Northmoor Works - Rolling stock for Stockrington: Southern Pride TCVs

[LNER4479]

Just popped by for a look - glad to see you're making the best of your situation by getting on with the P2. Looking good

[jukebox]

A touch of melancholy today - there was movement on Stockrington for the first time in more than 6 months.  After a week of tweaking, and fiddling about, I got The Bruce to a stage where I was confident it could operate, albiet as an 0-8-0, and so took it upstairs for a short trial.  Happily, it can indeed move it's own weight, and can climb the 3% grade out of the storage sidings.  Not having seen a train in six months, the track was quite dusty, but I was able to operate the P2 up the ramp and along the storage tracks.  Without the leading and trailing bogies, it was not a happy camper on facing turnouts when diverging, though.... 

 

I've every intention of following some of Alan Rice's advice on making those parts of a model loco help do the job they are designed for - helping steer the frame of a loco in and out of curves - but the patience I need to resolve that particular problem is not at hand right now.

 

I need to be in a good frame of mind, and not let myself get distracted.  I've also had a few too many weeks of "fiddly" on the P2, and it is taking it's toll on my enthusiasm.  A change is as good as a holiday, so I'm going to distract myself with a few small projects that I can complete qucikly, to freshen the modelling mojo....

[jukebox]

..and so, I decided to break into my stash of wagon kits.

 

I have, in preparation for Stockrington, been something of a bower bird.  When I've seen a bargain, I've snapped it up.  Sometimes, later I have wondered what I was thinking at the time...

 

Anyway, I have in my posession a marge number of wagon kits.  So I rummaged through them, and picked out four from different manufacturers, and shall work my way through them in the next few weeks:

 

 

Today, it was the CooperCraft kit to start the ball rolling.  Why?  Well it's a GWR wagon.  No idea why on earth I bought that!  Possibly to see how CC compared to the other manufacturers.  Anyway, I also have a collection of PO Wagon transfers, so I may just have to ignore it's heritage and treat it like a PO wagon...

 

Anyway... here's a step by step of what I did.

 

This is what you get inside the packet:

 

 

Nice and comprehensive, the kit includes wheels, bearings, decals and even the wire for the tarpaulin bar.  The only thing I could not find, but was listed on the instructions, was the coupling hook. Not sure where they were supposed to be. Never mind, it was good to have everything else in the one packet.

 

If, like me, you've built a few Airfix model planes in your mis spent youth, you will have no trouble with this kit.  The plastic is a bit soft - especially the white plastic - but with a sharp knifle, and a file to clean up, you should not have any problems.  I use Tamiya liquid cement, but any other equivalent will work fine I'm sure.

 

Start by adding the bearings to the wagon frame sides:

 

 

There's also space for a weight - I used a 1" square of roofing lead, but shot or liquid lead would work, too - under the body, which is has a cover which is glued shut over the top.

 

 

[Jaz]

Nice to see you posting, have you considered, that as a project, rather than contemplating, tearing down the layout, you can convert it (just in case) to a pack away exhibition style. 

Would they be helpful? Give you something to aim at? Or is the suggestion so silly it makes you think of a bonfire?!!! Hopefully not. We were supposed to consider our new area in this way. But once Kal decided two levels it was no longer viable. Anyways food for thought.

[jukebox]

The good thing about a wagon build is the space you need is small.  I used a small (under 12" square) wood off-cut on my self healing mat at my desk.

 

 

You only need a couple of tools - sharp knife, file, razor saw for larger sprues, glue, tweezers. Being of a certain age, I did all the work through the magnified light, which is a true blessing.  I probably should use my glasses, but I like to sit over the magnifier, and look down at the illuminated workspace through the lens.

 

 

The instructions suggest attaching the sides slightly away from the ribs on the underside of the floor.  I built a couple of Parkside wagons a few years back, and stuffed them up by placing the sides too close together - beginners mistake! - this made them anything but free-wheeling.  To make the structure work this time, I cut some thin black plasticard shims, and glued them to the ribs, then gluded the sides to them. This has the effect of spacing the sides out to fit the axles, but keeping them firmly attached to the ribs.  Using liquid cement, you can do this as a continous operation - by the time the last shim is glued, the first one is dry and you can attach the underframe sides.

 

You can see the black plasticard shims creating a space in end-on this view

 

Once the body is square and dried firm, the buffers are added to the ends, and the ends to the body

 

 

I know the buffers are not great. Yes, I could stump for some nice MJT ones.  Maybe one day I will... but right now, I want to finish these wagons to a servicable state, and get a sense of progress. If I leave the buffers off, it becomes another chore or a to-do...  If it ever bothers me that much, swaping them out and griming up some nice cast ones will not be an earth shatteringly hard exercise.

[jukebox]

So, I'd gotten this far in about 30 minutes.  That didnt inlude the two days to find the kits, and clear the buildspace, but I was rather pleased how easily it was all going.

 

Next up, was attaching the sides:

 

 

No dramas there, they are a good fit.  Liquid cement on the inside face or the ends, and hold the side in place with thumbs for 10 seconds.

 

 

Then it was time for the brake blocks to be added - again, a lot easier to get them aligned with the treads when the wheels are in situ.

 

 

Second to last item was the brake handles. I had cut out the long levers I am used ot seeing, but then saw reference to the small end levers... apparently a GWR specialty? Looking at the packaging, it seems the long levers are redundant. This is where the liquid cement and tweezers really come into play.  I touched the wagon frame with cement, and held the levers in place with tweezers for a good 10-15 seconds... carefully letting go, and making sure the glue had bitten.

[jukebox]

And so, on the same afternoon I'd started, I was done with sample #1.

 

 

I am really pleased with how easily this wagon went together.  The detail on the sides really deserves some careful painting to bring it to life.  I know there will be some modellers who don't dare try and build thier own stock - well all I can say is: have a go!  If you can put together an Airfix Spitfire, you can build this kit.  Yes, you need to take care, because it's not a static model, but the arent any traps or flaws that will really stump you - except the spacing of the frames, which you now know about.

 

I have a Wild Swan volume, "The 4mm Coal Wagon" by John Hayes.  As a self proclaimed "large layout" builder, I was bemused by the author's fascination with details such as end doors, axleboxes and the like.  Iain Rice gets similarly glazed vision in his book on plastic kit building...  but now, I understand the addiction. These small kits are fun, can be done in nice bite sized pieces of time, and the end result should be able to stand next to an RTR model on your layout without drawing attention to itself.

 

Now I'm no expert. I know there are plenty of people here on RMWeb who can do a much better job of a wagon than me. But that won't stop me building another. And hopefully each time I do, I will get a little better. 

 

The really good news is that soon I'll have a batch of kits that I can paint, and start to have a go at weathering!

 

 

(Hmmm - and as I look at that last photo, I can see I forgot one step - fitting the door springs to the area under the side doors...  Murphy has been at it again!)

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[Jaz]

..and so, I decided to break into my stash of wagon kits.

 

I have, in preparation for Stockrington, been something of a bower bird.  When I've seen a bargain, I've snapped it up.  Sometimes, later I have wondered what I was thinking at the time...

 

Anyway, I have in my posession a marge number of wagon kits.  So I rummaged through them, and picked out four from different manufacturers, and shall work my way through them in the next few weeks:

 

KIT1 A.jpg

 

Today, it was the CooperCraft kit to start the ball rolling.  Why?  Well it's a GWR wagon.  No idea why on earth I bought that!  Possibly to see how CC compared to the other manufacturers.  Anyway, I also have a collection of PO Wagon transfers, so I may just have to ignore it's heritage and treat it like a PO wagon...

 

Anyway... here's a step by step of what I did.

 

This is what you get inside the packet:

 

KIT1 B.jpg

 

Nice and comprehensive, the kit includes wheels, bearings, decals and even the wire for the tarpaulin bar.  The only thing I could not find, but was listed on the instructions, was the coupling hook. Not sure where they were supposed to be. Never mind, it was good to have everything else in the one packet.

 

If, like me, you've built a few Airfix model planes in your mis spent youth, you will have no trouble with this kit.  The plastic is a bit soft - especially the white plastic - but with a sharp knifle, and a file to clean up, you should not have any problems.  I use Tamiya liquid cement, but any other equivalent will work fine I'm sure.

 

Start by adding the bearings to the wagon frame sides:

 

KIT1 C.jpg

 

There's also space for a weight - I used a 1" square of roofing lead, but shot or liquid lead would work, too - under the body, which is has a cover which is glued shut over the top.

Sasquatch might be interested ....

[Jaz]

Also I just saw this and showed it to Sasquatch, you might want to take a look......

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/44066-wells-green-tmd-hsts-377-electrostars-even-more-dirty-fun/&do=findComment&comment=478672

 

he does some lovely colouring.

[jukebox]

Geez Jaz - at first I was disappointed when I went to a thread titled "Dirty Fun" and everyone there was clothed...  but then I got to the last few pages; cracking weathering, indeed.  Will take a good close look at some of those techniques for sure.  Thx for sharing.

[Sasquatch]

Hi Jukebox!! (or should that be Geday sport)!!
   Jaz sent me a message to come look in. Wagon building is my modeling drug. So don't be shy if you have any questions mate. 
   Nice clean build so far. Don't forget to round off the body corner plates with a fine file to represent the folded steel, it's a little touch but adds to the over all finish.

 

Regards Shaun.

 

I'll come back and read through your thread when I get 10 minutes this evening.

[jukebox]

Another day, another kit... 

 

Up on deck this time, a Ratio Cement Van:

 

 

As you can see, a few differences here: the kit is pre-painted, and the chassis is integrated with the wagon sides.  I'm not a fan of either of these choices - the first means you need to be very careful with the cement as you assemble, and to be honest, the printing is not very sharp (transfers would look neater), and the second compromise means if the kit designer or wheel supplier has not got it right, there is no way of adjusting the spread of the bearings, short of cutting off the underframe...

 

So, we start by cleaning up the wagon sides, and adding the bearings.  These were tophat shaped, not coned like the ones supplied with the CooperCraft kit, so I reamed the holes out with a small drill, to be sure they sat right down.

 

 

The instructions explictly state the need to sand down the ejector marks on the inside of the end mouldings, so the floor can be fitted. I cut these away with a sharp blade (the one on the left is as supplied, the one on the right has been tidied up)

 

 

The two ends and two sides are then glued together, to form two half wagons.  Take a bit of time and get these square (and if you make them like I do, in two halves, be sure to make matching pairs!)  Use the lines of rivet heads on the bottom edge to get the vertical alignment correct.

 

 

The fit on these kits is pretty good.  I was worried the pre-painting would mean I would not be able to disguise the joins, but the way the kit is engineered, the joins are not visible.

 

You can see a slight bit of "bleed" where the cement I used has caused a small amount of the black plastic to run when end and side were held together. It's not anywhere near as obvious away from a photography spotlight, and a touch of weathering would render it un-noticable.

[jukebox]

So I got to that point, and left the assemble to dry overnight. 

 

I came back to it, added some more liquid cement to the inside of the wagon side joins for good measure, and fitted the wheels...

 

 

They are not quite as free as I would have liked, but are tolerable - the wagon can roll, and is frictionless, but it hasn't got the "spin and wait 60 seconds for the wheel to stop" freedom that I like to see. A little lubrication should help, as will some track time.

 

The home stretch was a simple affair.

 

The roof drops into place with some lugs to secure it, and I only needed a slight touch up with a file around the corners for it to sit flat.

 

The brake assembly was tight on the floor and needed about 1mm filed off it to fit in the ribs on the wagon underside, and I also filed off a touch off the top of one of the brake blocks so it cleared the wheel tread.

 

Buffers, coupling hook, and brake lever fitted, and it was complete.

 

 

I didn't enjoy this kit anywhere near as much as the CooperCraft one...  it sort of felt "dumbed down". And yet if you arent into painting wagons, or not quite as nimble with your fingers, maybe it's a better sort of kit to try than one with lots of details. 

 

The end result looks fine - but I just did not have the same sense of achievement with the Ratio Van.

 

Next up, a Slater's 7 Plank PO!

[jukebox]

And so to Episode #3.

 

This time, a Slaters Gloucester 7 P.O. plank wagon (Kit 4059)

 

Inside the box, you get the ususal suspects - sides and ends, floor, seperate solebar/axleboxes (hooray!), wheels, cupped bearings (hooray again!), brake gear, and... turned metal buffer heads.

 

 

The instruction sheet includes a drawing of the wagon, and some advice on liveries.

 

Just looking now, I see the Slaters wagon has no detail on it's interior - the sides are smooth; the CooperCraft kit has representations of planking on its inside (but not ironwork).  Afficianados will go to town and add detail there... the Wild Swan text I previously referenced is full of useful suggestions in that regard. For now, I'm content to either use a simple weathered wood finish, or load them up.

 

Let's see how it goes together...

[Sasquatch]

That cement van is quite attractive, lots of detail. Some of the older kits can be a little challenging, Parksides LNER grain bulk grain comes to mind and the Ratio NB empty cask wagon which I had to do just what you had suggested. Remove the sole bars from the sides!

You may find that a little weight, (about 2oz) will be needed to help stop unwanted derailments. Good double sided sticky pad and a small piece of metal plate works well, or a load made from ply!!      

 

Regards Shaun

[jukebox]

Phew!  Just as well Shaun, that I don't have any of those to... oh, hang on:

 

 

The price I must pay for being an LNER Modeller, some say...

[Kal]

Cool

 

you are inspiring me to have a go at some kits, you have made that look very easy.

 

I must finish of my boat and Landrover.

 

If I do not type for a while, it is probably because my fingers are all stuck together. 

[jukebox]

Careful, Kal, they are quite addictive.  I was going to just do four...  but they have a touch of the Pringles about them!

 

And so on to Slater's finest.

 

This kit actually had some flash on the pieces, so I needed to clear a few spaces around the W iron, and on the chamfered ends of the sides.  Nothing you would not expect to do with any not-new plastic kit, really.

 

Sides attached to ends (again, watch the pairing - there is only ironwork strapping around the corners at one end of this particular kit. A test fit of sides to end is a must with this one - I found I needed to file a touch away from the corner of the sides for it to sit such that the wagon top is level.

 

Once the two parts are dry, you can then make them one, and drop the floor into place from above.

 

 

Yes, I succumbed to temptation and scribed some representation of planking onto the insides.

 

The door hinge supplied does not fit inside the wagon. I took the executive decsion and sliced off the handles on the end of this piece, leaving the hinges, and glued it in place.

 

 

Taking my cue from the Coopercraft wagon, I shimmed the chassis so that the underframes would sit wide. Don't. You don't need to!  When I fitted the frames in a dry run, I found the axles were no longer captive in the bearings.  Luckily, it was no major fuss to slice those black squares off the underside, and attach the side frames exactly as designed.

 

As the frames were drying, I noticed they do not quite reach the endstocks.  You can see in this photo I was able to slip a blade into the gap - and can do so in all four corners.  This could because I was over zealous cleaning up the solebars, but I don't think I was...

 

 

The solution is to slip some plasticard shims in, and use a touch of liquid cement to hold them in place.  Otherwise, those gaps will stick out when you look at the wagon from the side... and annoy the living daylights out of me, until I fix it...

 

It's a cool, wet evening here tonight, so I'd say this one will be put to bed before I am. Or is that 1am?

 

Scott

Edited May 28, 2014 by jukebox

[jukebox]

And that would be #3 done.

 

A very straightforward home run with the Slaters wagon - a little filing of the brake rigging attachment, to make it fit the floor, and a small amount of flash to clean up.

 

The hardest part tonight was the photos - it's a lighter plastic, so the underframe tended to disappear.

 

One good shot was all I needed, just to show the end result:

 

 

This one, like the other open wagons, will benefit from a little touch up with some wet and dry paper to round off those corner braces, and remove any rough edges before I paint.

 

My verdict - it looks great and runs well; lots of detail begging to be picked up by careful painting. The turned buffer heads are a nice touch, and would save you money of you planned to replace them anyway. The Slaters kit is another good place to start kit building rolling stock if you haven't yet tried, tho' perhaps a touch harder to get tidy than the CooperCraft product.

 

And so, onto sample Number 4!

Edited May 28, 2014 by jukebox

[jukebox]

The last of the quartet: Parkside Dundas.

 

I have a soft spot for these kits. Maybe because they have quite a few LNER prototypes in their range? Maybe because they are Scottish?  Maybe because I cut my rolling stock teeth on some of their vans - and made some stupid mistakes doing so! - and so have grown familiar with the Parkside Way of doing things?  Of maybe it's because they are so darn good!

 

Here's the table of contents:

 

 

The wagon sides and ends are detailed inside and out (not just planking, either - ironwork, bolt heads, the full smorgasboard), the bearings are top hat (this particular sample, from a few years ago, has a note that these are Alan Gibson wheels as Romfords were unavailable... unsure what you get if Romfords are supplied), and not only are the sole bars separate, but the W irons are separate from the solebars... that is different! 

 

No exploded drawing with the instructions, but the parts are labelled and numbered for identification, and there is some livery information and a brief wagon history.

 

So let's see how it goes toegther....

[jukebox]

So, we know the drill by now, right?  Start by attaching an end to a side.

 

Having seen it with the Slaters kit, I did a dry run, and found I needed to file a touch off the notch on the non-door end.  You can almost make out in the photo below that the cut out (arrowed) on the right hand side has been enlarged.  Easy to do - a couple of strokes of the file, bring the unglued priece toegther, check if the wagon top sits level - if not, back, and take a few more thou off, until it sits where it needs to.

 

 

So with the dry run sorted, we make two half wagons. 

 

I can't quite explain it, but the Parkside kit fits like the CooperCraft one - the parts are not notched or tagged, but there is a sweet spot when you glue the parts, and it looks and feels - and IS - right.

 

 

Once the two halves were dry, I attached the floor to one end, leaving the side loose. Then I attached the other end.  Finally, I held the sides in thier correct location and applied liquid cement to the joins between the ends and the sides. 

 

Stop, wait, check for squareness. All good? Then use capillary action to flow some liquid cement from the underside, along the floor join, to bond the sides to the floor.

 

And that is a sensible point to put the assembly up for a few hours - or in my case, overnight - to dry and become rigid, before starting on the underframe.

 

 

Look at that lovely detail! That's a briliant piece of model engineering. How could I possibly load that up and hide it all under coal?  Even the floor has doors modelled.

[Jaz]

how expensive is it to replace the wheels? they are the only bit that catch my eye, although once painted they will look ok. Looking good.

[jukebox]

Hmmmmm.  Why would you want to replace the wheels, Jaz? (I won't use stock with plastic wheels on Stockrington.)

 

The ones that come with each of these kits (even the Ratio one) are steel, and with pinpoint axles and bearings. I use Alan Gibson wheels on all my LNER models - they're a good compromise between cost and looks.

 

The Gibson ones with the Parkside Dundas kit are worth £2.70 just for the wheels - say 30p for 4 bearings and there's £3.00 already.  That makes the £7.00-£9.00 these kits sell for look like very good value in my book!

 

http://www.alangibsonworkshop.com/Catalogue.pdf

https://railsofsheffield.com/12mm-spoked-wheels-jr5-JJJA15906.aspx

[Jaz]

Ah just my ignorance they looked plastic eee to me. It would make sense though, people would not want to buy something then replace something fundamental to running them.

I shall slope off....But at least I am learning  ...probably to lurk in the back ground LOL

[Sasquatch]

Parkside offer to exchange the Romford wheels for keen maygib ones (OO, EM or P4) for a small supplement.

Also I've found that Gibson wheels don't like set track points. Dunsters fiddle yard has set track points, a money saving exercise which hasn't worked out.