jonhall Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 I can't resist a challenge like these two, bought at the Bluebell swapmeet last weekend, they also provided the spur to get around to ordering some more bogie etches. Please excuse the advertorial! These are the very old Cambrian Walrus/Seacow and they have had a pretty hard life already, the bodies are nicely built, but the previous owner has fought valiantly with the bogies, but inevitably failed to get them to run properly - therefore I probably over-paid £3 for the pair. Note - I believe that both the wagon and the bogies have been upgraded so everything rude I say about the Cambrian kit is hopefully a thing of the past. The Cambrian Gloucester bogies had one major failing, the hole for the pinpoint bearing on one of the mouldings was hopelessly in the wrong position - they are therefore impossible to build square and get all 4 wheels on the rails, one or other is possible, but not both. I didn't realise this until I designed an etch to allow the bogie sideframes to be used cosmetically - I just though I was being ham fisted! First job was to open out the holes in the handwheels on my etch to accept a brass lacemakers pin as an axle, then I soldered those in place before taking them off the etch The bogie is a one piece fold up design - no fancy springing just a simple but rugged frame - these were designed for 18thou brass, but PPD couldn't get that so this batch is done in 20thou (0.5mm) I had to clean them with an abrasive block to remove the oxidised film on the surface. To compensate for the wonky bearing holes I've used 'waisted' bearings which are a bit more compact than normal. A broach was run through the axle holes to ensure the bearing fitted and then soldered in place with a drop of flux to aid the process To help the bogie ride properly I half etch a groove in the top of the bolster, then solder a short length of handrail wire into it, this gives a ridge that allows the bogie to rock for and aft, but not side to side, which helps cure wobbly wagon syndrome. About an hours work gives this little lot. When it came o painting the handwheels, it was easier to pin them to a bit of cereal packet, than risk losing them when the spray blows them away. Repairing the bogie mountings on the wagon chassis is taking a little longer. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 So a few photo showing progress. First up is one showing the difference between (presumably) seacow and Walrus, I hadn't realised there were two different mouldings of differing length. I had to use a few spares from a couple of wagons that were chopped up to become a whale, I've also added a bit of material to reinstate the platform, and lengthen it slightly to give a bit more room for a coupling. The previous owner had used a ratio bolster to fit the bogies, which was a pretty sound idea, but I've sanded it's height down to bring the ride height down. The other wagon has had a couple od washers added to bring the height up a bit, and then both have had the bolster centre tapped to 6ba, the bogies are intended to be used with an 8ba bolt, but this would have been too small to fit the existing holes. Finally a quick coat of primer Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intercity 125 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Can't wait for the next episode... What livery are you doing them in? IC125 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Can't wait for the next episode... What livery are you doing them in? IC125 They will be Dutch, but I'm slightly stuck, I can't weather them without having first added the final sets of bogie sideframes, and I'm being cheap, because the Cambrian bogies will cost as much as the entire rest of the project put together, so at the moment they are sitting at this stage waiting for a cheap secondhand pair of Cambrian bogies to appear - fortunately I'm in no rush. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intercity 125 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Very nice - I'm feeling a little jealous! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Departmental Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 An excellent thread. I have some of the bogie etches and the pictures above will be a great help when I start on the rake of Walrus I purchased them for, many thanks Dave H Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 a great rescue of 2 wagons Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted July 11, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 11, 2015 I am going to use some of these on some Cambrian Walruses. They are very nice etches indeed. If anyone is interested I can show a couple of pics of how the plastic sides for the Kit C65 fit with the etched bogies. Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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