Jon4470

So, the weather has been lousy today……which means some modelling time😁. This is much better than repairing a window…which is what I’ve spent most of my week off work(can’t really call it a holiday) doing! I’ve progressed the railcar quite well…..but I was always pondering how to do the window grills. Borrowing the idea from @micklner of using railings - but not having any in stock - I tried to create my own version. I soldered the vertical pieces to a horizontal bar. The best that I could do was …..well, not very good! Even using a spacer it was very difficult to get even spacing and parallel bars. Any attempt to adjust thing just unsoldered everything😠 Basically I figured that the mark one eyeball was the best judge of what looked correct……but how to hold everything in place while still being able to adjust the bars? Then I hit upon an idea…blutack. I used a spacer for the first three bars and then did the rest by eye. Once happy with the spacing I pressed them into the blu tack and then soldered on a horizontal piece…in one hit. (the observant might notice that I lost one bar in the process 😁) Now the question is how to attach to the window frame? I think that there are two options (after scraping off the paint on the window surround and evening up the bar lengths at the lower edge). I could try to solder the bars onto the bottom frame….and then the top. Hopefully I can be quick enough with the iron to avoid unsoldering any previous joints as I go. The other option that I can think of is to use runny superglue. Not as strong as soldering but less risky. Anyone got any other ideas? One other bonus of the blu tack is that the imprints are still there…so the second grill should be a bit easier to align.🙂

Impressive results there Chas!

Work on the cylinder heads has progressed. I was quite pleased with this….but something was nagging at me. The cylinder heads were slightly too big. This resulted in the right hand cylinder being too far to the right of the door post.. This photo is also one of those rare times when the photo looks better than the reality🙂. The left hand cylinder was ready to fall off……..which it duly did straight after the photo. I had a re-think……and swapped over to plastic (although I did reuse the brass pipe). This is a cruel enlargement……. I found it easier to shape the cylinder heads and get them to the correct size. They are glued onto the piece of plastic in the background. This give some solidity to the arrangement before the pipes are fitted. The flanges on the pipe are made from scrap etch on the right hand end and 0.3mm wire for the other two (I know these are supposed to be square flanges but I don’t think they will be very visible anyway). The copper wire that is sticking out of the brass tube was something I inserted to stop the tube creasing when I bent it……there is a small crease on the bend…which started before I put the copper wire in😃. In situ the assembly looks like this The cylinder assembly is just blu tacked in place because there is a set of steps to go in front of this lot…..which need to be fitted first as the will be soldered to the solebar. Finally, a reminder of what I’m trying to represent There’s some sort of rod linkage running along the bottom of the solebar and the angling down slightly across the front of the cylinder heads. It looks like it ends at the brake V hanger….or possibly at the construction slightly to the right of the V hanger. So that’s another bit of underframe detail to add!

While pondering the window grills ….. I’ve started work on another area🙂 This is the engine area. The engine was placed just behind the power bogie. On the model it is represented by a casting on the centre line. On photos the cylinder heads are visible on the left hand side of the railcar. This is logical because the crankshaft was on the centreline….meaning that the cylinders were to one side. This photo ( borrowed from @Chas Levin) shows the engine and on a railcar it looks like this To represent this I’ve made up 3 “cylinder heads” from scrap etch. I created U shape tubes and soldered an end on to them. The ends were rounded at the bottom edge only….the top is not really visible. Here they are sitting (not yet fixed in place) on the kit casting. And with a “steam pipe” just held in place it will look like this This is beginning to look like the clutter that I want to represent. More bits of wire etc required for detailing. However, there will be steps in front of this…and the whole thing will be black and hidden in the shadows. So that means that the details can be representative and don’t have to be completely accurate.

Hi Chas I’m glad that you put that plan up….because it made me look at it carefully. The sandboxes are in the driving cab right at the front. Presumably they were filled here as well. I would think parcels would be carried in the luggage compartment……and when I looked, there it is - a letter rack and a locker for insured parcels. So, I can’t think why they’d have additional boxes for parcels. I have read that the early railcars (without roof hatches) were coaled using coal bags taken inside the cab. So I suppose that these chutes could be something to do with that…a back up way of (limited) coaling? Still baffled really🙂

A couple of musings about the mystery boxes. On diagram 96 there was a sliding window. On diagram 97 this became a panel. The d96 cars were retro fitted with the panel….apparently because the windows suffered breakage….which isn’t surprising if the top opens as shown in that photo! It looks like it is designed to take something from the outside…..and looks like solid objects (packets, coal, sand etc)…. But there’s also a water tank to fill in that general area. Where are the water tank fillers?

Hi Chas I had a quick look at the diagrams that I have access to. In that location (on both sides) the plan view shows a “box” ( it is labelled as a box). Not that helpful I know! I guess what is visible here is the open lid to said box. There are a few views in Yeadons that show the closed box through the opened window. I had not spotted this before now, but then again, the NuCast body has the windows firmly shut🙂

I didn’t find very much about railcars in the NERA magazine back copies (plenty of other things to distract me however🙂) There were some interesting accounts of local services in various areas - by people who’d used the railway in the 1920’s and 30’s….fascinating. One quote that referenced the railcars went something like this “when they were introduced they were shiny and new so we liked them. Then they became rather shabby and were like hot boxes on wheels”. It gives some flavour to other comments that I have seen to the effect that they had to be maintained in steam sheds, coaled etc which was not conducive to keeping a carriage clean for the passengers. It also hints at another potential problem of heat, insulation and ventilation.

I always find that the fitting of the roof and end domes on these carriages is the most frustrating part of the build. I’ve mainly used the approach described I.e. fitting the ends first and then cutting the roof to length. Getting the cornices to align properly, though, is then a real faff……at least once I have resorted to putting a plastic strip along the whole length of the cornice to improve the appearance. Last time I decided to build the complete roof off the body. The result was a much improved cornice appearance…… the trade off was a lot of filing of the ends and domes. Despite this, I ended up with a larger roof overhang over the ends than I wanted. (I take as much white metal as I dare out of the underside of the dome…using a dremel ………it helps the fit of the dome to the end but doesn’t help my nerves😃) Having said all of the above, I’d never thought about filing the roof down a bit at the joint with the domes…doh!

I don’t call that cheating……..it’s lateral thinking!😃

Tonight I had a little play around with ideas about the grills that were fitted over one of the windows on these railcars. I plan to model number 2200 “Surprise”. Several reasons…This one was shedded at Starbeck, I have a photo and (as long as I’ve checked correctly 🙂) I can make the name up from the transfers supplied with the kit. The photo shows that the grill bars were vertical on this unit. (Some had horizontal bars and some had both vertical and horizontal I think). There were 12 bars showing on the photo, although a drawing in one of the books shows 11 bars. The window is 12mm across. So, whatever the exact number of bars, it will be necessary to have a drilling jig - there is no way I can drill that many holes accurately spaced….let alone matching at the top and bottom of the window. I hit upon the idea to use clear plastic, which I taped to the outside of the body Sorry that photo is blurry! I marked the window out line with a scriber and the result looks like this with an outline of the window Easy part now? Drill 12 holes in a straight line and all equally spaced out…… As you can see, they didn’t end up evenly spaced out. This is despite taking great care with marking out….. Nevertheless, I decided to check what the bars would look like on the window (cue much swearing as pieces of 0.33mm brass wire went anywhere and everywhere….but, obviously, not where they were supposed to go!). Finally, I got to this The doubled over masking tape is the only way that I could keep the wire still. To me at least, it shows that slight variation in spacing and (even more so) slight deviation from parallel looks messy. The thought of trying to drill these matching holes in the white metal body was not appealing at all…… if I couldn’t do it in clear plastic I figure that the metal will be even more difficult. But then, I had an idea. Just drill the holes at the top, cut the bars to the same length as each other and just solder them on the bottom of the window frame (just above the horizontal beading). That was followed by another thought……why bother with holes at the top? The bars can be soldered on top of the window frame. So now all I have to do is to figure out how to hold these bits of brass parallel to one another and 0.85mm apart…….and anything that I use must not get soldered to the brass or body🙂 With that, it’s time for bed and let the brain dwell on this……hopefully my sub-conscious will figure out a solution……. Tonight, though, I have at least found the photo of Surprise, determined that the bars should be vertical and decided how many to fix…..so, quite productive.

That’s a nice looking carriage! Sounds like the 3D prints are continuing to improve?

Thanks for the kind words.

Hi Mark A while ago I made a note of the back copies of the NERA magazine (North Eastern Express) that had references to railcars. I will be looking through these over the coming weeks so if I spot anything relevant to diagram 88 I’ll let you know. Jon

As people used to say (in the days of snail mail) …. Our letters must have crossed in the post.🙂

Just harking back to the subject of steps for this post. I’ve started to renovate my NuCast railcar and as part of the carried out a test on a (sharp) curve. As expected the bogies fouled the steps. Now, on my model I have fixed the steps inside the solebars. I’ve been checking photos and it looks to me that actually they were bolted to the outside face of the solebars. I also happened upon this diagram in British Railcars by David Jenkinson and Barry Lane. The drawing is credited to Nick Campling. Below is a snip of the corner….it shows that the steps (at the front at least) angle out… Thought it would be relevant to this topic…..may also be part of the reason for bars as the steps (think I’ve remembered that correctly) Jon

Well…angled out steps maybe prototypical…..I saw this diagram of the front steps and bogie earlier today What I was really looking for was confirmation that the steps bolt to the outside of the solebars (on my kit they are attached inside). From the photos and the diagrams that I’ve been looking at I conclude that the steps do actually attach to the outside of the solebars…and look like they were angled out a bit. All of this will give me extra clearance on curves.

Quick test this morning using Hornby R607 curves (2nd radius I think….18” radius) The railcar coped fine with the curve …. But not so well with the transition from straight to curve. The rear of the bogie is catching (as I thought it would). A little bit of filing will sort that out, however. Once on the curve the railcar moved along nicely under power with no short circuits or derailments. This overhead photo shows the railcar fully on the curve As you can see there is plenty of clearance (remember though that the cosmetic sides are not in place…although I don’t think that they will foul the sides). A close up at the flywheel end shows the clearance at the tightest point However, when I turn the railcar around, the problem with the steps (at both ends) becomes apparent….. Now, these steps are the white metal originals, so they maybe a bit thick. I also plan to use 30” radius on the layout, so my curves will be less severe. Despite this, I’m still thinking that I might fix the steps to the bogies, just to be safe. More tests coming on I think🤔

There is a simple answer to the first question….yes this is the entire Nu-cast kit. White metal sides, floor and roof. I was a bit worried that the motor might not be powerful enough but it seems fine in reality. It doesn’t seem to be struggling (or getting hot) so I think it’s doing the job required of it. With regard to bends, I’ll see if I can find some curved track pieces and take a photo from above. There seems to be quite a lot of room though. One thing that I am aware of though, is the steps. There are some that are next to the bogie front wheels. These are, I think, a problem. I believe that some people have actually attached them to the bogie, and not to the body, in order to give clearance for curves. This is something I’ll need to look at. (The steps are missing from my railcar…..because they got bashed so much when fitting and removing the power bogie!……that is a clue🙂)

Thanks for the comment….and “hint” taken……let’s see if my directorial debut works😃 Hopefully this shows slow and fast(ish) running. The slow was at about 10% throttle and fast at 60%. Jon

Lo and behold….it works! You’ll have to take my word for it because I’ve not yet mastered to mysteries of uploading moving pictures 🙂 It runs smoothly on my straight, and short, test plank. The bogie is very close to the (white metal) representation of the real gearbox…see the arrow. This is also seen in the aerial view (front of railcar to the top) This would most likely cause problems on curves. I’ll be able to file back the white metal a bit and also, if necessary, take a bit off the bogie. Other than that, though, there is plenty of space around the bogie and motor so I should be able to create a driving compartment complete with dummy boiler etc. The bogie is really just tacked together at the moment. This is so I could test the functionality. Now I need to double check ride heights (at both ends) because there is no guarantee that the original railcar kit was correct. I can also tidy up the motor connections and insulate them……I also think that I may have connected them to the wrong motor terminals🙄 At last, though, I have a mobile railcar……so no excuses for not finishing it now!

Tonight I fabricated a pivot point ……. Using the existing mounting in the body shell. Using this mounting point will avoid the need to mess around with the body shell (which is mainly complete and painted). I created a tower out of Nickel silver sheet. The actual pivot is a piece of brass tube. This is placed through the top cross plate and rests on the intermediate plate. The tower is just resting in place for now. The next step will be to adjust the ride height and tack the tower in place. Then fit some pick ups and see if the bogie will move the railcar!

The new chassis is now operational ! That means it is built and will run along the test track under power.This is how it looks And how it compares to the old chassis I made good progress with this yesterday …… until the wheels were put on. The first set went on fine. I then put power to it. At this point the axle (the one that had not had wheels attached) locked solid😦. After a bit of faffing around, I put it all to one side and decided to sleep on the problem. It looked to me that the gear mesh was the problem. The gears were fixed with Loctite Retaining liquid - so they couldn’t be moved easily. Then, during the day I had a light bulb moment…..I would de-solder the axle bushes. This would allow the axle to drop by a bit and thus free up the mesh. Quite how the mesh had got locked had me flummoxed…..the kit is well designed and fits together easily….and I didn’t think that I had bodged anything! Tonight I set to, and de-soldered one of the axle bushes. At that point I got a surprise….the axle was actually locked solid in the bush! Hmm….some of the retainer must have got into the bush! By heating the bush with the soldering iron I was able to remove it from the axle. A bit of cleaning up, followed by soldering in a new axle bush and all was well……..everything that was supposed to rotate did so. Next step, then, is to fabricate the pivot. I’m going to ponder this for a while. I’m not sure whether to use the existing pivot point (that is at the height of the cantrail in the body) or whether to create a lower pivot. I think that a lower position will be more stable and less likely to allow the body to nose and rock……but that is what I will be pondering 🤔

It looks to me that the vertical section is a triangular shaped plate. At a guess 3” or 4” at the base and tapering to say 1”. At right angles a plate has been attached to the upper half of the vertical section. I assume this is to support the weight of the hatch. I’d guess that this plate is 6” or so wide. I’d be inclined to try some brass angle…especially if you have some 1mm by 2mm. I think it might require a bit of trial and error to get something that has the right proportions.

Hi Chas I’m using a Larger Diesel Bogie as supplied by Locos n Stuff. This gives drive on two axles and gives the correct wheelbase. I have had to shorten the frames and will also have to fabricate a central pivot mechanism and some brackets to hold the cosmetic white metal frames (from the original Ks bogie) The shortened frames have not caused and constructional issues…spacers still fit etc. Next steps are the gears and wheels….