Southern workbench (Currently two Dapol/Airfix Light Pacifics and a scratchbuilt 4-BUF)

[pete_mcfarlane]

Today I did one of the tasks I'd been avoiding - making 3 sets of underframe trussing (I'd already done the set for the buffet car, as that was non-standard). To speed things up I made myself a jig (and wrote various bits of information on it, for next time I need to use it)

And here's the result - 3 sets of trussing. The two motor coach ones need an inset at the ends, to clear the motor bogie. That can wait until next time.

It was a lot quicker with the jig, but it's still not my favourite task. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

Those undeframes are now fitted to the motor coaches, and the various undergubbins attached. These are mostly from the castings that Branchlines sell for 1936 type units, with some odd Southern Pride mouldings (including the motor generator) and the odd bit of scratchbuilding. 

This is all a  bit basic, and some of the castings were a bit crude, but the overall effect looks OK. As does the end, which has now been fitted to the sides (with a bit of plastic strip round the edges and the odd bit of filler). The roofs bolt on, so I wrapped them in cellophane, applied Milliput to the ends, and bolted the roof on. This was then carefully shaped to give a reasonable match. It looks OK when the roof is bolted on (which it isn't here)

 

The cabling is from Branchlines (modified, as the express units had different jumper cables compared to the semi-0fast/suburban units), wire etch. None of this is as good as Colin Parks' 4-BUF, and I suspect that the castings a re  a little oversize) but it should look OK when painted.  The gangway plates were done on the Silhouette, as there's no way I could have cut that out by hand.....

 

Next up are the window frames. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by pete_mcfarlane

[MJI]

Nice.

 

I do like those

[pete_mcfarlane]

I've made a start on the TC for the 4-BUF. This is a bit more tricky, as it's one of those later period Maunsell coaches with  high windows. The current plan is to have a thicker than it should be top edge to the inner side, and then file it down once reinforced with a strip along the top. 

That's plan A anyway. So far I've fitted one side, and the compartment. 

Edited August 21, 2022 by pete_mcfarlane

[SteveCornford]

Hi Pete,

 

What drawings are you using for the 4-BUF?

 

Whose hadrail knobs and what size wire are you using for the distinctive motor coach handrails?

 

Steve

[pete_mcfarlane]

2 minutes ago, SteveCornford said:

Hi Pete,

 

What drawings are you using for the 4-BUF?

 

Whose hadrail knobs and what size wire are you using for the distinctive motor coach handrails?

 

Steve

I'm using a mix of drawings in the MRC (May 65) and Modeller's Backtrack (Volume 4 number 3 has detailed drawings of the buffet cars). Mike King also does the COR/BUF/RES units in his range. 

 

Handrail knobs are Gibson, with .33mm wire. Which reminds me that I need some more.....

[pete_mcfarlane]

And on the subject of drawings, be wary of the ones in the 'Southern Electric Units - Drawings and plans' book. It gets the kitchen side of the Buffet car completely wrong, which suggests that it was done from known dimensions and guesswork. 

[SteveCornford]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the info, also for the tip about the 9ft motor bogies.

WIll be interesting to see how they run in service.

 

Regards Steve

 

 

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

I've now cut out the sides for the trailer composite. I've cheated slightly on the corridor side, and made the top of the windows about 0.4mm lower than the should be. Scale sized windows would have required a thinner top rail to the inner side, and would have been too flimsy. I actually cut two sides - one scale and the other with the lower windows just to check (one of the benefits of using the Silhouette) just to confirm.

Edited August 21, 2022 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

I now have a rigid and square  trailer composite body (and slight wonkiness of the sides will be

cured once the foor goes in).

 

Like a lot of these 'difficult' tasks, it turned out to be a lot more straightforward than I thought (albeit with the slight cheat of making the top rail slightly thicker). 

One thing I didn't manage to do was fit the corridor handrai8l to the inner sides (as per David Jenkinson), as there aren't any inner sides in the right place. I'll need to add this the hard way after fitting the glazing. 

 

I'm now moving on to the ends and roof. 

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

I've not yet summoned up the enthusiasm to sort all the photos, but as an interim update I finally fitted some Narrow Plant Hunslet works plates to my 05. And sorted the body level, which I never noticed 2 years ago when I built the loco - it;s amazing how these things go unnoticed and then suddenly jump out and hit you later on. 

Dodgy photos as my layout is currently in bits and waiting for a new lighting rig to be fitted - another job!

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

I've finally got round to fixing the photos, so I suppose I should give a few updates on my projects. The BUF and light pacifics are slowly progressing, and I've worked on a few other things in the meantime. 

 

This is a Southern Pride Mk2 FK, of the original batch with Mk1 windows and interiors.

 

You can still buy these, but you rarely see them made up on layouts, despite him doing pretty much every Mk2 type going. The kits are really well thought out, with a mix of plastic, brass and resin components. 

 

Some very nice resin ends, more like the kind of thing you see from Czech model aircraft firms than the slightly wonky UK railway modelling resin stuff.

Some nicely thought out etched door hinges, which you solder into pre-etched slots in the sides. I held them using the vice, which freed up one hand to hold the side and the other to solder. 

All very well thought out. The body is then glued and soldered together. 

 

To make things harder I wanted to do this in later air brake only condition, mainly as all the decent photos I could find were in this state. The kit also seems to cater for the batch of coaches built for the ER, which had pressure ventilation, rather than the SR ones. So a lot of underframe gear was scratchbuilt from not very clear photos. If I'd not gone down this rout I would have spent 10 minutes sticking the nice resin mouldings in place.

 

There also a nice set of vinyl window frames (which is where I pinched the idea for my BUF). 

 

That was the state of play ready for painting. Another update when I've taken some photos of the finished coach. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

On 18/06/2020 at 16:22, MarcD said:

I seams Ian MacCormac, has now taken over some of the range. I know Ian from the HMRS and I my passenger brake van is one of his kits.

 

He is also on this forum but he trades as EB models.

 

Email:   ianmaccormac@hotmail.com

or

Post:     E B Models,

 1 Arundel Avenue,

 Bispham,

 BLACKPOOL,

 Lancs FY2 9HJ

 

Marc

 

Belated update on this - Ian took over the EBM range. The Albion kits have gone to Dave at Roxey Mouldings although he seems to be having issues with the first batch of kits due to Photo Etch going belly up. 

 

https://www.facebook.com/RoxeyMouldings

 

 

[John Besley]

Hello Pete

 

Just reading though your thread do you have a picture of the BoB tender chassis you made, as that's something I need to think through on my Westcountry build

 

Was it a kit or scratchbuilt

[pete_mcfarlane]

5 hours ago, John Besley said:

Hello Pete

 

Just reading though your thread do you have a picture of the BoB tender chassis you made, as that's something I need to think through on my Westcountry build

 

Was it a kit or scratchbuilt

 

Here's some photos. The first one for 34032. This is scratchbuilt from 15thou nickle silver, using Comet frame spacers. It has a fixed rear axle and twin beam compensation on the front two axles. 

 

 

This is the part finished chassis from 34049. 

 

 

As a general update, 34032 is structurally complete but doesn't have a motor or any detailing. 

 

 

34049 is much less advanced.

 

 

The plan is to get the second one up tot he same level of the first, fit motors, and then do the detailing. This has slowly restarted - the good thing about pausing a project for 21 months is that you spot things that are wrong. In this case the second tender chassis has been unsoldered and put back together straight..

[John Besley]

Thanks Pete, that information has been squirreled away as part of my build notes to refer back to, look forward to seeing the two BoB getting to the next stage

[pete_mcfarlane]

Finishing off the story of the Southern Pride Mk2, this is the result of painting it. Not especially well, as I struggled with the white lining, but it looks reasonably OK. Not the best photos ever, as I'm still reinstalling the layout lighting. 

 

The curtains are printed and came from Hall Royd Junction on ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?ssPageName=&_ssn=hall_royd_junction They are a lot less hassle than the cast MJT ones, and look OK. I just need to build the 3 Southern Pride printed side Mk1s I've had in a box for 15 years to go with it - the eventual rake will look good behind my Heljan 33s. I've also acquired a few more of these Mk2 kits to build up a Western region cross country set. Eventually 

 

 

[John Besley]

I seem to recall at least one Mk2 being in BR(S) green... remember seeing it at Weymouth 

[pete_mcfarlane]

Another project I've not previously posted about is this Ian Kirk 2-Bil. It was a long term resident of the kit stash - I bought the kit years ago, along with a rather nice NNK chassis kit from Alistair Rolfe not long before he sadly passed away. Then the Hornby one came out, and it got forgotten about. Eventually I made a start last year, and this is the current state. 

 

First of all, the rather nice box the kit came in. 

 

The fairly basic trailer underframe. The main challenge here was the trailer collector bogie - the etch is slightly too wide, so the pinpoint bearings needed packing out. I know this, as I didn't do this on my first 2-Bil, as the axles slopped around so much that it derailed all the time. It's recently had a rebuild of the bogie to stop this. 

And the much more complicated motor coach.

All of this was preformed, including the truss rods. Again it all fitted together easily, although my kit was missing some of the bits to fit the motor bogie (which is a Black beetle) so I had to make my own hi-tech arrangements (lots of washers...). 

 

This is the only (poor) photo I took of the thing the right way up. The body is being detailed, mainly with Branchlines bits.

And yes, the cantrail is wonky. I'm sorting it tomorrow. The coach also looks weird with no solebar or footsteps.

 

Roof details consist of a scan of the Branchlines drawing printed on sticky paper, and stuck on as a template. The lamp tops are Markits and Southern Pride, and the cable runs are a mix of guitar strings and plastic rod. The main modifications with the kit are to sort out the ends (look at the roof end in plan form, and it isn't symmetrical) and add loads of bracing to the body. I'll show more of this later on. 

 

The roofs on these units are a bit of a minefield, as the drawings (Branchlines and Mike King) don't match photos (mostly from the 1960s and 70s). Ignoring the later units with self-contained buffers, the roofs are all similar in photos, so I suspect they were modified at some point. So the way not to do it it is to copy the drawing, and then slowly modify it as you look at more photo.

 

And then remove the self-contained buffers, as you realised that those units were different. I should know, this is the second Kirk 2-Bil I've done, and I'm pretty sure that I did the same thing on the first one...

 

Speaking of which, the original one has had  a bit of work done on it to improve reliability.I bought this in 1996, built in in about 2008, and it was featured on a very early version of RMweb. This used the Branchlines chassi detailing kit and power bogie, and the other bogie from NNK. 

 

As well as rebuilding the derailment prone bogie, it's has a new coupling fitted between coaches. It's a bit of PCB strip, and some 8BA nuts and bolts. Crude, doesn't show too much, and allows the thing to propel the DTS without derailing. It also had loads of weight added to aid traction. 

 

I have 4 more of these kits in the stash. At this rate I should have the last one done in about 2060....

[pete_mcfarlane]

12 minutes ago, John Besley said:

I seem to recall at least one Mk2 being in BR(S) green... remember seeing it at Weymouth 

Yes, the first batch (which my model is from) was originally turned out in Green and Maroon (for the ER). I'll do another of these in green if I can find decent photos, all the ones I've seen are too small to be useful.

[pete_mcfarlane]

A year later and the latest Kirk 2-BIL (2091) is finished. Part of the reason is that I sprayed a load of green EMUs in one go, which (as we would say at work) reduced the effort but increased elapsed time. Here they all are being varnished (along with a Mikro-Mir DH-88 racer in 1/48, possibly the worst plastic aircraft kit I've ever built).  

 

 

It then took forever to add handrails, glazing, seats, window labels etc etc. But I'm there now. 

 

 

The NNK underframe kit was very nice - it's a shame it is no longer available, unlike the Kirk 2-Bil which is available again despite the Hornby RTR model. I'm presumably not the only person stupid enough to enjoy building these kits. 

 

The scratchbuilt BUF is also slowly progressing, and is at the painted stage needing interiors and so on. This is the buffet car, which is going to have a detailed interior. The art-deco counters and tables are drawn but just need cutting out on the Silhouette. 

 

One of the challenges I was expecting was sourcing a Pullman steward, but luckily Bachmann have done a set of these in the last few years. 

 

The MLV is also finished. It's not perfect (the Hornby bogie needed a press stud at the top, which forced me to make the roof removable, so there's a visible join. Future MJT based units will use the Comet approach of body/roof and chassis as two units. 

 

But from this (c1996)

 

 

To this is a big improvement. 

 

 

Finished as one of the original pair when they'd just entered service, with silver window surrounds, light coloured roof etc. 

 

Other stuff that I've been working on include this Isinglass 3D printed LNER full brake. I'd fancied trying one of these for a while, and went with a full brake as they did turn up on the Southern (the model is based on a photo of one of the ex-Flying Scotsman ones at Feltham). 

 

The kit itself gives you these bits. 

 

I struggled with the brittle 3d printed bogies, and so replaced them (and some of the other underframe bits with MJT parts). The sides needed a lot of cleaning up, priming and sanding down to get a smooth finish. They were also a bit thick, so I ended up glazing them with 'Glue n Glaze' which is Ok for the tiny windows on a full brake. 

 

So the Jury is still out - it worked out quite expensive with all the extra bits, and I may have got a better finish from the Comet kit for this vehicles. But he does do a vast range of LNER vehicles, and other people have got good results from these kits. 

 

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

And here's the finished photo (ran out of space on the previous post)

 

 

So a lot of work, but the result looks OK. 

 

Also slowly progressing are a couple of more modern EMUs. I succumbed during lockdown to the urge to buy one of the 3D printed PEP emus sold by Modern Multiple Units on EBay. Again a lot of cleaning up, but these come with some nice etched windows.  This was one of the earlier kits with multiple body sections. 

 

Curing on the window ledge - they were a bit sticky when I got them 

 

 

Filling and rubbing down. 

 

 

And the current state of play. I'm struggling a bit with underframe detail. The kit comes with some generic 3D printed parts, which don't quite match the photos of the real thing (which are generally 3/4 views, so the rear bit of underframe details are less clear). I also suspect that the two motor coaches are different - they certainly have different vehicle codes. 

 

Also moving slowly is this Bratchell 455 (with another 3D printed trailer, so represent one of the units with ex-508 trailers)

 

 

And the other incursion into much more modern stock is another Southern Pride Mk2, in this case a Mk2a brake. I seem to have acquired or have on order some 1980s diesels, so this will be part of a rake behind them. My first attempt as NSE livery - the stripes are from Fox. SR green units are a lot easier....

On the previous Mk2 I made the roof removable as per the instructions, and there was a slight height mismatch. This one has the roof fixed and blended in with filler, and looks better as a result. Next step is to do the window transfers, and then it just needs final assembly. 

 

 

Edited March 2 by pete_mcfarlane