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Adam

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Blog Entries posted by Adam

  1. Adam

    A Bigger Mineral - 2

    By Adam,

    Hopefully, this photo should show the arrangement of the representation of the brake gubbins slightly more clearly. A bit untidy perhaps, and I'd like to say that the next one will be better. The next one however will be the earlier 1/119 variant which had a slightly more conventional twin-cylinder (one big, one small), arrangement with a changeover lever.
     

     
    A bit like this one:
     
    http://80srail.zenfo...a98d2#h1db78de6
     
    Just don't ask when...
     
    Adam
  2. Adam
    Loathe as I am to use a TOPS designation for a wagon, this is one of the relatively few occasions where the wagon type is fairly obvious! While the basic kit is pretty good, accurate and well engineered, also including many of the things plastic wagons sometimes lack, there are a few things which can be improved or extra detail to be added. The usual things like grab handles on the end door are easy enough though the sides and ensds are a bit thick, thinning them down a bit is straightforward.
     
     
    The fun starts, as is so often the case, is the underframe. What you usually get with any form of 8 shoe AVB is a tumbler on the centre line with linkages heading towards the gloom under the wheels where as pragmatist I can ignore it. This: http://www.gallery68...et/p475948.html shows that it's a bit more complicated.
     
    The kit does the 1/120 which had self-adjusting brake gear. The linkage on the solebar is there of course but photos show something going on between the solebars, but not very clearly. This shot from Paul Bartlett's collection is one of the best I've found, showing a lever and a rod leading from the cross shaft heading towards some sort of bracket mounted on the solebar, with *something* behind it. This shot of a Coil B shows the direction it goes in (more or less...):
     
    http://www.gallery68.../p47042723.html
     
    Not being quite sure how it worked, I went for something representational. It's just as difficult to photgraph as the real thing but I hope this helps fellow detail fetishists...
     

     

     

     
    Maybe a sketch [and perhaps a better photo] later...
     
    Adam
  4. Adam
    Knocking around the workbench is this vacuum fitted iron ore tippler - a more or less 'straight' build of the Parkside kit with some added detail. I'll spare you these details since similar things appear elsewhere on this blog and elsewhere on the forum, but the reference pictures are from Paul Bartlett. The prototypes started in iron ore traffic but moved on to stone in fairly short order and are best known for operating out of Merehead, while some of their unfitted sisters ended up working coal in south Wales by the early '70s.
     
    The paint job might be of interest to someone,so here we go. These tipplers inevitably got rather battered and have all the same challenges of the 16 ton mineral, but without the doors. There are a number of characteristic weathering features of these particular boxes on wheels, notably the vertical streaks beneath the little triangular brackets at the top of the bodysides. This shot should show what I mean: http://paulbartlett....375ae#h3fb375ae. The look I'm going for is a wagon that's been in service for some time and due a repaint which the original 'Iron Ore Tippler' branding painted out and the word 'ORE VB' applied above the number. Irritatingly, I can only find colour shots showing similar treatment to unfitted wagons, via Flickr.
     

     
    A coat of primer was followed up with a dark rust mix on the body and a coat of Humbrol 'chocolate' (no. 98) on the underframe. I'll need to go back and touch this up as the red oxide primer is still grinning through here and there, but that will be part of the weathering job. The body was then overlaid with a rather rough second coat to represent faded bauxite (a mix of Humbrol 113 and 100) with the body rusting at the seams. Part of the point of doing this was to replicate the distinctive weathering noted above. There should be a picture of the finished wagon here by rigths, but I seem to have neglected to take one. Next time I'm in Somerset... I think this brings the total in the boxes to 10 (most of the others are Bachmann slope sided British Steel types) Another five should make a reasonable train...
     
    Adam
  5. Adam
    For those of you that don't follow the UK Standard Gauge Industrial Railways sub-forum I thought that posting some details from this week's kit-build might be of wider interest. The subject is RT Models's new kit for the standard gauge Hudson spoil tipper whose purpose, like its narrow gauge cousins, was to take spoil - usual colliery over-burden or other waste - from point A to the tip, or elsewhere for disposal and/or reuse. Some collieries used them in some numbers, Betteshanger in Kent for example, ran rakes of the things. Just like the narrow gauge versions, various other manufacturers built something similar and more details of both this, and the construction (trouble-free) can be found in the original thread.
     

     

     
    A shot to give an idea of the size of the completed vehicle. It is really very small: appreciably shorter than a Bachmann sixteen-tonner, the kind of wagon most modellers think of as petite. The wheels are only in place temporarily: dad is very kindly turning the ends off a set of pinpoint axles for me. The alternative - a 'Cosmonaut's Pencil' solution this - is to simply take the ends off with a cutting disk/piercing saw/large file according to preference. The bends and dents in the bodywork are wholly deliberate: these wagons were worked hard and patched up up until they fell apart. A 'tidy' version would be brand new and if modelled like that would look wrong, at least to my eye.
     

     
    Lastly, an end view, note the blu-tack holding the tipper body level! A smear of epoxy will do the job for final assembly I think since the two bits are probably best weathered before that stage. In the meantime, all the bits are in a coat of red oxide primer waiting on the axles to turn up.
     
    I suppose I should add a 'review type' sign off. All in all this is a fine kit which goes together nicely, and can be done in the course of a long evening if you wish. There is a scope for a little more detail should the mood take you and any number of prototype variations which, if you can find good, clear pictures, to introduce variations. The ultimate question with kits such as this is 'Would I build another?'. It should be clear from the above that the answer is yes.
     
    Adam
     
     
    Source: Hudson Tipper in EM
  6. Adam

    An Impetus Bagnall

    By Adam,

    And so, some months after this (though it was primed shortly afterwards and a different chimney fitted):
     

     
    and this:
     

     
    Christmas has brought about this. The full gory details (and some gratuitous Ebay related musings) can be found here and in this earlier blog entry here. All in one piece (albeit briefly), it's been taken apart for final painting which will have to wait until I've bought some suitable paint. Reassembly following painting is one of those stages of model making which is fraught with apprehension. Will those assemblies, which went together so snugly in bare metal still do so with a coat of paint? Normally, this would wait until the topcoat was on, but we needed to check running clearances with the fully completed chassis. More suspense: will the wheels still turn? Does the flywheel get caught in the boiler? Will the newly installed pick-ups get tangled up in the brakegear and short? Have I put the motor leads on the right way round?
     

     
    Here's the fully primed chassis for comparison:
     

     
    The one bit which is nearly there is the backhead scratchbuilt from plastic and some castings from Backwoods Miniatures (a set of rejects from their exhibition stand). It's been painted since, but those pictures weren't up to publication. More as and when...
     

     
    Update 3 April 2012:
     

     
     
    Adam
  7. Adam
    Now comes the really fiddly/interesting bit. The working parts of these ladles are very simple. The chain used to tip the ladle runs through three pulleys. One at each end of the wagon and another mounted on one side of the ladle itself
    The pulleys themselves are rather nice turnings mounted on castings which need a little bit of preperation (and some care as holes need drilling - a bit of 80 thou' plastic between worked for me. The pulley attached to the ladle was fixed to a swinging link, here fixed to the label using a 16BA bolt with the head removed and nuts fixed on each end. The prototype ladles were in two halves, bolted together, to enable stubborn loads to be removed without unnecessary damage.
     

     
    The other pulleys were fixed to the carriage with the chains passing through holes in the buffer beams with loops on the end attaching to one of the pair of hooks fitted there for that purpose (there will be a plate over the top here, but this will be fixed later).
     

     

     
    Note the heavyweight construction of the (dumb) buffers and gussets.
     
    Adam
  8. Adam

    Austerity Progress

    By Adam,

    A few shots of the loco as it now stands - on its wheels. The trials of running in are still to come and having no powered track at the moment this won't be until Christmas. Anyhow, this is as it stood a month or so ago before a coat of primer.
     

     

     
    Note that the chassis wasn't complete there. A couple of evening's work has now seen back-scratcher pick-ups fitted and the motor installed along with a trial fit of the rods and brakegear (rods removed for the moment now that the bushes are fettled), but barring running adjustments and paint, all construction is now complete.
     

     
    Adam
  9. Adam

    Back to the Big Bagnall

    By Adam,

    After something of a hiatus, I've returned to the Bagnall which has now reached the rolling chassis stage. Having replaced the slidebars with a set which actually reach the motion brackets and adapted the motion brackets so that there is actually something for the slide bars to attach to. The slidebars are made from some of the fret which held the frames, some nice, chunky - but probably still underscale - nickel silver. I think the modifications to the original kit design are now complete!
     
    To anyone else out there with one of these kits, I'll describe (briefly) the motion bracket mod's, since they are not all that clear in the pictures. The bracket is tabbed into the chassis and has the usual 'C' shaped cut-out to allow the connecting rod to reach the wheels. Unless you are modelling in P4, a small amount of the bracket which protrudes from the frames will need to be removed to provide clearance for the flanges of the front pair of drivers. The depth of the 'C' will also need to be reduced in size to provide support for the slidebars. I used a small piece of scrap etch, filed to size after the slidebars were fitted.
     

     

     
    That done, a couple of coats of paint followed and the usual round of fiddling and adjustment ensued to make sure that the thing actually runs. I have never understood the logic behind making everything run well and then taking it all apart to paint and having to re-make half the adjustments. Barring one stiff hornguide which needed easing, for reasons which are not entirely clear: it was fine a couple of months ago, this was not, in fact, too painful though a notch had to be filed in the motion bracket all the way to the rear of the slidebar.
     
    I had ascertained early on that the coupling rod bosses needed a certain amount of thinning and the second layer of boss - the rods are laminated from two layers of nickel-silver - behind the crossheads was removed altogether (a common ploy). There is sufficient clearance (in EM), however, that the actual crankpin only needs to be filed flush with the nut while the nut itself can retain it's full thickness. I should have worked out that drastic thinning of the 'big end' of the connecting rods was also needed, but one learns through experience!
     
    The next job is to apply some blackening solution to that gearbox...
     
    Adam
     
    Source: Preston Docks Bagnalls
  10. Adam
    It's a long road, coming towards an end. That end, of course, being a completed, working, and now painted, locomotive. After the application of a coat of LMS Crimson Lake:
     

     
    Following detail painting and reassembly, it looks more like this and it's still not quite finished:
     

     

     
    By way of a summary, more details can be found in the UK Standard Gauge Industrial part of the forum, or in this earlier blog.The deviations from the kit as designed were:
    New bunker back (the original was undersize)
    New smokebox and tank wrappers (smokebox too short in every direction, tank builder error)
    Piston rods reduced to 'scale' diameter and cylinders sleeved to suit
    Boiler assembly completely remodelled to get a decent sized motor/flywheel/gearbox combination in - a Mashima 1016 driving Romford 40:1 might have been ok in 1992, but...
    Numerous minor details which were either not supplied in the kit (couplings, draincocks, reversing lever, etc.) or which I felt could be improved upon (e.g. boiler backhead)

    As with all kit built locos, a few additional parts were bought in:
    Wheels and crankpins - Alan Gibson
    Motor/Flywheel - Branchlines
    Gearbox and bearings/hornguides - High Level (nothing wrong with the supplied versions but the High Level ones were more compact - the Impetus versions are now under a Standard 4)

    Cosmetic bits:
    Worksplates - Golden Arrow
    Nameplates and coupling hooks - AMBIS (the hooks were in stock, top, shackle type links were spares from Masokits screw couplings)
    Backhead castings - Backwoods Miniatures

    All in all it's not been a bad experience as a build. Rather protracted, of course (I started back in 2007, though much of the work was done in the last twelve months), but that was not the fault of the kit.
     
    Adam
  11. Adam

    Backhead

    By Adam,

    Just a quickie from the ongoing (painfully slow at the mo') Austerity project. A new, scratch-built backhead from scraps of plastic, brass wire, fuse wire, copper wire, bits of scrap etch and some etched details (Mainly Trains regulator handle, London Road Models handwheels). The funny looking gauge glasses are copied from here: http://janford.fpic..../p50833431.html
     

     
    There should be a few more bits of pipework but in the depths of the cab and with a crew in the way, what's there will be enough to suggest what isn't.
     
    Adam
  12. Adam

    Big Red Mammoth

    By Adam,

    The big AEC shown earlier in the blog is now all but finished, though it needs a dose of weathering. Painting road vehicles is a slow job,even when the end result is a simple, one colour livery such as that used by BRS. Partly it's the different sorts of detail (particularly chrome) which isn't normally associated with railway vehicles and partly because they're usually a bit cleaner - for a road haulier, their vehicles are as much bill-boards as hardware - not sparkling necessarily, but probably shinier than your average 'Black 5'.
     
    This one was painted by hand. Three, thin, coats of Humbrol matt Scarlet allowed to dry, then a coat of Johnson's Klear to seal it. Following the first pass of detail painting, it looked like this:
     

     
    The second pass, which picked out the radiator grill, the window rubbers and the chrome and it looks a lot more like a lorry:
     

     
    Note that the radiator surround is grey rather than shiny. Not every operator polished the aluminium up, so a metallic paint isn't really necessary. Fully lettered and glazed (a combination of Pocketbond packaging, Ferrero Rocher box and clear plastic sheet...), it scrubs up fairly well I think. There's another view here, but that's all for now.
     

     
    Happy new year.
     
    Adam
  13. Adam

    Bigger Minerals (again)

    By Adam,

    In the last few days, I’ve been attempting to finish these Chivers 21 tonners, along with painting a few other vehicles – it makes sense to take the lid off the paint as few times as possible; if you have four wagon underframes to paint without an airbrush, this is a good time saving solution. You keep going until you run out of paint, and allow to dry rather than doing the whole thing at once and having a lot of paint you then don’t use. The tin thus goes further and lasts longer. Given the price of Humbrol this is just as well!
     
    The paint details are hardly earth-shattering: Halfords red primer followed up with Humbrol matt chocolate (no. 98) for the underframe (thanks to Pennine MC for that recommendation). This shows the other benefit of batch painting – all those fiddly detail painting jobs become much more time and paint efficient. I undercoated the vac’ pipes and axlebox covers with white before the yellow/red first since neither colour covers well.
     

     
    The upended views show the difference between the 1/119 (twin cylinders and a changeover lever) and 1/120 (lots of interesting linkages which you can barely see). I’ve shown these before, but it’s much clearer under a coat of paint.
     
    1/119
     

     
    1/120
     

     
    Lettering: Using Model Master transfers over a couple of coats of Klear brushed on. I’ve since put the end-door stripes on and sealed the lot with more Klear and a spray of Testor’s Dullcote to matt everything down. These transfers were a complete pain, mostly because of their ‘peelable varnish coat’. If it becomes even slightly too wet, it parts company from the lettering. Not an enormous problem for the relatively big wagon numbers, but the smaller graphics, especially the ‘To work within South Wales and Monmouthshire* only’ tend to fall apart – I experienced a 50% failure rate which means only two wagons of the batch of three are fully lettered.
     

     

     
    This highlights a wider problem with correct lettering for wagon kits. I’m fairly sure that these legends appear on the old Woodhead sheets (which we still have and are just about useable), and on the Cambridge Custom Transfers sheets, but that’s being wise after the event. I did dig out the HMRS sheet I have, remembered how incomplete it is relative to the old Woodhead sheets, and promptly put it away again. If it wasn’t for these geriatric Woodhead sheets, I’d have real problems for things like these working instructions and special brandings. It’s an issue I’ll encounter it again with the 21ton VB hopper conversion I have on the go (more later)…
     
    Adam
     
    *I do like the rather quaint distinction between the two. NB not all of these wagons had that branding – there were lots of different ones – and some were not branded at all (one of mine is numbered accordingly)
  14. Adam
    This project formed the last entry on the mk 3 version of RMweb, so here it is again. What we have here are a collection of Road Trasport Images modules assembled to form a representation of a particular vehicle, in this case, an Austin K4 box van from the early 1950s owned and operated by British Railways. It turns up in innumerable pictures of Yeovil Town station from the '50s and '60s, and should make for an attractive model. In any case, it'll make a change from all those die-casts.
     

     

     
    They'll be some notes on the additional detailing still to be done as and when I have time to do it. Until then...
     
    Adam
  15. Adam

    Birmingham Bedford: 2

    By Adam,

    The only modelling I have actually managed to do in the last few weeks comes in the form of completing and priming this Austin box van. The light wasn't really up to work in progress shots, not that a touch of filling and rubbing down makes impressive viewing! It does reveal my approach to priming/run down/undercoat however. With resin kits this is quite important as however good the castings are, the odd pinhole bubble is all but inevitable, so after a (very) thorough wash, a thin coat of grey acrylic primer, which when allowed to dry showed where the filler was wanted. A small amount of Squadron green putty rubbed down and then another thin coat of Games Workshop white primer - the different colour is important as you can see when you rub down between coats, another light rub down where it was needed an a third coat of white to thoroughly cover and act as an undercoat for the cream. When I've sourced that, I'll be able to do some more to it...
     

     

     
    The cab is only positioned for photography btw, while the chassis has had a coat first of matt black spray and then the wheel hubs and fuel tank picked out in Humbrol satin black.
     
    Adam
     
    Adam
  16. Adam
    Source: Preston Docks Bagnalls
     
    For those of you unfamiliar with the prototype, the idea is that the build should result in something which looks a bit like this, but with a Giesl Ejector:
     

     
    The body is now complete (see the thread over in the 'UK Standard Gauge Industrial Group') and primed, but I haven't any pictures of it in it's current state. I acquired some rather nice nameplates for it at EXPO EM (from AMBIS Engineering), so it will eventually bear the name 'Carnarvon'...
     
    We now come to the chassis, where work has been somewhat slow. A couple of pictures for now showing the crossheads, cylinders, and some small deviations from the original design.
     
    The design of these components is quite good: everything is self-jigging from the frames as will become clear in due course, but the piston rods were way overscale at 1.5mm (4.5" full size, 3" is much nearer the mark). They were also supplied as steel rod which looks nice but is a bit of a pig to solder. Having thought about it, thought again, prevaricated and so on, I used 1mm Nickel silver rod and 1.5mm OD x 1mm bore tube instead (both from Eileen's - usual disclaimer). More of the tube was used to bush the now heavily oversize bore in the cylinders.
     

     
    The crosshead itself is a little problematic, being assembled from several little bits of etched brass with the little end of the connecting rod sandwiched in the middle pivoting around a 16BA bolt. All very proper, Guy Williams, sort of stuff. I couldn't make the 16BA approach work - I was little uneasy about having to file off the cheesehead bolt from the back in any event - and substituted a brass lacepin, having blackened the small end of the rod in an (almost successful) attempt not to solder the whole thing solid. The first took about five goes, the second only two. Persistence reaps its rewards! That said a nice brass casting would have been much easier.
     

     
    Adam
  17. Adam
    For the full gory details of how we got this far (click here and read on - assuming of course that the old forum will let you). In the meantime, a few edited highlights (if that's the right word).
     
    This is my second austerity, the first was fairly common finescale stuff, a Dapol RTR body on a Perseverence chassis. I'm quite pleased with the end result which looks like this:
     

     
    Of course, having built one, you need another and it should be easier because the reference material is in hand:
     
    I have most of the bits and all the reference material one could wish for:
     

     
    Since the Perseverence chassis has gone the way of the Dodo however, and there isn't an alternative available from the trade, I could either, as some do, complain about it and not get anything done, or, do it myself. Having acquired a Dapol iteration of the old Kitmaster kit, an excellent Don Townsley drawing and having lots of scrap brass, the basis was easy enough. This is where we left off:
     

     
    Adam
  18. Adam

    From: Llewellyn yr Injin

    By Adam,

    Or, in English, 'Llewellyn the Engine' (with apologies to the late Oliver Postgate). It is now some time later and finally, it is finished, as much as anything ever is. If only the weather had been a little better then these photos might have come sooner, and been more respectable. Still, I'm quite pleased with it and I hope it's been worth the wait. The real thing looked like this: http://www.flickr.co...57626051884553/ and more shots can be had here, courtesy of George Woods.
     

     

     

     
    Happy new year.
     
    Adam
     
    Source: Llewellyn yr Injin
  19. Adam
    When this machine has featured in an earlier thread Mike Edge kindly pointed out some details I should have spotted earlier which needed correction, notably the safety vales and the chimney. He was also kind enough to supply replacements from his own kit, at a very reasonable price, and, following a second strip down, here is the state of the engine halfway through the paintshop. Note the improvement made by the new chimney.
     

     
    A full list of the work undertaken appears below:
    Strip [phase 1] - Chassis put to one side, worksplates, driver and backhead removed and the body left in a jam jar of cellulose thinners overnight.
    Strip [Phase 2] - Having scrubbed all the paint away, remove sandpipes from underside of footplate (a silly place to put them and the were rather overscale) and then tackle all the other parts identified for replacement: dome/safety valves, chimney, smokebox dart (nice, but overscale), tank handrails (very soft brass and prone to bending, knobs also a bit chunky), remove filler cap, remove saddletank.
    Footplate mounted linkages (reverser, sanding gear) were replaced and this time, properly located into holes drilled in cab front and footplate. Experience shows that these things will, otherwise, go ping.
    Saddle tank - once stripped down and emptied of the PVA/Liquid Lead mix - a known expansion risk - it was aggressively cleaned up with emery cloth, wet and dry paper and even a large file to smooth the curves. Then cleaned-up, blackened and given a couple of coats of Halford's filler primer. This was left to dry for a few days, sanded and polished back and the tank filled with lead sheet and shot secured with epoxy this time and the holes for the handrails re-drilled. Only then did the new dome and filler cap go on. New handrails were only fitted after the first coat of primer went on. It still isn't perfectly smooth, but it's a lot better than what was there. The whole thing was then glued - more epoxy - back on to the boiler tube.
    New clips have been made for the cab roof and some more work has been done inside the cab (planked floor fitted). The sandpipes have been relocated to the chassis and have been chemically blackened rather than painted.

    There's more to do - the whistle needs to go back on, not to mention more paint and weathering, but I've also taken the opportunity to revise the livery and to name the loco', mostly to show that work has been done. The lettering, applied using a very small brush, isn't yet finished - there will be a little more and I'm thinking about adding a drop shadow - and most of the white is there as an undercoat for red.
     
     
    Adam
     
     
    Source: Refurbishing an Impetus Hunslet 15" 0-6-0ST
  20. Adam
    The [almost] completion of a project which I started on the old forum and which has been continued over here, but now has a coat of paint. Obviously, it's a bit clean at the moment and the (prototypical) livery is somewhat garish but some work-in-progress shots are probably overdue.
     

     

     
    The weathering has commenced but will stop short of the condition the prototype ended up in:
     
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/52467480@N08/6454506387/in/set-72157628278328931/lightbox/
     
    You'd never know it was green under that would you?
     
    Adam
     
    Source: Take one Kitmaster Austerity...
  21. Adam
    Look, no pictures! As ever, the really useful detail shot emerges after I've done all the hard work. This picture (albeit reversed) shows a fitted 21 tonner being tipped and, happily, the kind of end detail I had to guess at. Thankfully, I guessed more or less right...
     
    Adam
  22. Adam
    The traditional wagon tarpaulin is one of those irritations of the modeller's life, but there are some good techniques that can reproduce these and the real thing is, after all, simply a large piece of rectangular treated canvas. Rather more complicated - and very common on wagons built or converted for the carriage of steel coil from the mid-'60s onwards - are the tailored sheets, not to be removed from the wagon and effectively considered part of the vehicle, which hug the shape of the three sheet rails. These have visible seams on the ends which show clearly in pictures and are really very difficult, in 4mm scale at least, to execute using the 'usual' techniques. I tried several some time ago when building my Shochood and hit upon something which seems to work. Perhaps someone else out there might be interested hence these 'in progress' shots. I make no claims to originality by the way, this is simply a variant on things military modellers have been doing for years!
     

     
    The prototype, incidentally, is a 1964 conversion of a BR-built Pig Iron wagon, the Coil H. This was a very comprehensive rebuild which owed only a very little - mostly the floor - to the original design. There were only ten of them and I'm only aware of two published pictures and a weight diagram. The basic technique though should be more widely applicable even if it is a hassle.
     
    The reason that I built the basic shell of the wagon with a peaked roof should be obvious - it acts as a former for the sheet to make the complete wagon durable and saves having to make the sheet rails fully detailed or properly functional - the wagon should never have moved without the sheet on so this detail is always hidden. Since I only have two pictures of Coil H, neither of which clearly show the ends (the sheets are in the way), I have little idea what these bits looked like anyway. My guess is probably something like this on the end of a Coil E (note that this wagon has lost its sheet rails):
     
    http://paulbartlett....d78fd#h2f1b8757
     
    So after the sheet rails themselves went on, formers from tinned copper wire were added over the top. the semicircular ones represent the seam on the sheet - shown here on a Coil A:
     
    http://paulbartlett....aacce#h106159cf
     
    The 'wiggly' bits of tinned wire represent the bottom of the sheet itself as a guide for what follows, a hint of which can be seen in the first picture.
     

     
    The 'sheet' itself is added from Miliput (yes, this does look rough, but I just wanted the general outline at this stage, the second pass will smooth everything out and add more detail). The central section will be added using tissue in the familiar way.
     
    Adam
     
     
     
    Source: Adam's Workbench: a mid-'60s conversion - the Coil H
  23. Adam

    More from the steelworks

    By Adam,

    First, an update with progress on the ladles. The wheels as supplied are not quite to the correct pattern (this is detailed in the instructions). Who knows, some one, somewhere might want to do something similar so how I did it is shown, and described in full, below. The wheel as supplied is originally meant for 4mm scale narrow gauge, has a recessed face and six holes. We need a flush face and 8 holes. I used Miliput to do the bulk of the job.
     

     
    Once this was fully hard, I levelled off the face of the wheel using Squadron green putty - used because it sets quickly, and importantly, it's a different colour - before sanding flush using various grades of wet and dry.
    Next, in order to ensure that the holes were drilled accurately and consistently, I made up a jig from plasticard. The holes are on a circle of 15" diameter (5mm) so using a pair of dividers, I marked out a circle, and the eight positions using a steel rule and a set square, though you could do it by eye. The centre was drilled to 1.5mm diameter to match the axle and the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions to 0.7mm, the required diameter with the remainder to 0.5mm (to save wear on the jig and possible inaccuracy). Mounting each wheel independently on an axle and the vertically in a small vice, the jig was placed on the end of the axle and the 0.7mm holes drilled. The jig was in turn anchored in place by short 'pins' of 0.7mm wire prior to drilling the smaller holes. Fiddly, but well worth it I think. The jig and completed wheels are shown below:
     

     
    Finally, a photgraphic selection of the bright yellow machines that will go with the pair of ladles. The Sentinel has been featured before (see also my RMweb mk III workbench thread ) but here is dad's Judith Edge YEC 0-4-0 DE (these photos and more can be seen on Mike and Judith's display screen on their exhibition stand [with permission]).
     

     

     
    More shortly
     
    Adam
  24. Adam

    More Wagons, batch-built

    By Adam,

    The joy of cobbling together 'traditional' wagons is that there are so many similar processes which, once you've worked out how to do them come quite quickly. As I've noted before, having mundane bits in stock means that you can progress quickly while the mood takes you. Making one set of couplings, for example, can be a hassle. Making 6 sets at one go only really takes half as long again as making 2 pairs, so why not make an evening of it? So, along with the Coil carriers mentioned earlier, I've been playing with another three or four at the same time. It only really gets dull when you're doing multiples of the same wagon so having done 30 or so empty minerals, I'm taking a break for a short while. This post is by way of a parade of work in progress.
     
    First up, this LMS-designed, BR-built fruit van (Parkside PC42): I've done one of these before and clearly forgot about it so this is a duplicate. There was another batch with LNER brakegear as well so that's a possibility for a later date. Not that this is a bad thing, especially if you own plastic moulding equipment in Kirkcaldy. If you look carefully, you may observe modelling in progress.
     

     

     
    Another Kirkcaldy product is this Grampus, from the mark 1 Parkside kit (not an ideal choice: the three part ends were a complete swine and those baskets under the floor still can't be had in brass) and this was, in fact, my first ever plastic kit. If it were human, it would just have collected its GCSE results. These pictures record progress through its third - yes, you read that right, third - rebuild. It started out in OO, was re-gauged with spoked wheels to EM and has since had some 3-hole discs, a second set of replacement buffers and new brakegear. This time round, it's getting a new set of brake levers (Dave Bradwell with Masokits GW pattern ratchet lever guides) a new set of couplings and some of the detail I unaccountably missed the last two times. You can spot these very easily, they're unpainted...
     

     

     
    From a different generation entirely, this GWR china clay wagon (PC82 - as built and how they looked when the NCB had finished with them) but still benefiting from some additional detailing including some better looking axleboxes and springs. Goes together square on the first time of asking though. The body of the Grampus still isn't.
     

     
    And finally, more mucking about with bits of plastic and brass, an SR-designed shock high. There's modelling in progress here too. All that strapping, corner plates next. For the real thing, as ever, Paul Bartlett comes up with the pic's.
     

     

     
    Adam
  25. Adam
    A long time ago (over a year in fact) I reported progress on a - mostly - scratchbuilt Shochood B which stalled pending thonghts on how to tackle the hood. In the end, I took a look at what the military modellers do - since tarpaulins turn up on softskins all the time - and used Miliput for the ends and tissue over a former for the remainder. The tarp's on these vehicles were tailored to fit neatly over the top and were always with the wagon which carried branding to that effect so using tissue for the whole thing, while possible, is somethign I could make work. Still not 100% happy with it but here it is, painted and partly lettered. I'll have to see what dad's old Woodhead sheets have on them to finish the job: the HMRS sheets I have being utterly useless in this regard being without even a suitable selection of tare weights.
     

     

     
    Another ongoing project is this Bachmann monobloc tanker liveried for ESSO and rented from BRT. As you can see, there's been a fair amount of work put into the underframe detail based on this photo from Paul Bartlett from the same batch built by Pickering of Wishaw. The Bachmann brake levers are fairly awful and were replaced with bits adapted from a Dave Bradwell etch intended for plate wagons with other brake detail from scrap etch, nickel wire and ABS brakeshoes.
     

     

     
    All this is now hidden under a coat of Humbrol matt Chocolate as a basis for weathering. The tank needs dressing with S Kits ladders and catwalks (hopefully to be had at Expo EM at the weekend) and maybe, just maybe, I can get it finished, or at least heading in that direction, by the end of the month...
     

     
    Adam
     
     
    Source: News from the Wagon Works
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