Steve's Caledonian coaches & wagon work bench

[Londontram]

Hello Duncan thank you, Yes I've actually been quite busy but a lot of it is comision work for other people one project is to build a trio of vans for another member on this forum which will consist of a Caly diagram 67 van a LNWR diagram 83 van and a Highland railway diagram 10 van all built cir 1900 to 1910 and quite a variety they make as well with each one different from the others next will be a Highland railway diagram 5 mineral for the same chap. On the home front I've finally finished building my Caley diagram 80 6 wheel box van which with its outside frames and roof hatches is a big chunky imposing van. Its now ready for painting and when I get enough together I'll get the spray cans out and have a painting day.

 

My son who is also a railway modeler picked up a job lot of wagon and loco kits and we split them between us and one of the lots was a pair of the 51L Highland railway white metal bolster wagons so another job done was to make up a simple runner wagon to go with them which is an outside W iron pre diagram book Caley design, Damn I thought I had a picture of it but must have deleted it - no worry I'll take another and put it on later.

 

   I've also been doing some drawing and cutting with the silhouette and after I've done these vans for this chap I've cut the parts for a steel boded diagram 54 bogie mineral wagon this is very much like the Ratio wooden boded bogie mineral diagram 50 wagon which despite Ratio and others singing the praise of how good a rake of them would look there was only ever one diagram 50 made by the Caley with them opting for the steel body diagram 54 instead. As I said they look very similar but just made of steel and when done will sit on the same bogies as used in the Ratio kit.

Edited March 3, 2017 by Londontram

[drduncan]

Hello Duncan thank you, Yes I've actually been quite busy but a lot of it is comision work for other people one project is to build a trio of vans for another member on this forum which will consist of a Caly diagram 67 van a LNWR diagram 83 van and a Highland railway diagram 10 van all built cir 1900 to 1910 and quite a variety they make as well with each one different from the others next will be a Highland railway diagram 5 mineral for the same chap. On the home front I've finally finished building my Caley diagram 80 6 wheel box van which with its outside frames and rood hatches is a big chunky imposing van. Its now ready for painting and when I get enough together I'll get the spray cans out and have a painting day.

Diagram 80 van finished.jpg

 

My son who is also a railway modeler picked up a job lot of wagon and loco kits and we split them between us and one of the lots was a pair of the 51L Highland railway white metal bolster wagons so another job done was to make up a simple runner wagon to go with them which is an outside W iron pre diagram book Caley design, Damn I thought I had a picture of it but must have deleted it - no worry I'll take another and put it on later.

 

   I've also been doing some drawing and cutting with the silhouette and after I've done these vans for this chap I've cut the parts for a steel boded diagram 54 bogie mineral wagon this is very much like the Ratio wooden boded bogie mineral diagram 50 wagon which despite Ratio and others singing the praise of how good a rake of them would look there was only ever one diagram 50 made by the Caley with them opting for the steel body diagram 54 instead. As I said they look very similar but just made of steel and when done will sit on the same bogies as used in the Ratio kit.

Your 6 wheel box van is a very impressive beast!

Duncan

[drduncan]

I'm looking forward to the 'Taunton Brake' getting to the top of the project list!

D

[Londontram]

Here you go Duncan / chaps a couple of pictures of that runner wagon to go between the two white metal HR (51L) bolster wagons.

and with the two bolster wagons

 

[Edwardian]

Stunning stuff, as ever.

[agt613]

Welcome back, Steve! Much missed. Graham

[Buhar]

Hi Steve,

 

Are you going to be able to weight that runner enough? A light vehicle like that sandwiched between two whitemetal hulks could produce some issues.

[Compound2632]

Hi Steve,

 

Are you going to be able to weight that runner enough? A light vehicle like that sandwiched between two whitemetal hulks could produce some issues.

 

Not if they're all free-running? The key thing is for the couplings to be a uniform height so there's no tendency to lift the lighter wagon off the rails. 

[Londontram]

All the coupling will be three link and there's a double layer of lead sheet between the frames the first layer running under the axle almost to each end and the second layer filling the area between the axles.

 

    Anticipating this I have a pipe load for it made up of Brass tubes which are being soldered together as a solid load and although will to a certain extent be a free sitting load I'm working almost to have the bolsters act as bogies carrying all the pulling loads through the bolster pivots the runner being purely a spacer which if it all works out will not have any load bearing on its couplings being hopefully pulled by the forward bolster wagon each time if you can see what I mean.

 

     Anyway we shall see no doubt I'll get there in the end and this sort of problem solving is part of the fun of it all.

[Compound2632]

All the coupling will be three link and there's a double layer of lead sheet between the frames the first layer running under the axle almost to each end and the second layer filling the area between the axles.

 

    Anticipating this I have a pipe load for it made up of Brass tubes which are being soldered together as a solid load and although will to a certain extent be a free sitting load I'm working almost to have the bolsters act as bogies carrying all the pulling loads through the bolster pivots the runner being purely a spacer which if it all works out will not have any load bearing on its couplings being hopefully pulled by the forward bolster wagon each time if you can see what I mean.

 

     Anyway we shall see no doubt I'll get there in the end and this sort of problem solving is part of the fun of it all.

 

Thanks! Ideas there for when I get round to building my LNWR D13 timber truck pair to go with the little D12 singleton I've already made.

[Londontram]

I know things seem to have been a bit quirt on the modeling front but I seem to have been snowed under doing ods and s0ds and commission work which takes up a lot of time. Also my vintage Rove seems to be having a year of consuming vast sums of money with a broken rear spring to contend with now. The list seems on going.

 

Any way a little project with the Silhouette was for an early Caledonian cattle wagon. The Caledonian association produced a limited run of resin cattle wagons dating from the 1900 period and I got a couple of those but needed some more but but the association had run out and I really wanted something a bit older.

 

Thankfully the Caledonian association produce some CDs with loco and wagon drawings and one was for an 1870 pre diagram cattle wagon seen in this one of the few photos that exist of them

.

This drawing was transferred to a drawing program (Inkscape) Once drawn it was cut on the Silhouette giving me this.

This was built up by laminating the parts together giving me the wagon shown in this view.

At this point I gave some thought to the problem of having such an open wagon and how I could portray it as either empty or full so after laminating two sections of plasticard round a crisps tube to get the curve I cut and fitted roof ribs in 60 thou plasticard. This now ridged roof could be lifted on or off at will.

A false floor was made by laminating three layers of plasticard together and hidden in the middle layer was a steel washer which can just be seen if the false floor is held up to the light.

Next a section of BBQ skewer stick was cut and a magnet was glued on the end. This can be used to lift the floor in and out.

The idea is that a train of cattle wagons can arrive empty and with a few seconds work the roofs can be lifted off and the false floors can be fitted now with model cows attached and the roofs refitted the train can then go on its way loaded. OK its a bit twee and gimmicky but it does give me the scope to run a cattle train either loaded or empty.

 

Anyway the build was completed and the wagon is at the painting stage seen here.

The wheels are Hornby on top hat bearings and the buffers are Wizard 51L items.

 

These cattle wagons lasted until about 1910 -1920 but part way through there lives they were modified with the ends paneled in and more substantial doors fitted and I've drawn this so either version can be built.

On the left is the early wagon and the late one is on the right. I'm now in the process of building a second one which will have the later doors and ends.

                                                       Steve

Edited October 26, 2017 by Londontram

[Compound2632]

Any way a little project with the Silhouette was for an early Caledonian cattle wagon. The Caledonian association produced a limited run of resin cattle wagons dating from the 1900 period and I got a couple of those but needed some more but but the association had run out and I really wanted something a bit older.

 

This home-made Silhouette kit making just gets better and better...

[Dave John]

Excellent modelmaking. 

 

Magnets ? who would have though of using them ;-)

[Londontram]

Excellent modelmaking. 

 

Magnets ? who would have though of using them ;-)

Well the idea is to have the same number of cows in the cattle pens also mounted on a false floor so they can be taken out the pens when the wagon is loaded

[drduncan]

Very nice indeed!

[BlueLightning]

Steve,

 

That wagon looks incredible!! and the removable load is a great idea!!

 

Gary

[Londontram]

Bit of a roll here but I've managed to get some paint on and just about finish another wagon or in this case a SNER (Scottish North Eastern Railway) passenger bird cage brake. The original was built some time cir 1869 and the SNER was one of the companys absorbed by the Caledonian railway there stock being used for a few years by its new owners until more modern stock could be built.

 

This is another Silhouette build using plans in the Caledonian carriage book by Mike Williams.but an example of the brake can also be seen in this well known picture of Loch Tay station where the brake is the third coach in on the rake sat in the platform

Here's the model of the brake

The eventual aim is to build the other two coaches in the rake another SNER but a third this time and a SCR (Scottish Central Railway) first. They have both been drawn and are just in the cutting queue

Edited October 28, 2017 by Londontram

[MrWolf]

Very interesting stuff. Every day is a school day. Good idea for the rivet jig. I am tempted to make one from 1mm mild steel sheet for durability. This would also be useful for making wagon corner plates with offset rivets. To fold the corner plates, a very light groove could be cut on the reverse side of the fold, this would relieve the corner and allow a more to scale fold. A hacksaw cut in a block of wood or plastic, the corner plate placed over it and pressed down with a blunt knife blade should create uniform folds for mass production. It's given me ideas for a small girder bridge project I have on the back burner.

[Londontram]

Hello Mr Wolf

 My goodness you've dragged this thread up from the distant past. 

 Thank you for your kind words I'm afraid serious health issues have brought any modeling progress to a complete stand still for the last two years and I'm reduced to lurking in the shadows on the side lines watching with envy other people's efforts and progress.

 That sounds like a good idea with the rivet jig and I look forward to seeing any progress with it.

 

 Going back to my last post in 2017 the other coaches mentioned have been cut on the Silhouette along with some other projects but that's as far as they've got. The only coaches that has been built over the last two years is a cir. 1870 by comp with central luggage compartment shown here which has since been painted and a small six wheel TPO

 

[drduncan]

Steve,

That coach is exquisite.

drduncan

[manna]

G'Day Folks.

 

That's Beautiful.......

 

manna

[Caley 439]

That coach is magnificent Steve, amazing what can be done with the silhouette cutter. Really is a testament to your skills

[Mikkel]

Beautiful coach and extraordinary work Steve. Glad to hear it has been painted, I hope we get to see a photo at some point if time and energy allows.