West End Workbench

[jwealleans]

I always think a vehicle, whatever it is, has taken a huge step towards completion when it rolls on its own wheels for the first time.

 

 

I also managed to glaze this and fit couplings and door handles.

 

Edited July 12, 2018 by jwealleans

[Colin parks]

Hi Johnathan,

 

it is always a pleasure to read through your thread.  Just how many coaches have you built by now?!

 

All the best,

 

Colin

[Worsdell forever]

 

... Just how many coaches have you built by now?!

 

 

How many exactly did the LNER own...

[jwealleans]

Now you're being silly, Paul. I don't model the Scottish area.

[jwealleans]

I haven't got them out and counted, but I reckon for Grantham it must be in the region of twenty up to now. There are 3 more to build after this one and maybe one or two I fancy building after that. You can just keep going, really.

[LNER4479]

You can just keep going, really.

Keep going!  Keep going!

[jwealleans]

Extend the fiddle yard! Extend the fiddle yard!

[gr.king]

There are posh new front of house arrangements to sort out first you know. Somebody got his finger out recently and made the new bases for the additional supports,

[jwealleans]

Someone will be getting his out in due course and sorting some wood for uprights, if you're still collecting it on the date you suggested.

[gr.king]

Why alter a good plan?

 

Assuming it's okay with you of course.

[jwealleans]

The soldering is about done here and we're on to the dull bits, making the roof join invisible.

 

 

So while the filler dries, on to the next one, the first of a pair.

 

 

This is a Diagram 8 Locker Composite. Two of these ran at the outer ends of the 'Junior Scotsman', one to Perth and the other to Aberdeen. These were the first generation of the type and they were later replaced by a 66' 6" version which presumably had an extra compartment. They're quite easy to spot with the pair of doors towards the end on each side. These are Bill's sides on MJT components. The parts for these have been in the queue for a while but up to now there was always something more important to build.

Edited July 12, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Soldering now complete, roof attached, currently covered in Squadron Green putty.

 

 

 

The roof is as good as I'm going to get it on the GN compo, so the roof details have been added and painting has begun.

 

 

Note to self - after you've spent ages scaling off a drawing to get all the vents in the right places, then drilled all the holes, have the sense to stick the roof on the right way round. Or at least notice before you've made good the join.

Edited July 12, 2018 by jwealleans

[Barry O]

Now you know why some of model BR(LMR)....tee hee!

[Edwardian]

West End Workbench

 

by jwealleans

 

original page on Old RMweb

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??? posted on Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:19 pm

 

A very welcome package from Dart Castings yesterday and progress again on the Grain Van. This was awaiting RCH axleboxes and heavy (9 leaf) springs. With those in place, brake gear and hopper operating gubbins could go on and into primer it goes. One or two dodgy rivets to sort out when it comes back, but tomorrow it will be winging its way to Huntingdon for Sprat and Winkles.

 

 

__________________________________________

Comment posted by 31A on Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:21 pm

 

Coming along nicely, Jonathan. What a complicated looking beast

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Comment posted by Atso on Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:02 pm

 

Just one word - fantanstic! More more more

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Comment posted by rob2 on Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:25 pm

 

Super individual job Jon,I'm familiar with these from Tatlow,it looks well worth the effort!

Rob

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Comment posted by mlgilbert30 on Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:10 am

 

Great stuff Jon. That really is a nice piece of detailing/conversion work.

 

Cheers....Morgan

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??? posted on Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:11 pm

 

Been a bit quiet on the workbench for a few weeks - I've been earning brownie points on the DIY front. The odd project has moved on, though, so this is where we are.

 

The grain vans are now ready for weathering, once the paint has cured for a week or two. I nearly went cross eyed as usual putting the HMRS BR transfers on - I gather from recent conversations that I'm not the only one. Thank heavens for weathering and the three foot rule. You'd be sacked for this kind of thing at 12" to the foot. Further note to self - apply lettering before putting the handrails on. I've built enough of these - you'd think I'd remember.

 

 

 

Thurston goes out again next month - to Thurston, in fact, where we've been invited to appear at the village show. Hopefully we'll attract a bit of interest from the locals. In preparation I had a small finishing off job to do on this WD. My thanks to Max Stafford for the top feed, now fitted and blended in.

 

 

 

It's been shown before on here but these 247 Developments fire iron holders do make quite a difference to the otherwise quite sparse tender on these machines.

 

 

Finally and also with a view to the end of September, I've been moving the new GE coaches along steadily. I'm now just awaiting a parcel from Eileen's Emporium and stepboards and undergubbins will then be applied. For once, I have completed the interiors and painted the passengers before finishing the coaches.

 

 

__________________________________________

Comment posted by micklner on Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:18 pm

 

Hi

 

Nice Austerity , are you painting the coach roof another colour?

 

Mick

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??? posted on Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:22 pm

 

That's just the Halfords primer, Mick. They'll be a variation on LNER brown when done, with whatever dark grey muck I mix up for the roofs.

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Comment posted by micklner on Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:26 pm

 

Hi

 

Ah !!!! I see , not used to seeing roofs attached prior to painting , do you find it easier that way ? I would have thought it would be a pain to glaze etc??

 

cheers

 

Mick

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Comment posted by robpulham on Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:17 pm

 

The GE's are looking good Jonathan. Did you make your own chassis/roof (I am right in that you only got sides for these?)?

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??? posted on Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:18 pm

 

 

 

 

do you find it easier that way ?

I do - with the brass roof, I make a 5 sided box. There's a strip at each end with two captive nuts and I bolt up through the floor as per Danny Pinnock. Allen Doherty supplies the floors with fold up pieces at each side so they slot inside the body. He also etches a hole at each end in the centre, but I use that for the Bill Bedford coupling, so I have to make my own for securing. Eileen's Emporium do very short (1/4") 10BA screws which is what I use to fasten the two together.

 

It's just my own preference - Coachmann (who knows a bit about painting coaches, let's face it) says he prefers the roof to detach, but I think it's easier to conceal a solebar join than a roof one.

 

It only works for brass coaches so far - the Kirk ones I did last year were built with the roofs off and then they were added last of all. They were not detachable, however. I did some Bachmann Thompsons for a friend and they have to be done with the body as one piece, so for those I just made the floor an interference fit and spotted some mek-pak onto it once the thing was complete so it didn't fall apart in his hands.

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:22 pm

 

Rob,

 

This is pretty much what you get:

 

 

Not illustrated is the floorpan/solebar etch, which is quite simple. The roofs I have rolled by Dave Smith, not having a set of rollers myself. He turns them round very quickly and gives you plenty of spare.

__________________________________________

Comment posted by robpulham on Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:45 pm

 

Cheers Jonathan, I may venture down that route (christmas coming and all that) They look good and just a bit different. I managed to line the kirk coaches OK after wiping it off on a couple until I got the paint flowing and the hang of what I was doing. I will post some pics later in the week.

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??? posted on Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:42 am

 

Some more progress on the coaches - I've just realised that I had my dates mixed up and i have a week less to finish them than I thought. Anyway, underframes now complete and here they are lined up with one of the first pair to check buffer heights, coupling and so forth. I've not put the vents hoods over the doors on the BTK and I see there's a battery box cockeyed as well.

 

 

 

Another project already lined up once these are done - a David Geen NE Insulated van from Pilmoor which disintegrated at speed a few weekends ago. It had been built with glue - epoxy, I think - which had gone brittle and eventually gave way. A Nitromors bath completed the process and it's cleaned up quite well. Whoever built it had been quite sparing with the glue, which may ultimately have contributed to it's demise. An evening with the soldering iron should make it fit for duty again.

 

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:38 pm

 

The GE stock is in the paintshop, so while it was drying I spent an hour or so on the van. It's really quite nice to just have to build a kit, someone else having done the cleaning up and fettling (without having butchered anything). I don't think the undergubbins layout is quite right, but painted black and at speed, it'll do. The rather jaunty angle those buffers seem to have adopted will have to go, too.

 

 

__________________________________________

 

??? posted on Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:19 am

 

Only one more weekend before Thurston goes out again and things aren't moving quite as quickly as I'd have liked... I painted the GE coaches and varnished them, but had a bit of a scare on Sunday morning when they came out in a whitish bloom. There have been threads about that before on here - I can only assume they were slightly cold/damp from the workshop when I applied the varnish. Fortunately a couple of hours in the airing cupboard and a few more light coats of varnish seem to have removed the effect. The roof and ends still show it, but I can paint over them through the week.

 

 

The rather laborious task of glazing has now commenced; here's the CK posed on its bogies with the first set of windows in place.

 

 

In between the panic over having to strip and repaint those, the van has moved smoothly on to completion and curing before I get the weathering gear out.

 

 

I was wrong about this - it's a 51L, not David Geen. While I'm on, a thank you to that top man Andrew Hartshorne who let me have a replacement buffer shank for those GE coaches after one fell off and vanished into oblivion last week.

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Comment posted by rob2 on Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:08 pm

 

Super coaches Jon,don't envy you the pressure you're working under!Varnish is a b*&%??????‚??r though,especially with damp in the air-I've waited 2 months for a 12" to the foot floor to cure fully!

Remember the time when Humbrol matt varnish could unexpectedly react with matt black and produce a powdery white effect?Bizarre!

Looking great though,quite an ellegant design,I'm not that familiar with GER coaches.

Rob

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??? posted on Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:13 am

 

Cheers, Rob. I've found out quite a lot about these since I started them - I only had Nick Campling's book and a lot of photos when I built the first two. The GE Society and John Watling in particular have been very helpful with information and Adrian (BJ) is a mine of useful facts and photos. It does help that the Ely club have a subscription to the GE Journal so I've been able to obtain articles from that. The GE Society also publish both lists of drawings held at the NRM and lists of published drawings of both stock and buildings/lineside features (not limited to the GE, either). It was through that that I came across the article in MRC for April 1963 which has been the most useful source of all. There's still a deal of room for conjecture - diagrams varied between builds and the Composite Allen has drawn is not the same as either Campling's book or the MRC drawing. Educated guesswork becomes your last resort.

 

For the BG I still have to start, I'm awaiting the GA from the NRM archive. It seems to have had vertical bars not unlike fencing all the way along the inside of the windows on the corridor side. Not something I've seen before. So far I've only tracked down one picture of one, though, so I have no real feel for how common it might have been.

 

Varnish - pah! I usually leave stuff in the airing cupboard overnight to cure and I often put the spray cans in there as well as my loft isn't very well insulated. On this occasion I forgot so I'll have to be more careful. Once this can is empty I may go back to thinned Ronseal - I never had any problem with that. Unless they've started to import Dullcote again.

 

How do you find out that as 12"/ft floor isn't cured, BTW? By getting stuck to it?

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Comment posted by rob2 on Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:06 pm

 

Re the varnish on the floor-it was touch dry Jon,fine as long as I kept moving but as soon as I stood still to admire my handiwork,I stuck .Since then I've used only Translac,which is a Ronseal product too,but has that traditional smell (Tung Oil I think)and much less of the powerful solvent of the usual Ronseal!I used that on the baseboards and floor of the attic and it was habitable very quickly.

One reason I enquire re the coaches is that the GER is the constituent I am least up on and have the fewest resources for but I really like the panalling on their coaches,very handsome vehicles-I have one or two D&S put by!I will be interested to see what the Bill's BG looks like too.

Rob

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??? posted on Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:02 pm

 

The WB was on its travels again this week, with a whole week away in hotels then a weekend with Thurston going back to its roots.

 

Exhibition photos first...

 

GE rake almost complete - I just need to start the BG which is hanging around the edge of my WB. I'd have liked to weather these now I can do them as a set, but I was as sick as a dog the weekend before the show so those plans went out of the window.

 

 

 

The grain vans also stuck out a bit, but ran OK (which is probably more important).

 

 

The WD did look the part. I've now been entrusted with a 'Britannia' to 'lightly' weather, which is going to be a severe test of my self-control.

 

 

Through the week I dug into a few plastic kits I had in the stack.

 

Parkside LNE fitted van back dated to an unfitted diagram. The centre bar is shaved off the door, lamp irons removed (although some were fitted with them), body fixing brackets added and brake gear discarded.

 

 

Stelfox GE open, built as supplied. These had the very distinctive double strapping on the sides. Kit showed its age, but it's quite crisply moulded nonetheless.

 

 

Roger Chivers 6 wheel fish van. Have I missed all of these on people's WBs? I don't recall seeing one yet. If anyone can point me to a drawing of the brake linkage I'd be grateful. Just an approximation will do. I haven't decided what to do for the centre wheels yet - IIRC there was a thread with a number of possible approaches, so I'll have a browse at some point. Quality kit, as you'd expect.

 

 

Finally a pair of Slaters MR vans - outside framed vehicles add character and age to a train, I think. These are easy kits to build though I'm less qualified to comment on their accuracy.

 

 

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Comment posted by mozzer models on Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:45 pm

 

Hi

 

Look in the Blue Historic Carrage book for info on the 6 wheel fish van

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??? posted on Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:06 am

 

Cheers, Brian. I'd forgotten it was in there. That'll be enough for what I need.

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??? posted on Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:45 am

 

I hadn't realised how long it is since I posted... the workbench isn't even on Page 1 of my own posts! Anyway there has been sporadic activity in between outbreaks of work and some more inconvenient travelling.

 

Parkside van and GE open are now well on the way. The brake gear on the van is a mix of ABS and some very handy etched levers/V hangers/etc from 51L which I hadn't seen before. The open makes a nice variation from the run of the mill 7 planker. Shame it isn't still available.

 

 

 

 

These Slaters MR vans have gone together more or less as intended.

 

 

 

 

Parkside LMS 3 plank, unfitted version and the Chivers fish van, part lettered. Suitable bent bits of wire have been added to represent the brake rigging and I'm pleased to say the wobbly centre axle has been successful.

 

 

 

 

Finally, for a trip to Aberdeen recently it seemed appropriate to take a pair of Ian Kirk kits, one an NB van. Both a bit of a s*d to build - two part floors, which I replaced, no interior detail in the Boplate and quite poorly fitting corners. The van ended up with a depression on each side which I had to fill with a strip of Evergreen to bring it back to level. The Boplate has had beefed up trussing, new brake levers (51L etch again) and door springs added. They're very prominent and aren't even mentioned in the instructions. Mine need cutting down a bit. I used a pack from Masokits, soldering a pin into each one and attaching it via a hole in the solebar. They get bent very easily when you're handling the vehicle.

 

 

 

 

Dodgy paint finish is down to enamel paint over an acrylic primer, I think. Shan't do that again. The rivets on the solebar of the Boplate are from the Archer models resin transfer pack. Very good and probably an essential part of the modelling kit from now on.

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Comment posted by micklner on Fri Oct 10, 2008 7:34 am

 

Excellent work

 

What is wrong with paint finish? I always use enamel over acrylic without any problems.

 

Mick

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??? posted on Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:58 am

 

Thanks, Mick. The paint, basically, didn't cover. You can see through it on the NB van, especially the doors. I had to give the LMS 3 plank three coats to get the colour solid. I stir all my paint with a wire stirrer in a Dremel, too, so it's not as if the paint was thin. I'll get down to Halfords and pick up some grey primer next time I'm passing.

__________________________________________

 

 

I have been catching up on this topic with growing interest.

 

I am particularly interested in the Stelfox GE open.  I have not heard of this producer.  Do you know if they are still obtainable?

[jwealleans]

I'm afraid not and haven't been for many years. An acquaintance of mine, a member down at Ely, happened to meet Mr Stelfox at a show some years ago and had the last of his stock.

 

Best bet for those now would be to scratchbuild and use it as a resin casting master.

Edited July 21, 2016 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Been a bit warm to get into the workshop over the last couple of weeks, but I haven't been entirely idle. Not a repost of an earlier photo, but I now have a matching pair of D8s. The roof is the right way round on this one as well.

 

 

If anyone is thinking of attending, I shall be at Thirsk Show this coming Sunday with a small selection of rolling stock on display. Tom Foster, formerly of this parish, will also be there building wagons. Do please come and say hello.

Edited July 12, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Progress with some of the ongoing builds. Carriages are now ready for their coats of Klear.

 

 

 

In the 1936 ECML Carriage Workings, 1292 is the Perth Locker Composite and leaves the Cross at the head of the 10:05 'Junior Scotsman'.

 

 

1293 heads the Aberdeen portion and leaves towards the rear. There is a Newcastle portion at the very back.

 

Some of you may have read my 'Anybody got any Es?' thread asking for unwanted parts of HMRS Pressfix sheet 14. I was more than grateful to receive almost an entire sheet from a well known Duck, which allowed me to letter up a couple of carriages for Wickham Market. He also asked to see the results, so here they are. The idea here is to produce a set composed mainly of cascaded NER carriages, older GER ones and the odd Gresley. As I had the transfers out I also changed the identity of the loco I had obtained to haul the set.

 

 

First up, then, R3235 Hornby D16. I wanted an unlined one and this seemed the quickest way to get there from what is available from Hattons, this being the 'E' numbered 'British Railways' version. 62597 is a Yarmouth loco which Dr Ian Allen also photographed down the East Suffolk on the Halesworth milk train, which we also intend to represent.

 

 

NER D 18 Brake third (3) - one of many which came south to the GE Area in the 1930s. This featured a few pages ago, an Ebay rescue and rebuild.

 

 

NER D111 Lav third. This is the second one of these in the train. This kind of carriage in various forms was very popular for cross country secondary services. In preparation I have another ex-NER clerestory, a composite, and a Gresley BT, to go with an existing Gresley 3rd, a further D111 and an ex-GE CL.

 

Finally one of this little jobs which crop up from time to time. We were setting up Marske today at Redcar show and when the stock boxes were opened, this came out. It clearly hadn't survived the journey back from Ally Pally.

 

 

So it came my way to repair. How did I get on? You can see tomorrow at the show - or you may even see me still working on it behind the layout.

Edited July 12, 2018 by jwealleans

[grob1234]

Lovely work on these coaches Jonathan, as always. I'm slowly plucking up the courage to have a go at teak finishes. I'll also be commencing work on the silver jubilee and seeing your work has inspired me to pull my finger out. All the best, Tom.

Edited August 6, 2016 by grob1234

[jwealleans]

Grantham running weekend this weekend in preparation for Woking show. We were a bit short handed and the official photographer didn't attend, so there was not much time for photography.

 

What I did manage to snap was the C7 being put to use for the first time. Here passing the north end pilot, the recently arrived J54:

 

 

... and here revealing the important duty she was running (we don't generally have the exhibition stock for these weekend either).

 

 

We've recently had some loco coal wagons kindly donated by Peter Simmerson. I've finished them and here one stands by the coaling stage ramp (centre) while the end of the other can be seen in the stage proper.

 

 

These will now be weathered before Woking.

Edited July 12, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

This week I've been sorting out niggles from the running weekend and moving on or finishing off a few little side jobs. I don't want to dive into anything major in the run up to a show.

 

The C7 wasn't entirely faultless on test, so it may make an appearance at Woking on a through train but is unlikely to be tried on shed. I've added a front vac pipe and coupling as well as some weight in the rear of the front bogie. The bogie may be of interest: there's very little room behind the cylinders on many of these Raven NER types and following a suggestion by Barry Oliver I've altered this so it pivots from a point in front of the bogie instead of behind. Hopefully you can see the idea in the photograph.

 

 

 

It seems to work up to now, we've not had any problems with it shorting to the cylinders.

 

I had a package through from 51L this week which included some etched ladders. That was what I was waiting for to carry on with the brass refrigerated van from a few pages back. It now needs the strapping tidying up and bolt heads adding.

 

 

 

At Redcar show, David Scott kindly gave me this LSWR 3 plank from his former range as a donation for Ormesby. I've fitted OO wheels, repainted to LSWR, weathered it lightly and now added a sheeted load.

 

 

I've had a bit of a weathering session on Grantham wagons today, including the two coal wagons we saw above. These need some black powder adding, maybe a bit of brake dust, then they're ready to go back to the layout.

 

 

In parallel, here are a set of LNER vans I bought when Hattons were doing a bulk deal. As they are the D 171 of 1940, they're no good for Grantham (shame they didn't make the ventilator removable), so I've repainted them for the Wickham Market stock. These bulk packs are a good way to build up trains if you don't mind repainting, renumbering and fiddling with wagons to make each one slightly different. These will have torn off labels, chalk marks, maybe a sheet over one and scattered along the length of a train they'll look similar without being simply a procession of identical vehicles.

 

 

 

Finally, a couple of wagons from a collection Tony Wright sold on earlier this year. These have simply been repainted.

 

 

Slaters MR 3 plank

 

 

D & S GC guards van. This kit is now available from the GCRS. I've left the roof off so I can add a guard before sticking it back on.

Edited July 12, 2018 by jwealleans

[Barry O]

JW

 

good job you saw the GC brake van first!  I have one in GC grey an Herculaneum...

 

And the swing link idea came to me from Model Railways via MRKirtley 800 aka Derek

 

Baz

[jwealleans]

Most of my time since Woking seems to have been taken up with servicing and repairing stock. I had a whole afternoon at the bench today, though, so I fancied something new:

 

 

We're not overendowed with brake vans on Grantham, so this was the first one from Danny's last production which came to hand. It's a 6 wheel 10 tonner (yes, the centre axle assembly is missing). Lovely thing to build although fiddly as all brake vans are.

 

I've also painted and lettered the refrigerated van. If he's at Warley I shall try to find out from Jim McGeown if this is his etch, although I'm more or less sure it is.

 

Edited July 12, 2018 by jwealleans

[Barry O]

JW I would agree about the refrigerated van. I did build a 7mm one a while ago for a friend and the etchings do look familiar.

 

I have looked on the GCRS web site for details of kits but can't find any. Can you post a link or is it for members only?

 

Baz

[gr.king]

A slack handful of my brake vans tend to sit unused in Grantham's fiddle yard throughout a show, but they don't have those funny American couplings that are creeping all over the layout like Japanese Knotweed....

[jwealleans]

... and there, I think, is the crucial element.