Adam's EM Workbench: Farewell for now

[cctransuk]

Not easy finding Cambrian stockists online (actually with stock) is it?

Adam

 

 

Why not buy on-line from http://cambrianmodels.co.uk/ .

 

Simples !!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Adam]

Detail layering time now. The corner reinforcing angles have been replaced in 5 thou' and the small squares on the axlebox covers added. Next was the side supports for the hopper. As the first picture demonstrates I have reduced the width of these to more closely match the look of the prototype. The end ones are far too thick and will be replaced in 10 thou'.

 

 

Here's the wagon as it stands:

 

 

Meanwhile, the increasing warmth means that I can actually spray something, in this instance a bargain Hornby GW shunter's truck. Hornby supplied this following a preserved example in GW grey with BR style lettering: BR practise was to paint these black since they were departmental stock, so far as I can tell (and according to what dad remembers) with straw lettering. I've added a bit more brakegear and a vac' through pipe but that is all. Lettering will have to wait until I next order transfers...

 

 

Adam

[Adam]

Layers of detail time. Side on, we have brass v hangers (do these before you fit the tiebars if you're going to do this) boltheads, more grab irons, label clips and the lever guides. These are a particularly poor bit of the kit and these Masokits versions are rather better representations of the distinctive GW pattern originals. The Cambrian levers are quite nicely shaped though. There is much more work needed below the solebars but we're more or less done above.

 

 

So far as the ends are concerned it might be worth comparing the Cambrian part - on the right - with the replacement 10 thou' sheet, just another level of finesse really, the real thing is sheet steel. I have straightened out the lever guide since.

 

 

Adam

Edited November 7, 2020 by Adam

[chrisf]

Adam, I'm liking this very much and I'm keen to see what you plan to do below the solebars.  The asymmetric brake gear should be fun ...

 

(For those who don't know, Adam bough this kit about 15 minutes before I bought mine but as in all thongs he has made considerably better progress.)

 

Chris

[KalKat]

He wears thongs while model making

[Adam]

Thanks Chris - the Cambrian brakegear, mercifully, is actually pretty good as are the various linkages. That said there are some bits that I plan on replacing. I have cut, but not yet fitted, the distinctive asymmetric vees (from scrap nickel silver etch - dad provided a copy of the relevant plan from the Jim Russell book to use as a template) at the vac' cylinder end and once they are on I can fit the remaining brakegear, then the hopper door gear. Something to do if the weather becomes inclement over Easter.

 

 

On 27/03/2015 at 11:32, KalKat said:

He wears thongs while model making

 

No, definitely not, nor on any other occasion!

 

Adam

Edited November 7, 2020 by Adam

[Zero Gravitas]

Something to do if when the weather becomes inclement over Easter.

 

 

Hi Adam,

 

It's not often you need correcting - but I'm afraid that on this occasion I cannot let your error pass   .

 

Best Regards,

 

ZG.

 

PS: Very much liking the hopper, as usual. One question - how do you fold up your lever guides and fix them to the wagon? I just can't seem to get the hang of it....

[Adam]

Hi Adam,

 

It's not often you need correcting - but I'm afraid that on this occasion I cannot let your error pass .

 

Best Regards,

 

ZG.

 

PS: Very much liking the hopper, as usual. One question - how do you fold up your lever guides and fix them to the wagon? I just can't seem to get the hang of it....

Ha! I'm attempting optimism!

 

These lever guides fold up per the instructions pretty well, reinforced with solder in all the folds, but I've added a spigot of 0.7mm wire at the top and located this in a hole in the solebar. With the stay at the bottom melted into the axle guard with a touch of the soldering iron the result is quite sturdy. If you're more cautious you can drill a 0.7 hole where the stay located and twist the stay round to give a proper location.

 

HTH

 

Adam

[Adam]

Like most hopper wagons with automatic brakes - and particularly 4 wheel ones - the underside of the Herring is quite busy. The hopper door gear will go on last but first there are relatively representative bits of brake gear linking the brake cylinder at one end to the push rod brakes . There's another set, closer to the centre line, that link all this to the brake levers. No, I'm not at all certain how these work and I have a copy of the GA... In 4mm this really doesn't matter, mercifully.

 

 

PS - while I was at it, but after the camera came out, I added some washers of 10 thou' plastic behind the bearing flanges to take out the slack in the axle at one end: 3 point compensation the easy way.

 

 

EDIT: Above is shown the completed set of linkages - note that everything is driven of the main shaft at the end of the wagon and yes, all this clears wheels and axles...

 

Adam

Edited April 2, 2015 by Adam

[Adam]

Before boredom sets in (what? you mean he's added more little bits you can barely see and that were already in the kit?!  ), here's the current state of play and with a host of small details the wagon is starting to come together. The main ones left to do are the footsteps (I've tried the Cambrian originals: too chunky and, at the non-brake end, I can foresee having to replace them fairly shortly) and the vac' pipes. Then there's the door mech's which should be relatively straightforward.

 

Side on, it looks as though relatively little has changed.

 

 

End on, however, the added details should be more evident:

 

 

Adam

 

PS - much of this detailing demonstrates the law of diminishing returns. If you are building a rake of these, the stuff above the solebar is definitely worth doing, but unless you are my kind of masochist then, apart from the brake levers, what the kit provides is perfectly good enough for probably 95% of users.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Adam

[ullypug]

I'll be doing a rake and sitting comfortably in the lower 95 percentile...

Very nice by the way!

[Adam]

I'll be doing a rake and sitting comfortably in the lower 95 percentile...

 

And that's fair enough, but do thin those side ribs down. That's the single biggest improvement and much the quickest to execute.

 

Adam

[Adam]

Time for something different (I'm waiting on the delivery of buffers for the Herring) before I fit the steps and haven't been in the mood to concoct fancy vacuum pipes, well, not yet. The underside door gear has been added and all is pleasantly 'busy' down there.

 

 

A new wagon project comes in the form of a Hornby BR standard brake acquired for a fiver in their pre-Christmas sale. The rather exciting livery that I've abused will be replaced by more sober bauxite. The body moulding came with a representation of a plywood veranda end (an in service replacement) rather than the original planking. The ply replacements seem to have been a bit later than the period I work on so I've done the extreme thing and cut out said end panel. It will be replaced with some scribed plastic sheet reasonably shortly.

 

 

I won't be doing nearly so much to the underframe on this vehicle since with all those footboards and things the detail can't be seen so outer brake yokes and safety loops only. I've moved the brakeshoes out a bit, spaced out from the solebars with a bit of 60 thou' plastic and trapped it in with some more for added security.

 

 

Adam

[Adam]

As suggested above, the hole in the veranda screen has been plugged with scribed 40 thou' sheet - I always scribe my own since most sheet looks more like domestic tongue and groove than planks - the spacing being copied from the side sheeting (1.5mm  so roughly 4" prototype).

 

 

I've added the safety loops from 0.3mm nickel silver wire, plugged into 0.5mm holes drilled into pieces of 40 thou' sheet, in two layers, glued to the chassis - the larger holes allow more glue in to secure the joint. They aren't hugely visible but make a useful difference.

 

 

Adam

[Enterprisingwestern]

Why didn't I think of the safety loop trick?, saves all the cussing and swearing trying to get 0.33 wire into 0.35 holes.

Sometimes the blindingly obvious isn't!

Well done that man and thanks.

 

Mike.

[Adam]

Why didn't I think of the safety loop trick?, saves all the cussing and swearing trying to get 0.33 wire into 0.35 holes.

Sometimes the blindingly obvious isn't!

Well done that man and thanks.

 

Mike.

 

No problem - it works because the holes are vertical while the wire is sprung into the hole at an angle. It also prolongs the life of those tiny drills...

 

Adam

[Adam]

Let's see, the last thing to do is to replace the centre section of the handrails on the bodyside. Deep breath and careful work with the soldering iron.

 

Other points to note are:

 

• New lamp irons at one end (Masokits) with the lamps soldered to them. The lamp irons are designed to be pinned to the veranda uprights. The lamp iron on the centre panel is represented by the mounting point - the lamp itself has a spigot that will pin into a hole in the veranda screen.
• New rainstrips

 

 

It's almost time for a coat of paint.

 

Adam

[BR(W)]

Let's see, the last thing to do is to replace the centre section of the handrails on the bodyside. Deep breath and careful work with the soldering iron.

 

Other points to note are:

 

• New lamp irons at one end (Masokits) with the lamps soldered to them. The lamp irons are designed to be pinned to the veranda uprights. The lamp iron on the centre panel is represented by the mounting point - the lamp itself has a spigot that will pin into a hole in the veranda screen.
• New rainstrips

It's almost time for a coat of paint.

 

Hello, Adam.

 

Superb work as usual. May I ask why you are not fitting end-platform handrails (the ones that run horizontally from the headstock at each corner to the bottom of the verandah stanchion)? I don't recall seeing vans without these, and I'm wondering if they were removed when proper shunters, riding on footboards, were deemed superfluous?

 

Cheers,

 

BR(W).

[Adam]

Hello, Adam.

 

Superb work as usual. May I ask why you are not fitting end-platform handrails (the ones that run horizontally from the headstock at each corner to the bottom of the verandah stanchion)? I don't recall seeing vans without these, and I'm wondering if they were removed when proper shunters, riding on footboards, were deemed superfluous?

 

Cheers,

 

BR(W).

 

I should have pointed out that I'm not fitting them yet. They came with the van and are waiting until I've painted it before refitting - the body is only resting on the chassis in those pictures and the bottom of the body handrails are simply clipped in place. The van ends require painting before I refit them and - being clear plastic - will need careful masking.

 

Adam

[Adam]

After a break from the workbench (conference, talks to give, book proofs to check), in my travels I acquired one of the new Hornby LNER 21 ton hoppers and it's well, quite nice though the axles have a lot of slop which must cause a bit of strife for the running in OO. In EM, however, this is not such an issue and the regauging was nice and simple. Here's the thing as it comes:

 

 

And here's after the first dabbling with bits and pieces left over from the Dave Bradwell chassis kit, the bang plates thus far which seem to have been later additions as were the cat's cradle of handrails at the ends. For this reason, I've replaced those supplied with 0.3mm nickel silver wire for the sake of consistency but I haven't yet worked out which of the (many) variations to fit. I've since changed the buffers with some from ABS as well and the 'Comic Sans' lettering had to go  if only to get rid of the metric tare weight...

 

 

Other projects have come on in dribs and drabs but they'll have to wait for the weekend.

 

Adam

Edited April 16, 2015 by Adam

[BigAndy]

Hi Adam, I've just been looking through your thread from start to present and quite honestly I had to keep picking my jaw up from the floor.

 

Your work is awe inspiring to say the least. I'm fairly new to EM myself, having modelled in finescale OO for 25 years or so - until I saw the light. If I can get anywhere near to the standard that you model to, I will be a happy man indeed.

 

BTW, have you done any more work on the 74?

 

cheers

 

Andy

[Adam]

Thank you Andy, the kind words are much appreciated (as are the clicks on the various buttons - thanks folks). The 74 is living in a box file, currently, I need to find myself in the mood to tackle the various handrails but once that and the indicator boxes are complete then the thing will be done. It doesn't sound much, does it? Hmm. I'm just in wagon mode at present.

 

One complete brakevan, I'm quite pleased with how the patch repainting has come out:

 

 

Adam

 

 

 

[ullypug]

I'm liking the brake van.

Very good!

[Colin parks]

Hi Adam,

 

What an excellent finish you have achieved with the brake van.  It inspires me to get on and complete a half-finished Bachmann re-painted standard brake languishing in the sidings. Whose make are the transfers that you have used if you don't mind me asking?

 

All the best,

 

Colin

[Adam]

Thanks Colin, Andrew, clickers. The transfers are Modelmaster, Colin. I wouldn't bet on them being exact matches to a prototype but I think it's in the right ballpark and at the back end of a long rake of something or other it will do nicely. Now, back to the Herring, I think.

 

Adam