Tim4948's Workbench - Building a LMS buffet car

[tim4948]

The gangway connectors have now been fitted. I wasn't that happy with the ones that I had ordered from the internet because as is shown in the picture below they are a bit on the short side so there is a large gap between the gangways (not what I was looking for).

 

 

So I decided that as I have some black paper lying around I would cut out some longer ones of my own using my silhouette cutter below is a picture showing the result after the new connectors have been fitted.

 

 

So now that the LMS kitchen car has been completed it was time to move on to the next project, or should I say projects. The plan is to build 3 great western full brakes to diagrams M11, K22 & K40, the main reason for doing the 3 together is so that I can paint and then do the transfers on all of them together. The first one to be tackled will be the M11 which is a 70ft Stowage van and is an incomplete mallard models kit that I picked up very cheaply from an exhibition the kit as I've got it consists of the sides, ends, footsteps for the ends, the handles and grab rails. The parts for the underframe has been removed from the fret by the previous owner and the vacuum formed roof has been cracked at some point so replacements will be bought from comet models. In the bag which the kit came in from the exhibition were a pair of American 9ft bogies from blacksmith models.

 

Now on to the building of the kit, I have started to build the bogies for it and have pretty much finished them apart from one of the footsteps deciding that it needed to go for a flight across the room to a place unknown before I could solder it into position so after spending a long time trying to locate it I admitted defeat (for now) and a replacement has been ordered from dart castings. Here's a picture of the progress so far.

 

[tim4948]

I have now moved on to the underframe which is where the of the modifications start, first up was to shorten the length of the underframe by taking 1mm off of each end this is because there is a tumble home on the ends of the coach.

 

 

Next job was to fit the buffer beams to the ends of the underframe I started off using masking tape to hold the buffer beams in place but I couldn't get them central or at the correct height, this is when I suddenly had the thought of using some of the heatproof tape that I use at work as it is see through so I could easily line them up and then solder them in place.

 

 

All of the underframe furniture was then fitted.

 

 

the underframe was then placed on top of the bogies for the first time, shock horror the bogies have ended up too close to the underframe with the wheels fouling the underframe (not too much of a surprise as they're from different manufacturers). The fix was a simple one with 3 layers of 1mm plasticard being added to the bogies.

 

[Buhar]

For those without a job that provides such useful items, C&L supply Hot Tape - looks like the same stuff.

[jrg1]

For lots of soldering, rare earth magnets and a flat metal surface are unbeatable

[tim4948]

For those without a job that provides such useful items, C&L supply Hot Tape - looks like the same stuff.

I can't seem to find the hot tape on the C&L website (could be looking in the wrong place) but there are a lot of people who sell the tape on eBay (which is where I got mine from)

[tim4948]

The next task has been to modify the sides and ends so that they will fit onto the underframe in a similar way to how the comet kits do. The ends were the first to be tackled, below is a picture of what they look like once removed from the fret.

 

 

First step was to cut off the part with the 3 holes in it, then remove roughly 10mm of the 2 parts left behind, the tumble home was then formed, here's a picture of the parts prior to assembly.

 

 

The part with the 3 holes in was then flipped over so that it was facing the opposite way to what it was originally and was then soldered on top of the other part.

 

 

Here is a picture of the end placed on top of the underframe showing (hopefully) how it will fit.

 

 

Once the other end had been modified in the same way it was time to move onto the sides, these also had to be adjusted. Here's how the look once removed from the fret.

 

 

The top and bottom flange were removed so that the underframe and roof will slot in behind the sides.

 

 

Once the drop lights had been fitted and the tumble home formed it was then time to fix the ends onto the sides, the body was then placed on top of the underframe for the first time.

 

[tim4948]

The foot steps at the end of the coach have now been fitted.

 

 

It was then time to tackle the roof - an item that I had been dreading because I thought a lot of filing and fetteling was going to be required, to my surprise this was not the case as the roof just slotted straight into position.

 

 

It was then time to fit the end handrails and rain strips.

 

 

This now pretty much completes this model and so is now ready for painting (apart from 1 of the bogies as I am waiting for a replacement footstep and the gangway connectors which will be added after painting).

[tim4948]

Now that the 70ft coach has been finished (painting will be done when the 3 coaches have been built) I have moved onto building the next coach which is a 60ft bow-ended full brake to diagram K40, this is a comet models kit. Instead of tackling the coach kit like I do normally (build it from the rails up) I have decided that with this one I would build the body first followed by the underframe, this is because the sides looked like they were going to be a bit of a pain so I wanted to get them done first.

 

The first job was to trim down the drop lights for the double doors so that the would sit next to each other and be central of both windows, this was then followed by soldering a scrap piece of brass behind the openings in the sides for the door handles, the holes were then drilled in the sides for the handrails and handles to be fitted.

 

 

Next the hand rails were fitted but the T door handles were left as I find them easier to fit once the sides have been assembled to the ends.

 

 

The sides were then soldered to the ends and the T door handles fitted.

 

[tim4948]

The under frame and bogies have now been made and fitted together, the body has also been attached to the under frame. The now end castings have also been fitted to the ends and the details (handrails, buffers and jump cables)

 

 

The next job is to do the roof and then this coach is also ready for paint.

[tim4948]

The roof for this coach was completed between Christmas and new year and is now currently in primer (I forgot to take any pictures of it before I primed it)

 

 

It was then time to move onto the next coach which is the K22 this was a kit that I picked up quite a few years ago. The kit was for just the body and underframe of the coach, I got as far as building it and painted it but then I left it to one side whilst I worked out what to do with it. Well what was meant to be a couple of weeks turned into a couple of years as it got moved off the workbench and into a draw so I decided that it was time to complete it. Here's a picture of what it looked like when it came out of the draw.

 

 

The underframe details were ordered from comet models along with the roof, the bogies were ordered from dart castings, heres how the underframe looked before any work is done.

 

 

The first job will be to fix the underframe details, I have managed to identify where most items go but there is a bracket on the underframe that I have no idea what it's for as I can't find the instructions that came with the kit and I can't find a picture of a prototype that shows me what it should look like. Here's a picture showing the bracket (it's the 2 small triangular bits to the right of the picture)

 

[tim4948]

The underframe detailing has now been fitted.

 

 

It was then time to move onto the roof, as the kit didn't come with a roof I got one from comet models which meant that I would have to modify the sides slightly so that the roof would fit. As is shown in the picture below the sides had a flange running along the top.

 

 

This had to removed for the roof and was done by scoring the joint between the flange and sides with a scalpel until it was week enough to be broken off, the jagged edge left behind was then filed so that it was flat.

 

 

Next job will be to fit the roof.

[tim4948]

The underframe has now been painted black.

 

 

The roof has also been cut to length and the rain strips added, it was then primed.

 

 

It was then placed on top of the coach (it will be fixed in position once the glazing has been done).

 

 

The end hand rails have also been made up. Next job it to start painting the 2 other coaches.

[Miss Prism]

I think the K22s had a corridor partition.

[tim4948]

I think the K22s had a corridor partition.

You are correct the K22s did have a corridor partition, I hadn't realised as since I built this kit I have misplaced the instructions. So thank you for letting me know about this as I can still fit this to the coach. I have been lucky in that I have come across a webpage that details the restoration of the one based at the Severn Valley Railway contains a drawing of the internal layout of the coach so at least I know what I'm doing now. Here's a link for anyone interested http://www.lnersvrcoachfund.org.uk/gwr_1145.html

[nigel newling]

Just a guess but are those extra v hangers for the guards handbrake cross shaft?

[Miss Prism]

http://www.lnersvrcoachfund.org.uk/gwr_1145.html

 

I hadn't seen that excellent page before, so thanks Tim. The drawing there confirms that the sliding doors in the partition were unglazed, and the position of the other windows on the partition, which is something I've always wondered about. I need to look at the drawing more closely, but it does not yet seem to explain why the position of the luggage doors on the sides of the Haye K22 etches are not quite opposite each other.

[tim4948]

Just a guess but are those extra v hangers for the guards handbrake cross shaft?

So would it be correct if I put a wire across between them?

[nigel newling]

So would it be correct if I put a wire across between them?

... with a crank arm and a slotted connecting link to a crank on the VB cross shaft. The slotted connecting link arrangement allows the vacumm brake to operate freely. There are drawings of what this looks like in the F14 slip coach drawing in the John Lewis GW Coaches Official Drawings No3 book ISBN 1-874103-42-9

[tim4948]

... with a crank arm and a slotted connecting link to a crank on the VB cross shaft. The slotted connecting link arrangement allows the vacumm brake to operate freely. There are drawings of what this looks like in the F14 slip coach drawing in the John Lewis GW Coaches Official Drawings No3 book ISBN 1-874103-42-9

Thanks for that I have now ordered that book.

[tim4948]

The 2 other coaches have now been painted and are now at the same stage as the K22

 

Here is the K40 with its roof placed on top.

 

 

And here is the M11 also with the roof placed on top.

 

 

The next step will be to make up and fit the door handles to both the K22 and M11

[tim4948]

Having tried and failed removing the grab handles from the fret that came with the M11 kit I decided instead of ordering some others and wait for them to arrive I would have a go and create my own from 0.5mm brass wire, I am quite happy with how even they came out.

 

[tim4948]

The transfers have now been applied to all 3 coaches.

 

The K22 in 1934 livery

 

The K40 in 1927 livery

 

The M11 in 1922 livery

 

The next job is to start to make the interior for the k22.

[tim4948]

A start has been made on the interior for the K22, I have used 1mm plasticard for the partition which was scored every 2mm horizontally to represent the planks of wood,

 

 

The positions for the doors and windows were then marked out on the reverse.

 

 

The doors were cut out using a scalpel, for the windows a hike was drilled through the middle and the rest was removed using a file

 

 

Vertical planking (2mm wide) was then scored onto the back of the plasticard

 

 

Next up was to make the doors for this I used 3 layers of 0.25mm plasticard and cut them out using the silhouette cutter

 

 

Once assembled the door looks like this.

 

 

Here are the 3 sliding doors and the guards door assembled and ready to be fitted

 

[tim4948]

The next job was to fit the rails for the top of the doors to slide along, this was then followed by all of the doors being fitted, I have decided to have the sliding doors half open in a hope that it may make them more obvious once the interior is in the coach. 

 

 

the partition walls were then assembled onto the floor, here is the first half.

 

 

this was then followed by the second half, the interior is in 2 pieces as there is a piece of brass to add strength to the coach sides in the way.

 

 

The interior was then fitted inside of the coach (it is in there honest!)

 

 

Here are some close up shots to prove that it is in there.

 

 

As you can probably see in the pictures the interior wont be seen much, but at least i know its there. The next job with these coaches will be to put the glazing in and then the grills behind the windows (I am currently waiting for these to arrive in the post)

[tim4948]

The door grills have finally arrived! So I have fitted them along with the glazing to the coaches, I then fitted the roofs, I was worried about fitting the roof to the K22 as there is glazing that goes almost to the top of the coach sides and so I thought that this would interfere with the flanges of the roof that fit on the inside of the coach luckily it has gone on with out a problem. Once the roofs were fitted the gangway connectors and hand rails were added to the ends and couplings were added to the bogies. Here are some pictures of the finished coaches.

 

First up is the 70ft stowage van to diagram M11 in 1922 livery

 

 

Then the 60ft Collett full brake to diagram K40 in 1927 livery

 

 

Lastly the 57ft top light full brake to diagram K22 in 1934 livery