Quarryscapes Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 In hindsight the title of the other thread may be a bit off, given that it's content, whilst all prototypes operating in the Cambrian area, are actually GWR or BR(WR) models. This thread however, is dedicated to genuine Cambrian Railways stock, as I intend to be able to run my layout in any era from WW1 to the end of steam. And so, the first item of genuine Cambrian origin is a very humble 2 plank dropside open wagon from the aptly named Cambrian models. It's a nice little kit, but the brake gear is crude at best. I'll be replacing that with etched. I also plan on adding some sprung buffers, when I figure out how to make such fine and spindly buffers springy! It's running on Gibson wheels in Romford bearings. The 2nd item is a nice little Cambrian 2-4-0T. I've started with the Mainly Trains chassis, and hope I can find a GEM body kit before I end up scratchbuilding the top half! Getting this square was easier than building a Comet chassis as the tabbed spacers meant it didn't require 4 hands to hold everything, but they are not tight fitting so there is still scope for a lot of fore and aft movement between frames. I'm getting the hang of Carr's paste solder in a syringe now too, though I still tacked it all together first with lead free before seaming it up with the paste. Again on Gibson wheels. I have no idea why it's found necessary for such a thick tyre on the leading wheels, I think I'll swap them out for some wagon wheels with finer tyres. I also need to replace a bearing, One is too tight on the axle, and I think it's eccentric as when I swapped it to the other side of the loco it made a wheel lose contact with rail. I'm now debating pickups. I'm leaning towards Gibson plungers, but not sure how long they are and whether they'll fit in with the gearbox. (Looks like a High Level Slimliner Compact +) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelson Jackson Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Great job, I'll look forward to the finished wagon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Great job, I'll look forward to the finished wagon. Thanks, so do I! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Well I've nearly finished the artwork for the etched bits I'll need to convert a GEM kit into a Cambrian era loco (Why did they stop production of the dedicated Cambrian kit!?). I've also got a good photo of 'Seaham' with thin driving wheel tyres and massive chunky carrying tyres so maybe I'll leave as is! I've also ordered 3D printed tanks, chimney, dome and for a separate loco, a boiler. With a bit of faffing, I managed to conclude that Plungers will fit as well as a Slimliner gearbox, so that's what's going to happen. As you can see the chassis spacers have had to be altered to allow room. Here we see the holes drilled for plungers (those on the drivers sit beneath the motor), the guard irons fitted, the brake shoes laminated and one of the coupling rods laminated and drilled out for Gibson crankpin bushes. A process I hate performing! What's not shown is the phosphor bronze strip acting as spring for the front axle, it's soldered underneath the middle spacer, I intend to solder a nut on the front of the middle spacer through which a screw can be used to tension the spring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 And here we are, the spring and adjuster.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Looking really good, I wait with interest to see how you get on with the plungers. I am building a chassis for 5816 for my Llanfyllin layout Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Looking really good, I wait with interest to see how you get on with the plungers. I am building a chassis for 5816 for my Llanfyllin layout They cannot possibly be more hassle than wipers! We shall see anyway, I'm holding off finishing the chassis for my RTR bodies till I've tried them on this one. It'l be a while though, I've just blown the motorising budget on a little Cambrian goody bag which came in today's post: Should keep me busy till next pay day when I need to sort out the motors and gearboxes for all 4 of the locos currently sat on my workbench in various states of disarray! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Someone somewhere doesn't want me to build models....the W irons on the van are too close together, meaning I have to source some short axles from somewhere. Not a major disaster, I'll carry on with the rest of it. Oh no I won't the element has just gone in my soldering Iron! Oh well it is 15 years old I suppose! Oh now that takes the biscuit - the new element need to be soldered in! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Anyway, before the soldering Iron packed in, this is as far as I managed with the Dragon Models van: Not very! I'm not sure I like this kit. As previously noted the W irons are too narrow to accept standard axles, the method of aligning them is also 'interesting' (you line the diamond up with the lines in the floor, the rocking W iron has no diamond though!) and there is a lot of slack in the rocking W iron, almost enough to make it steerable. Still, it's a lot better than no kit at all! (Incidentally I made masters for a whitemetal one many years ago, but they got lost in a house move!) When I realised the issue with the W irons I checked the brake van - that has standard width ones! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethashenden Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 How wide are the W-irons? Exactoscale do "short" axles, I think they are 25 instead of 26mm, or something like that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Alan, Can I refer you to Mike Trice's thread on building a 6 wheel NER carriage, where he encountered similar problems. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81902-completing-the-4mm-ner-6-wheel-coach/page-3&do=findComment&comment=1371400 In particular this link http://www.clag.org.uk/bearing-interface.html Jol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 How wide are the W-irons? Exactoscale do "short" axles, I think they are 25 instead of 26mm, or something like that. 22.6mm between W iron inner faces. Alan, Can I refer you to Mike Trice's thread on building a 6 wheel NER carriage, where he encountered similar problems. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81902-completing-the-4mm-ner-6-wheel-coach/page-3&do=findComment&comment=1371400 In particular this link http://www.clag.org.uk/bearing-interface.html Jol I considered cutting and shutting, but didn't want to increase the axle diameter. I've managed to shorten 2 axles to 24.5mm in my minidrill, I don't know how concentric they are, but hopefully it'll be enough that the compensation should cover it. One thing that's quite useful with this kit - it has the same wheelbase as the 2 plank dropside. It also has brake gear for both sides, when I only need one side. I think you can guess where the set for the other side is going! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 This little lot arrived today.... As well as a soldering Iron - the wrong one! Once again I've been sent an 18W CS iron instead of what I ordered! Rapid this time, Maplin last time! The GEM kit is interesting, the moulds are way past seeing better days evidently. I only need the boiler out of it, though I'd save myself some hassle but I don't think it's worked! I've spent a good hour on it so far trying to make it look presentable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 A little progress on the van: A hole is drilled in the floor and a discarded 00 chassis spacer from a Comet chassis is used to keep the compensated W iron from twisting... Body trial fitted: And thus is revealed some more annoyances! The W irons do not match up to the outer plates in the solebars like they should, and for some bizarre reason the floor is a good 5mm shorter than the body, so I'll have to jiggle it around to make sure it ends up in the centre of the chassis on final assembly. I have a strong inkling that the master for the body mould was a 3d printed item. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 More progress on the van today. Fitted the axleboxes and springs to the W irons and body respectively. Bit of a pig to do. When assembled the springs sit on top of the axleboxes rather than in the recess behind them, once again due to the narrow W irons. Because of this the floor doesn't make contact with the body in it's recess. To remedy, I've packed the body off the floor with some scrap fret, laminated up till the rocking W iron is free to rock, the floor is in contact with the body but without there being a noticeable gap between spring and axlebox. Side effect of this is that the body is now riding a bit too high but no big deal. We'll say it's empty! I think I'll be pursuing a redevelopment of my own kit for future wagons of this type! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 A little loco progress today. Shapeways delivered a few bits and pieces so I've been fiddling: A Gibson wheel drilling jig first off. I should probably have printed in FUD or made the lettering bigger, I can't quite work out what the crank throws are any more! Ahh well, it works tolerably well, though fitting crankpins is still a mare. I managed two wheels for the 2-4-0T - half way there! The bits behind are some tanks for the 2-4-0T, with the flare 3D printed in FUD as I didn't fancy trying to roll that from brass. Also delivered were dome and chimney for both the 2-4-0T and Aston goods, as well as smokebox door and boiler for the Aston also. Here we see some paint drying on L to R: Aston goods boiler, needs a thick coat in order to be smoothed out, Boiler for 2-4-0T from the GEM kit, not painted but filled and metal blacked to show up any pitting (Easier than removing the paint if it needs further work!) Jones style Chimney for Aston goods, Dome for the 2-4-0T, though in reality it's interchangeable with the Aston one, they just have 2 different methods of drawing the flare resulting in minor variation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbuttler Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Looking good mate, the FUD components in particular. What scale are you going for, was it EM? Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penlan Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Quote Quarryscapes :- Side effect of this is that the body is now riding a bit too high but no big deal. We'll say it's empty! How much is the buffer horizontal centre line above the top of the rail? If your using 3 links etc., then you won't want too much height variation when propelling the wagons. My understanding is it should be 14mm in 4mm Scale (3'6"), though the RCH 1947 recommendations for wagon repairs cites between 3'1.5" & 3' 6". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 Looking good mate, the FUD components in particular. What scale are you going for, was it EM? Cheers Aye it's EM, soon as I saw a sample of C+L flexitrack I couldn't go back to 00! Quote Quarryscapes :- Side effect of this is that the body is now riding a bit too high but no big deal. We'll say it's empty! How much is the buffer horizontal centre line above the top of the rail? If your using 3 links etc., then you won't want too much height variation when propelling the wagons. My understanding is it should be 14mm in 4mm Scale (3'6"), though the RCH 1947 recommendations for wagon repairs cites between 3'1.5" & 3' 6". It's only 14.5mm, shouldn't cause any problems, I'm not having any tight curves and no gradients. Been painting today, chose this as my interpretation of Cambrian grey: Few more coats on the Aston boiler, should be ready for some sanding tomorrow: The wagons together indoors. height difference barely noticeable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Well the van had me awake all night, I couldn't let it rest not working properly! So I dismantled the springs and sanded them all till they would fit in the axleboxes. The result is a very weak structure as theres's less than a mm contact between spring casting and solebar. Rapid also managed to deliver the right soldering iron, so I finished off the brake gear and assembly is now complete bar buffers and couplings. In assembling the brake gear there is curious V hanger with no eye for the brake rod. The instructions don't say if this is meant to be inside or outside, so I chose to assemble it outside, with the rod soldered to the inside one, this outer one resting on the brake rod but glued to the solebar, then the ratchet is soldered to the brake lever handle then the lever soldered to the brake rod, but not the outer hanger. This means the chassis can be separated from the body for painting. So there, it's done. I'm not all that happy with it, the axleboxes aren't straight but I'm not sure I'll get away with melting the solder on them yet again. The body detailing isn't all that great and there are some serious print lines showing up. It's going to have to be heavily weathered to hide it's flaws! Not a great model I'm afraid, if you're ever tempted to get one, lose the underframe, and spent a lot of time cleaning up the body casting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 Ahh now that's more like it, a kit that pretty much works as intended! Also from Dragon Models, I've cracked on with the Single verandah brake van today. I won't say it's hassle free as I think there's plenty of room for improvement in the design, but it has at least required virtually no modification or faffing about other than as instructed in the instructions! A few notes though should you be considering building one: This kit is a type that falls into my pet hate of not folding up. I hate having to try and locate 3 bits of metal perfectly square which then have to have something else lined up against them later, it's asking for trouble. I'd rather it had been a fold up box with overlays on afterwards, that would have been a lot easier to build and gives a better chance of everything staying aligned. But since it isn't... Great care needs to be taken that the fold lines are widened sufficiently to make folding easy of the sides. I screwed one up pretty badly, taking about an hour and a half to straighten it again as the half etched planking acts as a bend line when you don't want it too. The solebars are slightly over long, they need trimming down otherwise there'll be a gap between sides and ends when assembled! (Luckily I trial fitted the sides before soldering the ends to the solebars! The W irons are located as on the van kit I build previously, I haven't built them yet, and am considering whether I'm going to or if I'm going to buy some rigid ones and a jig from elsewhere. There is an error in the artwork for the end verandah (could just be an etching flaw) so that the roof radius is not properly curved, having a step in one side. There is no guide to the position of the end strapping, I couldn't make out from the pictures and soldered mine against the planking when it should have been down the centre of the outermost plank. I did the fixed end correctly but it was too late to adjust the verandah end. Speaking of pictures, the solebars in the pics are C channel, I suspect this is the case for the 7mm version but it is not true of the 4mm one. It's not mentioned in the text (because it doesn't matter) but it did leave me in a little doubt as to whether it would all come together later or whether there was a missing fold line on my etch! You can see in the last photo I had to bend the top of the side back up to clear the inner end having previously folded it square. Could have done with a slot really as that would have helped keep it all square... And as for the van...well I took all the paint off and sprayed the whole lot with Phoenix etch primer. I figured it would be easier to infill the planking grey than try and mask it off to to the black over the top. Actually looks halfway presentable in black! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbuttler Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Thanks for posting your progress up in such detail Alan. For me as a beginner its interesting (read:daunting) to see what challenges you come up against and how you overcome them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 No problem Alan, hopefully it'll save anyone else building the same things some aggro! Trouble is I have a terrible problem for not being able to see a problem till it's too late. The brakr van for example despite having the diamonds lined up on the floor has W irons out of square as well as not being level. Part of the problem is that the solebars are strips that sit under the floor, there is no rigid structure so in holding the W Irons down I've bent the floor and now everything else is affected. Getting the brake gear to behave on the short side was quite a task, but it's done and somehow this thing is more free running than anything else I own, and will run off in track that appears to be level (and on which nothing else is moving!) You can't see the low end in the photos on account of the wide angle lens giving perspective in that direction anyway. I've decided to ditch the footboards from the kit, replacing them with some suitably sized brass section soldered to some plan strip for bracketry, replacing the fold up items in the kit. The supplied roof is also going in favour of a styrene sheet one as I want to glaze the windows, I won't very well be able to solder a brass one on after fitting plastic sheet windows and painting the inside! I also built up the spare brake gear from the van for the dropside today: Following the same principle as the van, I filed away the bottom of the outside V hanger so the brake shaft rests on it in the above photo, the brake lever and ratchet being soldered to the shaft. This means I can take it away and spray it in etch primer and then glue in place when done. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Regarding The Cambrian 2 Plank: I usually use etched W Irons when building kits, removing the plastic ones carefully and leaving the plastic axle boxes. these can then have the axle hole opened out to enable a sprung W Iron to be used. Do you think the same could be done with this? obviously I would need to acquire the correct W Iron. These look like a really good model, I want a few of these for Llanfyllin in both Cambrian and GWR. Shame about the 2-4-0 would have liked one of those, but, will watch your work carefully to see how you create one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PenrithBeacon Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I get the impression that the Dragon Models Cam brake is not terribly good. Is this a true impression? Regards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.