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jjnewitt's Workbench - Anchor Mount Tanks


jjnewitt

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Hi all,

I thought I'd start a thread detailing some of the things I get up to in case they may be of interest to anyone. The first item on the agenda perhaps should come under the Detailing and Modifying RTR section but hopefully there's enough scratchbuilt content to qualify and I thought it would be best to keep everything together. The majority of my projects definately will qualify.

So to the first item a P4 English Electric type 3.
The model is based on the original Bachmann model. A long time ago this was supposed to be a quick P4 conversion, nose job, some Shawplan Etches and a repaint which would have been simple enough but one thing seems to have led to another.......
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She got the nose job to correct the shortcomings in the Bachmann model which I think makes such a difference. I think that perhaps the headcode boxes should be a fraction lower but there not getting changed now! There are numerous Shawplan etches added to the body along with Markits air horns, nose handrails, door handles etc. Door handrails and headcode frames will be added once she has been painted. Beneath the body things start to get a bit more complicated. She rides on home brewed fully sprung bogies with primary guitar string springs (wheels to bogie) and working coil secondary springs (bogie to body) using Exactoscale hornblocks and Ultrascale Wheels. More details of these can be found here. The bogies also feature PH Design steps (beautiful etches) along with scratchbuilt guard irons and various pipework. In the middle of the underframe I've carved out the recesses on the tanks and have added supporting framework fashioned from plasticard. I've tried to represent the plumbing associated with the tanks using various sizes of phosphor bronze wire and brass microtubing. Brackets for the pipes were made from bits of scrap Masokits etches (it's amazing how handy theses leftovers can end up being). I think the end result was worth all this effort. You can decide for yourself if I am actually mad or not!
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There are a couple of little tidying jobs to be done then there will be a trip to the paintshop where she will get a coat of lovely green paint as suitable for a South Wales machine in the mid sixties.

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That looks superb!

 

And this is the right place for it - when diesels are takne this far the Detailing RTR almost seems a little beneathe them! :lol:

 

Only thing I'd suggest is replacing the buffers - The Bachmann originals are a little chunky and stick out too far IMHO. Turned/sprung Oleos set into the valacing would really finish it off perfectly.

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Thank you both for your kind words.

 

To be honest I'd sort of forgotten about the buffers, I was more preocupied with moving them than what they looked like. They do look a little bit chunky now you mention it James, I'll have to see what can be done. I had a quick rummage through the www. and saw that Markits do a sprung Oleo loco buffer with a 22" head. The head of the Bachmann buffer seem to be about that size so perhaps that would be suitable? Has anyone had any experience of them?

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That would be perfect I reckon - not used them personally but friends have and have spoken highly of them. So when I get on to my class twenties I'll probably use them :)

 

This is a good side on view (and one of my favourties on Flickr :) )

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/6283923123/

 

It shows which portion is it the valance too - it often looks like Bachmann have forgotten that the buffer should be set so it appears to be attached to the headstock!

 

I hope you didn't mind my minor criticism - just think that new buffer would compliment the rest of your work :)

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I don't mind criticism at all when it's constructive. I think you've probably done me a favour by pointing it out. I'd have probably thought about it after it had been painted and then it would have been niggling away at me! I've ordered a set of the Markits buffers so I'll see what I can do with them when they turn up.

 

That's a nice picture that you've linked. Very atmospheric. The more I look at it the more I can see what you mean.

 

If anyone's interested this has been my inspiration for my class 37 project. A great site. Lots of lovely stuff on there.

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Things are progressing though a busy time at work seems to be getting in the way of doing some modelling! I've taken her to pieces so I can paint the underframe so I took the opportunity to get a pic to illustrate the tank framing and some of the pipework. It's a shame you can't do the same sort of thing with the real thing on a Thursday afternoon, it would save a lot of seaching through photographs trying to figure out what's going on.

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Replacement Markits buffers have arrived in the post and I had chance this afternoon to have a good look at them. They need a bit of work to make them suitable for fitting. I've cut one of them off just ahead of the square backing plate and soldered a 12BA washer on the back to act as a spring stop then I took the excess off using a minidrill and file. I've decided to reuse the Bachmann buffer heads which have a considerably longer tail to them and softer springs. The Markits ones are comparitively hard to compress. They also don't have the 'step' on the shaft just behind the head that the Markits ones have and so will recess into the buffer housing properly. Hopefully the picture will explain this.

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I've carved one of the original buffers off and drilled it out to accept the new buffer assembly. A test fit showed that it makes quite a difference to the appearance of the front end. Definately worth it.

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Just the other three to sort out now.

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Thank you all for your kind comments. I'd quite like to see her moving too, she seems to have been in bits for ages now! She will be back together soon though. Hopefully she will be making a trip to Leatherhead in September if you want to see her in action Guy. More on that in due course.

The buffers are now finished and got a coat of primer this afternoon. In the end I turned down the tails on the Bachmann buffer heads and used the Markits springs, the Bachmann springs are just a little too wide and wont compress properly. The underframe and bogies have now got a coat of matt black, just the wheels to paint then I can get the chassis back together. Then she'll look a little like this! I'll post some pics to illustrate the finished buffers when I've got her back together and we get some light! Hopefully I'll get chance just after Christmas to paint the body. I'm looking forward to seeing her in a nice green coat. The grey looks a bit ghostly!

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The old 37 is my fave diesel.

 

Your making this one a beaut, what livery will it be??

 

Scott

I think the hints were in previous posts about green and linked pictures.

 

The buffers do make a big difference, i'll have to get some sets for mine.

 

I'll try to look through my reference material for you in the new year when I get a chance, i've not had a chance to look them out atm before xmas.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks that would be fantastic.

 

The loco will indeed be green as befitting a Canton loco in the mid sixties. I should really sort out which one it will be. The inspiration was a picture of D6938 but she was a banker at Bromsgrove during my period so I need another one. Current favourite is D6936 but I'm still mulling it over. Some numbers just don't seem to sit right! Need to avoid the ones with operational boilers as well.

 

I haven't managed much work on her over the festive period but she is at least back together and all wired up. The chassis looks much better now it's been painted. I'm really pleased with how the buffers have turned out. Definately worth the extra effort. I'll post a picture to show the end result when we get some decent light! Come back sun!!

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  • RMweb Gold

Brilliant work there, like a previous poster my initial reaction was 7mm.......... looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

Rgds.....Mike

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Thanks Mike.

 

In the five minutes this afternoon between finishing work and the sun disapearing I managed to get a couple of pics to show how things are progressing.

During the process of changing the buffers the original rivet detail on the cowling had to be sacrificed so I made an attempt at replacing it. I'm not completely happy with it as it's a bit on the heavy side but hopefully some weathering will help disguise that. I also found a bit of spare chequer plate and so soldered some little pieces onto the buffers before fitting. post-13847-0-60930500-1325532011.jpg

In the end I blackened the Ultrascale wheels with a Carrs concoction as well as giving the face of them a coat of matt black. Those PH design steps do look good on the bogies.

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Time for the body to get tidied up and then visit the paintshop I think.

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Thanks Pete. Those etches of yours really are works of art. Worth every singed finger!

 

I've been asked by Terry Bendal to demonstrate my sprung diesels at Scaleforum. Very excited! Anyway the class 37 will be there (along with others) and I'll have some sort of test track set up so if anyone wants to see her in action and have a closer look at the sprung bogies I'll be there. Hopefully will get chance to meet some of you in September.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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Finally she's gone green and is beginning to look as she should! I got around to spaying her about a week ago and the paint has just about calmed down now. I have also calmed down after falling out with my masking tape! I've managed to clean up most of the bleeding that I ended up with but there's still a couple of areas that need attention. She needs a swirl of T cut to iron out a few little blemishes before I varnish but am unsure how long I should wait before subjecting the paint to it. It's still changing colour slightly so I assume it's not completely dry yet. The paint is Halfords acrylic. Does anyone have any advice on the subject? Once that's done I can rub down and paint the buffers and door handles and paint the kickplates below the doors as well as add the handrails and frame around the headcode box. Still quite a bit to do. I've got together all the transfers I'm going to need but still need to find a set of Vulcan worksplates. My searches haven't yielded a scource. Do Shawplan do them? I've looked but haven't found any.

 

While I've been waiting for the paint to dry I've made a start on my next major project, some sprung bogies for a pair of class 47s. Here's a taster of things:

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I've started a thread on them on the Scalefour Society's forum if anyone is interested. They will be very similar to those found under the class 37 in this thread.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Inbetween building sprung class 47 bogies and trying to sort out some mineral wagons I've made some more progress on my class 37. I figured two weeks was long enough so got the T-cut out and gave the paint a good polish. I had to do some touching up though in a couple of places due to my over enthusiasm! Handrails have been added along with headcode frames. Door handles and kickplates have had a coat of silver paint and the buffers their first coat of red. A couple more coats on the buffers and then the body can be varnished.

 

Due to various reasons I want her to represent an as built 1963 delivered example which presented a bit of a problem. As far as I can make out from photographs, information on the class 37 loco groups website and a thread on here all the locos built that year were delivered with boilers. I'd been under the impression that there were only a handfull of boiler fitted examples however this doesn't seem to be true initially or at least the locos give that impression, i.e. boiler exhaust ports and water tanks with gauges on them. The Bachmann model represnts an example where the boiler has been removed and the exhaust port and water gauges have been plated over so I made a couple of modifications. A 2mm hole was drilled in the roof where the exhaust port should be then carefully opened out to 4mm. A couple of 6mm square pieces of 0.060" plasticard were given the same treatment then shaped to fit on the inside of the roof. 2mm holes were drilled in the centre of the blanking plates on the water tanks, into these 2mm plasticard rod 'plugs' were fitted to represent the gauges. I've settled on D6904 now, a Canton boiler fitted example. It seems that boiler details on the South Wales class 37s is a bit more complicated than I thought after all. Still much to do but she is beginning to look the part.

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Great stuff, as an aside I have seen a pic of D6904 in later years inside Canton sitting on class 47 bogies, fitted to temporarily move it.

 

Having seen the great job you have done on the bogies I must get on and sort new steps for mine, those PH etches look excellent.

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I wonder if that's where Hornby got the inspiration for their class 37 from!! :lol: She must have looked a bit odd with those class 47 bogies on.

Can't recomend those PH Design steps highly enough, they look great. Make a big difference in my eyes.

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  • 1 month later...

It's been a little while since I've updated this thread but much work has been done on all those little jobs that seem to take ages as well as being distracted by some sprung Class 47 bogies and a few wagons. There were one or two trials and tribulations along the way mainly concerning the glazing and bufferbeam pipework which seemed to take forever but she is now just about finished. I still need to get some worksplates and windscreen wipers and she needs weathering but given that I haven't done any weathering I'll have a go on some wagons before I do that job. So for the moment she is ex works and on her way to Canton to take up duties in South Wales.

 

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One of the problems encountered was how to fix the air control pipes to the buffer beam as there is not a lot of buffer beam to fix the outer ones to! In the end I used some Heljan fittings and attached them to the pipes that runs just below the buffer beam. These assemblies were made up in pairs for each end and include the nose steps. They were then glued into holes drilled in the sides of the Bachmann buffer beam moulding. A small plate that fits just behind the screw coupling disguises the fact that the pipes are not continuous.

 

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D6904 in shiny new paint sits in the spring sunshine. I wasn't happy with the state of the frost grills by the time I'd finished painting them. The etches are so fine it's very easy to fill the holes up with paint, at least it is for me. So off they came, were stripped down and then repainted and varished before refitting them in the holes left in the painwork. In future I'd paint and varish them and the body seperately before fitting.

 

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One of the major headaches I gave myself was the glazing for the cab windows. I had neglected to open out the apertures for the lazerglazing before attaching the Shawplan windscreen etches so when later I came to try and fit them they were of course too big! So I had to file down the glazing to a flush fit. What a job that was! I had to do it one peice per session as by the time I'd finished one my patience had well and truely dissapeared. Wont be doing that again. I ran a black permanent marker around the edges and secured them with clear gloss acrylic varnish. They don't look too bad but there's going to be a draught in the cabs coming from one or two places!

 

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Transfers are all by Fox Transfers. Lining up those individual numbers is another exercise in patience! I made up a new fitting for the MU cable from plastic rod, 0.010" plasticard and 0.6mm phospher bronze wire. The Bachmann one is very big and heavy. The rest of the buffer beam pipework is a mixture of Heljan fittings and the aformentioned grade of wire.

 

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The rollerbearings are painted on over a thin coat of primer. The red lines aren't particularly straight or consistent but then it's not the easiest job to do by hand with a paintbrush. That's my excuse anyway!

 

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The glazing, aside from the cab window glazing mentioned earlier, is 0.020" Cobex cut and filled to a flush fit. Again the edges were blackened with a permenant marker and secured with acrylic varnish. It's another time consuming patience sapping exercise but looks so much better than the Bachmann mouldings.

 

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Some suitable headcodes were needed so at one end we have one for a light engine movement to Cardiff Canton.

 

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On the other end is the headcode for one of the Hafodyrynys to Margam services conveying coking coal for SCOW. What a sight this must have been rushing along the South Wales mainline. A pair of Class 37s with 35 21ton fitted flats and a break van. Lovely.

 

Generally I'm pleased with how she's turned out but I'm not completely happy with the colour of the paint. It looks good in some lights and not so good in others so perhaps in time she will get a respray. I'll weather her first though and see how things look then. Any respray would have to wait until I've aquired an airbrush anyhow. Onto other things now.

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I had neglected to open out the apertures for the lazerglazing before attaching the Shawplan windscreen etches so when later I came to try and fit them they were of course too big! So I had to file down the glazing to a flush fit. What a job that was! I had to do it one peice per session as by the time I'd finished one my patience had well and truely dissapeared. Wont be doing that again.

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who did that! Although I think I rectified it by filing out the aperture behind when the etch was in place, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered filing down each individual glazing piece.

 

Your 37 looks lovely, and I'm also intrigued by the sprung 47 bogies.

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