Jon Fitness' Average 7mm Rolling Stock Workbench.

[Jon Fitness]

A few piccies of the finished Shark...

 

 

More soon

JF

[JeffP]

It looks really good. I've seen one ages ago in real life, but never noticed how short the wheelbase was.

[Jon Fitness]

Whilst waiting for some bits for the loco I'm building next, I succumed to another rummage in the "round tuit" box. Having built a Shark, why not carry on in the same theme?

An EMKDE Dogfish ballast wagon showed up and was duly opened this afternoon!

Now I've heard mixed reports of these wagons and I've not seen any being built on here (unless anyone knows otherwise!) so here goes. I'm not the fussiest when it comes to the finest accuracy and details and as it will disappear into a rake amongst other similar wagons of variable quality whatever comes out will be OK!

 

This is what you get in the box..

 

 

Theres a lot of folding required in these kits and although I have some home made bending bars, I don't have a Hold and Fold so the methods probably will be a little brutal. The first job is the main hopper body. There is a lip all round the top edge that needs folding out to 90deg. There are 2 half etch lines at the top and only the top one is used. Not sure about the second one down....

 

 

There is a guide in the instructions showing what angle to bend the sides and ends to achieve the correct shape but some of the numbers look a bit wrong but it gives you the idea of how to form it.

I thought it would be easier to score some of the half etched fold lines.....A bend here, a bend there and SNAP!  

 

 

Good job I didn't do them all. Never mind, I'm sure it'll solder back on later!

 

The first soldering job is where the end folds up against the side.

 

 

This was a little tight but the geometry seemed OK as the side and end got a nice 90degree corner out of it! Do this for both sides and join the 2 halves together.

 

 

Again the geometry of the etches and fold line is good as once the unit was soldered up it sat face down on the bench with all 4 edges perfectly flat and no rocking! The only mistake I made was one end flange bent on the wrong line and sat 0.5mm further down so I built it up level with a bit of 1.5 x 0.5 strip. Once the hopper base I snapped off was soldered back on it looked OK

 

Work then started on the chassis unit. The chassis top and buffer beams come as a flat etch and need some delicate folding up as it's quite flimsy.

 

 

First was the bufferbeams which were done in a vice.

 

 

The rest was achieved with a pair of flat pliers..

 

 

The solebars are halfetched for the rivet detail and very thin and flimsy. They need a flange bending along the lower edge so a couple of bits of printers steel were clamped in the vice to hold the flange and a 3rd piece used to bend them over.

 

 

The result

 

 

These were then carefully soldered in between the headstocks, picking up on the chute ends. The solebares only just meet the horizontals at the tops so a lot of careful edge soldering was required (and so will a lot of solder cleaning up too!).

 

 

Some careful easing and bending of the half etched hopper bases was required to fit body to chassis. The hopper bases have tabs that slot into the hopper base ends on the chassis. It's a tight fit but once these were snapped in they were secured in and the whole things starting to take shape.

 

 

Impressed with the kit so far  

More soon

JF

 (edited to get EMKDE in the right order..  )

 

Edited May 9, 2013 by Jon Fitness

[Rob Pulham]

Now I've heard mixed reports of these wagons and I've not seen any being built on here (unless anyone knows otherwise!)  

 

 

Hi Jon, I built one of their 4 shoe pipe wagons, details are on my rolling stock bench - I ended up doing quite a bit of scratch building......

[JeffP]

Once you've done one of those, you'll be right to move onto an MMP one.......

[N15class]

Hi Jon

Will this convert into any of the pre BR versions? It is looking the part so far.

[Jon Fitness]

Hi Jon, I built one of their 4 shoe pipe wagons, details are on my rolling stock bench - I ended up doing quite a bit of scratch building......

Hi Rob, That was the one with whitemetal everything wasn't it? Turned out OK in the end but I see what you mean about the scratchbuilding. There's less whitemetal with the Dog. but there's still a few bits in there I probably won't use.

 

Once you've done one of those, you'll be right to move onto an MMP one.......

I think an MMP would just show up all the others although I may try one if I have a spare 5 minutes..

 

Hi Jon

Will this convert into any of the pre BR versions? .

Not sure about that as my scant knowledge of wagons is only supplemented by Paul Bartletts excellent photo site.

Cheers All

JF

[Jon Fitness]

Todays work was mainly the various brackets and strengtheners that help fasten the hopper to the chassis. The first bits I cut from the fret showed a problem!

 

 

The angle of the brackets doesn't quite match the hoppers angle and misses the chassis. Its also a little too long. I trimmed the brackets back a little so I could position them against the hopper with a view to tweeking them a little to fit. This showed they weren't going to alter so once they were all soldered on I removed the uprights with snips. New ones were then cobbled up from scrap etch and soldered on. Not a pretty solution but good enough for my purposes!  

The strengthening plates on the side of the hoppers were fixed on using solder paste (first time I've used it!) and a little gas torch.

 

 

Next up was the hopper chute which is folded up from a flat etch. A handy profile piece is provided to help you get the right shape.

 

 

This was followed by the end brackets and the vacuum cylinder.

 

 

More problems at the other end of the wagon. 4 identical angled brackets are provided, 2 for each end. Unfortunately the hopper is a different shape at each end. The first 2 fitted perfectly but the angle and size is way out for this end.

 

 

A snip and re-profile should sort it out with a little patch to fill the angle.

The wheel bracket/end support is next. This fitted reasonably well but could have done with being about 1mm taller, although this may be just my alignment of the hopper body...

 

 

More soon

JF

[Colin parks]

Hi Jon,

 

The Dogfish is looking good.  Onve you get into it,the hopper is quite a complex shape to construct. Those supports that you had to cut are probably designed over-length to allow the chassis to be used as a basis for the Catfish too.

 

All the best,

 

Colin 

Edited May 5, 2013 by Colin parks

[Jon Fitness]

Hi Jon,

 

The Dogfish is looking good.  Once you get into it,the hopper is quite a complex shape to construct. Those supports that you had to cut are probably designed over-length to allow the chassis to be used as a basis for the Catfish too.

 

All the best,

 

Colin 

Good point! I think I have a Catfish kit lurking in the roundtuit cupboard somewhere. I'll rootle it out and have a look.

JF

[Rob Pulham]

Looking good Jon.

 

I would rather sort out errors with brass than whitemetal any day.

[Jack P]

Hi Jon

 

Sorry, I'm a bit late, got some catching up to do. That shark looks fantastic, looks right at home, the dogfish is coming along well too! How did you find using the solder paste + torch - the results suggest that you got along well.

[Jon Fitness]

Looking good Jon.

 

I would rather sort out errors with brass than whitemetal any day.

I'm with you on that one!

JF

[Jon Fitness]

Hi Jon

 

Sorry, I'm a bit late, got some catching up to do. That shark looks fantastic, looks right at home, the dogfish is coming along well too! How did you find using the solder paste + torch - the results suggest that you got along well.

Not bad, but I'd only use it when absolutely nothing else will do

JF

[90164]

I think they do these Coke wagons. I was quite pleased with how it went together. It was mainly brass, very little white metal.

 

 

Regards

 

Frank

[Jon Fitness]

Operating wheels and handrails today.

Each of the 3 handwheels was mounted on a length of wire and provided with a handle.

 

 

These were then fitted through the bracket provided. This bracket bears little resemblance to the actual fittings on the wagon! The wires were simply soldered to the end of the chute under the chassis.

 

 

The wheel end's brackets aren't the right shape or size so need altering. A snip was made within the angle and the bracket bent down vertical. It was about 1mm short so a piece of 1 x 0.5mm N/S strip was bent up and fitted in the gap. A bit r&r but did the job.

 

 

With the handrail support etch folded up and fitted, the end handrails were bent up and soldered on

 

 

Followed by the handbrake wheels and lamp brackets.

 

 

Should be on its rail wheels next time!

More soon

JF

 

[Jon Fitness]

 

I think they do these Coke wagons. I was quite pleased with how it went together. It was mainly brass, very little white metal.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Frank

I'm liking that!

A kit just added to my shopping list!

JF

[Rob Pulham]

Before tackling the pipe wagon I had one of the LMS coke wagons in mind but now I am not so sure.....

[3 link]

Before tackling the pipe wagon I had one of the LMS coke wagons in mind but now I am not so sure.....

 

I agree with you Rob, I do not mind doing some scratch work with some scrap etch but theres not a lot you can do with over size w/metal castings.

 

Martyn.

[Mike Boucher]

OK, I've gotta ask.  "EKMDE"?  I've looked at the traders list on the Gauge O Guild website, and nothing there like EKMDE.  I googled "EKMDE dogfish", and the first 5 links were to this thread.  What company is this?

[JeffP]

They trade on ebay, something like .............Wagon Works.

[Rob Pulham]

Mike, They also go under the name Welcome Wagons - try Here

[Kev_Lewis]

Try here: http://www.modelrailwaywagons.co.uk/

[Jon Fitness]

OK, I've gotta ask.  "EKMDE"?  I've looked at the traders list on the Gauge O Guild website, and nothing there like EKMDE.  I googled "EKMDE dogfish", and the first 5 links were to this thread.  What company is this?

OOps! That'd be my fault! Got the letters the wrong way round. It's EMKDE

Cheers

JF

[Jon Fitness]

Finished the constructional work on the Dogfish now.

I added a vac pipe along the frames as per pictures I'd seen

 

 

Next up was to get it on it's wheels. The axleboxes are sort of half drilled for bushes. It's always a bit of a gamble whether all 4 are going to be in line when drilled if your doing a rigid chassis and needless to say one wasn't. I had to move a hole down on one to get the wagon to sit 4 square on it's wheels but I got there in the end. Once I'd got there, spending ages getting it to sit right I realised I'd c*****d up somewhat.. I'd made a lovely job of getting the wheel base too short and ended up with no room for one of the inner sets of brake gear. Being a lazy sod I decided to leave things as is and hope no-one noticed.  !!!

 

 

Anyway the brake gear is where you're left a bit to you're own devices. All the cast bits for the brakes need mounting on whatever bits of scrap fret you can snip up and cobble together.

 

 

Once everything else was attached, the final job was the footsteps. These folded up from a flat etch and once made up were reasonably strong.

 

 

Here's a few pics of the finished article, ready for tidying up and painting...

 

 

More soon once the paints on.

JF