airnimal

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.

The mention of Eccles cake always makes me laugh remembering when when we went cycling down south and my brother went into a shop and asked for some Eccles cakes only to be asked what are Eccles cakes ? He replied that they are like Chorley cakes only flatter !

I have unleashed the genie out of the bottle ! Not content with the painted bathroom because the boss wants everything given a second coat of paint before WE start the kitchen ! I am not sure where she gets the idea about me wanting a pristine ideal home from some magazine because when I we met I lived in a terraced house without curtains and newspaper at the windows with old furniture from the local tip. I didn't have a television but I had 2 motorbikes and 3 pedal bikes with enough railway books to fill a library. But she lived in a new build 3 bedroom detached house that we now live in. Quess who lost when it came to where we were going to live once we got married . We must have done something right because we are still here and laugh about most things. Anyway I have managed to fit nearly half of the rivets before paint stopped play. I have nearly run out of rivets so there is another order on the way from Historex. I haven't counted how many holes there is in this tank but I won't be making another anytime soon.

I have got as far as this when dec.................stopped play. I have my boiler suit on and painting the bathroom ceiling with the boss keeping a very close eye on me. It worst than having a foreman or Sargent Major watching over you.

Mol, I have gone with your suggestion about the rivets. I could of course messed about with test bits but that would have only slowed me down. I did the first row and then flooded the back with superglue which was a big mistake because the glue came out of the holes around the rivets. So I have gone back to dipping the tip in the superglue before pushing them home. Once they were dry I then ran a drill through the corresponding hole on the other corner and did the same again. This is going to be a long job. If anyone ask me once it is finished and painted if this is a Slaters kit I might not be responsible for my actions !

Decisions ,Decisions , Decisions. Which rivets do I use ? Flat spherical or spherical ? Will the spherical domed ones be to much or will the flat variety be better and not over fussy. I suppose I should make up a couple of test pieces and paint them before committing to the full application.

I had to move a couple of the bolts on the solebars because I put them in wrong place. I haven't put the bolts on the side timbers that locate the tank yet until I'm ready for painting because I don't want to damage them as they are quite soft being resin not plastic. The handrails have yet to go on before I start the BIG job on applying the rivets !

Graham, very decent of you to offer but would you have to have the whole sheet done again just to do the bars ? A small amount of progress on the tank wagon with the start adding some bolts along the solebars. I tried using .8mm bolts but they looked to small compared with the photograph. So I have settled on 1 mm instead which look more like the prototype photograph. I also made a better attempt at the handle on on the tank lid. This isn't very clear with the angle the photograph is taken from so a bit of modellers license has been used. I am sure I have seen another photograph of this wagon from another angle but I can't remember if fantasy or not.

Before I do any more work on the tank wagon I have gone back to my LNWR cattle wagon. I used a grill given to me by the late Peter Korrison for bars on the bottom part of the bodywork. Peter was one of the pioneer people of etch brass for models. Peter gave me these grills many years ago and didn't specify what they were intended for and they could have been for something else and not a cattle wagon. It was myself that decided to use them for this cattle wagon because at the time I didn't have anyway of making them myself. It was only when I made the NSR cattle wagon that I looked more closely and decided that the bars were too wide apart. That was the reason I made a jig to make my own bars that matched more closely the photographs. So I have decided that the bars on the LNWR would be changed for some new ones from my own jig. So I have made a couple of new one and trial fitted them before I paint them. So a couple of photographs of the old and the new. Why I didn't notice that the old ones were to wide apart in the first place ?

Derek, thank you for the information regarding drills. When I next get to a exhibition ( probably Reading trade show in December ) I will come and buy some. I have made the tank filler from plastic with a brass lid. The light for photographs is poor at the minute but I think you can see what it looks like.

The tank filler I will have to scratch build because I don't know of any commercial offerings. But how to space the rivets holding the filler to the tank top. I am sure in the dim and distance I knew how to get the correct pitch with maths but those days have long gone from my memory. So I came up with a simple solution. I had a brass casting from an unknown source that was nearly the correct size. So I put a piece of 20 thou plasticard and the brass together and squeezed them together in the vice which left an impression of the bolt heads in the plastic. The diameter was to small so I drew a outer ring with a compass and redrilled them again but with another piece underneath. This has left the right diameter with the correct spacing of the holes. I just need to cut out the ring and fixed it to a offcut of tube before making a lid.

Llanberis indeed. I have known John for over 30 years. It's still one of the best layouts I have ever seen. A fitting post for my 100th page.

I am afraid gents that I simply don't know the answer. I am happy with what I have made but if we do ever find the answer I can always put another bracket behind the first one. Anyway I had a day out with my friend Philip up along the coast to North Wales to see another friend and his magnificent layout. He meet us at the station because we went by train and he took us for lunch before we went to see his layout. It's finescale and not S7 but we can forgive him for that. I took along a few wagons to pose them in a lovely setting for once rather than against a plain board. I had to balance them on the track with it being under gauge. While we were there we did a couple of minor repairs for him on a couple of coaches. I also saw a couple of my wagons I built for him about 20 years ago.

Father Christmas came early today and delivered a 42' Tri-Comp LNWR coach for me. It is one of a pair that were offered to me from a very old friend last year. It would be rude of me not to accept his offer when they came up for sale. He is converting them for me to S7 standards with new bogies and wheels. So we had a railway model day before we went for lunch and a pint. And in a few days we are going on more jollies to North Wales for more of the same. I am always happy to have drawings of rolling stock especially pre-grouping wagons. I have many of these magazines myself but they are up in the loft and may not be in good condition after many years in a cold damp space. All offers of help are gratefully accepted.

Compound 2632, it is a modellers drawing from a favourite book by Len Tavender. Both books are full of drawings and information for use early modellers of the pre-grouping era. The wagon here is in the book on the right. I am sure there are mistakes and guesswork because of the subjects but without them I might not have attempted this wagon. I have not seen the photograph that the drawing was produced from for many years when about 40 years of MRN, Constructor, RM went into the loft. As you say there could be another plate similar to the one shown in the drawing behind the first one, but without any more information I don't think we will ever know. The wagon in question could be about 130 years old if it was still around now. I have come across so small errors in other wagon drawings from these books where I have found other information when doing my own research in Libraries but nothing that I am going bother about to much.

Gentleman, I am the same as you are to why the brakegear is like it is but that is what is on the drawing. I do have the photograph of this wagon in a Constructor some where in the loft but it would take forever to find it. I have just taken what was on the drawing and copied it. The only thing i would guess is the bar is some sort of support for the brake shaft.

Finally the brakegear is done. It is a bit unusual but that's what attracted me to in the first place. Hopefully now I get on with all the details before I get to fill in all the holes with Masterclub rivets. Other news is we are going for paint today for the dreaded deco............... Never mind I did get to go on my bike the last 2 weekends, so I haven't done bad ! I even did a few hills and found a couple of new routes and tracks.

I have cobbled together the brake gear from bits of etched parts in my bits box. There wasn't really any other way because the brake gear is offset to one side. The V hanger is a solid piece that won't be found on any commercial parts etch so that was scratch built. The buffers are Peco parallel G.W.R. ones which are sold separately. I have used these on quite a few of my wagons minus the base plates.

I took the opportunity to crack on with the W-irons and wheels when things were quite. When I came to see how the nameplate fitted I was horrified to find that it overlapped the solebars. Quick check against the drawing showed it was my mistake because I had assumed that the solebars would be the standard 11" high when they were in fact 12" high. The only thing to do other than start again was glue a strip of 20 thou Evergreen along the bottom of the solebars. This is what I have done hoping that after cleaning up it won't show once painted. On time will tell. I made a set of jigs for the 8' 4" wheelbase the same as I have done for other wagons. I am not sure what to do about the tank filler on top. I have played around with plastic tube but I'm not convinced my efforts so far are going to be good enough. I found a brass casting in my bits box but it not the right sort or size, so the jury's still out on that one.