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57xx's Workbench - more wagons and a Siphon C


57xx
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18 hours ago, Mikkel said:

I agree with that. Thanks also for showing the arrangement so nicely, very useful.

 

If you want any better pics rather than an general slightly fuzzy one, let me know. There are some compromises on it still (e.g. a possibly missing "reduction" lever between the ratchet and centre V, and not running rods over the wheel axles to the far brake hangers) but the overall feel is there.

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As an aside from making things in brass, I finally got round to finishing a kit I assembled back at Christmas! It's a Parkside LNER Lowfit Diag 1/109. It went together very easily, weight underneath is courtesy of a load of lead shot glued in place with superglue. The main red oxide colour is from Precision.

 

LNER_Lowfit2.JPG.01749402fe8a64b2168aea9740e8f8cf.JPG

 

Details of the weathering steps are over on my new painting thread (plug plug).

Edited by 57xx
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Ooops. A brief suspension of modelling is required as I can not see. My magnifying visor broke, I was just putting it on when one of the arms snapped clean off, only had it about 18 months. A new one with proper headband is on order.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B083LY7WCG/

Hopefully it will be a lot sturdier!

 

Edited by 57xx
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I keep saying this, but oops, not posted in ages!!

 

Anyhow, things have been going on behind the scenes. I dug out the Siphon C again during Christmas to resume work on it. I was pondering the lack of roof for it when inspiration struck. I tried the roof that came with my O33 Siphon kit and it was a perfect fit for the profile. So, I contacted the very talented Ian MacDonald (MacGeordie) and he very kindly rolled up some roofs in brass to the correct profile and length for the Siphon C and a few other kits I have got in the stash. The result can be seen below:

SiphonC6.jpg.9ab4942bcfd3a23833ec6004492f2e32.jpg

 

That saved me from my previous plan of trying to make it up from strips of styrene!

 

The pic below shows some more details. Firstly I have braced the sides of the body with lengths of old rail, something I saw on another thread in RMWeb. Flat and stiff, it was the prefect use for the old track.

The spring clips on the ends of the roof hold it nicely in place with friction, but I have also knocked up a couple of parts to fix the roof in place with a nut and bolt. The narrow stip will be soldered to the inside of the roof and the wider brace across the middle of body. Hopefully I can do it accurately enough to keep the roof centered! It will mean the roof will be firmly attached but can be removed for things like painting.

 

SiphonC7.jpg.eec88227020765dbe4cc748da5153f61.jpg

 

The gas lamp tops are from Dart Castings. I've yet to work out how to do the rain strips - I did a test of super gluing some microstrip on to some spare brass but it wasn't that secure so thinking of other options.

Edited by 57xx
Speeling Eroors
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After much trepidation, I have successfully soldered up the custom roof mountings and everything lines up to within a gnat's c*ck of where it should be. :)

 

SiphonC8.jpg.a14aaa9ca5d87f4881cec72203046a27.jpg

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Meanwhile, in the world of plastic...

D299.JPG.8ee3fd8a235a1b33f8e9c4e36467b5a3.JPG

 

My first D299 from the Slaters kit. I'm glad Compound has his D299 Appreciation thread as there were some useful tips in there, however as I read them after gluing the floor in the body and finding the solebars were too deep i had to resort to sanding them down instead of the simpler method of gluing the floor slighter higher up inside the body.

 

Bob Essery's "LMS Wagons" has a pic of one in LMS livery in the late 30's, fits my time period nicely, so the door spring and rubbing strip were added and the makers plate moved over to the correct side is from a Mainly trains etch.

 

I doubt I'll be buying any more (I have 3 plus another D305) as I found the plastic used is terrible, very brittle. Both brake levers snapped when carefully cutting off the sprue, hence the choice to model a single sided brake (as seen in Essery's book). You can also see on the right hand W iron that the plastic has gone white where is almost snapped off. Not impressed.

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Plastic can be weird stuff, but it doesn't need to be. Thinking back on all the military kits that I have built over the years, even allowing for being about eleven and ham fisted (now I'm middle aged and ham fisted) the likes of Airfix, Italeri and Tamiya always got it right. Some of the cheaper and more obscure makes were rather variable, but that was more of a problem with distortion due to not cooling enough before being removed from the mould.

I'm not going to name and shame, but certain manufacturers seem to use a plastic compound that ends up being as brittle as cheap boiled sweets. (or is over heated during moulding making it brittle) 

At the other end of the scale you get plastics that are too soft a compound or vague recycled stuff that is like that cheese you forgot to put back in the refrigerator.

Then again, I don't like brass that's brittle or whitemetal that is basically lead either! 

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On 23/02/2020 at 12:09, Jub45565 said:

 

Having gone across to find it, here is the link should anyone else not want to get distracted by the rest of the thread on the way!

 

How could you not? When I look back to check something, I'm constantly reminded of the wealth of contributions to others, from which I have learned an enormous amount not only about building wagons but about how they were used, which is just as, if not more, important for the railway modeller.

 

7 hours ago, 57xx said:

I doubt I'll be buying any more (I have 3 plus another D305) as I found the plastic used is terrible, very brittle. 

 

Are yours recent purchases of new kits or ones that have matured? Either way, I've not encountered any problems with brittleness.

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2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Are yours recent purchases of new kits or ones that have matured? Either way, I've not encountered any problems with brittleness.

 

They are recent, within the last 1-2years, post Coopercraft and purchased direct from Slaters.

 

After the first lever broke, I tried a tip from another thread on here about softening the plastic with hot water but to no avail, the 2nd lever broke just the same. The W irons nearly broke just from light finger pressure while I was sanding them down to size.

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6 minutes ago, 57xx said:

They are recent, within the last 1-2years, post Coopercraft and purchased direct from Slaters.

 

After the first lever broke, I tried a tip from another thread on here about softening the plastic with hot water but to no avail, the 2nd lever broke just the same. The W irons nearly broke just from light finger pressure while I was sanding them down to size.

 

Hum. I have a batch recently bought. Some but not all have the underframe moulding in the slightly translucent-looking plastic that your's appears to have; I can't say I noticed any particular problems carrying out my usual modifications, which do involve applying some stress to the solebar etc. moulding. I have a couple more from the same batch not started - I shall look out for any issues. Hopefully any problem with the grade of plastic being used will get back to Slaters. It's not as if they're inexperienced in injection moulding!

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3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Some but not all have the underframe moulding in the slightly translucent-looking plastic that your's appears to have;

 

Yes, it's only the translucent plastic tht I've had the problem with. The more opaque sides and ends were fine and as you'd normally expect of a plastic kit.

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On 08/03/2021 at 21:05, 57xx said:

 

Looks ideal, I'll get some ordered.

Cellotape works equally well Rik, just stick a strip onto a piece of glass or plasticard and cut it with a scalpel. That’s the method that I used for the Gresley BG and it was fine. 
Go over it with a black marker pen to make it easier to see. 

Ian

Edited by macgeordie
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That's a great tip Ian. I'll get a new blade in the scalpal and dig out my head lapping glass plate from the workshop, that should do the trick.

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My glass fibre pen was pretty much worn out so I started the hunt for refills. I managed to pick up a bargain on ebay, 14 fibreglass refills plus 5 brass ones. I've never seen the brass ones before but thought they could well come in handy, so at a tenner for the lot, I hit the Buy button!

 

 

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On 14/03/2021 at 11:48, 57xx said:

That's a great tip Ian. I'll get a new blade in the scalpal and dig out my head lapping glass plate from the workshop, that should do the trick.

 

Useful those, not only for lapping in castings, but also for building models on. My "surface plate" migrates in and out of the workshop too. It's not anything fancy, just a tempered glass rear door window from an old van, a Bedford CF I think. Unlike ordinary glass, it's dead flat, the chances of busting it are slim and it's a handy size. 

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I got mine as an off-cut of plate glass from a glaziers, done the the trick when getting the high comp race heads nicely sealed.

 

Meanwhile back in modelling land...

 

I got round to doing the Siphon C rain strips. I ended up using some masking tape rather than sellotape for a bit more definition. It took a few attempts to get the curves anything like right, but got something passable eventually.

 

SiphonC9.jpg.042aac58d536a460ae4ae98fd59ad489.jpg

 

The biggest problem with it is, after priming it up and then referring back to the Slinn/Clarke book on Siphons, I realised I'd made a blunder. I'd blindly copied the curves on a Ratio 4 wheel coach roof, however the upper rain strip should not be curved and should run parallel to the sides, with gaps in for the destination board mounts (that I've chosen to model as removed). Back to the drawing board.

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I think I know the words you're looking for right now, unfortunately I can't share them due to the site's profanity filter.:mad_mini:

 

You have my sympathies, sir.

 

Ever noticed what a great job we all make of things, shortly before we realise that we've ###### it up? :banghead:

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The Anglo Saxon was flowing freely when I spotted it. I'm thinking the primer will need stripping right back too or I'll get a shadow where the old tape comes up.

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