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

[MrWolf]

You might get away with feathering the paint back rather than stripping it all off, but obviously you're going to have to lose the hard edge and any glue residue.

I have discovered this evening that waterslide transfers have a shelf life. That shelf life is evidently less than thirty years...

[cctransuk]

11 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I have discovered this evening that waterslide transfers have a shelf life. That shelf life is evidently less than thirty years...

 

Try Googling 'Liquid Decal Film'.

 

John Isherwood.

[MrWolf]

Thanks John, I've ordered a bottle from Microscale. Although I am planning on using modern transfers for a lot of my wagons, there are others in the stash which I have had since around the time I left school. They might just need a bit of help!

[57xx]

On 03/05/2021 at 00:20, MrWolf said:

You might get away with feathering the paint back rather than stripping it all off, but obviously you're going to have to lose the hard edge and any glue residue.

I have discovered this evening that waterslide transfers have a shelf life. That shelf life is evidently less than thirty years...

 

That is Plan A. I've removed the tape and am gently sanding back the ridge of paint with the aim of softening the edges so I can spray over it without it showing too obviously.

[57xx]

I've been distracted from the Siphon yet again. A visit to see my Dad for Fathers Day meant taking the travelling modelling box down there and re-discovering some part started plastic kits.

 

One of these is the Peco/ex Parkside GWR Gunpowder van. As this was one of the more recent Parkside kits I was not expecting to find the following:

 

You can see how bad the registration on the moulds are just by looking at the sprue. This meant a lot of cleaning up was required on the brake gear and as for those "round" things at the bottom... They were supposed to be the buffer heads. On the O13 kits of theirs, I used the buffers as they came as they looked good. I decided these ones, however, were beyond hope and sent in another order to LMS.

 

Also in the travel box was the Slaters MR cattle wagon that I probably started some time last year after finally getting the correct length solebar from Slaters, the original source, Coopercraft, having packed one long and one short solebar.

 

The Slaters sprue however is made of the horrible translucent plastic that I found in the MR Open kits, that is brittle as f%$£.

 

 

Top part in each pic is from the original kit and the bottom from the replacement Slaters sprue. The brank lever/V snapped in two places and had to be reglued (marked by the red lines) . I was lucky not to snap anything on the sole bar but there are white stress marks on the W irons where it nearly broke.

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by 57xx

[57xx]

Once the body was together I noticed the very open nature of the side meant it looked like it would bow in very easily (they were already slightly bowed in). Rather than the usual bit of Sprue that I use in vans, I decided to use a couple of bits of 1mm plasticard stuck together and give more support along the roofline. It is also doesn't obstruct the door and is less visible than a bit of sprue would have been.

 

In the end, two decent models were turned out.

 

I have actually made some progress on the Siphon C too, just need to snap some pics!!

Edited November 19, 2022 by 57xx

[MrWolf]

Today is definitely "Iron van day" it would appear. @KNPhas built two gunpowder vans on Little Muddle, @checkrailhas been comparing the Ratio and Rails iron Minks on Stoke Courtenay and I'm almost there with five Iron Mink vans for Aston on Clun. I have a (vague.) plan to sort through my kit stash, group each diagram of vehicle together and build them in batches. 

Is that Midland Railway cattle van still available?

[57xx]

5 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Is that Midland Railway cattle van still available?

 

Yes, I believe Slaters have re-introduced them in to their range along with their other old products.

 

I need to go and have a look at Stoke Courtney, I'm sure it's on my Follow list. have been to Little Muddle in a while either.

[MrWolf]

Thanks, if it's any consolation, I snapped a brake lever as well today.

[Compound2632]

One of the advantages of modelling pre-Great War is that most wagons had brakes on one side only, so it doesn't matter if you hash up the odd piece.

[57xx]

7 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

One of the advantages of modelling pre-Great War is that most wagons had brakes on one side only, so it doesn't matter if you hash up the odd piece.

 

Also works for the 1930's, there's plenty of evidence of wagons still with single sided brakes then. Hence my MR open posted earlier in the thread only having one lever, it was of as the same crap plastic and snapped the lever on one side. I delved into to the books to find the required evidence and went ahead building it single sided.

Edited July 30, 2021 by 57xx

[57xx]

17 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Thanks, if it's any consolation, I snapped a brake lever as well today.

Seems to be some common themes running at the moment!

[MrWolf]

It was a really old Ratio iron Mink, the plastic of which seems to be of a different grade to those produced in the eighties and later.

 

It has more in common with glass! 

[Siberian Snooper]

I recently bought some wagons from POWsides some were in grey plastic which were fine and some in buff plastic which are quite brittle, so it would not appear to be an age related thing, unless POWsides have some old stock.

 

 

[MrWolf]

It's been quite a while since I had anything to do with injection molding, but I recall that there's a number of factors which can affect the nature of the plastic. 

The grade can vary, especially if it is recycled or a percentage recycled. The temperature of the plastic, mould temperature, injection pressure and cooling time before the mould is opened are all factors. 

[57xx]

Siphon C update:

 

So the roof's rain strips have been fixed, feathering in where the old ones were has worked, you can only see the black marker for the old positions under the light primer coat. All looking good now.

 

I made a start with the lower footboards and whilst doing so noticed a flaw in the Mainly Train etches that I hadn't spotted before.

 

One board has no cut outs for axle boxes, the other has them, but of different sizes, one of which looks far too deep. To remedy this, I soldered in some filler plates so I could file them both to size again. The one with no cut outs has had some filed in place.

 

I need to run a fillet of solder along the 90* fold to strengthen it and then they should be ready for fitting.

 

After that I need to make a concerted effort of fitting the body detail. I decided I didn't want to fold up 6 door handles so will use the etched ones in the kit. I also need to decide how to make the missing latches at the top of the end doors.

Edited November 19, 2022 by 57xx

[BWsTrains]

On 10/03/2021 at 04:39, 57xx said:

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.

 

 

Ric,

 

I've been thinking to do a plastic kit bash / scratch build to a more modest Siphon C than your fine beast. Searching for a suitable diagram for this Siphon has turned up nothing, do you have anything you can share?

 

I can get a reasonable proxy for the sides from your kit assembly but I've no clues regarding ends and roof profile.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated,

 

Colin W

 

 

[57xx]

Hi Colin, I've been using the HMRS publication, GW Siphons, by Slinn & Clarke for the references. I'll drop you a PM with more info on it.

[57xx]

I've made a start restoring missing pics, luckily made easier by the fact I named all pics logically so it's simple to find them on my PC and re-insert into the thread (double monitors help too, dragging and dropping the pics from one into the browser on another!)

 

Modelling wise, there has actually been a lot going on in the background, I really need to take some pics and provide some updates.

[57xx]

After another massive lull in posting, it's time for some updates. Firstly a pic already taken of the Parkside LMS D1661 cattle wagon. This was a joy to put together, as the majority of Parkside kits are. I'm hoping that once painted, the holes that were drilled for holding the wire rails in place will get hidden, I maybe should have just superglued them straight on to the side but was unsure how strong they would be.  I might put spot of Green Stuff in the holes first actually...

 

 

I now need to dig through the stock box and find what else I've built over the last few months and get the camera out!

Edited April 18, 2023 by 57xx

[MrWolf]

I am very tempted to get a couple of those!

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Very nice, as yes after painting generally the holes are masked as with Cooper Craft replacement wires I used but a little filler never hurts just to make sure. Certainly better and stronger than gluing direct to the side.

[57xx]

21 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I am very tempted to get a couple of those!

 

That and the Slaters Midland cattle wagon from previously make up my  LMS contingent for cattle wagons. Both very good kits.

Edited April 19, 2023 by 57xx

[57xx]

13 hours ago, Bluemonkey presents.... said:

Very nice, as yes after painting generally the holes are masked as with Cooper Craft replacement wires I used but a little filler never hurts just to make sure. Certainly better and stronger than gluing direct to the side.

 

Thanks Matt. The Liquid Green Stuff is so easy to use and great for small gaps like so only took 5 mins to do last night.

[57xx]

Tonight's pic is a Chivers kit of the LMS D1675 pipe wagon. This was my first ever Chivers kit and again, this one almost fell together. Nice crisp mouldings that fitted together well. I'm trying to recall if the kit came with the whitemetal buffers or if they are my usual Lanarkshire Models ones.

It's in a bit a state paint-wise. Looks like I dabbled with some pre-shading, but looking at it now, I realise there is no primer on there. No idea what I was thinking there!