airnimal

Nuts, bolts and rivets.  I have added most of the small bits with just the horse hooks and a few small items to finish the bodywork.  I am still missing the handrail knobs to complete the bolsters but I have had a kind offer from a certain S7 fellow modeller who used to fly fighter jets to have some of his. I am trying to source some locally with one person supposedly going to phone me back to see if they have any in stock. But that was several hours ago and I am still waiting. You can see how I use handrail knobs on the loops of the bolsters from my previous LYR wagon. They have to be filed to shape but I can't think of any other way of making them. 

I wasn't going to do anything today because I was going out on my bike. I did venture out but i wasn't feeling very well so turned back after 5 miles.  

So I drilled the other pair of stanchions and fitted both pairs to the wagons.  I am now stuck on the bolsters because i don't have any handrail knobs of the correct size that i usually use to make the loops over the bolster. Once upon a time i could nip out to a model shop ( remember them ) and buy some more but i am not aware of any near where i live. I keep being told that the internet is the way forward but for a Luddite like myself that's a real pain. 

The brackets that I made from brass by filing a V in the material and then folding them to shape, and running solder in the joints didn't prove robust enough and the joints failed. So I have made replacements from plastic but they are over scale and I may return to metal when I can find suitable metal of the correct thickness.  Perhaps when painted and with the chains attached they may not be to noticeable but I will try and find an alternative. 

Still there is plenty of work on the rest of this pair to keep me going for a few weeks yet. I have noticed on the photograph and the drawings that there isn't any external crown plates only bolts through the solebar's. 

A first attempt at the securing chains between this pair of bolster wagons has been made but it will need modification to reduce the number of links. I still need to shorten the joining pins and  tidy up the brackets but it is showing promise.  It is all very fiddly trying to put it all together.  

The basic framework on this pair of bolster wagons is now complete,  so before I go any further I need to sort out the joining arrangements.  On the drawing there are a couple of cross hatch bars with pegs locating in holes in brackets underneath the the ends of both wagons. I am not sure if this is practical or feasible in model form but I will give it a  try and see how I get on.  I don't have any metal suitable in the correct size so I have soldered some scrap waste etch together that hopefully will be close enough. 

The brackets have been folded up from more scrap etch,  but this first lot are not nearly thick enough. 

One problem I can see is the need to be able to separate the wagons to paint them and rejoin them without to much fuss. 

Back in the workshop again and the start of the pair of L&Y bolster wagons.  The W-irons have already been made, so a start was made on the wagon themselves.  There isn't much to these wagons but it took me quite awhile to get the first one to the stage we have here. I think I need my eyes testing again plus

I think old age is taking its hold of me. I don't appear to have the accuracy I once had because I am having trouble marking everything out as well as cutting and drilling in the right place.

There may be a bit of movement on the house front because one person has been 3 times to view it and brought alone a builder with him to advise him on alterations that he would like. We also have several other people expressing an interest in it so with and luck there maybe light at the end of the tunnel. 

On 27/09/2023 at 19:10, BlueLightning said:

 

I have one of these attached to my coupling hook, seeing as I am doing it in 4mm, I don't think it would be possible without the extra light!

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Diagnostic-Penlight-CAVN-Flashlight-Emergency/dp/B01HAXUHQ6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa

 

Gary

Thanks for the information on pen touches. I spent Thursday morning walking around the shops looking for one without success.  It appears that everyone now uses the internet to buy most non food items. 

For someone like myself who doesn't buy on the internet it can be a problem,  but my eldest daughter came to the rescue and ordered one for me.  So I modified one pen by heat shrinking the hook using the largest pieces of heat shrink in my toolbox.  

I have packed with the wagons my coupling hook made from an old bicycle spoke. So I can see it, I have put a couple of pieces of shrink rap rubber tubing on in different colours. I know other people place torches on the end to see in difficult lighting and I may end up doing the same if I can find a small pen size torch.

I have just got back from 2 weeks cycling around  Northern Bulgaria with 6 of my cycling chums.  It was a typical chaotic ramble with misinformation and changing plans along the way.  I am not sure how long we can keep going on these crazy adventures with the average age being over 70, because climbing long mountain passes carrying  panniers is becoming hard work. And after a couple of beers at night, it takes about 2 minutes maximum to get to sleep every night.

So back to reality and the workshop.  The container will not be finished until I can find out about the door hinges. So I have been preparing the wheels for the wagon the container is going to sit on. 

I had a e-mail from him on Monday.  I was hoping to see him at Guildex last Saturday but was told he has some family problems. 

Mike

I have fitted the long pieces of brass on the sides that act as lifting straps. But the other bits I am struggling with, not the fitting but the location. I even tried to look on Andy Duncan's web site for a photograph of the completed model but it doesn't appear to be listed now. 

Perhaps an e-mail to Andy asking for better information may help unless anyone on here who has built one of these containers and can help ?

I have started to add the details but I am struggling with the lack of drawings with the kit. A simple drawing showing the precise location of the etch parts would have been a help or even better a photograph of the completed model. So far I have put on the door hinges on but nothing else. 

The Aussie crew have all gone out for the day to Halifax and my good lady has gone to pick one of the grandsons up who starts school today. This leaves me to have a day in the workshop which I am not going to waste. 

This container is proving interesting to build. I have pulled it apart 3 times already but I now have the basic shell complete.  I dispensed with any interior bracing as it was more trouble than it was worth.

The roof has been made from a leftover sheet of 6 thou brass that I found while looking for something else.  I soldered it on leaving it over long and trimmed it back to be flush with both the sides and ends. 

The roof has plenty of ripples in it but that doesn't bother me as I am sure these things got bashed about a little in service. 

Although there has been considerable family commitments I have managed to get a couple of hours in the workshop today.  So I soldered the basic body of the container I bought at Guildex together.  I tried being clever by adding some brass angle inside the body to strengthen the joints ar the corners but it just made things difficult.  In the end I just butt jointed it all with the RSU. With the best will in the world the roof as supplied is never going to fit without lots of gaps and filler. The instructions even suggest that a supplement roof could be added from card or similar materials.  

So the V shaped strap on the roof only goes half way across. The photograph makes it look as though the V  goes all the way to the far side. This must be an optical illusion. It does make sense that there will be 4 lifting shackles linked to the straps on the sides. So in effect the straps on the roof make it look like an  X shape. 

I had a successful trip to Guildex on Saturday and enjoyed the day with much chin wagging for most of the day. I didn't buy much but I did stock up on wagon wheels as well as buying a etched container body from Andy Duncan. This was probably quite an old kit because it was very tarnished but it will clean up without any problems.  The roof had a crease in it  but I have managed to straighten it out and rolled it to the correct radius using my rollers. I rolled it in a couple of pieces of cardboard through the rollers and it has come out well. On the way back from Guildex I called in a furniture showroom near where I used to work in Macclesfield because I knew that they used these containers in the 1890's, and asked if they had any photographs of these containers and they gave me a booklet on the history of the company.  Unfortunately the lady didn't know the colours that the containers were painted but she said if I went back when one of the owners were at work they may be able to help. One one in the photograph has lifting rings on one side at the top similar to others I have seen with straps going over the roof in a V formation,  

but does anyone know if there was a similar ring at the other side  and was 3 rings sufficient enough to lift them on to a wagon. 

Today we went out to see the start of the tour of Britain at Altrincham. The weather was very kind and provided lots of sunshine which will hopefully will continue for the rest of the tour. After seeing the riders off we then went a short hop to Dunan Massey for lunch a the Vine. Suitable refreshments were had before we all went different ways home. Not a lot of miles but enough to stretch the legs before we go to Bulgaria for 10 cycling shortly in the less popular region's 

I am not sure if her school is one of those affected.  But we did notice that the ceiling looks very much like the pictures on the news. My middle daughter made a comment about the dreadful condition of the ceiling and were we going to paint it. I spent a week painting a sister school about a mile away from her school about 20 years ago through a community works programme. I think I have done enough good deeds recently so tomorrow it will be a day of banter and trains.

1 hour ago, sir douglas said:

I cant make out whats going on with the coupling on this one

Sam, all the wagons were photographed because they damaged in some way. The SECR wagon looks like the coupling has been ripped out.

As requested.  I must had had these over 30 years.