5&9Models

I agree with Mikkel, great job! Well done. Chris

I love it! Well done, it looks very good indeed! I'm a long way off being able to do that on my own layout project but it's nice to be inspired. Chris

Wow!

Thank you. The trick is selecting something without too much grain as the smallest feature can look like a large blemish in 4mm scale. I bought my sheets of veneer from Vale Veneers in Cornwall. They're very helpful and not expensive. One sheet (about A5 size goes a long way and they do a good range of different woods. I've also used it for the floor planks in my wagons, but only the empty ones! Probably ideal for BG stock too.

Thank you. It is nice to model the early period, the only down side is that it seems to take bl***y ages!

I've had this loco simmering away in my work-in-progress tray for a year or so now. Originally it was to be South Eastern Railway No.13 'Vortimer' of 1842, but due to the way I've built the power bogie in the tender and the fight for space between the brakes and the pick-ups I've decided to complete it as L & C No.5 'London'. Essentially 'Vortimer' was braked on both sides as far as I can tell, whereas earlier Sharpies such as this one were braked on the right hand side only. I will post pictures of the tender at a later date but for now I thought I'd share a couple of images of one of my favourite jobs; applying the wooden lagging to the boiler. The strips are cut from 0.5mm mahogany veneer. The boiler tube itself is brass tube of a suitable diameter (1mm smaller than finished size). The firebox a simple wrap of brass, two layers to build up the correct difference in diameter. The brass beading front and rear of the firebox is simply brass rod. The boiler and firebox are first washed well in 'Acidip' and rinsed thoroughly to remove solder flux and greasy finger marks. Then a wrap of very strong double sided tape is applied and rubbed on to ensure a good bond, it sticks to brass very well indeed! Then the strips are cut and applied all the way around and then cut-outs for the dome and safety valve bonnet are made with a sharp blade. Once it's all on a gentle sanding smoothes everything off and fills in any gaps with the fine dust. A couple of coats of satin varnish with a bit of fine sanding in between secures it all in place. The next job will be to cut and fit the brass boiler bands and secure the dome and safety valve bonnet with a drop of epoxy glue. Attention can then be turned to the rest of the loco and tender body. More pictures to follow after Easter...

The construction of early locos is never easy; I think you're doing a fantastic job - well done! Really enjoying this blog. Chris

Thanks Ian, Glad to see you had a good Windmill meeting! Regards, Chris

Thank you!

I finally got round to painting my SER cattle wagon kit. It has sat in my 'must finish that one day' tray (admit it folks, we all have one of those), for about a year, completed and even in primer but sporting the wrong axleboxes (don't ask)! I think the fact that I fitted it with the wrong axleboxes put me off it a bit. However, despite being a complicated casting it's not a bad little kit at all. I couldn't face changing them so I completed the model and if you didn't know you wouldn't know if you see what I mean! The only thing it could perhaps do with is a thorough lime washing to prevent the spread of disease, although as far as I know whitemetal cattle are immune.....

Thank you Mikkel. The tarp is tissue paper, the sort you wrap gifts with (not the one you blow your nose on)! I cut a piece about the correct size and painted one side with diluted PVA. This made it soggy and quite delicate but it was OK to handle so I draped it over and used the same brush to press it into place and create folds. Then I cut some cotton for the ropes to 'tie it down'. These were glued into place with wood glue either end. Once fully dry the whole thing was painted and dry brushed with a lighter shade.

Thank you Corbs, I agree. The general practice of the time was not particularly imaginative as carrying goods by rail was still a novelty. It's not until the1850s we begin to see rolling stock designed for specific purposes, rather than a wooden basket on wheels. I think the covered one has something of the Wild West about it! Chris

A number of London & Birmingham Railway wagons were illustrated by Samuel Brees in his 'Railway Practice' published in 1846. This wagon is not specifically attributed to the L&B, however it is presented alongside a drawing of an open goods wagon (probably by Joseph Wright) which is. Brees rather unhelpfully labels this one 'Another Wagon'. Despite this lack of information (and the supporting text is of no further help), it does follow a reasonably standard design for early railway wagons. A period illustration of goods wagons employed on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway depicts remarkably similar stock and exemplifies the style of the late 1830s. Based on this I am confident enough that it represents a large goods and possibly livestock wagon of the London & Birmingham Railway. Brees points out that his drawing shows the wagon 'without lining' and details of what such a lining might be can be found in Daniel Kinnear Clark's 'Railway Machinery' of 1855. In describing the construction of wagons on page 275 he writes: 'If of wood framed, the lining is usually 1-1/4 inch thick..." and he continues: 'Sheet iron lining, on wood framing, may be No.12 wire-gauge, or nearly 1/8 inch thick; when built up with riveted joints and overings, it is 3/16 inch to 1/4 inch thick, in which case the joints should be welted, to stiffen them. W. B. Adams, and Henson, employ corrugated sheet iron, and require less framing with it; but they differ in their mode of using it, Henson using corrugations 4 inches pitch, and Adams preferring narrow corrugations less than 1 inch pitch'. It may well have been the case that these wagons were constructed without any lining for the conveyance of livestock and perhaps without the canvas tilt and roof hoops which were not always used. Given their basic construction and the rapid pace of rolling stock development in the 1840s, the service life of these wagons was probably fairly short. The L&B amalgamated with a number of other railways in 1846 to form the LNWR. In 1848 the General Manager of the LNWR, Captain Mark Huish reported to the Board the existence of 495 cattle wagons and 117 sheep vans. Further minute books into the 1850 record improvements made to these vehicles including roofs and the planking in of the ends to provide better shelter. Perhaps these notes refer to wagons such as this? The 4mm scale models illustrated were built from my recent cast white metal kit.

Hi John, Thanks, dressmakers pin sounds just as good, nice fine taper but strong enough too. The base is just stout card. Not up to much on it's own but by the time the track is glued on (woodglue) and other layers of card glued on providing several laminations of glue and card it's quite strong. I bought a pack of Wills embossed setts but they were rather disappointing and frankly too big! The carving takes time but it's worth it I think. Chris

Thanks, The setts were scribed with what I can only describe as a pointy compass thingy! I took the business end out of an old Rotring quill pen compass and fitted it into a hand held pin chuck. I think the key is that the taper to a point is a very gradual one so the pressure on the filler adjacent to the sett you're scribing is reduced. A short taper would break bits away leaving some nasty gaps in the paving. Any fine long taper point would do.

Thanks Ian, I haven't thought too hard about the coupling issue. I have my suspicions this layout will be a good old fashioned example of 'the big hand from the sky' coupling technique!

Just completed the first cassette of dummy wagon turntables to go outside the goods shed at Bricklayers Arms. This is a set of four, one table inside the shed and three outside. The set will sit at 90 degrees to the front of the shed serving one of the bays. There are six bays each with a set of turntables, three with three and three with four, plus another set of four at one end. Each set is joined by the running lines, one inside the shed and three outside. To start, two long rails were laid, soldered to PCB sleepers with extra long ones to support each of the four turntables. Then the rails were doubled up and the whole lot washed well to remove the residue before being glued to stout card. Cuts were made in the rails to indicate the edge of the turntable and also to provide electrical isolation between either side and each table. Card was used to infill between and around the rails and veneer wood cut into planks was glued in place. Finally the surround was filled with polyfilla which once dry was scribed with stone slabs and setts. The table furthest from the shed has been left ballasted as this line is more of a passing loop. The stonework was painted with Humbrol Matt enamels and given a dirty wash and a little highlighting. The 1840s wagons fit quite well and give an idea of scale. Each turntable consists of 24 pieces of rail and 55 pieces of wood. There are 25 required for the Goods Shed which makes a total of 600 pieces of rail and 1375 pieces of wood. Some of the turntables will also have to be operational. I think I have my work cut out! This last shot shows the start, should really be at the beginning of this blog but there we are!

Hi Ian, Hang fire on scratch building the atmospheric tube, a master is going into my next mould so you can have as many 4mm scale white metal Croydon atmospheric tubes as you want! : D Chris

Fantastic. Well done and a big thank you! Chris

Thanks Gary.

Thanks for your encouraging comments folks. At least my model has worked out a bit better than my grasp of blogging. These replies are a bit of a mess so apologies for that! Chris

Fabulous! I knew none of that so I'm very grateful indeed. It's lovely to have a bit of 'provenance' to go with it, thanks again Malcolm, much appreciated. Chris

Loco No.126 was made at Ashford in 1848 but was not completed until 1850. The engine was either started at Bricklayers Arms and finshed at Ashford or visa versa (I would be grateful for clarification if anybody knows better). Primarily used on line inspection duties, it remained in service until 1861 when it was sent to Redhill as a pumping engine, returning to Ashford in the early eighties where it was scrapped. The 4mm scale model is very small, I've posed it with a contemporary goods wagon for size comparison. Fitting in a motor and gearbox was always going to be tricky.The plan was to build it on a budget, so a small motor picked up from Branchlines at exhibition a few years ago was pressed into service, with a scratchbuilt gearbox using a combination of brass and nylon gears from the scraps box. Pick-ups are simple wires rubbing on Gibson 3'6" wheels and powering the motor in the boiler through the cylinder steam pipes up the side of the boiler. A couple of changes were made from the very basic line drawing that exists for this loco. It's drawn without buffers so basic dumb buffers were added and the drawing also shows (in error) the regulator and Salter spring on the wrong side of the boiler. It runs OK but lacks weight which is obviously very difficult to add when there is nowhere to hide it. Therefore the wheels spin a bit but only when travelling in one direction. If it goes tank first it's fine and will pull several wagons. The intention is to fit it with a portly crew cast in whitemetal to add a few grams as tractive ballast!

Thanks Gary, that's very generous of you. It's only when you turn the wagon over and see the big blobs of solder and Blu-Tack the illusion is shattered! : D Chris

Thanks. True enough about the tarpaulin but unfortunately it would be a saggy one due to the end doors preventing the fitting of a support rail. I wondered whether the use of sprung buffers at one end were in the hope that they would take out some of the percussive effect of the contents battering against the end doors during shunting. In 1855 D. K. Clark wrote in his work 'Railway Machinery': 'Doorways and doors should be avoided as much as may be, as they add to the workmanship, and weaken the waggon. They should never be made in the ends, as a solid end is essential for properly withstanding the violence due to suddenly stopping and starting, by the concussion or pressure of goods'.