First Class Kits Presflo

[Father Dougal]

Nice neat work, very good.

[37114]

The big sheets of brass have rapidly disappeared as the wagon progresses with only a few brass bits left to fit.

 

Progress was interrupted by one of our cats, Ruby.  Despite appearances less than 24 hours ago she was in a bad way with a raging temperature and was on a drip and various medication at the vet. An emergency trip to the vet and the cost of a Heljan loco later (think class 50 not one of the bargain bin class 05s) and she is on the mend.....

With the cat out of the way it was on with the ladder. The instructions give a good tip to use a piece of wood into which you drill holes, put the wire in and then solder up one side then the other.

After the ladder, I fitted the handrails, these are different sizes to account for the walk way, it would be handy if the instructions included a diagram to form these but I understand various different types were fitted so this may explain the absence.

The pipe is then fitted down the side of the wagon. The pipe needs trimming at the bottom, this is not mentioned in the instructions but is I just followed the pictures I had on hand.

Last job today was to fold up the end steps. These require careful folding as they are not very wide so liable to distort when folding. I used my little voice and a needle file as a press.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Nice work and glad you cat is getting better.

[37114]

Major milestone tonight; the wheels are in. 

 

I skipped a step in the instructions and have left off the brake handles, I saw no reason why they needed to be fitted yet and thought they would get in the way and or get damaged.

 

The axle boxes need a slot cut in them to fit over the cross member. I made this wider than the brass to give some wriggle room as there is no positive location for the axle boxes

I found the easiest way to fit the axle was to fit an axle box to one side, then fit the wheel set and other axle box as one unit. The bearings are a roller type bearing rather than top hat that I am most used to but once I got my head round it they are easy enough to fit and free running.

 

While I let the axle boxes set, I fitted the vac pipes to the end.

 

[37114]

Test run time, it runs like a dream

The brake van is another ex M&M kit.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

If such things bother you, be careful with the numbering and livery dependent on your buffer choice.

 

Mike.

[37114]

8 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

If such things bother you, be careful with the numbering and livery dependent on your buffer choice.

 

Mike.

Thanks Mike, I will have a look, I wasn't aware of the varying buffers.

[37114]

I put the brakes on tonight, as per my previous post I am glad I left off the brake handles, these would have been in the way tonight. The brakes are quite complicated and the photos included aren't overly clear but I fathomed it out.

 

The first job is to fit the brake shoes. I found this a bit tricky as the brass tabs aren't really big enough for the shoes which were literally balanced on the corner of the tabs. There are tie bars that tie the shoes together so these provide some strength and I cheated by gluing them to the W iron.

The next job is to fit the pull bars from the V hangers. It is not clear from the instructions where these fit at the vac cylinder end but they just about rest on the edge of the tabs the brake shoes are mounted  on. The pull rods fit behind,  I had to trim these slightly to fit.

Final job for tonight was to fit the brake mechanism under the vac cylinders.  The rods on the outer components needed trimming slightly to fit.

 

Feels like we are nearing the end with this build, just the discharge equipment, lid handles and the brake levers to fit then into the paint shop.

[GraemeR]

This is coming on extremely well. I must admit I found the kit far too challenging! If you are seeking another of these kits I have one going spare! Graeme

[37114]

1 hour ago, GraemeR said:

This is coming on extremely well. I must admit I found the kit far too challenging! If you are seeking another of these kits I have one going spare! Graeme

 

Hi Graeme,

 

Thanks for your comments, I was a bit apprehensive at the start but it is not as tough going as I thought it might be.

 

A week ago I would have taken you up on the offer of the kit but with the Ellis Clerk one on it's way I intend to standardise on those for future Presflo's. Despite a manic day job, due to lock down I have more modelling time over the last 2 months than I have had in the last 2 years so in normal times it will take me 6 months to build one of these.

 

[37114]

I finished the kit tonight,  the last bits to add were the discharge valves, brake handles and the inspection hatch handles. All was relatively straightforward so nearly ready for the paint shop. As I am modelling one of the rounded body APCM versions I fitted the APCM valves that Malcolm had sent me. 

 

There are a couple of jobs still to do, namely making the hoarding for the side which will hide most of the slightly wonky strengthening ribs. There is also a pressure gauge to add on the discharge valve side of the body, plan is to finish construction and get some paint on it over the weekend. 

[37114]

With the kit finished, I moved on to the non kit bits I had decided to make.

 

As mentioned previously a couple of the ribs are a bit wonky so I decided to fit side hoardings. A few of the hoardings still seem to linger until the late 70s so this one will go nicely with the Ellis Clark ones I have on order which I believe are unbranded. When the hoardings were removed the mounting tabs were left in place on the sides so I didn't fancy adding 24 tabs of plasticard from scratch building those any way. The hoarding was sized from the transfer which is 54 x 25mm, and is made from thin plasticard. Due to the pipe down the side of the wagon they need to be spaced off the ribs.

 

I noticed APCM Presflo's have a pressure gauge mounted on the side of the body, connected to the vertical pipe. I made this from some plastic pipe and plastic sheet.

[Lord Street]

Great thread and a timely one for me as I’m in the process of building their (M&M models) Flyash Presflo kit. The ribs have been “fun” , lots of cleaning up to do as I chose to solder them all up to the body.

Kim

[37114]

Looking good Kim, I am afraid soldering all the ribs was way beyond both my soldering and patience. I put a coat of primer on mine this morning so I can see the blemishes more easily. 

[Lord Street]

Cheers Rob, finished mine today ready for a final clean and a coat of etching primer. I will need to source some decals next.

 

 

 

[37114]

I have finished the basic paintwork and transfers, I wouldn't normally post ex works photos as every item of stock of mine gets weathered and I think fresh out of the box O gauge stock often looks toy like but I know others have a different view.

 

I sprayed the entire wagon with primer followed by a coat of rail match rail grey (206) as a reasonable approximation of the grey colours the wagons were painted, the weathering will be used to bring this as close as I can to the photos I am working off. The black was brush painted, I am aware that some grey is still showing in places but this will blend in to the weathering.  The red vac cylinders and buffers shanks were painted a home made red colour,  not all APCM wagons had these.

 

The transfers are an extra purchase from First class kits and are easy enough to apply, I sourced an over head warning flash from the spares pile as none are included. There is one mistake in my application of one of the transfers which took me a while to spot but will be fixed next time, I will leave it to the eagle eyed to spot (no it is not one fitted wonky)...

[37114]

Nearly done, some last bits of weathering to be done, upside down "3" to be sorted and one lamp iron has gone missing. I am quite pleased how this has turned out.

[Hal Nail]

11 hours ago, 37114 said:

upside down "3" to be sorted

 

Nice.

 

I think i need glasses. That C you are worried about looks fine to me!

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Hal Nail