Work in progress: Scratchbuilding a mineral wagon in 0-scale

[M Wright]

Hi, I have had problems with the white crud.  My prepartion of cleaning is the same as yours essentiallly.First aabrasive cleaning with tooth brush and cream cleaner. Then I use a powerful ultrasonic cleaner filled with dishwasher  powder dissolved in hot water. After cleaning and drying the white powder develops at the joint edges where solder paint was used.  It is I think zinc chloride,either from the solder paint flux itself or the corrosion of the joint due to the residual flux. I tried neutralising the flux not with caustic soda but with a solution of washing soda.  This was not a permanent solution. The best results were got by toothbrushing the model with about 20% hydrochloric acid before ultrasonic cleaning. All the residue vanished never to reappear. This was the system I used for a time. Another advantage was the metal, acic cleaned, took the Birchwood Casey blackening solution more evenly and faster.  When I have blackened brass or NS I use after washing and drying Electrofix.   My bottle of Electrofix was an orange liquid obtained from Carr about 30 years ago.  If is now colourles but seems to act as a micro coating to the finished blackened metal. I think it also stops any further reaction.

In the end I gave up solder paint and the RSU. I got too worried by the fumes. I now use solder creams,  These have no corrosive flux ,just rosin, and if you buy 500g pots(they keep for ever in the fridge) It is easy to fill a syringe with a spatula.  Fitted with a canula needle they make large or tiny soldering jobs a dream with the RSU.  The other advantage is no white crud. The flux rosin just flakes off when cold.  The solder creams were invented for screen printing the contact pads in printed circuit work so they are very fine solders usually tin/silver alloys that flow well. (The only downside is cost - typically  a 20 g syringe pre-filled cost £20 but a 500g pot costs between £60 -£90 depending on the silver content and the complexity of the chemistry) I build commercially in large scale (16mm) A 20g syringe is enough for 5 locos, using the cream for assembly, detailing and fixing large detail overlays like frame sides, so you would probably find the 20g syringe more than adequate. Being a good Scot I thought in the long run I would save money with my bulk puchase!

[Simond]

thanks for the tip re solder paste - I had a tin of it, that got moved into a couple of 35mm film pots, when the tin rusted, but I'm getting near the end - I did try to put it in a syringe, but it kind-of set, and is probably completely unusable now. 

 

Can you recommend a particular solder cream?

 

Since some discussions on the G0G forum, I have been using citric acid flux - this might also do as an acid cleaner - citric acid is available from eBay, Wilko and home-brew shops.  Less than £2 per 100g - I mix it with deionised water until the solution is saturated and then add IPA as a wetting agent.  50g will make a lot of flux...

 

I tend to use beard trimmer oil on the things that I black.  Seems to prevent rusting, so far.

 

best

Simon

[Hawk]

I now use solder creams,  These have no corrosive flux ,just rosin, and if you buy 500g pots(they keep for ever in the fridge) It is easy to fill a syringe with a spatula.  Fitted with a canula needle they make large or tiny soldering jobs a dream with the RSU.  The other advantage is no white crud. The flux rosin just flakes off when cold.  The solder creams were invented for screen printing the contact pads in printed circuit work so they are very fine solders usually tin/silver alloys that flow well. (The only downside is cost - typically  a 20 g syringe pre-filled cost £20 but a 500g pot costs between £60 -£90 depending on the silver content and the complexity of the chemistry) I build commercially in large scale (16mm) A 20g syringe is enough for 5 locos, using the cream for assembly, detailing and fixing large detail overlays like frame sides, so you would probably find the 20g syringe more than adequate. Being a good Scot I thought in the long run I would save money with my bulk puchase!

Would love to know the name of the brand of solder creams you are using! And what are the melting point, by the way?

[Hawk]

The other night I painted the wheels for the wagons and started experimenting with the painting of the underframes.
As much as I like the blackened bare metal look, I think the underframes need a bit of paint to blend in with the wheels, and also make the brass castings blend in with the nickel-silver etchings.  At the same time I wanted a hint of the original metal to show through the paint.
I started with the work car as this one has all the metalwork in place. I started by giving it a good bath in thinner.
Then I mixed up a cup of Tamiya Black (XF2) and dark grey with a ratio of 1+3 black+grey. Thinned it with cellulose thinner (1+2 paint+thinner.) Then I airbrushed a very thin coat to the underframe. The wheels were painted the same color, but with a heavier coat.

After the grey I misted on a layer of Tamiya XF64 reddish brown as the first step of weathering.

I then assembled the wagon, and this is what it looks like right now:
 

 

 

I would love to have sincere opinions on hoe this looks at the present stage. All opinions and suggestions are welcome. The wagon needs some more weathering, but not as much as the mineral wagons.

By the way, here is a picture of one of the stencils:



The crude cutouts on each side of the stencil was made with a Dremel by yours truly. The fold-up sides of the stencils came in conflict with the hardware on the wagonside... Looks horrible, but it works. Made masking off the wagon a bit more of a challenge, though. As you can see from the lack of paint in the middle of the stencil, I used a litte glue clamp to keep the stencil as close to the wagon side as possible. Using stencils like this is nt for the faint of hearted, it is very easy to mess up. I have one side on each wagon that are not 100%, but fortunately you can see only one side of the wagons at a time!

Edited August 11, 2023 by Hawk

[Spitfire2865]

The underframe looks perfect.

[Simond]

The stencils are brilliant, I wondered if that's what you'd done.

 

The van, I think the chassis looks very good but it is difficult to be more constructive when the body is still "clean".

 

Best

Simon

[Hawk]

We are getting close now...

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Hawk

[Simond]

Yep. Had to look twice.

 

Maybe colder with a bit more snow ?

 

Joking aside, safety chains. And will you weather them some more? The text on the middle panel is much more obscure on the upper photo, though strangely, the "Bremsevogn" is quite clear. I wonder if this suggests spray kicked up, and dirtying from the bottom upwards, rather than dirt falling down (e.g. from loading) which might be more evident on top of horizontal surfaces? Or maybe that stencil had been repainted?

 

In any case, absolutely brilliant modelling.

 

Simon

[Western Star]

Magic.

 

Inspiring work.

 

Why does no.30 in the top photo have seven planks to the door...  and no.30 in the bottom photo have six planks for the same door?

[Adam]

Superb! Just an idle thought, however: are you certain that the strapping was picked out like that? I know from bitter experience that interpreting monchrome pictures is hazardous but there seems to be no obvious contrast in the prototype shots, and the paint on the woodwork is also in rather better condition. I'd agree with Simond that the wagons as they stand are rather too clean, but again, that's partly a matter of personal taste.

 

Adam

[Hawk]

 

Why does no.30 in the top photo have seven planks to the door...  and no.30 in the bottom photo have six planks for the same door?

 

If I had to make two variations of the hinges for the door I would have to design two sets of brass castings. And that would have meant double cost for 3D-printing and more expensive castings. (Economy of scale, you know).

 

Alternative explanation: I am a lazy bum and thought that no one would notice.

 

I think it was a little of both...

[Hawk]

Yep. Had to look twice.

 

Maybe colder with a bit more snow ?

 

Joking aside, safety chains. And will you weather them some more? The text on the middle panel is much more obscure on the upper photo, though strangely, the "Bremsevogn" is quite clear. I wonder if this suggests spray kicked up, and dirtying from the bottom upwards, rather than dirt falling down (e.g. from loading) which might be more evident on top of horizontal surfaces? Or maybe that stencil had been repainted?

 

In any case, absolutely brilliant modelling.

 

Simon

 

I am in the process of preparing a couple of magazine articles on this project and plan to re-shoot the image. I will add snow and a neutral sky background then. I really like the "studio" feel of the white ground and background.

 

"Chain and ball" is on the to-do list in addition to brake shoes and safety chains/hooks.

 

More weathering will be added, I am just unsure how to proceed. Would be a shame to screw up at this stage.

[Western Star]

I am a lazy bum and thought that no one would notice.

When you offer modelling so good...  of a prototype that is so interesting...  then you are going to attract interest from like minded people and those are just the sort of peeps who might notice.

[Hawk]

On 21/02/2017 at 11:38, Adam said:

Superb! Just an idle thought, however: are you certain that the strapping was picked out like that? I know from bitter experience that interpreting monchrome pictures is hazardous but there seems to be no obvious contrast in the prototype shots, and the paint on the woodwork is also in rather better condition. I'd agree with Simond that the wagons as they stand are rather too clean, but again, that's partly a matter of personal taste.

 

Adam

 

 

I agree that it is hard to judge colors from black & white images. 

But I have no documentation on the colors. I have been told by one of the Thamshavn museum staff that the wagons were painted mineral red. 

 

The lack of contrast is not hard proof either way, the film used could quite possible be orthochromatic which would render red as almost black. 

 

Take a look at the Union Jack in this photo, it was taken with orthochromatic film: 

 

 

The people in the picture are probably quite sunburnt, as their skin tones are rather dark as well. 

 

The combined photo is a bit misleading as well. My wagons are in fact models in a much later period than the prototype photo. One of the things no one has noticed is that the prototype wagons in the picture do not have airbrakes, while the models have such equipment. So the models are the wagons anno 1938, the protopicture is taken around 1912. A lot could have happened to the paint job in 26 years! An obvious error is that I did not use a revision date much closer to 1938 on the stencils. The wagons would certainly have gotten a revision when the airbrakes were fitted. 

 

I confess that there is an element of modellers license involved. I kind of liked the black strappings against the mineral, and did not think too hard about if it was correct or not. I guess that more prototype info will surface now that the wagons are almost finished! 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Hawk

[Hawk]

Somehow a trio of british arctic explorers does not feel quite right as the last post in this wooden mineral wagon saga.

So here is the official end of thread image, the wagons in a train for the first time:

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Hawk

[Simond]

Make sure you let us know where / when the next thread starts!

 

Brilliant job and inspirational modelling,

 

Best

Simon

[ffayolle]

Amazing building!!!

Thanks for this sharing

[Hawk]

A little postscript on the wagon project. As the wagons was going to be published in the narrow gauge and industrial railway modelling review, I held back on my best pictures until the piece had been published. (It ran in issue 112)

 

So here are the images for those who did not see them in the Review. In addition, I added a couple of images with the wagons fitted with brake hoses. Got some nice glad-hands castings from a German modeller who was kind enough to sell me some. They are fitted with tiny magnets. 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!

Edited August 11, 2023 by Hawk

[Hawk]

There are still a few images missing from this thread, but I do not have the time to reinsert all of them. 

Ironically, the images still missing are those I replaced from embedded images to versions stored in the forum software... 

 

But here are a couple of images of the finished wagons, at least: 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Hawk

[Hawk]

I mentioned that I built a work wagon based on the same underframe as the mineral wagons, and a picture of the finished wagon might be in order: 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Hawk

[Western Star]

So what have models have you made in the past four years?

 

No one is going to believe that you have just stopped given your expertise / skills / dedication.

 

regards, Graham

[Hawk]

Well, my modelling career is best described as long intervals of armchair modelling interruptet by short bursts of actual modelling. 

 

Since the completion of the mineral wagons I have mainly worked on a shadowbox diorama that I have described in this thread: 

 

That overhead crane is in itself more work than one of the mineral wagons.... And those roof rafters was´nt made in a month of sundays, either. 

 

I am also easily distracted, so I putter around with several side projects that might not lead to anything substantional in the (relative) short run. My efforts to build my own engine wheels falls in this category.

I have described my adventures in machining here:

 

 

EDIT: All threads should now have images reinstated.

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Hawk