Havenhouse - the reboot

[uax6]

Hahaha. Tell you what, if you can hang on until I've done the Barnum and you can supply a plan I'll sort them out for you.

 

I did think about the plastic rod, but there are so many in such a small space that I didn't want to weaken the sides. Almost done the bracing a middle strip, and a representation of the weights then I'm done. I'll put up a picture in a bit.

 

You've just landed yourself a job! I think at the present rate of progress (one step forward, five back) that I'll be ready for them about this time next year!

 

Andy g

[MikeTrice]

My young Grandson is coming tomorrow so I packed everything away, until some idiot posted his GCR Bogie file. So I have had to get it all out again! Trying out another option.

[JCL]

hahaha. You might want to look at increasing the width of the top-plate by a mm or so.

 

Mine's just drying after being in the paintshop.

 

cheers

 

An Idiot.

[JCL]

Here you go.

 

A little remedial work on a weight, but apart from a coupling and a final paint job this one's done. Ron's method for cutting through .020" has come up trumps for me and allowed me to build a stiff top. The whole thing flexes slightly which allows me to put the wheels in for photos and then take them out as needed. If I'm being canny I could make the top layer of the top slightly wider so that it's edge becomes the flange, this will save me from applying that top flange separately and will help line everything up.

 

Chuffed though. Only one more to do.

 

 

With regards to the matchboarding the lower sides, I found some scribed plasticard with 1.2mm stripes (my vocabulary is deserting me) that I thought might be good for the bottom half. There isn't a tumblehome on this, but here is a slight bend in the body at the top of the matchboarding. I might just get away with it, and it would mean I can crack on while Andy G waits for his scriber and does a review for us.

 

cheers

 

Jason

[JCL]

Bogie number two cut and ready to prize off the backing sheet along with one of the ends. I'm pretty pleased with how the matchboarding has come out, but I've just noticed you can't really tell from this photo. I'll glue them together, prime them and get the "big camera" out to see if it's more noticeable.

 

I'm going to replace the two centre layers with one .020" centre layer for strength and to keep warping down.

 

 

Everything popped out ok. I did a couple of extras of each of the different types of layers, which is good as a couple of them split when removing them from the plastic sheet. I have enough for a bogie though. Tomorrow I'll get the .020" out and cut the tops.

[MikeTrice]

Result of last night's experiments. I have modified the top two layers of the bogie sideframe to increase the material to the side of the rivets, then laminated together. The rivets were then pressed out with a scriber using the cut holes as a guide. This has the effect of curling the sides:

 

After laminating to two more sideframe cuttings  (without the additional material) and leaving under a weight, the sideframe starts to flatten:

 

The sideframes are separated and the extra material carefully trimmed off, then the axleboxes added:

 

The only reason for posting these is to illustrate a version with embossed rivets.

 

[JCL]

That's really great Mike! I'm convinced, I'll give it a go

[Flying Fox 34F]

Very clever! I must read your posts about the cutter

Paul

[7APT7]

Hi mate

 

Excellent craftsmanship, I have to say, keep the step by step photos coming...

 

Jamie 

[JCL]

Thankyou both. I've just spent the last hour or so reading about coach construction. I'm doing it a bit Harris about face, but getting there!

[JCL]

I've had to get out from behind the computer screen for a while so I decided to make a start on some Dapol lowmacs that I bought a while ago. They are to recreate a particular train that I have in a photo in one of the books that I own that I've never seen anywhere else. The kits have been put together, and I'm going to use Paul Bartlett's excellent website http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brlowmacek to try to put in some details. The kit's still pretty good without a lot of flash, but the axle holes aren't great, and the wheels I discarded for some that came in an American proto2000 kit of a Western Pacific gondola.

 

I'm going to see what I have for couplings. I think I've a packet of Hornby and Bachmann ones in a drawer downstairs. I've no chain for these, was rope ever used to rope down loads?

 

Anyway, primer tomorrow and then I'll have a look for some weathering instructions.

 

Good to get the glue out again.

 

 

 

[7APT7]

Hi mate

 

good work being carried out here.... you ,mentioned about 'American proto2000 kit of a Western Pacific gondola' is they the wheels of a particular wagon, or can you purchase them in packs off. Are the wheels for fine scale code 75 would you know....?

 

I have about 25+ of these Lowmac wagons and I love to see them being hauled round a layout, I find they need some weight on them, like a load of some sort but I also like to see them empty to trouble is with no weight to them, they tend to derail very easy and with being quiet low anyway to the track is hard to come up with a way of running them empty or the odd few but weight them down.

 

If you can recommend a way, then I'm all hears...

 

Great work to see and I look forward to the out come and step by step photo of progress.

 

Jamie

[JCL]

Hi Jamie,

 

No specific reason to use those wheels in particular. I just happened to have three unmade "shake the box" kits in a drawer and I used those wheels as a stop-gap until I can get some new Kadee ones the next time I'm in Calgary. Assuming you're in the UK, I've had a look around for you and found that these people do them http://pandhmodels.com/search.php?orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=Wheels&submit_search=Search . You can get six low macs done with one box

 

On the load side, I'll be having my load permanently attached to the wagon, but have you thought about gluing some sort of lead granules between the ribs on the underside of the vehicle? My biggest concern is the axle boxes. I might see if some thin plastic washers cut out and glued in will help without making it too narrow under there.

 

Cheers

 

Jason

[uax6]

How about gluing in some of those top-hat bearings?

 

Andy G

[JCL]

That's true, I'll see if I can get them in there now I've glued the sides on.

[Theakerr]

For the lomac wheels I just went to my NA supplier and after measuring a couple of sets to get the correct diameter I bought a pack of 8 or 10.  For additional weight i made a thin sheet from Pb and glued it to the bottom of the lomac.  From most angles it is not visible.  Re chains, I came across a picture where all that they appeared to have used were wedge blocks for a tractor.

[JCL]

Re chains, I came across a picture where all that they appeared to have used were wedge blocks for a tractor.

 

Now that's interesting! I think that could be a goer as I can't see chains or ropes on the photo I have for inspiration.

[JCL]

Now then, when most people think of caravan trains, they think of something like this:

 

Camel Caravan, Sahara Desert, Morocco by Simon Purdy, on Flickr

 

Personally, living near the coast, I've a different perspective, and when I think of caravan train, I think of this:

 

 

In the book Railways to Skegness, The Oakwood Press, there is a photo of at least 27 caravans being unloaded onto platforms one and two at Skegness, and being driven down the platform to the concourse by a landrover sporting a Seaways Caravans placard on the front and sides. I've wanted to recreate at least a small part of this every since seeing the book, and I'm close now. I'm waiting for couplings for the Dapol kits, and I need to weather the lowmacs, but I'm pleased with it so far. And, I can claim that there aren't too many layouts with a caravan train on them!

 

Just out of interest, the caravans (Oxford Die-cast) were screwed into their presentation boxes. I'm not going to be removing the caravans from their lowmacs, so I'm going to reuse the screws and screw the caravans down. This is why I wasn't worried about the weight issue!

Edited January 27, 2014 by JCL

[Alister_G]

What a great idea!

 

Love it!

 

Al.

[emt_911]

Now there's a brilliant example of a prototype for everything. I've never seen a caravan train modelled.   :sungum:  

 

Duncan

[JCL]

Just wait for the candy floss express pulled by donkeys!

 

Modelling here in the middle of nowhere, you can get so far on a number of projects, and then they come to a pause while parts are bought and waited for, so the lowmacs are on hiatus until I can get the couplings, and the railings until the styrene turns up. The bogie stuff that I'm doing has been turned into a tutorial in the 3D printing group, which clears the way for something really, very boring indeed.

 

While taking the photo above I decided I really need to start on the fencing on the Skegness platform (platform 1). I though the fence was straightforward boards, say 4" across with 1" gaps, but I'm now more inclined to see that it wasn't like that at all, but a picket fence, where the gaps between the boards was the same width at the boards. A couple of photos show the fence is the same height as the crossing gates. I have these at 19.1mm, so that's an easy place to start. There were three cross rails that were cut on the diagonal to let the rain drain off.

 

 

None of this is left in Wainfleet of course, but the Disused Stations website has been great for photographic references. Although I've found loads of photos of the same style of fencing in the background, New Bollingbrook (http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/n/new_bolingbroke/index.shtml) shows a great example of what the Wainfleet fencing probably looked like: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/n/new_bolingbroke/index.shtml (jeez, what am I going on about??) Anyroadup, it seems to be an LNER standard in the area, so for better or worse, that's what I'm going to go with.

 

cheers

 

Jason

 

edited to add the photo to try to make it slightly less tedious.

Edited January 27, 2014 by JCL

[Theakerr]

On the subject of fastening vehicles down I have recently watched to videos that show new cars on bogie bolster wagons (with the bolsters removed) and on one i was able to magnify the image.  In this case it looks as though there is nothing holding the cars in place except themselves - by their brakes I assume

[manna]

G'Day Gents

 

I used to work car trains from Dagaham to Finsbury park, most would have been 'Cartecs', but we did get the odd flat car carrier, a lot were made out of old coaches, with the bodies removed, a lot of the cars 'looked' as if they were only held by the own brakes, but if you look carefully, you will see wooden wedges nailed  to the floorboards.

 

manna

[JCL]

Cheers Manna

 

Here we go, I've found my book and cropped the photos as they aren't mine, but hopefully they show enough. Although the planks at the front look like they were used near the front, they could of course have been moved out of the way and placed there. Also, in the top photos, there appears to be some strapping around the wheel, and possibly at the front.

 

 

[uax6]

I think the planks are there to rest the hitch on, so that they stay level during transport. The wheels are tied, and there appears to be straps of some sort going up onto the framing of the underside of the van.

 

Andy G