airnimal

I have painted the V-irons on this side before starting to do the lettering on the second side.  

I set out the letters basic outline using my white pencil to give me a head start. The sides are slightly different because of the end door so I have had to adjust where the letters fall in relation to the corner plate. 

We have had some feedback from our estate agent regarding the latest house viewing and the person likes the house and has booked a second appointment for a week today. Maybe things are looking up at last.

The reason I didn't paint the V-irons or put the axleboxes and springs on because I wasn't sure 

( still not ) if this wagon was going in the bin. I didn't want to fix everything permanently in case I had to retrieve all the expensive parts. Well I say expensive, they would be now but the brass lost wax buffers were bought at the GOG meeting at Telford many years ago from the bring and buy stand for £4. I think they retail now about £11. Likewise the brakegear etchings and the Slaters W-irons I have had for donkeys years. I have probably enough parts to last me until the grim reaper comes a calling. 

Thanks to you both for your input.  I entirely agree on both counts. I have of course still to attach the rest of the underframe parts to complete before I get down to weathering these parts. 

I have tried to ghost write the number and tare weights in again with the same pencil crayon I used to set out the lettering. 

Now I think I have gone to far with the weathering.  It's a lot more challenging trying to get that run down look rather than fresh pristine paintwork. 

I have attempted to make the lettering look worn with only limited success. I can cut plastic with reasonable success,  but painting is definitely not my strong point. Will this wagon ever get completed to my satisfaction  ?  Rembrandt I am not.

I know I shouldn't put the shading on until everything is right and the white ink has dried enough but I am impatient.  I might go and buy a new tin of white Humbrol and go over the lettering when it has has plenty of time for the ink to go hard. I may have a bit more control with a brush rather than a pen. 

My pot of Humbrol has dried up as I feared it might.  Well it was over 40 years old so I think I have had my money's worth out of it. So I have turned to Magic color ( not my spelling which we know is atrocious ) Lunar White ink with an old scratchy nib. The letters will need tidying up and adjusting including making them straighter because several are not quite upright.  But I think it is a start that hopefully I can put it right. 

I have sketched out a basic outline of the letters on the first side with a white crayon. The lettering on the drawing has been followed as much as possible but it seems as though the sign writer had a bit of a hard time with the letter R. It does seem compressed somewhat but I am going to follow the drawing even if it's slightly odd. I want to try and paint it with faded lettering if I can. I am hoping to use some Humbrol matt oil paint providing my old stock hasn't dried up. 

We had another viewing on our house again this morning, but still no sensible offers as yet. 

It appears that everyone wants a large kitchen which ours doesn't have, but it served us well bringing up our 3 daughters and we found it adequate for our needs.

I enjoyed a couple of pint of Titanic Plum Porter in the bar on Stoke on Trent station last Saturday.  The door from the platform was closed so I had to go outside to the front of the station to gain entry.  When I did get in it was warm and comfortable with good beer, but it close at 8pm. 

Finally the weather is warm enough to paint outside. So I took the opportunity to give my Arniston wagon a coat of red oxide primer from a rattle can followed by a coat of rust from Railmatch to make it look more like a brown oxide. As I want to try and hand letter this in a faded condition with worn lettering, I hope this is the right way to go about it.

I have also bought a pot of Tamiya XF-10 brown paint for my yet to be  completed LSWR wagon as suggested by Nick. 

I have brush painted a bit of scrap plastic with a couple of coats to see how easy it is and what the coverage is like. I must admit that I am not a fan of brush painting which is probably down to me rather than the paint because I can never get rid of the brush marks. I have tried using the paint neat or with a retarder to slow the drying time down, but the results were not much different.  

We have had 3 more viewings on our house with another this coming Saturday.  The same results came from these 3 that it's a lovely house in a great location but the kitchen is to small. 

Why to people come to view when the photographs show the kitchen and the brochure gives all the dimensions of the room sizes. 

I went to the AGM of the NSR society today after being a member for over 20 years. This is a very small society catering for a small pre-grouping independent railway. 

One of the Joy's of going by rail is that on the way back I can have a pint on the station at Stoke on trent. There is a small independent bar on platform 1 dedicated to Titanic brewery. 

I enjoyed a pint of Titanic plum porter which is always good. Tonight's was on form but rather keep to the same beer, I had some of the other offerings available including the Iceberg and the Steeridge. I have to admit it the plum porter wins out. What a way to end a very pleasant day.

Thanks to Nick C and Sam for the information which is always helpful.  

Just when things were going well .......

Having made a reasonable job so far things have come back to bite me. I made a couple of brackets from Nickel strip to hold the tarpaulin bar in place on the ends of the wagon when the penny dropped !  I had missed the top plank grove on both ends. I am trying so hard to get things right that my observation skills went missing at an early stage and I hadn't notice the obvious.  I have managed to scrib the missing top plank with limited success but it's not quite as crisp as all the others. Then to top it all I broke one of the end brackets as well. 

I better have a break and do something else before I make some other mistakes. 

We had a house viewing on Saturday but the offer was so outrageous.  I am aware that people offer low offers hoping that people are desperate to move, but we are not in that situation.  

The offer was 50k below the asking price. We have 2 more viewings in the next 2 days so at least there is still interest around.

I found just the right size brass for the tarpaulin bar in stock that I have had for over 40 years. 

When I started out in 7mm I purchased a few pieces in different lengths of brass and nickel which has proved invaluable over the years. Now that some of the small suppliers have disappeared from the market it has turned out to be a wise decision.  

I have shaped the end of the bar according to the drawing and added the brackets that slot into another bracket on the end of the wagon. Still to do is the single sided brakegear before I start adding all the nuts and bolts.  Looking at photographs in Southern Wagons Vol 1 of similar wagons it appears that they have hexagonal bolts and not the square ones on most private owner wagons. So it looks like it will be out with the Masterclub bolts. 

Although progress is very slow and small details don't show much improvement,  a certain amount has been done. The small reinforcements brackets at the bottom of the ends take a long time to get right as do the coupling plates.  I need to make the tarpaulin bar, which hopefully I will make from brass. 

Thank you Brian for that information, I now have my excuse for my Scottish wagon near Manchester. 

It has been an interesting few days. I tried to go to a funeral on Friday of an old work colleague in Eccles.  My wife dropped me at the tram in East Didsbury in plenty of time but the usual reliable service was disrupted because of a broken rail somewhere on the system.  There are a couple of pinch points that act as a bottle neck and when something goes wrong usually leads to chaos. 

So I gave up and went and joined my cycling chums for a beer instead.  If I had tried to go by bus I would never have got there in time to attend.  

On Saturday we went to Doncaster for the show by train. The direct train was halted at Sheffield to be replaced by buses to Donnie because someone had stolen some of the signal wire between the two stations. After waiting for over an hour in the bus station we were informed that the signals had been fixed. A couple of hundred people marched back to the station only to be greeted by a packed platform by hundreds trying to board already full trains. Chaos ensued because trains were being switched about because of the problems,  but we managed to board a very crowded train to Doncaster.  This was similar to a Guinness Book of records attempt to squeeze as many people in a Mini as possible.  

I enjoyed the show which I thought had something for everyone. I did try and buy some Brown paint for this LSWR wagon and ended up with a RailMatch colour that isn't correct. It is to much like a red oxide and not chocolate.  I tried spraying it over a red oxide base as well as a grey base. I also sprayed it direct onto some plain white plasticard but the results were not any different.     

Thanks to Nick c and Caley Jim for that information which has been added to the shopping list, because if I don't I will never remember.  

There will not been any progress for the next few days because of various commitments,  some pleasant and some less so. Yesterday was spent tidying up because we have a couple of viewings on the house booked for Saturday.  The estate agents tell us that our house is the only one on our estate in our price range which he believes goes in our favour.  We shall see.

Thanks Nic, I will try and gets some paint at the Doncaster show on Saturday but I see that Precision Paints are not listed as a trader. I wonder if any of the other traders stock it.

Moving on with the ironwork which is quite unusual which clearly shouts LSWR wagon at me.

The tarpaulin bar I was thinking of making it from brass fearing that plastic would be to delicate. I have made one from plastic before but the fixing on that wagon was inside the wagon rather than sat on top like on this wagon. The fixing appears to slot in a small bracket on the ends of the wagon with a chain preventing it from falling off. 

I have drilled the holes and fitted the buffers although they are not glued in yet. There appears to be a small plate behind then which is yet to be made. Does anyone know what colour Brown the LSWR used and is it available from the trade ?  Before I glued the sides on I introduced a outward bend in them so that once assembled the body has a distinct bow in it. How many wagons do you see at exhibitions where just the opposite is apparent. Rant over. 

We had a video call this morning from our daughter in Australia who has announced that they are coming home for Christmas. This has already started my wife panicking on where we are going to put them all, and what are we going to do about Christmas dinner. Our daughter wants to show her children some snow because where they lived they have never had snow. They have 300 days a year of sunshine and she said it's 20.45 and it's still 31 degress. 

We have just had a phone call from Buxton Hospital cancelling my wife's appointment because there is heavy snow there. The lady told my wife that the staff are been sent home so that they don't get stuck in work. I must say that I am not surprised after visiting Buxton in winter over the years.

This means now I get on with this latest wagon now that I have figured out the over lapping sides. Now that everything is trimmed back it all starting to make sense and I wonder why I struggled to get it right first time. 

This wagon is turning out to be a British Leyland friday afternoon car. I am now on the second frame along with 6 new sides and 4 new ends. I don't have any excuses because I have a clear and precise drawing to work to. I think that I have worked it out where I have been going wrong. 

I have left the sides over long to be trimmed back later.  I think my mind hasn't been on this build because i am having a busy week.  Tomorrow i have to take my wife to Buxton hospital which may be fun because the weather forecast is for snow which can be very heavy up there. Friday I have a funeral and Saturday is the Doncaster show with cycling on Sunday. 

Tom, I don't remember ever making a SECR wagon with Mansell wheels. Having built so many over the years my memory isn't as sharp as it was. The problem now is trying to find the correct axleboxes and buffers. So many of the old school traders have retired or are no longer with us, and so many of the new people doing 3D printing don't appear to advertise or have I missed something.  

I now have a basic frame using my own W-irons that are a perfect match for this wagon. I found some coach buffers that also match, how lucky was that. 

I had an interesting morning today because I was asked by one of my grandsons if I would volunteer to go on his school outing. This was to the Lime kilns at Marple where Samuel Oldknow built a very large complex bringing Lime down from the Buxton area to burn in his kilns. He brought the lime down from Buxworth basin by canal straight into the Lime kilns. 

I learnt quite a bit more about the process and had a thoroughly good time.