airnimal

One of my favourite bottle beers over the years is McEwans Champion. It used to be known as Champion No 1. It won the bottle beer of the year some years ago when it was brewed by McEwans in Scotland and it was fantastic. Since that time and like lots of breweries has been taken over by the multinational brands. The quality declined when that happened but when they moved the beer to Marstons at Wolverhampton that the taste serious went different. Do big brewers not realise that the water the beers are brewed with have such an impact on the flavour of beers. This beer is not a bad beer but it's not like the beer of old. How many times have you heard that said.

Nickey Line, you would think I had done well getting up those climbs but I still get grief from my older brother for being unfit. He is 3 years older than me at 73 but not married and can go out anytime he wants so is much fitter than me. I have the dec................ to do as well as looking after grandchildren. I am told we are having them 3 days next week with trips planned for lots of different activities. We are off to the dec............. store shortly to buy paint for 4 more rooms ! Deep joy. I looked at the drawing and came to the conclusion that the V-iron was not quite the right shape. So I removed them thinking I would have one that would fit the bill in my bits box. Not so. I did fit one but I am not happy with it so I will probably end up scratch building one. This is going to be a long build without any guarantee I will finish it. My heart isn't really in it !

Sorry to anyone for being cheeky but I needed to find out why we still use long axles that can't be removed for maintenance/painting etc. Enough said. I will not mention it again. I don't feel confident modelling GWR wagons because I don't know a lot about them. Anyway I have made a start on this van. I borrowed a couple of books from a friend and found a drawing done by the late Mike Lloyd. I will probably end up producing a mongrel because I have not found a lot of photographs of these van's. I am probably looking in the wrong places. I have not done a lot today because I feel a bit tired after yesterday's bike ride. I went up the Goyt Valley and over the Cat and Fiddle road to Algreave and then back up again before heading home.

I always wondered why you can take loco wheels off to paint behind but not wagon wheels. It just seems odd you can do one but not the other. Perhaps people don't look on wagons in the same light as locos. If you paint everything before you assemble any kits how do you know if it going to run with any reliability once it's all put together. We have moved on from loco frames that were just two strip of plain brass with holes in them and pressed on wheels but we don't appear to have followed suit with wagon construction to the same extent. I fully understand why most people are happy to follow finescale and not go to the trouble of S7 and yes I was being a bit cheeky. Having built this chassis without any idea on what wagon I am going to make I have decided to a GWR van from this drawing. The W-irons are very similar design being just a few thou out and it will make a change for me because I don't have any GWR wagons at all.

Graham, if you build a 7mm wagon kit with fixed axles, how do you remove the wheels for painting once you have glued it altogether ? If you build the same in 4mm you can remove the wheels just by springing the axleboxes apart with little effort. Why are 7mm wagon bearings so long ? It not as they have to carry a great heavy load. I just feel there must be a better way of construction to be able to paint or replace parts at will.

No matter how much I poke the bear I don't get any reactions. Perhaps apathy rules the roost !

Simon, I am pleased how this wagon chassis has turned out. I particularly like the ability to remove the wheels just by splaying out the W-irons just like you can do in 4 mm models. I have asked several times on here and other places why are 7mm wagon axles so long needing long bearings ? My theory is because they were that length in the 50's and 60's when wagons were made from wood with crude white metal axleboxes and people are reluctant to change. Similarly in a way as why S7 hasn't taken off with the majority because people claim that they have to much F/S stock or can't run the stock they already have on other people layouts if they changed to S7. I don't remember reading anything about fold up etched W-irons and how to remove wheels for painting. Or how to fold them in the first place so that the wheels do have the correct amount of side play. Perhaps I haven't read the right articles as I stand on my soap box ! Anyway I have 7 more of these underframes to build. I am not sure if you can still buy them today or if they have gone from the market. It would be a shame if that was the case because once I had the instructions it was a pleasure to put together with so little solder and with the ability to remove the wheels for painting.

I forgot to mention that I soldered the W-irons on the outside where it meets the slot with a small amount of solder. This is important because if you flood it with to much it will come out the other side and preventing the carrier from going up and down smoothly. I have cut a small amount from the ends of the axles and removed the burrs. I am happy to report that they isn't any side play and the suspension works like silk.

Released from family duties I can get back to making this wagon chassis. I placed the carrier in place and folded the 2 small prongs at the base of the W-irons against it and folding back the 2 small parts at the top. I put the wheels in to see how much side play there was and how many washers I would need to eliminate it. I figured out it would be about 30 thou each side. I decided to cut the Slaters bearings down to this amount and trial fit them and see how it was going to work out. I drilled a hole in a piece of 30 thou plasticard and placed the bearing in before removing the excess with a small saw and cleaning up with a file. I fitted the wheels and was pleased to see it was the correct amount needed to be a perfect fit. I just need to trim a small amount of the axle ends left sticking out.

Thanks to people helping I believe I now have all the answers to these Exactoscale W-irons. The fold of the bearing carrier folds over and is then squeezed in the vice before the ends are fold up as the photograph. The instructions say to solder along the top edge without getting any solder inside. As yet I haven't soldered this top edge because I have being doing household duties. Once folded up the spring wire which is cut to 21.5 mm long is de-burred and slips in the carrier through the hole in the top. This wire must be straight otherwise it will not work according to my helpline of friends. I have decided to go with the smaller bearings supplied rather than the Slaters ones I was going to used. These smaller bearings need reaming out to take the Slaters wheels. This means that the Slaters axles will need shortening and some washers or bits of tube placing over to limit side play. All this will have to wait because there is more family matters going on today.

Paul, many thanks for finding these instructions. They are exactly what I needed. Mike

Paul, thank you for the photograph. The answer it is a help but only partially. Graham, yes I have some packets of brakegear shown here. The part that I need to know about is the part that the bearing fits into and which way it folds over trapping the wire ?

Now I have finished the tank wagon and before I start on another room dec.............. In my toy box of bits are some Exactoscale etched wagon chassis parts. I have never been good with kits of any sort but keeping an open mind I thought I would try my hand with one and see how i went with it. First problem is the lack of instructions ! Now I am sure I have been here before because I seem to remember being told that the instructions are all on the net. But where and are they clear for a dummy like myself ? Anyway I have removed the first part and cleaned up the cusps on all the edges before bending up the W-irons including the little tab at the bottom. First question is does the part behind the W-iron which holds the bearing fold completely over and trap the spring wire or does it bend to 90% ? There are other small tabs that they look as they fold up and then bend over as well ? All this is a bit of a mystery having never used them the way the designer envisaged. Anyone used these as intended ?

I love the pre-grouping wagons but the load capacity on the Cal Rly open looks very high at 16 tons ? I am guessing that it should be 6 tons. Sorry for being a pain.

Mol, I have already built the body about 2 years ago. I am just waiting for some 2' 8" wagon wheels to finish it off with. Modelling in S7 the only choice of spoke wagon wheels in S7 is Alan Gibson. I ordered some about 18 months ago only to be told that they haven't any in stock and they will be some time because they have other priorities which I understand.

Before you do anything drastic do you know if the kit is supposed as the same as your drawing ? Are there different wagons built to the same diagram at different times ? Do you have a copy of the works drawing or are you making a wagon to match a good photograph. You would think making a model of a wagon built quite late that there would be lots of information available. Whatever you do it is your model so it's entirely up to you if you can live with faults that you know about. I am looking forward to your choice on making this kit and seeing how it turns out.

Tricky, I have now sprayed the wagon with matt varnish and most of the weathering has disappeared which is not what I wanted or anticipated. I will have to get the Humbrol paints out and try again. It doesn't look to bad in the flesh but doesn't look very good in the photographs. I still have to make a replacement for the brake handle. We have had one of the grandsons today as well as doing lots of jobs for the boss so very little time for modelling. Still it gets me in the good books for a short time !

I have made an attempt at doing the weathering tonight with mixed results. I have also broken the brake handle again ! I need to solder the replacement more strongly because this is getting tedious. I will be having a few weeks off doing the dreaded dec............? I am told some people actually enjoy doing this. Really Some of this might be removed tomorrow when I look at it in the daylight.

The build is complete with just the weathering to finish off. I'm not sure how dirty or decrepit I want it to be or if I will ruin it at the last minute. Perhaps I will just do a small amount and leave it at that. I must thank Graham Beare and his son along with Chris Brown for all there help with the etched parts and plates. I couldn't have done it without them.

I have prepared the axleboxes from modified Slaters Midland ones with new lids, The springs are my own printed ones left over from I ones I had done last year. I have replaced the tie rods on top of the tank because I wasn't satisfied with the finish on them and repaired the brake handle. There always a few issues that need attention after painting any model and this one was no different.

We went out to Astle Park traction engine rally today, but so did the rest of the world ! We only got about 1.5 miles away when we hit the queue that wasn't moving at all except for the people turning around and giving up. We joined them and went home. So I put the tank wagon together to see if it looked like it should. The are a few issues that need attention like the brake handle that I broke being heavy handed. I still have to sort out the axleboxes and springs as well as doing more weathering. I have dusted it all over with some brown pastel chalk but I will attempt to distress it more after I look at some photographs.

Marc, I just put them in Birchwood super blue then rub the plates on some wet and dry. I did think about spraying them with some Ford graphite grey and doing the same with the wet and dry. I may still try that but it will have to wait a bit because we are going playing out fo a short while.

I painted most of the components for my tank wagon this morning with the usual rattle cans. I will leave them for most of today for the paint to go hard. I might assemble them tonight depending on what the good lady has in store for me.

I have given the tank a first coat of red oxide primer from a rattle can. This shows all the imperfections which I hope will not be to noticeable when the black paint goes on followed by the weathering. I did a small test piece with the red before applying a few blobs of Maskol and then painting with the black. Once removed the red shows through leaving some patches of worn paint, not very successfully IMHO. I will paint the rest tomorrow before I decide what to do about the weathering on how far to go with it. Weathering like painting is not my strong point. Thanks to everyone for the comments. It is always good to laugh and not to take things to serious.

The rivets arrived today so after the dec............... I finished putting the last of the 672 rivets in. There is still a lot to do but the vast majority of work is done. There are a few items to deal with like the bars over the tank don't lie down because the rivets standing proud. I will have to move the holes in the end stanchions up a few thou and fit the plates on the end with the large bolts on. With any luck I can do all the little jobs and get a coat of paint on tomorrow.