RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted August 25, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 25, 2020 A productive day at the workbench today. First up two ABS kits of LNWR opens have had a cost of paint: I think a second, lighter coat is required. Next up the Slaters/Coopercraft GWR 4-plank has been painted and lettered: Just got to sort out the buffers and couplings next and paint the interior. The main project today has been scratchbuilding a Furness Railway Diagram 15 (or Diagram 3 according to Rush) 2-plank fixed side open: Just the brake gear to sort - I’m unsure if this would have been fitted with single shoe brake gear (built circa 1884-1890) or if it would have had standard two shoe brake gear? If the latter I can bodge some from Slaters components as this has an 8’6” w/b rather than 9’. If it’s single shoe gear then I’ve got to wait for Peco to dispatch my order from last week (the ex Parkside NB brake gear is quite useful). What do you think folks? 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike Bellamy Posted August 25, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 25, 2020 7 minutes ago, NeilHB said: A productive day at the workbench today. Working from home again . . . . . ? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted August 25, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 25, 2020 22 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said: Working from home again . . . . . ? Long weekend - wedding anniversary! Back to the dining table to work tomorrow sadly... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted August 26, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 26, 2020 Hi Jim, The chassis is made from Evergreen Plastic Strip - .250” x .100”: The W-Irons came from the E&T stand at Guildex (I think) and cost me £4 for a bag of 8 (these are Midland type but I figured I could use them for anything really as they look suitably generic) - needless to say I bought a few bags so they should keep me going for a while! The coupling books and links are from Peco - I think it was £6 for a set that has enough for 4 wagons which is good value. Hope this helps. Cheers, Neil 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted August 26, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 26, 2020 Thanks Jim. Yes please to the drawing - looks like it would make a nice unusual load for one of the ETCo wagons. Cheers, Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted August 27, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 27, 2020 Having built the fixed-side Furness 2-plank, I dug out my other Furness wagons with a view to finishing them off. Out of these only 3 are from kits - the box van at the back and the 2-plank at the front of the second row are from Furness Wagon company, the 4-plank at the left end of the third row is a modified Slaters Gloucester 5-plank. The rest are all scratchbuilt from styrene sheet and strip which has proved most enjoyable. I also dug out the Furness meat van previously featured on these pages, but that’s now been scrapped as I wasn’t happy with it. Version 3 was started during my lunch break, and carried on after work this evening. So far we have sides cut out and scribed for planking, and a completed chassis bar brake levers: Very enjoyable so far, though I’m running short of plastic strip so will see how far I get in the next few days or so until the order arrives. What do you think folks? 10 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted August 29, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 29, 2020 Thanks to the nice folks at Peco my order of North British brake gear sprues arrived earlier today, so I was able to get the 2-plank sorted and ready to enter the paintshop: I then cracked on and got the Furness Meat Van bodywork sorted out and assembled: Turning out quite nicely so far I think. Next step is to sort out the rest of the strapping on the body sides and ends. What do you think folks? 8 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrainMan2001 Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 Those wagons are very nice! To add another question (sorry), do you scribe the planks yourself? If so, do you have any tips on how to do it? Thanks! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted August 29, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 29, 2020 2 hours ago, JimRead said: Hello Neil, Last two posts - really great modelling! May I ask another question about the brake gear, are you able to buy it or do you make it yourself, if so the blob behind the brakes shoes is very well done. Cheers - Jim Thanks Jim, much appreciated. The single shoe brake gear came from Peco - from the North British open (PS01) kit formerly made by Parkside. It cost £3 (plus P&P which was another £3) for a sprue, and you get the below: I ordered several sets as there’s a few wagons to build that will need single shoe brake gear. Each sprue also gives you a pair of W-Irons and axleboxes, so two sprues would give you enough to complete one wagon. Just now, TrainMan2001 said: Those wagons are very nice! To add another question (sorry), do you scribe the planks yourself? If so, do you have any tips on how to do it? Thanks! Thanks. Yes I scribe the plank lines myself - I draw them out first using a fine pencil (I use a H as that’s what I have to hand), and then I use an Olfa Scriber which has a hooked blade which removes a line of plastic as you draw it along - you’ll need to use a steel ruler and take a couple of gentle passes to produce some depth - too much pressure and it will wander all over the place! I usually go over the line twice, that seems to be produce enough depth to give a convincing plank line. Warning - it is very messy. You’ll end up with lots of curly plastic swarf everywhere! This is the Olfa Scriber: IIRC mine came from Squires or Eileens Emporium - one of the best investments if you are scratchbuilding wagons from plastic sheet. Hope this helps. 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrainMan2001 Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 That helps! Thanks! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted August 30, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 30, 2020 The next wagon across the workbench has been a Furness 2-plank dropside. Started last night: And finished off this evening - roughly 5-6hours to get it to this stage: Which makes a total of three Furness 2-plank opens in the fleet so far: I think I need a couple more though as there were over 2000 in the fleet (according to Rush, so best taken with a pinch of salt and a slice of lime... ) What do you think folks? 17 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted September 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 2, 2020 Some great progress Neil, very impressive wagon fleet. Cheers, Dave. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcD Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 Neil You do realise that "Rush" is a work of fiction? The LMS diagram book on the CRA website is much more accurate but even then there are a few howlers. Always cross reference any furness drawing with a photo. Marc 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted September 3, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted September 3, 2020 10 hours ago, Furness Wagon said: Neil You do realise that "Rush" is a work of fiction? The LMS diagram book on the CRA website is much more accurate but even then there are a few howlers. Always cross reference any furness drawing with a photo. Marc Thanks Marc. Yes well aware that “Rush” is pretty much a work of fiction. All the drawings I’m using come from the CRA website - either the ones they’ve posted as individual items or from the FR /LMS diagram book. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcD Posted September 3, 2020 Share Posted September 3, 2020 In the early days I got bit by rush and it cost me alot of cash to put it right. These days I like to have information from 3 sources if possible. Marc 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted September 4, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted September 4, 2020 The Furness Railway Meat Van has now had all its strapping etc. added, and is ready to head off to the paintshop: 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted September 13, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted September 13, 2020 Diversions of a North Staffordshire nature... This was part of the collection that I inherited from my friend Tim when he passed away last year. Tim had done most of the work on the chassis (the difficult bit!), so this afternoon I spent a short time assembling the bodywork which went together very easily. The kit (Gladiator) covers the later style of the 6-wheel vans, built in batches between 1911 and 1914 from a number of different manufacturers. I am rather tempted to finish this off in North Staffs livery, though I’m not quite sure how one would of found its way to Sodor in the early days of the NWR... Not being particularly conversant with North Staffs stock, what livery would these have been seen in in approx 1915-1920 please? 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted September 20, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted September 20, 2020 The Early Morning Milk Train: W&SR “Edric” is seen heading up the early morning milk train, comprised of a variety of vehicles from the NWR, ETC, W&SR and FR. There are two further vehicles to add to complete the train: a 4-wheel full brake, and an LNWR 6-wheel Fruit and Milk Van: The latest addition to the fleet, an ex-Great Western Diagram 01 4-wheel Siphon: Broad Gauge Society resin castings for the bodywork, chassis from styrene strip and W-Irons from Slaters. Buffers are Peco GWR ones as I had them in stock. This will be finished in ETC brown on one side, and NWR brown on the other. Size wise it fits in well with the ETC locos and tramcars: The North Staffordshire 6-wheel milk van is getting there slowly: Brakes and fiddly bits to go now, plus step boards. I’ve decided to finish it in NWR brown so that it can be used regularly on the layout. What do you think folks? 17 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted October 3, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 3, 2020 I was feeling very brave today so I dug out the soldering iron - those who know me well know that soldering isn’t my forte so this is a big step for me! The last time I built a brass kit was a long time ago, so it’s been a bit of a steep relearning curve as I went along: A couple of hours work has seen the basic chassis assembled with the solebar overlays added, good fun so far and I’m pleased with the progress this afternoon. Certainly makes a change from building wagons from plastic. Ultimately this is what it should end up as (hopefully): What do you think folks? 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted October 4, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 4, 2020 (edited) Slight change of plan (when is that not the case with my modelling?!) with regards to the LNWR Open Carriage Truck. I probably should have started at the beginning of the tale yesterday, and explained that the kit came to me from my late friend Tim. When we cleared his house out the Mercian OCT kit was in a much larger box that also contained three sets of Shedmaster etches for an LNWR Diagram 445a CCT/Fruit and Milk Van. Last night I recalled a conversation that Tim and I had had some months before he passed, when he mentioned that the intention had been to use the chassis from the Mercian kit as a replacement for that in the Shedmaster kit (which was a bit pants and not entirely correct) - this was possible as the prototype had a common chassis design. Having mulled things over last night and this morning, this afternoon I sat down at the workbench and dug out the first set of D445a etches and cracked on: Result - one LNWR D445a Fruit and Milk Van as Tim intended to build, I hope he’d be pleased that I’ve managed to bring to fruition one of his projects that he didn’t manage to do. I’m really quite chuffed with this so far, especially as I managed to form the tumblehome on the sides by myself, plus the soldering is reasonably tidy too. Must tweak that bufferbeams again though! Next step is to add the sliding doors and all of their paraphernalia so that it should look like this when completed: Next to my other 4-wheel milk van it really does show up how tall this one is: Dare I admit it - I’m think I’m starting to enjoy this soldering malarkey... What do you think folks? Edited October 4, 2020 by NeilHB 15 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted October 5, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 5, 2020 I’m definitely enjoying soldering now...as I’ve started another brass kit! This was another one that came from Tim’s collection: Its a tad bigger than the current ETCo tramcars though: What do you think folks? 15 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Corbs Posted October 6, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 6, 2020 That's interesting, is it still within UK loading gauge? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted October 6, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 6, 2020 Hi Corbs, It is - it just looks huge next to the existing ETCo tramcars as these are much smaller than standard stock. The prototypes originally operated on the Lambourn Valley Railway, and were then sold on the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway - aka the West Sussex Railway. There's a good photo below of one of the coaches at Ferry station on the line with 'Chicester', the railways No.1: 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted October 9, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 9, 2020 The Lambourn Valley coach is now up and rolling (after much swearing and cursing to get the floor soldered in place): Don’t look too closely at the soldering holding the internal partitions in place - once the seats are in and the roof on no one will be any the wiser thank goodness. It really is a big beast though compared to the tram locos! What do you think folks? 12 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcD Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 I have looked at these kits before would you recommend one? Marc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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