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James Harrison

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Blog Entries posted by James Harrison

  1. James Harrison
    And then there were... two? Two and a half?
     

     
    The original pair that I bought from the Severn Valley are now finished; the all-third only required an interior and a repaint, and so was a quicker job than the brake third. The roof for it is a plastic moulding, I'm tempted to say it's from Coopercraft?- if so, that's a shame. I rather like it and would have bought some more to match the rest of the rake, but err.... well we know their reputation don't we, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter.
     
    So, that pair done, and then off on my own to build a matching pair.
     

     
    I did consider a cut and shut job on the brake end, but ultimately decided that I'd be hardpressed to get a decent finish, so I left it as it is. Most of the work with this carriage is going to be on the roof. I did buy a pair of aluminium roofs, but they're a bit too wide for these carriages. I've put them back into my spares box for use on another project (maybe I've found the roofs for my next pair of Barnums....)
     
    So the roof for this one- and the composite that will follow it- I've reused the existing clerestory roof, but I bulked it out with some balsa wood. I then carved the balsa wood down into an arced profile, which was surprisingly much easier than I thought it would be, and to get a nice smooth surface I covered it with paper. So my next job now is to fit the rain strips and the ventilators.
  2. James Harrison
    I repainted the roof and then refitted both it and the bogies. You inevitably get gaps between the roof and the body; as an experiment this time (this was after the photogrpah was taken) I tried glue 'n' glaze as a filler, reasoning that as it can be applied quite accurately it might make for less of a cleanup job afterward. I think it works!
     
    Then the solebars were repainted...
     
    I think all that is left to do now is to fit the transfers and varnish it.
  3. James Harrison
    The list of things that I'd like to change on the pair of carriages I bought is, actually, quite short.
     
    1. Fit Kadee couplings.
    2. Fit interiors.
    3. Clean up the cut and shut job on the brake third.
     
    So I started with the brake third, cleaned up the hacked up brake end easily enough with filler and solvent but of coursethis ruined the paint work which I had to do over again. Two coats of matt yellow and two coats of satin brown later....
     

     
    Oops, no, that's just after the yellow.
     
    Anyhow, as I was saying. Two coats of yellow, two coats of brown, then I fitted some new glazing and built an interior from scraps of plastic sheet and balsa wood.
     

     
    As you can see the roof for this carriage is a solid block of wood. I'm happy keeping that as it seems to have been quite nicely done, but at the carriage ends eventually I'll be making use of the filler again and masking the joint between body and roof. Which means localised re-repair of the teak....
     
    Before I can fit the roof, you might notice I've added a few strips of plastic sheet down either side of it to mask out any gaps between body and roofline. That needs painting.
     
    The nice thing is though, it's actually quite close to completion.
  4. James Harrison
    Well, I'd finally finished my rake of Metropolitan Ashbury carriages. I'm not entirely happy with how they've turned out, but they'll do. Until I find something more appropriate. I found something more appropriate a lot quicker than I was expecting though!
     
    Pretty much everybody, I guess, has a pile of bits and pieces that may come in useful someday. In my own pile are about seven or eight Hornby clerestories. Some have been used as donor vehicles for GCR carriages, some have been scrapped and reduced to bogies and underframes, and one or two are sitting in as-made condition waiting for me to decide what I want to do with them.
     
    About two months ago I visited the Severn Valley with a friend and in one of the bric-a-brac carriage fund shops in Bewdley I came across another pair of the clerestory carriages. Except that this pair had lost their roofs and been given arc roofs instead. The brake third had also had it's bodywork cut and shut- it was quite plain that somebody had made a decent attempt at turning them into GCR-style arc roof stock. I think I got them for a few pounds each....
     
    On returning home I went through my own bits and bobs pile and I find I've got a pair of Hornby clerestories, a composite and a brake third, complete and unsullied. Not for long! I've bought a pair of carriage roof mouldings from Dart Castings- I am sure you can see where this is going....
     
    1. The already-converted pair. Clean them up, new interiors, new couplings.
    2. Convert my pair of clerestories to match.
    3. Salvage what parts are useful from the Ashbury stock and scrap the remainder.
     
    Now the Ashbury stock, I reckon the couplings, the bogies and the buffers will be salvaged. That gives me four sets of 5' bogies that I can use for something else- and it strikes me I have a GWR Siphon tucked away somewhere with a view to conversion to another GCR bogie fish van.
     
    And when all this is done, I might just get around to some more silhouette cutter work on my clerestory and Barnum rakes....
  5. James Harrison
    And.... it's finished! No.1 of 4, anyway.
     
    The roof: I used the roof formers that had been drawn, fitted to a sub-base. I laid thin strips of balsa wood over them, then the final covering is paper.
    The underframes: Battery boxes and bufferbeams had been drawn up and cut. I used some BR Mk.1 buffers, which look right. Underframe trusses I made up very simply from some 10 thou plastic sheet. Couplings are my usual Kadee type.
     
    Right, next project I think.
  6. James Harrison
    Well, there was going to be a photo here, but it came out so dark that I think I'll attempt it again later....
     
    Anyway, I've been busy.
     
    Solebars are now fitted (3mm x 2mm plastic I-beam, sanded smooth on one side), and I've started the roof. 20 thou plastic sub-base, then the silhouette-cut roof formers, then some very thin strips of balsa wood on top. Now all it needs is the covering, which is going to be a paper laminate.
     
    And once the roof is done, all that's left really are the bifferbeams, couplings and underframe detailing.
  7. James Harrison
    After two coats of Humbrol matt orange to begin the teaking process, I fitted the bogies. I'm using Hornby Gresley bogies for these, with the detail removed.
     

     
    Then returning to the teaking process, a drybrushed coat of Humbrol satin mid-brown finishes the job.
     

     
    At this point I tested the model on some track and found that each bogie needed a 5 gram weight fitting inside, and the body needed two 10 gram weights fitting inside the saloon just in board of the bogie pivots. This meant that the as-drawn interior couldn't be fitted.
     

     
    So I built the seating out of balsa wood instead.
     

     
    After a bit of experimenting I settled on this arrangement as being suitably robust, detailed enough to pass muster for me, and fitting over the weights in the body.
  8. James Harrison
    After a lot of swearing, frustration, wasted plastic and quite some time spent just idly staring off into space whilst the silhouette cutter does its thing, I think I'm getting somewhere.
     

     
    This is just the basic body shell. It's not quite ready yet- there are some small gaps to fill- but now that the drawings are back to scale I'm hoping the second one will take a lot less time to get to this stage. No, I'm not building them in tandem!- the idea is to build the first one and then the second afterward. If I foul up the build then I've only lost one set of parts....
     
    There is a sheet of seating I've cut out to go inside but it seems very flimsy as it's only cut from 10thou plastic sheet. I'm thinking maybe something built up from balsa wood would be stronger, not to mention it would add a bit of weight.
  9. James Harrison
    Well, I got going. And I got stuck. What happened, quite simply, was this. I imported the drawings into Silhouette Studio, then I set up the parameters for the material (size of sheet etc) and, without my noticing or even asking for it, the Studio software took it upon itself to rescale the drawings to suit.
     
    Frankly this is a deplorable thing for the software to do and especially so if the re-scaling is so slight as to not be immediately noticeable. I ended up with a pair of sides of around 1/100 scale and a pair of bogies at about the same. (I actually built one of the bogies before I realised)....
     
    So I've had to re-cut the sides at least. The bogies, whilst building them I came to the conclusion that they're probably beyond me, every layer that I fitted just seemed to be adding more tension into them and I can't imagine that I'd end up with something I could actually use. So I compromised; I had a spare set of Gresley bogies in my spares box and I'll be using those instead, suitably doctored. I've ordered in a couple more pairs too so the intended rake of four Barnums will run on a standardised set of running gear.
     
    Moral of this? Measure, measure, measure and re-measure and then measure some more before you cut.
     
    Anyway, hopefully now that is sorted out.... my plans for today basically run to re-building the sides and, if I have time after that, cutting the seating and the carriage ends and vestibules.
  10. James Harrison
    Well. I wasn't anticipating a break away from locos and rolling stock for quite that long.
     
    Since I finished the Pollitt saddle tank back in January, I've built a 1/600 RMS Mauretania, an entry for the Cakebox Challenge and most recently been working on a "Your Model Railway Village" station building, trying to convert it into some goods offices but more crucially turn it into a structure that could actually have been built.
     
    This last is an on-going project and I've frankly had to put it down and turn my attentions to something else because spending two or three weeks just on the windows and doors almost drove me out of my skull. I could feel the project stalling.... so put it down, do something else and pick it up again in a while.
     
    One of the projects I've been itching to do for some time is some proper GCR rolling stock. I've got a few Jidenco etched brass kits for Barnum Saloons which I've had for a few years, but the lack of availability of matching brake thirds rather put me off looking at them. I have a thing about models looking 'of a hand'- that is to say everything modelled to an identical standard- and I felt that matching up etched brass carriages with scratchbuilt plastic ones would not be following that maxim.
     
    Added to that, a few years ago JCL of this parish built a Barnum saloon using a silhouette cutter and very kindly made his drawing files available for download- see his Wainsfleet thread. Now, I have a silhouette cutter and to be honest these last few years I haven't really made as much use of it as I would like. Something to do with my spending all day drawing as my job, and then not wanting to come home to do a bit of modelling and- yes!- doing more drawing. So as a gentle breaking-in I thought I would build a couple of Barnum saloons from the existing drawings.
     
    Currently I have cut and assembled the carriage sides. I have cut one bogie (I didn't realise that only one bogie was drawn on the file!) and so I'm now cutting out a second bogie. Then there are the carriage ends, the floor and the seating to cut.
     
    This is a project I'm rather looking forward to. My intentions are to build a pair of the saloons and then have a go at building a pair of the brakes.
  12. James Harrison
    And we're about ready for some paint....
     
    There have been a couple of interesting challenges with this one. Firstly the safety valves, which barely protrude above the saddletank. The way I solved this was to take the original safety valves and cut them right down, then I used some plastic sheet to form the bar above. Secondly the saddletank filler cap. I started this by using a holepunch to produce several 5mm diameter plastic circles. These I then glued together to give me a solid plastic cylinder, 5mm across by about 5mm high. This I then banded up with some cartridge paper. Putting that aside for a while, I took a 5mm drillbit to the saddle tank to give me a 5mm hole, which then needed filing out to about 6mm for a comfortable push fit.
     
    Handrails are simply lengths of 0.64mm diameter plastic rod, as are the coal rails. There are a few extra bits and pieces still to fabricate and fit, but those can wait until after painting.
  13. James Harrison
    Progress on the little saddletank. This week I have been fabricating some new 'cheeks', I suppose you could call them, running down from the saddle tank to the running plate. I can't model the boiler as such as the motor and chassis get in the way. Speaking of the chassis, the original one I found had pizza-cutter wheels with very deep flanges that couldn't run on my Code 75 track without bumping along the sleepers. Fortunately I had an identical chassis of a slightly more recent vintage (and whose wheels were slightly more suitable)- it's a plug in replacement. A rare easy victory there.
     
    I've also been looking at the splashers, and I've cut the bunker down. I still need to look at the running plate, I still need to create new cab sheets and there are details and heavy work alike aplenty to go before this gets anywhere near completion. But we're getting there.
  14. James Harrison
    Well, for the last fortnight I've been working on rather a nice WWI biplane but now that that is finished there is no reason why the little shunting loco can't make a reappearance on the bench.
     
    So; The prototype.
     

     
    The starting point.
     

     
    And now, to continue....
     
    Last time I discussed this model I had gotten as far as cutting it up into several pieces with a view to lowering the body. So, to continue that idea, I took some measurements from my drawing (since starting this model I've taken delievery of a model railway magazine dated December 1968 with scale drawings of this engine) and I used a pair compasses to scribe lines onto the loco body to demarcate where I should place my cuts. The saddle tank needs to lose the bottom 6mm or so; the cab and bunker need to lose about 4mm from their bottom. The relationship between cab roof and top of the saddle tank is just about right so the datum point of the model is taken as being about the joint between saddle tank and cab, and the tops of the saddle tank and the cab roof.
     

     
    After some fairly major surgery to the cabsheets and the saddle tank. To be able to lower the bodywork I need to turn thebody around on the chassis.... or turn the chassis around under the body.... in any case the motor no longer sits in the smokebox but rather protrudes into the cab. The knock-on effect of this is that in the rear of the bunker two slits now needed to be filed to accommodate a pair of cast-metal 'hooks' in the chassis that hold the body in place.
     

     
    The saddle tank and cab then had a lot of wrong or unneccessary detail sanded off. Rain strips on the cab roof, the dome, the safety valves, rivets on the saddle tank.... all removed. Then a new whitemetal dome was fitted. This was I think a spare from a kit. Then it was refitted to the running plate and the whole body offered up to the chassis to check firstly it all fits and secondly it all looks good. Well, I think it looks a lot better!
     
    The smokebox at this point purely a push-fit so I then took that off again, sawed off the chimney, and went into my sparesbox again, returning with a brass casting for a GCR-pattern tapered chimney. This was then glued into the smokebox, which was then reinstated.
     

     
    Yes, there we go.
  15. James Harrison
    Onwards, now, to a new project, and I've chosen to model a Class 18 converted.
     

     
    Photograph from the RCTS LNER locos books.
     
    These are quite interesting engines which started life as 0-6-0 tender locos in the 1880s and were converted to tank engines in the early 1900s.
     
    My starting point for this project is a Triang 0-6-0 dock shunter, which looks vaguely similar but the similarities stop there.
     

     
    I started then by cutting the bodywork up into separate components. The saddle tank, cab and bunker form one, the smokebox a second and the running plate a third. There was a fourth part- the skirt running around the loco below the saddle tank. I decided that as the bodywork needs to be lowered it would make sense to tank material out of that skirt, and as I'm not confident I could take a neat 3mm slot out of it I decided to remove it entirely and replace with new material.
     

     

     

  19. James Harrison
    Ending 2017 and beginning 2018 as I mean to go on, clearing some more of my longer-waiting projects, I've started on the last of the four cardboard ex-Metropolitan Ashbury carriage kitsI started last Summer.
     

     
    Carriage underframes; having started with the simple open box structure from the kit (a floor and four sides to fold up), I added a sheet of 0.5mm plastic sheet on top to brace the floor and provide the carriage footboards. I've also added the couplings (knuckle couplings from the Kadee range, same as now most of my coaching stock) and the buffers (I think these are from the Dart Castings stable- I could be wrong!- but they are intended for British Railways Mk.1 carriages, but don't look out of place for that).
     

     
    Now from below; firstly you can see the original cardboard element of the floor and solebars. Left to its own devices that's not really a very strong structure, so you can see I braced it up with some 2mm square plastic strip running the full length of the carriage down both sides. At the ends, where the buffers and couplings are fitted, I put two of these in (making a 4mm by 2mm block) and then cut the middle out of that to allow a gap for the coupling. I also drilled 2.4mm holes through the blocks to provide a form footing for the buffers. The bogies are plastic kits by Parkside Dundas intended for one of their long bogie wagon kits; the reason I have used these particular bogies is that the original carriages had very short wheelbases on the bogies (of the order of 5'), which are pretty much impossible to source either as ready-to-run items or as kits. It is a case of using wagon bogies (which are shorter than carriage bogies), or using carriage bogies with a wheelbase of 8' or so. Which on a carriage of about 40' length looks pretty ridiculous. Finally, in the middle of the carriage, are two iron weights of 10 grams each. These are some of those self-adhesive balancing weights you can buy for balancing car or motorbike wheels.
     

     
    Coming up to the bodywork now, you can see how I've used two kits to create the panelling. I've also used 10mm lengths of 0.5mm square plastic strip to create the louvred vents. The sides and the roof are drawn as one piece and to create a nice even curve I scored the roof at approximately 2mm centresto induce a curve. I also know from previous experience that the roof is a little too wide, so I cut a 2mm strip out of it down the centre of the carriage.
     

     
    The carriage ends are separate components and fit inside the carriage sides.
     

     
    For the interior of the carriage, I am using spare ends from the main kit and otherwise useless parts from the second kit (bought for the panelling) to create the bulkheads between the compartments. These will be then be painted, and some seats built out of plastic sheet.
  20. James Harrison
    I said last year that 2017 would concentrate more on trying to clear my to-do list than taking on new projects.
     
    To a degree I have succeeded in that; at the same time I seem to have failed woefully.
     
    I did very well at paring down my stock of unbuilt wagons, but unfortunately as quickly as I was building them I was buying more. To my recollection my unbuilt wagons collection now runs to five or six cattle wagons, a GCR open wagon, a GCR double bolster, a pair of LNWR opens, a Midland covered van, a GCR horsebox and a GCR bogie parcels van. There are also donor vehicles intended ultimately to be the basis of a GCR 4-wheel brake and a GCR bogie fish van.
     
    I've had more success when it comes to carriages; although I did buy a rake of five 4-wheelers, at the same time I have managed to reduce the unbuilt carriages backlog to one ex-Metropolitan Ashbury carriage, a pair of Barnums and some clerestories.
     
    When it comes to locomotives I don't think there has been any real progress. Granted, I did complete a pair of Pollitt 4-4-0s, an LDECR 0-6-4 and a Pollitt 0-6-0, but that still leaves a huge amount of work to do- and this year I've bought another three projects (donor locos for a Robinson dock tank and LDECR 0-6-0 and a K's ROD which was going for a song).
     
    Now what does this all mean for my 2018 Programme?
     
    Put simply, another moratorium on taking on new projects and another year trying to get through the to-do pile.
     
    First priority will be to build the last of the Ashbury carriages. Slow, awkward and painful as it may be, once that carriage is done it represents not only another project finished but also another completed rake of carriages. That boost to my enthusiasm should be enough to see me through to doing one or two of the cattle wagons. I've tried batch-building this year and I've worked out that it probably isn't for me. So rather than do all of the cattle wagons at once I'll probably spread them out through the year and do one or two at a time.
     
    I'm going to try and do more of the locomotives this year, quite probably the easier/ quicker jobs will be the ones to be looked at (this means the repaint jobs and those which only require tweaks to be made good). Don't expect to see any herculean efforts of hack-bashing!
  22. James Harrison
    Nearly finished. I'm now thinking about how to weather it, specifically how to realistically model the limewash.
     
    I went back to my test piece.
     

     
    I tried tipex; it doesn't look right. There's something decidedly off and unsavoury about the appearance.
     

     
    On the other side, I tried matt white paint. I did think this might be a bit too thick and on the nose, but actually it looks about right....
  23. James Harrison
    Well, I finished the body panels after using a lot of plastic strip (half a packet's worth!- I'll need to order some more of that if I'm doing six or seven of these), and then I was in a position to build the bodywork, or some of it.
     
    I remember the first of these wagons which I built many years ago I had issues with making sure everything was square, so this time I made sure of it.
     

     
    I was then able to look at the doors. I re-used part of the lower door from the kit; the upper doors I built completely from scratch.
     

     

     
    Next step is the first stage paint shop. Those doors look very thin and fragile!- once the roof is on of course you won't see that and it won't look so odd. it is all square, which was my main concern. Now I'm fettling with the roof to get a good fit.
  24. James Harrison
    For the last few months I have been looking for a specialised freight train to model. I have, in the past, built a bogie fish van or two and had another gifted to me, so you might be thinking a fish train would answer the bill, but my understanding is that fish trains usually ran to 30 or more vehicles, just a little too long for my tastes and storage.
     
    It was whilst discussing some alterations to an N gauge cattle wagon with a friend that I first found this image, courtesy Steve Banks' website.
     

     
    A bit more manageable, I think. The loco- yes, you can get those quite easily. The brakevan?- built one of those previously and got the drawings for an improved version. It's the cattle wagons that need a bit of thinking about.
     
    So, having a look at what is available (and more importantly available on my budget of maximum £20 per wagon). The Bachmann ex-LMS cattle wagon- the framing is wrong. The Oxford LNER wagon- well there's the obvious issue of the sides being identical rather than handed, then the framing being of approximately the right pattern but the wrong material (angle iron rather than timber).
     
    It did give me an idea though- the Dapol (ex-Airfix) kits. Well, I had one of those to hand (one I built many years ago) and offering it up to the drawing in Tatlow's LNER wagons book suggested that the overall dimensions were about right. Worth a shot?
     

     
    Well, this is what we're aiming at.
     

     
    And the starting point. First impressions? Overall dimensions are suitable, framing is about the right pattern but the wrong material, the doors are wrong and there are probably a multitude of little details that are wrong but would pass my 3' viewing distance yardstick. Better put in an order for a lot of plastic strip and sheet....
     

     
    To see some progress at an early stage the first thing I did was to build the chassis. This is a remarkably robust set of mouldings and went together quite well, once the flash had been removed.
     

     
    Each panel of the body is an individual piece. Making for an easier job of the conversion- especially when it's all still on the sprues!
     

     
    First job is to cut away the excess strapping to the bottom of the body panels. We don't need it for these wagons. Then the angle iron strapping has notches cut into it at the joints.
     

     
    Why would we cut those notches in? Because we're turning the angle iron into timber- a strip of 0.5mm square section plastic down each side of it to bulk it out. Don't forget to add the extra vertical to the top of the body panels. Then some plastic sheet into the corner.
     
    Well, I managed to butcher two panels- leaving another pair to look at, and the ends, and the other five kits, but then the pink elephants told me to stop for the evening. I don't know where they went last night after I packed up but they weren't at the table this morning.
  25. James Harrison
    As I said last time, my current modelling activities are generally of a variety that don't, taken individually, merit blog posts. Taken as a group though I think they do.
     
    Last time I said I had finished a cardboard kit for an ex-Metropolitan carriage and was working on a pair of Parkside LNER fish vans.
     
    Those vans are now finished and I have 'converted' them into GCR-ish vans of the unfitted variety. The conversion was very slight in nature- it amounted to omitting the vacuum cylinders and smoothing down the raised 'FISH' lettering on the doors.
     

     
    Well, I think they look rather neat and tidy and I will be looking to buy up a few more, as and when I see them going for a song, to build up a rake. I already have five of the Bachmann type converted to GCR-ish examples as a fitted rake and it would be nice to have a similar rake of unfitted stock.
     
    Moving on, I recently bought a rake of five Ratio GWR carriages repainted into GCR colours.
     

     
    The level of finish is absolutely beautiful so I am limiting my meddling to the bare essentials. They don't have interiors but I am loathe to start breaking them apart to fit one; it just seems to be begging for something to go badly wrong.
     
    My alterations then run solely to fitting Kadee couplings and doing something to get them roling freely. Either they weren't built with bearings, or the bearings have seized. I'm not about to go pulling the axles out of them to investigate- I shall be using a cocktail stick and some candlewax to coax them into running sweetly.
     
    In addition to the three shown in the photograph are an additional composite and a brake third, which both require new chassis (which came as part of the sale). So these will be the next thing on my to-do list, after which I am planning to build some GCR cattle wagons by hackbashing the Dapol kit- and I'll be doing a blow-by-blow account of that having proved the concept to my satisfaction on a decript old Dapol cattle wagon I built years ago.
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