Rob Pulham Posted December 1, 2016 Author Share Posted December 1, 2016 As far as I can tell, the sprues tend to be standard to cover most kits. Hi John, They are far from standard - those in the older kits tend to only require 2 sprues to get 4 W Irons /axle boxes whereas the later kit's you need 4 sprues. Ironically in the Plate wagon and Double Bolster kits one sprue has 2 LNER W irons and 2 BR W iron plus quite a choice of axleboxes so anyone modelling the BR period gets even better value for money. - You can tell that I have built a few You can also get sides/ends etc. from the vans. For example I wanted to build some different diagrams of NBR van than the Jubilee van that the PD kit represents so I bought a few of the ends which are the hardest to replicate and made my own sides/doors up. - You need to take care though only the D39B had the same height and width as the PD van the other 4 wheeled vans were wider and higher. A fact which caught me out initially, I thought I had bought ends that were useless. There was a version of the 6 wheeled van that they fit which is on my list to make at some point I just need to get around to drawing the sides and cutting them out. I thought I had some photos of this particular van in bare styrene but it looks like I had primed it before taking any. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Thanks for the great advice Rob. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted December 5, 2016 Author Share Posted December 5, 2016 I also made more progress on the OCTs now having two 21' and one 18' examples in similar states of build. and finally a photos of the star and some modified spring hangers. The cast W Irons and springs were kindly cast for me by Kerry Viney in Australia but nice as they are they didn't quite match the spring hangers on my drawing but some time ago when I was experimenting with drawing up springs and hangers in Inkscape I had drawn up and cut some hangers which I hadn't used. I found that If I glued 3 layers together by inserting them on a length of brass wire to index them I could them cut the loop end off and insert them on the bottom of the solebar like you see in the close up below. Not perfect in that they could have been a little wider but now I have the proof of concept adjusting with will take moments before recutting. I will do this for use with the next half dozen that I have, which I plan to use on an NER 6 wheeled OCT 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted December 5, 2016 Author Share Posted December 5, 2016 Last Saturday I took a few items along to the 0 Gauge test track at Shildon. Chris kindly recorded some of Saturday's proceedings for posterity... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 And then there were five... Although last week was a bust from a modelling perspective due to being ill. When I started to feel better I did get a bit of drawing and cutting done which allowed me to make a start on what I think are the last two open carriage trucks for now. First I made up the body and basic underframe for the GER OCT that I was enquiring about the origins of Here The plan is to finish this with an A Type container (which I have made start on drawing up in Inkscape). Last but by no means least (because it's a bit of a beast at 34' 8") is a former NER 6 wheeled OCT. Apparently in 1917 these had their sides removed and bolsters added for the conveyance of Aeroplane parts. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I have a thing for 6 wheelers and built a fair few in 4mm. How are you treating the center axle for getting around curves? John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 I have a thing for 6 wheelers and built a fair few in 4mm. How are you treating the center axle for getting around curves? John Hi John, Nothing more complicated than shortening the pin point ends of the axles and leaving the bearings loose so that there is plenty of side play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 Thanks, I'm no believer in complicated things like Cleminson chassis, at least not for the less precise gauges (like OO and EM). (Is there even such a thing as a Cleminson chassis in O gauge?) I borrowed a method from Bill Bedford for 4mm which involved mounting the wheels on 2mm brass tube, inserting 1mm steel rod and putting the ends of that in the pinpoint brgs. There's a lot of bearing length in 7mm so I can see how shortening the axle will work. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 Hi John, There is, Slaters do one which I believe that they will sell as a separate Item. Jim McGeown (Connoisseur Models) also does a set of coach suspensions units which are designed for 6 wheeled coaches and I had intended to use some that I had in stock until I realised that the axles on the Haywood coach wheels that I am using are much thicker than the Slaters ones which the bearings in the suspension units are designed for. There is one sitting under this, which is a Slaters kit. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londontram Posted December 13, 2016 Share Posted December 13, 2016 The OCTs are coming on well Rob Some one gave me a drawing of a diagram 92 Caledonian 6 wheel OCT which believe it of not came out of a 1945 copy of the model railway news but its of high enough quality that combined with information in the Caledonian wagon book is good enough to do a Inkscape/Silhouette drawing from so that's going on my to do list. When done it wont look unlike the one your building. Any way keep up the good work looking forward to the next update. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterR Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 The OCTs are coming on well Rob Some one gave me a drawing of a diagram 92 Caledonian 6 wheel OCT which believe it of not came out of a 1945 copy of the model railway news but its of high enough quality that combined with information in the Caledonian wagon book is good enough to do a Inkscape/Silhouette drawing from so that's going on my to do list. When done it wont look unlike the one your building. Any way keep up the good work looking forward to the next update. Steve Hi Steve, On page 202 of the CR book there is a 16ft version with the same sides as Dia 92; that will give you the vertical dimensions, and the length can be increased for the 6 wheel version. Yours Peter. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 HI Steve, Like wise, if it's of interest, there is a photo and drawing of a CR 3 ton 4 wheeled OCT on page 63 of Vol 3 of Historic Carriage drawings by Peter Tatlow. -Apparently the original drawing is dated 16th February 1871 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londontram Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Hi Steve, On page 202 of the CR book there is a 16ft version with the same sides as Dia 92; that will give you the vertical dimensions, and the length can be increased for the 6 wheel version. Yours Peter. Trust me peter the drawing of the d92 out of the 1945 railway mag is very good and has all the information I need, trouble is its going on the end of a very long to do list so most likely wont get done in the present run of wagons. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Time for an update, seven days away from TV and internet have allowed me to crack on with quite a few of my ongoing projects. First up I finished the remaining three Parkside Vans ready for painting - actually I tell a lie because the LNER fish van still needs guard irons and vac/steam pipes. Then I built a Slaters Gloucester 5 Plank Open. Unlike my previous builds of open wagons I haven't gone to town on the interior detailing on this one - I went as far as scribing in the plank lines because I plan to load it in such a way as the interior won't be seen. Then I built a Parkside NBR 4 plank open and while looking in Tatlow for the additional details that I had added to the last one of these that I built, I noted that some of these wagons had been converted for use as Coke wagons. Variety is the spice of life as they say, so of I went with the styrene rod and sheet - it was actually great practice at cutting straight strips from 1.25mm sheet. Despite being a simple kit bash it allowed me to indulge in adding bolt head details and by dint of good fortune I just had enough styrene washers to hand to complete it. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Connoisseur NER Birdcage Brake Vans. First a bit of preamble. Back in 2011 for Christmas Chris bought me a few of Jim McGeown's van kits. At the time I built an LNER Refrigerator van but didn't get to the others, which were an NER Birdcage Brake, a Perishables van, and a 6 wheeled brake coach. Around the same time we were sat having lunch in a little cafe in the village of Rosedale Abbey on the North Yorkshire Moors when I saw a picture of one of the NER Birdcage brake van's at Rosedale but this one had "Side Cotes" (duckets to me and much of the world I suspect) as well as the birdcage on top. I decided that I would like to build one so a couple of years later at a show I bought a second kit and asked Jim if he by any chance had any duff etches that contained the duckets from his NER V4 brake van and he said that he did and duly sent me them. Having been up north for Christmas we planned a week at home before I go back to work so I dug out both of the brake van kits and modified the sides on one to take the duckets. The duckets were too tall to fit directly so I had to modify those too. Here's where I got to the night before last. A bit more done yesterday, alas nothing done today... 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted January 6, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 6, 2017 Hi Rob, the other end will need windows cutting in it too, don't know if all the sidecote fitted vans had them but the one you've seen did. I think the oval windows in the topcote need to be cut out too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 Thanks Paul, I will have another look at the photo in Sadler - that's the one I am working from. I must admit that I was concentrating so much on getting the duckets sorted the other details apart from the hand rails had passed me by somewhat. The arrangements of the handrails in the photo differ from how Jim Mcgeown has them in his instructions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastdax Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Despite being a simple kit bash it allowed me to indulge in adding bolt head details and by dint of good fortune I just had enough styrene washers to hand to complete it. Great stuff Rob! Can you expound a bit on how you did the bolts? Where did you get the styrene washers? Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 Great stuff Rob! Can you expound a bit on how you did the bolts? Where did you get the styrene washers? Thanks. Hi Duncan, The styrene washers were cut on my Cameo and in this instance were a by product of cutting leaf springs - I did them with a ring on the end but the connect to the top leaf was so flimsy that most of them came adrift so I put them on one side for use as washers. The process I followed on the wagon was: Stick the washers in position with a touch of limonene then when all were in place on one side go back over and touch the washer again with limonene. Work all around the wagon and then leave overnight to dry. Then put a .6mm drill bit in a pin vice and set the depth so that approx 1mm was protruding and then drill using the hole in the centre of the washer as the guide. - going back over with limonene meant that only a coupler on the whole wagon came adrift and needed resticking. Using my Northwestern Shortline Chopper II I cut 2mm lengths of 0.6mm styrene rod and using tweezers fed them into the holes, touching again with limonene and allow to set. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 In between messing about getting my DCC working I have made further progress on the two NER Brake vans. I have been quite impressed that I have managed to add almost all the detail to sub assemblies before making up the main units and adding the solebars. The only things to add to the upper bodies are some corner plates that fold around the corners, some handrails that also go around the ends, the cast end posts and the lower footboards which I need the W Irons in place before I can cut the supports to final length. The roof is still loose. Jim recommends leaving it loose to glaze and making it clip on afterwards I need to explore how I can do this yet. Although I have the birdcage for the second one assembled it's not soldered to the roof yet. Paul Gallon kindly reminded me that the example that I am trying to reproduce with this one also had windows in the birdcage end. In the photo above you can seem my error. I cut out the windows using those at the other end as a template but didn't think about the fact the the side duckets have sides which protrude into the van internally and that the sides nearest the end windows partially obscure it. - Why is it that you never notice these things until you have made nice job of soldering the body together, made much more difficult by the fact that on this end I couldn't get to the inside so I had to solder it from the outside and clean up. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazz Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 I just love the birdcage rolling stock, I wish I could find an excuse to run them in the Wadebridge/Bodmin area on my layout.very nice builds BTW. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Thanks Ken, I must admit I quite fancy a few of the birdcage coaches too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Boucher Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 The roof is still loose. Jim recommends leaving it loose to glaze and making it clip on afterwards I need to explore how I can do this yet. Here's a link to my workbench thread where I describe how I did it (albeit on a different kit) http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/18405-bouchs-workbench-7mm-n-scale-and-model-engineering/page-3&do=findComment&comment=1148813 Short version: Cut slots in the folded-over top of the sides. Slight offset, solder tabs to the bottom of the roof which match the slots. put on roof so tabs fit through slots, and slide roof into place, such that the tabs slide under the folded-over tops of the sides. Easier to see in pictures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Thanks Mike, You must have been doing some subliminal thought transference - I was thinking of virtually the same method during the night when I woke up. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazz Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) Rob. I recently built one of Jim's birdcage coaches and removed the birdcage effectively turning into a reasonable GWR coach for my layout. (Jim supplied a replacement all over curved roof) I have made the roof removable using Jim's method of effectively making the roof like a snuff box lid that sits snugly inside the ends and sides. I did add strengthening strips along the inside of the sides along the tops. This is the resulting coach complete with Jim's interior fitted. Edited January 10, 2017 by jazz 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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