West End Workbench

[PGC]

 

 

French van has wheels attached and is in primer...seems like weeks since I touchd it.

 

 

 

 

Hi Jonathan

 

Sorry to go so far back in your thread - only just catching up with it!

 

2 questions: 1; How did you weight the Lowfits, 2; what are the W irons on the ferry van?

 

Loving the thread - just wish I had the time to do as much modelling as you!

 

Phil

[PGC]

Hi again, Jonathan

 

I see from earlier posts you use Coopercraft seats but there are several on their site so which would you use for a Gresley  coach like the one above?

 

Thanks

 

Phil

[jwealleans]

Hallo Phil,

 

Thank you for taking the time. It's nice to know it's useful or of interest to someone. To answer your questions in order:

 

I have the Lowfits out at the moment as it happens, so I had a look. Some have bits of lead flashing stuck underneath, some have liquid lead and the right hand one in the photo you've shown only has the tractor. Lead flashing offcuts are my ballast of choice.

 

The ferry van - almost all my ferry vans - have Bill Bedford sprung W irons. I think these are the BR plate variety, which approximated to the originals most closely. I believe Eileen's supply these now but I get mine from Wizard Models as a rule.

 

Seats - for the coach you've shown I use their non-corridor seats, STS FWT. I do use their corridor seats as well where appropriate.

 

I have got the new lows/tractors to the 'almost finished' stage - they need some powders when I next have a session with those and then they're done.

 

 

 

I had the whole rake down at Ormesby on Monday and they do look quite good.

 

The Ebay buys are in the weathering queue now. Some of them had a spin around Grantham the last time I was there and happily all ran OK.

 

 

 

 

I see the roof on that GE van is pulling away slightly - have to have a look at that, although it can't be too apparent to the eye or I'd have noticed it last night.

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[The Bigbee Line]

Nice models, I do like decent wagons.  It's surprising what you can do to rejuvenate a bashed up item from the scrap box.

 

You probably said in an earlier post, but where did you get the tractors?

 

Again, thanks for sharing.

[jwealleans]

Hallo Ernie. I got mine from Hattons - they seem to have disappeared from all the local trade stands at shows.

 

These are they.

[Fat Controller]

On the subject of rail-borne tractors, the Paul Shannon book 'Railfreight since 1980' that deals with general traffic has some photos of an interesting traffic from Cambridge during the 1970s; second-hand tractors of various types on Borail wagons. These were older small types, redundant with the big farms of Eastern England, destined for the farms of Ireland, and shipped via Fishguard and Holyhead. A nice excuse for a mixture of types..

[jwealleans]

Shipped by Cheffins, by any chance? They seem to have a vast and inexhaustible supply of older machinery even now (or they did when I used to drive past their saleground regularly).

[Fat Controller]

Shipped by Cheffins, by any chance? They seem to have a vast and inexhaustible supply of older machinery even now (or they did when I used to drive past their saleground regularly).

No idea; I note that the flow still goes on, though these days towards Eastern Europe by road, rather than to the Emerald Isle by rail and ship.

[PGC]

Hallo Phil,

 

Thank you for taking the time. It's nice to know it's useful or of interest to someone. To answer your questions in order:

 

I have the Lowfits out at the moment as it happens, so I had a look. Some have bits of lead flashing stuck underneath, some have liquid lead and the right hand one in the photo you've shown only has the tractor. Lead flashing offcuts are my ballast of choice.

 

The ferry van - almost all my ferry vans - have Bill Bedford sprung W irons. I think these are the BR plate variety, which approximated to the originals most closely. I believe Eileen's supply these now but I get mine from Wizard Models as a rule.

 

Seats - for the coach you've shown I use their non-corridor seats, STS FWT. I do use their corridor seats as well where appropriate.

 

 

Hi Jonathan

 

Thanks for the answers - I half suspected I knew what you were going to say but I prefer not to assume.

 

The reason for asking the question about weighting the Lowfits is that I normally try to work to 25 grams per axle on wagons, and on the Lowfits I have there doesn't seem to be enough room to add enough lead to get to this weight. Do you work to a similar weight, do you just keep weighting the wagons until they run properly or do you have another method of working out the ideal weight?

 

I didn't know about the Coopercraft seats until I saw your thread. I recently picked up a partially completed kit for an all 3rd Great Northern Articulated Twin and I've put MJT bogies under it along with the MJT Queen post underframe, so I've now got to do the interior with seats (I've already got some Ratio seat mouldings but guess what I'm going to use now!), grab and door handles, roof etc. so your thread has been a great boon to inspiring me to get a move on. Just don't expect me to finish quite as quickly as you seem to knock them out!

 

Phil

[jwealleans]

I normally try to work to 25 grams per axle

 

I wish I could say I was that scientific. 

 

do you just keep weighting the wagons until they run properly

 

Yes.  If they're free running you can make them quite heavy without causing too many problems for the loco.  I'd like to say that I didn't weight that Lowmac because intensive testing showed it didn't need it - more likely I forgot (or the weight fell off, but there's no trace of it ever having been attached).  I do test all my wagons on handmade track and although we take the mickey out of the builder about it, it is less regular and even than proprietary and gives a better test, I think.

 

an all 3rd Great Northern Articulated Twin

 

Now you're talking my language.  What kit is it?  I'm struggling to think of anyone who would make those except Bill Bedford.  I shall look forward to seeing that complete.

 

I think coaches take more effort to build than most locos, if you do a proper job, so don't worry about it taking time.  I seem to have this reputation for churning it out, but I model to relax, rather than staring at the TV, so I have something to show for the time I spend.  I think that's the only real difference between me and anyone else.  I still can't even think about knocking them off as quickly as someone like Larry.

[PGC]

Hi Jonathan

 

Thanks for the answers - it helps to know that someone who makes wagons that run well does it through what works rather than theory! Rest assured that I don't actually make sure every axle carries 25 grams, I just multiply the number of axles by 25 and make sure each wagon weighs about that.

 

You seem to find bits and pieces from so many different sources I assumed you knew every manufacturers catalogue inside out, so I'm astounded you didn't know a Kirk kit is available for the all 3rd GNR artic - http://shop.cooper-craft.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=61&products_id=187  takes you directly to it and they do a 1st / 3rd as well.

 

I'll take some pictures of my coach in the near future and put them up on my own thread.

 

Phil

[jwealleans]

Ah, a GN section artic rather than a GN railway artic. A GN build would have droplights above the doors rather than vents. You can convert them but it's more work than I fancy, frankly and I'd never manage to cut them out consistently. Still, we can never have too many kit built coaches.

[Earlswood Nob]

Good morning all

I am a mere novice at coach building (and a lot of other things), but I think the Kirk twins are LNER stock built 1929-1939, which are basically two articulated 51ft coaches. Many of the GNR artics were old 6 wheel coaches and a shorter than the Kirk kits.

However, I do have one of the Kirk twins, and would like more.

There were a few twin sleeping cars which would also make interesting models.

Earlswood nob

[PGC]

Ah, a GN section artic rather than a GN railway artic.

 

Apologies, Jonathan, being a BR modeller, they're both the same to me. I'm not old enough to appreciate the differences in pre-nationalisation, let alone pre-grouping, stuff!!!! 

[jwealleans]

In between other jobs on the WB last night I finished titvating this:

 

 

Standard Bachmann, added chains and bracing between the W irons and dirtied. Scrubs up very well. I wish they'd get on with releasing the containers on their own, I'd like to use a few more.

Edited September 6, 2018 by jwealleans

[Loxborough]

Beautiful job titivating the conflat. Really brings a good RTR model to the next level.

 

Did you make up the chains yourself, or are they an off the shelf product? I ask because I am starting to make plans for the next train, and want to put a couple of containers in it.

 

Also (hoping this doesn't turn into a hijack) do you know of any good sources for pre-war containers and conflats? All the RTR ones seem very generic (ie they are the same body painted different colours) and I just don't understand the various container designations or their respective dates. Obvious Google type searching has brought nothing up...

 

Great work,

 

George

[jwealleans]

The chains are based on the Roxey Mouldings load shackles and hooks, 4A130 and 4A135.  From the container end, there's a small etched eye (4A135) which I use to replace the moulding on the plastic container.  Through this goes a ring of .33 or .45 wire (just wrapped round a drill and cut).  Onto that is threaded the 4A130 shackle, with a stub of wire soldered to the other end.  The stub of wire goes into a hole drilled down a 3mm length of 1.2mm plastic rod to represent the shock absorber.  On the other end of that is one of the hooks from the 4A135 etch, which is also soldered to a stub of wire which goes into a hole in the other end of the rod.  On the side of the conflat I remove one of the moulded rings and replace with one made up from thin copper wire.  If you bend this up towards the container, thread the hook through it and then allow the whole lot to set, you can then bend it down and tension the whole thing up.  They look silly if they flap about when the wagon is in motion.  In the photo above it looks as if the far side right hand hook has pulled out of the plastic rod and allowed the whole lot to sag slightly.  I'll have to have a look at at that.

 

Funnily enough I was looking at some resin cast prewar LNER containers recently and I may be able to point you to them in the near future.  It only needs someone to make some decent masters to produce more.

 

In terms of conflats, David Geen does some GWR ones and I think there might be an LNWR 1 plank which was used by the LMS.  The Cambrian LMS 1 plank was also used for containers prewar.  For the LNER there's only the Parkside Conflat S.  I have scratchbuilt a Conflat V back upthread and it is in my mind to try to produce a body for one of those which might be used as the basis for a resin cast, but don't hold your breath.

 

There is some good information on both LNER containers and conflats in the LNER Society publication LNER Goods Traffic & Services (Proceedings of the 2010 Symposium) which is available from them by post or at shows.

[Loxborough]

Great. Most helpful, big thank you. Feedback (in terms of me actually producing a model) may be a while, but it will come...

 

George

[The Bigbee Line]

This week's amusement - a bit of unashamed populism, some more tractors for Thurston. The kids love them at shows. The Lowfits are a bit of a project in their own right (forgive me if you've heard this story before) - I was helping clear a building before demolition and there were two cardboard boxes of model railway gear in a corner. I think they'd come from the Old People's Home next door. Part of the contents were four or five Bachmann Lowfits, some of which had had the decks painted yellow and containers glued on. I removed the containers and most of the paint and then the chassis, which is quite wrong. Parkside will supply sprues for the correct chassis for £4 a wagon and so I now have another 3 correct Lowfits (with a further one to assemble). The buffer beams have to be made up and buffers are from Lanarkshire Models. I've kept the Bachmann livery on the right hand one - the others will have lettering from CCT.

 

 

 

Just for variety, the lower two are in an LMS 3 plank (Parkside) and the scratchbuilt LMS D1986 from back upthread. I've added solebar detail to that with Archers transfers but otherwise the original builder did a very good job.

 

As an aside, you can use the chassis from the PC61 fitted van kit for the Lowfit and then build the van as unfitted with some bodywork changes. There's one of those somewhere earlier in this thread and another in the future projects box.

I was in the library yesterday looking through books for pictures of wagons.  in a 1963 shot at Three Bridges there were 4 low wagons in the sidings conveying new tractors in red paint.  For some reason the wheels are fitted but no tyres.  Any idea why no tyres fitted?

[jwealleans]

Two things spring to mind - spade wheels without the spades attached, or they were going to be fitted with adaptors to make them tracked.

[jonhall]

 

 

Funnily enough I was looking at some resin cast prewar LNER containers recently and I may be able to point you to them in the near future.  It only needs someone to make some decent masters to produce more.

 

In terms of conflats, David Geen does some GWR ones and I think there might be an LNWR 1 plank which was used by the LMS.  The Cambrian LMS 1 plank was also used for containers prewar.  For the LNER there's only the Parkside Conflat S.  I have scratchbuilt a Conflat V back upthread and it is in my mind to try to produce a body for one of those which might be used as the basis for a resin cast, but don't hold your breath.

 

 

 

Containers would resin cast very well, but the difficult bit as you've identified, is making the decent masters in the first place. I keep threatening to do a Speedfreight B or C container, but that would be much too late for most peoples interest (and much too early for my own! ).

 

Jon

[jwealleans]

Something different last evening: the Thurston L1 is unwell and awaiting a replacement motor. It is unlikely to be back in service in time for Folkestone. I have one which was in the pile for future use on Wickham Market, so it's been brought forward a little. I've already renumbered and recrested, but a flick through Yeadon confirmed that it also needed a Westy.

 

 

New handrail as the prototype takes a wide swing around the pump on locos so fitted. I've put all the Hornby bits on and also added extra pipes front and back. Weathering has been started, so once these bits are painted that'll be the next thing.

 

Does anyone know how you get into the cab on these to fit a crew? I can see clips and glue underneath but I don't want to start prising blindly.

 

Another little job for Folkestone, some more headcode discs. A GE feature and something I've done before, but we keep losing them. I've made up 2 packets, 24 in the past, and we were down to 3 at Butterley. These are really SR ones so the top and bottom etched bits are cut off. I solder a small piece of tube up the back to fit them to the locos. With a bit of tacky wax they ought to stay where they're put and they also fit over scale width lamp irons, which saves changing them.

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Discussion on the LNER forum prompted a photo of the two L1s I currently have, one from the ABS kit (67706, built by Malcolm Hine) and 67738 as seen above. I'm not sure anyome has posed them like this up to now?

 

 

Things are looking up for 67706; it occurred to me to examine the carbon brushes this evening and I found nothing to report. Nothing at all, in fact. So a new set have been fitted and that seems to have helped even further. It's now back in the box until next week.

 

This has also been across the bench this evening:

 

 

I fitted a new motor earlier in the year and managed to wire it up backwards. Now corrected. It's a B17 variant you don't often see (B17/3?) with the vacuum tank high on the back of the tender. This is a right mongrel, being a Hornby body on a Comet chassis with a Dave Alexander tender with the top largely scratchbuilt. At the time I built it (2005-ish) it was the best way to a decent B17.

 

This was my amusement yesterday afternoon. I have one of these but fancied another and off the top of my head can't remember where it came from. Probably Ebay. The brake gear doesn't really bear close inspection but otherwise I think it's scrubbed up nicely.

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Well I was feeling lucky last night, do I had a go at a Lucky Dip. This was what was in the bottom of the Caustic Soda jar after a session cleaning paint off Ebay buys a few weeks ago:

 

 

I'll talk a bit here and use up some space in case anyone wants to try to work out what is in there....

 

 

 

So here we go. After a couple of hours with the low melt and a Dremel wire brush, we had the following:

 

GE 10 ton brake van. Was this a D & S kit? There's nothing on the castings I can see but the etched W irons look like Danny's.

 

 

ABS P7 hopper. I see one of the corner steps has snapped off.

 

 

SEF (I think) gas tank wagon. I'll replace the dowels on this with some suitably sized plastic tube. They've sprouted an impressive layer of crystals already and I'm not sure I'd get them smooth again.

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by jwealleans

[Class O]

Well I was feeling lucky last night, do I had a go at a Lucky Dip. This was what was in the bottom of the Caustic Soda jar after a session cleaning paint off Ebay buys a few weeks ago:

 

 

I'll talk a bit here and use up some space in case anyone wants to try to work out what is in there....

 

 

 

So here we go. After a couple of hours with the low melt and a Dremel wire brush, we had the following:

 

GE 10 ton brake van. Was this a D & S kit? There's nothing on the castings I can see but the etched W irons look like Danny's.

 

 

ABS P7 hopper. I see one of the corner steps has snapped off.

 

 

SEF (I think) gas tank wagon. I'll replace the dowels on this with some suitably sized plastic tube. They've sprouted an impressive layer of crystals already and I'm not sure I'd get them smooth again.

 

Looks like a Will's gas tank wagon, M&GN I think....