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Dave John

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Blog Entries posted by Dave John

  1. Dave John
    There are times when I can see the appeal of BR unlined black. About half way through decorating the No. 252 was one such occasion. However bit by bit it all came together. The final result is a bit bright, but the brass does tend to develop a patina of its own over time. As ever close photos show errors the eye misses and it needs some builders plates as well.
     
    A few pics ;
     

     
     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     
     
     
    Originally built as goods engines in 1878 the class were rebuilt as mixed traffic in the early 1900s, westinghouse fitted and repainted in lined blue. Last members of the second lot were withdrawn in 1932.
     
    A bit of video of 252 in a variety of mixed traffic roles.
     
     
     
     
    I found that to be a challenging build, but the end result is a bit of a character and a rather nippy wee engine.
     
  2. Dave John

    A CR 670 Class part 4

    By Dave John,


    General
    The engine body is not far off complete. A close photo shows areas that need some cleaning up. The gap between the rear of the boiler and the cab needs to be filled, the cab is square to the footplate so I’m not sure how that bit of drift happened.
     
    As you see there are a lot of holes, but I have the pipework bent to shape ready to go on post painting.
     

     
     
    The frames are ready to go. The cylinders have been moved out slightly and solid brass cross pieces and cylinder insides used. I use gibson wheels and the critical thing here is to get the driven axle right first time. Once that is in place I can address the slide bars. In order to do that I want to have the gearbox fully assembled and tested, so a slight delay until that is ready.
     

     
    So, slowly getting there.
     
  3. Dave John

    A CR D 35 full brake, part 1

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have had some Worsley Works etches in the kit stash for a while, so I thought I’d have a shot at building one. This is a 45 foot Diagram 35 full brake, first lot built 1897. Worsley Works only provide the basic body, though it is a very accurate and nicely etched set. Slots for the guards duckets do need widening a little.  The builder supplies the rest.
     
    Bogies are Comet 8 foot SR pattern converted to Drummond style by removing the top flange and adding small inserts to give the curved lower edge. Footsteps are fabricated from scrap etch. Other parts are from the bits box, but most could be sourced from 51L
     
     

     
     
    I have used the magnetic side technique again, though I found I needed a couple of extra magnets towards the ends of the sides to pull them in smoothly. Won’t be visible in service. The internal half partitions forming the guards compartment add  stiffness.
     
     

     
     
     
    The D 35s were built dual braked braked and had a through steam pipe, makes the coach ends rather crowded. There was a gas fired heater and the seat in the guards compartment lifted in the style of a commode with a wc under it. Luxury,
     
     

     
     
     
    Time for a spot of primer.
  4. Dave John

    A CR D34 Trolley, part 1

    By Dave John,


    General
    I’m not a very christmassy person, so it gives me a bit of time to make things. I decided to have a shot at this odd looking thing.
     
    This photo has appeared on rmweb before, but if anyone has copyright issues I’ll remove it. Built 1868, scrapped 1917, lived in Glasgow. It is in the diagram book which gives basic dimensions but not much more. Only one built and had the number 1. Should save on transfers.
     

    The original method of construction seems to be flitched. Four heavy timber beams with iron plates each side. The axles with four bearings dropped in from above and then the springs fitted to hold it all up. Unusual, should be fun to model.
     
     
    Some parts cut out and stuck together.
     

     
     
    It is thought that this wagon had 4’ dia wheels, I have some nominally 3’11” tender wheels which will hopefully work out about right. They run in tubular axles with springs and can be slotted in from underneath.
     

     
     
    Progress so far.
     
     

     
     
    It is very light, some sort of load under a sheet will be needed.
     
     
  5. Dave John
    The D 34 trolley is now finished and in service. I think it captures the look of the original though without a drawing I cannot be sure it is dimensionally correct. Wheelbase and overall length are from the diagram.
     
    I decided to fit a rather narrow load so as not to lose the open frame look of the trolley and an out of gauge load would foul the platforms. Well sheeted and chained down it gives some mass so that the springs do not make it all too bouncy.
     
     
    Some photos;
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
    Something a bit different, I think it would have run with a couple of handbraked wagons each side.
     
     
  6. Dave John
    There is a photo in “Caledonian Railway Wagons” by Mike Williams of one of these wagons of which it it thought nine were built from 1878 onwards. No drawing but they were known to be 18’ long on a 11’8” wheelbase, enough to reasonably estimate the other dimensions.
     
    Construction is from styrene sheet and section. Metal strips on the top of the sides had a series of holes for roping pegs, though I think they may have been threaded for an eyebolt. Perhaps a bar was pegged across the wagon to chock the wheels of the load ? There were also sheet hooks under the curb rails.
     
    The little grey dots are masterclub bolt heads. They are tiny, drill a 0.3 mm hole and glue them in. It is the first time I have tried them in 4mm scale so it will be interesting to see whether it is worth the effort. perhaps after painting they might just be a dome and a rivet transfer would have been simpler, we shall see.
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    A view of the other side. The photo in the book shows the side with no brakes. I think I can just see the bottom of  a brake block on the far side, so a standard Caley type Scotch brake seems a safe bet.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    A furniture van wagon needs a furniture van. An approximation of one.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    Some paint next.
  7. Dave John
    The furniture van wagon is now painted and in service. Slight weathering to bring out some of the detail. I do think that the masterclub bolt heads are better defined than a transfer rivet though from much more than a few inches away it is hard to see.
     
    I added a pair of crossbeams pegged into the holes in the sides to which the van is lashed. The relatively new looking sheet may have had a few more ropes in practice, though that was fiddly enough.
     
     
    A few posed pictures;
     

     
     
     

     
     

     
     
    Passing through Kelvinbank in a mixed goods train.
     
     

     
     
     
    I’m still not absolutely sure about the sheet. It looks right to my eye although I accept that photographic evidence of these wagons in use on the CR is not available. Perhaps in time one will turn up.
     

  8. Dave John
    Kelvinbank has two brake vans, and really it could do with a couple more. This one has been sitting in store for a long time. It is a CR D63 20 Ton six wheeler. I built it in 1988 from a DJH kit ( no, really they used to do some wagon kits ) and it is very much a child of its time, compounded by the fact that I didn’t have access to the prototype information that I do now. ( Actually the original kit might have been meant to represent the later type outside framed D63 as preserved at Boness, but the kit wasn't outside framed. Or I only got half an etch )

    So looking at the original . Hmm, the caley put half round beading round all the planked panels, the internal ends are in the wrong place, some of the etching shouldn’t be there. The doors opened the other way. The wheels are sat in blocks of whitemetal, just a solid lump. The kit called up spoked wheels, I think I used OO ones but they were rollers with overscale flanges. Photos however show solid disc wheels. It stayed on the track, mainly because it weighed a ton. Cast whitemetal roofs are not light. Handrails were not like that at the ends and the whitemetal buffer heads are not very good. Of course it could do with decent ajs too.

    Caley coaches do a kit, I may treat myself to one in time. However this one is sitting there so stop whining Dave, put it on the bench and do something about it.


     

    Ok, so the body tidied up a bit, ready for a coat of primer to show up all the faults ….



    A simple chassis, removable if anything goes wrong.




  9. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 1

    By Dave John,

    A very long time ago I bought a second hand Dunalastair 1 DJH kit . Well, it was 18 quid a go complete with a set of Jackson/Romford wheels and an XO4 motor? Plus some other bits. There was even a spare tender in there which ended up behind 583.

    So why had someone sold it? Well to put it politely the castings were horrible. Looked like they just hadn’t got the whitemetal hot enough and it set while flowing. The footplate was junk, the edges and lip were all over the shop. The boiler was laughable. The tender parts looked like the halves of the mould were a mil apart. You could cast a battleship with the flash.

    But its a DJH kit , why not flog it for silly cash on flea bay? Well, nope, no way would I inflict that on a fellow modeller. Just not on. So over the years I have accumulated a few parts and thrown them in the box.

    Now you are all going to point out that very good kits are available for other Dunalastairs, two to four. There are, but sometimes you just have to stretch your modelling legs and actually file some metal. So stuff it, I’m building a Dunalastair 1. On the plus side I have a lot of info; drawings, pics, descriptions.
    Let’s see how it goes.

    At least I’ll have a box to keep it in.



    Ok, a chassis, some the Romford/Jackson wheels on for now. Gibsons are being painted. I started with a set of Gibson profile milled frames and went on from there.




     

    The compensated front bogie uses copperclad as the spacer, the pattern cut in the bottom would let me fit pickups later.



    High level gearbox, straightforward build, runs nicely.


     

    Well, it’s a start.
  10. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 2

    By Dave John,


    General
    Having got a rolling chassis I turned my attention to the footplate. The one from the kit was unusable so a brass plate cut out and the valance added.

    Next part, splashers. The DJH Dunalastair 1 is a kit for OO. With EM you need about 23 mm to clear the wheel fronts, the cast wm ones were much too thick to be any use. That also made the cab too wide. I rather think that the kit was always a bit too wide, in EM it was going to be far too wide. There was no way the outer splashers would clear the coupling rods either. Out with the brass sheet again.

    It’s a casting. Sort of ….



    Anyway, Progress to date. Needs some cleaning up but its the right size and square.




     

    While I was at it I had a look at the tender. Hmm, not my kind of chassis, and the amount of fettleing it would need to make it the right width was silly. I looked at the parts I would need, added it all up and just decided to buy a tender kit from caley coaches. Ok, it will need a bit of adjustment for a Dunalastair 1 but far less work than the original.

    Hmm, that looks more like it.


     

    Boiler next, lets see….
  11. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 3

    By Dave John,


    General
    Boiler next. Hmm. I had a look at the DJH one and decided to give it a bash. Well, quite a few bashes. Removed the alignment tags which didn’t align, got it in a jig of scrap wood bits and whacked a lot of lowmelt solder at the gaps. I then filled all the bits that needed filling with lowmelt and attacked the whole thing with a variety of knives, sanders and files.

    Most of the “detail” on the castings was overscale and I would have removed it anyway. So after a fair amount of work I now have a decent starting point. The whole thing has been given coats of gap filling primer between sanding down sessions, the stuff does seem to fill scratch marks and makes it far easier to see where further work is needed.

    It is the first time I have used the gap filling primer. So thanks Corbs, I saw the way you used it to fill and highlight areas for rework and borrowed the idea.

    A bit of an out of focus pic , but you get the idea.
     



    Oh , and I painted some wheels…
     


     

    Now the fun of getting the boiler and footplate fitted together.
  12. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 4

    By Dave John,


    General
    Getting the boiler and footplate fitted together was a time consuming task. Try, file a bit, try again, file a bit more. When in place I could make the spectacle plate and get the whole thing looking a bit like a D1.

    So here it is actually sitting on the track. Also seems to pass the push along through points and curves without the wheels fouling the body test. In theory that means the Gibson wheels will be fine.


     

    From the rear with the motor and gearbox in for a trial fit. There is room for some weight above and to the sides of the motor which I think will be needed. The centre of gravity is ahead of the leading driver due to the boiler and it wants to come back to between the drivers.



    Ok, this is the backhead from the kit, together with the wheel and worm drive cover. Hmm.



    A bit of help from the silhouette produced a styrene laminated one which is pretty close to the drawing and can be detailed reasonably easily. Also it can go in after the rest is painted.
     


    Since I have slimmed the width down to about scale size the DJH roof is now too big. It is too thick as well, so I thought it was simpler just to solder one up from bits of brass.


     

    Should be a fair bit of free time next week so things should get progressed at a better rate. Happy new year to all and I hope your modelling goes well in 2019.
  13. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 5

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have got on fairly well with some free time over new year. The last difficult bit of the body was getting the roof soldered on neatly and adding the cab handrails. The spectacles were giving me a bit of grief, and awkward thing to form in brass. So I stopped and thought about it. 10 minutes later I had enough to do a fleet of engines thanks to the silhouette. The dome and chimney from the DJH kit fettled up reasonably, safety valve and whistle are from Caley coaches.



     


    So next step chassis. Calculate the shims needed, carefully clean and paint the frames first. Rear wheels and gearbox in without problems and nicely square. I sometimes find quartering problematic but this one required very little adjustment. The backscratcher pickups are from my bits box of very small springy contacts taken from old electronics. they actually are double contacts but are only the width of the rear of the flange.



     
     

    So, put it under the body and stick it on the track. This is where you normally find the coupling rods foul at the top of their travel, but lo, it ran. This is a dry run, not even oiled it yet. A bit grainy wthj me just holding the camera, but it gives the general idea.
     

    Most of the tender is done too, getting there .
     
  14. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 6

    By Dave John,


    General
    I made up most of the tender body and then spent a while getting things level. Set the buffer heights and shim the compensation beams so the footplates are lined through. Then place the loco and tender on the tightest curve I have ( about 48 inch radius ) and that gives me the minimum length for the tender - loco drawbar. The Caley coaches tender kit includes these, but the size I needed was between the two. Easily adjusted. I put the whole thing together and ran it up and down for a while. Tender needs a bit of weight but apart from that smooth.

    It is always satisfying to see what is essentially a scratchbuild run well. But something was niggling at me. The overall look was right, but somehow the line of things was broken. I went back and looked at photos of the real thing.

    It dawned on me. Cab doors. The Caley liked cab doors hinged on the tender side plates and opening out. In the shut position they covered the lower half of the cab handrail. They shut them. Looking at pictures of engines out on the mainline they are well and truly shut. Well, they would be. The ballast is a long way down and going past rather quickly. Doors are a good idea.

    Ok, I then wondered how everyone else had tacked the issue. I searched, I looked, I went away. You see cab doors on tender locos are one of the modelling worlds little secrets. We ignore them, particularly in the smaller scales. I am as guilty of this as the rest, I have built tender engines and quietly ignored the gap. In rtr terms the gap is often the size of the grand canyon to get the thing round train set curves but even in more accurate layouts they seem to be quietly ignored. The problem is simple, models go round tighter curves than real trains so the door would either be too big of too small. Even with my 48” curves the door would have to shrink and expand by 3mm ish.

    Time for a bit of a think. I ran the D1 and its tender up and down a while and had a tidy up of the bench. A thought struck me, the doors don’t have to shrink and expand, they just have to appear to shrink and expand from a normal viewing distance. Sliding doors in effect.

    I dug out some fine brass tube, 0.8 mm od, 0.4 id. 4 sections about 20 mm long were inserted into the tender as parallel to the body as I could make them. Ok, the top two intrude into the coal space, but thats where the coal will be.



    Next I made up some doors, 10 thou brass with 10 thou spring steel wire as the runners.



    These slid into the brass tubes like so. The hooks at the front go round the lower part of the cab handrails.



    So with the tender and loco together at the biggest angle between them you get this sort of telescopic action.
     
     

     

    The proof of the pudding is in the watching…..
     
     
     

    I’m actually quite pleased with that. It’s probably been done before, so I wouldn’t claim to be original. Just a first for me.

    Paintshop next. Might take a while.
  15. Dave John
    Well, it has taken a while but there it is. Number 729 is running and in service. As I have said I find painting and lining difficult but it does look reasonable from normal viewing distances. I am pleased with the way it runs, smooth and with quite sufficient tractive effort for my needs. Watching it in motion I think that the closed doors do make a difference, if I make another tender engine I will repeat that bit.
     
    Anyway a few pictures .
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     

    A bit of video, rough but best I can manage.
     
     
     
     
    Hello to everyone I met at the SECC  on Friday, interesting exhibition.
     
     
     
  16. Dave John

    A fence. Hmm....

    By Dave John,


    General
    A friend of mine described this as a fence. Well, thats her off the christmas card list.......
     
    Anyway, I have been building sections of balustrade. I have no idea how I could have done this without the silhouette. There are 100 sections on the bridge, each of which is laminated with 3 cuts of 10 thou styrene. Thats 2700 shaped holes.
     
    I'm sure there is someone out there who has done something similar cutting it all out with a scalpel. It wouldn't be me.
     
    So, a pic of the balustrade assembly jig.
     


     

    I have got the first 20 panel section on the bridge, looks ok from a reasonable viewing distance.
     


     

    A bit closer, some tidying up needed.
     

     
     
     
    My compliments of the season to all, hope you get a bit of modelmaking time.
  17. Dave John

    A gap filled in.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Scenic work is not something I am very good at, but there we are a gap filled. I wanted it to look like one of the old estates that got enveloped by the progress of Glasgow to the west but has yet to be developed. The  result is some lengths of very old boundary wall in some odd locations if you dig about in the area.
     
    Anyway, it fills a gap.
     
     

     
     
     
     
    If you are going to have a gate, you might as well have a working one.
     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    Modelling time will be a bit restricted for the next few weeks, house decoration is needed. I’ll be overcome with emulsion, as they say.
  18. Dave John

    A general view of things.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Well, my name is Dave and I am building my second layout themed on the Caledonian Railway in the Edwardian era. The first was called Kelvinbank, and since I live 200 yards from the river kelvin which flows through the west end of Glasgow I think I shall stick to the name.
     
    You may well ask, if he has built one already why is he building another? Simply put, the sky fell in. Not the real sky, but to the 4mm scale figures on the layout half a ton of victorian lime plaster falling from a 12 foot high ceiling probably felt like the sky. Luckily I realised that the skyfall was imminent and managed to get 75 % of the layout details and stock stripped out safely, but it was clear that Kelvinbank 1 was going to have to be scrapped. This happened in May last year, a decision was taken that the smaller back bedroom would become a bedroom and that the new Kelvinbank would occupy the larger front bedroom, ( and some of the kitchen, but more of that later)
     
    So why blog about it ? I have posted stuff online before, particularly in the CRA forums, but that has tended to be specific shots of individual models as the topic arose. Several people suggested I should do a blog covering the more general aspects of modelling. I was a bit reluctant, there are many who build fantastic locos and stock, brilliant buildings, wonderful scenery whose work I am nowhere near emulating. But it was pointed out to me that everyone has to start somewhere and that another modeller adds to the sum total, thus promoting the hobby as a whole. Logically too if it encourages folk to have a shot at EM, pregrouping, preferably Caledonian modelling on the if he can do it so can I principle then all the better.
     
    Enough of me blethering on, a couple of general pictures of the progress to date.
     
     

     
     

     
  19. Dave John

    A goods shed.

    By Dave John,

    I did a bit of tidying up around the goods shed. It looks ok from a bit further back, closer up it seems a bit over enthusiastically pointed. Somewhere I have a set of doors for it. Somewhere.
     
    It is a bit smaller than it should be, I will perhaps have a go at a full scratchbuild later on .
     
    I pondered a bit about the inset track, then ended up using some old peco N gauge rail as the inner. Under the cobbles its soldered to some copperclad. To cope with any expansion the "sleepers" under the cobbles are just held down with a drawing pin every 6 " or so, time will tell if it works.
     

     
     
     
    This is a bit of an out of focus shot from the other direction, I was trying to get a long depth of field and failed miserably. However it does show how I have tried to give things a spacious feel. People needed space to unload all that stuff. Some etched brass drains are needed, otherwise they will be unloading in waders .
     

  20. Dave John

    A Lampmans hut.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Following the excellent discussion on the storage of lamp oil I have built a combined lampmans hut and coal store.
     
    A dimensioned sketch of the type favoured by the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire ( and other CR lines built later on ) can be found in "Signalling the Caledonian" by Jim Summers. A very common feature in many stations and yards, clearly having a separate small building for maintaining signal and general lamps would minimise damage by fire should an accident occur. 
     
    So with a bit of simple styrene chopping with the silhouette I have ended up with this. Close photos show a bit of weathering detail needed. Also some bagged coal in the coal store.
     
    Just sat there  for now, I haven’t decided where it will end up.
     
     

     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
    I have had a few good running sessions too, identified some things that need done to the layout itself. Repairs, some extra uncouplers, various bits. Something to get on with now the light should be improving a bit. Mind you as folk that went to the SECC show this weekend will tell you its still rather dark out there.
     
  21. Dave John

    A motley crew....

    By Dave John,

    I have been slowly painting and lining the D1. It must be said painting and lining is something I have never been good at. I know how to do it but I just don’t seem to have the artistic flair for it. More than half an hour and my eyesight and hands become two entities with wills of their own, so it might be a while longer while I do the D1 bit by bit.
     
    Mind you, I have no shortage of crew ready to drive it. Figures by Andy Stadden, The close up pic shows me where I need to just correct the paintwork a bit.
     
     

     
     
  22. Dave John
    This is a 51 L whitemetal kit which I bought very cheaply from Pastimes in Glasgow as it was closing down. I am busy with a lot of non railway stuff at the moment but I do need to have something on the bench so I thought I would have a go at this as a simple relaxing build.
     
    And so it proved to be. Sharp whitemetal castings with minimal flash, steel head buffers and etched brass frets for the W irons and brakegear. Even includes styrene for the floor and roof and wire for the horse shunting loops. I soldered it together with no issues but I suppose it could be glued.
     
    A couple of posed pictures.
     

     
     

     
     
    Perhaps the livery should be a shade redder? The lettering is from various sources and I just inked the knot on. Rough close up, but ok from a distance.
     
    These vans were built 1911 so perhaps a tad late for Kelvinbank but I’ll stretch a point since it adds variety and is a nice memento of what was my local model shop.
  23. Dave John

    A pair of brake wagons , part 2

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have pushed on a bit with the brake wagons, just about ready for some primer. They are small, but I have managed to get enough weight in there for them to run smoothly enough and keep the compensation working properly.
     
    Here’s a harsh picture of the underside, nothing particularly special but the use of a copperclad sub chassis does give decent fixings for W irons, ajs and the buffer springs and allowed me to get a slab of 1mm brass in as a spacer. Brake gear is a chopped up etch from the bits box.
     
     

     
     
     
     
    A photo on the track. I’ll put the brake stanchions and the lower footsteps on later. The handrails do bow in a bit, though I suspect the prototypes ended up like that too. A few more bolt heads needed too, but primer first.
     
     

     
     
     
  24. Dave John

    A pair of brake wagons in service.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Some photos of the brake wagons. Both have a rather rough appearance, but I doubt they were high up the list for maintenance.
     
     

     
     
     
    I have made a few guesses about the final finishing.
     
    Firstly, I’m not sure about the running numbers. I know that No. 185 was of this type so I have just used a couple of close low numbers. Being built on early wagon frames they might just have been painted on rather than having number plates.
     
    Secondly, it was CR practice to paint the ends of brake vans vermillion. These brake wagons don’t have much of an end, so I have just painted the outside of the end footboards red. The overall colour seems to have a bit of a purplish tinge when photographed. 
     
    Thirdly, lamp irons. There is an amendment on the drawing of the later type of brake wagon indicating that lamp studs should be fitted, but that is dated 1913. I have no idea whether that applied to the earlier type as well, but if the earlier type had them I would guess that the later type would have them fitted at build. However I can’t imagine going out on the main line at night without one so I have fitted 235 with a lamp just fixed to the handrail with wire. Might well have been the kind of improvised solution applied at the time.
     

     
     

     
     
     
     
     
    If more accurate information comes to light then I can always redo them
     
     
    This is my take on how they would be used. A small trip working. Four empty cattle wagons, an old pig iron wagon and a brake wagon out on the main line.
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
    It might have kept the BOT happy, but it looks like Archibald would prefer a proper brake van.
     
  25. Dave John
    Ah, thats better, a bit of wagon building. Nice relaxing stuff. In this case its a pair of D59 wagons from the “true line models” kit, available from the CRA. Many thanks to Tony Brenchley for making the range available. Resin body, my usual type of chassis. As ever full history in “Caledonian Railway Wagons’ by Mike Williams. These two have the later 1905 style end door.

    Thought I would have a go at weathering them a bit, that coal dust gets everywhere.






     


    And just a bit of a panorama from the direction which isn’t usually viewed. Gives me an eye on what it all looks like.



    Still a bit of a wide open space.
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