Adventures in O gauge - First Class kits LNER 8 shoe open merchandise wagon

[Boris]

A lot more playing has occured since my last post, we have W irons, wheels and springs.  I'm not even going to try and use the brass pins provided in the kit for doors and brake racks, splitting chain that fine is completely nuts, I have opted to use .32 silver wire instead which is a similar dimension and can be pushed through the chain link and shaped, its more useable and much easier.  The springs do work with a lot of poking and fettling, although they are a scale width from the break stops!  Photo is pre dishwasher trip for cleaning.  On the bright side, I now have a free rolling set of frames with working suspension.

[brossard]

Congratulations on getting the chassis done.

 

John

[Boris]

7 hours ago, brossard said:

Congratulations on getting the chassis done.

 

John

Thanks, it has been a lot of work but it sits squarely and runs beautifully.  Next jobs of course are brake shoes and gubbins but i have already made up one of his glass wagons so there is no fear there, again using a little experience to deviate from the instructions I intend for my brake shoes to have the bottom hole modelled clear (the kit instructions has this hole as blind which is incorrect).  Probably using a piece of tiny dowel for the third guide rather than brass wire so it can be extracted.  Also wagon shoes have a clasp on the back so they don't slip off the inclined tyre which isn't on the kit, I can probably make some up out of fret.  Now the instructions have you using slaters wheels and spacing them so the brake shoes don't contact and short, unfortunately all I could obtain at the time was Peco wheels which are on a plastic centre and insulated so with a little bit of messing I should be able to have the shoes skimming the wheels slightly and the whole thing will be polarised but won't short.  In theory anyway, time will tell,

[brossard]

MMP kits are excellent no question.  They do require expertise though.

 

John

[michl080]

10 hours ago, brossard said:

MMP kits are excellent no question.  They do require expertise though.

 

My first 7mm kit was a MMP Catfish. I had some experience with white metal H0 kits, but no brass experience.  It helps to have experience, but it is also a great way to gain experience. Although the MMP kits are very detailed and have a lot of tiny bits and pieces, they fit perfectly, so that I know that if things don't line up correctly, it isn't the kits fault, it is my mistake.

Many people say that the connoiseur kits are best for beginners, I think that a reasonably cold-blooded newby can build a MMP kit. (maybe not the MK1 - passenger coaches, however) :-)

 

Michael

[brossard]

Ha ha, you might be right but I have a lot of experience with etched brass kits and was humbled by the MMP kit (leaf springs to be precise).

 

I think it is true the Connoisseur kits are good for beginners.  They don't include a lot of detail and also fit well.  I did one for a friend and it was enjoyable.

 

John

[Boris]

I can't really claim to be a great modeller, I just cheat for some stuff and use a little bit of vaseline to stop the solder escaping too far. 

 

The chassis is now finished completely, brakes all complete and buffers added.  The buffer castings were disappointingly rough when compared to the rest of this amazing kit, but with some time and green stuff they are useable oddly enough the couplings won't be added until post painting, they are already a nice shade of black so I see no point fitting them to then remove them or mask them.  When I tried fitting the buffers with the supplied springs I found the springs to be too long causing the buffer heads to stand too far out from the casting and be overly stiff to compress, again shortening the springs relieved the problem and they work nicely now. 

 

The brakes themselves are detailed enough to have etched split pins to put on your rigging just like the real thing, and I was incorrect, theere is an option to fit an antiflanging clasp to the back of the shoe to hook around the back of the wheel, this has been done and looks really good.  I'm really pleased with how well this has come on so far and its onto the body next.  Incidentally as promised the brake shoes have a hole in the bottom like the real thing does, this is one of the few places I disagree with the instructions as MMP would have these holes filled in.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Boris

[brossard]

Well, you've cracked the hard bit.  Even I was able to do the body.

 

BTW here are two of my MMP wagons:

 

 

Ex LMS types.  These had drop doors so had independent brakes on both sides.  Remember the underframes on these are Peco.

 

John

[Boris]

12 hours ago, brossard said:

Well, you've cracked the hard bit.  Even I was able to do the body.

 

BTW here are two of my MMP wagons:

 

 

Ex LMS types.  These had drop doors so had independent brakes on both sides.  Remember the underframes on these are Peco.

 

John

Those look really nice mate, I'm waiting on some tool upgrades before I tackle those body ribs, some slightly better long nosed pliers are needed I reckon and a drill set upgrade!

[brossard]

Thanks they did turn out well.  As for drills, I mostly use 0.9mm (0.032") for 7mm models so I try to stock up on these most of all.  A broach set is very useful too.

 

John

[Boris]

So I have had a play with the body today, first job was to fit the bar above what will eventually the end door, this gives the body a little more strength whilst you are handling it, you then put the little ribs inside the top flange which gives it shape and strength, this is actually an easier job than I thought it would be, not being a great fan of small fiddly work - great kit pick huh?

 

Anyway I fancied a go at the body ribs as they look like a pig of a thing to fold up and fit - surprisingly they aren't, the postman brought me my new long nose pliers today which have obscenely long points and with a bit of attacking with a grinder they now work as a pair of bending bars!  Better than using the vice and 2 offcuts of brass like I have been.  Anyway, these ribs start out flat unsurprisingly and then fold to almost a U channel cross section, but not quite, they taper slightly but Mr Parkins has kindly supplied a template to get the angle right.  Once I had the shape I filled the folds with an obscene amount of solder so there is no chance at all of the changing shape whilst the smaller outside joints are formed that then sit in the half etched lines on the body.  More of those tomorrow once the decent light returns I think.

 

The body is just sat on the chassis, not even thinking of fixing that yet!  The left hand end looks a bit wonky because it is, they sides bow out slightly at the moment because the fixed end of the wagon hasn't been made up yet.

[JeffP]

Makes it look like the French ones.

 

[Boris]

So, after being a daft get and completing the wagon and forgetting to take any more photographs I'll try again properly with my next project, a CRT Thompson 6 wheel brake.  These things fascinated me ever since I saw the wreck of one on the NYMR, built 30 years too late they are a bit of an oddity to me, but my amazing wife found and bought me the CRT kit for my birthday last week.  so here's a look at what's in the box.

[brossard]

Snap!  I just finished mine:

 

I think it came out well.

 

John

 

[Boris]

36 minutes ago, brossard said:

Snap!  I just finished mine:

 

I think it came out well.

 

John

 

I agree, it's come out really well, nice to have some photos for reference, I find these much better than instructions a lot of the time.  I like your advice about using 0.5mm for handrails rather than the 0.7/0.8mm supplied, that being the case I shall drill the handrail holes out to 0.5mm rather than 0.7mm tomorrow.

[brossard]

Some really useful photos here:

 

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brerbz

 

I am puzzled about the reference to Thompson on these.  Perhaps one of those myths.  Thompson retired in 1947 and died in 1953.  He doesn't seem to have had anything to do with these.

 

John

[Boris]

4 minutes ago, brossard said:

I am puzzled about the reference to Thompson on these.  Perhaps one of those myths.  Thompson retired in 1947 and died in 1953.  He doesn't seem to have had anything to do with these.

 

John

Probably because the body profile matches the rest of his coaches so he gets the blame for them, whether or not it was his idea. 

[brossard]

Just a thought, you might want to modify your main thread title to let folk know what you are doing now.

 

John

[Boris]

On 17/12/2020 at 00:44, brossard said:

Just a thought, you might want to modify your main thread title to let folk know what you are doing now.

 

John

Good point, thank you for reminding me, although no progress has been made yet because I've been really ill.  Fingers crossed for the weekend.

[brossard]

OK Boris, I hope you get well soon.

 

John

[Boris]

26 minutes ago, brossard said:

OK Boris, I hope you get well soon.

 

John

Thanks John, Pancreatitis sucks!

[Boris]

Ok, so I have had a little bit of a play with prepping the side, nothing exciting so far, just removing the solebar overlays and filing back the tabs.  The instructions want me to add ventilator covers on the doors, push out door stop detail and add door hinges.  This is where I found a mistake in the kit sides.  As is standard on a lot of brake vehicles the guards door opens inwards, not outward and the kit has the guards door reduced in height to reflect this, so it clear the floor.  So the hinges are on the inside and not visible from the outside, however the coach body side has a bump stop that can be pressed into the guards door and holes for the hinges (circled in red).  The easiest way to rectify this is to solder a strip of brass down the back of the strip and then fill the holes from the front, carefully sanding them flat and carving in a door line.  My goto filler for this is GW liquid green stuff which is applied with a brush, water based and cleans up beautifully. 

 

 

A link to a reference photo on Paul Barletts website just to prove I haven't completely lost the plot here.

 

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brerbz

[brossard]

Yes, I ended up filing the hinges flat.  I didn't pick up on the door bumps though.

 

You will need to solder a piece of brass behind the side to fill in the bottom of the door.

 

John

[Boris]

Ok, finally managed to get the cat off the bench long enough to crack on with the coach, being a parcel van there isn't a great deal of body side detail to worry about so this went together fairly easily and I managed to get the body together and square as well after about 4 hours work.  The body itself needs a clean with the fibreglass brush to get some excess solder off and I will dress the hinges to they are a better size, some are a little large atm and the bottom door hinges are asymetical because of the tumblehome.

 

I never claimed to be anything more than an amateur at soldering so rely on my fibreglass pencil to remove the escaped bits, you can see in the 2nd picture what I mean about the hinges currently being a tad big, easily solved to give a better look soon.

 

The roof is preformed, if a tad long and the body must be about right because the flange fits in the body perfectly - not sat square in the next photo because the flange is too long and for what is a trial fit I can't be bothered to start adjusting it with the razor saw, the flanges fit and that's be happy.  The only other thing that immediately strikes me at this point if the flange is a tad deep and therefore visible through the quarterlights on the coach, reducing that will be an outside job on a nice day and might just get tickled with an angle grinder.

 

This is a relatively straight forward kit that goes together nicely without a huge amount of fuss or parts, initially I think this will be build straight out the box, I can always go back round and add more details pre-painting but I think for now I'll go with as is.

Edited December 21, 2020 by Boris

[brossard]

Nice progress.  I agree with your assessment of the hinges and I filed mine down to try to line up the ends.  The bottom hinge is going to be longer than the others.

 

As for soldering, best to start with a series of tacks which are easier to undo than a full bead.

 

I sweated the vents on by tinning both surfaces, fluxing and applying the iron.  This results in a little less excess solder.

 

My fiber pen is indispensable.  I also have an old curved exacto blade for scraping.  I find that if there is a lot of solder, cleaning the iron tip, remelting to spread the solder and scraping/rubbing is effective.

 

You will need to grind off a lot of the roof flange to clear the window openings.

 

The kit has a neat dodge to conceal the gap between end and roof.  This consists of wire that you need to shape to fit under the end lip and soldered on.  Easier to do this after the roof is fixed

 

John