if I should also check the bogie centres as those were also drilled out as per the Comet instructions).

 

I’m quite enjoying this temporary life at home, it would never normally happen on a Thursday afternoon in April, but I spent an enjoyable hour sat in the sunshine in the back garden yesterday with the dismembered corpse of the H25 and some wet and dry paper.

 

The ugly paint with its encumbent stray bristles has all but gone, the “glazing” which it looks as if I must have created from a sandwich wrapper has been pulled out and I have managed to save the droplights which as I have mentioned in previous posts I prefer to pre-paint and then glue in after the body is decorated.

 

I’m still sacred witless of building my own bogies, it’s something I hold in the same regard as preforming dentistry on myself and having checked through the pile of unused ones I have amassed from kit purchases there are no seven foot ones there anyway, which probably confirms that Comet (pre-Wizard) sold me some nine foot units as listed in their instructions, so I don’t have anything to hand.

 

Previously I have purchased the Stafford Road Models 3D printed bogies for the odd project, but the cost is now becoming prohibitive which is a shame. Earlier this month it cost me about £24 for a pair of 9’ American bogies for the E117 once I had selected a black material and the postage was added on top – then you have to add on the cost of wheels and couplings. That’s half the price of a coach kit…

 

Instead I have just purchased through Ebay a second hand Airfix “B-Set” coach for less than £9 including postage which I am hoping will give me a tolerable set of cheap 7’ bogies for now.

 

So it’s on with the painting and hopefully it will be ready for when the donor coach arrives.

[Coach bogie]

I have no issue with the ex Airfix 7ft bogie. Add tie rods and a foot steps if appropriate and they look fine. Here is one on a autocoach rebuild.

 

I also use the ex Airfix autocoach bogies under my mainline stock such as South Wales 70ft. I just cut of the extended coupling mount and mount the coupling nearer the bogie. I tend to use Bachmann slimline couplers anyway, rather than the Hornby. I am not going to waste time building cast bogies if there is an easier way.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

[Star-rider]

The H25 was painted up whilst I was waiting for the donor coach for the bogies and HMRC Pressfix transfers applied. Disaster then struck when I applied some varnish to the coach side as the paint started to run before my eyes and ended up with an orange peel texture.

 

I’m guessing my mistake was applying Humbrol acrylic satin varnish from an aerosol to the Railmatch paint. I was so certain it was what I had been using before, but a rummage in the bin for the old can revealed that I had previously been using Humbrol enamel varnish. Lesson learned…

 

The paint was stripped off for a second time and the transfers reapplied. My bill for spray paint has now exceeded Banksy’s.

 

When renewing the glazing I was uncertain about the type of glass that would have been used in the Kitchen / Pantry area. Some images of catering coaches in Russell Appendix Two suggest an etched appearance, to the best of my recollection the Hornby model that my H25 is to replace had an almost “white” glazing. In the pack of Fox lining transfers that I had just been using was some plastic sheeting intended to protect the transfers from damage. I decided that it looked a good prospect for obscure glazing so have used a bit to see how it looks.

 

The second-hand Airfix suburban B turned up and was stripped of its bogies in very short order. I also added some wire to represent tie rods as suggested by Coach Bogie (thanks for the reminder!)

 

The attached photo shows the H25 almost done, the drooping coupling has now been dealt with, but I have just noticed the missing footboard on the right hand end, so still a little job to do. What are people’s thoughts on representing obscure glazing?

Oh, I did manage to get the E155 done as well, although I need to look again at the lie of the roof tanks – Previously I used etched whitemetal plain or riveted tanks from 247 Developments but they no longer list them. I’ve not yet got the knack of bending Plastikard to a curve and getting it to stay down – suggestions gratefully appreciated.

 

Pete.

[Siberian Snooper]

Find a bottle, jar or tin of approxamatly the same radius as the roof, bind the plasticard to it and fill up the receptacle with hot water, not quite boiling, leave for a few minutes, tip the water away and replace with cold water and leave for a few minutes, tip the water away and remove the plasticard, hopefully it will now have a curve which when stuck down should remain bonded to the same profile as the roof.

 

[Star-rider]

9 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

Find a bottle, jar or tin of approxamatly the same radius as the roof, bind the plasticard to it and fill up the receptacle with hot water, not quite boiling, leave for a few minutes, tip the water away and replace with cold water and leave for a few minutes, tip the water away and remove the plasticard, hopefully it will now have a curve which when stuck down should remain bonded to the same profile as the roof.

 

 

Excellent, thank you.

 

I'll give that a go.