Rob's 7mm Rolling Stock Workbench

[Rob Pulham]

Superb Ken.

 

That's the method that I usually use use on brass kit roofs but this one is a little different in that the birdcage end will be an open U shape at roof level. That said I might be able to make some sort of clip at the birdcage roof level instead. - Plenty to think and I have a bit to go before I need to make a firm decision.

 

I do like Mike's idea of making the clips in such a way that the roof will only fit on one way. One I will use myself in the future where needed.

[Rob Pulham]

Aside from doing some detailing work on another Kirk coach, last weekends task was to add transfers to the various Parkside builds that I have been working on recently.

Starting with the LMS Beer Van.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally an arty shot that was created by accident as I was preparing the photos

 

 

[Mikkel]

Beautiful wagons, Rob, very nicely built.

 

I do like the North British livery. As for 89612, I think you might be getting a "Please Explain" note soon :-)

[Rob Pulham]

Thanks Mikkel,

 

The North British coke wagon conversions were extinct by the early 1930's so this one will be heavily weathered at the end of it's days.

 

I hear you on the "Please Explain" note 

Edited January 24, 2017 by Rob Pulham

[Rob Pulham]

While taking photos yesterday I completely forgot the LNER Container. I managed to get the body painted a couple of weeks ago but I wasn't happy with the colour so I mixed some more. While I had the transfers out I applied some. The photo that I am working from has the container on an ex GER OCT which was before dedicated container wagons were produced. On that basis I am going to leave the paint work fairly pristine although I will no doubt weather the OCT when I get that far.

 

 

 

[Rob Pulham]

The last couple of evenings have seen further work on the Birdcage brakes.

Monday saw some of the hand rails and the end posts fitted. - Chris bought me a Proxxon Mini Pillar drill and a Proxxon Bench Vice for Christmas and they have been invaluable in doing these especially drilling out the cast end posts for the handrails.

 

 

 

 

 

Then last night saw the remaining body side handrails fitted along with the upper ones on one end. The drawing and photo from the Sadler book that I am working from has a different layout of the hand rails on the end than Jim shows in his instructions with the end rails passing through the end posts rather than attaching to the outer face of them.

 

The interested may wonder why I am just working on this one at the moment. That because I think that the only way to be happy with the one with duckets is going to be to remove the end with the birdcage and then cut out the intrusive sides of the ducket and I am still building up the courage to have a go at it....

[Rob Pulham]

Last night, the procrastination was over and I got on with removing the end from the other van. 

 

Like a lot of things that you worry yourself about it was really quiet an easy job in the end. 

 

Using a few aluminium hair grips and self locking tweezers as heat sinks for the steps and lamp irons I managed to get the end off, remove the offending bits of metal (with a combination of piercing saw/ rotary sanding drum and a cylindrical burr grinder in the dremel finished off with files) and subsequently soldered back on without anything coming adrift, Yeay!!!

 

 

And for completeness these are the photos of progress on the other van that I forgot to post last night....

 

 

 

[Rob Pulham]

Not much modelling done over the weekend due to a combination of not feeling well on Saturday and a trip to Pontefract show on Sunday. Which was very enjoyable even if I did come back with etches for 4 Pullman coaches which Chris spotted and encouraged me to buy that I hadn't planned on...

 

A few hours last night had the first van almost complete (I had thought it complete until I remembered that I hadn't fitted a couple of hand rails or any guard irons under the brake yokes.

 

 

 

The hand rails that are missing are the two small ones above the wrap around rails in this view - the other end should have similar fitted about a quarter of the way up the windows.

 

 

 

I didn't fancy trying to drill out the rather nice cast chimney because it's very slender so I scratched a pair of replacements from telescoping tube and a cover plate from the spares box, completed them.

 

I also noted on the drawing that the sliding doors had a hasp so I made a couple from scrap etch.

 

[jazz]

Lovely job Rob. I wish I could use one on my layout.

[Rob Pulham]

Thanks Ken,

 

I must admit I do like the quirky items of rolling stock. The good thing about them is that by buying two I have enough spare castings to build a third via my Silhouette cutter. 

 

Being laid up after some minor surgery means that I can at least do that.

[Rob Pulham]

Some minor surgery combined with Sinusitis has laid me up for the best part of two weeks so the work bench has been quiet. Filling a little more in the way of head space I opted to finish a long time inhabitant of the queens shelf, a Powsides GER 5 plank Open. Before placing it aside I had built it all apart from adding the castings and I am not really sure why I hadn't completed it.

 

It proved a fairly straightforward build apart from the fact that the brake shoes were miles from the wheels so I had to split them and move them out towards the wheels. Then make a brass strip to represent the tumbler which I soldered to the rear of the castings after filing a slot. The only other changes were (after reviewing photos in Tatlow) to add some ex Connoisseur GER ratchet brake lever guides instead of the supplied hole/pin version.

 

 

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x437/Robpulham/7mm%20scale%20rolling%20stock/IMG_2826_zpsliacgddc.jpg

 

 

 

Next its back to the NER Brake vans.

[Rob Pulham]

A decent session at the bench yesterday saw the 2nd NER Birdcage brake well on it's way.

 

At the suggestion of a friend I looked at the photo to determine whether there were frames in the windows that I cut in the end. 

 

There isn't a frame as such on the photo but I decided to try to replicate the etched frame that's etched in the other end.

 

 

 

[Rob Pulham]

Isn't it always the way? You look at the photos and realise that you have missed something. In this case it was the pins and chains for the side doors.

 

 

I got the second NER Birdcage brake to a similar state as the first one - just needing buffers and working out how best to fit the roof post painting.

 

 

And then something that came together almost as a surprise.  As I was doing the two V1 vans I started to clean up and make the various folds in a V4 van and before I knew it, quite a bit was to was ready to solder up.

 

 

The doors are sliding doors and the way that Jim has portrayed them made leaving one of them partially open almost irresistible. It means that I will need to model an interior but that doesn't faze me.

 

 

 

Again it's a Connoisseur kit and to that I have added square brass rod to beef up the vertical and horizontal framing and some internal planking to the veranda ends.

 

 

It all needs a good clean up before I go much further with it.

[jazz]

I love brake vans and these three are the bees knees. Lovely work.

[Rob Pulham]

I love brake vans and these three are the bees knees. Lovely work.

Thanks Ken,

 

I seem to have collected quite a few brake van kits over the last few years.

 

I have a couple three more Connoisseur (Toad E and a BR standard van that I intend to backdate to an LNER version plus another ex NBR van that I intend to build as a 6 wheeler, - Jim was kind enough to supply some extra axle guard castings and I have some etches for the outside W irons in my spares box ready for the job) a Bill Bedford GCR 6 wheeler and a D&S GC/CLC 4 wheeler to add to the variety. Whether I get them all built in this burst of activity before something else takes my focus away is another matter.

[Rob Pulham]

Due to recovering from minor surgery, I haven't felt like venturing into the workshop since early February and apart from a bit done on the Kirk coaches a couple of weekends ago I haven't done any modelling at all.

 

Last night I ventured forth and got stuck in with the NER V4 brake van again. I added the remaining corner patches, the guard irons across the door ways and added the foot boards.  I had done the roof at the last session that I did but forgot to take any photos of it.

 

I think that apart from the brakes and remaining handrails that fit into the end posts all the brass work on the outside is complete so whitemetal fittings next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As on the other NER brake vans I made a replacement for the cast chimney from tube.

 

[Rob Pulham]

I must really be in touch with my feminine side when it comes to building wagons because I have been multitasking. In between sorting out bits for and building the KIRK BG I have also managed to put together one of two kits that I recently bought to build for sale.

 

This one being a Parkside Kit for a GWR Tevan. Not being a GWR/WR modeller I have relied somewhat on the historical info in the kit and one photo that I found on the net of a preserved example. 

 

Apparently these were converted in the late 1930's from Mica Insulated vans by removing the interior hoppers for Drikold refrigerant and the roof hatches from which they were accessed. The were then used for the conveyance of tea and coffee from the Lyons Depot at Greenford. 

 

Having said that, apparently there is photographic evidence that at least one of them retained its roof hatches and, me being me, I chose to model the unusual one. - Helped along by the provision of the hatches in the kit. Another plus is that they lasted in to the mid 1960's

 

At the minute the plan is to finish in BR WR livery as being the most attractive to prospective buyers.

 

 

 

Although you can't see it unless, (and to quote Jim Snowden saying recently) "it falls off" I chose to add the vacuum pipe run under the floor and the smaller pipe to the vac cylinder.

 

 

 

Apart from adding a pair of rather nice fold up etched steps it's ready for the paint shop.

[jwealleans]

I have at least one photo of the one at Didcot, Rob, if that's any use?

[Rob Pulham]

Last night saw more small steps - quite literally in that I made up the rather nifty etched steps for the Tevan

 

 

Then I did a bit more on the V4 brake van getting the floor cut and fitted ready for soldering in once I have fitted the brake gear etc. - I made the floor from a scrap etched part and I have yet to decide whether to fill the holes with rod or leave them. - There are only 5 and they are less than a mm in diameter and will they be seen with the roof on, I doubt it.

 

 

I also made a couple of inserts for above the veranda which once soldered in place will increase the gluing area for sticking the roof on once painted.

 

[Mike Boucher]

 

Last night saw more small steps - quite literally in that I made up the rather nifty etched steps for the Tevan

 

 

Then I did a bit more on the V4 brake van getting the floor cut and fitted ready for soldering in once I have fitted the brake gear etc. - I made the floor from a scrap etched part and I have yet to decide whether to fill the holes with rod or leave them. - There are only 5 and they are less than a mm in diameter and will they be seen with the roof on, I doubt it.

8><  snip ><8

I built a Parkside "Mica".  Those little steps were the first pieces I ever made in etched brass.  Wonderful little pieces of brass origami.

 

As for the holes in the floor, I wouldn't bother, you'll never see them once its done, painted, and on the layout.

[Rob Pulham]

As for the holes in the floor, I wouldn't bother, you'll never see them once its done, painted, and on the layout.

 

That was exactly my thought Mike

[Rob Pulham]

I managed a little more on the internals for the V4 brake van last night.

 

Being, by inclination and birth, a tight fisted Yorkshire man. I don't throw much away, and sometime ago I bought a thousand 10ba brass CS screws. The problem was that when I bought them they only had them in 1 1/2" lengths. This means that most of them that I have used so far, have needed cutting down. This has resulted in me having a few 1" lengths of 10ba studding.

 

Fast forward to my cleaning up one of Slaters' very nice cast Brake Standards for the V4 and I clumsily broke off the the spigot for attaching it to the floor. At first I was just going to solder it to the brass floor and be done with it but then I thought that having the floor removable for as long as possible would help with painting the inside. 

 

So I drilled out the base where the spigot had been and soldered in a length of the aforementioned stud. A little of the solder wicked up the thread but a quick run down the thread with a 10ba die soon sorted that.

 

I then thought that with a bit of filing I could use a 10ba nut with some scrap etch to represent the lever for the brake cross shaft and although turning the handle doesn't actuate the brakes it still looks the part.

 

It wasn't a great leap to think that I may as well do the same with the stove to make it removable too.

 

 

[jazz]

Hi Rob. Fascinating stuff. I think I mentioned before, I just love brake vans, spent many a happy night grabbing a doze in them. Lovely work BTW.

[Rob Pulham]

In between doing bits and pieces on the Kirk coaches I have been making slow progress on the V4 brake van.

 

I have been fortunate to have been given a couple of GA's which show a hearth and heat shielding around the area where the stove sits.

 

A raid of the scrap etch box yielded this - the hole in the bottom it where the stove will bolt down.

 

 

And me, being me couldn't resist making the coat hook to go with a lamp iron that hung to either side of the chimney.

 

 

 

Now I mentioned that I have two GA's and this is where life gets a little odd. One of them shows 3'7" wheels which is what Jim recommends in the kit and the other shows 3'1" wheels. Even more odd is the fact that when trying to fit the 3'7" wheels they rub on the underside of the solebars. Plan B is to try some 3'1" wheels and check out the ride height.

[Rob Pulham]

I think that I have got to the bottom of why the 3'7" wheels don't fit. Jim certainly did discover the error but what I had forgotten was that I wasn't using a production etch. Sometime ago when I planned the second Birdcage Van with side cotes I asked Jim if he had any scrap etches that contained the wooden duckets from the V4 kit. He duly let me have some and while making up the two V1/3 vans I idly cleaned and folded up the remainder of the etches that Jim has sent to which I added the missing bit's from my V4 kit not really thinking too much about why the etches had been scrap in the first place because there was nothing obvious to see. Upon checking last night,  the production etches have cuts outs to clear the wheels.