57xx's Workbench - more wagons and a Siphon C

[57xx]

10 hours ago, MrWolf said:

That was probably.me getting hold of the wrong end of the stick to be honest! 

 

Yes, no, maybe? It was a good shout. Clasp brake wagons effectively have this with the yokes, it got me thinking that a long wheelbase vac braked wagon Brown Vehicle (passenger stock) might need something like that.

Edited February 6 by 57xx

[MrWolf]

Perhaps there are as many sticks as there are brake rods?

 

 

All about the dog - Pinterest 

[chuffinghell]

On 02/02/2024 at 12:53, Miss Prism said:

They always look like prison vans, don't they?

 

 

They do now!

 

 

🤪

[MrWolf]

5 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

 

They do now!

 

 

🤪

 

Slow day at work again? 🤣

[chuffinghell]

6 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Slow day at work again? 🤣

🤫

[phil_sutters]

On 02/02/2024 at 12:53, Miss Prism said:

They always look like prison vans, don't they?

 

Given the odd-ball rolling stock that is on the market these days I wouldn't be surprised if these turned up one day - an exclusive from Harburn perhaps. Somehow I doubt that they had glass in the windows when in service. There are plenty of detailed photos of its reconstruction in StoneRoad's PQR album.

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/312383/43562028/in/album/620941

Edited February 6 by phil_sutters

[57xx]

I'm doing a training course  for work this week. In America. West coast America. The only thing is I'm still in the UK! 😀 This means my "working day" is starting at 3:30pm and finishing at 11:30pm. This does mean I have my morning and half an afternoon free to do other things. So apart from household and garden chores, I have also made some more progress on the Fruit D.

 

The brake levers and vac cylinder would now operate all four brake blocks.

 

Scrap etch, Mainly Trains brake detailing pack and a couple of brass lace pins came into play here. I've also since taking the pic, drilled the back of the brake blocks with a 0.5mm dimple in case any evidence later comes up of cross shafts bracing the brake blocks.

 

I'm thinking with the time I have today, I am going to get on with doing some drawing for a much delayed project. 🙂

[57xx]

Construction of the Fruit D is all done, it's now ready for the paint shop. I still need to figure out why the coupling hooks are pointing skywards. The wheels that came with the kit had to be replaced, both sets were out of true and made the wagon wobble down the track like a clown car.  No idea what brand were supplied with Parkside kits (the axles are polished steel, not blackened like AG ones)

 

 

Edited February 18 by 57xx

[gwrrob]

Lovely looking vehicle @57xx

[57xx]

Thanks Rob, it's nice to actually finish construction on a kit for a change (bar the paint). I really need to go through the half finished pile and get over the mental blocks that stopped work on them.

[MrWolf]

 Very nice job on the van. I think that I have one somewhere, I definitely have a "C" or two.

I suspect that I will have the same issues to improve/ fix on those. Thanks for the real world version of the instruction sheet!

 

It might just inspire me to clear the decks if I have some wagon builds to look forward to!

[57xx]

12 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 Very nice job on the van. I think that I have one somewhere, I definitely have a "C" or two.

I suspect that I will have the same issues to improve/ fix on those. Thanks for the real world version of the instruction sheet!

 

Thanks Rob. I'll take a few more pics showing some other "fudges" that were required and not mentioned so far if it will help in your building of your one.

[MrWolf]

19 hours ago, 57xx said:

Thanks Rob, it's nice to actually finish construction on a kit for a change (bar the paint). I really need to go through the half finished pile and get over the mental blocks that stopped work on them.

 

Neither of us use the phrase "mental block" in our house.

 

Not out of some fashionable new age approach to psychotherapy, but because if one of us says that they have a mental block, the other will say - I know, that mental block is your head, Charlie Brown...

[MrWolf]

It does seem to work though.

[chuffinghell]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Neither of us use the phrase "mental block" in our house.

 

 

I use the phrase “brain f@rt” instead 🤪
 

Edited February 19 by chuffinghell

[57xx]

@MrWolf Wolfie, Here's some extra detail pics.

 

It's easier to see in the flesh, the colour differences are washed out with the camera - but - to get some area to glue the brake lever to the inside of the solebar, I had to add a couple of small bits of microstrip behind it, otherwise the only gluing point is the thing lower lip of the solebar.  The step hangers have a nasty ridge in them where the mould is slightly misaligned. By the time I'd file it flat to get a good glue surface, then filed the other side flat because I'd done the wrong side It was very thin so some strengthening microstrip was added to it.

 

 

 

When it comes to mounting the steps, note the bracket moulded on the inside of the solebar, this is supposed to be the top part of the step bracket on the prototype so that's what you line them up to.

 

 

For the long step boards, there is a fair bit of detail that needs to be removed to get them to sit right - rivets and the bottom of the moulded bracket just mentioned. It's fairly easy to do with the tip of a sharp scalpel.

[57xx]

2 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

 

I use the phrase “brain f@rt” instead 🤪
 

I use that phrase at work a lot, usually when my mind goes blank and I have to check something with a colleague, even though it's something I might have been doing for years. 🙈

[jimwal]

1 hour ago, 57xx said:

@MrWolf Wolfie, Here's some extra detail pics.

 

It's easier to see in the flesh, the colour differences are washed out with the camera - but - to get some area to glue the brake lever to the inside of the solebar, I had to add a couple of small bits of microstrip behind it, otherwise the only gluing point is the thing lower lip of the solebar.  The step hangers have a nasty ridge in them where the mould is slightly misaligned. By the time I'd file it flat to get a good glue surface, then filed the other side flat because I'd done the wrong side It was very thin so some strengthening microstrip was added to it.

 

 

 

When it comes to mounting the steps, note the bracket moulded on the inside of the solebar, this is supposed to be the top part of the step bracket on the prototype so that's what you line them up to.

 

 

For the long step boards, there is a fair bit of detail that needs to be removed to get them to sit right - rivets and the bottom of the moulded bracket just mentioned. It's fairly easy to do with the tip of a sharp scalpel.

 

Whilst not a construction issue, I've often beefed-up the suspension J-hangers on the Parkside GWR long wheelbase vans. They always look a bit 'weak' to me.

[57xx]

On 11/03/2021 at 22:46, 57xx said:

Meanwhile, in the world of plastic...

 

My first D299 from the Slaters kit. I'm glad Compound has his D299 Appreciation thread as there were some useful tips in there, however as I read them after gluing the floor in the body and finding the solebars were too deep i had to resort to sanding them down instead of the simpler method of gluing the floor slighter higher up inside the body.

 

Bob Essery's "LMS Wagons" has a pic of one in LMS livery in the late 30's, fits my time period nicely, so the door spring and rubbing strip were added and the makers plate moved over to the correct side is from a Mainly trains etch.

 

I doubt I'll be buying any more (I have 3 plus another D305) as I found the plastic used is terrible, very brittle. Both brake levers snapped when carefully cutting off the sprue, hence the choice to model a single sided brake (as seen in Essery's book). You can also see on the right hand W iron that the plastic has gone white where is almost snapped off. Not impressed.

 

3 years after posting this, a bit more progress was made on the D299! There was some talk of Vallejo primers in another thread (I think Neal's Henley on Thames) and what colours they came in. Remembering I had some in Dunkelgelb (German dark yellow for a Panther tank kit I have) I thought it might make a good experiment to use for a heavily weathered wagon. For my late 1930's era, what better than to use an old Midland wagon for this. For anyone wonder what colour Dunkelgelb is, this is Vallejo's take:

 

Whilst the airbrush was out, the Fruit D got an undercoat and had the roof painted.

 

 

 

[Adam]

Nice work - especially the solution to the steps - but weren't Fruit Ds brown under the GWR? They were certainly coaching stock so far as livery was concerned under BR.

 

Adam

Edited March 25 by Adam

[AlfaZagato]

Fruit D's were absolutely 'brown' stock.  Though I wouldn't doubt there being an almost-matching Mink that would have been gray.

[57xx]

10 hours ago, Adam said:

Nice work - especially the solution to the steps - but weren't Fruit Ds brown under the GWR? They were certainly coaching stock so far as livery was concerned under BR.

 

Adam

 

Yes, absolutely, the black is just undercoat. I have some Precision "GWR Freight Van Brown" to go over the top of it.

[cctransuk]

29 minutes ago, 57xx said:

 

Yes, absolutely, the black is just undercoat. I have some Precision "GWR Freight Van Brown" to go over the top of it.

 

Black is far from being an ideal undercoat - far better to use something like Halfords grey primer.

 

CJI.

[57xx]

4 hours ago, 57xx said:

 

Yes, absolutely, the black is just undercoat. I have some Precision "GWR Freight Van Brown" to go over the top of it.

 

Actually, I should correct that - the black is the first undercoat. That was left a week to dry properly, then a second undercoat went on, this time red oxide from the ubiquitous Halfords rattle can, sprayed lightly with a slight downward angle. This has left the crevice's in the woodwork looking darker. Whether this will show up as a shading effect after the dark brown top coat, who knows. I had also done a test with on and old scrapper wagon, putting the freight brown directly on the black Vallejo primer. Whilst the black primer worked great as a base for the GWR freight grey on the CC7, I wasn't overly pleased with the result of the brown over it, hence opting for the red oxide as a better base colour.

 

 

The roof has also had a mist of dirt sprayed on it. It won't get weathered too much as these were built starting in 1939, right at the tail end of my timeframe.

Edited March 25 by 57xx

[MrWolf]

You will find that you need fewer coats of the chocolate brown paint over the top of a dark undercoat as regardless of the type of paint, dark browns don't cover particularly well.