RMweb Premium Ian Smeeton Posted January 31, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 31, 2021 I have no previous experience of building etched wagon kits. I have seen these 16T Minerals in the small suppliers section of the 2mm Association Website, and lusted after them for some time. Others have mentioned this range of kits, and commented on how easy they are to build. So what could possibly go wrong? Nothing yet, but there is time.... The etch in the flat. At about £6.50 each, they do seem good value, but after adding wheels and buffers of choice, the total comes out at about £10 each. Still good value compared to RRP RTR, and you have something that is seriously yours. The plan is to build about 20 of these in total, each completed identically, as they are to represent a train of newly delivered ex works consecutively numbered wagons, with a decrepit Brake Van or two, and a Caley 0-6-0 tank. From Graces Guide https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im19540205RG-Pressed.jpg#filelinks A rather distorted view of the Paisley & Barrhead District Railway, with a delivery train waiting for the passenger to pass by. 8 Pages of A5 instructions, including 4 pages of photos give a fairly concise description of the method. Well written, and easy to follow, however, the choice of buffers, wheels, vac cylinders (if required) is left up to the customer, and although suggested part numbers are given for wheels, bearings and vac cylinders, no suggestion was given for buffers. A quick query in the 'Any Questioned Answered' thread gave me the correct info, but only after I had placed my order with Shop 2 at the 2mm Assoc. Patience is a virtue, and according to my better half, I am lacking in virtues! The parts ARE Small. Tinning the three layers of the main body wasn't difficult, but care had to be taken. I put together the first body using mu usual 1mm pointed bit on my 50w Temp Controlled Iron, but for the second, when it came to laminating , I changed to a 5mm Chisel bit to get a better heat flow. I gave to say that I treated the first one as 'sacrificial', just to get my hand in. The second one has gone together much better, and has been properly cleaned up as I went along. First attempt before any cleaning up was done. In fact, the axle boxes (in each corner are only 2/3 of the way through folding and assembly. This is the 'sacrificial' one. Three sides folded up after releasing from the etch, with the fourth still to be folded. More to follow as I work through the build. Regards Ian 7 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Smeeton Posted January 31, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 31, 2021 Just to add, the first kit was built using normal multicore 1mm tin/lead solder, but fr the second, I switched to 188 degree tin/lead/silver solder, as it seems to flow better for tinning the laminations before sweating together. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 24 minutes ago, Ian Smeeton said: A rather distorted view of the Paisley & Barrhead District Railway, with a delivery train waiting for the passenger to pass by. That's better. John Isherwood. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965Nick Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 47 minutes ago, Ian Smeeton said: I have no previous experience of building etched wagon kits. I have seen these 16T Minerals in the small suppliers section of the 2mm Association Website, and lusted after them for some time. Others have mentioned this range of kits, and commented on how easy they are to build. So what could possibly go wrong? Nothing yet, but there is time.... The etch in the flat. At about £6.50 each, they do seem good value, but after adding wheels and buffers of choice, the total comes out at about £10 each. Still good value compared to RRP RTR, and you have something that is seriously yours. The plan is to build about 20 of these in total, each completed identically, as they are to represent a train of newly delivered ex works consecutively numbered wagons, with a decrepit Brake Van or two, and a Caley 0-6-0 tank. From Graces Guide https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im19540205RG-Pressed.jpg#filelinks A rather distorted view of the Paisley & Barrhead District Railway, with a delivery train waiting for the passenger to pass by. 8 Pages of A5 instructions, including 4 pages of photos give a fairly concise description of the method. Well written, and easy to follow, however, the choice of buffers, wheels, vac cylinders (if required) is left up to the customer, and although suggested part numbers are given for wheels, bearings and vac cylinders, no suggestion was given for buffers. A quick query in the 'Any Questioned Answered' thread gave me the correct info, but only after I had placed my order with Shop 2 at the 2mm Assoc. Patience is a virtue, and according to my better half, I am lacking in virtues! The parts ARE Small. Tinning the three layers of the main body wasn't difficult, but care had to be taken. I put together the first body using mu usual 1mm pointed bit on my 50w Temp Controlled Iron, but for the second, when it came to laminating , I changed to a 5mm Chisel bit to get a better heat flow. I gave to say that I treated the first one as 'sacrificial', just to get my hand in. The second one has gone together much better, and has been properly cleaned up as I went along. First attempt before any cleaning up was done. In fact, the axle boxes (in each corner are only 2/3 of the way through folding and assembly. This is the 'sacrificial' one. Three sides folded up after releasing from the etch, with the fourth still to be folded. More to follow as I work through the build. Regards Ian These have to be a next project for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Smeeton Posted January 31, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 31, 2021 They are rather delicious. I had intended cracking on this afternoon, but RMWeb got in the way!! Regards Ian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Nick Mitchell Posted January 31, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) Below is a photo of the most recent small batch of these I built a few years ago. Obviously this was taken before painting began, but as of today they're still in primer... They are straightforward to build, but not entirely fool-proof: I started this batch while demonstrating at an exhibition, and managed to build one of them "inside out" as I was distracted chatting to visitors. The beauty of soldered construction is that even really stupid mistakes like that can be easily undone! I have another 5 tucked away in my gloat chest (the word "box" no longer does it justice)... I think they may have to be added to the this year's wildly optimistic wagon-building programme. Edited January 31, 2021 by Nick Mitchell 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
2mm Andy Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 There is a useful thread on these wagon kits here; I built two of the kits some years ago - a third one (with 8 shoe vac fitted brake gear) is still in my box of shame waiting to be finished. Andy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Smeeton Posted January 31, 2021 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 31, 2021 I was sure that I had seen a thread on building these kits, but despite searching high and low, I couldn't find it. Thank you for linking to it. I shall read and re-read it along with the supplied destructions. Regards Ian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 2 hours ago, Ian Smeeton said: I had intended cracking on this afternoon, but RMWeb got in the way!! It often does! Jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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