My occasional mostly wagon workbench

[101]

As I've been on the forum for quite a while without really posting any modelling, I thought that perhaps I should start a thread to show that I do actually occasionally do a little bit.

 

I did just short of 39 years on the railway before taking voluntary redundancy with most of that as a driver, so the urge to 'play' trains has gone, and as such I don't really have much interest in locos , although in saying that I do own a couple, as the thought of a small wagon shops type layout is sometimes at the back of my mind.

 

 So my main interest is wagons, with the period I remember most fondly being somewhere in the first half of the 1980s, with vacuum wagons and Speedlink trains, it was still always interesting.

Like many of us my modelling comes and goes in waves so I doubt I'll be posting new things too often, but I will probably post a few of my older finished projects.

 

The latest thing I have been working on is a couple of rebodied HTV hoppers, I spoke to Parkside (Ian?) a couple of times at shows and he told me that the rebodied hopper was on his list of future kits, as they already made the 4mm kit, but sadly he never got around to it before selling to Peco. I'd converted a couple of 21t hoppers to vacuum brake with altered end stanchions previously so thought it was probably possible to make a rebodied one.

 

The first one finished, I'm happy with it, although the weathering needs finishing/improving. 

 

Using a PS104 kit, the first thing to do was to pare off the two outer and middle ribs on the upper sides also remove the 3 inner ribs and put two new ones on from microstrip in line with the outer ones. Then a couple of ribs were added onto the bottom hopper sides. It was then just a case of making the triangular side supports from plasticard and the end stanchions from microstrip. The vacuum cylinder is I think an ABS one and the vacuum pipe running along one side is brass wire/rod. I also replaced the springs with larger 3D printed ones as I wanted to model the uprated 25t hoppers that were in Stone traffic.

 

 

 

 

The next one on the workbench showing the mods to the body quite well

 

(sorry that photo was deleted and lost in the forum crash)

 

Thanks for looking

Edited May 29, 2022 by 101

[101]

 

Finished the second one now, this shows the added/altered bits.

 

 

 

Both together, I'm quite pleased with them, thought it would be years before anyone produced these rtr, but expect an announcement anytime soon now I've done them 

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by 101

[Hal Nail]

Missed this before. Cracking bit of modelling: It's always very satisfying to do a conversion.

 

You've made paring off the existing detail sound routine but doing it that neatly isnt easy - what did you use?

 

The paint job is also very convincing - can you tell us a bit more about that?

 

Cheers

Ian

Edited August 6, 2021 by Hal Nail

[101]

Thanks 

I use a chisel blade in an xacto knife for a lot of things as I find it more controllable than a scalpel blade.

Just hold the knife vertical and gently pare back with the blade square to the surface, don't try to cut it all off in one go, or you're liable to take lumps out of the surface - and maybe your fingers too! The plastic in these kits is quite soft so it's easy to do, if you're careful you can do most of it with the knife then just finish off with some wet n dry.

 

 

If you're having a go, then these sides in particular need to rest on something soft when doing it - I used some folded kitchen roll - so as not to damage the moulded detail on the other side.

 

The painting is not anything special, I'm afraid it's something I'm not very good at, these are just brush painted with acrylics, I always thin them and apply a couple of coats,  and then a few powders over the top, sealed in this case with a bit of dullcote.

- and previously primed with the usual halfords spray 

Edited May 29, 2022 by 101

[Fat Controller]

That paint job is nicely understated.

[woodyfox]

Very inspiring. I have 4 of these waiting for a conversion to HTV's. Thanks for sharing. If mine turn out half as good I will be pleased! 

[Mol_PMB]

Great work!

I'm surprised how few BR-era hopper wagon kits there are in O gauge, other than ballast hoppers.

[101]

1 hour ago, Mol_PMB said:

Great work!

I'm surprised how few BR-era hopper wagon kits there are in O gauge, other than ballast hoppers.

 

Thanks

I agree, there's not enough wagons in general but for some reason whenever you see a 7mm wishlist all people seem to want is locos.

[hmrspaul]

1 hour ago, Mol_PMB said:

Great work!

I'm surprised how few BR-era hopper wagon kits there are in O gauge, other than ballast hoppers.

That is a problem with all modelling things come and go, its not so long ago a good range of BR coal hoppers were available in 7mm but I'm not sure they are now. There was a company called M&M which had a really handy range of BR wagons in etched kits and I believe are now available from First class kits https://www.firstclasskits.co.uk/  but the website is a bit of a mess. 

 

Paul

[Mol_PMB]

12 minutes ago, hmrspaul said:

That is a problem with all modelling things come and go, its not so long ago a good range of BR coal hoppers were available in 7mm but I'm not sure they are now. There was a company called M&M which had a really handy range of BR wagons in etched kits and I believe are now available from First class kits https://www.firstclasskits.co.uk/  but the website is a bit of a mess. 

 

Paul

Thanks Paul. I’ve actually got a few unbuilt coke hopper kits that I’ve had for years, that may have been from that range. Though they don’t seem to have made it into the First Class range so maybe I am getting confused. 

At present I’d be more interested in iron ore hoppers. 

I was also considering the First Class kit for a lowmac EP but was put off by the standard of build and finish on the one illustrated on their website. 

 

 

 

[hmrspaul]

13 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Thanks Paul. I’ve actually got a few unbuilt coke hopper kits that I’ve had for years, that may have been from that range. Though they don’t seem to have made it into the First Class range so maybe I am getting confused. 

At present I’d be more interested in iron ore hoppers. 

I was also considering the First Class kit for a lowmac EP but was put off by the standard of build and finish on the one illustrated on their website. 

 

 

 

I was just a bit surprised by the comment. I went to 7mm because there was a better range of BR wagons available than in 4mm. Admittedly things have altered with the loss of ABS and other changes, but RTR has replaced quite a lot. 4mm has caught up a bit since, but there are some glaring omissions in 4mm - I'll admit I am talking as a modeller of the late 1950s/early 1960s. Models for the Air brake era are probably scarcer, but there are still plenty available from some of the small suppliers. 

 

Paul

[101]

Starting this thread has given me a bit of a push to get some things from my partly done pile finished.

 

First off a couple of Parkside plate wagons, I've fitted both with clasp brakes, one BR and one LNER, they should really have four door hinges not three but I hope most people won't notice, as I thought trying to change that was a step too far!

 

 

Then this week I have working on a JLTRT presflo that had been sitting unfinished for at least 5 years.

Still not sure it's done as I'm not really happy with the paintwork - I don't enjoy painting.

 

 

Joining one I did some years ago 

 

 

You may notice that some of these still need vacuum pipes, I'm struggling to find some , I had some 3d printed but they are proving to be very fragile, I may try getting some printed with the new flexible resin.

- Also just noticed one of the presflos needs lamp brackets, funny how pictures always show things up.

Edited May 29, 2022 by 101

[101]

My mojo has been missing for a while so I've not done much apart from a fiddling around with a slaters LMS brake van that's been completed except for the handrails for around 5/6 years - anyone else hate doing handrails?

 

So I thought I'd return back to the subject of my first post - stone wagons- and show another of my earlier projects.

MTV wagons, for these I used a tank chassis - the same as BR did - and scratchbuilt a body on top.

 

 

Not a very good photo but the only one I still have of work in progress.

I used  Heljan class B tank chassis and as these are metal without doubt the hardest part was grinding/filing off the tank saddles to give a flat base to mount the body on. I also had to file the buffer baseplates from the headstock so that I could move the buffers out to the correct positions (they are too close together on Heljan tanks) in all it all took ages and I wouldn't want to do it again.

Alhough looking at the finished photos I should have taken a little longer on the chassis to fix the spring hangers to the solebars! - maybe I'll revisit them at some time 

 

 

The bodies are a straightforward box built from plastikard and plastic strip

I reused the original buffer bodies with some scratch plastikard baseplates, and added the changeover levers.

 

 

I only did these two, but overall I'm pleased with them and they're something a little different 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by 101

[Hal Nail]

2 hours ago, 101 said:

anyone else hate doing handrails?

Yes although I have no conclusive proof as Ive never even got as far as trying.

[101]

Not done much in the last couple of months but i have managed to finish the brake van I mentioned earlier, although it could still do with a bit of weathering 

 

 

Just don't look at the handrails too closely!

 

But the last week or so, like a lot of people I have been playing around with some Dapol VEA's

 

 

The first one, I have just tried to fade down the paintwork before adding a couple of hazmat stickers and weathering it a bit.

 

 

Both of the red ones have had the  insides painted black, i started by using a rattle can, but then used a few coats of cheap acrylic as I was too lazy to mask the second one!

This really makes a difference in darkening down the colour and stopping it 'glowing' so much, on both I have tried to further darken the red with washes rather than respray - laziness again! then just a couple of stickers and a bit of weathering. - I also gave this one a black roof.

 

 

The third one i resprayed the grey to give the smaller red band, again i just darkened the red a bit and added the black panel, before transfers and weathering.

As I've said before I really don't like painting much, but I enjoyed playing around with these, so hopefully it will give me a bit of impetus to have a go at some of the wagons waiting in the queue.

Edited May 29, 2022 by 101

[Adrian Stevenson]

They look great.

 

Cheers, Ade.

[101]

I forgot to say in my last post, but you may have noticed.

I removed all of the awful brake pipes fitted by Dapol, and replaced them with Heljan ones, I only needed single pipes for my time period anyway.

Luckily I had enough spare as I bought several sprues when Howes were selling them for reasonable prices, I've run out now but won't be buying any more at Gaugemasters prices.

I think I will see about getting some 3d printed, but I still have the Dapol ones that were taken off and will try the idea of Hal Nail of cutting the ends off and using some electrical insulation between them - if I can find a bit of correct sized cable - to see what they look like.

[auld_boot]

What about trying black rig tube as used in carp fishing?  Can be bought be the metre in various diameters.

[101]

5 hours ago, auld_boot said:

What about trying black rig tube as used in carp fishing?  Can be bought be the metre in various diameters.

 Never heard of that, I had to Google it! I was thinking about heat shrink tubing and that looks similar, I'll maybe look for some, Thanks 

[sf315]

On 26/10/2021 at 21:33, 101 said:

My mojo has been missing for a while so I've not done much apart from a fiddling around with a slaters LMS brake van that's been completed except for the handrails for around 5/6 years - anyone else hate doing handrails?

 

So I thought I'd return back to the subject of my first post - stone wagons- and show another of my earlier projects.

MTV wagons, for these I used a tank chassis - the same as BR did - and scratchbuilt a body on top.

 

 

Not a very good photo but the only one I still have of work in progress.

I used  Heljan class B tank chassis and as these are metal without doubt the hardest part was grinding/filing off the tank saddles to give a flat base to mount the body on. I also had to file the buffer baseplates from the headstock so that I could move the buffers out to the correct positions (they are too close together on Heljan tanks) in all it all took ages and I wouldn't want to do it again.

Alhough looking at the finished photos I should have taken a little longer on the chassis to fix the spring hangers to the solebars! - maybe I'll revisit them at some time 

 

 

The bodies are a straightforward box built from plastikard and plastic strip

I reused the original buffer bodies with some scratch plastikard baseplates, and added the changeover levers.

 

 

I only did these two, but overall I'm pleased with them and they're something a little different 

 

 

Only just seen these they look great. 

I have  a couple of B tanks that I planned to do the same with but it’s still on the to do pile. 

[101]

6 hours ago, sf315 said:

Only just seen these they look great. 

I have  a couple of B tanks that I planned to do the same with but it’s still on the to do pile. 

 

Have a go it wasn't really difficult except for the chassis - but if you want to model them loaded you wouldn't need to take as much metal off as i did. 

[Sweet pea]

101 I do like the fact you have started a wagon build thread. It's great to know I'm not the only one who is more interested in the wagon side of railway modelling.

Your wagon modelling and weathering are very good. 

[101]

Still struggling with time and mojo, so I've not done much lately. 

But I have just replaced the missing photos from earlier in the thread,

and as I was here thought I'd post some 'here's some I did earlier' photos.

 

 

These are MSV stone wagons - ex Iron ore tipplers.

They are all built from ABS kits, although all have added bits.

Imo Adrian used to get a lot of unwarranted criticism/abuse on the forums and he actually made very good kits with excellent castings.

 

 

These kits were Brass bodies with the rest in his usual white metal.

I had problems fitting the wheels squarely on the first one, so I fitted them all with WEP internal bearings with one rocking axle.

 

 

They came as unfitted wagons so all the brake gear was added, the brake blocks and bow girders are again ABS, with the levers and other bits of linkage cobbled together from Ambis bits and wire. The cylinders were made from some plastic tube, and the changeover levers from plasticard and wire.

 

 

The photos have reminded me that I still need to fit vacuum pipes to some of them.

I have made six so far and although I quite fancy a few more, that's probably more than enough!

 

 

 

Finally I couldn't resist a photo of all the vac stone wagons I've built so far 🙂

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by 101

[Hal Nail]

Nice little project. Are these 10' wheelbase?

 

On my list to do is an early 1950s built clasp braked 16T mineral from a Dapol/Lionheart wagon for which Ive picked up an Ambis etch.

 

What did the change over lever do?

[101]

23 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

Nice little project. Are these 10' wheelbase?

 

On my list to do is an early 1950s built clasp braked 16T mineral from a Dapol/Lionheart wagon for which Ive picked up an Ambis etch.

 

What did the change over lever do?

 

Yes these were the later 10ft wheelbase.

 

The changeover lever had empty/loaded positions which should've been changed over accordingly but - in my experience - were very rarely changed, and in later years a lot of them  were seized anyway. These wagons had two vacuum cylinders 18" and 21" IIRC 

and again IIRC one worked in the empty position and both worked when in loaded  position.