Brinkly Works! Weathering and self-designed 3D printed models

[Down_Under]

Hi Nick,

 

Do you think you could explain what you did with the 1mm brass tube and the buffers? Was this a sleeve for the buffer shanks? I have a heap of w/m buffers that need drilling out to accept steel buffer heads and springs.

 

Cheers,

 

James

[Brinkly]

Hi Nick,

 

Do you think you could explain what you did with the 1mm brass tube and the buffers? Was this a sleeve for the buffer shanks? I have a heap of w/m buffers that need drilling out to accept steel buffer heads and springs.

 

Cheers,

 

James

 

Hi James,

 

Sorry just spotted your post, I don't normally take so long to reply. The buffers are the original Hornby items.

 

Regards,

Nick.

[Brinkly]

SR Milk Tanks - Diagram No. 3157

 

Well as always it has been a while since I did any serious modelling, however as the summer draws ever closer I thought it was about time to complete a couple of projects started 4 years ago!

 

I have a bit of a 'thing' for 6-wheeled milk tanks! One of the reasons for modelling a station on the Launceston branch was the sheer amount of traffic that the branch conveyed, one such commodity being milk. Having visited the Bluebell Railway last year, I saw 4430 and took a couple of photographs. Being a West Country layout, by the 1950s I suspect most of these wagons turned up all over the system, so I feel a couple of SR tankers fit quite well! 

 

Lifton station, nearing the end of the Launceston branch, had a small creamery attached to the Ambrosia works. Daily 3 or more 6-wheeled milk tanks where dispatched on a mid afternoon train, bound for Plymouth and then beyond. (Canned products were carried in Siphon and Fruit D vans) The empty tanks returned mid morning and were returned to the creamery at Lifton and the whole cycle continued again, right up to 1966 when freight traffic ended completely on the branch. Usually the tankers were attached to a Plymouth-Launceston passenger train, additional time at Lifton can be seen in the working time table, but on over the weekend the milk traveled on its own. This train, I believe, is one of the most attractive on the branch and one that is particularly high on my modelling list!

 

Lifton Station June 1956 - 4592 is photographed marshaling 3 6-wheel tankers and a Fruit D to the Plymouth bound train. The carriages themselves are usual, but frequently observed on the branch over the summer of 1956.

 

Saturday 9th August 1958 - 5569 with slightly bent frames, stands at Yelverton station with the Lifton - Plymouth North Road milk train, once again three 6-wheeled tankers can be observed and a MK1 full brake in Maroon livery bringing up the rear. What is even more interesting is the four-way conversation between the loco crew (seated on the bench) and who I presume is the station master, with the signalman leaning out of his box! I fully intend to replicate this scene on Horrabridge, granted it's the wrong station, but hey, it's my railway! 

 

Last photo - Hemyock in the 1960s with 4423 (SR Diagram 3157) being shunted about, so I'm sure one of my tankers will take on this number!

 

Anyway back to more practical matters!

 

The basis for my models is the dear old Hornby milk tank. I believe this model is of Lima decent, but instead of the 24.5mm axles Lima provided, Hornby have updated this version and provided 26mm axles. (Although I don't intend to retain much of the chassis!) A few years ago Geoff (Sparky) re-worked a number of different milk tanks and it is his work that I have gained my inspiration.

 

My plan is to included these models in amongst a pair of David Geen tankers (more on that another day!), so the first thing I did was to weigh the kit. David's models come out at around 140grams, the bulk of the weight being the brass tube supplied for the tanker itself.

 

So having dismantled the Hornby model, having cutting away most of the chassis, I weighed the model to see what it was - a messily 27grams! So the next thing I did was to cut up 80 grams of roofing led and pack it into the lower part of the tanker. Before gluing the led into place, I took the opportunity to strip the body, bringing it back to the bare plastic.

 

Next job was to glue to the two parts together again. The molding lines are quite noticeable, so I filled and filed, producing a better finish. Perfection isn't required, but I do think it helps. I also removed the two domes, which I know not why they are there, and proceeded to fill the gaps with white putty. Once gain filing took place, ensuring a flush finish.

 

The last thing I did was to cut away the sole bars from the chassis.

 

I'm going to use one of Justin's chassis so bar retaining the solebars, nothing else was of real use. I removed the molded handbrake, which was a bu**er to do and I'm not completely happy with it as it stands - more cleaning up me thinks. I've also purchased from Justin a selection of ladders and brake parts, which are the bee's knees. Justin provides an excellent service, very quick turn around many thanks. I'd also like to say thank you to Chris from 5&9 Models, who has sourced the correct axle boxes and J hangers, as I really was a bit stumped on that one!

 

And that is that for the time being. It doesn't look like much work, but it took ages to get to this stage as I didn't want to file a flat part into the tanks!

 

I'm hoping to do a bit more work over the coming couple of weeks.

 

So as always any advice/comments please do say.

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

[gwrrob]

Some fabulous inspirational prototype photos there.Very modellable.

[DonB]

Referring to the prototype, I have not seen a reference to internal cleaning these tanks. Who did the cleaning, when and where and how? After all nobody likes sour milk, although I think it is quite good for making scones!

In earlier days when milk churns were the method of transporting milk, I believe the churns were cleaned at the farm immediately before refilling.

As an afterthought, who owned the churns? - the farmers?, the dairy owners? or the railway companies? and who made them?

 

Sorry for the hi-jack of this interesting thread.

[The Stationmaster]

Milk churns were owned by the dairy companies (I am presuming that was universal).  The older tall ones seem to have had separate plates on them to identify the owners (I might still have on somewhere?) but teh smaller type which were most common in the late 1950s/early 60s seem to have carried the company name and number embossed onto the rim at the top of the parallel section.  But all my information is based on what I saw or found on my grandparents farm in Bershire and their milk went to Jobs dairy in Didcot.

[Siberian Snooper]

Referring to the prototype, I have not seen a reference to internal cleaning these tanks. Who did the cleaning, when and where and how? After all nobody likes sour milk, although I think it is quite good for making scones!

In earlier days when milk churns were the method of transporting milk, I believe the churns were cleaned at the farm immediately before refilling.

As an afterthought, who owned the churns? - the farmers?, the dairy owners? or the railway companies? and who made them?

 

Sorry for the hi-jack of this interesting thread.

The tanks were owned by the dairy and the chassis by the railway. The tanks were cleaned at the dairy before filling. Sorry I can't tell you how.

[Worsdell forever]

The tanks would be washed immediately after emptying, rinsed with cold water then detergent then rinsed.

[Timara]

Looking very fine there Nick!  I've got one of Justin's chassis myself, plus I picked up one of the Dapol tanks for very little indeed the other weekend.  Looks like the Hornby tank barrel has lower (and better-looking) mountings onto the underframe than the Dapol one, but I could be wrong....

 

Cheers,

[Fat Controller]

The tanks would be washed immediately after emptying, rinsed with cold water then detergent then rinsed.

At some locations, notably Carmarthen, a steam lance was used; one of the loading points (there were at least two, possibly three) was adjacent to the north end of the station platforms, so it was quite easy to watch them at work.

[Brinkly]

D1661 ex LMS Cattle Wagon – Parkside Kit compared to David Geen

 

Greetings,

 

My plan was to complete the milk tanks before moving onto a new project, but I thought I would share what I have discovered with regard to the new Parkside D1661 LMS cattle wagon. My will power just wasn't strong enough!

 

First off the Parkside kit is a new release (July 2015 I believe) and is priced at £9. David Geen kit I believe is now £18, although that is quoting the price from the 2014 catalogue, so it could well have changed.

 

The D1661 wagon was built in the early 1920s by the LMS and outside builders, so wagons can differ slightly, mostly with regard to the iron work and the lower 2/3s of the door. They are very similar body wise to the D1840 wagon – more on that later. From what I have read, none of the D1661 were vacuum fitted, some 136 out of a batch of 300 built in 1922 were through-piped (i.e. can run in a ‘fitted train’ at fitted speeds, providing other vacuum fitted vehicles are there in sufficient numbers) the remaining vehicles were fitted with a handbrake only. I believe they had brake either side, but that might have been a later modification. The remaining D1661 wagons were through-piped from new.

 

D1661 as built - note the smaller door and the metal 'T' shape at the top of the stanchions.

 

As I said above some subtle difference can be seen within the diagram. Apparently two versions of the original engineer’s drawings were used and that coupled with ‘trade’ built examples resulted in the slight changes in design! Most of the fleet were in service until the mid to late 1950s, although many lasted longer, with wagons being recorded as late as 1964, so any steam era layout could get away with a couple.

 

 

The body of the D1840 vehicles were almost identical to its older sibling, although these were fitted with clasp brakes and had the larger drop doors, with triangular plates at the top of the stanchions rather than the T shape.

 

Anyway on to the models; first of all this is what you get from Parkside. Nice clean moldings, with good detailing, including internal planking and door marking, something which is missing on the David Geen kit. The solebars and w-irons are separately produced, which for the modeller wishing to fit sprung or rocking w-irons is a real bonus. The brakes are a little poor, although not too bad for plastic. I did consider removing the plastic buffers and replacing them with cast examples, but I’ve drilled a 1mm hole through and will see if they can be sprung, if not then I will replace them.

 

 

The door is one area that looks good, with nicely molded rivets, although unlike on the David Geen kit, these cannot be changed – I wouldn’t try and build one of the D1840 vehicles from this kit.

 

Comparing the Parkside kit to the cast kit produced by David Geen, there really isn’t much in it to be honest. The edges of the Parkside kit went together nicely. If your planning on building the D1661 wagon, I would go for the Parkside kit, purely as it is cheaper (and I think has finer detailing) and then buy a couple of David Geen’s kits to model the variations as mentioned above, for a ‘pure’ D1661 vehicle, I think Parkside has the edge. Little details such as the metal loops below the bars will be added in with fine wire later.

 

Note the different lower parts to the door - something that can only be easily achieved with the Geen kit.

 

Think the Parkside kit has the edge here.

 

Very close call, but for clean detail I think Parkside wins again.

 

My plan now is to build the remaining 3 Parkside kits as straight D1661 wagons and then modify the three Geen kits into D1840 versions. Tomorrow I am planning to batch build the sprung w-irons and hopefully fit all of them in one go. I much prefer to batch build like this if I can.

 

Then back to the milk tankers!

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[Brinkly]

1840 Cattle Wagons - David Geen kits

 

Greetings,

 

Many thanks for the likes on the previous post, a little later than planned but here are the first batch of ex LMS cattle wagons virtually completed.

 

Final detailing will see axle boxes, springs, couplings and wire added to complete the vehicles, then onto painting, but the hard work is now done.

 

The first photo shows the underframe of one of the D1840 cattle wagons under construction. Normally I use Masokits sprung w-irons, but due to their sprung retaining system fitting clasp brakes is quite tricky, so I decided to recycle a couple of old Bill Bedford w-irons which were salvaged from a previous project.

 

I fitted the w-irons to a Palatine Models base plate, which helped hugely with getting the underframe square. Clasp brakes were then fitted using old MJT parts. I do have etched yokes, but prefer to just fit a simple piece of wire between the brakes. Vacuum cylinders were then soldered on later.

 

A quick bench test showed that the wagon ran almost straight, curved off by 5mm or so over 40cm, quick tweak showed that one wheel was sitting lower than the other three, quick adjustment and it ran straight, so with any luck this show be a good performer on TT2 on Monday night.

 

Underframe attached to the underside of the wagon - little detailing such as wires linking the brakes are yet to be fitted.

 

Almost there - side on view of the two D1840 wagons and the D1661 which I built a while ago

 

Detail difference to the underframes.

 

The one on the left needs a bit of attention, perhaps the load has shifted! You can just about see the removed 'T' shape on the top of the stanchions.

 

Anyway last little detailing to go, couplings, wires to represent the bars, buffers and axle boxes to go.

 

Right on to the Parkside ones!

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Brinkly

[iak]

Excellent stuff.

Informative and stimulating.

[Garethp8873]

Thank you for posting your photos on the Parkside Dundas LMS Cattle wagons. It's good to learn that like the GWR MICA Van that PD do, you can make two different diagrams from the same kit. Ordering mine now

[Brinkly]

Load of old Bullocks! - D1661 & D1840 Cattle Wagons

 

Greetings,

 

Due to a lack of home broadband for the last couple of days, I have been unable to post what I have been up to.

 

First job was to complete the ex LMS cattle wagons, which jumped the queue.

 

Four Parkside kits have now been all but completed, buffers and the last bars on the doors need doing, before priming and painting. Three received RCH axle boxes, as per the prototype, but one was treated to ex LNER boxes, creating a slight difference. Painting will commence once the weather is good, the three with RCH boxes will be portrayed in rather poor external condition, odd planks repainted to represent repairs, but the one with LNER boxes will have slightly better paintwork, suggesting that it was overhauled not too long ago.

 

Couplings are made up from Ambis parts and the brake pipe - through pipe on these - are from Lanarkshire. MJT axle boxes complete the build.

Three with RCH axle boxes.

 

ex LNER axle boxes compare to RCH

 

In Geoff Kent's books two and three there are quite a lot of prototype photos showing a number of examples, which is where I gain most of my inspiration from.

 

The David Geen D1840 wagons are close behind, Masokits screw link coupling and axleboxes to to, unfortunately I ran out of RCH boxes, which escaped the list at Wells a couple of weeks ago.

 

Axleboxes and couplings to go. David Geen provides you with a lovely etch for the strapping, which includes the rivets, something which I will need to add on the Parkside models.

 

I also converted a selection of RTR wagons to P4, by simply removing the 00 wheels, removing some molding pips on the rear of the w-irons and brake blocks. Wheels are a mixture of Ultrascale and Gibson, this is a test more than anything else. I have a number of rigid wagons, which run nicely on TT2, but I want to see whether it is possible to run rigid wagons in greater numbers. The test will be 12 or so rigid wagons hauled by a pannier over the crossover on TT2 next Monday, followed by a propelling move. If successful the remaining RTR wagons awaiting conversion to P4 will be suffer a similar fate, if unsuccessful replacement chassis will be built! I'm hoping for the former, simply to save a bit of time. Most trains on Horrabridge will be no more than 12-14 wagons long, so a simple bodge like this would save a lot of time.

 

First up are a set of Bachmann steel mineral wagons. Ultrascale and Gibson wheels, with Ambis couplings. I've also added a sheet of lead inside the wagon, acting as a floor. I think once painted and weathered it will become almost invisible. It brings the total weight of the wagon up to 55grams, about the same as the rest of the fleet, which vary from 50-60grams.

 

BR Mineral Wagons

 

Second set are a group of 1923 RCH wooden wagons, again all Bachmann products. There are a total of 5 wagons, although only 3 are shown, two have had their PO liveries removed, as the collieries in question closed before WW1! A ghostly coat of white primer has been applied. My plan is to recreate the unpainted wood finish that lots of the early BR built examples received, so rather than trying to cover a grey primer, I thought white would be easier, after all most drawing paper is white or cream! Lead sheets will be added in due course - planks need to be scribed in.

 

1923 RCH Wooden Mineral Wagons

 

Last up is a BR standard brake van from Hornby. A brilliant model and frankly blows the Airfix kit out of the water! I picked this one up on eBay for £1.99 including postage, the seller must have been kicking him or herself!

 

I removed the horrid block for the tension lock coupling and have added (Geoff Kent style) a vacuum pipe and coupling. This example is through-piped, so no vacuum brake underneath. 

 

Side on view.

 

End view - just realised I haven't put the clasp brakes back on D'oh!

 

Anyway more to follow a bit later. I must now return to work on the layout, 2-bolt chairs and ply sleepers are calling!

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

 

[Brinkly]

Thank you for posting your photos on the Parkside Dundas LMS Cattle wagons. It's good to learn that like the GWR MICA Van that PD do, you can make two different diagrams from the same kit. Ordering mine now

 

Thanks Gareth,

 

Do be aware that you would need to replace the lower part of the door on the Parkside model, not impossible, but I think it is easier to build a D1840 (clasp braked example) from the David Geen kit, as he provides you with the two different door arrangements.

 

Kind regards,

Nick.

[Brinkly]

High Speed Wagon Testing!

 

Greetings,

Last night I managed to test my stock of 15 rigid P4 wagons. The duty feel to a Class 33 diesel loco, which really has no place on a Western Region branch line, simply as the poor pannier couldn't get enough speed up!

 

The test was performed over a B7 cross-over and off camera over the twin cross-overs on the other side of the test track.

 

 

High speed shunting...

 

 

... high speed pulling...

 

 

... and high speed shunting again, just to show you it wasn't a fluke!

 

Goodness only knows what the scale speed was, but Mr Pearce did have the regulator flat out!

 

Anyway please feel free to comment.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[iak]

Well they seem acceptable.....

Niiiiice!

[10800]

Yes I watched that and it was impressive - and no Nick hasn't speeded up the film!

[Sidecar Racer]

Good job it went smoothly , it would have been a good pileup at that speed otherwise .

 

 Nice work Nick .

[Colin parks]

Hi Nick,

 

Your wagon building and testing is very encouraging!  If all of those shunted wagons are built with rigid axles (presumably the brake van too), then their track-holding qualities are all the more impressive. is it just me or are the Ambis etched Instanter links over-scale?!

 

All the best,

 

Colin

[Re6/6]

Colin, the instanters are probably slightly over scale. I've tried 'dead scale' ones and gave up when trying to shunt with them. 'Overscale' for working practicability is good!

[Horsetan]

Reminds me of Jim Smith Wright's high-speed P4 HST test....

 

https://youtu.be/rCyoxuLfupw

Edited August 25, 2015 by Horsetan

[Brinkly]

Well they seem acceptable.....

Niiiiice!

 

Thanks Iak! I was very pleased with their performance.

 

Good job it went smoothly , it would have been a good pileup at that speed otherwise .

 

 Nice work Nick .

 

Haha yes! I did think that as Brian Pearce pushed the throttle button right over!

 

Yes I watched that and it was impressive - and no Nick hasn't speeded up the film!

 

No. All done in real time!

 

Hi Nick,

 

Your wagon building and testing is very encouraging!  If all of those shunted wagons are built with rigid axles (presumably the brake van too), then their track-holding qualities are all the more impressive. is it just me or are the Ambis etched Instanter links over-scale?!

 

All the best,

 

Colin

 

Hi Colin,

 

Many thanks. All of the wagons in that train are RTR products, mostly from Bachmann, the Fruit D is a Dapol model with its original wheels turned down meet P4 standards care of Mr Hopper and the BR Standard Brake is the new Hornby release. Some have Ultrascale wheels, but a number have Gibson too. I simply removed the 00 wheels, removed any moldings on the rear of the W-Irons and on a few removed a bit of plastic from the brake blocks. All in all about 15 minutes work, compared to a couple of hours when building sprung underframes.

 

15 or so wagons is about the maximum length of anything that I am likely to run on when exhibiting Horrabridge, due the size of the fiddle yards. However at home I could increase this to 25, so that will be the next test!

 

I do agree about the size of the Instant Links, they do seem a bit big, but I think once they are chemically blackened I don't think they will be quite so noticeable.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick

[DLT]

Some lovely modelling nick,

 

Cheers, Dave.