Nile's kitbuilding bench - Midland 1377

[Nile]

Now to apply the handbrake. I'm not going to do anything with the brake shoes themselves as that could get messy, and you can't really see them from the other side anyway. What I have done is move the brake lever down to the on position with a bit of cutting and re-gluing.

 

 

From the other side you can just about see the handle in its lower position.

 

 

Here it is sitting in the siding at Wyndal.

 

I will eventually add more to this scene, but that will be for my Wyndal topic.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[Nile]

Hello again. I've not been entirely idle since my last post, lots of different projects going on in the background. I have managed to finish another wagon, a Slater's kit of a Midland open.

Assembled and painted.

 

 

With transfers, a mixture of HMRS and old Slater's, and a bit of weathering.

 

 

T'other side.

 

 

In company with some recent builds.

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[Spitfire2865]

Looks good. Though shame about those moulding issues inside.

Though in a rake is unnoticeable.

 

As Slaters is now dead, do you know any other kits for the standard Midland large open?

[Guy Rixon]

The moulding depressions on the inside of the sides can be filled easily enough and the plank gaps re-cut. I use Humbrol model filler for this.

 

If one was motivated to improve the inside, it would be good to represent the side knees - i.e. the structural brackets holding the side planks to the underframe. There would be a knee either side of the door, lining up with the washer plates on the outside. They would be L-shaped iron brackets, with the vertical leg visible and the horizontal leg hidden under the floor planks. There was, presumably, some ironwork on the inside in line with the corner plates, but I don't know how the Midland arranged this..

[DLT]

There's a very useful wagon detail page called Wagonpedia, on the Cambrian Models website here:  http://cambrianmodels.co.uk/wagonpedia.html

It has all wagon parts indicated and labelled.  It does NOT however, show the inside of an open wagon.  The open wagon shown is an LMS design which has one or two untypical features.

Cheers, Dave.

[DLT]

A number of galleries devoted to wagons on Linda Chen's Flickr site here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/linda_chen/albums/with/72157623545731563

[Nile]

So no alternative to the Slater's kit then? Buy what you can before they all disappear then.

Onto the next lot. I recently bought a box containing 8 Nine Lines 009 kits of Welshpool & Llanfair wagons, 4 vans and 4 cattle trucks. I thought these could be used on my own freelance narrow gauge line, which exists mostly in my head at the moment.

I started by assembling one of the vans.

 

All very straight forward, but there is a slight gap at the top of the sides when the roof is fitted. I’ve added a strip of plastic to the top to fill it. The brake is a bit basic, just one shoe.

For weight I've gone nuts! I found a load of these nuts being thrown out, so rescued some for eventual re-use as ballast weight. They are not steel, so not that heavy, some sort of alloy maybe. Here I've put them in a small bag to stop them rattling around, it also saves having to glue them in place.

 

 

With the roof now glued on.

 

I replaced the moulded on handrail with a bit of brass rod. Only seven more to go.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[Spitfire2865]

Nice little van.

If youre planning a narrow gauge line, I hope to see some locos on here soon.

 

And for the kit, I would have bought them up but they went out so quickly and before I realized, none were left in my usual websites.

Least theres now a market hole for basic Midland wagons. Hope someone snatches the opportunity.

[Nile]

With 8 almost identical wagons being built it's looking like a production line.

 

Below the vans are the parts for the cattle trucks.

Assembly complete, and one of each type painted.

 

Still lots more to do.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[Nile]

The bag of nuts trick won't work with the cattle trucks, so I've stuck some bits of lead to the underside of them.

 

 

The first van painted and fully lettered, with a bit of weathering.

 

With 7 more to do that's a lot of little numbers to apply.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[Nile]

With painting complete and transfers on the next job is to fit couplings. After fiddling about with a height gauge I found some bits of wood I could use as a mounting point. No expense spared here!

 

 

Greenwich couplings glued to the blocks and then painted black.

 

 

The view from above. I've used some brass rod rather than a track pin for the pivot, it's what I had available.

 

 

Mass production again, another 14 couplings.

 

 

End view of the two different bodies, now with couplings.

 

 

And they do couple up.

 

When they are all done they'll go for a test run on a friend's layout.

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[DLT]

Love the narrow gauge stuff Neil,

Dave.

[KalKat]

Who's are the couplings please?

[Nile]

Greenwich couplings, commonly used on 009 stock. Parkside Dundas sell them.

[KalKat]

Thanks = I  shall go and have a look

[Nile]

I should have posted this link, which has more info.

 

http://www.gdngrs.com/couplings

[cheesysmith]

I usually use 3 2p coins glued inside my vans for ballast. I find this give almost 50grams, just about the recommended mass for a 2 axle wagon. Where I can't do this, I use lead flashing, which having a mate who's a roofer I got for nowt.

 

 

Edited due to stupid IPad autocorrect.

Edited September 26, 2015 by cheesysmith

[Nile]

2p coins would be a tight fit in these vans.

 

And for 4 vans that would cost 24p! 😮  I usually have hardly any change anyway.

This van, with its nuts, weighs about 30g which seems more than enough for 009.

With all of them now finished I put them together for a group photo, not easy as they come to over 20inches.

 

So I took them for a run on a friend's 009 layout, along with a brake van.

That's a Minitrains Brigadelok on the front, it needed another one pushing on the rear to shift this lot.

 

One loco  could manage this shorter train.

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[Nile]

It's back to standard gauge for the next lot of wagons, from the Ratio P-way wagons set.

These are of LNWR origin, but I will be using them for the LMWR.

The bits went together well once I had worked out that the two wagon types are of slightly different length.

 

 

Ballast wagon.

 

 

Bolster wagon, the bolster will locate into the hole in the middle.

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[Spitfire2865]

Those look great.

Do you know diagram numbers for these? Ive been thinking of picking up some ratio wagons, specifically this and the coal set, but was curious how they go together. What do the kits include?

[Guy Rixon]

Those look great.

Do you know diagram numbers for these? Ive been thinking of picking up some ratio wagons, specifically this and the coal set, but was curious how they go together. What do the kits include?

This other thread has some details: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2511-ratio-lnwr-wagon-kits/

[LNWR lives on]

If you have a look on my workbench you can see my attempt at the D62 Ballast wagon in North Wales Division livery. The coal set for the coal and merchandise wagon also appear on the thread.

 

The Ballast wagon can be converted to an LNWR D3 by chopping off the top of the end stanchions, which if you to model a static wagon gives you the chance to model one with the full side down

 

Are you planning any improvements to the ratio kits?

[Nile]

I haven't made any changes to the kit, apart from the couplings. I'll be fitting 3 links to the kit's hooks.

I've now painted the bodies Special Oxide Red and given them a gloss coat, ready for transfers.

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Nile

[Spitfire2865]

Very nice. Correct me if Im wrong, but dont coupled single bolsters usually have the brake on the rightmost wagon from each side?

[Nile]

I'll leave that question for a wagon expert (which I'm not) to answer. The photo from the box shows both levers on the same side, which didn't make sense to me.