airnimal

I have started to put the coach bolts in the interior woodwork. This is going to be a long and boring episode, so I will only do a few at a time. I have been thinking about the canvas covers over the axleboxes. I have some foil from the tops of wine bottles which may work so i have cut one to see if this is going to be a viable option.

I have only done a small amount because domestic chores have taken priority over models. This included cutting down next door tree which was taking all our light in our back garden. If I had known how long and how hard this was going to be I think I would have past this back to my neighbour to do. Anyway I have managed to put a few nuts on.

Phil, I am very interested in seeing your work, I am sure we can all learn something new from your approach. I have sent you a PM. There was not a lot done for the last 4 or 5 days mainly domestic and social pleasures. But I have started doing some more on the ironwork on the bodies. I cut some half round Evergreen 40 thou for the bottom of the hinge with small round bit of black plastkard as the bolts holding the hinges on. If that makes sense.

Phil, I am interested in how you do the sides from 3 layers of plasticard. What glue do you use to glue the parts together ? I have been using .8 rivets or coach bolts for the insides of my wagons which may be oversize. I have some .6 rivets from the same source but they seem awfully small and with my eyesight .... Phil please share your building on here so we can all benefit from your take on things. I have picked everybody brains for the last 50 years but I am still learning. A few photos of the 3 wagons together with the ballast brake van which will go to make up a small ballast train.

Phil, These wagons have not got any iron work on the inside so I just mark where the holes are going to go with a pencil line and drill the holes in the sides. I mark a line on top of the wagon side so when the coach bolt goes in it hopefully lines up. When the wagon does have iron work on the inside, I mark the ironwork and drill the holes in it before glueing in in the coach bolts in the ironwork and let it all hardened overnight. I then cut off the surplus stem flush before glueing the piece in the wagon. A couple of not very clear photos of the markings on the wagon sides. I think I did cover how to do the wagons in the loco coal wagon thread which has internal ironwork.

I made a right mess yesterday of all 3 wagons. I tried to drill through the end pillars for the internal coach bolts. Trying to drill both the end pillars and the side of the wagon with a 20 thou drill in a hand held pin chuck is not to be recommended. Not only did I break a number of drills but the holes went everywhere. I then had to plug the out of line holes with plastic rod and clean everthing up once it had dried. I them remembered when I have done them before I drill the holes in the ends before putting on the end pillars. So there was nothing's I could do but to remove the end pillars and do what I should have done in the first place. I did managed to cut them off without to much damage but it was a few hours unnecessary work with a bit of bad language. So I have started to put the iron work on the sides which starts to bring the wagon a bit closer to being a wagon.

I have drilled a few holes in the body sides to accept the coach bolts on the inside. Unfortunately I have run out of them and I will have to wait untill I get some more. At least the holes will be there when I finely get around to ordering some more. I mark them out with a pencil line using my square and dividers to keep them all in line. The outside ironwork can now go over the top so everthing lines up.

Now the festivities have finished I can get back in the workshop and do a bit more on these ballast wagons. Wagonman mentioned how clean my work is, and I am sure I have said it before about a gentleman I met many years ago called Garth Arnold. He was the founder and instigator of Stockport Model Railway Club and I was amongst the first few members. I was modelling in OO at that time and Garth was scratch building in O gauge pre-grouping LNWR. He built some fine coaches and wagons and they were all beautifully painted but the one thing I noticed was when he scribed the plank lines into the plastic, he never removed the burrs and just painted over them. Well I was only a young lad in my early twenties just knocking out some simple wagon kits with a bit of scratch building as well. It wasn't my place to criticisize or offer my opinion, but it did have a profound effect on me. I thought Garths models were fabulous, let down a little by this one small flaw. I wonder if Garth is still alive and still modelling? Anyway I have started to put a bit of detail on these wagons. Although they are just simple wagons there is still a fair bit of work in them and they take quite a long time to make. The New Years resolution this year includes starting a small layout as well as keeping my promise to my better half of decorating the lounge and dining room. Also on the agenda is a trip to Australia to help my middle daughter decorate her first house before her first baby arrives in April. I did help the other 2 daughters decorate their homes so it's only right I go and help the far flung one. That's my excuse anyway, not that I can take my bike and go and have some warm weather for a short time !

Not much to report. I put a door stop on the longer wagon but the mojo is absent at present.

If I can add a little something to your thread which I love. Would a few of the stones benefit from going over with a brass wheel in a mini drill to take the edge some of them before sticking them together. I haven't tried this yet but it is something I have being thinking about for sometime. I would try just a few to give a random feel to a small section to see how it looks. Mike

I was up early this morning and had a couple of hours in the workshop before the boss appeared. I have now got the 16 foot one to the same stage as the 2 smaller ones. I don't have any brake levers left of the type that go under the headstock, but I do have the patterns to pantograph them. So I will have to go cap in hand to Dave at JPL and see if he can run me a few off. That is the basic bodies done but there is still a mountain of work to do as well as getting the etched plates sorted out along with the cast letters denoting the district they belong to.

I managed to get a small amount done and escape from eating and drinking too much. I reduced the height of the jig so that end pillars lined up with the top. This way all the wagons will be the same.

I managed to get a couple of hours in the workshop when all the family went to my youngest daughters. I made the side and ends for the two smallest wagons and a new jig for the end pillars. This is an improvement over the last jig because this has a hole drilled in to locate in the buffer beam slot. I cut the end pillars to size and rounded the ends with a file. I held them together in a small vice so they would all be the same size.

I have decided to go with a longer third ballast wagon with the original headstock. I don't think I will do a lot more because of family visits for the next few days. At least when I get going on the body work I will be able to cut out the lot in one go, that's the theory anyway.

I know I have not finished the loco coal wagons but I have decided to build 3 ballast wagons to go with the ballast brake van. In Vol 3 of LNWR wagons there is a drawing of a small example only 13 feet long with straight buffers. So I started on a couple and made the headstock of another longer one at the same time. I am not sure if I want a longer one but I like the variety of different wagons in a train. I have left the headstocks over long on the small pair to trim back to size. I have used Peco GWR buffers which are perfect for these wagons. I will cut of the coach bolts and replace with hex bolts from MasterClub.

I have just had a couple of pints of cherry porter in the Crown in Stockport. Very pleasant. This has been one of my watering holes for the past 30 years.

The LNWR also painted the numbers on the ends of its vans and most of it's other wagons as well. I am just surprised I managed to get the numbers straight. I have not being doing a lot lately although I have put some of my photo's on the UK prototype discussion page around Stockport.

I have dug out a few more photographs this morning. They are not very good quality but they may be of interest to someone. I will probably give these and other photographs to Stockport Library when I pop my clogs. I have donated some family ones already showing my grandfather plowing the fields in Brinnington with horses before the first war.

Enterprisingwestern, thank you for comments. I wasn't sure they would good enough to put on here. They have been in a draw for over 50 years without seeing the light of day. When I go,my daughters will probably put them in a skip along with all my models. I still have a few more if people want to see them otherwise they will return to the draw in my workshop. Mike

I went and had a look this morning for some more of photographs around Stockport taken in the 1960's. They bring back happy memories of growing up in a far more simple world

I have lived in Stockport all my life (67 years ) so found this thread intresting. I lived across the field from Brinnington Junction and watched all the railway activity here for many years. I was even lucky enough to go in the signal box with my brothers and throw a few levers. So I have dug out some of my black and white photos taken with a box brownie camera.

Sam, I hope you feel very proud of this loco. You have made a fine scratch built model, far better than anything I built at your age. Mike

Regularity, thanks for the post, it made me laugh. Mike

Regularity, I wouldn't name names. I am mad at myself for being dragged into a spat in the first place. I feel as if I have let myself down for letting silly words get to me from someone who is of no consequence but feels a giant behind a keyboard. Ruston, thank you for kind words. The van was made using drawing No 479 from Vol 2 L&Y wagons page 198 . I am not sure how long they kept this single shoe and I don't think anybody else will either. Having been building wagons for over 35years my parts box has run riot, so like my loco bits that I pruned back earler this year I may go down the same root with some of these. I also have lots of plastic moulded parts from various companies.

Doncaster, I am just the same as everybody. My scrap bin is enormous and is growing daily. The brake gear on the dumb buffered wagon is the next to go. I have been trying to drill holes for the Scale Hardware brass bolts without success. The brass that the etch is made from is super hard and I have broken about 8 or 9 drills. I will bin the this one and start again. Ian, the corner plates on this wagon are made from 2 parts. They are then lightly sanded after a couple of hours. The corner plates on the round ended wagon were made in one piece. I had a better photo to work on with this wagon that shows a very pronounced curve. I first rounded the edge before glueing one side on and letting it dry overnight before glueing the second side on. I have not do a lot this week. The cold weather does affect my mojo some mewhat along with negative comments made by one individual on another website, so I have been clearing out part of my workshop. I went through my parts boxes and realised I have enough parts ( minus wheels ) to build about 50 wagons. Clearly if I want to get on and build my layout I am not going to build all of those. I have already got rid of lots of loco parts so I may go the same way with some of these wagon components.