airnimal

Nearly all the structural work done with just the upper doors needing to be a double thickness and the safety bars inserting between the two. Wagonman, sorry I will not be entering the wagon building competition at the AGM. I don't have a very good track record with competitions. I am not even sure I will be attending this year.

A little more progress on this cattle wagon as well as doing some decorating to keep in the good books with the boss. There are a lot of straight lines on this wagon so I have been checking every time I put a new piece on to make sure it all lines up. So far I think I have managed keep everything straight.

Soon after my last post I keep looking and realised that the bottom rail was wrong and the planks should be between the uprights and not behind them. So these parts were cut out or modified and new parts made. I also forgot to drill the uprights for the safety bars. The outer ones were easy to drill but the inboard ones were a bit more of a problem. So I filed the .7mm nickel wire to a point and past this through the outer upright and up to the inner ones and placed my soldering iron on it and pushed in to the second upright taking care not to melt any of the plastic. The etched bars have been in my box of wagon parts for over 20 years and were given to me by the late Peter Korrison. I have been waiting to use them for soon time. Peter was a brilliant engineer and artist in more than one field and a true gentleman. I had the pleasure of staying at Peter and his wife Rita's bungalow on several occasions and enjoyed Rita's amazing home cooking.

I have trimmed the uprights to length and set about making the bars that help strengthen the sides. There is a photo which can be seen in Vol 3 of the LNWR wagons on page 203 which clearly shows this. They were made from a couple of small piece brass U shaped channel and some .9 nickel rod.

I know I should'nt but start anything new with so many things nearly finished but ...... I have always been intrigued by the early cattle wagons when I came across a photo on the LNWR forum which has 2 cattle wagons taken in a Coventy goods yard. This is the clearest photo of a roofless cattle wagon I have seen, so along with the drawing published in the LNWR society journal of a similar wagon I just had to make another. So a start has been made and progress has reached the stage shown here. I will trim the uprights later.

Now I have found the axleboxes for the L&Y steel underframe wagon I set about cutting all the cast w-iron off just leaving the box and springs. I had to open out the bearing hole into a slot to go with my own etched w-irons. That only leaves the label clip and then the painting.

Having done the brake handles on the small ballast wagons I added the longer version to the larger one. I also replaced the drop door bangers with slimmer versions because the ones I originally made were to wide. There is still lots to do on these ballast wagons to finish them off before I can paint them, not my strong point. When looking for these handles I have now found the axleboxes for the L&Y wagon that I lost last week. I found them on my workbench in a box of parts right under my nose....!

Having pick up some milled brake handle from Dave at JPL at the Leigh show last week I thought I would clean up a couple to put on the pair of small ballast wagons. I made the pattern for the longer wheelbase wagons, rather than make two different lengths patterns. It was just a small job to cut them down to the smaller size. These toggled handles also come in handy for other LNWR wagons.

I am glad I am not on my own dropping changers but as you said, easily fixed. I still haven't found the retaining straps or the axleboxes so I have made my own straps. I tried soldering 4 strips of nickel together and cutting them out as one without success. Then I tried filing them up individually but that was even more problematic. So I have bent a strip of nickel with some half round and half flat pliers. This deforms the strip in all sorts of shapes before I put it in the vice to flattend it. I then had to dress it with with files and wet and dry before embossing the couple of rivets in it. Now where did I put those axleboxes......

Well nan has taken our grandson to Pets at Home to see the rabbits so I was able to do a quick fix and now all is well. Ten minutes work and no one will be any wiser. After his afternoon nap it's off to the airport to see the planes. Such is life being a grandad.

Oh the shame, the shame ! 40 years scratch building wagons and now this. I will go and stand in the corner. I blame it all on be harassed by my 18 month old grandson who is such a live wire he makes my head spin. Still it is better to be so full of life and energy than be sat in front of the television all day. Yes I dropped a big one but at least it is an easy fix. I will go and sit on the naughty step and await my forgiveness.

Thank you to everyone for all the input, it all helps. I have Just fitted Ambis brake racks with home made brake handles. I am near the end now but I have managed to misplace both the axleboxes and the retaining straps. I put things down or in boxes and can never find them for ages. The joys of old age !

I found this brakegear not as difficult as expected once I got going. Just a few more bits to do including the safety loops and the brake rack and handle. It will make an unusual wagon with the different brake gear with both brake handles pointing to the same end and the steel under frame.

Having got the buffers correct there is just the brakes to make. I couldn't find anything on the market that looks like the L&Y brake shoes. The only thing for it was to scratch build them myself. So I cut out a couple of shoes which have a very distinct shape not seen by me on any other railway. I have made a start to assemble the parts on the wagon which I find is not easy at all. How do the 4mm boys do this I can only guess at.

I have now drilled out and replaced the bolts on these L&Y buffers. I had to drill them first before using a small broach to open the hole to size. The second photo has the old buffers next to new ones.

I did a demo stand at the Leigh show yesterday and managed to get the correct L&Y buffers. When I got them home and had a good look at them I was slightly disappointed with the bolt details on them. I think perhaps the moulds have become worn. So I have removed the mis shaped bolts and drilled the body to accept some plastic bolts from the MasterClub range. The photo was taken before the buffers were modified. Many thanks to all the people who stop by at Leigh to say hello.

I have had another look at the buffer issue and have come to the conclusion I have used the wrong ones. I went back to my L&Y van and looked at the buffer I used on that and they don't have a rib down the side and I know where these came from. These also have a backing plate on which has distinct shape which the other two don't have. From my parts box I had two packets of buffers one marked CR and one without any labels on. The photo of the buffers has the CR ones on the right and the Unknown one on the left. i also found some v-hangers that were just right.

All the rivets and bolt heads are now on with just the label clips to cut out and put on. I keep looking at the buffer housings and thinking although they look like L&Y they could be Caledonian. I have had these in my parts box for many years and the packing and labels has been lost so I am unsure of the origins. The rib down the side looks to be to long although they are the same shape and style as L&Y. i may change these if I can get some more this weekend at the Leigh show.

I have started to put the many rivets on the solebars. I even put some on that weren't there and had to remove them and fill the holes with filler. This is not the most entertaining job I have ever done, so much so I have only do one side. The other side can wait untill tomorrow.

I have replaced the iron work on the ends because I filed the angles to shallow. I can now start to detail the body after all the messing about trying to get the dimensions of the body right. The corner plates I have made from 10 thou plastic which is to thick. I should try 5 thou but I never seem make a good job using plastic this thin.

Signal man Rich, Thank your kind comments regarding the new arrival. I hope in time to have him in the workshop with tools in hand teaching him how cut metal and solder the same as I have with the first grandson. The second grandson is only 18 months old but always wants to go into the workshop to see grandad trains. This latest grandson may be a bit more of a problem as he is in Australia.

Finally I think I have got it spot on with the body dimensions, so I have added the iron work on the ends and drilled holes and glued in the buffers.

L&Y 1 plank open part 3. I managed to get the height on the body right but got the plank line in the wrong place. So I removed the body and made it again. Before I replace the angle irons on the end I will go over this with a fine tooth comb to make sure I finally got it right. The Easter bunny brought me a new grandson today so perhaps things will now go right on the modelling front.

It was only 1mm to high on the body sides but I couldn't live that error. It has only taken a couple of hours work to make new sides and ends but I think it does look better for replacing them.

O dear ! I have made a start on the simple body and forgot to check against the drawing before glueing everything together. The sides are to high. My better half said just file the top of the planks down but then the lines would be in the wrong place. I have now removed the body and will make new ones.