MD's workbench

[Mucky Duck]

Hi Peter,

 

I've only just stumbled upon your post, as I saw the thread towards the top of my content list.

 

That's such sad news about your friend, you have my sincere condolences. It's perfectly understandable for you to lose the your enthusiasm under the circumstances and I guess it will take some time to return.

 

The timing of your post is uncanny as I only resumed work on the 504 at the weekend after being unable to do any modelling myself since April. During that time I've tried to source some detailing parts for it with a bit of success and I'll resume posting when I have sorted out the pics… perhaps later this week.

 

As for the Bachmann 2 EPB conversion, I'm glad you've confirmed my suspicions, so for me it's definitely the way to go next time… and it's welcome info about the potential spare bodies too. I have to say that I'm not really enjoying putting this kit together, it needs an awful lot of fettling just to get the parts to fit… what ever happened to relishing the challenge eh?

 

All the best.

 

Ryan

[Mucky Duck]

Finally managed to get a decent window of opportunity on this build. I'm bit more satisfied with the front ends now. The door hinges have

also been added (but not shown in these pics) and the rear end alarm and MU gear on both cars needs sorting before heading towards the

final painting stage.

 

The cars have been primed in grey – better to see lumps and bumps – but will get a coat of white on the front ends at least, as I've read

recently that in general, yellow (for the warning panels) is a difficult colour to avoid show-through when covering darker base coats.

 

 

 

 

Original MU mouldings have gone and frames cut from thin plasticard sheet have been added around the MU recesses… what a fiddle that

was, maybe some fine lining tape will be better next time! The lights have been repositioned and their surrounds are spare Brassmasters

flanges… a little too prominent perhaps but better than nothing.

 

 

 

 

For various detailing bits such as door hinges and alarm gear bits, I bought a Comet Coach super-detaing etch and inadvertently managed

to get a couple of front steps out of it (on the car furthest from the camera) – unfortunately, the steps on the nearer one had to fabricated

from an old Brassmaster nickel silver fret… and they're a un-prototypically wobbly! A bit of filling-in around the lights and the need for

excess glue removal is in evidence here.

 

 

 

 

Buck-eye couplings and quite finely-moulded steps are from Replica Railways and enhance the bufferbeams substantially. Comet white

metal buffers and roof vents (once the seam lines are removed) are also much better than DC plastic originals.

 

 

 

 

I don't know on which prototype DC Kit's pickup shoes are based but they're the wrong shape for the Class 504… obviously I hadn't paid

enough attention before I discovered this, as they prevent the lower of the add-on steps (courtesy of jim s-w) to be positioned correctly

on the power bogie. As this is not a precision kit, reluctantly I'm going to live with it.

 

 

Next target… to see if I can get some yellow and green paint on this baby before the end of the week!

[Mucky Duck]

Before today's modelling begins, a shot of the door hinges… once again, Comet coach items – long and short – were used, as only one type

come supplied with the DC Kit and they don't really stand-up to the scrutiny of close-up photography. I'm not knocking DC Kits… I'm very

grateful indeed to Charlie & Co. for being the only kit maker, as far as I'm aware, to produce one of these. For my purposes though, they do

need a lot of work!

 

[Mucky Duck]

Yesterday's progress. Underframes and rear ends almost finished. The latter was a little bit of guess-work as I cannot find a detailed enough

shot of both complete rear ends. The MU fittings are the Replica Railway ones which I decided not to use for the front-ends after all, as

they're not quite right. They'll have to be OK for the rears – they'll hardly be seen once the units are running together.

 

 

 

The DC Kits underframe equipment is generic DEMU (as are the instructions) and some parts just wrong for the 504… but they went on

anyway as this is now my test-bed for one I will build 'properly' in the future. These underframe parts are 'low relief' and only convincing

from side-on, so will need 'padding out' with plasticard.

 

[keefer]

looking very nice muckyduck

as you say the devil is in getting the details right

brian daniels' pics are now up on flickr, there are several shots of 504s, some in green livery too, starting here:

 

re: the ends, a pic of one here:

on accomodation bogies and the rubbing plate is missing but about the best shot i've seen of one of the ends.

[Mucky Duck]

Hi keefer. I don't appear to have thanked you for the links in your previous post… cheers, they were very much appreciated, along with these links – and glad you like the 'Bouncer'. There's also another shot that I've seen of the 'preservation-in-progress' pair of cars and the non-powered rear end appears to have twice the number of MU connections. I need to add some rubbing plates as the kit only comes with a pair… and I also have to decide how to couple the cars.

 

I guess the general lack of detailed prototype images is possibly down to operating on a single route throughout its working life, the result of which, sadly, is its apparent limited appeal.

[Mucky Duck]

How about this for a livery? There are some colours that just don't suit and to me white doesn't on the 504. The unit was introduced with a pale

grey roof but as this model represents 1963 prototype, the roof will have acquired the more conventional worn dark grey look. At this point I'm

completely unaware of the mistake of brush-painting the yellow warning panel.

 

 

 

Ah… that's better despite confusion with Phoenix Precision Paint's shade of green supplied with the kit which says "Pre-1954" on the tin when

this unit was introduced in 1959! I ended up mixing it with other colours to get more of a match with prototype photos. The images don't really

show how 'lumpy' the yellow end panels turned out… I should really have airbrushed them.

 

 

 

It's starting to look like the Bouncing Hummers I knew so well as a kid. As if the end of steam wasn't enough of a kick in the teeth, BR

proceeded to paint these units a lovely shade of blue only to destroy the effect with full yellow ends! At least that livery would have been easier

to apply, being devoid of the cream stripes, which I'm now dreading!

 

 

DC Kits instructions said this 'electrical cabinet' should be situated here but it fouls the bogie! Go figure!

 

[cheesysmith]

Question, what did you use for the mu boxes on the cab front?

 

Were they a aftermarket part or a square piece of styrine filed to shape? And if so, what size was used?

 

Cheesysmith

[Mucky Duck]

Hi Cheesysmith. They are an integral part of the mould on the DC kit but I cut them out carefully, not only with a view to replacing them with

something more sophisticated but to also change the size and shape of the recesses. Having failed to find replacements (the Replica Railways

MU fittings are not the correct type for this unit) I got out the file, changed their appearance slightly, drilled a hole in the base of each, to

accept the cable and stuck them back in. I didn't do any measuring and to be honest, (along with the dodgy paint finish) they don't look too

clever up close!

 

 

Still quite a lot of work needed to make a good job of this!

[Mucky Duck]

A wave of mild depression rolled over me when I peeled the masking tape from the 504. What looked a superb gloss airbrushed finish whilst

I was spraying turned out to be an orange-peely mess when dry and that wave turned into a tsunami when I examined those horrid close-up

photos above.

 

I'm undecided what to do about the 504 now… flat it down and start again would be the obvious plan but the door hinges and stops are in place,

so that's going to be a real pain in the @rse that I really don't feel like tackling right now. So, into the cupboard it has gone until I can bear to

face it again.

 

I've struggled to get a consistent run of modelling this year and this thread hasn't exactly been bursting at the seams with feedback lately (but

my appreciation goes to those who have commented and helped), so to avoid the risk of it sinking into oblivion once again – well, that's the

hope – I've decided to merge it with my other stock modelling projects… starting with some 16T mineral wagons.

 

Urged on by michael delamar's 16ts thread, I decided to have a go for the first time, as I've had a few almost-finished Parkside kits and recently

bought a rake of Bacchies.

 

I thought I'd do one of each, a Bachmann welded and a Parkside riveted.

 

 

Apart from Bachmann's 'grey' looking far too dark to me, I wanted to try Martyn Welch's 'flaking rust' method, so both wagons were given a rusty

base coat, the welded wagon receiving more varied tones than the darker and even coating on the riveted. The Bachmann was also re-panelled

on one side, courtesy of some magic tape.

 

 

 

 

Instead of dabbing Maskol over a rust-coloured base I used Fixo Gum – a mild artists rubber adhesive gum – and applying it with a small stiff

brush allowed for some reasonably fine stippling. This dried in minutes. Sorry about the rubbish pic of the wagon!

 

 

 

Both wagons were then hand-brushed with a thinned coat of Phoenix Precision enamel and given 24 hours to dry.

 

 

 

Instead of plucking off the gum from the wagon with tweezers, as Martyn Welch did, I rubbed the surfaces quite firmly with a blob of Fixo Gum

which had been dried previously and rolled into a ball. The very few stubborn bits were removed with a sharp scalpel blade. This left the desired

flaking effect.

 

 

 

On the welded wagon, the peel of the paint was emphasised by darkening some edges of the 'rust' areas before the overall surfaces were worked

on with subtle dirty washes of enamel. The 'new' panels were toned down but I don't think I've got that nice orangey rust quite right… it's now a

bit too deep red. I also reckon the re-panelled bits are too thin as it was difficult to prevent paint from creeping over the edges, so I'll try doubling

the layers of Magic tape next time I do one.

 

 

 

The Parkside riveted wagon received a more subtle finish – I tried to make the flaking a little less harsh by blending in the edges. A 'line' of dirty

rust stains was achieved by dry-brushing in a downwards motion. I forgot to add the stripe and number until well into this process but managed

to just escape with it I think. The paint finish looks almost semi-gloss and reflects the light, which I'm not happy about. Parkside's wagon buffers

are very poor, so these will be replaced at some point. Three-link couplings on both wagons are courtesy of our very own Black Rat.

 

 

 

Behind a Black 5, going nowhere in the kitchen! I'm reasonable happy with these wagons but now I look at the close-ups of them and wish Craig

Welch did some of his wonderful chassis etchings for these!

 

[BlackRat]

Looking very nice indeed!

 

The last two 16 tonners in particular, are exceptional!

[ozzyo]

Hello M.D.

 

a nice bit of weathering on the 16ton minerals. But why has one got an inststanta on it? Normal only fitted to piped or fitted wagons (bauxite in colour).

 

One thing that you could do to make them look even better would be to put the bangs and dints in the sides.

 

OzzyO.

[Mucky Duck]

Thanks Black Rat… that's some compliment!

 

…But why has one got an inststanta on it? Normal only fitted to piped or fitted wagons (bauxite in colour).

 

One thing that you could do to make them look even better would be to put the bangs and dints in the sides.

OzzyO.

 

Cheers Ozz, I've been rumbled… I had no idea what an instanter was but I do now! That's just my lack of knowledge and research… guess another one of these is appropriate

 

As for the bashed effect, for a couple of years I've been on the lookout for very thin tin plate to use as wagon sides for natural rust and bashing potential. Never managed to find any so will try the hot 'instrument' trick.

[Arthur]

Hi Ryan, Sorry to about the setback on the 504, I was enjoying following your progress and am always keen to see Manchester area stock being modelled. I'm sure that putting it to one side for a while is the right thing to do. Taking a break now and doing some other modelling will enable you to come back to it with renewed enthusiasm and some ideas on how to move it on.

The 16 tonners are looking really good. I especially like the two behind the Black 5., the whole ensemble looks just right. Does the artists gum have any advantage over Maskol or was it just something you had to hand?

Arthur

[Mucky Duck]

Thanks for that Arthur… you're right, the 504 got me a bit down but the 16 tonners (and the feedback) have already perked me up a tad.

 

I've never had any Maskol so don't know what the consistency is like but looking at Martyn Welch's pics, it seemed to be dabbed more than finely stippled. I use the Fixo gum for other purposes so it just came in handy.

[Mucky Duck]

Two 16Ts makes a pretty shameful train so I decided to prepare the rest of the rake for a painting and weathering fest! A selection of

Bachmanns with standard and pressed end doors have just had a base coat applied and will all be painted grey to a greater or lesser degree.

The one Parkside will be painted in a newer condition than the rest of the rake, hence the few rust spots on the bare plastic.

 

 

 

 

20T Brake van

As there are no small jobs on the layout, it is well and truly out of bounds for another couple of months at least so I'll be restricted to

snatching quick jobs on the workbench here and there. The next mini-project will a BR 20T Brake van to complete the train of mineral

wagons. I've always had a soft spot for massively long coal trains (preferably double-headed) and have vivid memories of the seeing a 20T

being the last thing to disappear serenely into the distance following the earlier cacophony.

 

I'll be modifying and weathering Bachmann's latest incarnation of the standard non-weathered Bauxite item, simply labelled 20T Brake

Van BR Bauxite on the box and by all accounts I'm a lucky lad managing to get hold of a couple of these, thanks to pre-ordering them –

and at the time of writing, this particular van is no longer even listed on Bachmann's website… the weathered and the BR grey versions

being the closest currently available.

 

Having been rumbled by OzzyO for using instanter couplings on my non-fitted 16Ts, some more thorough research wouldn't go amiss for

this project. First port of call was my David Larkin, BR Standard Freight Wagons book but it's only in b/w with just three different 20T

examples of this design, so Paul Bartlett's fabulous site here was an obvious choice. Although most vans illustrated were shot between

1978 and '82 (with my period being '63) it's a visual feast nonetheless. I will also try to find as many good shots as possible from the early

'60s, to check for any specific chalk markings etc. My prototype will be from BR's main 1/506 diagram. Some features such as buffers and

couplings were altered with each batch. Am I correct in assuming that fitted brake vans could be used with a train of non-fitted wagons?

 

I had a copy of Model Rail featuring an excellent 20T Brake Van Masterclass tucked away somewhere but vaguely remembered that the

conversion needed some serious fettling, including some add-on bits. On digging-out said issue (no. 86, December 2005), to my relief, the

subject of the upgrade was not a Bachmann but the Dapol kit – one of which I started about a year ago but had since abandoned in

anticipation of the Bachmann model.

 

I've no idea how much better this current Bachmann 20T is than the company's previous incarnation but examining it shows that generally

it's a big improvement on the Dapol kit – as one would expect – but still needs tweaking all the same. Surprisingly, Dapol's moulding of the

body's timber planking is finer, so looks better to me than Bachmann's effort and following George Dent's steps in the aforementioned feature,

one can still make a decent model from it, so I'll still give that the Mucky treatment one day.

 

Without taking any measurements, the Bachmann looks spot-on from all angles but someone who knows much better than I may think

differently and I'd be only to happy to hear counterpoints. To my untrained eye it's only in the detail department that I feel it needs

improvement and replacing the hand rails, which still stand out like very swollen thumbs, is the obvious immediate one that I can see.

 

So, my list of 'to do's' is shown below. If anyone knows of something that I've missed, please don't be shy, like wot I am! Ideally, I'd like to get

the body apart to open one of the doors – and the roof off so that it can be thinned down, so any tips on doing that without causing damage

would be appreciated. Apologies for the poor quality of the numbers on the pics!

 

 

 

1. Replace moulded end lamp irons with brass ones

 

2. Roof looks far too thick, so needs thinning or replacing with plasticard.

 

3. & 4. All handrails and bars need replacing with 0.5mm brass rod

 

5. Lamp irons look well-moulded for plastic so will try to get away with trimming them with a sharp blade or file

 

6. The brackets beneath each end of the body should not be solid, so will be removed and replaced with brass strip or similar

 

 

 

 

7. Undecided whether to keep these handles as some variants didn't have them… they do look reasonably well moulded though

 

8. Get a proper etched plate to replace this

 

9. The gaps between the timber planking are way too big – the Dapol kit is better in this respect – so I'm hoping that paint will lessen the effect

 

10. Underframe cross shafts and safety loops to add. Does anyone have any thoughts about the brakes? There seems a massive gap between

the shoes and the wheels. I will also be exchanging the wheels for some with finer flanges. Not sure about whether to retain the buffers either.

 

 

 

Prepare to meet your maker!… the hammer is just too quick an end for these freaks but life's too short to waste time dreaming-up slow,

elaborate deaths!

 

 

 

At great risk of damaging the many fragile parts on this van I spent ages trying to pry the body off with these tabs (I've even damaged both

top ones) so I could get the roof of, only to discover that the body/roof is a single moulding…

On to plan B then… remove the roof ancillaries and file it down, which I'm not looking forward to.

 

[Mucky Duck]

I've just discovered that, unlike the handrails, this little safety bar (arrowed) is moulded to the body so will have to be completely shaved away

or sliced off… it may be worth carefully removing the lamp brackets temporarily before they get accidentally snapped off with all the handling!

As you can see, some handrails were removed much more easily than others. Still not sure what to do about thinning that roof!

 

[Savoyard]

Hi Ryan,

 

I am just catching up with various things, it was the memorial service this Saturday and there had been quite a bit of preparation for it so I've been a little distracted over the last couple of weeks.

 

I was pleased to see you making great progress and sorry to hear you have become a victim of the Class 504 curse, perhaps like me after a short break from it and some fresh thinking you may be able to sort it out. I hope to restart mine soon as I pick up the 'Holcombe Brook & Tottington' layout after the Shipley exhibition and I need to get the stock sorted.

 

I took my 504 to the members day but I found one of the lugs holding the bogie on the Replica chassis had broken so it was a little lob sided. I am thinking of using a different chassis, I may even see how it fits on the Bachmann 2EPB chassis.

 

Peter

[Mucky Duck]

Hi Peter, good to see you back. Sounds like it's been a tough time for you, to say the least… I'm sure that your modelling mojo will return

once you get some momentum going. That's why I embarked on these mini projects rather than have a break after the 504 disappointment.

 

Anyway, a little more on the Brake van – the roof has now been sanded down to a satisfactory thickness after stove chimney and vents were

carefully removed.

 

 

 

Body brackets added. The solid ones were a pain to remove due to the small working space but some heavy frame dirt and dust will hopefully

disguise the scars.

 

[Mucky Duck]

I'm pleased with brass handrails even if they now look a bit skinny… but some paint will thicken them up nicely. The brackets supporting the

boards have a much greater depth to them compared with those on the prototype and ideally I would like to have used brass strip to replace

them but I fear they would be just too fragile. They're starting to bug me so I'll just have to stop looking at close-up pics and save the mod for

a future experiment, perhaps.

 

 

 

 

Before and after – an amazing difference in very little time. Bachmann's effort with the handrails doesn't look too bad… until compared with

the brass replacements. Originally, the handrails were threaded through the bufferbeam (presumably for practical reasons) but it is wrong.

I flattened the end of the brass rod to create a 'bracket' and glued it over the hole left by the original. As I have no brass strip, the lamp irons

were also made from flattened rod and as there were no detail add-ons with this model, I'll have to make the vac pipes.

 

 

[Mucky Duck]

Roof's chimney and vents were stuck back on the the rain strips were done with Comet coach roof tape.

 

 

 

I wanted the option to have the safety bars (or whatever they're called) across the veranda doorways if required. The method's a bit crude but

I can live with it. This close-up shot really does emphasise those inter-planking gaps.

 

[Mucky Duck]

Ah, the relief… just to get some grime on it makes me feel so much better!

 

 

 

Body now weathered to second stage. Final stage will be touching-up and the handrails painted a dirty white after numbers have been applied.

Now the thickness of the glazing really stands out and I'm not happy with that – so will definitely take the body apart to investigate a solution

on the next one. Still waiting for some Phoenix Frame dirt to arrive before tackling the bottom half and the ends.

 

[Michael Delamar]

superb!

need to do that to mine.

 

hows the 504 coming along?

 

Mike

[jwealleans]

Should there be another grab handle on the chimney side or was that only on the LNER diagrams?

[Mucky Duck]

superb!

need to do that to mine.

hows the 504 coming along?

Mike

Thanks Mike, the handrails alone make a massive difference and well worth the modest mount of effort required. The 504 has been shelved until I find the enthusiasm to flat-down (or strip) the orange-peel paint job and start again! In the meantime, doing these little projects is providing a welcome excuse.

 

Should there be another grab handle on the chimney side or was that only on the LNER diagrams?

Hi jwealleans, according to Paul Bartlett's website there were numerous detail changes on the 1/506 diagram. In his photos some vans indeed have a third grab handle, others two and some have none at all but I've no idea if all vans had three handles originally and over the course of time some vans have had them removed.