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I will sort myself out, please don't worry about this.

I have ordered up the Coopercraft/Slaters kit for a 4-plank open. All of my previous kit builds have brakes on only one side so I have several spare brake mouldings to add the correct brakes. If the chassis is rigid then I am sure I can make or carve some representative axle boxes. I already have some metal buffer heads "spare" (because I built up a Slater's kit with home-made dumb buffers) and some Plastruct or similar could make some more suitable buffers. Yes sprung buffers would be better but if I can make rigid buffers which look right I will be happy. My present 7mm kit project has solid white metal buffers. I have mixed Tamiya paint to make "Indian red" with tolerable success and given the recipe from @Mikkel(one of the previous links) I am sure I can make some bearable GWR red.

I have been trying British H0 for the last six years, a scale where getting even the wheelbase about right is a challenge. I want only a modest 7mm scheme, my wagons will be one-offs not rakes, so I can have a go at improvising.

I am sure my ruined Mink will have a use one day. Maybe cut away one side and install batteries and r/c gear to drive my Minerva Manning Wardle out onto a garden line otherwise set up for three-rail. Not the way I would choose to use such a fine model but far better than giving up or selling it on.

- Richard.

On 03/12/2021 at 22:36, Compound2632 said:

...

 

I believe that all the one and two-plank wagons built up to the late 1870s had wood underframes. Also, the 4-plank wagons were 16'0" long over headstocks but I believe all 3-plank wagons were 15'6". 

 

But a Slaters (ex-Coopercraft) kit might be an easier route to one of the standard 4-plank wagons.

 

For mid-1890s you will need to replace the oil axleboxes (introduced late 1897) with grease axleboxes.

 

Please, just to make sure.

If I build a Slaters (ex Coopercraft) kit ref.7013 for a GWR 4-plank wagon and fit grease axle boxes along the way but otherwise build the kit as designed, will I end up up with a wagon suitable for a layout set in 1890? This assuming of course I put the kit together ok.

Many thanks.

- Richard.

I think I have four options:

1. Sell what I have to someone wanting to make a heavily-weathered model

2. Finish the model as something heavily weathered and sell it (doesn't appeal much)

3. Build a fictional wagon with a different body on the chassis (would probably bring satisfaction to me)

4. Perservere with the paint stripper

I must try perseverence first, and then report back when I have worked out what to do.

Meanwhile, of course, thank you @Compound2632and @Miss Prismfor your expertise.

- Richard.

1 hour ago, Miss Prism said:

 

No. Ignoring the few liberties Minerva took with the chassis for the V6, that steel design originates from 1886. The first opens to use that kind of chassis with side stanchions did not appear until a lot later.

Thank you so much for a simple answer.

Yet, sometimes this hobby becomes exasperating. I have a book with an ambitious title, "All about GWR Iron Minks"(!) by Lewis, Lloyd, Metcalf and Miller, publ HMRS; and unfortuately chosen to look at it. In chapter 3 they write:

I wonder, would this Minerva chassis, minus its side stanchions, be the one used for their 4-plank wagons?

I am getting quite good at cutting off unwanted detail; much better in fact than adding detail of my own. Not ready to go back to the Dettol just yet.

- Richard.

Well ... a neglected and corroded model sounds great for the right setting, but it would be out of place for me in the 1890s, and well away from GWR territory.

I could work up the body for a diorama of some kind but really what I want is a wagon from the 1870s or 80s, in good serviceable condition, which can appear on my layout. Hence the question about re-using the chassis.

- Richard.

I dismantled the wagon and tried isopropyl alocohol and methylated spirits on the body. These had no effect so I soaked one side of the body in neat Dettol, this was the only thing I could think of and it does work with some models. After a week this was starting to soften the paint so it had a second week. Then I gave the other side a fortnight in some fresh Dettol. I ended up with this:

But as hard as I try I cannot get rid of the residue of the paint.
 

Yesterday I tried Expo own-brand paint stripper, and this has softened the remaining paint but then hardened again. A second application of the stripper has created a sticky membrane like a miniature version of the stuff the queen secreted during the egg-laying sequence in 'Aliens'. So I have decided to give up on the body and make best use of the chassis.

I exchanged emails with Chris Baston a while ago. This was when I realised the Dettol was doing only a partial job. He explained, "the paint is acrylic based, and the easiest thing to do is gently rub away the lettering with a fibre glass stick or fine 1800 grade wet and dry, then cover with a primer".

I think, it would be best to buy the BR-liveried version because there are only a few small patches of inscriptions to remove, but I don't want to do this until I have a presentable wagon from my first purchase.

- Richard.

Good morning.

I while ago I bought a Minerva Iron Mink (7mm scale) and proceeded to strip the factory paint so I could backdate it from its 1903 livery to the earlier GW livery, more suited to my desired early 1890s setting. This has not turned out well, and I think I will get the most satisfaction if I build an open wagon on the beautiful Minerva chassis:

Please, are there any open wagons or even flat wagons from the 1870s or 1880s I could look to, to be able to use this chassis?

Many thanks.

- Richard.

One more photo to maybe finish this topic and show how the model turned out:

I have tried to make the lighting as critical as I can, and I am still pleased with the result. The "pillar" holding the loose axle is all but invisible.

I wish I had more confidence. I spent a week pondering whether to add a coat of grey top coat and what shade this should be because I felt the shade of the primer was about right but I have no idea how well it will wear. In the end I put the transfers onto the primer, waited a couple of days and today added some enamel satin varnish.

The running number is fictional, just four consecutive digits from the transfers. There is a part of me which wants to pick out all of the ironwork on the body in a shade of black but I understand the prototype did not do this so I must settle for simplicity.

Unusually for me this wagon has brakes on both sides so I have modelled one side with the brake applied and one side for running. This is my fourth wagon kit for 0 gauge.

- Richard.

A mate brought round two of his Heljan diesels earlier today, a 25 and a 40.

Regarding robustness, well the 25 had a piece of cab glazing loose inside the cab and I found a spring from the frame of the 40 loose in the box. The spring was easy to put back, it clipped into place, but the glazing will be harder and to be honest reminds me of experiences with Heljan locos in 00. They seem to use a diluted solvent.

Both models are a lot heavier than I was expecting - nearly 2 kg for the 25 and nearly 3 kg for the 40. I have my doubts about the engineering sense of using nylon gears in such heavy models, especially when you think how heavy a train can be. I am told, brass replacement gears can be had but they cost £45 a loco.

I found the 25 extremely difficult to couple up to a wagon. Access is difficult because of the various hoses. In the end I realised the gap behind the coupling hook on the loco is too small to let the 3-link link drop into place. I manouvred its screw coupling over the hook of the wagon but I found this really difficult. I think I would remove the hoses if I wanted to operate the model on a layout, and certainly modify the coupler hook. And trickle a solvent around all of the window frames before the glazing has a chance to fall out.

Nice-looking models and the 40 especially would look good in a display case, but I think they will need repairs from time to time to keep them going on a working layout.

- Richard.

Edit: I forgot to mention, the 40 kept on derailing and rerailing itself on my one and only turnout ... we checked the wheels and the B2B of one driven axle on one bogie was about 0.5 mm greater than all of the others.

Perhaps "medium grey" means equal quantities of white and black paint. This is the formulation of NATO grey. Add a little red or blue to give it some character.

I think all stock however new it is represented needs to be weathered. I have travelled on some of the FLIRT trains on Greater Anglia this year, and while they were pristine when delivered - even the underframes had sharply-defined "detail parts" - a gentle coating of brown dirt appeared soon enough, starting at the bottom and working its way up onto the bodywork. It actually looked as though it had been airbrushed on.

I expect I will practice weathering on some old 00 or H0 models before tackling my 0 gauge wagons.

- Richard.

It is a big relief to me to see the return of the magazine; and with plenty of useful content. I suggest, if you can manage two issues a year this will keep many people busy with fresh ideas. I am especially grateful for the notes on the Playcraft mineral wagons; I knew they had possibilities but I couldn't work out how to start.

- Richard.

I too am telling myself I will only build the wagons I "need". If this is the case then this 1892 box van must be the very latest one in my 1890 setting. I can see a risk of "period creep" if I am careless. On the bright side the external framing does give this one a Victorian sort of a look.

I have added the roof, brake levers, primer and buffers:

The camera has found one flaw in one corner for me, and one buffer head is drooping already  - not sure why.

I am very tempted to keep this as the final coat for the body and solebars and finish with the transfers and some satin varnish. Or perhaps varnish, transfers, more varnish. I can go out and buy some middling-grey gloss but I'm not sure if it will enhance the model much. I realise I can only do this once (other wagons wanting different shades of grey) but the temptation is there. I wonder if using only primer will wear well enough.

- Richard.

19 hours ago, brossard said:

If your layout is a smallish BLT, uncompensated wagons should be fine since the speed is never going to be high.  It's all a personal choice of course and exploring new ways to do things is always fun.

I don't have a layout yet; just a test track tucked underneath my long-term British H0 project:

The main characteristic of the track is a reverse curve constructed using Peco Setrack i.e. about 1 metre radius. I am trying out different controllers.

The layout exists as a history of a might have been light railway, ideally to be set in 1890. I am working up the story, good fun. The four wagons in the foreground represent the earliest and lastest designs I hope to run. I'd like to model an intermediate location on this line, which as it happens will be the headquarters of the operation, there is a space for a 3.5 x 2.5 m 'L' in another room.

Actually this wagon-building is turning out to be fun, I am trying out different techniques for each model, all new to me, and so far I seem to be getting away with it.

- Richard.

14 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

I use a paper clip bent to support the axle.

 

Not perhaps the most elegant but it works!

 

It doesn't seem to need much. A bit of wire will be easier to set up than my method.

I suppose, a refinement would be to solder the wire onto a scrap of 1/8" bore tube slipped over the axle. The springiness of the wire providing the pivot and the tube acting like a bearing.

- Richard.

6 hours ago, brossard said:

Agree with others, this is an effective compensation method.  I did try a similar thing once with some bent up brass strip.  I found that the strip bearing on the axle gave an annoying squeak and rubbed a mark in the axle so I never did it again.  Your method might be better.

 

If your layout is a smallish BLT, uncompensated wagons should be fine since the speed is never going to be high.  It's all a personal choice of course and exploring new ways to do things is always fun.

 

John

What was the problem with the mark on the axle?

- Richard.

17 hours ago, brossard said:

Good to see this.  If it were me I would put the sub floor trussing in.

 

 

I would like to save the trussing for another model. If I could arrange to support the axle boxes in a more prototypical way then the trussing would be a nice touch, so something for another day.

- Richard.

13 minutes ago, Flying Pig said:

 

Could you not make the pivot entirely out of wire and leave out the pillar?  That would hardly show.  I've done it in 4mm, but I don't know whether it would work with heavier 7mm stock.

I think it would work fine but be a little harder to set up. Perhaps use a U shape of wire and pass the legs through holes in the floor and secure it onto something inside the body. The plastic pillar was quite easy to do, I cut it to length and then filed a tiny groove in the end to seat the wire and get the final length.

- Richard.

I am not good with springs. They are always too firm or too soft. Even on quite a large-scale application like pushing Magnorail track sideways.

This is a rather unkind photo of my wagon with all four axle boxes at their highest ("van most loaded") setting. I know what has happened - I have spent too much effort trying to get the four mitred corners of the body perfect, and ignored the flatness:

I have glued up the axle boxes on the wonkiest axle to make it parallel to the floor. This made things a lot better.

Then added a sort of a pillar from styrene under the other axle, with a scrap of piano wire to minimise the contact area with the axle. I don't want to get drummed out of the '7mm+ modelling' forum with my first post but this is what I have done:

This actually works. The pivoting axle has barely half of a millimetre of useful movement at its extremities, so perhaps 0.2 mm per wheel, but a little movement has got to be better than none at all.

Looking at an end, the wagon always sits vertically on the track. Looking at the sides it is about 0.5mm down at one end, as though it has been loaded unevenly. 0.5 mm represents 3/4inch on prototype so bearable. I must find some khaki or similar colour for the pillar.

I wonder if, for a van, it might be possible to arrange a linkage of some kind between two adjacent axleboxes. This to go inside the body. Either along one side (imitating the Dapol RTR models) or across one end. No springs, just something to rest on the tops of both axle boxes so if one goes up the other goes down. My build had really gone too far to try to do anything.

- Richard.

I am building my first Parkside by Peco wagon, their PS02 NBR 8-ton van. I have built some wagon kits by other manufacturers but this is my first Parkside one:

So far so good. The screws in the underside are holding a sheet of lead onto the inside floor, total weight is about 160 grams.

The wheels spin freely with a tiny bit of end play - ok. I have all four axle boxes able to slide up and down in their W irons, but clearly this is going to be the roughest-running wagon I have ever made unless I do something hold the axle boxes in place. Perhaps glue or some kind of springing arrangement?

I am tempted to glue all four axle boxes solid so the wagon sits flat on flat track but I feel I should ask first before I do something I end up regretting.

Many thanks,

- Richard.

I am reading "In and around Heybridge in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries" by Beryl Claydon, from which I quote a passage which just won't go away:

Night soil was collected in Heybridge in the 1950s; the author remembers hastily winding up her car windows when she saw the night soil cart along Holloway Road. The vehicle was known, colloquially, as ‘the last bus’, others knew it as the ‘Lavender Wagon’ or ‘the night soilers. The story goes that Mr Ruggles and Mr Pennick were collecting in their handcart when one of them put his arms into the tank. His colleague asked, “What are you doing?” The reply was that his coat had fallen into the tank. “You will not be able to wear it”. He responded: “No, but my sandwiches are in the pocket”. They used to put their jackets over the back of the tank to sit on when eating their sandwiches in the lay-by in Goldhanger Lane.

- Richard.

I hardly ever post here because my painting skills are so limited, but I think I have discovered something useful. Which many others here may of course already know. I sprayed a wagon upside down, grey primer and then a paler grey top coat:

And this means, the detail of the planks shows up when the model is the right way up:

This model has no filler, the prop is just a convenient height.

I remember the body shop for the car telling me some pearlescent colours have to go on upside down e.g. for a door skin and they look awful until you turn the job the right way up, but really for painting a model this is just a chance discovery for me.

Hope this is of interest.

- Richard.

On 01/11/2021 at 19:54, PMP said:

Short trip freight arrives at Guyzance 

Top job ... if I can get my own RTR track to look anything like this I will be very happy indeed. It is so nice to see RTR track worked up like its prototype.

- Richard.

20 minutes ago, jonhall said:

Maybe next time. I work in a charity shop, this sort of thing ought to turn up one day :-)

- Richard

54 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

That looks cracking - it enhances and protects the model.

I think I struck lucky because the two of the four limits at the top surface are curves not edges, and these curves sit well with the curve I put into the metal skyline on the model. It is funny though, the cover still wants to sit with its own curves running from left to right; if they go from front to back the effect is too strong.

- Richard.