Iain.d

Over the last weekend I was able to finish off a Comet Models LMS D1932 Brake Composite Corridor carriage. In typical Comet manner, the parts went together really well. I needed to file away parts of the top of the nicely etched doors of the compartments, to clear the cross beams I’d soldered across the tops of the body sides. I spent a little time fashioning up some corridor gangway hangers (a short piece of 1mm x 1mm brass angle, some .45mm n/s wire and a wrap of wire filament to represent the spring) and the end toilet water filler pipes. And I added steps to the van end bogie. And all together I’ve also made up some curtains for the first class compartments, cut glass for the windows and bent up wire for the commode handles and the guards handrails. I’ve not made any internal window bars for the guards section as in the photo I have I can’t see any present. After I’ve washed the roof, I’ll add some roof ribs from thin tape. I’m not sure when it’ll get painted as I have no primer, nor did the model shop at the weekend and they didn’t know when they’ll get a resupply. I’m in no rush, I have had real issues with the paint lining I’ve done on the last few carriages so my bow pen is away at the doctors for a check-up; I don’t know when it’ll be back. That said, I’m not so sure it’s the pen, I think it’s something I’m not doing right. Kind regards, Iain

Hi Tony, Sorry to hear about your health. Please don't be hard on yourself about the Ratio MR carriages - they actually look really good. I like the idea of having things for sentimental reasons. The Roxey LSWR set is superb, oh to be able to paint and line like that. Kind regards, Iain

I have just about completed the build of a Roxey Mouldings LBSCR 5 Compartment Brake Third I’ve been doing. I think it has gone together quite well. Not shown in the photo below is the floor and compartment end bulkhead (to hide the solder and protruding fittings). I also need to trim back the tape I used for the roof rain strips. The strips are from a PVA type tape and will shrink back over the next 24hrs or so, if I trim them now they’ll not end up flush with the roof end. It will have windows from glass, which have been cut. And all together with the floor in place. I've added some additional steps to the solebars and van end bogie to help entry from track level. As its going to form the crew part of a breakdown train the original interior was taken out, so to help fill the gap I have knocked up a couple of tables and benches and a stove (from an old whitemetal dynamo or brake cylinder and a bit of brass tube for the chimney). Kind regards, Iain

Hi Tony, It might describe you – but it’s not me!!! Thank you for the kind comments on my carriage – when I compare it to the CK Tony (t-b-g) showed, I can’t ‘unsee’ the crudeness in mine and will look to do something about it. It’s the only LNER Kirk vehicle I own so it shouldn’t be too onerous. I could probably just buy some etched sides to go over the top, but that might be too easy! Kind regards, Iain

Hi Tony, That is a quite different, and well considered, set of assumptions/reasons as to why a modeller might finish a model to a particular standard, than that which you posted earlier. Thank you for your comments on my coach; I originally built it in about 1992, the photos posted are of the first rebuild in 1998 with the upgrades to the supplied bits from the kit. I have saved the photos of the one you did and the mods you suggested a page or so back and will look to improve on mine further. Yours is absolutely not a layout carriage, it is a decent model from a basic kit! Kind regards, Iain

Hi Tony, I wouldn’t argue that the work done on the Kirk LNER carriage isn’t anything other than superb modelling and I think it was absolutely worth the effort. But I do take issue with the statement I’ve extracted from your post above. I find it very sweeping and dare I say it, very condescending and arrogant. I built this same kit Ian Kirk in about 1992, as it came from the packet – but I definitely wasn’t too lazy and I was certainly bothered to do the best I could – I just didn’t know what I didn’t know. In about 1998, I briefly returned to modelling and updated it with new bogies (MJT) and a scratch built underframe, I added better buffers and corridor connectors. By this time I had acquired books by the likes of Stephen Williams and Tony Wright that began to open my eyes to things I’d not ‘seen’ before. Today, I accept the sides are still too thick, the glazing is poor, there’s no lining and the joint between the cream and crimson is in the wrong place. But even when I updated it, I wasn’t ‘too lazy’ or ‘not bothered enough’, I just didn’t see the other shortcomings. I returned to modelling in 2015, below is a 2018 built Ian Kirk SR Maunsell with most of the kits ‘shortcomings’ overcome. It has whitemetal roof vents, toilet filler pipes, overflow pipes, etched commode handles and door handles, whitemetal buffers, scratch built underframe, brake gear and decent bogies (can’t remember whose). The roof fits properly and it has been glazed with individually cut glass panes. Please excuse the sticky up corridor connectors. Is it a layout carriage? Perhaps, perhaps not. Is it a glass cabinet carriage? Definitely not. It still has room for improvement – am I too lazy or simply not bothered? Should I have just have bought a Hornby one? I suppose what I’m getting at is that, for all of us, life, let alone modelling is a journey and we do what we do with a limit to knowledge, experience, finance, time, ability and other priorities to list but a few reasons. I’m not sure that modellers judging other modellers by their modelling skill is of benefit to anyone. Kind regards, Iain

Hi Chas, No problem at all. The pictures aren’t the best, given the fixings are made and fitted, but they might help. It’s one of those things that is difficult to explain succinctly, we all least for me* anyway. First off, I cut three small squares of plastic from a 30 thou/.75mm thick sheet, about 5mm by 7mm, drilling a 1.5mm hole through the centre of each, using a reamer to open it out slightly so the bolt just passes through. On one of those pieces I file the drilled hole into a hexagon shape to be the size of the securing 10BA nut, using a square file. This piece becomes the middle of the ‘plastic sandwich’, securing it and the nut between the other two pieces of card with liquid poly – when applying the glue, line everything up with the bolt. A brass stretcher is cut from an old bit of brass strip, a little under length, to sit under the flanges at the top of the coach sides. A 2mm hole is drilled through the centre. I then tape the roof in the correct position, pass the bolt though the hole in the stretcher and screw into the nut in the holder. With the coach on its roof, line the bolt, the stretcher and the nut holder up and liquid poly the nut holder to the coach roof – this is the fiddley bit. Once the glue is dry(ish), centre the stretcher around the bolt and tack solder to the flange at the top of the coach sides. When satisfied all is well, cut the bolt to length, for this one the threaded part is about 5.5mm long. A tiny piece of blue-tack on the end of the screwdriver helps locate it inside the coach body. The bolt in, not quite tight, in the picture above. I always use a washer on things like this. Sorry if the explanation is a bit basic – I had to talk myself through it! I’m not intending to insult anyone’s intelligence. Given the cross stretchers take up some access space and can sometimes make it awkward to get the floor and interior in, I will usually make the interior and floor as two halfs. On this one though, the floor I’ve cut only extends 2/3 of the way into the van end as it can’t be seen after that. This carriage will be part of a breakdown train and the interior was removed, so it’s quite easy to complete. All being well I will finish the build this week. On the first picture, the piece of card glued immediately to the roof is to help position the roof correctly between the ends of the coach. The second piece of card up from the carriage roof also has a 1.5mm hole drilled in it, this will allow you to tighten the bolt without it interfering with the carriage roof, if it's slightly too long. *My written English is quite poor – blame it on the 'progressive' teaching methods of the 1970s / 1980s British education system….. Kind regards, Iain

Two of the carriages I’m working on have progressed a little over the last week or so. The Comet Models LMS D1932 BCK now has its chassis constructed, the bogies assembled and the roof drilled for vents, toilet water filler pipes and brass roof fixing bolts. The additional nuts on the underframe are to articulate the coupling pipes I make up. And all together. Over Easter and next week I should be able to progress with the whitemetal bits and the interior. I’ve also moved on with the Roxey Mouldings LBSCR 54ft Brake Third. The roof is cut to fit; I always find this the worst part of Roxey kit construction as there’s not much margin for error. A small slip of plastic card glued to the underside of the roof locates it in position between the ends. It will be fixed with a 10BA nut and bolt at each end, each nut being held captive in a filed to shape piece of plastic card and held in place by a piece of plastic on each side of it (a sort of plastic sandwich…). The brass plate with the hole will be soldered under the flange along the top of the coach side once the nut holders are glued to the roof and it’s all lined up. Solebars and stepboards and brake V hangers are soldered on. I’ve also fitted the finer end detail: steps, alarm gear, lighting conduit, lamp irons and brake pipes. I’m quite please how it all looks. Next will be the queen posts and truss rods. The queen posts are quite poor whitemetal castings, I’ve tidied them up as much as I dare (they are quite fragile too) and will try and glue them in place – even with low melt solder, if I’m not quick enough they’ll just melt. If it all goes tragically wrong, I’ll look to substitute them with brass tube cut to length and soldered in, not quite prototypical but probably less noticeable than the deformed castings. Kind regards, Iain

I always find these discussions on track gauge somewhat interesting; some very good arguments for all of them come up. I think that with all of the pros and cons for each, it makes it quite difficult to choose. In the late 90s, early 00s, I frequented Challis Models and Hobbies in Shepton Mallet (sadly long gone) and Chris Challis really encouraged my model making and suggested EM as a suitable compromise; I do wish I’d taken his advice. Since that time I’ve built an enormous amount of stock in OO and the prospect of regauging does not inspire me. So my compromise is to use Peco bullhead points and their matching flexible tack. I’ve been able to purchase the dozen or so points and about 40m of flexible track I need for that faraway dream layout. I also have a heap of DCC legacy flexible rail, purchased in the hope they’d produce matching point kits, or at least the right sort of bits to make them. Their Western Australia shop was just down the road from me and every time I popped in I was told it was going to happen, but it never did. I have enough of their flexible stainless steel track to start my own business in hamster wheel manufacturing….. Kind regards, Iain

I currently have a couple of carriage kits on the go. The first is this Comet Models LMS D1932 Corridor Brake Composite. It only arrived from the UK last week and has jumped the queue, it never even made it to the ‘to do’ pile of stuff in the cupboard! This is the last of the Period III BCK designs and an unusual 62ft long. It didn’t take long to clean up the sides and solder in door hinges and door stops, prep the ends and start the bogies; all up about 3 hours work. This morning I was able to put the sides and ends together to form the body. There’s still a bit of tidying up to do such as re-drill the holes for the brake alarm gear and the end hand rails/water fillers – these get filled with solder. It will also be fitted with some cross beams to secure the roof and provide some extra strength. And I’ve also progressed a Roxey Mouldings LBSCR 54ft 5 Compartment Brake Third (Dia 168 / SR Dia 199). I really enjoy putting together Roxey kits, they are quite delicate but incredibly fine. Below are the sides and bogies in an early state. A bit further on: I’m quite pleased with the bogie stepboards. The bogie with extra steps will be for the guard’s end. Hopefully I'll jiggle the axleboxes and springs into place without issue. And the body assembled. I’ve a busy week next week so I’m not sure how much I’ll get done; the chassis for the Comet kit and the solebars and stepboards on the LBSCR carriage would be great. Mind you, we have a weather phenomenon in Perth at the moment – it’s raining, so I might not need to go and do some gardening! Kind regards, Iain

Hi Geoff, thanks for the tip, I hadn't actually thought of that, although this particular vehicle is going to be painted as departmental stock. But I do have some Somerset & Dorset carriages that will need lining, so I'll remember to leave them off. Kind regards, Iain

Thanks Stephen, I didn't know that. Kind rgerads, Iain

Continuing on the door hinges topic of a page or two back. Below is how Roxey do theirs, I’m guessing similar to MJT from commentaries that have been made, although I’ve never done a MJT kit / sides. A small tab is bent over, passed through an etched hole and soldered from the back. Middle and upper hinges are represented by etched recesses. Door frames, unlike most etched sides I’ve experienced, are raised etch lines. I think they are very effective. This is a Roxey LBSCR Brake Third I’ve just started; door vents and droplights next. Kind regards, Iain

Thanks Nick, All the wagons that I've done to date are brush painted, for both the base colour and varnish. Once the base colour is done I put a bit of gloss varnish where the transfers will go and once they are on its a coat of matt varnish. And then some level of weathering. Kind regards, Iain

I have just completed the rebuild on this pair of long-ago purchased Parkside Dundas box vans. The left hand van is a BR 12T Van with corrugated ends, based on a GW diagram. The one on the right is an LNER 12T Fruit Van. The main builds and painting were completed a while ago, I was waiting on the buffer shanks coming from Lanarkshire Model Supplies. LMS Dave posted them on 11 January, which must have been very early on in the Royal Mail ransom aware attack; they arrived yesterday! They were originally built in about 1992 or 1993, not particularly well, and over the passage of time (almost all of that in store) much of the glue had gone brittle and they came apart easily. I’ve taken off all the flash and cleaned up all the burrs and so on and re-assembled them reasonably square and true. I’ve improved them with the LMS pre-drilled buffer housings, Gibson buffer heads, screw/instanter couplings, brake pipes, better brake detail, vents on the fruit van and transfers by CCT. They weigh about 50g each. Next up will be a couple of NE region brake vans. Kind regards, Iain

Hi, The door hinges are made from Comet Models ‘T’ door handles, pulled into a .5mm drilled hole and soldered from the back. Wizard sell a fret of carriage extras that includes things like door hinges and gangway suspension brackets but I’ve never used one of those. In the past I have used brass lace making pins (make sure you use 100% brass and not brass coated ones) squeezed between a pair of pliers and the tided up with a file but they never seemed as fine. Kind regards, Iain

Over the last couple of days I’ve been able to finish off the Comet Models BR Mk1 Brake Third Corridor D181 I’ve been doing. It’s a fairly standard build. I painted it with Tamiya Maroon, lined with a pen, HMRS transfers for the numbering and crest. In the images I have of this carriage, it didn’t carry the grey panels on the brake compartment doors. I did consider using the clear front of stamp mounts for the glazing, to follow the curve of the side, but the matt finish to them didn't look right. So I used glass microscope slip covers. To reduce the gap between the glass and the curve of side, I cut the glass on all the windows with little top windows (sorry the correct terminology escapes me at the moment) hiding the cut behind the horizontal bar. It was a chore gluing them in; each separate piece of glass has four tiny corner dabs of epoxy! And one on the other side one has fallen out.....doh! I hope one day to create a layout based on the Somerset and Dorset railway, and where I can I have tried to recreate model carriages of those known to have run on the line in the 50s and 60s (as one might do for locos and known carriage sets). This carriage, M35240, was behind the tender of Evening Star on the last northbound run of the Pines Express up to Bath, on 8 September 1962. I’m building a Pines Express formation of which this carriage will be a part; a parcel arrived from Wizard Models today with the last I need (a Brake Composite) to complete the set! Kind regards, Iain

Over the last week I’ve been able to spend a little more time on a Comet Models BR Mk1 Brake Second Corridor I’m making. Available readily, I know, from a number of RTR manufacturers but I do like making stuff when I have the option. Its nearly at the point of being ready for painting. The main components: The body and chassis: Side on: And a three quarter view: The few bits to do are: give it a good clean, stick on some roof ribs, solder some wire around the coupling bar to better represent a brake pipe, straighten a few of the bogie tie bars and find some good quality black paper to make some corridor gangways. I have cut glass for the windows but given the curve of the body side I might try doing the glazing from some stamp mounts (philately type) I found in drawer. Given they’re to protect stamps I’m assuming the clear material won’t shrink, change colour, etc. This last week has been too warm to paint – most days in the mid to high 30s – but hopefully this week it’ll be in the 20s, meaning I can get set up in the garage. Kind regards, Iain

A Royal Australian Air Force C17 on take off from Broome Airport. 11 February 2023. Kind regards, Iain

Thanks Lez, PM sent. Regards, Iain

Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed here on RMweb, across a number of threads, there has been quite a lot on the modelling of small 0-6-0 tender locos. Spurred on by reading this it caused me to dig out a part built Alan Gibson 2F/M Class loco I bought very cheaply on eBay a few years back. I have often wondered if anyone that follows or contributes to this thread was the previous owner or builder. The kit came with no instructions, but Geoff Haynes was kind enough to help in identifying most of the many parts on the frets and castings in old musty polythene bags. He also furnished me with some beautiful photos of a couple of 2Fs he’d built. These will go some way to me working out where the bits are supposed to go. The partly built kit was likely done some time ago as all of the brass and nickel silver is well tarnished and anything steel has a reasonable coating of rust. It has been built to P4/18.83mm scale. At some point the loco’s centre driving axle and gearbox has been removed, but the Mashima motor remained with it. I don’t know if it ever worked under its own power. In the picture above it seems both chassis’ were built using the kit’s EM frame spacers; there’s a lot of side play! Also unusual was that the centre wheels on the tender look to have had their flanges turned down as they were almost none existent, that said, they could simply be badly turned as one is very chunky. My first action was to look at the tender, it was not badly put together but the soldering was done with electric / tinman’s type solder which resulted in some very brittle joins. I disassembled most of it with an old bit in my soldering iron, and I was then able to clean off most of the solder by scraping it with a few cocktail sticks. What I couldn’t get off with heat and scraping was done when cold with some old files and screwdrivers. I got most of it into pieces but decided to keep the main tank structure together, simply as on the inside there was lots and lots of solder blobs and I thought I’d likely deform the brass pulling it apart. I reconstructed the chassis using OO gauge frame spacers and made it square. The first build had been compensated and I decided to keep this but refixed the hornblock guides and reset the bearings, rebuilt the brake gear (to be removable) and used a new, but old, set of AG wheels. I re-soldered the coal rails (there still appears to be a lot of solder here, but it is very thinly layered – it shouldn’t show under paint) and spent some time neatly soldering up the vertical handrails at the cab end. I don’t have any detailed pictures of this type of tender at they were built and I’m unsure if it needs a ‘normal’ type of brake stanchion (there wasn’t one with the kit) and I also don’t know if the back end by the water filler is right. In the one photo I do have (taken from ground level) it seems to suggest some sort of tool box(es) fitted at the back. So, I have only glued the tank filler on as I think, when more info comes to light, I might need to move it / remove it. I've added a small piece of lead sheet to the inside of each side of the tender for weight. It all seems to sit square and level and runs freely. I’m not quite content with the front end. The thread of the 10BA bolt won’t be seen once I’ve devised a coupling bar but I’d still like to hide the nut, maybe a fireman can do that. And I need to fill the holes in the side, from the removal of the small horizontal handrails near the front; the picture I’m working to, doesn’t have these fitted. Once I’ve rebuilt the loco, I’ll finish those parts off. I haven’t attached the axleboxes at this stage as the intention is to finish it in Somerset & Dorset blue, circa 1921 and I’ll need to line the tender frame!! Kind regards, Iain

Over Christmas I was able to catch up on a few unread Model Railway Journals and one edition has an image of a model of a former military Chevrolet C15 truck, that had been civilianised, parked up next to a couple of railway wagons. I was quite taken by it and on the next trip to my local model shop, I saw a plastic model kit and bought it. This is my recreation. While I was in the shop, I also came across this Rapido Trains SECR 10T van in BR grey. I’ve done nothing other than paint the roof a darker colour, grubbied up the underframe, added some three link couplings (although that open link needs seeing to) and toned down the clean finish with a dark wash and some dry brush weathering. I’ve also started a Comet Models BR Mk1 D181 Brake Second Corridor. I did the prep work (removed parts from frets and cleaned them up and drilled holes for things like door hinges, door stops, brake rigging and so on) when we were away over Christmas. This week I was able to solder in the hinges, door stops, wheel bearings and so on. I built the body first and then fettled the chassis to fit There are light grey marks above each of the door stops, this isn't solder but Humbrol filler. I decided to move the door stops down 1mm as I knew from previous experience that if I located them in the correct place, at the painting stage I wouldn't be able to line it neatly enough. I thought people would notice dodgy lining more than the lowered location of the stops! I also, inadvertently drilled holes for hinges on the guard's door and then remembered that the door opened inwards and didn't have visible external hinges. To correct this, I soldered a thin strip of brass on the inside of the coach, to cover the holes, and then I filled them from the outside and re-scribed the door lines. Next will be to finish the underframe and bogies and then I’ll do the roof and interior. Kind regards, Iain

Hi, Thanks for the kind comments! Two of the kits were old Parkside Dundas ones, which didn't come with transfers; the third a more recent Peco Parkside with the Modelmaster transfers. The transfers I used are from the HRMS Sheet 14 (certainly for the 'Guard', main numbers and the 'PMV, CCT, BY) and a cobble up of the left over MM ones. Yes, they're glazed. I used microscope glass slip covers, cut to size. Window bars are from Roxey Mouldings etches. Kind regards, Iain

Hi, Liveries of non passenger coaching stock in that period could have been a variety. According to King's An Illustrated History of Southern Coaches (p25-27) vehicles in the 1938-1949 period might be Maunsell green or Bulleid malachite but 'most luggage vans still carried in Maunsell livery in 1948'. Towards the end of the war utility vehicles were also grey painted. There were also variations in lettering style. So, take your pick! kind regards, Iain

So, these are ones I did a year or two back. A Parkside CCT in BR crimson (Railmatch), its not as 'bright' in the flesh : A Parkside PMV (Cavell Van) in BR SR green: A Parkside BY in BR crimson (Railmatch, as above): I need to redo the transfers on this BY due to the silvering effect - not laying them on gloss varnish first. For a period of time two BYs were allocated to work between Yeovil and Derby, via the Somerset & Dorset line, and had roof boards stating as such. I think S660S was the other one. All have had improvements / enhancements to the basic kits. As John says above, I split the numbers either side of the angle iron. The placement of numbers and text was taken from example photographs in Mike King's An Illustrated History of Southern Coaches. Hope that helps. Kind regards, Iain