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Dave John

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  1. Dave John

    The 1/50 project, Some bogies and frames.

    By Dave John,


    The 1/50 scale project
    A wheel to start with. That’s a 20mm  tyre from an old romford wheel soldered to a turned steel disc with a bit of brass tube in the middle. Tube is 3 mm id, 3.5 mm od.
     

     
     
    From which a pair of axles The unpowered one has a 3mm silver steel axle , the n20 is a snug fit into the tube for the powered one.  The bearings are Gibson, carefully opened out from 1/8 to 3.5 mm
     

     
    Bogie frames cut from 1mm brass. I have used the Gibson hornguides. These days I prefer the high level ones for the EM stuff. I find they have a better lateral tolerance, important  for locos with con rods but for this I can use up old stock. There will be some primary suspension, but I will worry about that when I know more about the mass that it has to suspend.
     

     
     
    The longitudinal pivot is set back from the centre line, my idea is to put more weight on the driving axles. I don’t know how well that will work yet.
     

     
     
    So I tried a quick lash up. A simple brass frame, it is all just sat there for now. Hefty battery as a weight, the bit of string goes to a weight draped over the side of the bench. Rough it looks, but it proves the point, these motors pack a punch for their size. It happily gives 100 g of drawbar pull, jam it solid and the wheels slip rather than locking even with that battery on top. Of course if needed I could always add another pair of traction motors.
     
     

     
     
    Confident that the concept is reasonably practical some further improvements, suspension added and a fuel tank in the centre. The card formers are just wedged in, but allow me to define the internal volume of the engine compartment.
     
    The springs are 0.7 mm pb , they go into a tube soldered to the bogie frame so I can change them later if needs be. Some brass shim on the tops of the wheel bearings so the spring end doesn’t get caught in the groove.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    Power and control next.
     
     
  2. Dave John

    When I'm cleaning windows.....

    By Dave John,


    General
    There are some things which just don’t scale, no matter what you do the real thing looks wrong in model form. Smoke and water are the obvious ones, but I’l add another. Dust. Scaled down they are not particles, they are lumps.
     
    So I have been enjoying running the railway a bit, collecting info and deciding what to build next. However I couldn’t help noticing that the station had become a bit dusty and once you have noticed it it sticks in your eye. Time for some cleaning, after all we can’t have the folk from Helensburgh passing through and thinking how mucky Glaswegians are.
     
    In previous blogs I have described my penchant for using magnets and the like so that things can be removed for maintenance. Time to put my theories to the test.
     
    Notice anything missing? 
     
    ?
     
     
    There it all is on the bench ready for a really good clean. While I was at it I did a bit of lightproofing using Wenlocks tip of self adhesive foil and added some missing drainage.
     
    Windows. There are rather a lot of them. Oh well, box of cotton buds and a bowl of water. Took a while but there they are, all nice and clean. Doing that in situ would be well beyond my eyesight.
     

     
     
    All back safely in place.
     
     

     
     
    Oh, and just for fun.
     

     
     
    Mind you a few of those net curtains could do with a trip to the steamie. 
  3. Dave John

    CR D38 Glass wagon part 2

    By Dave John,


    General
    The main assemblies for the wagon are now largely complete.
     
    Frame has been detailed, spring castings should have more leaves but those look ok to my eye.
     

     
    Body has the sides fitted. and the floor is planked. Note the holes in the body sides. I think these were to enable the screw clamps to be tightened up when used at a lower level, together with a pair of clamps at the bottom of the well.
     

     
    The fiddly bit was making the support frames. This has taken me three attempts to get the proportions right and find a method for glueing all the bits together. I will cut away the part between the bottoms of the uprights after painting, for now its useful for strength and ease of handling.
     
     

     
     
    A photo of it all sat together. It looks the part, but I wish I had some better idea of the design of the interior parts. However I suspect that such info has now long vanished.
     
     

     
     
     
    A coat of primer and bolthead detailing next.
     
     
     
     
     
  4. Dave John

    The 1/50 project, a cardboard loco.

    By Dave John,


    The 1/50 scale project
    I think it will take me a while to get used to the size of a larger scale. Years of working in 4mm has put me in a mindset of the size of things, experience tells me the kind of internal volumes of things so I can make a reasonable guess at what will fit where.
     
    A change of scale, period and a move to diesel means that I’m not totally sure about things. Spending a bit of time looking at various photos on the net has condensed my ideas. So an imaginary line in an imaginary country or island perhaps somewhere vaguely down towards the med or in the adriatic. Warmer than Glasgow for a start.
     
    The loco would have been built by a private European company sometime in the mid to late 1950s for freight trains. A simple Bo-Bo diesel electric rated I would guess at about 500 kW. So likely a straight 6 cylinder. Twin cab, since I fancy that.  Biggish radiators, warm climate. Fairly simple, lowish gearing, might do 40 kph on a good day with the wind behind it. Mainly pottering on at about 25 kph most of the time with trains of perhaps a dozen wagons. Train brakes would be air, so just a compressor and some blower motors,  a reasonably compact engine compartment then. Multiple unit working ? Maybe, but make one first.
     
    Going straight to a build seems a bit over ambitious. So I made a cardboard loco. Oh, and some cardboard people. 35 mm, so a vaguely average 1.75 m tall.
     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
     
    Feel free to have a laugh at that, or add to the design.
  5. Dave John

    Thinking about scale, the 1/50 project

    By Dave John,


    The 1/50 scale project
    During the lockdown periods various things set me thinking about scale. Somewhere in my head is a desire to have a go at some modelling in a bigger scale. Something I can actually see as I age. Perhaps something  a bit out of the ordinary, perhaps something out of the UK spectrum.  Hmm, but what ?
     
    So the next logical scale up would be O.  Thing is, which flavour of O, and anyway it isn’t really unusual. Folk would just compare anything you do to that which is commercially available. Anyway, this is about making stuff not about buying stuff.
     
    I understand how many of the scales and gauges have come about and the reasons that some represent more compromise than others. Once that happens someone decides that they need standards which manufacturers bend to suit themselves.  The debate is endless, I’m not joining in.
     
    So, thinking continental and metric.
     
    Hmm.
     
    1/150 Far too small.
     
    1/100. Still too small.
     
    1/75.  Kinda far too close to what I already do.
     
    1/50.   Now that has a certain appeal. 20mm to the metre. 1mm to 50mm.  Yes, its odd numbers converted to imperial, but the entire point of the exercise is to think metric not imperial.
     
     
    So I did a bit of research. Despite being arithmetically convenient 1/50 is not a scale that has attracted railway modellers. A few Japanese static kits, but no rtr, track or buildings. There are plenty of road vehicles and a range of Corgi trams, but no railway stuff.
     
    A thought struck me. 20mm to the metre is really suggestive of metre gauge. I did a bit of research into that. Uk modellers, (apart from a few that follow Hom),  just tend to ignore it. But there were, and still are relatively speaking a lot of metre gauge railways globally. Miles of the stuff, or should I say kilometers of the stuff.
     
    Now although some might regard metre gauge as “narrow gauge” a lot of it isn’t. There are plenty of railways globally that run on metre track but have a loading gauge similar or greater than one one see on UK main lines. Serious sized trains, though fewer of them these days than were about in the 1950s and 60s.
     
    So should I choose a prototype, do a lot of research and build accurate models in the same way that I strive to do with Kelvinbank? Hmm. The issue with that is my lack of fluency in other languages. I have a little, but nowhere near enough to study the detail of a specific prototype.  It has been done, during my researches I came across this wonderful layout, albeit with a slightly underscale gauge.
     
    https://www.narrowgaugenorth.org.uk/index.php/exhibitors/previous-years/134-pempoul#prettyPhoto
     
    But, for the sake of argument, what if I went freelance? Base the ideas on a variety of prototypes, but not one in particular? It gets round the detailed research bit and just lets me mess about with ideas on the bench. That has a certain appeal.
     
    Many folk will think all this is a bit daft. A scale not used, imaginary but realistically designed stock.  Nothing available off the shelf, so a complete scratchbuild.
    See what I can make without spending very much. But that is the appeal of it.
     
    Anyway, sorry to ramble on a bit. Let’s see what the bits box yields. 
  6. Dave John

    CR Dia 25 Lime wagon, part 1

    By Dave John,


    General
    Back at the bench again. The Caledonian built 40 Dia 25 lime wagons from 1886 to 1888. They were essentially a Dia 22 mineral wagon with a roof.
     
     
    The CRA do a drawing of it, which gives the wb as 8’6’’.  I don’t think that is correct. The Dia 25 is essentially a Dia 22 mineral wagon with a roof, and they are definitely a 7’9” wb. The Diagram book gives the Dia 25 wb as  7’9” as well.
     
    So I scanned in pics of both types of wagon, scaled them to size and superimposed them. Axleboxes and solebars lined up, so I’m going with  7’9” for the Dia 25.
     
    That sorted, out with the silhouette and some styrene chopping.
     
     
    A couple of pics of progress to date.
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Next I think I will give it a coat of primer then some archers rivets.
  7. Dave John

    CR Dia 25 Lime wagon, part 2

    By Dave John,


    General
    For various reasons this one has taken a while to finish. I had a bit of a fight with the lettering, harsh closeups show my errors.
     
    I wanted to weather it as photographed in the wagon book with the lime getting well into the grain of the timber. That was done with rotring white ink and powders, my lack of weathering skills shows up, but it gives the right overall impression I think.
     
    A few pictures in the on the layout;
     

     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
    Finally the signalman looks on as a mineral train and mixed goods pass in front of the box. The Lime wagon adds a bit of character to the train I think.
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Ok, bench tidied up , what next
  8. Dave John

    Some CR ballast wagons.

    By Dave John,


    General
    As I mentioned in the last blog I have been building some CR ballast wagons.
     
    These were built using my usual methods, styrene bodies, copperclad sub chassis to take the W irons. The outer pair are from the 1890 drawing, the middle one is a pre-diagram version from the photo. The drawing makes no mention of canvass covers for the axleboxes and without a reference photo I can’t tell whether they were so fitted. I added them to the pre -diagram wagon which did have them. I suppose if a photo ever comes up I can add them to the other two.
     
    What is significant from my point of view is that they are painted with acrylic paints. A bit of a learning curve involved but I think I am reasonably convinced by the result. Comments welcome.
     

     
     
     

     
     
    A couple of snaps of a short pway train. The ballast plough is a kitbash, bits of the cambrian kit combined with new sides and  ends.
     

     
     

     
     
     
     
    I have a few other projects which might be occupying the bench for a while. Might even generate a separate blog for one of them .
  9. Dave John

    The 1/50 project, deciding on some dimensions

    By Dave John,


    The 1/50 scale project
    I suppose a reasonable place to start would be to decide on a rough loading gauge. Now I know it can be complex in theory. Real railways have to consider all sorts, overhang on curves, cant angle and so on. So I dug about and found a selection of mainly European loading gauges and did a bit of rough averaging. Hmm.
     
    Having done that I made a realistic guess at the profile of stock to run in it.
     
     

     
     
    That looks sensible to me, subject to change. Very simplified of course, but it will do for a start.
     
    So, metre gauge track. I have had a look at various pics and documents. From that I conclude that a reasonable average would be represented by code 83 flat bottom rail held onto 1.5 m sleepers by spikes or a clamp arrangement.
     
    At least I know the gauge. 20mm. So I turned a couple of roller gauges from the pins of a scrap 15 A plug. Shiny …..
     
    I don’t have any code 83 fb , but I do have some very tatty code 75 bh lifted in haste from Kelvinbridge 1 . Nor do I have any nicely cut 30 mm long sleepers. I do have a bag of scrap veroboard offcuts from many electronics projects over the years. I found a bit of slightly warped ply. Screwed a couple of bits of wood on, glued some bits of vero in place and and soldered rail to that.
     
     

     
     
     
    That led me to think about wheels. Over the years I have accumulated many. Some were bundled in with kits  and ended up replaced with decent gibson or 5iL wheels. Time to use them up. So I knocked up a test bogie from scrap etch and some Jackson tender wheels.  Messing about and just playing with the way it ran led me to think that a back to back of 17.8 mm feels right. Not too much sideplay but with the ability to get round a 600 mmm curve without the flanges binding. An angle bracket and a bit of filing and I also have a b-b gauge.
     
     

     
     
    Emboldened by that I threw down a bit more track to let me play with pointwork and flangeways. Still messing about a bit, but I think 1.2 mm will work ok. I even roughed out a simple crossing. The test bogie wanders through it despite its roughness.
     
     

     
    It is all rather approximate, mainly about me getting a feel for it at the moment. Maybe have a think about stock next.
     
     
     
     
     
     
  10. Dave John

    Wagons, real and imaginary.

    By Dave John,


    General
    An odd title you make think, but I shall explain.
     
    Firstly the real one. The CR had large numbers of pig iron wagons, in practice used whenever a low sided wagon was needed. Another of those general types you can never have enough of. This example is built from the 51L kit, though I have used my usual method of a copperclad sub chassis for the W irons and sprung buffers.
     
     

     
     
    Ok, the imaginary wagon. I mentioned that I cut some extra bits when I made the Lime wagon, and that it was basically a D22 with fixed ends. So I stuck them together and made a wagon in the style of a D22 with fixed ends.There were plenty made for private owners by the likes of Hurst-Nelson and Pickerings, details such as axleboxes varied but they were readily acceptable to the CR. Colliery owned ones tended to have end doors, but traders wouldn’t need them making the wagon more robust and a tad cheaper.
     
    I now had a reasonable traders wagon in the style of a D22, but which trader? I had a vague memory that I had seen a wagon owned by a Charles Brennan for the area, but I couldn’t find the reference. Anyway, a trawl through the Glasgow post office directories for the period gave me this snippet. ( All the po directories are online at the NLS website, very useful place that)
     
     

     
     
    Digging about I found a sheet of waterslide lettering, half used but I worked out that there were enough bits left to do this. It was a bit of a heavy typeface so I added drop shadows in ink with a rotring. Not brilliantly, but it looks ok from a distance.
     
     

     
     
    Imaginary it may be, but I think it’s plausible and adds a bit of local history. Of course now I have done it a photo of the real ones might come to light.
     
     
    The chap in the background looks a bit shady too. Dunno what he is doing up here………
  11. Dave John

    CR D38 Glass wagon part 1

    By Dave John,


    General
    I seem to be in a wagon building mood these days. Dunno whether I’m locked down, locked up or or which tier of the cake I’m on, so wagon building is a cheap and time consuming activity.
     
    Now it might be argued that I’m getting my ratios wrong again, too many unusual wagons and not enough of the bread and butter diagrams. I’d agree, but the fun is in the odd stuff. I therefore decided to have a shot at one of the 1896 built D38 glass well wagons. Decent pics in the wagon books and a diagram for the basic dimensions.
     
     
    The wagon was built on a steel channel frame. Plastic channel has too thick a web to my eye so I soldered this up with brass channel sections from Eileens Emporium. The 19’4” wb makes it a long and awkward thing so I made a jig up on a bit of scrap wood. The W irons on this wagon were straight edged with no knee so I cut them from 0.3 mm brass sheet.
     

     
     
    The floor and well are from 10 thou styrene, cut on the silhouette and laminated. The bottom edge isn't as grubby as that, odd how the pic came out.
     

     
     
     
    The well itself is a tight fit between the wheels, the original being 3’ 11 1/2 “ wide. EM back to back is 16.5 mm, so it just fits.
     
     

     
     
    I think I’ll keep the frame and the body as two assemblies as long as possible. Difficult to paint if I jump the gun and glue the two together, but that gives an idea of how it will look.
     

     
     
    Sides next. 
     
     
     
     
  12. Dave John

    A CR 323 class part 4 , body

    By Dave John,


    General
    A split blog , but there are quite a few photos.
     
    The footplate made up.  Looking at photos I think that as built they had Drummond buffers. Later they had the heavy duty ribbed buffers fitted. It may be that the second lot had them from the start, but I am going for the early version so Drummond buffers it is.
     
    Sitting here on the chassis, always a relief to find it is sitting slightly low. Sitting high can be a real pain. I’ll shim the compensation beam.
     

     
     
    Boiler barrel rolled and made up There are a couple of solid brass discs in there, turned to size. The firebox end one isn’t soldered, just tie wrapped.
     

     
     
    Then I chopped it up, using the lathe gently turned by hand.
     

     
     
    The cab was formed with parts cut out using templates made on the silhouette. The shortened boiler is soldered to the tank. Slight gap, but there will be a mounting flange to cover it.
     
     

     
     
    So far that is all straightforward.
     
    The simplest thing would be to have the motor vertical in the firebox. However I wanted to use that slightly longer motor and fit a flywheel. I cut the severed part of the boiler barrel longitudinally and fitted it to the footplate along with the firebox. The motor and flywheel comes up through the hole in the firebox floor and is constrained by a couple of foam pads and a spring steel clip located in two bits of brass tube. Needs a bit of refinement, but that is the idea.
     

     
     
    Viewed from the side the gap between the boiler barrel and footplate can't be seen.
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    Second bit, room for a few more pics.
     
     

  13. Dave John

    A bit of an experiment.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Last year I needed some styrene sections and as it happened the only place with stock was Hattons. Oh well. Anyway having ordered the stuff I needed I had a look at the pre-owned stuff. Just for fun, honest. Anyway I saw a Hornby generic 4 wheel NBR brake which had been dropped. The end was well bashed, buffers and couplings broken, the whole thing bent, body off. But all the bits had been put in the box and it was a tenner. Add to basket.
     
    But why ? A lot has been said about these coaches but I didn’t want to comment until I had a chance to break one myself. Having someone else break it for me and then selling it to me for less than a third of full price seemed a good idea. So it arrived, I had a look at it, harumpfed a bit, put the bits back in the box and left it to fester.
     
    During the last month I have made some wagons. They are at the painting stage and I want them in a bit of a faded red lead colour. My usual method for this is humbrol 100 with a spot of 61 flesh mixed in to fade it pinkish. I opened a tin of 100, it was a solid colour. Um nope,  it was just solid. So I opened my last new tin. Sludge, completely useless.
     
    This resulted in me going through all my enamels. Out of 80 tins I threw 40 away as unusable. Of course they were all the most recent and most useful ones, some tins dating back to the 1970s were perfectly ok, if i ever go back to making kits of ww2 aircraft.
    Now much has been said on rmweb about the decline of enamels and the subsequent withdrawal of many. So bite the bullet time, I shall have to learn how to paint with acrylics.
     
    Clearly this is two pronged experiment. Mess about with a generic coach and learn a bit about acrylics. So how did it turn out ?
     
    Perhaps I should have taken some progress pics, but I guess you will have seen similar. Anyway, chop a couple of panels out, shorten floor, weight and chassis to suit. Make proper footboards, add sprung buffers, safety chains, oil lamps, end steps, handrails, sensible door handles, lamp brackets, adjust brakes, reduce wheel flanges and adjust to my EM, chop off the huge coupling pockets and fit mag ajs and a CR number plate.
     
     

     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
    I think I can justify this under rule 2, vaguely plausible. The Caley inherited all sorts from absorbed railways. So this is a bit of stock from perhaps the Scottish central now being used as a tool /riding brake by the pw department. Any other nebulous excuses gladly accepted….
  14. Dave John

    CR D38 Glass wagon part 3

    By Dave John,


    General
    The D38 glass well wagon has given me a challenge but I’m reasonably happy with the overall result.
     
    The support frame has a slight lean, but it is only really noticeable in closeup and square on photos. As specials I think the wagon would be in good condition for the Edwardian era, it is in its first decade in service. I therefore just gave it some very light weathering.
     
    If someone has any transfers a scale 1” high that say “OIL” then I’ll buy some. those 3 dots above the axleboxes will have to do for now.
     
     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
    I don’t usually go in for helicopter shots, but this shows the interior detail and the size of the well in context. The screw jacks holding the crate are peco trackpins, which I have found over the years to be very useful for everything apart from pinning track down.  I have improvised the tie down rings, I assume something like that was fitted.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
    Those interested in Caley wagons will note the mysterious mark on the rh end of the solebar. Clearly seen on the original so I aded one. We might find out what it means one day.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  15. Dave John
    Dead easy, several suppliers make plastic ones. Buy some and plant them ?
     
    Well, no. These are not any old telegraph poles, these are the telegraph poles of the Caledonian railway. As with so many aspects of pre-grouping different railways did things in a different manner. “Signalling the Caledonian” by Jim Summers has an entire chapter on the subject giving many details and a couple of useful pictures of the L+D under construction so combined with photos from elsewhere I know what I’m trying to build.
     
    So, for my location and period big A frame poles where possible, though single poles if space is limited. Alternate long / short crossarms with two insulators. The original shackle type insulators were replaced very early on, so Cordeaux style insulators on J hangers.
     
    Stripwood and dowel from Cornwall model boats, insulators from Express models. I had a play about on the bench. Hmm. It didn’t take long to realise that in order to make a consistent set of parts and assemble the posts in an accurate manner the first part of the exercise would be to manufacture a set of jigs.
     
    This is what I have come up with. This photo shows the three crossarm jigs, a bit of square brass tube with holes in and a catch as an end stop in two sizes.  Wood in, drill holes, lift catch, slide out.  The lower one has the catch tube in two parts forming a place to bend the J hangers. The one on the left is to hold the crossarm while superglueing the J hangers in.
     
     

     
     
     
    A photo of an assembly jig laminated up from bits cut on the silhouette.
     
     

     
    That’s the method, should keep me busy for a bit.
  16. Dave John
    Making all the poles and fitting sockets for them has kept me going for a few weeks. Chilly weather and bad light slow it all down a bit.
     
    The poles are 3mm dia dowel sanded to about 2 mm dia at the top. I doubt I could drill a 3mm hole through the baseboard square enough to make the poles stand upright so I made some sockets from spare brass tube, 25 mm long with bits of wire soldered on. The bit across the bottom acts a stop but still lets any debris fall through.
     
     
     
     

     
    That lets me use a bit of greased dowel to set the socket upright, once happy its sitting square some glue can be dribbled down the sides to secure it. When set a bit of ground cover round it and the pole looks like its embedded, but can easily be removed if needs be.
     
     

    A photo of the poles ready for a coat of primer. You may well laugh at the finial on the one that will go by the station building. Well, I did say these are not any old telegraph poles, these are the telegraph poles of the Caledonian railway. The Caley did put finials on telegraph poles that were in obvious public view.
     
     

     
     
    Painting them all next.
  17. Dave John
    Some photos of the poles planted in their sockets. I managed to get the spacing fairly even at 60 - 65 yards, the preferred Caley distance.   The camera is much harsher about verticals than the eye, particularly along the length of the layout. People used to Glasgow might be familiar with the effect, tenements do tend to lean back a bit. The time to panic is when they start leaning forwards.
     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
    I’m happy with the overall effect, I think the effort to make them Caledonian rather than generic ones was worth the effort.
  18. Dave John

    Christmas, but where are we now ?

    By Dave John,


    General
    Another year passes.
     
    I was running some trains and in my head as the carriages drew level with the platform I heard the guard shout,
     
    “ This is, er is ….. Um,  well dunno where we are really, but we have arrived……….”
     
    Yep, I have never got round to making any running in boards, so I though I had better address that pronto.
     
     
    There we go, now we know where we are.
     

     
     
    The 670 Class leaves Kelvinbank yard in the winter gloom.
     

     
     
     
    The Grampian corridor stock on a christmas excursion.
     

     
     
     
     
    Some sepia, boding snow. No fun being a brakesman. 
     

     
     
     
    But the advertising is there to remind us of summer holidays. 
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
    I wish everyone the compliments of the season, I hope you al get some quality modelling time.
     
     
     
     

  19. Dave John
    Now things have settled a bit on here I am going to add a few blogs.
     
    It has taken some time to get this painted and finished. A fair bit of messing about with transfers again, I do wish someone would do CR goods lining.  All looks a bit rough close up, but passable from a distance I think.
     
     
    A couple of posed pics, the side on official portrait.
     
     

     
     
     
    At rest in the yard.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    They were a narrow engine, this view just how narrow.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    Being such an open cab I had a go at putting reasonable detail on the backhead.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    The 323 class were built for serious shunting work, so the question is can it actually shunt ?
     
     
     
     
     
    Runs pretty smoothly for a scratchbuild, should settle a bit with running in.
     
     
     
    With regard the the rest of the blog I will wait till that orange banner changes to “The server has replaced all the pics it can, the rest is up to you.“ I do have all the missing pics saved locally so I can fix whatever is still missing at that point.
     
  21. Dave John

    CR Diagram 11A CCTs part 3

    By Dave John,


    General
    Well, there they are, painted and in service.

    Firstly a couple of photos in harsh artificial light, the colours may look a bit more natural in real daylight.

    Overall I’m happy with them, though the spring suspension system doesn’t seem to hold the track as well as I’d like. A bit of running and it might bed in a bit. I haven’t added any weight, lets wait and see if it is needed.




     

    A couple of shots of them in a train .
     




  22. Dave John

    Building some CR Diagram 11A CCTs.

    By Dave John,


    General
    A bit of stock construction, always a joy to do . In this case a pair of CR Dia. 11A CCTS from the latest “True lines Models “ kit. Historical notes can be found in “ Caledonian Railway Wagons” by Mike Williams, many thanks to Tony Brenchley of the CRA for producing the kit.

    Ok, so preamble over, lets have a look at it all. A cast resin body, etches for the chassis and springs and castings in brass and whitemetal for details.



    The body tends to curve inwards at the top, seems resin does this. So first step make a roof that is stiff enough to correct this. A simple structure designed and cut of the silhouette forms a roof support that is strong enough to correct the body curve and support the roof itself.



    Roof in place, its a tight enough fit to just clip in. Body has some holes drilled and the droplight filed out. Oddly these vehicles seem to have had one glass and one wood droplight.



    On to the chassis . This is sprung using a system similar to thet of the Bill Bedford chassis. It goes together accurately. These wre dual braked , so a fair bit of stuff hangs off them.


     


     

    Basic painting and with wheels in, it runs freely and the springs do spring. I’ll be interested to see how well it runs on the layout in practice.



    Ok, body next.
  23. 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.
  24. Dave John

    CR Diagram 11A CCTs part 2

    By Dave John,


    General
    A useful week, both chassis up and running so on to the bodies.

    My first concern was the buffers. The whitemetal ones supplied are ok, but they are solid and they don’t have a footstep. Magnifying the best available picture of the D11a I am sure that they did have a welded on footstep. So I opted to use a L+Y buffer which is very close in shape to the CR one and solder a footstep to it. More solid than the whitemetal one, and of course it will give me working buffers.

    Here is one in progress.



    The body itself just requires handrails, door handles and lamp irons. A coat of grey primer shows the odd spot that needs a bit of fettling.



    Lastly I spent a happy evening making the safety chains.



    Well, off to the paint shop.
  25. Dave John

    Watching paint not drying.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Things are progressing slowly. Winter tends to slow modelling down, paints and glues take ages to dry, the light is bad, there is a tendency to sneeze all over what you are trying to build. Must be a lot worse for folk who model in lofts and sheds. Really a case of watching paint not drying.

    Anyway, thats the major sections of the platform building ready to form into a structure. All still delicate, I think I am going to have to add a top internal rail to prevent it warping over time.

    A couple of pics of it coming together.
     


     


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