Pragmatic Pre-Grouping - Mikkel's Workbench

[bgman]

Mikkel,

 

When you've finished the banana crates give me a shout please and I'll send the lads round to collect them

 

 

 

Probably need a couple of hundred by my reckoning !

 

Grahame

[ChrisN]

Hi Chris, yes the need for a top loaded printer is a bit of a hurdle with these veneer sheets. Another option for the lettering would be transfers. The same company sells som DIY transfer sheets that I ordered along with the veneer sheets. Haven’t tried those out yet though.

 

 

Mikkel,

Now that sounds very useful.  I shall definitely have to investigate.

[bgman]

Mikkel,

Now that sounds very useful.  I shall definitely have to investigate.

I've tried the inkjet transfer sheet you mention with mixed results, one sheet was given a partial spray with an acrylic base colour then a further transfer added to that once the paint was dry. The second ink jetted sheet was dried slowly using a hairdryer then sprayed with a fixative ( I'd advise not trying to touch the ink to see if it is dry, I'd did and.....say no more!).

I used Decosol to apply the finished transfer but found that due to the thickness of the transfer it didn't really sit too well on the finished model surface. I also purchased the laser transfer sheet too as yet unused, but I've heard that it can adhere to some machines "internal bits" when being printed and there are some who won't allow it in their laser printers. That said I've seen the results of another and the printed sheet is better than the inkjet type, but still too thick for my liking. I'm sure I'll find another use for it though.

 

As always......happy happy modelling !

 

Grahame

[Mikkel]

Thanks for showing the removal of a the curve in the resin casting.  I had heard it was possible but was a bit sceptical.  No more!

 

Hi Mark. I was also a bit sceptical, so pleasantly surprised. I used boiling water. The body cools quickly and so you either have to work fast or do it twice. I took the last approach, more out of ignorance than experience.

[Mikkel]

Mikkel,

 

When you've finished the banana crates give me a shout please and I'll send the lads round to collect them

 

 

image.jpg

 

Probably need a couple of hundred by my reckoning !

 

Grahame

 

Are you on a contract with my modelling suppliers Grahame?! :-)  Well it's an, erm, challenge, especially as it seems bananas were transported in the raw on the railways (ie not in crates?). So they would have to be 100s of banana bunches!

 

They are lovely wagons though. What period I wonder?

[Fat Controller]

Bananas used to be transported in large bunches called 'hands', some of which were almost as tall as the person carrying them; I believe these may have been suspended from hooks in the wagon, presumably on longitudinal bars near roof level. 'Banana boxes', so often to be seen near the check-outs of UK supermarkets, only arrived with the containerisation of the banana trade, from the 1970s onwards.

[MikeOxon]

Re: bananas - there's a photo partway down the following webpage: http://www.guidetobelize.info/en/travel/belize-train-railway-guide.shtml

It appears to show banana 'hands' hanging down inside the railway wagons, as described by Brian W.  I do not know whether the same method was used in Britain but it seems logical that they should be like this inside the steam-heated vans.

 

On the subject of plastic erasers: the 'Staedler' type are very firm, with just a little 'give' and make excellent packing pieces.  One odd use of mine was to make a resilient mounting for a Tenshodo SPUD inside the front bogie of a Tri-ang Dean 'Single'

 

 

Mike

 

[buffalo]

Bananas used to be transported in large bunches called 'hands', some of which were almost as tall as the person carrying them; I believe these may have been suspended from hooks in the wagon, presumably on longitudinal bars near roof level. 'Banana boxes', so often to be seen near the check-outs of UK supermarkets, only arrived with the containerisation of the banana trade, from the 1970s onwards.

 

The banana transport story is rather split between here and Mikkel's blog. Atkins et al. suggest that the bunches were laid on a bed of straw in early banana vans, maybe suspending them came later? See also the first photo on this page. Boxes, however, were used for redistribution from the ripening warehouses long before the seventies.. See, for example, the second photo on this page.

 

Nick

[bgman]

Are you on a contract with my modelling suppliers Grahame?! :-) Well it's an, erm, challenge, especially as it seems bananas were transported in the raw on the railways (ie not in crates?). So they would have to be 100s of banana bunches!

 

They are lovely wagons though. What period I wonder?

Well, as a young boy I did one have a weekend job working on a fruit and veg stall at the local town market so maybe you're not too far away from the truth ? " get ya bananas 'ere" ......" 50 pence a pound" LOL

 

As for the Gedeckterwagen (covered wagon) it's a 1907 era KPEV which will suit my period, and ready to load it's bananas onto another vessel which is currently being scratch built. More of which later but here's a sneaky peek..........

 

 

Bye for now

Grahame

Edited April 14, 2015 by bgman

[Mikkel]

Very interesting comments and photo finds on banana traffic 

 

Looks like there are lots of modelling opportunities in banana traffic. Grahame your project is intriguing, those nice banana vans loading goods from such a graceful ship, what a sight it will be.

 

Other modelling options might include a lorry with banana crates, and/or a goods van with the doors open and bunches (hands!) of bananas hanging within. Shouldn't be too hard to sculpt the bunches from das clay, or maybe Preiser already does some (haven't found any so far though).

 

Here's an example of banana bunches in 7mm scale, on a rather rather nicely modelled Haiti sugarcane system (scroll down): http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22912&whichpage=5&SearchTerms=haiti

 

 

The banana transport story is rather split between here and Mikkel's blog.

 

Indeed: A banana split (sorry!). Hope its not too confusing having both a workbench and blog, the idea was to have a workbench here with ongoing builds, and the blog for photos of the finished objects in a layout context, and build summaries to go with it. 

[Mikkel]

Some progress on the LSWR stone wagon. Now in primer and with a few Archer's rivet transfers added here and there:
 

 
 
This is a very light weight body so lots of liquid lead added (Birdie nam-nam for the Peter Sellers fans!).
 

 
 
There have been questions on here about what glue to use for liquid lead, as some glues seem to bring about an expanding reaction. Deluxe materials recommend their own card glue and I have to say it works a treat (and makes my teeth brighter too, buy two get one free!).
 

 
 
The wheel question has been solved, they were most likely standard open spoked wheels. The brakes are provisional, I have added single-sided double block brakes, but Graham Baker is kindly looking into it.
 

 
 
So painting is next. And a load. Jonathan has kindly shared some photos of Ron Rising's LSWR wagons with stone loads. Looks great I think: http://s1307.photobucket.com/user/jwealleans/library/Model%20Wagons?sort=3&page=1

 

[NHY 581]

Lovely, informative modelling as usual.

 

Thank you.

 

Rob

[2ManySpams]

Some very inspiring modelling in these pages Mikkel. Well done that man.

[hayfield]

Great tip Don, I'd never heard of the P cutter before. Must get one of those. There are even people who modfiy it I see: http://www.arcair.com/tnt1/101-200/tnt105-OlfaP-cutter-Aleong/00.shtm

 

 

Mikkel

 

I have one branded by Tamya, far better for cutting styrene sheets than scalpel blades

[Silver Sidelines]

Hi Mikkel

 

Superb attention to detail as ever.

Hi Mark. I was also a bit sceptical, so pleasantly surprised. I used boiling water. The body cools quickly and so you either have to work fast or do it twice. I took the last approach, more out of ignorance than experience.

I think the idea for bending resin castings in hot water must have been around on RMweb for some time.  I know I borrowed the technique from Graham to remediate some Scenecraft and Skaledale products .  More recently I have just posted about improving a faulty Bachmann gas holder.  I would say that the degree of success depends very much on one's patience!

 

Now what were you saying about banana shaped models - and will they be painted in chocolate and cream?

 

Regards

 

Ray

[Mikkel]

Hi Ray, yes I was much impressed by the patience you must have had to fix up that gas holder!

 

I wonder if there is a limit to how many times a resin casting can be warmed and bent, eg does the material get more brittle with each attempt?

 

The banana crates have been put on the back burner in my case, as they don't seem to have been used on the railways during my period at least. It would be fun to do a road lorry full of them at some point though. 

[Mikkel]

The next project is to build a GWR 1854 (aka 1701) class loco with saddle tanks as running in the 1900s. My plan is to do this by marrying a modified Finecast body kit to the chassis of a Bachmann 8750 class loco. 
 

 
 
The 1854 class had plain coupling rods and underhung springs, as does the Bachmann chassis. Initially the 1854s had 4’6 wheels, but later the tyre thickness was increased and the wheels became 4’7½, as per the Bachmann chassis. The chassis even allows a bit of daylight under the boiler:
 

 
 
My 1854 body kit was bought on ebay and came half-built. Such purchases are always a bit risky, but then we railway modellers are a high-rolling, risk-taking, life-on-the-edge kind of people.  Here's what I got:
 

 
  
The prior owner’s build wasn’t bad, but I decided to start over and so plonked the body in hot water to dissolve the Araldite. Nitromors may be more effective, but water tastes better afterwards.
 

 
 
After two servings of hot water, the glue softened to a goo, and I was able to gently prise the castings apart without bending or damaging them. Here they are after cleaning:
 

 
 
The castings require various modifications to fit the chassis, but so far it seems doable.

Edited April 25, 2015 by Mikkel

[bgman]

Hi Mikkel,

 

I'm just going to make do with watching your build for the moment ( which I'm sure will be up to the usual standard) as mine is still in that cupboard of mine in the same state as yours.

Looking forward to the build.

 

Grahame

[Mikkel]

Hi Grahame, is there any kit in the world that is not in your cupboard?   A real Aladdin's cave, I think!

 

It's nice to be working on a loco again. I sold off several of my locos a few years ago - mostly because I needed the cash, but also because I wanted to build my own. Since then the loco stable has been rather limited at Farthing, and with the new sidings coming up there's a need for a couple of 0-6-0s. The other will be an 1813 class with sidetanks, but that's a bit further down the road.

[BG John]

What's wrong with the bendy whitemetal Wills chassis? Mine has one, with a Triang X04 with 5 pole armature and Romford wheels, and it was a nice runner (hasn't run for years). Every so often it would start to play up a bit, so I just took the body off, bent the chassis a bit in the middle, and it was fine again!!!!

[Mikkel]

Ah, so that's what is meant by having a flexible loco roster! 

 

I have to say I like the Bachmann pannier chassis. I put another one under the Lima 94xx body once and what an improvement in running that was!

 

 

 

[Devo63]

Mikkel

I'll be very interested in seeing what mods you make to the Bachmann chassis. I've been contemplating a similar fitting and could learn from your success (and, God forbid, mistakes). The 94xx looks good so I may do the same to my old Lima model. It's currently in bits needing new brushes. The body was reasonably good for the time it was made but the chassis with those terrible wheels and no detail was atrocious. Plus it could barely pull anything other than a few wagons on a gradient. My old GF 94xx is also hors de combat at the moment as well. Just lucky I'm concentrating on the GWR earlier in the 20th century at the moment and don't have a current need for my post war models.

 

Dave 

[hayfield]

The next project is to build a GWR 1854 (aka 1701) class loco with saddle tanks as running in the 1900s. My plan is to do this by marrying a modified Finecast body kit to the chassis of a Bachmann 8750 class loco. 

 

IMG_2275.jpg

 

 

The 1854 class had plain coupling rods and underhung springs, as does the Bachmann chassis. Initially the 1854s had 4’6 wheels, but later the tyre thickness was increased and the wheels became 4’7½, as per the Bachmann chassis. The chassis even allows a bit of daylight under the boiler:

 

IMG_2272.jpg

 

 

My 1854 body kit was bought on ebay and came half-built. Such purchases are always a bit risky, but then we railway modellers are a high-rolling, risk-taking, life-on-the-edge kind of people.  Here's what I got:

 

IMG_2266.jpg

 

  

The prior owner’s build wasn’t bad, but I decided to start over and so plonked the body in hot water to dissolve the Araldite. Nitromors may be more effective, but water tastes better afterwards.

 

IMG_2270.jpg

 

 

After two servings of hot water, the glue softened to a goo, and I was able to gently prise the castings apart without bending or damaging them. Here they are after cleaning:

 

IMG_2274.jpg

 

 

The castings require various modifications to fit the chassis, but so far it seems doable.

Mikkel

 

It might be worth sending a self addressed stamped large envelope to Dave Ellis at Southeastern Finecast asking for the Southeastern Finecast parts list for this loco, as its one of their upgraded kits. It is quite likely that there are more detailing parts now available for the loco

[Mikkel]

Mikkel

I'll be very interested in seeing what mods you make to the Bachmann chassis. I've been contemplating a similar fitting and could learn from your success (and, God forbid, mistakes). The 94xx looks good so I may do the same to my old Lima model. It's currently in bits needing new brushes. The body was reasonably good for the time it was made but the chassis with those terrible wheels and no detail was atrocious. Plus it could barely pull anything other than a few wagons on a gradient. My old GF 94xx is also hors de combat at the moment as well. Just lucky I'm concentrating on the GWR earlier in the 20th century at the moment and don't have a current need for my post war models.

 

Dave 

 

Hi Dave, I think the chassis will only need very few mods indeed. I've done some more work on it and will post later to illustrate. My little 94xx conversion is described over on gwr.org.uk here: http://gwr.org.uk/pro94xx.html. Note the issue with the splashers. I think there was a new 94xx announced recently? There have been so many announcements recently I've lost track! 

 

 

Mikkel

 

It might be worth sending a self addressed stamped large envelope to Dave Ellis at Southeastern Finecast asking for the Southeastern Finecast parts list for this loco, as its one of their upgraded kits. It is quite likely that there are more detailing parts now available for the loco

 

Hi John, thanks - you raise an important point. I was planning to have a look around for some brass fittings if available, as I find these can make a huge difference on these elderly kits (that and getting the body height right). I'm not sure whether the fittings that came with the kit are in fact the upgraded ones, but some look a little coarse to me. If there aren't any brass ones around I'll get in touch with Dave Ellis and see what he has, thanks for that tip!

[MikeOxon]

I built one of these Wills body kits about 35 years ago, when it cost about £8   I managed to fit it onto an old Hornby 8750 Pannier chassis, which involved cutting away a lot of white metal, as I recall.  It didn't seem to suffer from the loss, though I can see that the footplate looks slightly curved in the attached photo (not noticeable in practice) which might be a symptom of weakness.

 

 

Looking at it now, it really needs a complete re-build!  I had been oblivious to the fluted coupling rods issue but the fact that the Hornby chassis has the wrong wheelbase (even for its original application) is glaringly obvious and the motor intrudes into the cab.  

 

In addition, the cast number plates, which came with the kit, bear the number 1853, which belonged to the 1813 class.  Although very similar to the 1854 class, the frames of the 1813 were shorter at the back and I don't think 1853 ever actually carried a saddle tank, being converted directly from side tanks to panniers!  Wills seem to have been rather cavalier with their numbering, as I notice that the box in Mikkel's photo states '1804 class', whereas the real 1804 was a Wolverhampton loco of the 645/1501 class!

 

I'll be interested to see how you get on with matching the body to the Bachmann chassis.

 

Mike