Bodging & kitbashing on Hest Bank

[TerryD1471]

Having watched and read with much enjoyment Baz's saga of his work on ex LMS locos and coaches, I thought it might be timely to have a similar topic relating to my efforts in a similar vein, creating stuff to run on Hest Bank. Better here than in "modelling real locations."

 

Just to give a complete lie to the idea that I was working on kits, the first pic is of a rework of an old (now Railroad) Hornby corridor brake third; I was originally going to use the bodyshell as a donor to stick etched brass sides on after surgery, but realisation gradually dawned (I'm a slow learner) that it was actually not a bad model of a D1905 BSK so I elected to do a repaint in blood & custard after adding a few extra things like vents and guard's duckets.

 

Unfortunately my choice of a bodyshell with thick plastic sides meant that glazing was tricky but my (extensive) scrap box yielded a set of Cooper Craft glazing units for Mk 1 coaches which needed filing down a bit to fit; the main windows were OK but the smaller ones needed much more surgery, and sadly in my efforts to ensure they stayed put, they got an excess of solvent with bad effects on the transparency of the windows. Also the glazing bars received a slightly too liberal dose of cream paint, so they were not to my satisfaction. Even so, in a train passing through at a scale 60+, they don't look too bad.

 

The vehicle behind is an incomplete Gresley open 3rd from Southern Pride etched sides stuck on an Ian Kirk donor shell; just needs innards!

 

 

The next vehicle receiving attention is a Comet BFK. I was very conscious that my Caledonian set had a restaurant car instead of a kitchen car (now replaced) and a Mk 1 BSK where a Stanier BFK ought to have been. The task then was to build one using Comet sides, ends, roof & underframes and here we have the basic box surmounted by a Comet alloy roof.

 

 

The integrity of the body was improved by soldering in a bulkhead of scrap brass and a further strip of brass across the main passenger area to which Araldite could be applied to ensure a strong bond.

 

 

We can also see the underframe from Comet components (no connection, of course with them) to which in due course details and bogies will be added. I have found that Bachmann bogies are excellent value and easy to fit, so an obvious choice. Again no connection! More later

 

A word or two about these next time.

Edited June 1, 2020 by TerryD1471

[TerryD1471]

Perhaps some of our readers have had the same experience. You look in your collection of accumulated bits and pieces and think "I've no idea where that came from!" So it was that I found several brass etches of coach components from Kemilway; they were, I think for 51 ft GE stock and my immediate thought was that they just needed 4mm chopping out of their length to form the basis of several different 50 ft ex LMS vehicles. The top one of the preceding photo is the first of this batch being a Period 1 panelled full brake. It has Comet etched sides and a plastic roof from ???  Aren't spares boxes wonderful?

The same pic also has a set of etched sides for a Period III kitchen car, this time from 247 Developments. Also we see one of the Kemilway etches in question. Apart from the floor and ends, it offers a great source of sundry parts like thin brass strip and buffer beams.

 

The next picture is a further stage in the saga of the Period III BFK.

 

It now has a fully fitted underframe, an interior and the roof has had a brush coat of Humbrol; this still needs tidying at the edges as will be evident. The sides have been sprayed with Ford Aporto Red, but the whole still needs (a) glazing (b) corridor connections and (c) lining.

It runs on Bachmann bogies and has been tested as the lead vehicle in a rake of 11, running nicely.

 

One of my many failings is an inability to finish one job before starting another and the next pic is a case in point.

 

I have had a brace of DJH kits for Black 5s for a long time which have been staring at me from the shelf, saying "BUILD ME!" Unable to resist any further, I made a start and this shows progress to date on the first chassis. This one has a D13 motor driving via 40:1 gears and I have a number of locos with this drive which have all proved smooth, powerful and speedy. The other chassis will have a Mashima can driving via a Comet 38:1 2-stage gearbox. It will be an interesting comparison between the two locos.

[Portchullin Tatty]

On 01/06/2020 at 21:36, TerryD1471 said:

 

 

 

 

Nice to see the coaches developing.

 

I find it imperative to solder a strip of square/rectangular section along the top of the etched sides.  A piece 1*2mm or similar and make sure it is low enough not to foul the lip that is on the underside of the extruded roof but not interfere with the glazing.  If you don't do this, the sides are always prone to being squished as the model is picked up and the sides picking up a bow as a result.

 

Seeing your mention to the underframes; Palatine's underframes are well worth a look (and not widely known of).  They don't have the chunky holes in them like the Comet ones and if you leave the flat portion of the Comet ones in place they make a convenient point to split the body from the underframe (much easier for handling and painting.

 

Enjoy!

[TerryD1471]

Many thanks for your comments and I appreciate the suggestion about beefing up the etched sides. I confess that up to now, a healthy dollop of Araldite has sufficed to ensure that such an occurrence doesn't happen, but that's no guarantee!

 

I like Portchullin; it takes me back to my first contact with that area when I toured by bike and stayed in Kyle and then Achnashellach youth hostels in 1963 (forsooth!) Oh what a giveaway, but it was an era when Black 5s ruled.

 

All the best

 

Terry

[TerryD1471]

The Black 5 saga continues apace; admittedly I only move at a modest pace, but it is a pace. More lockdown time in the workshop has produced this:-

 

The one in the background is the loco with the D13 motor, while in the foreground, we have the second one with the Mashima can and Comet gearbox. I love DJH kits because their design philosophy is great, but just occasionally I like to do things differently. The Black 5 kit as designed has the cylinders soldered directly to the frames. However, I prefer to be able to remove the entire cylinder/motion assembly unit for maintenance.

 

Therefore the chassis has been slotted so that the cylinders, soldered via the brass strip to the motion plate and the slidebar bracket, lift out as a complete unit, just in case anything goes wrong.

 

I hope the attached picture gives an idea of how this works.

 

Also we have a picture of further progress on the two 5s. The second loco now has a tender under way, while the first loco has a pic of the surgery required to the front face of the cab to clear the end of the D13 motor.

 

[TerryD1471]

I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not quite so sure! Having decided to switch to the Black 5 (2 of them) build before I'd finished the BFK, I switched back for a while to the BFK and then was seduced by a Chowbent kit sitting on the shelf for a D131 LNWR corridor compo. They lasted until the early 50s (albeit downrated in most cases to all 3rd), but it was such a lovely toplight vehicle that I could resist no longer. That's where the problem began; glazing a toplight vehicle suddenly became a daunting prospect, so I elected not to build the kit as intended, but to use the lovely half-etched sides (which didn't seem all that robust) to stick onto an MAJ clear sided moulded plastic hull. This solved two problems at a stroke, in that the glazing issue was solved along with the vehicle body becoming much more robust.

The photo above shows the etched sides spray painted in primer followed by Ford Aporto Red, ready to stick onto the MAJ clear plastic coach body. I also substituted the MAJ ends with a thinner piece of styrene onto which the Chowbent etched ends have been stuck. Fortunately the basic shape of the MAJ hull is almost exactly the same as the LNW coach, so the sides and ends can be "Evostuck" on with little alteration. The roof will also require little change, requiring only rainstrips to be cemented on and vents to be glued in place.

 

In the background we see the BFK which has had a little more "treatment", now only needing the toilet window to be obscured and the black portion of the lining to be "bowpenned" in place, before numbering. Steady hands and nerves required!

 

Incidentally, the livery of the LNW coach will be ex LMS, as I think it unlikely that a vehicle slated for withdrawal soon will have received a repaint into blood & custard livery. If anyone has any evidence that these elderly (1919?) vehicles did actually receive BR livery, I would be very glad to hear of it, not least because I also have a WCJS corridor brake 3rd of similar vintage to build which would look well in carmine & cream.

[Taz]

According to Hugh Longworth’s latest book several D131 lasted until ‘56/‘57 (at least two to ‘58 as all thirds) so I think the chances of some making it into crimson and cream would be relatively high.

 

What diagram is the WCJS coach? I can see if there is any reference to withdrawal dates.

[TerryD1471]

Many thanks, Taz, that's very encouraging news!

 

The WCJS coach is a set of sides from 247 Developments, Diagram D312. The packaging has a handwritten note on it saying that it was extinct by 1958, but that's quite late enough for me since my layout is based in the few years leading up to Dec 1958 when the track layout was altered. It would be great if Longworth could corroborate that.

 

Thanks once again.

 

Terry

[Taz]

Longworth lists D312 as exLNWR Whale BTK stock.

He says all withdrawn by 09/58