S7 scratch building

[airnimal]

Many thanks for the feedback,  it's much appreciated. 

 

I have started to drill the holes for the Masterclub hexagonal bolts in the solebar's.  I will be using square nuts on the rest of the body cut from styrene strip.

I will have to quess what the break gear was because the photograph I am using was taken from the non brake side. Other similar wagons had a single shoe but others had double shoes. 

The coupling plate was from the etch supplied with screw couplings from C.P.L. I have a number of these so it would be a waste not to use them.

[airnimal]

I have placed the Masterclub bolts in the solebar's but I will not be glueing them in until I have painted the body. The body colour I presume is the same as other lime wagons from the Buxton area which was cream or buff with black metal work. It will be easier to touch the bolts heads with a dirty black wash and then glue them in.

[airnimal]

I have made a single shoe for the primitive brake gear. It was made from one of my own castings that I cut up from a double pair of shoes. I decided that a single shoe would be most likely because there lots of similar brakes in the line of wagons in Glegg St goods yard in 1896. This is where the wagon I am building was photographed. If anybody is in the Oldham area there is a large copy of these photographs all joined together in Oldham library up on the second floor. Well the was before lockdown so it might be wise to check before going out of anybody's way to see it just in case cut back's. 

[airnimal]

The brake shoe was soldered up to a piece of brass angle which then had a hole drilled in it. It was elongated to form a slot so that the brake shoe could be moved as close to the wheel without touching it. It is a but grubby underneath bit it will come clean before painting. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by airnimal

[airnimal]

The rest of the brake gear has been made from a Ambis rack with a homemade handle.  Other bits include the capping strip on top of the body cut from 5 thin Evergreen sheet. The rest of the square bolts have yet to be applied. The springs on the photograph of the wagon I'm making are very lightweight so I will have to see what I have in my box of tricks. Then it will just be down to painting and lettering which will be attempted by hand.

Edited December 9, 2023 by airnimal

[S.D.L.]

Why do you prefer to add the bolts after painting? do you end up with glue spoiling the finish ever?

Do you know where the fine chain is from is it Eliens?

 

Steve

[Regularity]

47 minutes ago, S.D.L. said:

Why do you prefer to add the bolts after painting? do you end up with glue spoiling the finish ever?

 

On 07/05/2022 at 13:42, airnimal said:

I have placed the Masterclub bolts in the solebar's but I will not be glueing them in until I have painted the body. The body colour I presume is the same as other lime wagons from the Buxton area which was cream or buff with black metal work. It will be easier to touch the bolts heads with a dirty black wash and then glue them in.

Different colours.

[Compound2632]

57 minutes ago, Regularity said:

Different colours.

 

In 4 mm scale, I've tried applying the (black) Archer rivet transfers, representing bolt ends and nuts*, after painting the wagon in its base colour of grey, with the same end in view.

 

*Says he, being a pedant.

[Penlan]

20 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

..... I've tried applying the (black) Archer rivet transfers,

Did you source these in the UK?
I couldn't find any recently, in spite of various searches, etc.,
I've had to get mine from over the pond 🏊‍♂️

[airnimal]

S,D.L.  as Regularity says the bolts are put in afterwards because they would be painted black. It makes it far easier to do them before fixing then in. 

Chains for the door drops are made from twisted brass wire from a roll I bought about 30 years ago from the original Elleen's Emporium for the princely sum of £1.50.  I have more than enough to last a life time. Other larger chains that I use I am not sure the source of this. 

I believe that Historex sell Archers rivet sheets. This is where I buy my Masterclub parts from. I keep wondering if I should stock up on these because they are made in Russia and they could disappear from the market. I will have to look at my stock and see if I have enough for future builds.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Penlan said:

Did you source these in the UK?
I couldn't find any recently, in spite of various searches, etc.,
I've had to get mine from over the pond 🏊‍♂️

 

I got my Archer rivet transfers from DCC Supplies; I probably last bought over a year ago. Looking at their website, they're all at sale prices so it may be they are ceasing to stock them. As Mike says, Historex Agents seem to carry the full range - one has to scroll down a long way past all the military insignia to get to the things we're interested in!

Edited May 11, 2022 by Compound2632

[Penlan]

Thank you Compound2632 and airnimal, I wonder why my searches didn't pick them up.
For the moment, I shall await my order arriving from the USA. 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Penlan

[airnimal]

Hopefully the basic bodywork is now complete with just a few bits to add. I still have to sort out axleboxes and springs before any painting can commence. 

[S.D.L.]

On 11/05/2022 at 11:52, airnimal said:

S,D.L.  as Regularity says the bolts are put in afterwards because they would be painted black. It makes it far easier to do them before fixing then in. 

Chains for the door drops are made from twisted brass wire from a roll I bought about 30 years ago from the original Elleen's Emporium for the princely sum of £1.50.  I have more than enough to last a life time. Other larger chains that I use I am not sure the source of this. 

I believe that Historex sell Archers rivet sheets. This is where I buy my Masterclub parts from. I keep wondering if I should stock up on these because they are made in Russia and they could disappear from the market. I will have to look at my stock and see if I have enough for future builds.

Even more wow that you make the chain,  can you do some picture how next time you do some.

Love the subtle weathering.

[airnimal]

S.D.L. I will take some photographs next time I make the chain for the door drops. 

 

I have made the axleboxes and springs from Slaters Midland wagon mouldings. The axleboxes have been modified with a slot in the rear to allow for the movement of the wheels. 

After a wash and a quick check over I sprayed the body in Halfords grey primer before a couple of thin coats of Cream. The cream paint came from Fred Aldous craft shop in Manchester. It is a acrylic paint that is supposed to be quick drying but although I have only given it 2 thin coats it doesn't appear to be drying very fast. I will leave it to dry for a couple of days before I handle it again.

[airnimal]

After a couple of days drying I have started to paint the Black parts with a tin of Humbrol No 85 let down with a small amount of White. As soon as I started to paint I realised this is not going to be easy. 

Any painting of the Black will show up like a sore thumb where it meets the Cream unless it is totally accurate. Now painting has always been my Achilles Heal and this one is going to test my patience to the limit. Having done only a small amount I'm in the frame of mind that this one is going to end badly.  Then I knocked my tin of paint all over the workbench with much cussing and swearing.

This wagon will probably end up in a bath of paint stripper before I lose the will to live.

All this is before I try to paint the hexagonal bolts and try to glue them in !

Edited May 18, 2022 by airnimal
I got the number wrong for the paint, now corrected.

[Compound2632]

Interesting that in 7 mm scale Slaters do the pre-1890 8A grease axlebox as well as the Ellis 10A and oil box - alas we are not so favoured in 4 mm scale - though do have the MJT whitemetal ones. 

[airnimal]

I am going to post photographs of this Lime wagon to show how bad my painting is despite my embarrassment.  Trying to paint down the side of 10 thou ironwork on the side of this wagon is pretty near impossible even with the finest brush. My eyesight is not what it was and my steady hand is not far behind. I wonder whether it is worth carrying on wasting time that I could use elsewhere doing something more likely to succeed.  I have all the corner plates as well as the complete other side to do before I get to the lettering.  

[kitpw]

36 minutes ago, airnimal said:

before I get to the lettering

...and then weathering?  Won't that disguise some of the problem which you identify and which I can just about make out if I really look pretty hard at it.  I've found that a bit of overpaint in the angle between ironwork and siding can be reduced if not removed with a sharp scalpel used very lightly - some (dry) matt varnish before tackling the black over cream colour might assist as it provides a little bit of comfort under the scalpel blade before hitting the cream layer.  Just a thought...it all looks pretty good to me as it is:  no doubt the painters on the original 12" to 1ft version would have cursed that livery, but perhaps 'cutting in' attracted twice the rate as 'all over' one colour, so a bonus day for them!

Kit PW

[Compound2632]

Looks very neat to me. Are you able to touch in with the cream?

 

I've got lime on the brain just at the moment. A loaded lime wagon would be sheeted, so that would hide much of the lettering...

 

But as a PO lime wagon, whose sheet?

Edited May 16, 2022 by Compound2632

[Schooner]

Spare a thought for how the rest of us feel! Looks bloody good, and even if it's not perfect to you, I'm hard pressed to spot any issues in a close-up photo and have no doubt it'd be the pride of anyone else's wagon fleet.

 

I'm really not qualified to comment, but have read that using a fuller brush can help with paint flow off the tip and so consistency and accuracy with fine details. Counter-intuitive, but there we go!

 

Anyway, the relief (for touching up) and processes yet to come will be your friends I suspect :)

[Regularity]

We are always our own worst critics.

Or should be.

 

[airnimal]

I have painted the corner plates and tried to clean up the other Black painted ironwork by cutting back with a scalpel.  This has helped a little bit so I am going to continue until I get to the next crisis !

 

The wagon photograph I am working from has a sheet over one end but the sheet has fallen into the centre of the wagon.  I may have ago at trying to reproduce this but that will will be a long way off just yet. 

 

I agree that we all should be our own worst critic otherwise our own standards would never improve. 

 

Just had a message from one of our grandsons wishing us both happy wedding  anniversary . Both my wife and myself had forgotten.  37 years wed.

Edited May 17, 2022 by airnimal
Forgotten something.

[Western Star]

Congratulations to you and Yours....  and to the wagon as well.

 

regards, Graham

[kitpw]

34 minutes ago, airnimal said:

wishing us both happy wedding  anniversary

Happy anniversary! (I said the same to my wife this very morning... 42 years!).  Best wishes for more years and more top notch models.

Kit PW