airnimal

A friend of mine had the same problem with dog poo and he told the gentleman to remove it and received a blank stare. He the followed him home and depositt it on his door step. He then covered the poo with a piece of paper which he then set on fire and rung the door bell. I will leave you to guess the rest !

I had already decided to fit the correct numbers of planks to fit the known dimensions so it looks right to the photograph. I have the basic shell now ready to fit the doors and other framing. I will do another hour now but we have our grandchildren tomorrow which doesn't allow for any modelling to take place. They are a little young yet to get them helping but the first place they want to go is to see the trains in grandad's cabinet.

Mol_PMB, I am not sure about copyright to post photographs and drawings from books. I have in the past posted little snippets of drawings but I am unsure if this is acceptable. I have decided to make the planks fit the space between the top and bottom frames but within the overall dimensions of the works drawing. I think after all these years a bit of guesswork is always going to be necessary. So I have cut the sides and ends out and hopefully I can make a better job this time, but I have said that before. I don't have any more of the vacuum shaped roofs left so I'm going to use a cut down one from a unknown plastic kit.

Now here is a dilemma ! The works drawing for the 7 ton van show 9 planks but the one photograph we have have shows 9.5 planks. Do I increase the height of the model or do I decrease the size of the planks to fit the overall height. That half a plank makes a difference visually but which way is the correct way. I have made a basic frame but the one photograph we have is quite small and not very easy to scale off.

I have applied the Posca pen to the wheels of the L&Y pug. I cleaned them with methylated spirit on a cotton bud before applying. I then painted them with Testers dull coat Matt varnish. This was successful on about 90% of the wheels but it removed a very small amount of the black. I let them dry and then went over them again with Posca pen. This seems to have been successful now they are all dry and rubbing them with a dry cotton bud doesn't have any effect on them. I think the loco does look better for the work. I just need to tone down the coupling rods to a more work stained loco.

Dave, just the simple matter of a plank missing. There is only one photograph as far as I'm aware of the 7 ton van and it's a bit smaller than the 10 ton van of the same design which we have better photographs. The works drawing of the smaller van is different to the only photograph that we have of it. Trying to construct this van, I took my eye of the ball regarding the number of planks and concentrating on the overall height of the body and where the planks lay in regarding to the farming. I dont know which size van Marc made when he released his kit or which drawing he used but building something accurate from so little information is never going to be easy. Now I know were I went so wrong makes me feel better about it and I will continue and make another. NeilHB suggestion about the Posca pens was brilliant. Mine came yesterday and I tried it out on a pair of stainless tweezers. Yes it does as Neil says and produce a Matt black finish but I was able to rub it off when it had dried. These pens are not the same as magic markers in which the steel is stained but are paints. So I did it again and when it had dried I painted a coat of Matt varnish over it. This time the results were just what I wanted, a perfect finish that appears to be hard wearing. Good call Neil.

First the good news ! I have a new tray to model on so I can carry it from my workshop and set up in the living room and clear it away very quickly. Then the bad news ! This van is going to be scrapped. I have made another fundamental mistake. I put it down to a combination of thinking about trying to find a new house and trying to get the old one ready for selling, plus I was at the hospital on Tuesday. Along with lockdown and lack of information about the prototype doesn't help as well as the lack of photographs all combined to making mistakes a whole lot easier. Will I be starting again ? Well I will be going out for the rest of today so I will have to ponder on it and think things over. Perhaps I need a brake from modelling for a short while and concentrate on clearing out the clutter before we put the house up for sale.

A small amount of work has been done today. The buffers are on with hexagonal bolts and a start on the ironwork. The chamfer has been done on this end but I don't think it will be noticed until after painting.

Richard, thank you for the kind offer of a scratch built narrow boat. I do love canals and narrow boats and will hopefully have at least one somewhere down the line when I move house and have a diorama or layout. But I think it is a bit premature to have one just yet even as a wagon load. I will come back to you because I do want some of your packing cases / tea chests / posters in the future. Neil, thank you for the information about Posca pens, one is on order. I have tried other brands that didn't work on stainless steel so hopefully this one will. I required some 3 bolt buffers for this van and I had some in stock but out of the 8 I have only 3 were of good quality. So I am making my own from my own plain castings that I had left over from my brake van kit. On the brake van kit the bolts were cast into the base plate on the body casting. So I have drilled 3 holes in a brass washer to act as a drilling jig. I soldered this to the base of the buffer casting and the 3 holes drilled before the washer was taken off. I just need to add the Masterclub bolts when I have fixed them to the van body. I have also cut some new plates to fit between the frames to rest the scalpel on when I do the chamfering.

A bit of a change from the usual. I bought this brass loco at Telford in 2019 and had it converted to S7 standards last year. I thought the paint work was brilliant but a little to clean for a working engine. The buffers were painted grey which I didn't like so I repainted them to a wood colour. I have then attacked them with some powders to tone them down to a more reasonable colour. The paint work is still clean but not with the very bright shine. It still needs a Jack and a few oil cans and a crew. The wheels need the tyres doing something with but I think they are stainless steel which doesn't take to chemical black as normal steel wheels do. I think I will have to paint them. I also need to change the links on the couplings.

Graham, I glued the outside door frame pillars to the ones already there and when dry added the backing planks before doing the rest of the door frame. I will have to make new metal pieces to place between the frames to rest my scalpel on to do the chamfering. I have a confession to make ! The body is a scale inch to narrow. It should be 7 ' 4" and it's only 7' 3". I hope that standards are not slipping. I will go to the back of the class.

I should really be doing work around the house to get it ready to put it on the market but my motivation is sadly lacking. I could do with a kick up the backside because it won't do itself. I am also waiting for model materials from 3 different sources which are taking forever. Now I have put the doors on it is beginning to look like a NSR van. The doors have been put on the other side so it's a bit further on.

The basic shape has been completed and a roof has been found but needs trimming to size. The doors are next but the frames are not as deep. That is the reason I didn't make the sides all in one. The difference is not great but I think it pays to have them slightly different depths.

Mol_PMB, thank you for the information about canal boats from Langley models. I hadn't been aware of them. I have decided not to do these just yet. I think I have to much on my mind with thinking about trying to find a new house rather than tackle something so bold. Jim, again thank you for your help. I do have other buffers that are correct for wagon No 27 but as i have put aside the Calendonian wagons because I can't find my etched W-irons for these wagons. Having enjoyed building the NSR wagons I have decided to build a NSR van. I do know that Marc at Furness wagons does produce a kit for this van but from my past kit building I wouldn't be able to do it justice if I bought one. So it's my usual scratch built which I am more familiar with. So a basic frame has been knocked up and a start on the body has got going.

I presume that Limonene stick nickel or brass components to plasticard. I have never tried it and was wondering if it is long lasting ?

Going through the Caledonian wagon book I think the buffers I have are from Caledonian Railway wagons. At least the two outside ones are, I am not so sure on the ones in the middle. I have been through my parts supply and now I have misplaced my etch W-irons to go with the buffers. I have had a right ear bashing from my better half for not putting them away safely. I spend hours looking for stuff that I have put away but can never find again. Perhaps the carpet monster has grown bigger and swallowed larger items. So looking in the same book I like the look of a furniture van truck in plate 12.1 that could be a contender for a model. But there isn't a drawing only a description which states that the early ones had 3' 6" Mansell wheels. The photograph of wagon No 27 clearly has spoke wheels but are they the same size or normal 3' 1" wheels ? I have the buffers I could use and the axleboxes look normal enough but would have to guess at the brake gear. This wagon could come south of the border with a nice carriage on it. The headstocks seem very thin and tall and the solebars are in shadow so not making it very clear regarding the iron work. Failure to find out about this wagons I could model a couple of wagons in the NSR wagon book that I have made before. The ones I like are unpainted dumb buffer wagons with a narrow boat load. Now if I can source a model narrow boat as a load it might be a runner. I know Skytrex do a couple but could I adapt on as a load ?

Jim, thank you but I have the book here in front of me and I dont think that anyone of the three matches exactly the photographs or drawings. It could be that the pattern makers haven't got it completely right or there isn't a good enough photograph that that show the buffers from all sides. It is a bit late now so I will check all the photographs in the the book tomorrow.

I have being doing work around the house to get it ready to be put up for sale including laying a new floor tiles in the bathroom after we had trouble with a perished bath seal. I want to move house after being here for over half my life, but I think it is going to be stressful after so long in the same place. We went to view a house today that was in the perfect location but it had not been touch for many years and would have required about 50K spending on it. Anyway I have being looking at doing a few more wagons but I am running out of parts. Or more precisely the parts I require for the wagons I wish to build. I still have lots of parts from various places acquired long ago but they don't neccessarily match up together. I have found 3 sets of white metal buffers that claim to be Caledonian Railway but which one is the correct shape. They all have a web down one side, but the shape on the other side are all different. Perhaps someone north of the border will know ? I have Cambrain buffers but no axleboxes. I have lots of other buffers that I don't know they origins but without W-irons. I think I could do with a clear out and restock on parts that I require. I really wanted to start some baseboards for a layout or diorama but it not worth it until I know the amount of space I will have when we finally do move house.

Somebody's is going to be very pleased when you deliver this delightful model. Richard you are a true artist. Wonderful more please.

A little bit of a change from the usual. My friend Peter asked me to lightly tone down the paint on his brewery tanker. This is to go on his layout which has a brewery on it which I scratch built for him about 10 years ago.

I have decided not to build any new wagons for a while. So I am revisiting some of my previous wagons to upgrade them on things like wheels and couplings to see if I can improve them. This pair of bolsters wagons was made about 18 months ago when I didn't always trim the surplus webbing between the spokes on the wheels. So I have done one wagon to show the difference before and after. I do think it does make a difference because I think it makes the wheels or tyres seem smaller or more worn. The couplings are still the old Peco ones and should be changed but I don't have many loose steel links left. I think the ones I had been using came from Ron Chapman at Sheffield whom I believe has retired. I don't know if anyone else sells them ?

Compound 2632, I just used a number as close to the wagon in the official photograph. I have no evidence that it is real or not. I was given a set of Slaters etched W-irons for these wagons and just looked for a wagon that they would fit. I modified the W-irons by removing one side and soldiering a piece of brass L section on and tapping them with 12 BA screws so I could change the wheels without completely destroying previous work. I never understood why 7mm wagon bearings are so long that make fold etch W-irons hard work to make.

I hope you don't mind if I interrupt and post my S7 scratch built M.R refrigerator van on your thread. I don't have it anymore because it was converted to fine scale and sold to a London collector.

I can't believe it ! I have finished the ********** At long last I have arrived at the end. There are one or two things I could have done better particularly the windows but I only had a few slide cover glasses and once I broke those I went back to plastic. I will be having a break from the workbench to do some jobs around the house so we can put it on the market and hopefully move. Sorry if this has been a saga but thanks to everyone who has stayed to the end, I hope it was worth it.

Just a couple of things to do now. I have to paint the brake blocks and put the glass in and then to tone down the the paintwork. I am pleased with the coupling hook and links. This has been a long job which I estimate to be about 200 hours including the false start. I know this is silly when you think I dont have any NSR locos only 4 other NSR wagons. I would love a class D 0-6-0 tank loco. I did have a kit of one once but sold it on a couple of years ago. With any luck I will put the glass in tomorrow and tidy up any loose ends. Then I better do a few jobs to keep the boss happy.