BNFL PIA/PXA.

[kevpeo]

Moving along nicely now, the two subframes are now finished apart from the handbrake wheels, of which I only have one left! I had a look for some more yesterday at Preston show but no luck. I'm pretty sure they were Langley Models castings, so the hunt continues. As you can see on the photo, plenty more has been done! -

 

 

From the back, two pieces of .5 steel wire, bent into an ''L'' shape 10mm long, have been glued into two .5mm holes drilled in the plywood, to act as the handbrake wheel supports. Markits buffers have been added with A1 models etched backing plates. I strengthened the inside of the ends of the buffer beams with 30 thou plastic sheet, so two holes could be drilled for the tie down anchors. In this case from 51L, but the originals were AME ones. Two handrails (If that's what they are!) 4mm long were bent up from .3 wire for under the buffers. These angle forward slightly, while above, a lamp iron and two other ''sticky up'' bits (no idea at all what they are!) were fabricated from 1mm wide brass etch offcuts. These top two venture into OzzyO territory, as they have a 1mm x 1mm square soldered on! Pilot holes have been drilled for the bogie fixing screws as well as the hole for the main fixing screw. Sizes for these will depend on the size and type of fixing you're using.

 

 

On the body, the tie down loops, 51L again, have been soldered to .5 wire for strength and fixed with plenty of superglue 12mm and 34mm back. This added wire wasn't done on the earlier wagons, so I spend a lot of time sticking the tie downs back on again! More pilot holes have also been drilled, 4mm back, for the subframes to be attached, as well as some small patches of filler in any imperfections, just the valves and bogies to do now! Kev.

[trains12]

I didn't think I had input anything as such but it seems clear that nobody has mentioned the Barrowmore MRG scans.

 

If you would care to visit their site and find the international wagon pdf's, book 3 drawing E474 (3 versions) contains the information you require although I am not sure the international numbers are correct.

 

Hi Kevin

Must apologise, never thought of looking in those. I have about 20 of these in The Railway Study Centre collection and just didn't think.

Regarding the other drawing, I was given that long before the MOD drawings were produced and were used as stated in my pm to you.

Well on the way with producing the 6 sub frames but things chaotic at present.

Keep up the good work.

Peter

[kevpeo]

I may have to go that way Argus. I could try building up the etch with solder to ''thicken'' them up a touch so they don't stand out too much against the others! kev.

[ozzyo]

Yello Kev,

 

at first I thought that these could be lamp irons but on looking at the prototype photos I can see it to the left of the coupling hook. So what are they for?

 

The handles under the buffers, well there not for the shunter to pull the wagons about (unless he's Superman), these look to be a foot hold for getting up on to the wagon running plate so the up-stands would be the hand holds for them. This is only a guess, but I can not see any other way up to the running plate apart from this.

 

OzzyO.

[kevpeo]

I'm suspecting they could have reflectors on them Ozzy, of course I'm more than likely wrong!

 

Now I've got a few other projects out of the way it's time for the bogies. I have managed to remember where I had problems with these the first time, so I won't make that mistake this time. The first job after cleaning off any flash is to drill out the holes in the cross-member castings and those for the wheel bearings, as most of mine were full of white-metal! After that I modified the shape of the longitudinal beams -

 

 

The original on the right, the modified on the left. This is to clear the axles so you don't need six 31's to pull one wagon! Start by pushing down on one side while holding down the other -

 

 

Then reverse and push down the other side until all five points touch down together. After this I used a paintbrush handle to bend the outer halves back again -

 

 

After fitting the bearings to the side-frames the bogies were assembled ''dry'' and carefully transferred into the vise where they were soldered together using ''low melt'' solder. Although the iron has to be pretty hot to get the castings to start to melt! -

 

 

The two rectangles of card you can see help to hold everything square(ish!) After soldering both joints on the top side the bogie was checked for ''flatness'' on a piece of glass, in this case the top of my stereo cabinet! After tweaking the bogie was then transferred back to the vise to solder the lower joint -

 

 

I haven't trimmed back the longitudinals yet, or fitted the axle box covers. Thanks for looking, Kev.

[kevpeo]

Once all the bogies had reached the above 'rolling' stage it's time to fit the ends. I'm sorry but there's no easy way to say this, but these are a complete t**t to do!!!! I marked out the first using a knife to score the longitudinals -

 

 

But as this turned out to be exactly 17mm from the main cross-member, I just marked out the rest and cut them back with a heavy duty knife. After cleaning up the ends, fitting these takes three hands, plus several burned fingers, (and a jumper!) if, as I did, you solder them together. If you're not confident with a soldering iron they can be assembled with suitable glue, they just won't be as strong. I added fillets of epoxy resin to the inside corners just to make sure!

 

Once the epoxy had set I fabricated a couple of simple ''U'' shaped couplings from .5 steel wire -

 

 

These are 15mm by 10mm and passed through two holes drilled through the end of the bogie frame, with the ends bent over and super-glued behind the white metal frame to take the 'pulling force' of what could end up as quite a heavy train! I left 8mm still protruding from the bogie. As you can see there are two different bogie center castings in the Appleby kit, so I use a pair on each sub bogie with the 'center bossed' casting as the outer coupling fitted one.

 

Now finally I could start to assemble the whole wagon for the first time. First the sub-bogie assembly -

 

 

And the underside -

 

 

This turned out to be slightly high on the inner end, quickly cured with a few file strokes to flatten the top of the half round castings on top of the rear bogie. And then -

 

 

 

It lives!!!!! Kev.

[kevpeo]

If anybody wants a look at no4 before I ruin it with paint! I'll be taking it to Liverpool for a test run on Coppell with its three sisters this weekend. I'll leave it in a visible position during the show. kev.

[kevpeo]

Blimey, it has been a while! What with Hatton's selling off 86's cheap, Bachmann releasing the 85, plus a couple of 'peds' for mates. The poor PIA got forgotten. Those and the ongoing saga of building a patio meaning I only get to model when it's wet! But, with a weathering session coming up for the above, it was dug out of the stock box, where it has sat since its successful test run at Liverpool show in April!

 

First the body and sub-frames were given a couple of coats of grey primer, before the body was sprayed with Railmatch 'track dirt' -

 

 

Next job, a coat of gloss varnish for the body sides and ends before the Fox transfers, and a couple of coats of BNFL blue (?) for the sub-frames.

[kevpeo]

Hello all. Still slowly plodding along and making some progress, if slow! -

 

 

The body is now lettered up, and just needs some valves adding before a coat of matt varnish to finish off. The sub-bogies are painted blue and just need the handwheels adding, then weathering. While the bogies have had the axle boxes fitted and are ready for a wash, before masking off the wheels for painting. No, they don't come out again. Well not easily anyway! Thanks for looking, kev.

[kevpeo]

Well hello, here we are again! I’ve been through the earlier posts doing a bit of tidying up, so I feel like I’ve just got here. So, onwards and upwards! After fabricating some basic air valves from .5 wire and scraps of brass, these were added to the main well body and painted, before a coat of matt varnish to seal everything in. The white metal handbrake wheels were then cleaned up of any flash and painted white, before fitting to the sub-frames. The wagon was then re-assembled and lightly weathered before the handbrake wheels were painted white again! The result so far –

 

 

Not too shabby eh! The next job is the ‘’cradle’s’’ which sit on the sub-bogies. I’ve no idea what they should be called, or what they are for? Although I have been told a couple of suggestions in the past, none of which make a lot of sense to me!

These things –

 

 

I’ve started with four pieces of 10 thou plastic sheet, 41mm x 10mm, to which I’m in the process of adding four pieces of 30 x 30 thou. -

 

 

These should really be L section but as they are practically invisible when fitted and the others have already been done this way I’m sticking with it. 90% of the effect for 50% of the effort works for me every time! Back soon(ish!) kev.

[kevpeo]

Hi all, Look out, I’m back again! Once the four side plates had set I added four strips of .015x30 plastic strip to one side only. The next job was to fabricate the cross members for the base frame. These are 23mm x 30x30thou for the bottom piece with 7mm x 20x30thou for the uprights. Again these should be ‘’L’’ section but I was going for a match to the earlier ones! –

 

 

When these had set, the plates were cleaned up and a 45 degree angle filed on the four ribs where they were to meet the base frame. One base frame cross member was then fixed to each, using my trusty class 37 weights again to keep them square –

 

 

Getting close, kev.

[kevpeo]

Once set, the four sub-assemblies can be stuck together -

 

 

 

 

 

Followed by adding the remaining underside cross pieces, as on the left. Once all the frame cross-pieces have set you have these –

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a dilemma! If you add the top cross-pieces now you get a good bond to the joints but they are a t**t to paint! Or, if you leave them off until after painting, you have a heck of a job sticking them on. I chose the latter! Time for the paints again. Kev.

[ozzyo]

And a dilemma! If you add the top cross-pieces now you get a good bond to the joints but they are a t**t to paint! Or, if you leave them off until after painting, you have a heck of a job sticking them on. I chose the latter! Time for the paints again. Kev.

 

Kev,

 

what about adding the cross pieces now and spray painting the things (did you ever find out what they're for?) masking off the bottoms of the bases.

 

OzzyO.

[kevpeo]

Its the tops of the side sheets (the grey bits!) that are the pig to paint with the top cross-members on Ozzy. The paintings done now, so I can add them soon, if I can leave my latest 27 alone that is! kev.

[kevpeo]

Not a 27 on the front, but with 26 028 leading, the completed wagon waits to depart Loch Dour for Sellafield ready for service-

 

 

 

 

Who forgot the tail light? In reality it will just sit in its stock box with the other three, waiting for Coppell’s next show! And that’s it for now, as I haven’t decided whether to load this one with flasks or not. Is this just the end of part one? Maybe! Thanks to all who have followed my ramblings so far and posted photos and helpful comments, they are appreciated. Kev.