Adam's EM Workbench: Farewell for now

[Porcy Mane]

How about Colin Craig's ladders? http://colincraig4mm.co.uk/#/ladders/4532597771

 I've tried in the past with both Messrs Craig and Bedfords brass ladder etches  but found that despite annealing, the uprights first kinked or fractured through the rung holes at the merest hint of trying to introduce anything but the slightest radius. I've never liked the visual appearance of flat etch ladders curved to match a tank body but have altered the appearance of flats to be used on the end of TTA's by soldering and filing a bit of additional rod to the uprights in the time honoured fashion.

 

 

Porcy, I've just had back a set of test etches for a Bachmann 14T anchor mounted tank detailing etch which includes a couple of types of ladders. These will probably be out in the spring time.

That's good to know Justin. I think I'll still give some of the milk tank ladders ago as they seem to have the different rung spacing's what I'm looking for.

 

P

[Adam]

Some small developments demonstrating thrift. Perhaps. All I'm really doing is utilising some of the spares very kindly supplied by etch designers to improve other wagons. First, the source, the Rumney-chassised 21 tonner which has had its levers fitted. Just door springs to go and all soldering operations will be complete.

 

 

The small horse loop under the solebar is more soft brass wire, formed and cut overlength before being soldered and trimmed to the cirrect length afterwards. All quite straightforward. 

 

Moving on to the Parkside-based 21 tonner. I've used some levers from an etch by Dave Bradwell (it was intended for plate wagons but they're extremely useful for improving all sorts of things; these aren't list items but he does sell them at shows - basically Scaleforum). The lever guides are from the same source while the stays - very practical as well as prototypical - and are pinned to the solebar. The lifting links are also from this etch. The whole thing is finer and sturdier than what Parkside supply but I don't suppose in a layout context that the difference will be all that apparent!

 

 

 

Finally, the birthpangs of a wagon - a diagram 1/166 iron ore hopper - that has been hanging around for far too long. Fundamentally this is becuse of some unfortunate design decisions - the supplied headstocks are whitemetal, the brass is rather thick and the brake levers were dimensionally suspect. Another set of Dave Bradwell brake levers and leftover Rumney Models links have tidied that up and will be joined by some suitable lever guides. Once that is done I'll be able to face up to adding all the other soldered details before worrying about the quantities of whitemetal that form the brakeshoe assemblies. This is the kind of thing that can give multi-media kits a bad name, though I will own up to putting the solebar overlays on the wrong way round. That really isn't a fault of the kit!

 

 

Adam

[ullypug]

Very nice as usual Adam. I must get round to building one of my growing collection of Justin's u/f kits. Too many distractions!

[Enterprisingwestern]

 I've tried in the past with both Messrs Craig and Bedfords brass ladder etches  but found that despite annealing, the uprights first kinked or fractured through the rung holes at the merest hint of trying to introduce anything but the slightest radius. I've never liked the visual appearance of flat etch ladders curved to match a tank body but have altered the appearance of flats to be used on the end of TTA's by soldering and filing a bit of additional rod to the uprights in the time honoured fashion.

 

BmannTTAmods-014-EditSm.jpg

 

That's good to know Justin. I think I'll still give some of the milk tank ladders ago as they seem to have the different rung spacing's what I'm looking for.

 

P

 

Not that I would presume to teach the master how to suck eggs, but to bend the ladders without fracturing, leave a big glob of solder on the rung and stile of the point to be bent and file it off afterwards, it beefs up the bending point and reinforces the angle.

 

Mike.

[Adam]

Very nice as usual Adam. I must get round to building one of my growing collection of Justin's u/f kits. Too many distractions!

I know the distractions only too well. The iron ore hopper, now it's out of the box, should at least get its brakes done before it goes back in again. Then there's the small matter of working out how the door release mechanisms should be modelled without the resin hopper in situ. Tricky.

 

Justin's bits go together as advertised!

 

Adam

[Adam]

With the flat-bottomed 21 tonner, all soldering is now complete and the body is epoxied to the chassis. The solebar detail and buffers have been glued on and the basis of the hinges have been added.

 

 

Underneath you can see that the body locates in place with a bit of 40 thou' cut to fit the hole in the chassis top plate. The generosity with the epoxy is down to wanting to keep the coupling links from hooking on the back of the hooks (as well as mixing too much). Yes, this is the right way round! I'm waiting on castings before I can finish the underframe, but that's no problem as there are jobs to do complete the body, most notably filling in that gap where the end plate should be!

 

 

Adam

[Adam]

While the solvent sets on the end piece completing the door end, I returned to look more closely at the dia. 1/166 iron ore hopper and the mess that is the design of the chassis and brakegear. The principal issue is the amount of whitemetal used in the midst of brass fittings. Now I can understand that this was intended to reduce the difficulty of the kit by reducing the number of fiddly sub-assemblies but the result, is to provide a rather crude representation of most of the bits and lots of very fiddly whitemetal to brass soldering in, as parts go in, lots of risk of doing irreparable damage or dropping off. I will end up cheating and using epoxy, but only after I've worked out the hopper door gear that goes above the solebar (oh, and there's no location provided for any of this, or the hopper. Hmm.).

 

I'd mind less if the whitemetal bits were better representation of the real thing:

 

 

Here is the real thing - https://www.flickr.com/photos/wild_boar_fell_railways/9083901065/

 

Other parts - the corner steps, notably - are supplied in whitemetal when they really should be brass. Even allowing for a proficient soldering job, which is probably dubious given the size of the joint and the competence of the workforce in these things, the chances of a whitemetal step surviving in service are slim. I replaced these with spares from a Dave Bradwell chassis for an LNER 21 ton hopper (excellent value) and, suitably reinforced with solder, this should be fine.

 

Anyhow, progress to this point is shown below with solder everywhere. Hopefully I'll be able to complete this without anything dropping off...

 

 

 

Adam

Edited February 9, 2018 by Adam

[Adam]

And now the completion of something rather better thought out, the latest Parkside, not-quite-fitted 21 tonner.

 

 

The door handles are from another Rumney Models etch for a chassis (B.28) for precisely this wagon which I shall use for something completely different, as is my wont. This also yielded the rather nice kick steps, held in place with a couple of hefty (for the size) but invisible 0.5 nickel silver pins. The handrail brackets are yet more spares from Dave Bradwell's hopper underframe etch. I have enough bits from that to detail at least one more 21 tonner so no waste there...

 

The end supports are 30 thou by 30 thou Evergreen strip - almost certainly overscale, if not by much - which is just about robust enough to put a 0.5mm hole through. The bracket mounted to these was plugged and glued into that hole and the wire threaded through with the other brackets loose upon it. These were melted in, gently, with the tip of the soldering iron; if it's good enough for Iain Rice, it'll do for me! This isn't as tricky as you might think and the result is quite robust. The paintjob is next on the agenda.

 

 

Adam

 

 

 

[ullypug]

Very nice as usual Adam. I've a couple of Justin's chassis for the 21 Tonners. I need to find my round tuit...

[Adam]

Very nice as usual Adam. I've a couple of Justin's chassis for the 21 tonners. I need to find my round tuit...

 

Let one out of the packet Andrew; it'll be done before you know it...

 

Adam

[Adam]

Clearly there's something in the air, because here's another completed wagon, a Parkside BR hybar titivated with Rumney Models tarp' rail and sundry minor details These are lovely etchings and work rather like the prototype, even locking in place. The how is best explained in Justin's instructions and you'll be pleased to know that this isn't as fiddly as it might be; the only really tricky elements are the clips because of their tiny, tiny size. The etch provides for both variants on the standard tarp' bar and this, the earlier, is the simpler owing to the fact that the later version requires 0.7mm wire to be flattened and a hole drilled with precision. This is tricky!

 

 

The slightly bent bar is very much prototypical... 

 

 

Adam

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Adam

[ullypug]

I like that a lot.

[Adam]

A couple of slightly indifferent pictures in this lovely morning light showing the BR hybar in its painted condition. Obviously it isn't actually finished; a final coat of matt lacquer and weathering, not to mention paining the insides, will follow, but a sense of what the finished vehicle will look like is clear. The painted view shows off Justin's tarp' rail etches to their best advantage I think.

 

 

 

More exotically, we also have - not complete because, if I have Rail Alphabet style lettering for wagons I can't lay hands on it right now - my 21 ton hopper, liveried for Charringtons. I think it's fair to suggest that the coal factors in question certainly got their monies' worth!

 

 

 

Adam

Edited February 4, 2023 by Adam

[Fat Controller]

I recollect seeing unfitted, grey-liveried 21t hoppers, with 'Charringtons' lettering on a red panel, at Sandy Yard, Llanelli from about 1964 onwards. They would be carrying anthracite to Charrington's various depots around the UK; one of these was situated at Chessington South, so that I could watch wagons that had passed my parents' house passing my uncle's flat at Malden Manor some days later. Other Charrington's depots included Neasden, Palace Gates and Colchester.

[Adam]

I recollect seeing unfitted, grey-liveried 21t hoppers, with 'Charringtons' lettering on a red panel, at Sandy Yard, Llanelli from about 1964 onwards. They would be carrying anthracite to Charrington's various depots around the UK; one of these was situated at Chessington South, so that I could watch wagons that had passed my parents' house passing my uncle's flat at Malden Manor some days later. Other Charrington's depots included Neasden, Palace Gates and Colchester.

 

Thanks Brian. The grey-liveried ones do seem to have been the more common if photographic evidence is anything to go by, but having seen a handful of pictures of veicles obviously in freight brown, I thought that I might as well. I'll have to do a grey one at some point perhaps. Only one of Paul Bartlett's pictures seems to show one: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/br21thopperweld/h67F00716#h3d79ba9a

 

There's a little more detail in this thread: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79192-wimbledon-sutton-other-3rd-rail-branches/?p=1246131 with a scan from Jon Hall, of a news item in Modern Railways from 1963 marking the opening of the depot - note the hoppers shown in the accompanying pictures. There are similar pictures, describing the Palace Gates depot, to be found here: http://www.bowesandbounds.org/forum/topics/charringtons-mechanised-coal-depot-at-palace-gates-wood-green

 

Adam

Edited November 7, 2016 by Adam

[rob D2]

A couple of slightly indifferent pictures in this lovely morning light showing the BR hybar in its painted condition. Obviously it isn't actually finished; a final coat of matt lacquer and weathering, not to mention paining the insides, will follow, but a sense of what the finished vehicle will look like is clear. The painted view shows off Justin's tarp' rail etches to their best advantage I think.

 

BR_op_007.gif

 

BR_op_008.gif

 

More exotically, we also have - not complete because, if I have Rail Alphabet style lettering for wagons I can't lay hands on it right now - my 21 ton hopper, liveried for Charringtons. I think it's fair to suggest that the coal factors in question certainly got their monies' worth!

 

Parkside_013.gif

 

Adam

 

Now that's real modelling right there ! Well done

[Adam]

Now that's real modelling right there ! Well done

Maybe so, but I'm now convinced that the Charringtons hopper (the upper band at least) is the wrong colour. I'm soliciting information in the prototype forum: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/116637-charringtons-coal-hoppers/&do=findComment&comment=2492544

 

Adam

Edited November 14, 2016 by Adam

[hmrspaul]

Maybe so, but I'm now convinced that the Charringtons hopper (the upper band at least) is the wrong colour. I'm soliciting information in the protyotype forum: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/116637-charringtons-coal-hoppers/&do=findComment&comment=2492544

 

Adam

For a brand new paint job I think it is close to the one I photographed at Feltham, which was worn. Pity two different topics are discussing this

 

Paul

[Adam]

For a brand new paint job I think it is close to the one I photographed at Feltham, which was worn. Pity two different topics are discussing this

 

Paul

 

While I agree with that - matching a new paint job was the aim - I'm not convinced that the wagon I'm actually modelling, which I'm fairly certain was brown overall, had a red band. The decision to split the question out was a judgement on my part that it might be more prominent on the prototype part of the forum and thus get a wider audience and perhaps the crucial piece of information: this thread is primarily about making things.

 

Adam

[Adam]

In the background, I've also been working on a Cambrian Dogfish - I've recorded a couple of these already: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37002-adams-em-workbench-hopper-and-hybar/page-21&do=findComment&comment=1924354 and http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37002-adams-em-workbench-hopper-and-hybar/?p=2097684 soI didn't record much on this one except for a couple of pre- and post- painting shots:

 

 

 

The paintjob is by Halfords, lettering by Cambridge Custom Transfers based on this example: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brdogfish/h2e31cc05#h3d632d8a I cut the transfers about to match; there seems to have been quite a lot of variation: the three wagons in this lovely picture are all different. 

 

The 21 ton hopper has had its band repainted the correct colour - which turns out to be grey - but I neglected to take a picture of it, while the 21 ton flat bottomed  (dia. 1/107 or MDO) has been primed and the underframe bush painted in a mix of matt chocolate and metalcote gunmetal. The axlebox and spring castings are also from Rumney Models and are very nice indeed. Justin may be amused to learn that I've actually used the springing on this one...

 

 

The primer reveals a couple of things on the body to attend to but nothing serious.

 

Adam 

Edited November 13, 2016 by Adam

[Mark Saunders]

In the background, I've also been working on a Cambrian Dogfish - I've recorded a couple of these already: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37002-adams-em-workbench-hopper-and-hybar/page-21&do=findComment&comment=1924354 and http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/37002-adams-em-workbench-hopper-and-hybar/?p=2097684 soI didn't record much on this one except for a couple of pre- and post- painting shots:

 

Dogfish_019.gif

 

Dogfish_020.gif

 

The paintjob is by Halfords, lettering by Cambridge Custom Transfers based on this example: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brdogfish/h2e31cc05#h3d632d8a I cut the transfers about to match; there seems to have been quite a lot of variation: the three wagons in this lovely picture are all different. 

 

The 21 ton hopper has had its band repainted the correct colour - which turns out to be grey - but I neglected to take a picture of it, while the 21 ton flat bottomed  (dia. 1/107 or MDO) has been primed and the underframe bush painted in a mix of matt chocolate and metalcote gunmetal. The axlebox and spring castings are also from Rumney Models and are very nice indeed. Justin may be amused to learn that I've actually used the springing on this one...

 

21_tonner_007.gif

 

The primer reveals a couple of things on the body to attend to but nothing serious.

 

Adam 

 

Adam

 

What did you use for the end above the end door as it may influence my method of rebuilding some wagons?

 

Mark

[Adam]

Adam

 

What did you use for the end above the end door as it may influence my method of rebuilding some wagons?

 

Mark

Does this help Mark?

 

 

The door is Airfix, the panel is just 20 thou' sheet with the detail in Evergreen strip, 10x40 on the top and 10x60 on the bottom. The verticals were more 10x40, trimmed to an angle with a *new* scalpel blade - because an old one will snag - once set. I thinned the visible edge of the 20 thou' a little.

 

Adam

Edited November 14, 2016 by Adam

[Mark Saunders]

Does this help Mark?

21_tonner_008.gif

The door is Airfix, the panel is just 20 thou' sheet with the detail in Evergreen strip, 10x40 on the top and 10x60 on the bottom. The verticals were more 10x40, trimmed to an angle with a *new* scalpel blade - because an old one will snag - once set. I thinned the visible edge of the 20 thou' a little.

Adam

Adam

 

Thanks, as the only real concern that I now have will be getting the ribs to sit vertical and stay there till the liquid poly sets!

 

Mark

[Adam]

Adam

 

Thanks, as the only real concern that I now have will be getting the ribs to sit vertical and stay there till the liquid poly sets!

 

Mark

 

I cut mine so that they were a close fit and thus stayed put until the solvent was applied - sharp scalpel again! No worse than most other details. The operating gear on the iron ore hopper I'm doing (the whitemetal is bound for use as wagon weights) will be much more challenging.

 

Adam

[Adam]

More plugging away at 51L's 1/166 hopper. I think I've reached the end of soldering for the moment without the risk of damaging what I've already done; it's time to start on the epoxy...

 

 

At the vac' cylinder end (I've straightened the lever and guide since), the cylinders themselves have been completely replaced with examples from Rumney Models while the brackets have been knocked up from scratch. The rod between the paired cylinders is a pragmatic decision since I couldn't easily solder the cylinders to the piston rods. The latter are soldered on to the chassis, the cylinders drilled slightly oversize vertically and then cross-drilled allowing them to hang off the rod which fulfils the role of the trunnions either side of the real cylinders. All this is held in with epoxy. On the real thing, the hopper supports serve as brackets for the cylinders and will here but in the meantime, the rod serves the purpose. While I can't say that my work is in the Guy Williams or John Hayes league (look at all that solder!), it's a world away from the crude whitemetal lumps supplied.

 

 

From now on, it's a matter of fettling castings and sticking them on. Soldering fiddly bits of brass would be quicker!

 

Adam