2996 Victor

The next chapter in the Cambrian Railways transfers saga runs as follows: While the initial results with the Decalfix seemed promising, the transfers still seemed a little reluctant to settle into the planking grooves and around the diagonal strapping, on Monday evening I applied another wash of Decalfix. Having left it to dry, there was no discernible improvement, so I employed the score with a sharp scalpel and re-apply strategy. Bizarrely, the transfers seemed to have become slightly elastic and quite "plasticky", they also didn't take to the blade and tore rather than cut. So off they came! Third time lucky, I hope, as this morning I tried again, this time using using transfer from a new sheet, and returning to using MicroSol. They've settled down really well and with no sign of wrinkling. When they're fully dry, I may apply another wash of MicroSol, but I'm thinking "let sleeping dogs....." This wagon has turned into a bit of a marathon, and I'm almost dreading the sealing lacquer coat, although I'll try the Humbrol enamel. The other thing with the Decalfix that I found strange was that it seemed to leave a visible residue on the wagon side, and the brush I used to apply had hardened. Not terribly keen on it at first acquaintance, I have to say, but perhaps I should try it again before I discount it! All the best, Mark

The Bill Bedford DC1 etch has the swan-necked lever, ratchet and drop link. The Mike Clarke Masokits Masterbits Dean Churchward Mk.1 set was IMO the definitive etched DC1 brake gear, but he seems to have discontinued it in his current catalogue (which is accessible via the Scalefour Society website: Masokits Catalogue). Incidentally, Mike also used to do cast plates for both the V5 and W1/W5, also now discontinued, unfortunately. Cheers, Mark

Yesterday morning saw the arrival of a bottle of Humbrol Decalfix and an aerosol of Humbrol enamel matt varnish, so the afternoon's activities included the scraping off of the remaining wrinkled transfers and a new coat of gloss. Today, new "CAM" "RYS" transfers were applied, and I can say "so far, so good". I'm office-bound for the next few days, so they'll have a chance to thoroughly dry out before I try the enamel varnish. Not much else to report, as it was a bitty weekend with lots of small jobs done but no major progress. Cheers for now, Mark

One of my works-in-progress: http:// With regard to the use of cast plates, if my may echo @Miss Prism's comment, it's always been my understanding that their use was not all that widespread, and that signwritten wagons would have been in the vast majority. Cheers, Mark

A five-minute break from the dull monotony of work and the first "RYS" has been scraped off successfully, with apparently little if any damage to the underlying paint. A quick burnish of the area with a fibreglass pencil and it looks ready to go again Oddly enough, the "Load" transfers seem okay, as do the Prince of Wales feathers, so that's a bit of a bonus! And so back to the grindstone.....

Just been looking back at your builds, and the transfers certainly seemed to settle well on your wagons. It'll be interesting to see how they behave with the Humbrol lacquer. I might try Humbrol gloss as well. Cheers, Mark

Were those WRRC transfers? Hopefully, my Humbrol enamel lacquer will turn up tomorrow, so I'll try to get another go at this wagon over the weekend!

Hi Ric, agree completely - I more often than not make my own floors now, usually having "tack" assembled the sides and ends first so that I can measure the correct internal dimensions. I did use a kit floor recently for some reason, and that proved about 20thou too narrow. My solution was to assemble it "one-sided" and add a fillet of microstrip to fill the gap. As an alternative to the hot water treatment, on a wagon that's going to run loaded with coal/mineral or be sheeted I'd be inclined to insert bracing pieces across the wagon at a level about one plank's width down from the top. Made a fraction wider than the floor, they'll hold the sides in a slightly bowed-out position and be invisible. Cheers, Mark

Hi Neil, it was Tamiya Acrylic Flat Clear. I generally use Tamiya acrylics, aerosols for the base colours and brush for the ironwork and planking, so it seemed logical to use the same brand, plus I've never had an issue with it before, either on waterslide or Pressfix. Richard at CamKits advised me he had had the same issue with Humbrol acrylic on a batch of his wagons, and had switched to their enamel lacquer, which seems to work fine. He also uses Humbrol Decalfix rather than MicroSol as a setting solution, so I'm going to give those a try. Cheers, Mark

Having been in touch with Richard Evans at CamKits4U who was extremely helpful, it seems quite likely that applying acrylic lacquer over the transfers may be the problem. So the solution is to scrape off the offending transfers and have another go. Good job I've got a few spare sets.....

So, here is a misadventure..... A little earlier, I sprayed a coat of matt lacquer onto the Cambrian 4-plank open, and this was the result: http:// http:// Now, as we know, I was having some trouble getting the transfers to sit down on the surface of the wagon, but had succeeded at length in achieving a good result. The wagon had had a coat of gloss lacquer prior to the transfers being applied, and the carrier film was quite well concealed, not entirely invisible, but difficult to make out. With a sealing coat of matt lacquer, the whole shebang has wrinkled again, and the carrier film has taken on a slightly yellowy tinge. Maybe I lacquered it too soon and should have left if alone for a few days.....*** All-in-all, this wagon was looking rather resplendent in its Cambrian livery, and I was pleased with how it was progressing. So to say I'm disappointed is a bit of an understatement. I'll leave it for a day or two now, to see if it recovers, but failing that, I shall have to try and remove the offending transfers and try again. *** EDIT .....which is exactly what it says in the instructions!

A cotton bud is a very good trick - I've tried it in the past withboth waterslide and Pressfix, having dampened the cotton first, and it's worked pretty well. I should have thought ahead a bought a packet last time I was in Tesco! Having said that, the brush seems to have worked alright, and when there's a dry five minutes I'll dust on a sealing coat of matt lacquer. While not wishing to put anyone off the WRRC transfers, as they are nice and thin and have a good opacity, I did find them quite fiddly to get into position. I mucked up a couple of "RYS" (why just those, I don't know), tearing one and somehow getting the other into a right tangle! Time and patience are definitely needed, although not too much time as of course the glue dissolves..... Incidentally, when I'm using Pressfix transfers, once I've got them into roughly the right position and not "pressed down hard", I've found that very slightly dampening the backing paper makes it translucent so that its easier to be sure they're in absolutely the right place - they can still be adjusted if needs be. Anyone else use this trick?

Its a great shame, although generally speaking the exteriors of the wagon sides and ends are very good. I contacted Graham at Cambrian Model Rail, and he was extremely helpful and offered to exchange the mouldings in question. He also explained that its a problem that occurs more where there is a greater body of plastic, such as behind the end stanchions, which is understandable, although one wonders whether the type of plastic used isn't also a contributory factor. I don't tend to use the underframes, although perhaps I should on account of the moulded-in works plates!

Hi Stephen, yes, I absolutely agree - there's little that makes a model more unconvincing that large letters crossing planks and not bedding into the grooves! This morning (work could wait half an hour!), I've gently sliced through the transfers on my CamRys 4-plank, and applied more MicroSol, but the first pass doesn't seem to be making that much difference. Perhaps the adhesive on the transfers has washed off. I'll give it another couple of goes and see what happens, and I might try a little gentle pressure with a soft paintbrush to try and persuade the transfers into the grooves. Regards, Mark

In between moments, I've been working on my second Cambrian Railways 4-plank high-sided open. This one is being finished in the post-1899 light grey livery with the "CAM"(feathers)"RYS" insignia as one of the Oswestry-built examples. The paintwork has been finished, and transfers applied. These are of the waterslide type and come from the Welsh Railways Research Circle, of which I'm a member, and are printed by Fox Transfers. While the transfers are commendably thin, getting them to settle down on the wagon side has been something of an ordeal, not helped by the size of the lettering and the diagonal strapping. I employed generous amounts of MicroSol, which has helped, but also seemed cause the carrier film to stretch and wrinkle, although this settles down once dry. To get a better definition where the transfer crosses the diagonal strapping, after it had dried I ran a new scalpel blade along the strapping and applied more MicroSol, which has improved the sharpness of the finish. I think I might do the same along the planking. Although the WRRC transfers are not the easiest to use, they certainly look nice once in place. My only real criticism is that, on the numbers/loads sheet, there are some impossible tare weights, eg 5-17-4, which I've brought to the WRRC's attention. Photos to follow when I've truly finished this one! Cheers, Mark

I'd say you succeed!

A close-up of the D305 headstock extension: http:// Such a cruel enlargement does show how good the Slater's mouldings actually are. I need to do something about the corner joint, though..... It also serves to show the rounded tops of the end stanchions, as Stephen @Compound2632 so rightly points out. A slight cheat to make them a little less obvious is to pass a file over them at a shallow angle, just a couple of light passes and taking care not to lose the top nut! Here's one of my S&DJR versions to show what I mean, (although a slightly shallower angle would have been better): http:// Anyway, lunchtime approacheth, and I've got some more grey paints to try out for my burgeoning wagon fleet. Cheers for now! Mark

Thank you, Stephen, but I'm really not sure thats quite true - your wagons always look excellent! The angled headstocks are just short lengths of styrene strip 40thou x 80thou glued to the kit ends with MEK, the 80thou "face" of the strip being to the wagon side, so-to-speak. I cut them over-length to give me a handle to hold, and made sure one end was square. When I glued them on, I ensured that one 40thou "face" was flush with the headstock while at the same time the squared end lined up with the top of the headstock. When thoroughly dry, the excess length was cut off and the excess width pared back to match the kit headstocks. The angle was carefully filed to shape, and the face of the headstock lightly sanded to hopefully disguise the joint. All a bit wordy, I'm afraid - a sketch would have been better, perhaps, but I don't have access to a scanner at the mo! Best regards, Mark

This weekend has seen only a little progress - what progress there has been has been slow in coming to fruition. Apologies for the poor photographs. I started another Slater's MR D305 3-plank dropside - I had thought that this would become an M&SWJR wagon as per Mikkel's excellent build here M&SWJR 3-plank, but it will now be a MR example. Sides and ends have been assembled, and a new floor made using 40thou thickness Evergreen 2.5mm v-groove, which is a bit of a cheat as its not exactly accurate, but it is pretty darn close! Having hopefully correctly read the Derby drawing available from the Midland Railway Study Centre, the edges of the floor are bounded by a longitudinal strips which I've represented with 40thou square strip each side: http:// http:// I've also started my remaining D299 kit, which will also be finished in MR condition (hopefully to Stephen @Compound2632's satisfaction - Stephen, if I make any foul-ups please put me right!). As the MR D299s had drop doors in the floors, I've spent most of today making three floors. Yep, its taken most of the day! In this case, the entire floor is scribed with my Olfa scribing tool, and the drop-door washer plates are from a strip of Evergreen 5thou cut to 40thou width. The floors of these wagons are edged all around, and again the Midland Railway Study Centre downloadable drawing Drawing 550 gives the details (although the door layout is clearer on Drawing 790) and again I've used 40thou square strip along the sides. Once the sides/ends are assembled, I'll trim the floor to length and add the edging strip then. http:// http:// http:// I've painted the D299 floors in my favoured undercoat - Tamiya AS IJN Grey-Green. I've got a couple of spares so I can hopefully have several unloaded ones in due course..... On both the D299 and D305 wagons, I'm planning on full interior detail, which with Slater's kits means extra work as they are pretty basic inside. So, the sides/ends of both wagon kits have been sanded smooth, the ejector pin marks filled and sanded, and planks scribed in, which are hopefully visible on the photo of the D305. Next job will be to add the interior washer plates for their ironwork. So there we go! Cheers for now, Mark

Hi Stephen, yes, its true - its actually quite amazing how well the GWR records were preserved, as we found with the outside-framed wooden vans. All the best, Mark

Hi Stephen, thank you so much for the links - the D351 is certainly a bit clearer, and both show the flooring nicely. I recalled the mention of the floor edge strip, as well, which is clearly shown, and also the layout of the side and end washer plates, so there's no excuse for me not getting it right on an unloaded example. I've only got one kit on hand at the moment, but I think I might make a small batch of floors over the weekend in readiness. As for the bottom door catch and release mechanism.....well, we'll see! Numbering is my next question (rhetorical!): as I understand it, although the Midland would batch-number new builds, it would also re-use previously-allocated numbers vacated by scrappings and the like. Midland Wagons Volume 1 seems to have only a very tiny representation of numbers - I realise photographs are our saviour here, so I'll soon be poring over all I can find! Thanks again and very best regards, Mark

I'm slightly hesitant in asking this question, as I've no doubt the definitive answer is somewhere within this thread, but are there anywhere drawings showing the position/size/layout of the bottom doors in the D299? Essery Volume 1 states that all the D299s had bottom doors, but there isn't a drawing that I can see. Presumably the bottom doors would have been pretty much identical across the various Lots built between 1882 and 1905? I seem to recall a link to a Derby Works drawing, but can't seem to find it. Thanks for any info! Cheers, Mark

Yes, I think so - the "current" 2-plank and the 4-plank were bought at the RailEx Taunton show last October, and the packaging is yellow/white, but the other 2-plank is a bit older and the packaging is all yellow. Both the 4-plank just finished and the one in progress are absolutely fine, so I think I might drop Cambrian Model Rail a quick email. It's a shame as they're good kits otherwise with nice interior detail.

As if I haven't enough part-built wagons on my bench, while my better half was at the theatre this evening I embarked on another of each of Slater's Midland Railway D299 and D305 and a Cambrian Railways 2-plank dropside, ably hindered by the small and fluffy monster whose portrait appears just a few posts above. http:// "There's something wrong with those axleguards, Dad!" I got as far as separating the sides and ends from their sprues and adding headstock extensions to the D305 before said fluff-monster managed to install herself in the crook of my arm, preventing further progress! Ho hum! Incidentally, the Cam Rys 2-plank, which is a Cambrian Model Rail kit, plus another of the same and a 4-plank, all have rather bad sink marks on the insides of the ends. Most disappointing. Cheers, Mark

Thinking ahead to several planned rolling stock projects, I've been trying to discover to what design the axleboxes, both grease and oil, used by the Oldbury Railway Carriage and Wagon Co were. I'm interested in the type(s) of axlebox used on vehicles built from 1890 up to 1902, when it bacame part of the Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage and Wagon Co. Ltd. Images seem surprisingly thin on the ground, i.e. non-existent, and the only thing I've managed to turn up so far was right here on RMWeb in Ruston's thread on building a tank wagon, which includes a drawing: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/50429-home-office-1901-cylindrical-tank-wagon-scratchbuild/&tab=comments#comment-586487 The axleboxes shown on the drawing have rounded bottoms, and the lids appear to suggest they are grease. I've had a look at the HMRS website for drawings and photographs, and there may be just what I'm looking for under their MetroCammell files, but its pot luck unless you have prior knowledge. A single photo would be enough just to give a measure of reasonable likelihood for my projects, so if anyone can suggest possible sources of information, I'd be glad to hear from them! All the best, Mark