Thunderforge

This is how I make my wagons. These two are actually going to be carriages, but everything below the platform is the same. Things I need; Oh, also some clout nails which didn’t make it to the photo! On the aluminium channel I put a dent with a centre-punch to locate the wheels, and force them wider by a few millimetres to get the right fit. Then glue together using superglue on the aluminium and pva on the wood. Mostly lined up by eye before it sets; none of this is very exact, although I’m quite pleased that most of them sit squarely on the rails once finished. If they are too wobbly I can always add another centre-punch hole or force the ‘legs’ with pliers. I’ll let this dry and continue tomorrow! Edit: I wonder how many rivet-counting brass-kit scratch-builders are feeling queasy right now?! (Seriously though, much respect for anyone who does it properly!) These bits are for the buffer beams. Apparently I bought oak, so they’re quite tough! Picture hooks for coupling hooks, clout nails for buffers and brass eyelets for buffer mounts. The blue stuff is a mould for the leaf-springs, which are made from milliput. Once the buffer beams are dry I superglue them to each end. The gaps are filled with pva, and the edges are sealed with it too.

A slow day in the goods yard, one order of coal has been loaded, nameplates have been nailed to the tank wagon and someone put the brake van on the turntable. Mostly to show off the stove-pipe.

Indian Red it is! (Still a little work to do on it)

I’m wanting a sheet of custom water-slide transfers, can anyone produce (or recommend a a company) this for me? I’d need them in white only, in a custom font. I’d be able to supply a pdf. Or any suggestions for some other method would be useful (Hand lettering is too frustrating!) Thanks in advance!

I bought a small Bluetooth speaker the other day, and built a crate to hide it in. (Shrodinger’s Feline Delivery Co!) Now I can send sound from my phone to my train. It ain’t quite to DCC standard, but is only twelve quid’s worth!

Loco, tank wagon and brake van. Close up of the tank wagon and work-in-progress van. And here are a couple of photos which hopefully give an idea of the construction. The wheels (Hornby) are held in place by a 5mm length of aluminium channel (1”), the sole-bars are 6mm wood, the floor is a piece of thick grey card. The buffers are clout nails sitting inside brass eyelets, and the couplings are curtain hooks. Oh and the leaf-springs I’m quite proud of, I made one using some bottle plastic and bits of a biro, then cast lots of them in milliput! All the wood is lolly sticks/coffee stirrers, the white stuff is card and the rivets are card punched with a leather belt punch (smallest hole). I’m undecided if the van should be grey or Indian red...

Since I’ve been confined to quarters for the duration, and my O-gauge shunting plank is a bit inaccessible, I’ve been having a go at something a bit... different. Having a bunch of old OO bits, and a supply of lolly sticks, cardboard and glue, I’ve put together a Rowland Emett style loco which sits atop a Hornby 0-4-0 chassis. Then a small diorama to display it. Welcome to Chipping Polish, a small halt on the Farleigh Wallop Railway. The wagon is scratch-built too. I currently have four, which is just enough for a simple shunting game. Plans include making a loco from a radio controlled toy car, just to see if it’s possible. More pictures to follow. PS thanks to Bob Downes of Tippy Ashwood for the inspiration!

Hello, I was going to join the Gnatterbox Forum, but there didn’t appear to be a ‘join forum’ button. I tried emailing the moderators but had no response. Just wondered if anyone knew if it was a closed forum or if I was doing something daft? Cheers, Thunders!

I’ve heard mention that using lead shot and pva is a bad idea because one reacts with the other and expands slightly. I want to add weight to a card/wood chassis and worried that any expansion might pop it open. Is it true and if so does the expansion happen at ‘drying time’ or over a long period after? And how much expansion? (ie 1%? 5%? etc) Thanks in advance, Karl

Hi Pierluk, waiting on a bit of brass tubing to make the contacts/locking pins for the traverser, then I can plough on with it. I’d ordered it on a slow boat from China because there aren’t any brass stockists near me. On the plus side I’ve had a chance to get that loco looking more finished, I’ll post pics shortly!

Thanks Andy, I’ll have a read through your blog! :-)

Can anyone recommend any books about scratch building? I’ve picked up lots of tips and tricks but would be useful to read some sort of ‘manual’. I’m working in 7mm but info on any scale would be interesting. I’ve got a copy of ‘Building wagons from card’ by ... sorry the name escapes me, which has been very useful indeed. Thanks in advance, Thunders

Will you have a locomotive singing first bass?!

Not much progress to report, I’m a bit stuck until I get some bits of brass tube in the post. But here’s a pic of Lord Mormont (work in progress scratch built loco) doing a dry run of the passenger line. I’ve decided to shelve the turntable as I was having too much difficulty getting the rails to line up!

Cheers CKPR, that’s a much better picture! Should even be good enough to get some approximate measurements for a model. I’ll see what I can find out from here.

Looks like ex-works grey to me! Does anyone have any info on this loco, from High Harrington?

Thanks LGDB! I’d only had N and OO before now, but I’d recommend this scale if you like building things yourself. But a wagon kit and see how it feels :-)

One freshly planked turntable, which will need a lot of grubbying up once the glue is dry.

Awesome cakebox! Don’t forget to add some vagrant gargoyles to the roofs! Cabbage beer... it hardly bears thinking about!!

Let’s get it over with... I was watching Thomas the Tank; yes I have kids, yes they were already in bed. Anyway, there is a character called Samson, a Nielsen 0-4-0. He looked higher and generally larger than most of the Nielsens I’ve seen, so I googled him, I mean it. The Wikipedia page said he is based on a tank engine from High Harrington Colliery. Which gave me one fuzzy photo: It looks beefier than normal and the tanks extend to the front of the smokebox. I’d very much like to scratch build a model of this, but I cannot find any further information about it!! Does anyone know of any more photos or (ideally) a drawing? My thinking is that Thomas Merchandise Plc would choose a prototype with at least some available research material, I mean prototypical accuracy is one of their hallmarks...

This evening I’ve glued a short length of track to a CD, then added some lolly sticks to make a wagon turntable. Unfortunately I’d not enough sticks to finish it, so it’s on pause for now. It was a Ronnie James Dio CD if you must know, but it was already scratched beforehand. Should have used Queen though; Flat bottomed rails you make the rockin’ world go round...

Thanks F-UnitMad, that’s a neat solution, minimal visual impact, and sounds easy enough for me to actually do without fluffing it up! I’d thought of using brass draw bolts from a DIY shop, but dismissed it as too big and clunky.

It’s funny, my first thought was not to use the locomotive coupling because a truck out of commission with a faulty coupling is less annoying than a locomotive out of commission with a faulty coupling. BUT the point of most stress on any train is that first coupling, so presumably a loco rear coupling is far more reinforced than a wagon/carriage coupling? (which could end up in any position in a train)

Having always used N-gauge knuckle-dusters or OO scale tension-lock couplings I’ve never really thought about it, but now I have some O-scale three link couplings... Do you join the chain from the front vehicle to the back vehicle, or the back vehicle to the front vehicle? Or do you use the least rusty? Or the instanter over the three link and the screw over the instanter? Or what? I figure there will be a standard practice, (and I’ll bet the GWR had a different standard practice to anyone else!)

Not sure what to do about electrical contact between the traverser and normal rails. The traverser sits on the flat so no space beneath for wiring. I thought maybe use a sprung ball bearing to rest up against a brass cup? Suggestions welcome as this method seems over engineered and I’d need to make four pairs of them!