airnimal

Marc, I see you have done your model in the full Cambrian livery. Mine will very run down like the condition seen in the photograph of wagon No 356. I put the ends on and then I made a mess of the sides last night so I went to bed and had another look at it this morning. With fresh eyes it wasn't as bad as I first thought. So I was able to use the sides with a bit of trimming. At least the basic body is together now.

After scrapping the beer van before it got going I thought I would build a simple wagon with bags of character that had seen lots of life. So a lime wagon from the Cambrian Railway. I have the unusual V-iron and the axleboxes plus a brass casting for the brake shoes in stock. I like the broken corner plate and the replacement plank of a different size. I also have a cast number plate that has been hanging around for far to long. So with all the ingredients at hand it would be rude not to build this wagon. I have got as far as the basic frame and floor. The ends were cut from one long length but the sides will have to be made individually because they are not the same. Having scrapped the beer van I was beginning to think I had lost my touch and it did take me awhile to get going, but I feel a bit better now this wagon appears to be going well. Finger crossed.

Occasionally ones comes across a mongrel that's not going anywhere. This wagon is one of those. When I glued the bottom of the frames on something just didn't look right so I took them off and made new ones. The plastic I am using is 80 thou and is very soft. One side is shiny and one side is matt. The shiny side doesn't scribe very well. I made a mess of the replacements and had to make another pair. Having pulled it apart 3 times it became obvious that this was going to be one of those...... So I will recover the buffer castings because it's the last set I have of these LNWR wagon buffers. I have a nice bottle of beer and the folk show is on Radio 2 so all is not lost.

I have started to build the frames up. I am sure it would be easier to build the sides in the flat and then add them to the frames but I prefer to build them up as the prototype. We will have to see if this is successful or not. There won't be a lot done today because we have our grandchildren today while mum and dad are at work.

Sir Douglas, yes the van in the photograph is a Wirral Railway van. I tried to build one in page 2 and 3 in these ramblings of mine. I am struggling to find parts in my many boxes of bits. I searched around and found 4 LNWR wagon buffers so I thought I would attempt to build a beer van. My wife says how appropriate given my love of real ale. So I made the basic frame which is slightly wider than a standard van and drilled the holes on the headstock for the buffers. When I came to glue them in I discovered that one had a smaller stem on the back than the other three. So I had to sleeve it with a bit of brass tube. Adrian must have made several patterns of the same buffer but the front part is the same. I cut back the solebars to give plenty of room for any nuts on the back of the buffer heads. I think I am going to have to build it like a open cattle wagon. Graham, the other van in the photograph is a M&SLR van like this.

Back to the models. Having run out of brake shoe castings I have cut a couple out of my big brass washer. I am not sure I'm going to use them on the next build but at least they are in stock for later. At least I have plenty of drawings and photographs to go on.

We have definitely given up any attempt to move house this year. My wife loves this house we live in, it's just in the wrong location. So I will hopefully build a few more wagons and finish those already built. I had my second jab yesterday without any problems but when I went out on my bike today I only did 35 miles and was completely worn out. Not sure it was because of the jab or because I am getting old but I did a lot further than that last week without any problems. I don't know how long I will be able to keep cycling or if I will ever get to do a 500 or 600 mile tour of Cuba or India again when we finally get the green light to go ahead. I will be 70 at the end of next month. What to build next ? I really should build a few 2 plank LNWR opens which I don't have any off. They were the standard LNWR open for many years so they really are necessary to have a balance stud.

With the weather being so kind to use I decided to paint all the remaining numberplates I have for my LNWR wagons. First i cleaned them all before sticking them down to some card and spraying them with White primer. I had hoped that once I had painted them Black over the dried White paint I would be able to leave an easy way of just wiping of the soft Black paint to leave a nice White numbers showing. It didn't work out that way because but it will have to do with the nickel showing through. As for the Estate Agents new practice of only allowing cash buyers or those able to proceed quickly seems to me a shoddy business. Because the market has been interrupted because of the virus and is now doing very well, they don't appear to won't to work hard for they money. Well I hope it comes back to bite them.

Dave, if you want to store all my models they come with 3 daughters worth of stuff that they left here when they left home to go to universities. The last one left here 12 years ago but we still have a loft full plus a wardrobe full of clothes that will probably never fit them again but they swear hasn't to be thrown out. As for moving house we are going to put it on the back burner until life returns to normal. We tried to look at some houses but we were told that we couldn't look until our house had been sold. I don't know what other people think of that but I wasn't impressed. Estate agents don't exactly do a great deal other than put people in touch with each other and post pictures on line and in there shop fronts. I know several will never get my business when it becomes time to try again when the market settles down again. Anyway I am still trying to finish some more wagons with little jobs that have been put off like the numbers on the end of this small LNWR van along with the tare weight. I tried using some old meth fix tranfers but they kept coming off so I hand painted them very badly. The ones on on the ends were a mixture of both.

Dave, thank you for the offer about wagon sheets. Please don't think me ungrateful but I will persevere with black tissue paper when my mojo returns. At present it has gone walk abouts somewhere. Trying to find a house and putting ours on the market is not my favourite pastime and with not having done this for such a long time is proving very stressful to both my wife and myself. So what little modelling I have done is going over old projects that didn't get 100% finished like painting the tare weight on my Wigan Coal and Iron wagon. I have tried to paint it so it blends in and doesn't look newly applied. Other small jobs include cleaning out the webbing on wheels that I didn't do when they were first made.

I am surprised that the diagram book has not been brought into the equation regarding the ordering of the correct wagon for any unusual load.

Graham, I am having the axleboxes and springs printed. They are the same ones I had done about 2 years ago. I didn't know that Guy did them when I had them done as I would probably have used his. These things only come to light after the event. I made a mistake when I said that the Cambrian used sheets with zigzag lines on, that should have been the CLC. My memory is very poor these days. I have repainted this wagon with a lighter grey and I keep trying with these wagon sheets. I tried putting twisted wire thread on the sheet which had been backed with foil before glueing a second sheet on and leaving to dry. But I think it is going to take a lot more work before I am satisfied.

Wanted a Chowbent etched brass kit unmade in 7mm scale for a class D 0-6-0 tank. If anyone has one lurking in a cupboard that they are never going to build please get in touch.

Adam, yes I have seen those wonderful models with envy. If I could get mine to look anywhere as good I would be very pleased. Unfortunately I don't have the computer skills to do mine that way. I am trying as many different ways as I can but without success as yet. I have tried sticking baking foil to the back of the paper I am using. This hasn't been as good as I'd hoped. I think the baking foil isn't thick enough. I have some black tissue paper to try next. I did make the brake handle and rack today which is good but I don't have any axleboxes left, but they are on order.

Stephen, thank you for the information from Bob Essery's article on wagon sheets. That is just what I wanted with all the different railway companies sheets. I found in my pile of paperwork an Exactoscale paper wagon sheet for the Caledonian Railway. I have never used these before although I have had it many years. I did have others but they seem to have been lost over the years. The instructions say to wet them gently before folding them over the wagon loads. I did wonder whether this me would work with my home made one. No is the answer as can be seen. Everything that I had drawn on just bleed everywhere. Perhaps I should have sprayed Matt varnish over the entire paper before wetting it. The other option is to paint all the markings with Humbrol oil paint. I may try another way like I did with the dust covers on my ballast wagons which was to glue baking foil on the back of the paper first and left to dry before folding. It may not work but I can have fun trying.

Playing about with this black paper to try and make something like a wagon sheet I found in my children's toy cupboard a pair of scissors that cuts a zigzag line. Remembering that the Cambrian had zigzagging along the bottom of there sheets I decided to try to cut out of thin card template to spray such a line. So I cut a couple of strips and tapped them down to a piece of board before spraying them with White primer from a rattle can. It's not perfect but it does show promise.

Until I can find the information about wagon sheets I will play around with bits of black paper and coloured crayons. I have found the sheet size that was used before 1910 which was 19' 6" X 15' 5" on the LNWR. So I have cut out several sheets that size and will make up a few to practice on.

Graham, yes I have used self tappers to screw the W-irons into the floor. And yes they do come through the other side but as I am going to fix a tarpaulin on top permanently I won't be trying to cover or colour match anything. Crude but effective. I have cut out a brake block out of the same brass washer that I have used in the past. Marc, I don't think that the one plank Dia 1 were ever fitted with a sheet rail support bar. The two plank ones were photographed with them as a trial but how many were fitted in traffic I couldn't say. I have seen articles about companies wagon sheets but my old brain can't remember where or even which magazine or book that it appeared in.

I have found an old resin body of a one plank LNWR open wagon that has some damage. Rather than scrap it I thought I will make one with a tarpaulin sheet to cover the damage. I was going to start making some brakegear but then we had a phone call from my daughter who has hurt her neck. So we have got the grandsons here today which is great but not so good for modelling.

The lime wash has been applied. How well it's up to others to judge but I am happy with it for once. I have used drawing ink applied neat with bits were taken off with a wide flat brush and water.

I am happy that the brake block is correct as modelled. I have copied the castings that came from Adrian Swain and would have used one if I had any left. I am aware that one should not make models of other models but most people would say Adrian was a stickler when it came to being accurate about details. One of the photographs is from the rear of a brake shoe that came from ABS. I have painted the roof a darker grey but as yet I haven't done the lime wash. If fact I have been to my youngest daughter school where she is a teacher. Some of the equipment has been damaged and was being thrown away that just needed some small repairs costing very little in monetary terms but just a bit of attention.

I said I didn't have any numberplates for this cattle wagon well ...... When looking at the photograph in LNWR wagons Vol 1 at this wagons to see how much lime wash was on the body I went through all the information and numbers that have been recorded and the first on the list was 934. That rang a bell in the old grey matter, so I went looking through my bits box. Sure enough I had just such a pair of that number. Also there is a tare weight listed so both these were fitted along with screw couplings. I have also painted the roof the same colour as the body. Tomorrow I hope to paint the roof a darker colour and give it a good coating of lime wash providing the weather is kind and a bit warmer. Then it will be finished.

Progress has been quite swift today with a lot of work completed on the cattle wagon. It will need numberplates ( which I dont have ) and other lettering before it can be weathered and lime washed. I am not sure what to do with the roof. I think they were white when newly built but I am sure they turned very nearly black in the 1890's.

With the sun shining I managed to get the rattle cans out and put some paint on the cattle wagon. I made a little jig to hold the axleboxes while I spray them. Thinking about the roofless cattle wagons being outlawed early on I suppose that they could be used for barrels of beer. That may explain why we have photographs of them as late as 1912.

Richard, the answer to you question is no it is a different one. I have built 3 now with this latest one. I would like to build a few more open topped ones and make a small cattle train. In the NSR wagon book there is a photograph of Uttoxeter goods yard in approx 1912 which has such a wagon still in existence and with the large lettering on the side. But I have run out of etched bars and other parts to make any more. I find these early cattle wagons attractive and there is not likely to be many or any kit manufacturers bringing out models of them. I have seen it written somewhere that open topped cattle wagons were to be outlawed quite early but they obviously hung on for sometimes after the cut off date.