West End Workbench

[jwealleans]

Grano with rivets restored and most of the underneath detailing added. The two small stanchions at the end of the body have also been added with 40 thou Evergreen. It's in grey now and may even be lettered tonight.

 

 

Much of the brake gear was made up using parts of a Masokits etch for SR Monarch gear with some of the very useful 51L etched levers added. If only someone would do an etch for the very distinctive GWR ratcheted lever guides.

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[Adam]

Much of the brake gear was made up using parts of a Masokits etch for SR Monarch gear with some of the very useful 51L etched levers added. If only someone would do an etch for the very distinctive GWR ratcheted lever guides.

 

Very nice, proper silk purse from sow's ear territory. Masokits make the ratchet lever guides btw, http://www.scalefour.org/masokits/brake.html#unfitted item no. 3.10 I think.

 

Adam

[jwealleans]

Cheers, Adam. I'm quite pleased with what I've been able to do with it. I'd have been disappointed if after all this time I've wanted one I hadn't been able to get it up to the required standard. Didn't we discuss that Masokits etch before and it's a set of assorted ones? I'll have to check more carefully tomorrow. It ought to have the sawtooth lever guard to be accurate.

 

A few pics of what's been over the bench tonight; feels like it's been a productive evening.

 

First we had to paint the 16 tonner before bedtime.

 

 

I'll tidy that up tomorrow but he didn't do a bad job in all honesty.

 

This is a job I've had in mind for a while and the mood just took me at lunchtime. It's the Bachmann open, this one I bought at Glasgow. It's been modified as per Paul Worsdell's thread here except that I didn't bother scribing in the planks for fairly obvious reasons. The container came from a Bachmann conflat.

 

 

It's a very quick and easy set of mods and the buffers make quite a difference. I did use the lugged ones all round and just thinned the backs a touch to allow the body to sit right down.

 

Horsebox is now lettered and has had a first coat of varnish.

 

 

The coach is also lettered and has had four or five more coats of Games Workshop varnish with no ill effects. I can only conclude that the paint - which was quite thick - hadn't dried thoroughly enough when it was varnished the first time. I'll keep that in mind. I've run out of Coopercraft seats so there may be a hiatus before the interior goes in.

 

 

I finally made up the last set of Bill Bedford's W irons for the French vans and added brake gear to them so I can crack on with these now. Doing four sets of everything seems to take ages - I must have had some patience when I built 6 Italian ones at once.

 

 

Grano has also been painted.

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[Worsdell forever]

The High Steel looks good, it doesn't take much to get it right does it.

 

D77 coach is superb, glad the instructions were of use.

[Adam]

You're quite right Jonathan, it is a set of assorted ones, but it's the only place I know of that a reasonable interpretation of one can be had. There is always Ambis, of course, but I found these impossibly fragile.

 

Adam

[jwealleans]

Cheers, Paul - your thread was very useful and as you say it really doesn't take much. Thanks again for sending me those instructions - both times. The first set still haven't turned up, so Lord knows where I put them.

 

Adam - I didn't know Ambis did them (his range is a bit of a closed book for me) otherwise I might have had a go, but if they're very fragile practicality might have had to overrule accuracy. This will live in the shunting stock box when finished so it needs to be able to stand quite a bit of travelling.

 

Edit - I was trawling back through Grano threads looking for early BR livery details and found this. I hope hayfield doesn't mind me using it here, but I think this is the very same vehicle he later passed to me.

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Bit of a change from rolling stock tonight. I started to build a test track out of odd bits of wood I had in the garage about last July and then it went on hold as we decided to do the roof. Now that's all finished I've moved it on a bit further and tonight it went up through the loft hatch while it still fitted.

 

 

The idea is to have reverse curves through pointwork on the right hand board and then a 3' curve (probably slightly sharper, to be on the safe side) on the left hand board. That was the set up I had in my shed before we moved. I've found the bundle of track I packed away in 2006; now I just need to remember where I put the points. They won't be motorised - at least not straight away - and I'll use Insulfrogs on here to really test running and pickup.

 

This board is quite a bit wider than what I had before so the rest will be storage sidings for works in progress and probably end up as something for the kids to play with as well if they want to. You can never learn to shunt too young.

Edited October 16, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

In between tracklaying and playing with my newly received BullAnt inside a Sentinel, I have managed to move a couple of things on.

 

Grano is now lettered. Those HMRS BR transfers often drive me to consider the advantages of 7mm. Especially as I seem to have run out of '20T' markings and had to assemble these myself. The black patches aren't by any means perfect but they look much better in the metal than in the photo.

 

 

I've also started to add details to the larger French vans. Lord, these are fiddly... every time I look at the photos I see more details. I don't know what I'm going to do for axleboxes yet as they seem to have had quite a variety fitted at different times. Most of the work so far has been around the doors, above and below the solebar.

 

Edited September 23, 2018 by jwealleans

[ArthurK]

Jonathan

 

Since you are into NER Clerestories I thought you might like to see some of my efforts. I have built most of the D&S range but my earliest efforts were built using Roxey Mouldings embossed pasticard sides. These needed to have the windows removed and the sides & ends were all that you got. I built iup the shell from plasticard. added the Roxey overlay them mounted them on Fox bogies and hey-presto a very acceptable result. I built seven of these four brake compos and three full thirds. These were not to the same standard as the D&S coaches but it was a long long time ago and there was nothing else.

The photograph was taken on my, now dismantled layout "Teesdale". This was based on "Middleton in Teesdale" but there were deviations in the track plan. Most of the building apart from the water tower and signalbox are true to the prototype. The last reincarnation saw the water tower alsocorrect.

The coaches in the photo are the D&S kits. This was in my OO days. I drew out plans for P4 but that has fallen by the wayside.

 

Arthur

[jwealleans]

Thanks, Arthur. I think Dan intends to release some more of these kits later in the year so I will try to assemble a rake then. I usually work in sets of 4.

 

I have one of those Roxey kits for an LSWR clerestory which I will put together for Ormesby Hall one day.

[jwealleans]

I've run out of brass strip to make the longest brake levers known to man for these French vans (look at the one in the NRM if you don't believe me) so I was on to other things last night. First of all, a parcel from Oz which landed on the doormat on Saturday morning. I built two Sentinels around one BullAnt, then ordered a second one to match. There was a mixup over the size of the mounting and when the second one arrived it was noticeably noisier than the first. When I contacted Geoff Baxter there was no messing about: "send it back" and this week it returned with the right mount and a different flywheel to replace the first which was apparently out of balance. Top service from a top man.

 

 

I spent Monday night shunting the yard on Corfe with them and running them round on a 20 wagon coal train. The one on the left is NuCast, that on the right Crownline. It will be interesting to see how the Dapol one (which is a Y1, for variety) compares.

 

The rest of the evening was spent working on something I've had in mind for a while, extending the fish train on Thurston. I've had a request for a longer fish train for the next layout (fish traffic from Lowestoft) and so a few more vans are in the pipeline, but I thought some containers would be a sensible move and add a bit of variety. Firstly, however, the motive power needed beefing up.

 

 

The K3 handles the existing train well enough, but up to six more may be too much. I never did add any weight when it went through the shops in whenever-it-was, so it has had some now. I found that thinnish lead flashing would fit in the curve of the boiler either side of the motor and although the weight in the smokebox had to stay (the body fixing screw fits into it), the top half could also be filled with lead sheet. It makes a surprising difference.

 

While I had the lead out, I attended to another candidate.

 

 

This is a Coopercraft B12 when it has its clothes on. In this case the boiler is resin and although I did drill it out and pack it with lead when it was built, it's never really been enough. So some blocks were hammered out and packed into the chassis (with Araldite). Some was also added to the cab roof.

 

 

For the containers themselves, I have spent some time rereading Geoff Kent's book and was able to have a chat with him at Glasgow show. The Bachmann AF is a pretty good representation so that was my starting point, along with a couple of their conflats (below), which I was also advised are a pretty good representation. The A container is Cambrian. Roxey mouldings do some useful etches to make up the securing chains. The ring eyes have been added to the Cambrian container already. That was a swine to make up, but I may have to have another (I fancy two roped into a medium open).

 

 

 

For variety I acquired some Parkside conflats, as above. BR one to the left, LNER Conflat S to the right

 

 

Finally I've started a bit speculatively on a Conflat V, working from a couple of photos and scaling from the solebar length of the cattle van from which these were converted. Here the floor has been lengthened and one solebar added along with new buffer beams. The BD container is a Parkside. I will end up with some normal containers, which can go in other trains. I intend to try to get hold of a GW conflat (David Geen) and possibly the LMS flat which Cambrian do, which I'm told were also used for container traffic. John Isherwood does suitable transfers, so I have some material to acquire.

Edited September 6, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Blue lined red looks rather smart, you know...

 

Not much activity tonight as I had to call at the parents; however, chance to pick up some more oddments of track for the test board and also take delivery of the new yard shunter:

 

 

He's already started meeting the other engines and fussing about with the trucks.

Edited September 6, 2018 by jwealleans

[31A]

I'm sure that'll be a Really Useful Engine, Jonathan!

[jwealleans]

Well, in these times of drought my garden's started to flood (source undetermined) so this weekend I have been mainly digging holes. Luckily it rained heavily yesterday afternoon so I was able to spend some time at the bench.

 

 

No. 2 son's coal wagon is all but done. I tidied up the paint and the white stripes once applied but most of it is his own work.

 

 

The Bachmann containers have had the moulded lashing rings removed and replaced with etched bits and/or wire. The one on the far left still has the moulded roof lifting eyes, really to see whether the replacement wire ones were an improvement (they are). That one also still has the moulded protrusion next to the door which, according to the set of diagrams Geoff Kent kindly provided, was only present on one of the 5 diagrams of these containers. I've removed it on the others and as you can see only the one on the right really measures up in terms of tidying up.

 

 

The Cambrian container has the side rings in place (but not the roof ones, I notice) while the Conflat V has had what floor/end detail I could determine from the photo in Tatlow added. It will need trimming back a bit to allow a B container to sit inside it.

 

 

Lastly, in one of those 'everything's setting/drying/waiting for parts' moments, I started putting this together. A friend on the LNER forum kindly cast these Toad E bits and let me have a set. There are a few major components to scratchbuild but here's what I've made of it so far. I've got a bit of fettling to do round the ends but not much and it feels well on the way already for not much more than an hour's effort.

Edited September 6, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

I've painted some containers, but drying paint isn't the most scintillating thing to photograph, so while that happened...

 

I decided to make the inner ends rather than sacrifice part of my only remaining Airfix brake van kit. Here the bottom halves and doors are stuck in and the glazed part will be added after painting. I've also added the stepboards - they are slightly bent but not as bad as the foreshortened photograph makes it look - and most of the handrails. I can only do so many handrails at a time, though.

 

 

Edited September 23, 2018 by jwealleans

[jwealleans]

Brake van has acquired handrails and brake gear and had a coat of primer. There are some holes to fill and then a coat of paint.

 

 

I found a nice roof shot of one of these in Freight Traffjc on the LNER but I haven't found a shot of the other side; was there the extra handle/step on the chimney side as there was with the D?

 

Conflats and containers are also coming along; here the two ex-LNER ones have had brake gear and body fixing brackets added and have since had primer.

 

 

The Bachmann ones have had the tiebar added and is here next to the Parkside one. The AF containers have also been tidied up and painted. John Isherwood's transfer pack contains some useful notes on adapting these to different diagrams including one I wasn't aware of.

 

 

I've also started adding the chain loops to these. Geoff Kent made his from plastic, but I don't quite have his mastery of that medium so I twisted some very fine copper wire round a 1mm drill. They're a bit overscale but from normal viewing distance that won't be so apparent. Once they're tidied up and shaped I think they're worth doing. The somewhat understated Parkside ones illustrate how much of a difference they make.

 

Edited September 6, 2018 by jwealleans

[Wizard of the Moor]

I found a nice roof shot of one of these in Freight Traffjc on the LNER but I haven't found a shot of the other side; was there the extra handle/step on the chimney side as there was with the D?

 

According to Paul Bartlett's photos, yes there was. Also, some examples have a handle on the roof as well.

 

One example showing the roof handle

[jwealleans]

That's the fellow. I found a shot in The Eastern before Beeching showing this side as well. It looks pretty much identical to the Toad D, which makes sense.

[jwealleans]

In the heatwave I've been lettering Conflats and containers and getting on with some other jobs which have been stuck for a while awaiting orders from different suppliers.

 

 

The open has had the container roped in and little one has finished his 16 tonner. Both need a bit of powdering before they're fully ready for action, but they'll be running at Manchester.

 

 

The two Toad Ds have acquired occupants. They're both demoted station masters from the Monty's range; I get very bored of the 'unfeasibly tall guard leaning out of the back of the van' which you see everywhere (although I do have one as well). One of them is very tall indeed as well, but he did fit with a bit of persuasion.

 

 

The Toad E has had the windows added. I'm still not sure this was the best approach as they're structurally not very strong, but conversely when will they have to be once the roof is on? I should also have painted the back of the Evergreen strip I used for the glazing bars but again once the roof is on you'll have to look very hard to spot it.

 

Finally a bit of a departure for me. In the past I've tried Powsides transfers and found them almost impossible to use. After the multiple disasters I've had, I've treated them as the work of the devil for several years. This month, though, I found they were the only source for exactly what I needed for something I was building, so I bit the bullet and ordered a set. When they came I looked at them for a week before plucking up the courage to try them and found - with extreme care and caution - I managed not too bad a result. So I looked through the range and found what I needed to finish these. Old Time Workshop have been out of stock since last September, so I was getting a bit cheesed off with not being able to finish them. I'm not entirely happy with the colour - a bit garish and quite different from the HMRS ones I started them with (at the back), but perhaps it's those which are wrong. Some of the numbers didn't look right either so I replaced those with the HMRS ones. They are at least now done and once I've weathered them at the end of the season the contract won't be so stark.

 

 

I also used Powsides lettering on this, my first 7mm build. From a Coopercraft kit and built for Martin Smith who's kind enough to let me play on his Marske layout one or two weekends a year.

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2018 by jwealleans

[Rob Pulham]

That Coopercraft Wagon has come out quite nicely Jonathan, what was it like to build? - I may have a couple of these to add a bit of variety when I get to coal wagons (I have a bit of a back log of cattle wagons at the moment).

[Pennine MC]

They are at least now done and once I've weathered them at the end of the season the contract won't be so stark.

 

Would it be worth touching them in with cream on a fine brush, at least the larger ones? You might not get it all, but it'll help lessen the contrast when you weather over them

[jwealleans]

Cheers, Rob. It wasn't that hard - the corners needed some work and the brake gear had to be redone as the instructions were a bit vague and I didn't have a photo to work from. I did replace the buffers with some ABS ones someone kindly gave me.

 

Ian - I'll bear that in mind when I get them back in November. It's certainly worth a go, although under the layout lighting they didn't look as bad as they do here.

[jwealleans]

This week my low boredom threshold has kicked in again; somehow container securing chains didn't appeal so I went off on my next tangent instead.

 

 

In the immortal words of Dame Edna Everage, "Can you tell what it is yet?"

 

More later if I'm a good boy and get all the hedges cut while it's nice out.

Edited September 23, 2018 by jwealleans

[chrisf]

 

In the immortal words of Dame Edna Everage, "Can you tell what it is yet?"

 

 

 

Rolf Harris, surely?

 

Chris

[jwealleans]

Either side of my weekend in Hartlepool I've been back on the road for a few days so it was back to the plastic. The first of the conflats has been loaded up and readied for the road:

 

 

Stuartp has already been here: an attractive prototype and not a bad kit to build, the Cambrian C87 LMS fish van. The corners took a bit of tidying up and I can see an excess of putty where I filled the hole round the door handle (I used thinner wire than supplied) but overall it went together very well. I've replaced the buffers and roof vents with cast items, apart from that it's as it came.

 

 

Lastly a pair of Parkside fish vans cut down to the 10' wheelbase version. This was fairly straightforward and once painted you'll have to look hard to see the join. It should be fairly obvious here where the cuts go. I eventually worked out that the best thing to do is shorten the floor, attach the ends and then assemble the outer extremities of the sides to them. The location is very positive on these kits and you end up with a solid and square shell to which you can cut and shape your centre piece. This is all then reinforced with plastikard on the inside once attached.

 

The solebar has two plates in the middle which very handily mark where you need to cut. You do need to remove some of the floor ribs which are now in the way of the brake shoes and I've used brake linkages from other Parkside kits rather than cut down the ones supplied. Buffer heads are also 51L steel ones.

 

Edited September 12, 2018 by jwealleans