westernviscount

On ‎23‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 15:31, Fen End Pit said:

Yes, this may come back to bite me but I felt it was easier to brush a little ballast under the rods and then flood in some ballast glue than it was to have to excavate holes for the point rodding stools, particularly along the platform face.

We'll see how it goes!

 

thanks

David

Hi David, 

Very fine looking trackwork and rodding. I would say you have made a good call on point rodding before ballast. it is very difficult to get a straight, flat run trying to glue the rollers on top of  the ballast. It will also allow the concrete bases to be represented as having the ballast around them and just the tops visible.

Excellent modelling!

Cheers

Dave

Thanks Paul. I hope you enjoy your build. I hope to see the progress you make. Are you going to replace the handrails? 

On 15/07/2019 at 20:11, down the sdjr said:

Hi Westernviscount,

Great blog. I have bought a Dapol kit and will have a go at this, really like it.

I have a unrelated question if you dont mind. What do you use for the platform brick edges in the photos? I am struggling to find something to get the texture, maybe Wills or Slaters?

 

Hi sdjr

The Wills has a more defined texture but the length of the sheets is limited thus more joins to conceal. I use slater's for 2 reasons: Length of sheet and the thinness of the sheet allows it to be laminated to form the layered bricks at the top of the platform edge. I used a strip of 3 brick courses layered on the main platform face and a single course of bricks in the middle of the 3 courses. 

I haven't taken many close ups but i think this pic gives an impression. The warehouse at the back actually uses wills corrugated sheets as it happens. 

Thanks for the comment.

Dave 

On ‎23‎/‎06‎/‎2019 at 19:04, John Tomlinson said:

I concluded that the funny plates actually fit on the bottom of the bogies, but it takes a bit of head scratching to see how. There isn't then much space between bogie tops and chassis, but the buffer centres stand around 13.5mm above rail height, which is a good number as it should be 14mm max., equivalent to 3' 6''.

 

I may be barking up the wrong tree, but is your layout by any chance Bolton Trinity St., before the main building was demolished? If so I do remember that side platform being used often for parcels work, this would be back in the '70's.

 

John.

Sorry John this comment passed me by. The layout is a fictitious location. I took inspiration from the raised station building at Tysley but mine is a small terminus with single island platform. I imagine it to be like the branch from West Drayton to Uxbridge Vine street. It is set in 1970. My interest in parcels vehicle has outgrown the layout I am afraid and I have plans for a new one, perhaps based on a dark corner of a parcels only station, perhaps like Manchester Mayfield. 

Cheers

So the story continues. Onto stage 3 of the instructions which cover the bogies. This led to much head scratching and self doubt about my ability to complete this kit!

The two centre cross members are cemented in place onto one of the bogie side frames. The pivot is then loosely placed in the centre and the second side frame cemented in. I left these to fully bond before proceeding. The wheels were sprung into place and a quick spin highlighted a distinct wobble. 

To correct the wobble and set the back to back at the same time I remove one wheel by hand and loosen the second. The back to back gauge is held tight against the wheel still on the axle,  then the second wheel is squeezed tightly onto the axle against the gauge. The axle is then pulled with the pliers to ensure the wheels are set evenly and to try to make the wheels sit true on the axle. 

The bogie end plates are set in then the L girders between the wheels. This was fiddly but the length of the pieces are spot on and didn't require fettling. 

At this point the instructions turned a little vague....or was it my brain? The best I could decipher was there needed to be some sort of plate between the bogie and chassis and this was the part that seemed to fit nicely!

Now the bogies are mounted with the screws supplied and then the brake shoes put in. The mouldings are universal with one of the pips being removed to make them either left or right hand.

And Viola!!! The damn thing's ride height is a full scale foot too tall! Much muttering ensued. The issue goes back to my vague grasp of the instructions when mounting the bogies. Luckily I never cemented the mounting plates in place to removed them and tried again. 

Ride height was corrected but a distinctive lean replaced the height problem. There are two pips on the pivot outer circle which I needed to file away to allow the body to sit flat.

Phew, the height looks loads better and the lean has been corrected. And, I AM still enjoying this kit!!

Good night all!

The boss and daughter went out this afternoon so....

 Buffers were fitted  to both ends ensuring the step was at the top of the shank. The locating pins were too long so were cut done to save interfering with the chasis. Holes for the buffers were opened out with a 2mm bit (bigger than stated in the instructions). 

Onto the roof. Holes for the Torpedo vents were drilled from inside were locators are moulded. A smaller bit than is required was used first then the holes opened up with a 2mm bit (the instructions recommend a 1.6mm bit) 

The hole are cleaned with fine wet and dry rubbed over the roof surface. 

Torpedoes fitted. I am unsure whether they should stand up straight regardless of their position on the curve of the roof or they should be set 90 deg to the roof. I went with the latter. 

A quick slotting together to check all looks well. 

Another item which appears overly complex are the guards look outs for the roof. There is a lot of flash in the opening which I needed to clear. It was sat in the vice and gently scraped away with a fresh blade. 

This picture is out of sequence but shows a part that confused me a little. Her are the lookouts in place but now with wiper pivots either side. The instructions say to glaze the lookouts and use the filament to create a wiper blade! I need to hang fire as I will be priming the body prior to painting and will need to glaze after this stage. 

After mislaying the pin vice, this is the second set back for the project. I attempted to remove the rain strips from the sprue only to break the very first one. I promptly lost the big bit! I ensured I used a knife and not a sprue cutter for the rest! Each time I removed one strip I lightly sanded the flash away from the next rain strip in situ as trying to do this off the sprue would lead to more disasters!

Obviously the strips have to line up with the doors so the roof was placed in the correct position and taped in place (tape well away from the rain strip positions). There is an overhang at each end so I made sure these were equal at boths ends as the strips would be misaligned later.

The height of the rain strips was determined by the diagram provided in the kit which appeared to be on the curve. A set calipers was set at this height and gently run along the roof edge to scribe a line. This was done so gently as to be barely visible. 

Masking tape was used to mark the position and the rain strips placed on with tweezers. These are so delicate!

I began construction of the bogies but needed to let the cement cure completely before continuing (I forget to photograph this). Pipes were cemented to the ends just to finish for the evening. The second rain strip from this end is hand made from .6mm plastikard cut as thin as possible. Dependent on how fast you cut through the plastic, a curve is naturally put into the strip. 

Hope this is of some interest. 

Nos da. 

17 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

Nice build so far but I must say the foam board cradle looks the part. 

 

Any chance of a couple more photos? 

 

 

Rob. 

Hi Rob, 

These are all I have at the moment but will take some more detailed shots if needed. It isn't very complicated as I needed to knock up something quick to aid in last minute wheel cleaning for an exhibition! Foamboard is so easy to use, is very rigid when joined and is very very light weight. 

Cheers

Dave

Mine didn't last long in pristine condition. 

What a find! What was it doing in Smiths do you think?

Sadly, progress ground to a halt due to a mislaid pin-vice. After much muttering and moving of thinks from one place to another I gave up and had an unscheduled visit to Hobbycraft. 

The v hangers and cylinder cranks needed the holes opening to .5 mm to receive the brake gear bar, made from .5mm brass wire (supplied in the kit)

The V hangers and cranks are all connected to the brake cylinders. Each hanger and crank is thread onto the connecting rod before cementing them into position. 

Next to the battery boxes. These were gloriously fiddly, made up from 3 mouldings then filament cut and glued in place by a speck of superglue applied with a cocktail stick. 

Next the dynamo was assembled from four pieces, illustrated in the first picture on the bottom right of the sprue. At this stage I am much enjoying the amount of detail going into a section of model unlikely ever to be noticed. I am being cautious how much I celebrate this about the kit as glancing ahead the bogies and detailing etches look very fiddly!

My homemade cradle has been invaluable to this build and I wonder how I have managed without this piece of kit for so long. Its simply foamboard hot glued together with sponge to hold the kit or loco tight. I built it to assist with wheel cleaning originally. 

Anyway, hope this has brought some interest to you. Onward!

Hope you have a happy evening of modelling ahead. 

2 minutes ago, Ravenser said:

In the absence of Corporate transfers and the presence of green plastic "very grubby green" may be the way to go

My Dad loaned me an old bradford barton parcels stock pictorial survey with an example of just that. 

1 hour ago, Mallard60022 said:

So it would be more fun and (possibly?) there could be alternative doors?

P

It has been fun so far i must say. 

10 minutes ago, Ravenser said:

There aren't alternative doors. While the kit is perfectly buildable, it is very much more laborious than any of the other Ratio kits - which do have one piece sides. The etched parts include door handles etc 

 

I was simply trying to warn gently that this is probably the most elaborate plastic coach kit on sale, and not an "easy starter kit", lest the builder get discouraged during a slow build and blame himself...

Yes, i think this is a fair warning, i haven't reached the fiddly etches yet for the doors but i found so far that it is challenging just enough to absorb me fully...which is what i love about this brilliant hobby. 

I notice you are finishing in BR Blue. What decals do you intend using? 

Progress last night was better than i thought. I reckon the underframe and body are the straight forward bits but i'm happy so far. 

One issue is that the image on the front of the package shows the vehicle finished in BR Blue with white number decals but the kit is only supplied with decals for finishing in southern railway green or BR(SR) green. I am now considering how to finish the vehicle as my period is 1970 so BR green could be appropriate and add interest to the layout.

Still a bit to do before i reach that point though....

I rather like the etched droplights which allow one to position them in the open position (only left hand doors according to the instructions)

I fitted the etches with the doors still on the sprue. I dab a tiny amount of superglue onto the top of the etch with a cocktail stick, place it glue up on the end of my left index finger and lower the door onto the etch so i can see the position of the etch. The small amount of glue enables the etch to hold long enough to add more glue or fine tune if necessary. 

Looks great

Cheers. Really happy with it.