Tim4948's Workbench - Building a LMS buffet car

[Ian G]

I have a 7mm one to build some time motor/gear box sorted and a sound ship will be available once I build it.

 

Ian G

[tim4948]

Been there, done that - and I'm not in a hurry to repeat the experience !! (....and I was trying motorise it too).

 

Regards,

John isherwood.

Hi John

 

I have to agree this does seem to be a one hit wonder kit (build it once and that's enough). Did you manage to motorise yours?

 

The person that I am building this for and I were tempted to have a go at motorising this one but with Bachmann threatening to release it soon we decided against motorising the kit.

[cctransuk]

Hi John

 

I have to agree this does seem to be a one hit wonder kit (build it once and that's enough). Did you manage to motorise yours?

 

The person that I am building this for and I were tempted to have a go at motorising this one but with Bachmann threatening to release it soon we decided against motorising the kit.

 

Nope - nowhere near enough adhesive weight, even with 3mm. thickness of lead sheet underneath the roof.

 

The kit will be finished - eventually - but as a purely scenic feature.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Edited September 18, 2016 by cctransuk

[tim4948]

The interior of the wickham has now been fitted along with the 2 upright supports.

 

 

The seat backs were then added.

 

 

The roof then had it details fitted and was placed on top of the body, the roof is being left removable until the painting has been completed.

 

 

Here are some pictures of the wickham along with its trailer.

 

 

Just to make the wickham trolley and trailer look small here they are with an lms open wagon.

 

 

And a case of just because I can here is a picture of the wickham trolley and trailer with a small wagon in the background!

[tim4948]

Well the wickham trolley and trailer are now finished and in primer, here are a few pictures of them on my local clubs layout Northwick

 

 

They have now been returned to their owner for final painting, I hope to post the pictures of these once they have been painted.

[tim4948]

Having finished the wickham trolley and trailer it was time to choose the next project. The chairman of my local club had recently handed a copy of the winter 2016 edition of the "Journal of the Double O Gauge Association" and on the front page was a picture of a LMS bogie well wagon, so I thought let's have a go at building one (see picture of front cover below for how the finished wagon will look).

 

 

I have found the drawing for this wagon in "an illustrated history of LMS wagons volume 2" by R. J. Essery. The diagram number for the wagon is 135B, there were 2 versions of this wagon, they were built as 1 lot and by using common parts 2 different vehicles could be produced, 2 sets of identical the bogies were built, but 2 centre sections were built to diagram 135C and 1 centre section was built to diagram 135B there were insufficient parts to create 3 wagons. I have decided to build diagram 135B because it is the longer version of this wagon and will be numbered 5000.

 

I decided to tackle the central well section first. The first job was to mark out and cut the side sections out of 1mm plasticard (4 of them are required), I scanned the drawing into the computer and scaled them to prin out the correct size then stuck the paper to the plasticard using spray on glue that is not too sticky so that it can be removed easily from the plasticard afterwards.

 

 

Having cut the side pieces out the paper was taken off and white spirit was used to remove any of the glue residue that was left. A small notch was cut in both ends of the 2 central spans so that the plasticard that will run across the ends and have the bogie pivots fitted will sit flush with the bottom of the well.

 

 

The 2 central spans were then fixed together

 

 

Then the end framework for the 2 outer spans was fitted.

 

 

These were then fixed to the central section to give the basic shape of the well section.

 

Edited September 26, 2016 by tim4948

[tim4948]

The next job was to add the floor which is a piece of 0.25mm plasticard, the bogie pivots were then added.

 

 

The detail that goes between the spans was added this consisted of 16 1mm thick x 2mm high pieces of plasticard being added and a 0.5mm x 1mm piece being added on top along the length of the well.

 

 

The flanges made from 0.25mm plasticard were then added to the top and bottom of the spans.

 

[tim4948]

The bogies have now started to take shape, first all of the pieces required to make the basic framework were cut out of 1mm thick plasticard.

 

From top to bottom buffer beam, end frame, 2x inside frame, 2x side frames

 

These were then stuck together and the wheels inserted.

 

 

The top plate was then cut out from 0.25mm thick plasticard using the silhouette cutter, this was then stuck to the top of the bogies and the framework was then added underneath.

 

 

The well was then slotted onto the bogies, just need to add the final details to the well section and fit the axel boxes and springs when they arrive.

 

 

 

[tim4948]

Whilst waiting for the springs and axel boxes to arrive I have decided to get on with the finer details of the wagon. The first thing to be tackled was the sides of the well, the vertical ribs were added using 1x0.5mm plastic strips.

 

 

The next job was to add the 2 boxes and the plate work for where the bottom of the well would be disconnected from the ends (the round piece at the bottom would have been a large bolt that would have benn pulled out to separate the well bottom from the end.

 

 

The reinforcing triangles that fit behind the buffer beam were added using 0.25mm plasticard.

 

 

The oval hole was then cut into both ends of the well.

 

 

This was then followed by the tool box being added to 1 of the bogies this was made from 4 sections of evergreen plastic I beam section, each end was cut at 45 degrees to form the box and a piece of 0.25 plasticard added to the top.

 

[tim4948]

The castings have arrived today. The axelboxes are comet models LMS Stannier tender ones, the first thing was to remove the springs as these are too heavy duty for the wagon. The springs were then added which are 9-leaf springs from dart castings, a small piece of round plastic rod was then cut and fixed at each end of the spings and the tie bar at the bottom of the bogies was added.

 

 

The hand brake wheels from Roxey mouldings were then added to the bogies along with the buffers.

 

 

I have also added the loops to the side of the well wagon which were made from 0.3mm wire. Here is a picture of the nearly complete wagon.

 

[tim4948]

Progress had recently slowed on the wagon build as I had to build a couple of trees for my clubs Northwick layout, I have also been meaning to update this topic for most of this week but I kept forgetting so this will be a fairly big update.

 

The final details have been added to the well section of the wagon, which are the chain boxes that go on one side of each end along with some other small details at the ends (the flange that goes along the top of the triangular section and the 2 diagonal sections at each end).

 

 

The wagon was then primed and painted.

 

 

This was when I discovered that I have run out of LMS wagon transfers so I have ordered some more. Whilst I was waiting for the transfers I decided to start on the next kit which I got when at the Peterborough show and it is a LMS articulated open third + open third to diagram 1966 from comet the first evenings build saw the bogies built.

 

 

The following 2 evenings saw the under frames completed.

 

 

The next evening saw the bodies being added to the under frames.

 

 

And last night saw the roofs being added and the details added to the bodies and ends.

 

 

This is the first time that I have built a comet models kit and I have to say that it was one of the nicest kits that I have built for a long while, the instructions are easy to follow and the kit goes together very nicely.

[tim4948]

The coaches have now been primed and painted in their first colour which has made them look canary yellow. Here's a couple of pictures of them whilst on Northwick.

 

[Barry O]

If you are doing these in carmine and cream check to see if the air vents above the doors were still fitted. BR removed a lot of these from Stanier stock.

 

Baz

[jwealleans]

Those are really nice. I hope you'll be doing some more.

 

I've found that with those steel sided carriages it's worth investing in the Comet detailing etch and taking the time to put hinges and bump stops on. It gives the sides a bit more character and breaks up the otherwise featureless expanse of brass.

[tim4948]

If you are doing these in carmine and cream check to see if the air vents above the doors were still fitted. BR removed a lot of these from Stanier stock.

Baz

So far I have only come across 2 pictures of the LMS articulated coaches, 1 shows the coaches that I'm building in LMS days (with air vents), the other picture shows the brake third + open third pair in 1964 without the air vents. I decided to put them on to brake up the flatness of the coach sides, if anyone can let me know whether the vents were present for this livery or not then I will adjust as necessary.

[tim4948]

Those are really nice. I hope you'll be doing some more.I've found that with those steel sided carriages it's worth investing in the Comet detailing etch and taking the time to put hinges and bump stops on. It gives the sides a bit more character and breaks up the otherwise featureless expanse of brass.

I am intending to build some more of these articulated coaches, I just need to buy the kits. The next LMS coach to be built will be a 50ft kitchen car to diagram D1697.

[tim4948]

The "blood" has now been added to the coaches along with the ends being painted black, then next job will be to apply the transfers which will be done later today. Here is a picture of how the coaches look at the moment.

 

[tim4948]

The transfers have now been applied, here are a couple of pictures of the coaches on Northwick last Friday, all that is left to do now is varnish them apply the glazing and gangways and paint the roofs a darker colour as they are currently in primer.

 

[tim4948]

The transfers for the LMS wagon have finally arrived so I have just put them on the wagon so here's the finished wagon.

 

[tim4948]

The articulated coaches have now been finished, here are some pictures of them whilst running on Northwick at the wycrail exhibition.

 

Edited November 9, 2016 by tim4948

[tim4948]

I have now started to build the LMS kitchen car to diagram 1697, this is another comet kit. So far after 2 nights work I have managed to build the bogies and underframe. With the underframe I hit a problem with the gas tanks in that I just could not get them to fit satisfactorily so I threw away the ones that came with the kit and scratch built some replacements from plastic tubing that I had lying around. Here are some pictures of the progress so far.

 

 

The body is also nearing completion.

[tim4948]

The body of the has now been finished along with the roof.

 

 

The roof was a good bit of fun; mainly due to the amount of vents on it coupled with the different types that there are which resulted in a few of them being put in the wrong place to start off with, but they were soon rectified. Here is a view of the roof.

 

 

The coach is now pretty much complete and is now ready for painting - the gangway connectors will be added after the coach has been painted.

[tim4948]

The coach has now been painted and is awaiting transfers.

 

[tim4948]

The transfers have now been added and the coach varnished, here's some pictures.

 

 

All that is left to do now is to put the glazing and interior in, paint the handles and put it all together ready for when the gangway connectors arrive.

[tim4948]

The glazing has now been put in, I used tissue paper behind the glazing to get a frosted effect. The coach is now almost complete, I'm just waiting for the gangway connectors to arrive.