Kylestrome’s 4mm Workbench

[Kylestrome]

I took some more photos while working on the second Dogfish kit.

 

 

The first two crossmembers made from Evergreen 2.0 x 3.2mm plus 2.0 x 0.75mm strips laminated together.

 

The end members held in position by rectangles of styrene which will also locate the couplers at the right height.

 

Glueing on the hopper while checking for height and level. The bottom shute has packing pieces applied each end, which make it a tight fit between the cross members and therefore easier to assemble.

 

David

[Kylestrome]

I’m still doggedly working away at the Dogfish.

 

It’s another one of those two-steps-forward, one-step-back jobs. Several pieces have been applied, taken off because of wrong alignment or position, and then re-done. The one consolation is that the lessons learned on the one wagon can then be applied to the second.

 

 

 

I’m at the stage where all the plastic details are on, which leaves just the metal parts to be made and fitted such as handrails, operating wheels, footboards, etc.

 

David

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Kylestrome

[Kylestrome]

The saga of the dodgy dogfish continues.

 

Here are the end rails and supports being soldered together with the aid of a rudimentary jig cut from various oddments of card stuck to a piece of board. The angled supports are already drilled for wire locating pins which will hold them secure when fitted to the buffer beams.

 

Small pieces of 0.5mm i.d. tube are soldered to the brake wheels using graphite pencil leads as an expendable locating aid. The brake wheels will later be slipped over the wire cross shaft and glued on, thereby gaining the benefit of a strong soldered joint without the risk of melting plastic.

 

Another jig cobbled up from card and a wood block for soldering the end steps. The steps themselves are filed down from brass angle with bent staples as support brackets.

 

With the parts taped in position it’s an easy job to solder everything together straight and true.

 

I ended up having to make my own vacuum pipes again. These are bent up from 1mm nickel silver wire with details in 10amp fuse wire wound around a 1mm drill in the pin vice.

 

The loops with a tail are soldered onto the ends. The tails are then bent downwards and trimmed to represent the coupling at the end of the vac pipes.

 

 

 

 

At last, two nearly finished Dogfish to add to the long line of wagons that are waiting to go into the paint shop. I still need to fit couplings and safety loops.

 

I’m going to have a lie down now.

 

David

[franciswilliamwebb]

33 minutes ago, Kylestrome said:

I’m going to have a lie down now.

 

Probably wise.  But those are works of art👍

[Kylestrome]

I find the that the best way to kickstart the modelling mojo is to break out another kit.

 

Wagon building is my favourite aspect of railway modelling and I’ve got to the stage now where I can almost do it on ‘autopilot’. Unfortunately though, that can also lead to the odd gaff as it did with this BR 13t Medium open wagon. The kit contains two different sets of side frames and it was almost inevitable that, once I’d achieved a perfectly square and smooth running underframe, I would discover that I’d fitted the wrong ones!

 

 

I decided that the easiest (!) way to solve the problem was to carve off the spring details and replace them with the ‘J’ hanger spring mouldings from the correct side frames. All-in-all, a couple of hours of delicate work with a scalpel. After the solvent had hardened, the rest was a restful process of detailing involving the usual mix of brass, nickel silver and styrene bits.

 

 

 

A false floor of lead sheet provides a bit of useful weight. It will be mostly covered with a load of spoil when the wagon enters service with the PW department.

 

It still needs some vacuum pipes (funny how you notice these things just after posting the pictures here 🙄).

 

David

 

PS. No prizes for spotting the part that launched itself from my tweezers and had to be replaced with white Plastikard.

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Kylestrome

[Kylestrome]

Analogue Fun

 

Way back in 1988 I bought a P4 converted Wrenn Class 20 off Ian Futers which he had used on his inspirational ‘Lochside’ layout. At the time, I was a dyed-in-the-wool 2mm finescale modeller so this was my first step on a very slippery slope into 4mm modelling. Almost immediately I made a start on ‘refining’ the body and then got distracted by other projects.

 

 

 

 

I also made some rather radical changes to the chassis (as can be seen in the photos below), which involved modifying & disabling the original motor and fitting a Mashima motor driving through an Exactoscale reduction gearbox via a flexible drive shaft. All very hi-tech back then but it runs very smoothly even by today's standards.

 

 

 

Having just sent my Lenz Digital controller off for a software update, I decided to dig out this only analogue loco and actually complete it after all these years! I plan to finish it as 20048 which is the only early disc code Class 20 I can find that worked on the West Highland, being in use at Fort William in 1985.

 

David

[sb67]

Is that the original Ian Futers loco? I remember drooling over that on Lochside, seeing a weathered blue diesel at an exhibition was a rarity back then! Looks like you're doing some fine work and giving it the respect it deserves. 👍

 

[Kylestrome]

1 hour ago, sb67 said:

Is that the original Ian Futers loco? I remember drooling over that on Lochside, seeing a weathered blue diesel at an exhibition was a rarity back then! Looks like you're doing some fine work and giving it the respect it deserves. 👍

 

It is indeed. That paint took a bit of effort to get off. As I remember it, Ian's way of weathering was to paint everything black and then wipe most of off again!

 

As it now stands, it needs a good scrub and then a coat of primer.

 

There's life in it yet. 😉

 

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by Kylestrome

[mallaig1983]

Oh My Goodness!!

What a wonderful loco to have in your collection. I never saw Ian’s Lochside layout but his articles in Railway Modeller about the layout, the locos, the renumbering and the weathering back in 1981 was the moment I came of age. The track on the train set was taken up, the 8x4 chipboard baseboard was cut in half and I started my first model railway. My green class 25 was repainted blue and an Eastfield number applied. It was painted black and rubbed off again as Ian taught us. This really started my modelling interest and more importantly modelling the West Highland. That loco will be so iconic to many and how fitting that it’s with you now and getting a second lease of life as Kylestrome has been an inspiration since I’ve started my Mallaig layout. Hopefully we’ll get to see a piccy or two of her on your layout. 
Fantastic 👍

[Adam]

Reassuringly retro' - I like the chunky bearings on the wormshafts. The Wrenn body looks rather good, especially with your titivations. I rather like 20s, which is why I have one - a Scottish one, which is about as far removed from the Western Section of the Southern as it's possible to get. That one is a simple Bachmann conversion, however, much less interesting.

 

Adam

[Kylestrome]

3 hours ago, Adam said:

I like the chunky bearings on the wormshafts.

 

The worm shaft is actually rather cleverly engineered. There is a hardened steel ball that bears on one end of the shaft which allows one to adjust it for minimal end-play using the large nut.

 

David

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, Kylestrome said:

 

The worm shaft is actually rather cleverly engineered. There is a hardened steel ball that bears on one end of the shaft which allows one to adjust it for minimal end-play using the large nut.

 

David

 

An excellent feature of Hornby Dublo 'proper' engineering!

 

..... and then there was the adjustable, magnetic shunt on the Standard 2-6-4T - apparently intended to assist slow running for shunting purposes.

 

My only quibble with my Dublo locos was with the Ringfield Stanier 2-8-0; this emitted a painful screeching, and lost power, after a short period of running. I strongly suspect that the clearance between the ring magnet and the motor windings was so tight that, when the windings heated and expanded, they rubbed on the inside of the magnet. If so, an example of HD design clearances being TOO precise.

 

I eventually remotored the model with a Pittman motor - which sorted the problem once and for all!

 

John Isherwood.

[Chas Levin]

Hello David, just found your thread and read through it; as others have said, some relaly beautiful and stunningly well made modelling, very inspirational! Thank you for posting and for the really excellent photography, which makes admiring the modelling even more pleasurable!

Looking forward to the next installments...

[bcnPete]

Watching with interest David.

 

I too remember Ian”s Lochside (still have the article!) and how it was finally something I could relate to in the Railway Modeller mag.

 

I look forward to see how you breathe new life into it and see it on your inspirational layout 👍

[Kylestrome]

Pure Nostalgia

 

 

Like so many others, it would seem, this layout was the main inspiration for all the modelling I have done since reading about it in Railway Modeller. The strange thing is that I never saw the actual layout. 🤔

 

David

 

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Kylestrome
Clarity

[mallaig1983]

Thanks for posting pics from the article David. My copy is long since lost although I do have the second part in the 1981 yearbook that I acquired a few years ago. It must be 35 years or so since I’ve seen those photos. Thanks.

[aasmall]

On 08/11/2022 at 18:11, Kylestrome said:

I took some more photos while working on the second Dogfish kit.

 

 

The first two crossmembers made from Evergreen 2.0 x 3.2mm plus 2.0 x 0.75mm strips laminated together.

 

The end members held in position by rectangles of styrene which will also locate the couplers at the right height.

 

Glueing on the hopper while checking for height and level. The bottom shute has packing pieces applied each end, which make it a tight fit between the cross members and therefore easier to assemble.

 

David

Hi David,

are you able to say how you established the distance between the solebars for the replacement cross members allowing for the bearings and a 26.5mm axle I assume?

 

sorry if that seems a basic question

 

thanks 

 

Andy 

[Kylestrome]

6 hours ago, aasmall said:

the distance between the solebars for the replacement cross members

 

The new cross members are a straight replacement for the kit parts. In other words, they are the same width. The main reason for making new parts is to enable a square and strongly constructed underframe.

[aasmall]

14 hours ago, Kylestrome said:

 

The new cross members are a straight replacement for the kit parts. In other words, they are the same width. The main reason for making new parts is to enable a square and strongly constructed underframe.

Thanks David. Much appreciated 

[Kylestrome]

Finished Wagons

 

The woefully wet weather, we’ve been having lately, has found me sitting at my workbench more than would be normal at this time of year. I now find, to my utmost astonishment, that I have actually finished some of the wagon building projects that have been lying around here rather too long.

 

 

 

The first of these are the two ‘whisky’ grain hoppers that I’ve already shown in a previous post. I was never quite happy with the weathering or the advertising boards, so the bodies have been replaced and some new whisky boards cobbled up on the computer from various sources. These were printed on glossy photo paper and glued onto pieces of card of suitable thickness to maintain flatness. The card pieces are slightly undersize so that one only sees the thin edges of the printed boards.

 

 

Next up is the modified Lima hopper with leaf spring suspension plus another one with the later pedestal suspension (modified Lima), which is really a couple of years too recent for the late sixties but so what? 😇

 

 

 

I’ve also managed to complete my van fleet with another four vehicles in various degrees of decrepitude.

 

If the rain keeps up for another week I might be able to finish the rest of the paint shop jobs.

 

David

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Kylestrome

[Kylestrome]

An RTR Quickie

 

Rather late in the day I’ve realised that Kinlochmore needs more open wagons. As I only have one more unmade kit left I decided to go for the quick and easy solution of ordering a Bachmann 13T Steel Open. This is the first RTR short wheelbase wagon I have bought and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it is. Compared to what was available in the eighties, which prompted my preference for making kits, it is on another level.

 

 

Some of the details are metal, including door spring and safety loops, but curiously there are no brake cross rods. I’ve made these from 0.5mm wire, sheathed with electrical wire insulation, fitted into holes drilled into the backs of the brake blocks. It was necessary to widen the wheel cutouts to accommodate P4 wheels and I have also cut slots in the solid headstocks for fitting the Dingham couplings.

 

 

 

I’ve fitted my usual lead sheet false floor, with scribed planking, to bring the weight up to 50 grams. In the photo above you can see the roll of 1mm thick lead sheet that I bought online from a roofing supplier. There's enough there to keep me going for a while ...

It should be mentioned that after working with lead you should always give your hands a thorough scrubbing for reasons of safety.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever finished a wagon this quickly (within 24hrs of receiving it) before. I will probably replace some of the lettering with something finer and then it'll get a dose of weathering.

 

David

 

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Kylestrome

[Chas Levin]

4 hours ago, Kylestrome said:

 

I’ve fitted my usual lead sheet false floor, with scribed planking, to bring the weight up to 50 grams. In the photo above you can see the roll of 1mm thick lead sheet that I bought online from a roofing supplier. There's enough there to keep me going for a while ...

It should be mentioned that after working with lead you should always give your hands a thorough scrubbing for reasons of safety.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever finished a wagon this quickly (within 24hrs of receiving it) before. I will probably replace some of the lettering with something finer and then it'll get a dose of weathering.

 

David

 

 

 

Hello David, fitting a false lead floor with scribed planking: brilliant idea!

 

How do you / did you treat and finish the lead afterwards though? It looks superb, like old, greyish timber planking: is that it's final finish?

[Kylestrome]

14 minutes ago, Chas Levin said:

How do you / did you treat and finish the lead afterwards though? It looks superb, like old, greyish timber planking: is that it's final finish?

 

That's just a trick of the light! 😄

 

I usually paint floors in old, dry and dirty wood colours, but this wagon will probably get a tarpaulin covered load as it's intended for aluminium ingot transport.

[Kylestrome]

BRT Ex-Grain Hoppers

 

Having finished the BRT ‘whisky’ grain hoppers I decided to carry on and build some more of the same, but different. At some point in their history some of these wagons were converted to pedestal coil spring suspension and were then used for alumina traffic. In order to model these wagons I have made a start on building the underframes from scratch.

 

 

The main elements are styrene sheet, Evergreen styrene channel, Comet Models ‘W-irons’ and the pedestal mouldings that are available separately from Cambrian Models.

 

 

Here is the basic chassis, from 40 thou. Sheet, with some cut down 2mm screws holding things together. Because the w-irons are unconventionally fitted to the top, there are additions of 10 thou. sheet in order to provide a level top surface. The w-irons fit into notches filed in the edges of the chassis plate so that they don’t cause the sole bars to bulge when they are glued on.

 

 

Here are the underframes with solebars from Evergreen 3mm channel and headstocks laminated from 4 pieces of 0,75mm x 1,5mm Evergreen section. The pedestal mouldings have been epoxied to the w-irons and glued to the solebars with solvent. As is my normal practice, the axles have had their pinpoints blunted slightly, which allows a bit of 'slop' in the bearings and results in reliable running without the faff of springing or compensation.

 

Next things to do are the hopper shutes and brake details.

 

David

 

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Kylestrome

[Kylestrome]

Two's company, three's a crowd

 

The BRT hoppers have multiplied and are now receiving all the underneath details. There's nothing much different to the previous two that I've made except that now I'm taking photos at various stages. It's all fiddly details with some trial and error involved with establishing the correct shapes of some parts.

 

 

Here the lower sections of the hoppers are taking shape. The brakes are surplus parts from Parkside kits, trimmed to fit.

 

 

 

Various details made from 2mm scale bullhead rail, 1mm L-section brass, 0,45mm Ø wire and electrical wire sleeving (the brown bits). The awkward looking shapes at the bottom are the beginnings of the brake lever brackets, in 15 thou styrene sheet. They're a bit flimsy but will get some strengthening pieces behind them.

 

David

 

PS. Sorry for the slight lack of continuity in the photos. 🙄

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Kylestrome