Kirley's Workbench

[kirley]

BRDR Brake Van.

 

Having added a BCDR Locomotive to my Stable I found I had only a few BCDR wagons for it to pull but no Brake Van. Leslie suggested his friend Michael, Smallbrook Studios, did a kit of an LSWR Road Van that was quite similar.  I got in touch with Michael and found him very helpful and he supplied me with his kit plus a 21' Dapol Chassis.

 

 

The body had to be extended so plasticard came to the rescue.

 

 

I added some brass W Irons and running boards.

 

 

 

 

This is what it is supposed to look like

 

 

First coat of primer added.

 

 

 

 

Now for the tricky bit, the roof then glazing, decals and all those other bits that it takes to finish a model.

Thanks again to Leslie to pointing me in Michael's direction and Micheal for all the help.

 

[kirley]

 

 

Posted by mistake, PM sent.

Edited August 28, 2016 by kirley

[Hunslet 102]

Lovely work Kieran,you are certainly motoring with your projects,keep up the good work and the posts coming. Looking forward to your BUT railcars

[kirley]

I got a GNR Gardner Bus kit from Sunrise Models but finished it in CIE livery.

 

 

 

 

and I was quite pleased with the results.  

 

But then I saw this; it was on the back of a truck on the Octivia Hill layout at the Ulster Model Railway Club Exhibition last month.

 

 

If you look closely you will see it has been converted into a working railbus, well done Antony.

 

[Hunslet 102]

Haha,you getting into buses as well now Kieran! Nice job with the CIE bus,looks good. The guy at Sunrise Models is great to deal with, he supplied me with all my Belfast Corporation bus transfers. Like the GNR bus and the conversion done to it,a nice touch.

[kirley]

. Like the GNR bus and the conversion done to it,a nice touch.

 

Antony did a great job on this conversion to a Railbus, perhaps he might put a few pictures up?

[Hunslet 102]

Antony did a great job on this conversion to a Railbus, perhaps he might put a few pictures up?

Agreed Kieran,also the track work looks great,very realistic

[kirley]

BUT Railcars

 

Work has started on the 700 Series.

 

 

 

All still in the experimental stage.

[Hunslet 102]

Looking forward to this build

[kirley]

It has actually taken me 6 weeks getting to this stage gathering up the additional parts for this build.  I'm trying an new approach for holding the bogies in place, one in which you can control the height of the bogies against the body height which as to be similar to all other rolling stock.  I have use heavy brass plates as an experiment to give weight over the bogies but the real test will be the pulling power of the motor to pull a second railcar especially on the gradients on my layout. To do that I'll have to wire up for DCC to carry out this test. Fingers crossed.

[kirley]

Further testing of the BUT Chassis under it's own power using Black Beetle Motors.

 

 

Using a brass coach to test the pulling power.

 

 

Constructed a box under the chassis to hold the decoder and wires

 

 

 

 

Decoder installed.

 

 

Test runs on the layout.

 

 

 

A short video of the tests.

 

 

Strange how 2 Black Beetle motors running on the same power go at different speeds.

 

On with the build on the 7 Series bodies.

 

[kirley]

BUT Railcars  7 Series Body

 

The ends of these Railcars are quite unique and I am full of admiration of Allen Doherty's innovative way of producing them.  There is what you get;

 

 

It took be a bit of figuring out but I think I got there in the end.

 

 

 

 

 

The first build is where you learn (I hope) by your mistakes. On to the next body then.

[Horsetan]

This is the model Len Ball got built by a guy in England, he is trying to find out what the donor model was.

 

 

I'd say the chassis started life as a Hornby N15....

[David Jackson]

I'd say the chassis started life as a Hornby N15....

 

I would have to disagree. The Hornby N15 chassis has unevenly spaced driving wheels, with a larger gap between the rear and centre drivers. Having said that, I have no idea what chassis was used as a donor. 

[kirley]

Some suggest the Hornby B12 as the donor for the Baltic Tank.

[David Jackson]

Some suggest the Hornby B12 as the donor for the Baltic Tank.

Yes, the wheelbase is more akin to a B12 with smaller wheels.

I have to say that I did use a Hornby B12 as the basis for a BCDR Baltic tank more than forty years ago. I can't remember what happened to it, but I have not got it now.

[colmflanagan]

It's a beautifully built and lined model but to be honest I'm not sure. It looks just too  "big and long"  to me.  And I'd need to take a serious file to the  cab cutout. I've been mulliing over how I might do a "bodge Baltic" for a long time now and have not yet found a suitable r-t-r chassis. The B12 might do, if you can fit 5'6" wheel and the complex valve gear. Way beyond me.

 

 

Colm

[kirley]

Here's something I started working on January this year.  It was a 'bargain buy' on ebay and when I opened the box this is what I got.

 

 

Some 'minor' flaws on the body shell.

 

 

 

I suppose rugged is the kindest description you could give the body finish.

 

 

Isopon to the rescue.

 

 

After a very long delay the body is ready for painting.

 

 

The chassis.... now that's another story.

Edited January 10, 2018 by kirley

[Mike 84C]

I admire your tenacity! Glad I got a Silver fox one via ebay. You need one of Wheshtys detail kits I'm a satisfied customer.

[Glover]

You deserve a Nobel Prize Kirley for getting a Q Kits to that stage.

I bought two about 30/35 years ago. First was the white metal effort; I gave up!

Second, about 5 years later was the resin version; same as yours. Gave up!

 

Apart from the twisted metal, distorted resin, the real problem was trying to make the things go. I see that you make a passing reference to the chassis....

 

Some years later, I had a bright idea: cut a chunk out off each of them and convert to C class, using the Athern switcher chassis, whip of course runs like a dream.

 

This whole rig marole has sort of come full circle. I bought the Silver Fox A class as a body only kit. I had great difficulty getting that to run properly using the recommended Hornby Class 55 chassis. Probably more my incompetance than anything else.

Another bright idea: use the Athern switcher chassis ! It's Bo-Bo configuration of course but I added dummy front wheels at each end.

Not a Gold medal winner but I finally have a working A class, after almost 40 years.

Photo attached but I've no idea how this is going to work; another first effort.

Cheers,

 

Glover

[kirley]

Lovely feel to the little bit of your layout you show in your picture Glover, you will have to start your own layout thread and let us see the rest of it please.  A Class looks good.

[Hunslet 102]

Nice work Kieran with the difficult Q Kits kit. I have 2 white metal versions, 1 still in bits and the other that looks like a beast. To be fair to the kits though,the front profile has been captured better than the Silverfox version

[kirley]

A Class.

 

The chassis for my A Class came all the way from Australia in kit form and I outsourced the building of it to my friend Gareth.  As you can see he did an excellent job not only putting the chassis together, getting the correct spacing between the wheels, building a platform to support the electrics but most importantly devised away of attaching working couplings that pivot on the bogies. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was onto the tricky masking prior to painting.

 

[kirley]

Project Q Kit - A Class just about finished.  The bogie sides are temporary as there is a guy in Dublin currently making bogies for the A class with fantastic detail and of-course the correct wheel spacing.

 

 

 

 

[kirley]

Back to the BUT Railcar production line.  Roofs for the 700 Series taking shape.

 

 

I am still using Comet aluminium roofs cut down the center and an piece of plasticard added to give the extra width.  The photograph shows the extended roofs covered with masking tape to hold the roof in place before running isopon underneath to seal it in place.  I keep it attached to the sides to get the right curvature.