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

[Jack P]

Fantastic Pete, I really want to re-do mine with Gibson wheels, and after seeing your coupling rods - possibly re-do those!

 

Along with the J, Chivers is also set to re-release the D3, which makes for an exciting prospect!

[pete_mcfarlane]

6 hours ago, Jack P said:

Fantastic Pete, I really want to re-do mine with Gibson wheels, and after seeing your coupling rods - possibly re-do those!

 

Along with the J, Chivers is also set to re-release the D3, which makes for an exciting prospect!

The coupling rods were a pig to make, but make a big difference. I was never convinced that the kit ones were the same wheelbase as the frames, as they came on a different etch (and in a different material, NS rather than brass).

[Blandford1969]

Really nice, which cheap Chinese motors do you use?

[pete_mcfarlane]

15 minutes ago, Blandford1969 said:

Really nice, which cheap Chinese motors do you use?

This is the nearest I can currently find on eBay, although the ones I got had much longer shafts.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC12V-21800RPM-High-Speed-5-Pole-Rotor-Reverse-Axis-Micro-Motor-DIY-Toy-Car-Boat/263914956339?hash=item3d728ea633:g:2~gAAOSwantbkKF5

 

They are quite high revving, but a high reduction gearbox tames this.

 

It seems to be pot luck as to what is available at any time, but if you have a look at people like this you can see loads of different options: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/Hello-alian/Electric-Motors/_i.html?_pgn=27&rt=nc&_storecat=13061085014

 

[Sophia NSE]

Hi Pete, is there any chance you have a picture or two of the bogie on your gorgeous J class? Also how did you attach the bogie to the chassis?

 

Thanks!

[pete_mcfarlane]

On 16/03/2021 at 11:19, Sophia NSE said:

Hi Pete, is there any chance you have a picture or two of the bogie on your gorgeous J class? Also how did you attach the bogie to the chassis?

 

Thanks!

Here you go. 

The Chiver's bogie is a rather nice idea, being etched with cast overlays to represent the detail. Either I used the wrong centre spacer or the OO gauge one provided is too wide, as I had to carefully file down the cast overlays to get the wheels on. There's a slot in the spacer, and the bogie pin is a bolt soldered to the chassis (as in this under construction photo)

 

 

The retaining bolt is held on with a bit of Loctite in case it ever needs to come off. 

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

And some more Bulleid progress. A box of bits turned up today from RT models, with all the bits I need for the second light Pacific. Buying most of the bits in one go, rather than accumulating them over 25+ years, made me realise that you spend several times the price of the base kit making it presentable. 

 

The tender is slowly progressing. Tonight I added the curved rear top, which sits on a false top and some packing pieces. All of these are from Evergreen styrene. 

 

 

The mini clothes pegs came from Eileen's Emporium and are really useful for jobs like this. 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[Jack P]

4 hours ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

Either I used the wrong centre spacer or the OO gauge one provided is too wide, as I had to carefully file down the cast overlays to get the wheels on.

 

The OO one is much too wide, I measured it against my wheel gauge and with those overlays it's closer to P4 spec.

[pete_mcfarlane]

8 hours ago, Jack P said:

 

The OO one is much too wide, I measured it against my wheel gauge and with those overlays it's closer to P4 spec.

That's not good, but at least it proves that I didn't cock things up. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

I pressed out the rivets in the paper side overlays for the second Bulleid this evening (after giving them a couple of coats of spray paint). This was one of those jobs that I wasn't looking forward to, but turned out to be really easy, although I managed to piece a few, which hopefully won't show on the finished model. 

Not as neat the Albert Goodall ones from 20 years ago, but I guess that he had a bit more practice at it than me. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

I've been quiet for a while as my railway room/workshop had a complete refurb, which left me without anywhere to do proper modelling for several month. I was also spending quite a bit of time at my parents, due to this Covid-19 thing, so needed a project that could be done on the dining room table and laptop. So I dug out the Silhouette cutter - I bought one of these in 2014 when they were all the rage, and built a 3R Tadpole unit using it. Then I had problems getting the thing to work due to PC driver issues, and it got packed away. 

 

Anyway, jump forward to 2021 and I dug it out, bought a new blade, and managed to get the thing talking to my PC and cutting files from Inkscape again. So looking around for something to build, I decided on a 4-BUF EMU. I fancied building one of these after buy an back copy of 'Modellers Backtrack' with drawings of the buffet car. Plus every single book on Southern EMUs has photos of the art deco interiors (photos of the underframe and ends are harder to find, as I discovered later on). 

 

So having scanned that in and read this book, I started designing the various bits in Inkscape. 

 

 

 

I bought this 20 years ago, and have never quite got round to following David Jenkinson's methods. 

 

The parts were cut out using the cutter, and I started with these bits.

 

 

Floor from 60 thou and side from 40 thou - the cutter just scores these rather than cutting through, but a few knife strokes through the score lines cuts them out. I then assembled a rectangular, box, Jenkinson style.

The plastic strip spacers give the correct side profile - these have a turn-under and a tumblehome. On top of that was glued the 20 though sides, which curve to the correct shape, and on top of those I stuck some window frames cut from self adhesive vinyl (with the rest of the sliding airstream vents from Evergreen strip). As you can see, it's not of the same standard as Colin Park's 4-COR but I'm pretty happy (although I've made a note to fix the wonky ventilator top).  

 

The buffet car had 3 types of large window - no-opening, airstream sliding ventilators, and Mk1 type ventilators retrofitted in the 1950s to some of the non-opening windows, as the air conditioning wasn't 100% effective. 

 

This is the coach pretty much ready for painting. The basic assembly was done on the dining table, but over the last couple of weeks I've now got my workbench set up again and can solder and superglue, and have managed to finish it off. 

 

The rest of the interior will be fitted after painting - there's a some cheating with the partitions to give more strength, but none of this will show. 

And the exterior. The hardest part was working out the roof and underframe detail, as there seem to be few published photos and the one preserved example was scrapped years ago. So some of this is guess work or simplified (especially the air-con gear) but should look OK. 

 

The roof is a Southern Pride Bulleid one, and the bogies are the new MJT rigid ones. Most of the under body equipment is from plasticard, but there is a Southern Pride motor generator set to power the electric kitchen.

 

I've now made a start on the two motor coaches. More on those later on. 

 

There's not been much progress on the two Bulleid pacifics - I have now found the box they are packed in amongst all the mayhem, but the layout is currently dismantled and I'm reluctant to do much more work on locos until I get it reassembled and I can test stuff on it. That's not going to happen until the autumn, as I'm waiting on some shutters to be installed in the railway room/home office. 

 

I fell into the trap of 'it runs OK on the test track with one point' whilst building some of my previous locos, and they've needed work (tanging from tweaking to full chassis rebuilds) once I tried them on an actual layout. I suspect the BUF will also stall at some point as I want to test it as a complete unit before I paint it. 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[KeithHC]

That looks great the COR/BUF are on my wish list. I have read through the master class that the late Colin Parks did it is very inspirational as where all of his EMU’s. Looking forward to seeing this progress.

 

Keith

[pete_mcfarlane]

One of the problems I needed to solve was how to motorise the 4-BUF. It has 9' wheelbase motor bogies and I can't order a 36mm Black Beetle like you could a few years back. One option would be a Hornby Brighton Belle bogie, but I couldn't get these, only the cosmetic frames (and Peter's Spares only had the later bogie type with springs rather than a compensation beam, which limits which units I can model).

 

So after a bit of searching I found that KW Trams do 36mm tram mechanism kits for a very reasonable price, so I decided to give one a try. You can see what they do here: http://www.kwtrams.co.uk/products?search_api_views_fulltext=4+wheel+kit

 

These are ex-ABS and are based around a solid lump of cast metal (it feels a little harder than normal whitemetal, so possibly Pewter). Like everything Adrian Swain did i'ts well designed and only took a couple of hours to assemble. My only deviations were to replace the small tram wheels with the 14mm Black Beetle wheels, and add a press stud to the top as  a pivot. My original plan was to reuse the axles and just replace the wheels, but pushing the wheelset together in the vice caused these to bend. So whatever they were made out of wasn't the usual silver steel (and I had to saw one to get the gear off, and got through it in a couple of seconds...). So the gears were fitted onto the BB axles. 

Apart from that it was pretty straightforward. Testing on my little test track shows it be a little noisy, but very smooth and controllable with a not too high top speed. The motor is tiny, so I'm going to get a second one and motorise both motor coaches. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

A bit more progress. The other motor bogie for the BUF has now been assembled (along with a third bogie, for the MTK 1925 suburban type de-icing unit that's been in my to do pile for 15 years...). These two were a lot easier, as I knew what I was doing now. 

 

The original wheels were removed using my GWR worm puller, which was a lot easier to use with these small wheels than the wheel puller.

Replacement Black Beetle 14mm wheels fitted

And the bogies assembled and tested. The only issue was on the one where I put the pickups on the uninsulated side, and wondered why nothing happened when I applied power. 

I then batch built the 4 remaining trailing bogies. These are from MJT. Tomorrows job is to add the footsteps, and the pickups on the 2 bogies that will go at the inner ends of the motor coaches. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

A bit more progress on the bogies - these now have pickups (for the motor coach inner ends) and footboards. I now need to source some more 14mm wheels - a lot of places seem to be out of them, and I'm not sure I fancy the faff of getting EM gauge ones (which are still available) and pushing them in....

 

I do have a small stash of Black beetle 14mm wheels, which made adding pickups easier (as they are live to the axle from one of the wheels - just make sure that you put both wheels in the bogie the same way round.....).

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by pete_mcfarlane

[pete_mcfarlane]

On 07/07/2021 at 19:28, pete_mcfarlane said:

I do have a small stash of Black beetle 14mm wheels, which made adding pickups easier (as they are live to the axle from one of the wheels - just make sure that you put both wheels in the bogie the same way round.....).

I subsequently twigged that if I replace the Black Beetles on the unpowered coaches of some of my EMUs with Gibsons, I have a slightly larger stash of Black Beetles wheels for use on motor coaches. So I've ordered some from Eileen's, along with a big pile of L section for the underframes, and some other bits. Scratchbuilding is apparently cheap, said the person who'd never seen the cost of Brass sections and Evergreen plastic....

 

Anyway, I got pinged by NHS track and trace the other day (my first trip to the pub in 16 months, negative test result, none of the people I went with got pinged, so I guess the person in the next toilet cubicle must have tested positive). Which meant that I had a weekend at home on my own for once. So I've finished off a few things

 

The Mk1 first is now done. Slightly iffy photos on my workbench I'm afraid. 

This was a badly painted and not very well assembled conversion from a Triang Mk1 and Comet sides, built as a student in the days when we still stuck overlays on RTR coaches before realising it was more hassle than just building the full kit. I'm a lot happier with the result - not perfect but a hundred times better than before. 

 

I also spent most of yesterday afternoon soldering up bogies - some NNK ones for the MTK deicing unit that's next in the pile, and some replacement bogies for the Tadpole trailer coaches. I never managed to get this to run very well with its MJT compensated bogies, despite never really having a problem with these previously. So after much faffing around I gave up, and ordered the rigid replacements. 

 

Soldered up, steps added and DC Kits sideframes fitted. Next step is to detail these - the previous attempts were a bit flimsy with nicely detailed plasticard bolsters that didn't stand up to to actual use. I've kept the crude DC kits bolsters on, and will add a plasticard overlay. This will be a bit more robust.

 

And finally, the model I'm supposed to be working on. The 4-BUF motor coaches have got to this state (they do have bogies, but they weren't fitted at the time if the photo). 

I had a bit of a problem with the ends - the section of side between the end and the drivers door was made out of 20 thou sheet over strip formers (as per the sides) but this distorted with all of the solvent needed to fit the actual ends, doors etc. Next time, I'll shape these from solid. So I ended up with loads of Milliput filler (hence the primer, to show me what was smooth and what wasn't). Surface imperfections were filled with Tippex, which I read about on a model aircraft forum a while back, and seems good for filling small cracks (and dried in a few minutes), Roller blinds are fitted, and the buffers are from Branchlines. These weren't quite the right shape, so the end ones had a bit of a reprofile with the file - I didn't bother with the intermediate ones.

 

The coaches have been tested with their motor bogies, and do seem to work OK. So I'm getting there slowly. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[MJI]

I tend to use limonene as a solvent and also to leave dry when laminating for at least a few days.

 

None of my sides have warped yet!!!!

[pete_mcfarlane]

48 minutes ago, MJI said:

I tend to use limonene as a solvent and also to leave dry when laminating for at least a few days.

 

None of my sides have warped yet!!!!

I even have a bottle of the stuff, but somehow I used plasticweld instead.  

[MJI]

When I was a lot younger I tried scratch building some carriages just to try.

 

Warped terribly, used whatever solvent I could find. Was a waste of card in the end

 

Since I have bought the Cameo 4 I have produced 2 buildings and working through 18 carriage sides.

 

My technique is to laminate 20 thou layers 4 per side one laminate at a time a week between, sat under a heavy book.

 

10 thou skin, do flat bit first as a few days under book, then when set the tumblehome.

 

Using a late Swindon profile, similar to late Collett/Hawksworth but tilted over for BR DMUs.

 

I am VERY pleased to see no warping on yours.

[pete_mcfarlane]

I think the advantage of David Jenkinsons way of doing things is that your sides are glued to the fairly solid inner carcass, so the scope for warping is limited. In some ways it's like stressed skin construction, with the outer skin glued over formers. 

[pete_mcfarlane]

The refurb of the Tadpole is now complete, with new bogies for the unpowered cars. The Driving trailer has also been reglazed, as I didn't do a very good job the first time. It now has the little yellow label sin the windows that these coaches seem to have had - presumably to tell passengers that the coach was locked out of use. 

I can't photograph the whole unit at the moment. I've also replaced the coupling between the coaches in an attempt to solve derailing. 

 

This is just a bar (make from a SMP sleeper) pivoting on a 8BA bolt and held in place with nuts. It inserts in a pin sticking down from the other coach. I've not fully tested it on this unit yet, but it worked OK on my 2-EPB and cured that units derailing problems. For some reason I photographed the Trailer second the wrong way round with the non-gangwayed end next to the motor coach. 

 

The 4-BUG motor coaches not have roofs - cut down from more Southern Pride Bulleid mouldings. This is the current state of play of one of them

This one hasn't been given the rounded corners yet - the roof/side/end join on these coaches looks a bit tricky to get right. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by pete_mcfarlane

[number6]

Enjoying seeing your 4BUF come together. I have a 4COR on the desk where I keep looking at the roof ends over the cabs where it is quite a complex shape and how to make it work. Those plastic roofs are great for profile but I'm less keen on the texture on them. Best of luck! Very impressed with the cutting and construction. Much more my cup of tea than BSL aluminium shells or Marc Models etched brass - kits of which I have for versions of these units in unmade form. I even have some body shells for a later 4BUF which I think is MTK and absolutely awful! Nice to think back to and be reminded of Colin Park's amazing builds but also back to Jenkinson in the Railway Modeller where he had articles on coaching building in the 80s[?]. Somehow he made it seem something complex seem simple back then.

[pete_mcfarlane]

I think the challenge with the cab ends is going to be the way the roof guttering curves upwards, so there's a little curved piece of bodywork on the corner. It's all a lot more subtle and complex than the basic ends of BR EMUs, so getting everything in the right place is going to be important or it will look wrong. 

[number6]

Indeed and having this lying around nearby doesn't help with finding a neat solution!

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

Yes, that photo is my main reference! The light is just right, even though I have dozens of my own photos if preserved COR motor coaches.