Jack's Present Day Workbench - Coaches of Many Colours

[Wigan Wallgate OO Gauge]

Thank you both....

I am aware of the livery error of the 'pacer', but I've decided to let this slide under the radar as I'm never going to be able to match the yellow used. I may address it at a later date, and may end up respraying both cab ends.

The generator coach used Bachmann's BG full brake as a base, which I picked up very cheap from a second hand section of a model shop. The windows that needed filling were filled in initially with plasticard blanks, cut roughly to shape and glued in about 1mm recessed from the coach side. I then used Squadron Model Products white putty filler to bring the filled in window up to the coach side level, and various grades of sandpaper were used before some very fine 1200 grit sandpaper to create a smooth surface.

For painting I used Halford's grey primer then white primer in light coats, then Railmatch Network Rail yellow, although the same firm's 'Warning panel' shade will do equally well. The roof was left in the grey primer, as this was a good match to the actual roof colour, and the ends were painted black. Transfers are from the excellent Railtec range, and they cater for a huge selection of yellow stock as well as many other items of modern rolling stock. After this, the coach was weathered by streaking some grey and brown shades down the sides and roof, before wiping off with thinners and a cotton bud. Finally a sealing coat of Humbrol Matt varnish was applied. Hope that helps!

More OTA progress has happened this week as well as a very red wagon...more to follow soon

Thanks,

Jack.

Superb work Jack, you certainly are one very talented modeller! I can't thank you enough for all that information. Now to get underway with my own, as long as I can find all of that over here in NZ haha (I hope so). Can't wait to see more of your projects

 

Cheers

Tom

[Jack374]

Cheers Mark and Tom

 

I'm sure you can find all the products you need in NZ Tom, they don't have to be the same and many companies often offer the same product in different packaging! You could try car paints in spray cans as many have, as there are loads out there in a variety of colours. Just test it on an old wagon or similar and if it looks 'right' then go with that.

 

Interesting work on the MHA and OTAs. Looks like you've made a nice job of fabricating the axle guards, think I'd have taken the lazy option of fitting some of Bill Bedford's sprung brass units.

I'll be honest Mark...I hadn't thought of that! I've heard of his products before but it just slipped my mind when thinking how to go about the task. Besides...I had a lovely set of Ultrascales staring at me, which aren't mounted on pin point axles, so I needed some sort of axle orientated suspension system.

 

In other news, my OTA rake now totals 8 after I acquired another EWS example for a very reasonable price at my local model shop (Transport Models of Preston...I have no connection), which in my eyes is reasonable for a train load of logs. They could be any length when they ran on the WCML before being replaced with the KFA and Cargowaggons...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/d210bob/20633488373/in/album-72157629868996786/

I also bought some brass square section to help straighten out the MHA sides and MXA sides too, as I've scrapped the idea of using fully brass sides. The MXA and OTAs are nearly ready for painting, and the transfers arrived from the ever prompt Railtec yesterday, after being ordered two days previously. Update soon!

 

Thanks,

Jack.

[newbryford]

For painting I used Halford's grey primer then white primer in light coats, then Railmatch Network Rail yellow, although the same firm's 'Warning panel' shade will do equally well.

 

Wash your mouth out with soap and water..............

 

How dare you confuse Network Rail yellow with warning panel yellow..............................?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mick

[Steadfast]

And how many shades on the NMT?

I reckon at least one of the Mk3s must be warning panel yellow ;-)

 

Jo

[newbryford]

And how many shades on the NMT?

I reckon at least one of the Mk3s must be warning panel yellow ;-)

 

Jo

 

One of them certainly used to be, as they ran out of NwR yellow once!

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Jack374]

Wash your mouth out with soap and water..............

 

How dare you confuse Network Rail yellow with warning panel yellow..............................?

I knew as soon as I even suggested anything about the colour yellow I'd open a can of worms...and you didn't disappoint!

 

I shan't tell you which project I'm finishing next then...

NMT?

Thanks,

Jack.

[Jack374]

Evening all,

 

Apologies for a lack of updates, but due to holiday and other things, time has been rather hard to find.

 

Anyway, recently I've been working on my troublesome voyager. It's never been right, and after exhausting every option, I think the motor is just not good enough to drive two bogies on a very heavy chassis. Therefore it has now been swapped for the motor out of my DRS class 20, which was removed to allow extra space for a decoder and lighting circuits. The motor fit nicely in the Bachmann cradle, and after lengthening the drive shaft with some plastic tube, the pickups and the motor feeds were wired to some IC socket rows to allow a conventional 8 pin decoder to be used...

I've decided to wire all pickups together and route the lights at each end to the motor car by using the cosmetic cables at the end of each car and feeding a small wire all the way along the cars. I fed two or three thin wires through the ends of the coach and soldered them inside to a small piece of copperclad that in time will be connected by a wire through the coach, with a feed from the decoder in the motor car (two IC sockets just visible in the above pic)

 

In other news, I've just detailed the end of my HHA freightliner hopper and will shortly be adding a flashing tail lamp when some parts arrive

The screw coupling is a brass kit from wizard models and this wagon will go in a trip working of wagons that also includes my recently purchased HIA hopper. This has received new buffers made from plastic tube and plasticard, white painted upper hopper doors, light grey painted end doors, picked out white 'Ts' and yellow axle box covers on the bogies, and black wheels. This makes the wagon much better in appearance, but it is still to be weathered thoroughly before it enters service.

 

Finally, because it won't be finished for a while, here's an update on the MXA wagon. I've constructed the body from plasticard with plastic and brass strip for the ribs. Brass was used as the original body bowed considerably like the MHA body (which I don't think I've shown yet) and the freightliner FEA boxes...this strengthening with brass strip will now be my preferred method of sorting this out. The top rim was constructed from two pieces of plastic strip, glued on the edge at 90 degrees, and I didn't make enough so some short sections are still to be added and it all needs sanding down before the paint stage.

This won't be painted until I've got a couple of loco bodies ready to recieve DBS red, then I'll do them as a batch.

 

Thanks for now, more will follow shortly hopefully!

 

Keep modelling!

Jack.

[Pegleg90]

Lovely work as usual Jack. Particularly like the MXA, got one on the go myself. Got any tips on how the modify the Bachmann BDA? Ended up using a dremel & sanding drum to take the top surface down around the sole bars. black plastic dust everywhere! 

 

Cheers

Ali

[Jack374]

...using a dremel & sanding drum to take the top surface down around the sole bars...

I did exactly the same! tried a Stanley knife but didn't get anywhere, so resorted to that and some thorough filing!

 

Maybe the Cambrian kit would be easier to modify...if I decide to produce a rake of the wagons I may look into this, but for now mine will remain a one-off to go in my wagon trip working to/from Arpley or Stoke Marcroft.

 

Thanks,

Jack

[Jack374]

Afternoon all...

 

Many thanks for likes and other ratings...much appreciated!

 

Today I've mostly been preparing for tomorrow, getting a few bits of stock ready to take to Blackburn and have a run on Mick Bryan's excellent 'Deadman's Lane' layout...if you're there do say hi and marvel at all his yellow stock on show!

 

So aside from sorting out a few little niggles with some locos, I added windscreen wipers to 67017, which were fabricated with a thin strip of black plastic and some coated wire:

Yesterday I also varnished 37409 and thus finished it off properly, and what a monster it now looks!

 

And finally, a picture of some locos posed on my layout 'Tighte End Yard' because why not

 

Thanks for now,

Jack.

[Jack374]

Well, following a very enjoyable weekend running 'Deadman's Lane', I think Mick has given me an infection...of the yellow variety!

 

I've been debating over couplings on my yellow stock for some time, and have finally settled on kadees because I've got some, they worked very well at the weekend, and they are rather simple to install. I had a pack of No 5s I bought originally for my NMT (which has been shelved yet again), but since I'm not using them I've put them to good use on my RTOV (DBSO), 977868 and generator coach. This was simply done by cutting a piece out of the bufferbeam on each vehicle (same height), then assembling the coupling and draft box as per the instructions, and attaching by drilling a hole through the chassis and using a 10ba bolt to secure in place. To get the position right, I super glued a small piece of plastic strip just behind the little lip on the draft box lid, and this sits against the bufferbeam and prevents side movement and thus keeps the box still. The pieces of plastic strip have been painted since the pictures were taken...

 

I've also been assembling some Genesis Kits 'Gloucester MK IV' bogies, although I took a gamble and was right. My pair of MCA ballast outer wagons have very poor representations of the bogies (no idea what type though I've heard them called 'axle motion' and 'Thrall type' before), and bought a pair after seeing these online and thinking they looked similar, but they are described as Gloucesters that ride under TEA tanks, which I've now found to be incorrect. I've got another pair of an unknown manufacturer (possibly from the Hurst kit) that I picked up off Wigan's club stand last year for the princely sum of 100p, which will go under the other wagon.

I've cleaned up all the bogies with files and glued the Genesis ones together with superglue, and also glued some Romford bearings in. I might keep the coupling support on the kit as I'm not too keen on the Dapol couplings, as can be seen in the background by my butchery of the coupling screw hole! These are now awaiting cleaning and priming/painting, before assembling with wheels...

 

I think a weekend running an excellent modern image layout has definitely given me a boost in mojo...hopefully I'll keep on this new trend of productivity.

 

Ta for now,

Jack.

[newbryford]

Hi Jack,

Good work with the Kadees. Watch out for the body mounted ones on reverse curves. Have a play with a bit of flexi track and your couplings. May be an idea to have a look at #26. They're a long shank #5. So you mount the box slightly further back, but it does give you a bit more sideways movement.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Jack374]

Ta Mick...they cope with Peco medium radius points but not Hornby set track...they'll do for now because of the former point, but if I find problems with them I'll swap them.

 

Jack.

[Fat Controller]

Well, following a very enjoyable weekend running 'Deadman's Lane', I think Mick has given me an infection...of the yellow variety!

 

I've been debating over couplings on my yellow stock for some time, and have finally settled on kadees because I've got some, they worked very well at the weekend, and they are rather simple to install. I had a pack of No 5s I bought originally for my NMT (which has been shelved yet again), but since I'm not using them I've put them to good use on my RTOV (DBSO), 977868 and generator coach. This was simply done by cutting a piece out of the bufferbeam on each vehicle (same height), then assembling the coupling and draft box as per the instructions, and attaching by drilling a hole through the chassis and using a 10ba bolt to secure in place. To get the position right, I super glued a small piece of plastic strip just behind the little lip on the draft box lid, and this sits against the bufferbeam and prevents side movement and thus keeps the box still. The pieces of plastic strip have been painted since the pictures were taken...

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

 

I've also been assembling some Genesis Kits 'Gloucester MK IV' bogies, although I took a gamble and was right. My pair of MCA ballast outer wagons have very poor representations of the bogies (no idea what type though I've heard them called 'axle motion' and 'Thrall type' before), and bought a pair after seeing these online and thinking they looked similar, but they are described as Gloucesters that ride under TEA tanks, which I've now found to be incorrect. I've got another pair of an unknown manufacturer (possibly from the Hurst kit) that I picked up off Wigan's club stand last year for the princely sum of 100p, which will go under the other wagon.

I've cleaned up all the bogies with files and glued the Genesis ones together with superglue, and also glued some Romford bearings in. I might keep the coupling support on the kit as I'm not too keen on the Dapol couplings, as can be seen in the background by my butchery of the coupling screw hole! These are now awaiting cleaning and priming/painting, before assembling with wheels...

image.jpeg

 

I think a weekend running an excellent modern image layout has definitely given me a boost in mojo...hopefully I'll keep on this new trend of productivity.

 

Ta for now,

Jack.

I think those bogies are from the former Mendip range.

Cambrian do an ASF bogie, which might offer an easy solution if you want to modify some MCA in the future- it's the bogie used on upgraded Salmon wagons (and possibly some upgraded BAA/BBA steel wagons. 

Edited September 6, 2016 by Fat Controller

[Jack374]

I think those bogies are from the former Mendip range.

Cambrian do an ASF bogie, which might offer an easy solution if you want to modify some MCA in the future- it's the bogie used on upgraded Salmon wagons (and possibly some upgraded BAA/BBA steel wagons.

 

The bogies pictured are from Genesis, I've not assembled the mystery ones yet, although they came with some other MCA parts like operating handles and frame, brake cylinders and buffers, which leads me to believe they came from the (possibly more than one manufacturer) original kit. Thanks for the info about the Cambrian bogies, although if these are the same as used on their Salmon wagon, which I've got two of, they're far too small, and I believe of a similar but obviously different type.

 

Thanks,

Jack.

[newbryford]

The bogies pictured are from Genesis, I've not assembled the mystery ones yet, although they came with some other MCA parts like operating handles and frame, brake cylinders and buffers, which leads me to believe they came from the (possibly more than one manufacturer) original kit. Thanks for the info about the Cambrian bogies, although if these are the same as used on their Salmon wagon, which I've got two of, they're far too small, and I believe of a similar but obviously different type.

 

Thanks,

Jack.

 

They are NACO swing-motion.

The bogies fitted to MCA/MDA are the same as those on MBA/MOA and BRA/BYA.

 

Not available as spares from Bachmann, but as kits from S-Kits and Hurst (if still available - Hurst did the MCA/MDA). Inter City models also did a MBA kit, but they will probably be difficult to obtain

There is a thread somewhere about modifying the Dapol version of the bogie to represent it a bit better.

 

Edit: Found it

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited September 6, 2016 by newbryford

[Jack374]

Well, this evening I finished the first of two MCAs, and IMHO the wagon is much better for it. The bogies were primed and then painted Matt black, with the axlebox covers picked out in EWS maroon. I used the supplied cast coupling boxes, which needed some filing but fit nicely, and accept an NEM coupling. The wheels were cleaned thoroughly by putting each wheel in a drill and spinning it against some wire brushes, before polishing it with a glass fibre pencil. These faces were painted black...

 

I've also glued the fixed W irons on the MHA, and the adjustable ones will follow suit. Then I can crack on with brake gear and the body...

 

Thanks,

Jack.

[newbryford]

I really must get on with MCA/MDA set........

 

Cheers,

Mick

[class"66"]

More top work here Jack,

had nice catch up  

[Jack374]

Evening...

 

Well this week I've gone retro. I've never seen one in service apart from with Colas, but I've finished making my bargain EWS 56059 representable. This was a slightly broken model off eBay, and the only problems were a lack of buffers and a broken bogie sideframe. I fixed the latter with some brass rod to replace the snapped off plastic lugs, and this has worked a treat. The buffers were from a Hornby AC electric loco, and I put each head in an electric drill and filed off the funny little rim on the buffer shank. These were glued in place, and the wheels, buffers and ends of the brass rod that were visible were painted black. Whilst the body was off for decoder fitting, I decided to dull down the ridiculous LEDs with a couple of layers of masking tape, which makes a huge difference. This will eventually become a Colas machine but for now I like it in EWS colours.

 

TFN!

Jack.

 

Note to self...reread post before clicking 'add reply', especially late in the evening...

Edited September 19, 2016 by Jack374

[steggy1990]

1. mate u really have some skills

[eric709]

Nice work on the 56, should be oval buffers though if your going for the EWS look, some had Class 60 buffers too but don't think 059 was one of them

[Jack374]

Nice work on the 56, should be oval buffers though if your going for the EWS look, some had Class 60 buffers too but don't think 059 was one of them

Cheers Eric, I just liked the look of round buffers...I have some oval ones but they looked a little feeble for such an engine, so I put my modeller's license to good use! After all, it is my railway....

 

Thanks,

Jack.

[Phil Mc]

An EWS liveried 56 is 'retro'.

God I'm old !!!!!!!

 

Cheers,

Phil.

[Jack374]

An EWS liveried 56 is 'retro'.

God I'm old !!!!!!!

It's all about perspective...having never seen one and with none running on the network today, I'd class that as retro, but they were still about in the 00s (hence my justification for a temporary one), so you're not as old as those who remember them things that boil water to move...

 

Thanks,

Jack.