Jessy1692's bits & pieces- Coaching stock and wagon bashing stuff with the odd loco

[John Tomlinson]

That's a very useful pic of the inside of an HAA, I must have taken hundreds of shots of mgr trains, none a scrap of use for modelling the actual wagons!

 

IIRC at some point there was a modification made to strengthen the sides, by reinforceing the top edge and possibly adding the vertical strengtheners seen inside each hopper section, which may explain why the wagon in the photo is without the original horizontal bars.

 

John.

 

P.S. meant to apologise to Jesse for the duff gen. about the shape of the top ends, my fault for looking at others models not pictures of the real thing.

Edited July 2, 2020 by John Tomlinson
P.S.

[jessy1692]

2 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

That's a very useful pic of the inside of an HAA, I must have taken hundreds of shots of mgr trains, none a scrap of use for modelling the actual wagons!

 

IIRC at some point there was a modification made to strengthen the sides, by reinforceing the top edge and possibly adding the vertical strengtheners seen inside each hopper section, which may explain why the wagon in the photo is without the original horizontal bars.

 

John.

 

P.S. meant to apologise to Jesse for the duff gen. about the shape of the top ends, my fault for looking at others models not pictures of the real thing.

Not a problem at all John, most pics iv seen of models/real ones are side on so look curved. Handily the weather is rubbish so i havnt sprayed the tubs yet so an easy one to fix.

From what gen i have gathered, later builds and re bodies were built with horizontal strengtheners at the top as the original cross bar strengtheners easily became damaged from the 1000's of tons of coal dropped into them.

 

I wish id taken more notice of these back in the days of trainspotting at Knottingly with the endless processions of MGRs. Like most things they seemed part of the landscape and then one day they are all gone in a blink of an eye. Next time im down Staffs ill try get to Chasewater as i think they have a few survivors there.

Cheers

James

[jessy1692]

Painting is well underway now on the VBA & VDAs, first coat of later Bauxite applied tonight after the paint arrived today, probably take at least 2 more coats for these.

The HAA chassis are now all in matt black and 8 out of the ten have had the balance weights? Picked out in the darker bauxite which is looking rather maroon in this light.

The tub cradles were primed the other night and some now painted, im going to experiment with a couple still in red primer and put some black/ mucky turps washes over them to hopefully get some variation in colours so they all dont look too uniform as a rake.

 

Half the tubs have been primed and the ends filed again to give a more angled appearance although ypu cant tell unless you are directly above them and really look! A coat of silver was applied via rattle can. Silly bu**er here forgot about them the other night and left them outside whilst drying and it started to rain so will have to revisit these as the silver has gone a bit odd... too distracted by football on sky!

 

I forgot i had ordered some more TTA roof walks months ago so have brought down the last 3 TTAs we had that needed detailing. I had the tank barrels in stock but no chassis but i managed to get 4 of the rubbish Kellogg's vans that use the sane chassis very cheap off ebay a while back so my dad did the tank alteration as per previous posts on these. Just need some primer over the etches and they will be ready for a coat of satin black. Nice and simple

Hopefully ill get most things painted up this weekend. Transfers have arrived for the vans and hoppers this week, along with parkside coal loads. Brake discs are on the way from Stenson models also so the MGR project is all go.

 

Cheers for looking in

James

[leopardml2341]

Post deleted; chatting bubbles as usual

Edited July 4, 2020 by leopardml2341

[Jon4470]

Hi James

 

Impressive rate of production going on! Puts me to shame.....

 

Jon

[jessy1692]

15 minutes ago, Jon4470 said:

Hi James

 

Impressive rate of production going on! Puts me to shame.....

 

Jon

Thanks Jon, i like doing things in batches and having a couple of things on the go at once, you can get quite a production line going. Although ten HAA's in this batch is probably maximum before they get tedious repeating the same thing. Drilling the holes in the W irons got a bit boring, 40 holes....

 

Hardly putting you to shame fettling up some old rtr stuff, your brass coaches and locos are much more in depth than these!

 

Hows Spencer going dare i ask?

Cheers

JAmes

[Jon4470]

10 minutes ago, jessy1692 said:

 

 

Hows Spencer going dare i ask?

Cheers

JAmes

 

Slowly......but still progressing. Been very busy work wise this week. Still it’s rainy this morning, so maybe able to get on with getting the cab in place.

 

Jon

[jessy1692]

1 minute ago, Jon4470 said:

 

Slowly......but still progressing. Been very busy work wise this week. Still it’s rainy this morning, so maybe able to get on with getting the cab in place.

 

Jon

Good to hear its coming on, that brass cab does look great, be a shame to paint it!

James

[jessy1692]

Mid afternoon update from the wagon works, the sun is out and Leeds are two up so all is well.

The TTAs are now satin black ans about ready for transfers. The 5 tubs that went bad are now silver again and the vans have now had 3 coats of bauxite. All going rather well... almost too well

[cheesysmith]

The "balance weights" are actually the covers for the door release mechanisms gears to protect them (and closing gears as well). It is where the pivots from the daleks engage with the handles on the HAA to release the doors and close and lock them afterwards.

 

PS- little known fact, the class 60 originally had the cooling intake grills see through from one side to the other, but had to be modified after delivery to block some of it off after the sensor on the daleks mis read and thought the loco had passed and extended the release arms and damaged the loco.

[jessy1692]

9 hours ago, cheesysmith said:

The "balance weights" are actually the covers for the door release mechanisms gears to protect them (and closing gears as well). It is where the pivots from the daleks engage with the handles on the HAA to release the doors and close and lock them afterwards.

 

PS- little known fact, the class 60 originally had the cooling intake grills see through from one side to the other, but had to be modified after delivery to block some of it off after the sensor on the daleks mis read and thought the loco had passed and extended the release arms and damaged the loco.

Cheers Cheesy, i was actually watching a youtube clip of an MGR train unloading last night and now can see how it all worked, always thought they were counter weights to balance the doors... everyday is a school day.

 

Ta for the info, nice little fact on the 60s too

Cheers

James

[BernardTPM]

In some ways the mechanism is a bit like the old Tri-ang operating hopper wagons from the late '50s.

[jessy1692]

Have been up early this morning so thought id start putting some hoppers back together in readiness for transfers.

 

I decided to start a bit of weathering to find a good technique for 10, soon to be 13 wagons so slapped a bit of paint around and started taking it off with cotton buds etc

The wagon on the left is a standard Hornby finish tub and the cradle left in red primer, the other is a resprayed tub with a painted cradle. By no means finished, i like to get some weathering on before transfers then do more after they are applied, works fine with wagons for me. Once the transfers are all on more washes will go on and i have some weathering powders to play with. Now just need to find some coal to grind up.

Cheers

James

[jessy1692]

Iv been plodding on this week as the 3 latest HAAs turned up on Tuesday and went through the repaints like the other, work slowed for Leeds game on Thurs and a pub visit last night so today has been spent adding transfers to 13 HAAs, 2 VDAs and a VAA. It was going to be a VBA but the pic with the ABN logo on was a VAA so thats what caused the change.

The TTAs are ready for transfers i just havnt been passing my dads to pick up the transfers, may bob up tomorrow. 

The HAAs are all just about done, Railtec transfers applied today and finish them off nicely, ready for weathering powders then ill just need to pick one to be the tail end to fit pipes and add an instanter. Parkside coal loads have been glued in today and will get a topping of fine crushed coal sometime soon.

Another tin of spray varnish is on order, should be here next week.

Wheels have had Stenson models brake discs added to one wheel so once varnish is done these can go straight into service.

Time for bed, back aches from sitting on the sofa hunched over to the coffee table!

Cheers

James

 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by jessy1692

[jessy1692]

Right then, i have finished the latest 3 TTAs, nice and black and a bit mucky, iv run out of white numbers for them so they will be added at a later date as these are off to the layout tomorrow morning with the 2 VDAs and VAA.

 

All had a spray over with humbrol satin to seal in the transfers and weathering powders. The TTAs arnt based on actual prototype pics, just done as per the general look of TTAs, and i can happily live with the Hornby VDAs for the price of them compared to Bachmann ones. No rivet counting here!

 

The HAAs have had some powders dusted over and real crushed coal added to the plastic loads. Now drying out before full rewheeling takes place. I did a couple tonight but found the flanges rubbing on the underside of the chassis, very frustrating but nothing a couple of passes with a knife wont sort. Im using Hornby 14.1 mm wheels, could have done without the .1! Should have these all done by the weekend, no chance of modelling tomorrow though as its Leeds vs Barnsley. Also modelling on the sofa hunched over the coffee table is doing my back in so need a night off!

Cheers

James

 

[jessy1692]

Brief update before the football starts, all HAAs now coaled and sent up to the layout for a run, i couldnt quite get the distinctive weathering streak on the sides so have left thrm as is for now. May have to invest in an airbrush one of these days. Im going to have to get back to my dads forva running session as iv done so much stock and havnt seen them run due to lock down. My dad was in my house Friday night for the WBA games so surely im allowed in his now!

Anyway time for a beer in the sun and watch the EFL CHAMPIONS!

Come on Leeds

UKF PWA vans up next...

Cheers

James

[jessy1692]

Well its been a slightly extended break due to the hot weather and various other things keeping me away from the desk but now its cooler and some paint arrived tonight i made a start on tarting up some Lima PWA UKF vans.

 

I purchased a couple of trusses from @jonhall a couple of month ago so have added these to two out of the 3 i have. The 3rd will stay as is for a bit of variety. These are lovely etches and come with the brake wheels too so will add that extra bit to the finished models. I know there were various builds and lengths so mine will be just a representation, the old if it looks right it is right motto!

 

Along with the etches i tagged on some gloucester bogies to my dads order for another SKits freightliner flat detailing set, i ordered 2 pairs but have since picked up a 3rd van so we shall see what we do on that.

I added some new tops panel boards from styrene, currently studying pics for extra details to add this week.

 

The bogies go together pretty well, and run freely with bearing cups added and the Lima wheels re used. The castings are ok, Stenson models would be and upgrade but were out of stock when i ordered. Once they are black and under the model theyll be fine for these vans though.

More soon hopefully, getting close to cutting plastic for a class 48 so hoping weather stays poor!

Cheers

James

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

The problem is the S Kits bogies look nothing like a FastFreight bogie.

 

 

Mike.

[leopardml2341]

Re the mgr hopper loads.

 

In my native area, the loads used to be in three distinct mounds, presumably due to three loading chutes?

 

Though that might only have been prevalent at the South Yorkshire loading plants, ask the load seemed to be crushed rather than lump coal.

[jessy1692]

49 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

The problem is the S Kits bogies look nothing like a FastFreight bogie.

 

 

Mike.

Hi Mike, yeah i did notice when looking at pics last night they are more of an interpretation shall we say... one set made up but im already contemplating an order to Stenson.

Edited August 17, 2020 by jessy1692

[jessy1692]

6 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Re the mgr hopper loads.

 

In my native area, the loads used to be in three distinct mounds, presumably due to three loading chutes?

 

Though that might only have been prevalent at the South Yorkshire loading plants, ask the load seemed to be crushed rather than lump coal.

Oh theres all kinds of loading styles when i looked through pics Leopard, i was going to try do 3 mounds but saw some parkside loads  going cheap so just popped them in and covered in ground up coal, looking at that pic the coal looks more lumpy than it does in reality must be the light catching it. I ground it down to virtual dust and managed to spill a bit on the rug.. big trouble!

Cheers

James

[Gibbo675]

8 hours ago, jessy1692 said:

I ground it down to virtual dust and managed to spill a bit on the rug.. big trouble!

Cheers

James

Hi James,

 

If that is any kind of euphemism then there will be even more trouble !!!

 

Gibbo.

[Richard_A]

12 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

The problem is the S Kits bogies look nothing like a FastFreight bogie.

 

 

Mike.

Which one is which? 

[jessy1692]

3 hours ago, rka said:

Which one is which? 

Eveninh Richard, left is the SKits by my reckoning and the right is the better looking Stenson Models one, its even got the Gloucester England cast into the frame. I may swap mine over at some point if once my SKits ones are painted up they annoy me.

 

The S Kit ones seem to be a bit of a mishmash between the Fast Freight bogie and another Gloucester design, plus i think the moulds may be getting on a bit.

 

Hope that helps

James

[Dagworth]

On 30/06/2020 at 12:07, jessy1692 said:

Also acquired in bits and bats has

been a rake of Hornby HAA's, prices are silly on ebay but iv managed to get 14 together for about 7 quid each which isnt bad considering what i have seen some go for on ebay

Sorry, that was kind of my fault, I single handedly pushed the price up on HAAs about 20 years ago and it has never come back down.

 

One thing I've found is that chucking the tubs in caustic solution for 24 hours takes the bright silver Hornby finish down to a much nicer metallic silver-grey without touching the transfers.

 

Andi