Ben Alder's Workbench

[Ben Alder]

I have decided to start a workbench topic for some of my various potterings that do not really justify a seperate blog chapter. Much of my output is filed away in my blog-click here to see it- but a lot of detailing and general building will be better served here, I think.

Firstly, a view of the cluttered mess that I call a bench. There was a thread on this sort of thing on the old forum,IIR, and this would have by no means been the untidiest

 

 

Recent activity has been the building of a HR 0-6-4 banking tank from a Sutherland Models kit of 1978 that I picked up cheaply on E Bay. This was done as a sort of light relief after the somewhat problematic assembly of a trio of 0-6-0 tender engines and does not warrant much in the way of a blow by blow account as it went together easily, but I will show my cop out method of propulsion. This involves a Bachmann Jinty chassis, and to be fair, the kit was designed round a Hornby one, so the substitution of a better runner is a natural progression.

 

The kit as it came.

 

Construction was mainly soldering, and posed no problems, as the castings fitted together well with little flash or mis matching. The basic body is tried on the chassis, and can be seen alongside a Caley 0-6-0T for comparative size.

 

 

The white metal casting for the trailing bogie was an obvious no-no, and my initial thoughts were to use a spare Hornby one that was to hand.

 

 

However, as part of my Small Ben and Caley bogie builds using the Hornby T9 chassis- details here-, I had a spare Hornby T9 that I had bought on Ebay as damaged- the cab had been broken and the drive gear had moved on its axle - I suspect a dive from a base board to the floor. This had its non tyred wheels removed for use on my builds and the tender is earmarked for another HR build, so I decided to use the leading bogie on the tank to give all wheel pick-up. This can be seen in the photographs.

 

 

Once assembled and cleaned, the body was given my current approach to covering- two coats of Humbrol spray grey primer, followed by three light coats of Games Workshop Chaos Black. Lining was Modelmaster transfers and it was finished with two going-overs with GW Purity Seal, a satin varnish. The engine never actually made it to BR days, but to my eyes looks quite at home in mixed traffic livery, and I can soon rattle up an excuse for its survival if needed

 

 

 

All in all, it was the perfect antidote to my previous builds, and could even give WM kits a good name . To be fair, all my recent builds have their origins in the seventies and I am sure that a more recent kit would prove a different experience entirely.

[Mikkel]

Hi Richard, good idea with a workbench, and what a start. Great looking banking tank, very workmanlike. The last photo is delightful. There is a real sense of character and atmosphere to your locos, I really like that.

 

By my standards, your bench looks quite tidy, actually . I do wonder about the box labelled "cow" in the third photo, but perhaps I shouldn't ask !

[coachmann]

You naughty man painting it in BR lined black when the last one was withdrawn in 1932, reputedly in crimson lake. B)

 

Still, I look forward to further developments on your workbench.

[Ben Alder]

I don't really know why I haven't done a thread up to now TBH, but it might encourage more output. The loco building phase is coming to a halt, I think, and my attention has turned to tidying up the rest of the Black Fives- they look huge after working on the small Scottish 0-6-0's!

 

No cows have been harmed in any way I can assure you . The stand was originally for butter presses and the packaging was changed to help sales, giving me a very handy rack of containers for those bits and pieces that are so essential for cluttering up ones work area.

 

The thought of a crimson lake loco has indeed passed by me, and I am toying with the idea of another Small Ben finished in that livery- there is a "spare" T9 around, and I also have the unused remnants of the kit that could form the basis of such a build. A case of watch this space, I think.

[Portchullin Tatty]

and I am toying with the idea of another Small Ben finished in that livery

 

and i really must confront getting my one done soon.......................race you (although my money is on you!!)

 

I do also still intend to commission lettering for the names, especially as i have now discovered the magic CAD command to edit fonts.

[Ben Alder]

The difference between the two of them will be that mine will be a bodge-up, no doubt, whereas yours would stand close scrutiny - I have wasted too many years waiting for the R-T-R brigade to recognise that there were rails north of the border to bother about the odd mm or two. Benachie has not long finished a Small Ben, and has written it up in Featured Content.