Thunderforge

I’ve added the metal bracing and vent things. Officially it’s a GWR Faux Van (ie not quite mink).

I've always wondered how good these toys would look if you applied all the techniques of realism (prototypical paint job, weathering, smokebox door not a face, etc). I have painted toys like this before and been surprised with the results. Of course my son might not be too happy to have his engines literally de-faced! :-)

Hi E3109, Yes one side is clean shiny metal, which doesn't seem to oxidise, although being aluminium it undoubtedly is. The other side an interesting photo-reactive agent; when exposed to a UV light the surface becomes pale grey and water adherent, when not exposed it becomes deep blue and oil adherent, thus picking up oil-based ink to transfer it onto the paper. Or, as we call it in the trade, witchcraft. So far the coated side seems to stick to the superglue better than the bare metal, and also accepts acrylic paint nicely too, but ultimately I am going to spray with car-primer anyway. Although I am also going to try printing paper labels to stick onto the flat surface as an interesting trial (see Nearholmers' post further up).

Oh look I’ve glued all the end planks on vertically instead of horizontally. D’oh!!

Thanks Dajt, I am happy using superglue, but soldering would give a stronger join, I’ll look into it. Googling something you don’t know much about can lead to very conflicting answers! Anyway, I started on a box van, which is looking good.

Okay, thanks for the advice, I figured the Peco wheels are the way to go, just wanted to check I wasn’t missing anything. :-)

the Flying Kipper! we've GOT to do something with that! :-) Also reminds me we need to purchase a Henry too...

We’ve got a couple more to do so I probably will get him helping, I just cringe at the thought of what might happen to my brushes!! :-)

Peco R0-1s look like a quality entry level wheel, but I wondered if anyone knew of a budget brand of wagon wheels? I’ve googled and not found anything, and maybe they’re my best choice, but it’s always worth asking. My attempts at making wagons from reclaimed materials I can source for free, but I’m a long way from being a wheelwright!

I know this is a forum for scale modellers, but I thought I’d share this. My four year old asked me to make ‘Scruffey’ for his trackmaster set, a battery powered system for the Thomas & Friends series. Then ALL the trucks needed to be painted, as it was far more fun than the plain grey plastic which they come as out of the box. So now we have the Brick Company, a distributor for Lego; S. Lyme & Co., who as the vehicle says, provide quality gelatinous cubes of the Dungeons & Dragons variety; and finally the Jamaican Ice Co, who as you would expect, have to be the fastest in the world. My wife suggested filling it with water, although my son always does this if given half a chance anyway. They were painted using acrylics and given a quick blast of clear laquer, which will hopefully keep them from chipping for at least a few weeks! Perhaps we might see ‘Barry Scrapyard Thomas’ or ‘Wartime Goods Gordon’ if things get desperate! :-)

Unfortunately my weekend was too busy to get any wheels, so not much progress to report. I have a second wagon body with a more solid chassis, but much a copy of the first one. Without wheels I don’t feel I can continue with the undercarriage. I did try making a W-hanger, but it was a bit messy so I stuck with something simple, paint, a tarp load and some three links for the couplings. Sorry, the pics weren’t upside down when I took them!

I was thinking to glue it on top of an aluminium body shell, and doubled over aluminium as well I think. I know in my mind how I’ll do the next one, but one at a time for now. The aluminium sides on the one I’m making are a single sheet with aluminium planks superglued to the outside and card ones superglued to the inside. They are still a bit bendable, more than I’d like.

The tinplate wagons you posted are from hand painted masters, are they paper labels applied to the wagons or screenprinted onto the metal? Do you know if anyone printed photos of real wagons onto label paper? I planked out the inside of the wagon tonight, using card, only because I couldn’t get any veneer today. I even tried peeling some off a spare bit of chipboard; yeah that didn’t work haha! Can’t do much more until I get some wheels on Saturday, although my nearest shop only has those three hole wheels, not proper spoked ones.

Its amazing what a little bit of shadow can achieve. Although I can't help wondering if it looks that good from every angle...?

That's an awesome bit of fence! How many yards of it will you need though?! If it was me I'd have to do something silly like have someone with their head stuck in it. :-)

Hi Doilum, funnily enough I do know a french polisher! Wood Veneer is a great idea, it would certainly be easier to cut planks than the aluminium.

Hi Guys, Thanks for the feedback, I'll pick up a primer spray as it is undoubtedly what I need. It does make sense to use various materials, wood for the sides and aluminium for the metalwork, good suggestion Mark. Now where are those lolly sticks?! The aluminium sheets stay remarkably free from corrosion on the naked side, and although I have no idea what the coating is on the other side, it does stick very well with superglue. I had to remove the under-frame to punch holes for the buffers, and the glued tabs did pop off, but there is a strong enough bond that I'm happy with. Once it is painted it should seal and prevent further oxidization. Thanks for the rivet suggestions Peter, I think pressing from the inside would be the easiest, bit late on this one though! Also PCA blobs is a great idea, never heard of that one before. I've tried adding tiny bits of rod to things before, NOT something I wish to be doing again if I can help it! :-)

Here’s a photo, it looks a lot better with buffers added! Now, another question, I have a rattle can of white hammerite, is that usable as an undercoat? I’ll give it a test go first. Finally I’m wondering if I should stick planks inside or cheat and fill it with a load. I guess I’ll have to do planks, with a removable load, or I’ll regret it later.

Hello! I'm new to this forum, and new to 7mm scale, and new to scratch-building! I originally started with OO gauge and moved down to N gauge because everything was smaller and cheaper, which was fine, but ... I've always liked early pre-grouping stuff, and little 0-4-0 shunters, neither of which are very well supported in 2mm. So whilst browsing youtube I came across Jim Read's video showing his card built O gauge LNER tank (awesome!) I've made a few card building kits, but never made any card rolling stock, nor a brass kit either. Added to that I never have any money... so card was the best place to start? Apparently not. I work at a printers, where we use aluminium litho plates which come in 0.3mm or 0.15mm thick. So last night I blagged a spare one, found a blueprint for a GWR 4 plank wagon, and set to it with ruler, scissors, cutting mat and superglue. I used a 0.3mm thick plate and made a box of the right scale size for the wagon upper body, added little strips for the planking, corner pieces for the ironwork, and it is starting to look good. I added a long thin wrap-around for the underframe, all tacked in with offcuts, and even filed a little coupling hook for one end. Buffers will be cut from clout nails and I did get as far as bending a three link chain out of a paperclip, but some of the links pinged off into the carpet at 11.30pm so I decided to call it a day and go to bed. I'll post some photos tonight if i can. I can't think of any way of fabricating wheels myself (at least not ones that will run smoothly) so I'll pick up some Peco spoked wagon wheels on the weekend, although I'm not sure if the aluminium will be strong enough to hold them in place. I'll give it a go though! If the final thing works well enough I could draw out the component parts and print them directly onto the plate so I have a pattern to follow, and move onto something more complicated. I wonder how to roll a convincing Peckett saddle tank...? So, has anyone here used aluminium sheet to build rolling stock? Does anyone have any tips or suggestions to help me? Also, how the devil do you make 7mm scale rivets?! Kindest regards, Thunderforge.