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1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

 62 is used for the painted teak bits like steel solebars, wheel centres, duckets and so on.  Rightly or wrongly, what made my mind up was the fact that when i used it and looked at the finished vehicles, it looked just like the colour the LNERCA use up at Grosmont.

 

 

The LNERCA have over the years found traces of original paint when stripping vehicles down. Humbrol 62 is a very close match to the colour they use hence my adoption and recommendation of it.

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1 hour ago, MikeTrice said:

The LNERCA have over the years found traces of original paint when stripping vehicles down. Humbrol 62 is a very close match to the colour they use hence my adoption and recommendation of it.

 

Thanks Mike, I didn't know this either.

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1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Why only one???

 

From memory, most banana traffic came in through the west coast ports, mainly Liverpool, so the LNWR would have had most of it.   It moved about between ports throughout the twentieth century.

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30 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

 

From memory, most banana traffic came in through the west coast ports, mainly Liverpool, so the LNWR would have had most of it.   It moved about between ports throughout the twentieth century.

 

Both the LNWR and Midland built substantial fleets of banana vans (a couple of hundred each) from around 1905; from Tatlow Vol. 1 it seems that the Great Northern built a smaller number around then. All three companies had access to the port of Liverpool, so it would seem that this was the first port through which the fruit was imported in bulk. Imports moved to Avonmouth, with the Great Western joining the Midland in handling the traffic, and later, Southampton - did I read that the LNER's stock of banana vans was transferred to the Southern to handle this?

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Blimey, that could only have arrived yesterday morning!  Glad you got on ok with it, it has a few 'issues' which can be overcome but it was a bit of a test piece for me before drawing the vans I've now done. 

 

Were there any other issues apart from what was on the note ? Always handy to have some fresh eyes to spot mistakes.

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5 minutes ago, chris p bacon said:

that could only have arrived yesterday morning!

 

It was there when I got home yesterday mid-afternoon.   That and some transfers from John Peck - there was never any doubt which would be done first.

 

Problems?  Nothing major - some of the fold lines were maybe a bit wide, but that's a detail.   I found that if I put ends inside sides it was way too wide for the fixing holes, which I had to extend anyway.   Sides went on ends and I haven't checked to see if that's made it overlong.  The body is a twitch longer than the underframe, which the drawing says it should be.   Ducket tops were too small.  Did you make new ones on yours?  They look larger. 

 

One suggestion - I like the D & S style body to underframe fixing, but putting them right in the corner interferes with both the backs of the buffers and the springing wire.   if you put a return on the end, you could sit them 5mm further inboard and they wouldn't interfere with either.

 

Looking at the picture, I reckon there's a sliding hatch on the middle of the visible end, so the guard can place a lamp on that bracket without having to climb from the outside.

 

Did you have any ideas about lettering?

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5 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

Problems?  Nothing major - some of the fold lines were maybe a bit wide, but that's a detail.  

 

Noted, it's quite a learning curve trying to get it so it'll bend enough without distorting.  I have a feeling I drew it for one sheet thickness which I was going to add it onto, but then changed to another (thinner) and didn't amend the fold lines. I used the van as a learning tool as if it was terribly wrong I hadn't wasted too big a photo tool.

 

Quote

I found that if I put ends inside sides it was way too wide for the fixing holes, which I had to extend anyway.   Sides went on ends and I haven't checked to see if that's made it overlong.

 The end should be inside the sides with the inner side forming a rebate, the issue is the underframe length, which again comes down to the fold lines.

 

Quote

Ducket tops were too small.  Did you make new ones on yours?  They look larger.

 Yes I did, they were some scrap etch. No idea what I did there.

 

Quote

One suggestion - I like the D & S style body to underframe fixing, but putting them right in the corner interferes with both the backs of the buffers and the springing wire.   if you put a return on the end, you could sit them 5mm further inboard and they wouldn't interfere with either.

 I realised after etching what I'd done, the current ones are either a fixing in each corner but further in, or a seperate strip which is fixed across the bottom of the body with a central fixing through the chassis.

 

Quote

Looking at the picture, I reckon there's a sliding hatch on the middle of the visible end, so the guard can place a lamp on that bracket without having to climb from the outside.

 

I wasn't 100% sure but I think looking at it now you're correct.

 

Quote

Did you have any ideas about lettering?

 

I am looking at doing some lettering for decals as I need sheets of them, it's very much 'work in progress' though as time is the limiting factor.

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Things have moved on, but not to completion as I expected tonight.  My soldering iron has failed me - again - so another one is on the way from a different manufacturer.   Antex have had their chance.  This is what we achieved last night while it did still work:

 

GN-banana-brake-3.jpg

 

GN-banana-brake-4.jpg

 

GN-banana-brake-5.jpg

 

Some of the detail is speculative - the GA shows skylights on the roof, but I reckon they've been removed by the time of the photo.  There is a handrail at the roof end, so there must be steps.  The layout of those was derived from contemporary 6 wheelers.  The vertical pipe at the other end is steam heat, I reckon and the lines scribed into the panelling are for the opening panel we reckon is there so the guard can put a lamp out without climbing.  I'm open to any other suggestions people might have.

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I've got just one query which I'm working on,  then just as your new iron turns up and you finish, the redraw will be done....:D

 

Edit to add that the query has been answered, I'll put it in order and send it over for comment.

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Revised artwork for the banana van is now circulating.

 

In the absence of a soldering iron it was back to plastic: this Cambrian LMS D1830 van has been altered as per Mick Moore's article in MRJ 238 to a Pickering build of the diagram.   A nice little project for a couple of evenings and it does make quite a visible difference.

 

spacer.png

 

A weekend mainly doing other things including a long awaited reorganisation of the workbench which will be no bad thing.   I did manage to do some work on this, which is another long awaited project:

 

conflat-V-LNER-A-type.jpg

 

I shan't embarrass myself by mentioning how long it is since Mr. King cast the conflat  - or the container (original courtesy of Caroline Middleditch) but I did finally get my finger out and have the lettering printed.  I've used these letters before - I scanned letters from the HMRS sheet on a black background and made up text I needed - but the yellow seems to make the misshapes of some of the letters much more apparent.  I'll have to revisit them before I have any more done.  Some of the transfers were very fragile, even more so than usual and it was a relief to be able to seal them all down.

 

Some more containers are in the paint shop and I'll need to make up some more conflats, but it looks as though we may have some for the Scotch Goods the next time Grantham is allowed out.

 

Now, do none of you clever types with a 3D printer fancy doing a pressed steel B type?

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On 18/06/2020 at 21:51, jwealleans said:

My soldering iron has failed me - again - so another one is on the way from a different manufacturer.   Antex have had their chance.  

They are fragile, aren't they, Antex? My current one has lasted a couple of years, but for a long time I only got 6 months or so out of them. Problem is, I'm invested in the bits, with lots of spares in stock, and they're easy to get hold of. I resorted to buying another as a spare in case this one fails - then at least I can solder a replacement element into the one that fails; I got a TC series for £35 (minus the "station" that it plugs into) from a company called CPC, who seemed to be the cheapest; if anyone is thinking of going down this route, make sure you check the number of pins in the iron matches that in the station. 

 

What manufacturer have you gone with for your replacement, Jonathan?  

Edited by Daddyman
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The silicone sheathed mains lead on my Antex CTCS failed a while back - I asked Antex about it and they said they had had some failures of it so were changing to a different type of cable and I could send mine off to be replaced for free.

 

That one seems to be failing now after 14 months. But having just stocked up on bits I'm not too keen on buying a new iron just yet so I may attempt a rewire myself.

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You chaps are not exactly filling me with confidence over my new temp-controlled Antex soldering station. I'm assuming that at some point production shifted from the UK to China and lead to a decrease in quality?

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If it is any consolation my Antex solder station has had one replacement iron in just under 20 years. (And that one wasn’t helped by a rodent that took a chunk out of the cable!).

 

I suspect that the level of usage does affect the longevity. Mine definitely does not get used for long periods of time each day. When I bought the Antex I was told it was positioned in the market for the hobbyist.  The other brands mentioned above look really good but, I think, are aimed at a more professional/ industrial market. They will be more robust. 

 

Jon

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Yes, the older model Antex products were very good.  In very short order I had to replace three Antex irons with failed heating elements and failed power leads. Plus the tips did not last very long at all.

 

 

Edited by jazz
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Seems to be a common theme developing here: I had an Antex which lasted me for years, but since it eventually gave up I've been through three in four years(ish).   While I can afford it, I've gone for an Ersa unit, the same one Tony Gee recommended.

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1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

Seems to be a common theme developing here: I had an Antex which lasted me for years, but since it eventually gave up I've been through three in four years(ish).   While I can afford it, I've gone for an Ersa unit, the same one Tony Gee recommended.

 

I had an Antex XS25 for a long time, until I knocked it on to the floor and the shaft broke. The replacement only lasted about 2 years. I tried to replace that but couldn't get a mains version because "the plug doesn't comply with Australian standards, sir" so I bought a 24V version. So far, that's going OK.

 

I like the XS25 because of the range of bits and because the bit sits outside the element, which helps get it into tight places.

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