Jump to content
 

magmouse

RMweb Premium
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,072

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by magmouse

  1. magmouse
    This diagram P4 ballast wagon was an eBay purchase, cheaply bought as a 'fixer-upper'. It's built from the PECO (ex Websters) kit, and the original builder had made a reasonable job of construction. The paint finish wasn't great, with a fair amount of dust in it, and the brake gear was smashed:
     

     
    The first job was a good clean up, and remove the broken brake gear and couplings - the buffer rams had to stay in place, as the retaining parts on the rear of the rams were very firmly glued on. I scraped the paint back on the main panels, but decided a full paint strip wasn't needed. The wheels needed changing for S7 ones - with these kits, they will spring out of the axleguards, though you have to bend them quite a long way so it is a bit nerve-racking.
     

     
    With the destruction complete, it was on to rebuilding and detailing. For me, the things that give the wagon its character are:
    the riveted body platework, which the kit does very nicely the door retaining pins with their chains, which are rather anaemic on the kit the large wooden door bangers the axle guard covers, which the kit omits - more on those later.  
    I did the new door securing pins and chains as follows:
     
    I took a length of 5A fuse wire and folded it round the shank of a suitable sized drill (the diameter the ring needs to be). The ends were secured in a pin vice and twisted to form the chain, with the wire still around the drill. Slip the wire off the drill and release the pin vice, and you have a ring and chain. The securing pins were made from brass wire, about 0.3mm diameter. One end was bent over to form the loop at the top of the pin, and before tightening, the ring of the chain made in step 1 was put into the loop. That gives you a pin-ring-chain assembly. The pin was held in place on the wagon side with a length of the fuse wire folded over and the two ends put into a 0.5mm hole drilled in the wagon side. A drop of thin CA glue (Rocket 'hot') applied on the end of a bit of wire holds the assembly in place. This is definitely the fiddliest part of the whole operation. The 'chain' was formed into a loop so it looks like it is hanging down, and the lose end put into another 0.5mm hole and secured with CA glue. Repeat another seven times...  

     
    I fitted one at this stage to make sure it worked as planned, but left the others off until later, to avoid damage to them.
     
    The door bangers provided in the kit are OK, but suffer a bit because the draw angle required to release the parts from the mould goes across the width of the bangers. They therefore look oddly unsymmetrical when looking at them straight on. Also, the original builder had glued some of them on not quite straight, so I decided to remove them all, square them up with a file, and re-attach them.
     
    I also noticed, looking at prototype photos, that the bangers have shallow holes drilled in them, corresponding to the rivets on the door strapping, so that when the door drops down the contact area isn't just the rivet heads. I decided to drill these holes once everything was assembled, so I could position them correctly relative to the door rivets.
     
    The prototype photos show that when built, GWR ballast wagons had sheet metal covers over the axleguards - a very distinctive feature. Later photos don't show them, so they were presumably removed at some point. Checking as many photos as I could find, I was fairly sure that for my 1908 period, the wagon should have the covers - and in any case, how could I resist such a characterful detail?
     
    Working from photos, I drew up the covers in CAD. The drawing was printed at the correct size on a sticky label, which was stuck on to four pieces of 5 thou brass sheet, previously sweated together:
     

     
    I cut out the outline with a fine fretsaw blade:
     

     
    I left a large 'tab' at the top to make it easier to make the fold where the cover attaches to the bottom flange of the solebar - it is much easier to made the bend this way then try and get an accurate bend parallel and very close to the edge of the material.
     
    The label was removed with white spirit, and the four pieces separated and cleaned up:
     

     
    I folded up the pieces in the vice, and trimmed the top flange to size:
     

     
    The part that goes over the axle box is made by bending the main piece to form the sloping top and short front edge. The sides were from scrap etch, chosen to be the same thickness as the saw cuts. They were cut oversize, soldered in place, and filed back to make a neat final assembly:
     

     

     

     
    I did a dry assembly to fettle the covers to fit - I made a mistake and glued the door bangers on first, and had to cut away parts of the covers to accommodate the bangers. It would have been better to do it the other way around. I numbered the covers to ensure they would go back in the right place, as each one needed slightly different adjustments.
     

     
    The brake gear was rebuilt using the kit brake shoes and hangers, and WEP and Ambis components for the vee hanger, push rods, and lever. The brake lever guard was my usual combination of the ratchet from the Ambis component, and nickel silver strip bent to shape.
     

     
    After a waft of etch primer on the not-yet-attached metal parts, the final assembly got me to a physically complete wagon:
     

     
    A coat of paint always brings things together, revealing any blemishes but also giving confidence that perhaps it will be OK after all:
     

     
    Lettering was from a sheet of HMRS pressfix transfers, which had the 'PT WAY' text I needed, but which I find difficult to get aligned accurately. I had to get a new sheet to do the 'PT WAY' on the ends as you only get one pair on the sheet, so I bought methfix this time, which allows adjustment more easily.
     
    The lettering isn't strictly accurate - the 'PT WAY' should have the characters all the same size, not a larger P and W. The lettering is generally slightly too big, and as a result there is no room for 'To carry' that should precede '8 tons'. There should also be the word 'Construction' on the ends, in italics. These observations are based on a photo of a diagram P5 - I haven't found a photo of a P4 in pre-1904 livery, so I can perhaps get away with these inaccuracies...
     

     
    I don't really have a need for a ballast wagon at Netherport, so, after some discussion:
     
    I decided to load it with sand being delivered for the sand boxes of locos and brake vans. The gradient inland away from the harbour at Netherport is steep, so it is important sandboxes are well filled before departure.
    The shape of the load was formed with a layer of thin corrugated cardboard followed by some cat litter, glued in place with diluted PVA and moulded to shape. As this was an experiment, I put cling film in the wagon first, so I could remove the former if the cat litter didn't work out:
     

     
    The result was OK, but it took a long time to dry and shrank considerably, so I am not sure I would use the cat litter again.
    Before gluing the load in and adding the 'sand', I did some initial weathering:
     

     
    With the former in place, I could add the sand. This was made using a product called 'Terrains Sandy Desert Acrylic' by AK Interactive - it's aimed mainly at military modellers for dioramas. I used a variety of tools to put it in place, with my biggest concern to get the edges to look natural, and keep it off the sides. I failed to keep it off the sides, and the edges took a fair amount of fettling, adding additional material to fill slight 'sink holes' and scrapping off material that had got in the wrong place.
     

     

     
    As a result, the inside of the wagon sides were rather scratched - the acrylic sand medium also seems to soften the paint quite effectively, which didn't help. I ended up repainting the inside of the wagon, being careful to keep the paint off the sand.
     

     

     
    With some final weathering, including the repainted insides, the wagon was complete. The weathering was mainly done with water-soluble artists oil paints, plus some weathering powders.
     

     

     

     

     
     
     
    Nick.
  2. magmouse

    Norway poles

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    There is a photograph in Jim Russell's book 'GWR Wagons Appendix' that shows a wagon loaded with long, thin conifer tree-trunks, of the kind referred to as 'Norway poles'. For some time I have wanted to model a similar load.
     
    The wagon itself has been described in this blog before, and has a rather chequered history. Amongst other issues, I put washer plates on the inside, corresponding to the attachment points for the sheet supporter mechanism at each end. I was following the RCH drawing for the sheet supporter parts, which was the only information I had at the time; since then, I have seen photos that show the GWR didn't put washer plates on the inside. I therefore wanted to add a load to hide the washer plates I had put in, so this was my opportunity to model the Norway poles.
     
    Making the poles has been a slow process - 15 months in fact. They are made from the twigs of a Christmas tree, with the needles stripped off and most of the bark sanded off. I collected all the suitable twigs from our 2022 tree, but there weren't quite enough, so I had to wait until the 2023 tree became available. Each time, I left the twigs for a couple of months to dry out, then stripped the needles and sanded then with coarse sandpaper. The remaining texture gives a reasonable impression of the partly-stripped bark seen in the prototype photo:
     

     
    The bottom layer of poles was glued to a piece of stiff card about two-thirds the length of the wagon. More poles were glued on top, and the final layer left loose, as I wanted to ensure there was no glue visible. The roping follows that shown in the photo, and is made with 0.75mm rigging thread, as used by ship modellers - the same technique I have described in previous blog entries. A small amount of thin cyanoacrylate glue holds the knots in place.
     

     

     

     
    And here with a 2-plank wagon as a runner:
     

     
    Nick.
  3. magmouse
    I have just finished making an LNWR 4-plank open, to diagram 84. This was meant to be a "quickie", as a relaxing diversion following the complexities of the horsebox and before getting my teeth into a brake van. However, it has taken three months - partly due to a lack of modelling time recently, and partly because it turned out to be a bit more involved than I had expected.
    The starting point was the ABS whitemetal kit. My first impression was - it's enormous. The prototype was 18 feet over headstocks, and for a moment when getting the kit out of the box I thought I might have got a 1 Gauge version by mistake...
     
    The kit is, as is generally the case with ABS, excellent - the castings are clean, detailed and precise. It would be perfectly possible to build the kit as intended, and have a very nice model at the end of it. Inevitably, though, I made some changes, adding compensation, a few missing details, backdating features to suit my 1908 period, and of course adding the LNWR wagon sheet.
     

     
    The build started by making some modifications to accommodate the Ambis compensation units. The axleguards are supplied as separate castings, and these were cut off below the springs and soldered in place with low-melt:
     

     

     
    The back was then filed flat to remove the remaining axleguard behind the spring, and provide clearance for the etched axleguard:
     

     
    Once cleaned up I had good-looking springs attached to the solebars:
     

     
    Buffers were fitted - in this case, not the supplied ones, as the early examples of diagram 84 wagons had the older type of LNWR buffers, with 3 bolts. Luckily the old ABS parts were still available from David Parkins. The buffer guides were drilled out to take a set of Peco sprung heads; I find it easier to ensure the drill is going in straight with the guides attached to the wagon ends, but before assembling the wagon.
     
    I soldered the sides and ends together - it's worth putting in the time to make sure the four corners fit together well, as this is a slight weakness of the kit. A bit of fettling though will get the corner square in all planes. A plasticard floor gave me something to fix things to, though of course no detailing was needed as the inside was to be hidden by the sheet.
     

     

     
    The Ambis axleguard units were made up, after chemically blackening the visible parts to help the paint cover, and to reduce the chance of missing bits and getting glints of metal.
     

     

     
     
     
    The Ambis etch includes a 'spine' that spaces the axleguards to give the required wheelbase. However, the D84s had an unusual wheelbase of 9'9", so I had to do a 'cut and shut' to get the correct spacing:
     

     
    The fold-up parts at either end position and hold the axleguard assemblies, with one rocking on a pivot rod, and the other fixed.
     
    A trial assembly revealed there was quite a gap between the back of the springs and the axleguards. This was partly due to the solebars being very slightly too far apart, and the springs not being thick enough. I increased the spring thickness with 20 thou plasticard cut out roughly after tracing the shape:
     

     
    I glued them on the back of the springs, and then trimmed the excess with a sharp scalpel blade:
     

     
    Pieces of plasticard glued to the floor ensured accurate positioning of the axleguard assembly, which itself was glued on once I was happy everything was positioned correctly.
     

     
    The hole in the headstocks for the coupling hook was too large for the Peco couplings I wanted to use, so I filed of the cast detailing and glued on some etched replacements:
     

     
    The two holes in this picture in the headstock between the end stanchions and the the buffers are for the rings used to tie off the sheet. The rings were made from fine fuse wire wrapped around the shank of a suitably-sized drill. I try to plan out details like this and drill the holes early in the build, but only fit the details later, when there is less chance they will get damaged.
     
    It is always a nice moment when you get the wagon 'on its feet' - it feels like real progress. You can also see in this picture I have replaced the cast horse hook with brass wire. I filled some very slight gaps where the ends and sides meet, though as the corners are almost completely concealed by the sheet, I needn't have bothered.
     

     
    I often replace cast or plastic vee hangers with etched items, but in this case I used the ones provided in the kit. The are finely cast, with chamfered back edges to hide the thickness of the material. The double vee hanger arrangement lends strength, and this was supposed to be a quick build, after all...
     

     
    Also in this picture you can see I added a pair of L-brackets to the solebar below where the side knees are. They were made from plastic strip. Also visible is the tie-off point next to the door spring, made from wire. I struggled to find a clear photo of these, but they appear to be L-shaped, coming down from the underside of the curb rail and turning back towards the solebar, but not quite meeting it. There are five each side.
     
    The brake gear made use of the kit castings, packed up with plasticard to get the shoes aligned with the wheel centres. I used a piece of brass tube to make the cross-shaft, as this makes attaching the brake lever easy later on - a piece of wire can be soldered through a hole in the end of lever, and slid into the tube at the final assembly stage.
     

     

     
    The axleboxes were a change from the kit ones, to be the correct type for early D84s; they again came from David Parkins. The wagon was physically complete at this point, apart from brake levers and guards, and the buffers and couplings which I always do after painting:
     

     
    The brake levers and guards were from Ambis parts (I didn't take a picture of the levers):
     

     
    A coat of etch primer reveals just how good the castings are:
     

     
    The top coat was a 50/50 mix of black and white Vallejo acrylic paint, brushed on. Only the underframe and bottom of the body needed painting, as the rest would be hidden by the sheet. The tare number on the solebar and the end numbers came from a sheet of LMS Pressfix transfers from the HMRS, as I didn't have the official LNWR ones in stock. They seem to be passable to my GWR-trained eye!
     

     
     
    The wagon sheet
     
    The sheet was made using my usual method, described in previous blog posts. The artwork is printed onto paper, which is then backed with adhesive aluminium tape. For the LNWR sheet, however, I needed to create my own artwork, and there doesn't seem to be a single authoritative source of information on the design - rather, there are fragments of information, which sometimes conflicts. I have put some references and links at the end of this post for those who are interested.
     
    Based on what I could find, I created the artwork in Affinity Designer. This software enabled me to use an existing font for the letters and numbers, and then convert the font outlines into 'paths' which can then be edited. I could therefore use fonts that were close to what was required, but then modify the letter and number forms to get as close as possible to what I could see in photos.
    I have made the artwork available for anyone who wants to use it:
     
     
     
    Here is a trial print of the incomplete artwork, to see how it fits onto the wagon:
     

     
    Part of the challenge of fitting the sheet is that the wagon is 18 feet long, and in my 1908 period, LNWR sheets were a non-standard 19'6" X 15'5". This left only a scale 9" overhang at each end, but enough at the sides to hang right down to the curb rails:
     

     
    The problem with the sheet hanging down so far is that it isn't possible to tension it properly with the ties along the long edges attaching to the tie-off points under the curb rail. I suspect the LNWR changed the sheet size from 1910 for exactly these reasons - with the increasing numbers of 18' long wagons, the old size of sheet was no longer suitable.
     
    I decided to place the sheet on the wagon with a slight offset. On one side the sheet hangs down less far, and can be tied off in the usual way. On the other side, the sheet is tucked up, held in place by ties attached to the triangular flaps that were sewn into the first seam (sheets were generally made from five strips of fabric sewn together).
     
    I made the flaps from triangles of paper, glued in place. You can see them here just above the "381" number and below the line of the "LNWR" letters:
     

     
    As I was modelling the sheet covering a (presumed) load below the height of the wagon sides, I wanted it to dip in the centre. To keep the sheet in the required shape, I made a former in plasticard, to run as a spine along the centre of the wagon:
     

     
    I glued this under the sheet before attaching it to the wagon:
     

     
    You can also see here the ties, made from EZ Line (a very thin elastic thread), glued to the back of the sheet and fed through holes where the prototype's eyelets would be.
     
    I attached the sheet onto the wagon, starting by gluing it to the top edges of the sides and ends. Then the overhangs at the sides and ends could be glued into place, teasing the sheet into shape with the aim of making it look like a flexible material hanging under its own weight. I had already done some initial weathering of the wagon, using weathering powders and water-soluble artist's oil paints.
     

     
    One problem I had which I have not experienced with this technique for making the sheets before was the separation of the foil backing from the paper top surface around the sheet edges. I suspect this was down to the amount of handling of the sheet, trying to manipulate it into shape, as well as the short overhangs at the ends. The short overhangs means the sheet is being bent through 90 degrees very close to its edge, and this may have put too much stress on the aluminium tape's adhesive.
     
    After replenishing the swear box a few times, and trying both UHU and cyanoacrylate glues, I managed to get the sheet into shape and fix the separation of the sheet layers. I followed this by retouching the paint on the sheet. I alway paint over the black print, as the laser printer print looks too much like what it is. However, with the amount of handling the sheet gets when fixing it, there is always quite a lot of touching up to do. Once the sheet was fettled, the ties were wrapped around the tie-off points and held in place with a touch of thin CA glue applied with the end of a bit of wire.
     
    I added number plates printed on ordinary paper with a laser printer and cut out. The artwork was based on that provided by Stephen Lea:
     
     
    And that was pretty much it - final assembly of the brake lever and guard, and the buffers and couplings, a last touch up of paint and weathering, and the wagon was ready for a photo session.
     

     

     

     
     
     
    The lettering on the sheet is best seen from a modeller's-eye view:
     

     
    And a brutal close-up of the sheet artwork:
     

     
    To make the point about the size of these wagons, here it is alongside a GWR 2-plank:
     

     

    Acknowledgements
     
    Thank you to all those who have helped me as I learned about LNWR wagons, particularly those who contributed to the following threads:
     
     
     
     

    References and links regarding LNWR wagon sheets
     
    There is a drawing of the LNWR sheet design, although it shows the sheet number painted on the ends as well as the sides of the sheet, which I have not seen in photos: http://igg.org.uk/rail/9-loads/9-tarps.htm
     
    Sheets were discussed in some detail here, but the images have been lost which makes it hard to follow some of the discussion now, unfortunately:
     
     
    Further discussion took place in the D299 thread:
     
    LNWR number plate artwork:
     
     
    You can find my artwork here:
     

    Nick.
  4. magmouse
    For my 1908 GWR setting, I can't have too many 4-plank opens - they were around 40% of the revenue-earning fleet. My planned rosta of 20 GWR wagons therefore includes eight 4-plankers, and it is another one of these that is the subject of this post. It differs from the last one in being made from the ABS whitemetal kit (remaining stocks still available from DJ Parkins). It also has a load of straw under a sheet - inspired by Mikkel's similar creation in 4mm scale.
     

     
    The kit comprises four main castings, and then the running gear, brakes, buffers, and so on:
     

     
    The body was soldered together with low-melt solder:
     

     

     
    The interior is nicely detailed. I soldered up the inside corners, as I knew the inside wouldn't be visible with the straw load. I think it would be hard to do this cleanly, so if I wanted the inside to be seen, I would spot-solder underneath for strength, then put some epoxy resin into the gap inside the corner and clean it up when half hard.
     
     

     
    The axleguards and wheels were added:
     

     
    The floor provided is a piece of planked plastikard. It is a bit flimsy, and as I didn't need the plank detail, I replaced it with 40 thou plastikard to provide a solid foundation for the brake gear below and the former for the straw above.
     

     
    Next was the brake gear. The main casting is nicely detailed, so I used it, together with the vee-hanger that is integral to the side castings. For my period, the brake gear should be single-sided. The cross-shaft was made from 1mm internal diameter brass tube, with a piece of 1mm brass wire running through it. This method means I have a cross-shaft that is the right diameter (the real things were quite chunky, and often modelled too small in 7mm scale), but with the holes in the vee-hanger, brake lever and other parts needing to be only 1mm diameter. This is much easier than trying to drill 1.6mm or so holes, which leaves very little metal around the hole.
     
    On the prototype, the brake gear had a single support strut for the cross-shaft on the inside end, so this was made from a bit of scrap etch.
     

     
    The view from the front - the brake shoes and hangers, which are the earlier type made from a simple piece of flat metal, are very nicely modelled in the ABS casting:
     

     
    The supplied brake lever and lever guard are a bit crude - an inevitable consequence of being cast in whitemetal. I replaced them with parts from Ambis:
     

     
    With brake safety loops from nickel silver strip, a door banger plate from plastikard, buffers and couplings, the wagon is physically complete. The CRT Kits sprung buffer heads were fitted to the ABS cast guides after drilling them out accordingly. They are seen here with the couplings on the wagon just for show - they weren't permanently fitted until after painting:
     

     
    The wagon was painted with Halford's red oxide primer, and then the sides and ends were varnished with Vallejo acrylic gloss, ready for lettering. My preference was not to varnish, as the matt primer finish is a very good basis for the fairly heavy weathering I was planning to apply, and I was going to use Pressfix transfers, which don't need a gloss surface. However, I have run out of small "G.W.R" texts on my Pressfix sheet, so the lettering had to be done with waterslide transfers:
     

     
    The numbers are from those supplied by PECO with their 4-plank kit - they come as a complete number rather than separate numerals, which makes life easier and guarantees the numerals are straight. However, they are a bluer white than the Slater's transfers which I used for the other lettering. I also struggled to prevent silvering, despite using both Microset and Microsol, and having varnished previously, so I probably won't use them again.
     
    The basis of the hay load was a former made of layers of corrugated cardboard, and covered with cut up plumber's hemp:
     

     
    This former was made some time ago, originally for the PECO 4-plank wagon I described in another post, before I decided that would remain empty. I based the former on the pictures of hay and straw bales being loaded in Russell's GWR Wagons Appendix. I later discovered that for my period (1908) hay and straw came in hand-made 'trusses' which were loaded differently and tended to make a less rectangular shape. I kept the former, thinking I could pack additional hemp around it to create a more rounded shape, but as we will see I was only partly successful.
     
    Weathering was applied with a mix of washes and dry-brushing in greys, browns and pinks (for the slightly faded paint areas). The former was glued in:
     

     
    Extra hemp was pushed in to fill the slight space between the wagon sides and the former - I kept the hemp over-long at this stage, for trimming later:
     

     
    The sheet was made from paper and aluminium foil using the methods described previously. One change was the cords - rather than using EZ Line, I used 0.25mm rigging thread (used by ship modellers). I realised that I would not be able to glue the sheet to the former in the way I had previously, and the cords would have to do some real work pulling the sheet into position. The EZ Line is elastic, but quite weak, and would not be able to apply enough force.
     

     
    I put some extra hemp over the former before applying the sheet. The plan was this would create the straw coming out under the ends of the sheet, and I would stuff extra hemp under the sides once it was roped into position.
     

     
    To keep everything in place while I roped the sheet on, I held the sheet and the wagon together on a wooden block with a couple of large elastic bands:
     

     
    I used a miniature brass clamp to hold the end of each cord, so I could keep it under tension with the weight of the clamp while I had both hands free to turn the cord around the hooks under the curb rail:
     

     
    The cord was glued in position with a drop of thin CA, applied on the end of a piece of wire. The ABS kit comes with a representation of the hooks cast into the sides and ends. These are neater than the wire hooks I have made on other wagons, which are a bit over-scale, but the ABS casting is not actually a hook shape, just a piece of metal sticking down. The cord tends to slip off, and if I was doing it again I would probably replace the cast protrusions with wire hooks to make attaching the cords easier.  
     

     
    I started with the three side cords, doing one side then the other, making sure the sheet was tight over the top of the former when doing the second side. I then did the ends, leaving the corners to last:
     

     
    The corners are folded in and tied, using tweezers to push and prod the material into something like the folds the real thing takes up. Extra hemp was pushed up under the sides using a wooden stirrer - the round end preventing damage to the sheet. Looking at photos of wagons with hay and straw loads, it is clear the sheets have a degree of stretch to them - they form over the rounded load in a curving shape without a lot of loose material. The combination of my too-rectangular former and non-stretchy sheet meant I had an excess of material at the ends, which formed into folds that are not prototypical. As far as possible, I got the hemp to look as if it was supporting these folds as some sort of justification, but this aspect could definitely be improved.
     
    Next, I trimmed the hemp back with small, sharp scissors, trying to get the uneven look of the straw sticking out seen in pictures. Finally, I added the ropes from 0.5mm rigging cord. The real ropes were 75 feet long, or 525mm in 7mm scale, so I cut two pieces that length.
     
    The GWR General Appendix to the Rule Book shows how straw and hay should be roped - different methods for the two types of load. Straw is roped with ropes going across the wagon in three places, while for hay the ropes go across twice, and diagonally twice. Unfortunately it doesn't give details of how exactly the ropes should be tied, and none of the pictures I had were clear enough to show this, so I used a certain amount of guesswork. Each of the two ropes starts at a left-hand buffer (looking at the wagon from the side), goes to a hook a quarter of the way along the wagon, over the load, along to the centre, over again, and is tied off onto itself. I ended up with a few scale feet of rope left over, which I cut off, not knowing how the excess would have been dealt with in reality - I imagine if an actual railwayman had done that, he would have been dismissed for damaging company property!
     
    With all the handling, the sheet needed some touching up, as did the wagon, but with that, the job was done. With hindsight, I wish I had made a new former to give a slightly more rounded effect - the load is rather flat on top compared to photos, especially along the length of the wagon. That would also have given me the opportunity to create slight 'valleys' where the ropes press into the sheet. As it is, while they aren't loose, they don't especially give the sense of being under tension. Nevertheless, I am pleased with the overall effect.
     
    Loads like this are quite a lot of work, but they add interest - and the horses of Netherport will now have something comfortable to lie on.
     

     

     

     
    Nick.

     
  5. magmouse

    GWR 4-plank with casks

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    Yet another GWR 4-plank! This time in grey livery, and with a load of large casks:
     

     
    The wagon itself is a standard Peco kit, which I got on eBay as a 'rescue' wagon - it had been built reasonably well but painted poorly. I scraped most of the paint off the main flat areas, and repaired a partly broken W-iron. I removed the compensated wheel-set in the process, which turned out to be quite useful later on.
     

     
    I also upgraded a few parts - firstly the damaged brake lever was replaced with an Ambis etched version. The brake lever guard was made up from nickel silver strip and a ratchet taken from the Ambis etch:
     

     

     
    The moulded chains for the door pins were replaced with twisted fuse wire. This is done by taking a 5cm length of fine fuse wire, folding it in half around the shank of a 1.5mm drill, and putting the two ends into a pin chuck. Twizzling the pin chuck twists the wire, and when it is tight, the wire can be slid off the drill, leaving a nice loop for the ring if you need to model that. In this case, I kept the moulded ring, and just replaced the chain, scraping off the moulded version, drilling a fine hole, inserting the twisted wire, and adding a small drop of thin CA glue applied on the end of a piece of fine wire.
     

     
    Cleats were added to the end curb rails, and under the side curb rails, using some 0.5mm soft iron wire. This bends to shape easily, and is blackened, reducing the chance of a metallic gleam if the paint is rubbed off.
     

     
    The rest of the work on the wagon was pretty standard - painting with a home-brew GWR grey mixed from black and white Vallejo acrylics, lettering with HMRS pressfix, and fairly light weathering with powders.
     
    Most of the work in this build was the casks, and simulating the correct method of loading them. The casks themselves are from MiniArt:
     

     
    They are nominally 1:35 scale, but the detail is finely moulded, so they pass for larger casks at 1:43.5. In the kit you get 6 sprues, which provide parts for 12 casks, 6 each of two sizes:
     

     
    For this wagon load, I chose the larger casks, which are very close to the right length for 'tuns' - a particular size of cask - although they are slightly too large in diameter.
     
    The GWR Appendix to the Rule Book, 1936, has instructions for loading casks. Large ones, such as tuns and puncheons, containing wines and spirits, are to be loaded on rope rings, and roped to the side of the wagon. Curiously, the photographs used to illustrate the method show a Midland Railway 3-plank wagon. The photos are poorly reproduced, especially the one that shows the roping, though the one showing the inside is available online online in much better quality, from the Midland Railway archives.
     
    My attempts to find a better version of the second photo, are documented in the following thread, together with other discussion of casks, loading, etc, so I won't repeat that information here:
     
     
    Researching rope rings, I found some instructions on YouTube for tying a crown knot. I used 1mm diameter rigging thread, from www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk. I won't give full instructions here, as they are easily found on the internet, but here are the basic steps:
     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    I didn't make a complete ring, as you can only see one side, since the casks are tight to the wagon side on the other.
     
    Each part-ring was glued around a plastikard centre, to hold the ring in shape and to give something solid to glue to both the cask and the wagon floor. 
     

     
    To get the cask to nestle nicely into the rope ring, I soaked the sides of the ring, where it can't be seen, in thin CA glue to harden the thread, and then filed a shallow depression in the rope and the plastic centre with a half-round file. Holding the ring was made easier by putting a drill in the vice, shank upwards, and putting the ring onto that while filing it:
     

     
    The result was a close fit between ring and cask, helping give a sense the cask is heavy, and squashing the ring somewhat:
     

     
    I drilled a hole in what would be the bottom of each cask to take a cocktail stick, which acted as a handle for painting, and later to locate the rope ring:
     

     
    The first coat of paint was a grey primer, then a warm new-wood cream colour. This was followed by dry brushing in greys and browns:
     

     
    And washes of greys, with a touch of brown weathering powder:
     

     
    The metal rings were painted with a fine brush using a dark grey, followed by a lighter grey dry-brushing. The crisp moulding of the casks means that though this is a fiddly job, it's perfectly possible to get a neat result.
     
    Once I was happy with the casks, the rope rings were glued in place, sliding them up the cocktail sticks, which were trimmed off once the glue was set.
     

     
    The GWR rules appendix doesn't refer to any packing between the casks and the wagon side, though it firmly forbids the use of straw rings under the casks - only a rope ring will do. The equivalent section of the BR rules says straw pads should be used to "prevent chafage". I decided to add knots of straw (made from plumbers' hemp) as packing, glued to the sides of the casks:
     

     
    The casks were then glued into position, ready for the roping. In the absence of a better photo, I did the best I could with the picture in the GWR rules appendix:
     

     
    As far as I could tell from this picture, the ropes go something like this:
     

     
    A GWR 4-plank has different available tying-off points compared to a MR 3-plank, so I had to adapt things a little. In particular, I was able to use the holes in the solebar - and at this point it was an advantage that I had removed the compensated axle unit as part of my repairs to the already-built kit. To ensure the ropes looped through the solebar hole did not foul the movement of the compensated axleguards, I cut away the back of the solebar a little, making a slot for the thread to sit in.
     
    The prototype ropes were 75 feet long, or 525mm in 7mm scale. I used 0.5mm diameter rigging thread, which is almost exactly the right size, cut to length and given a diluted wash in India ink. On each side, one rope does the first two casks, and a second rope does the third, and runs back along the side to tension the verticals:
     

     
    And there it is. As it turns out, with the straw packing between the sides and the casks, the space between the casks along the centre of the wagon is so narrow it is almost impossible to see the rope rings, but you can glimpse them if you look at the right angle and in the right light. I haven't yet decided what to do with the smaller casks, but they would have a larger gap if I decide to do a similar load, or I could do a part load with casks on one side and something else on the other, so the rings are visible.
     
    Although my wagon 'roadmap' has eight GWR 4-plankers, they will all have different combinations of details and loads, sparing me from too much monotony. I am greatly enjoying modelling the loads, based on research and in particular the correct methods of loading as shown in the rules book appendix. They also say something about the role of the railways, and life in general, in Edwardian Britain.
     

     

     

     

     
     
    Nick.
  6. magmouse

    GWR Horsebox N4 - part 2

    By magmouse,


    Non-passenger coaching stock
    Continuing from my previous post, this time I describe building the body of the horsebox, including the groom's compartment interior.
    The main etches for the body are in two parts, each with a side and an end, to be folded up to make two 'L' shape pieces. There are overlays for the sides of the compartment and the ends, to create the different layers of panelling.
     
    The first stage was to put on the overlays, and then add all the details such as hinges, door strapping, and so on:
     

     
    The overlays required the use of the mini gas torch, as even my 100W soldering iron couldn't put enough heat into the amount of brass involved. This was a learning curve for me, trying to avoid over-heating and distorting the parts due to differential expansion of the metal.
     
    Before assembling the two body parts, I did some work on the interior, which was all done in plasticard.
     
    The plasticard compartment sides are quite complex, as they have to accommodate the windows and droplights, which are in different planes. I used different thicknesses of plasticard in different places to allow for this. The first stage was a 'core' layer, fitted to the brass sides, on which the visible interior was built:
     

     
    The various panels of the interior were built up in sections, each with the planking scribed with an Olfa cutter. I didn't have details of the interior of the diagram N4 horseboxes, but there is a detailed cross-section of the slightly earlier diagram N3 in Janet Russell's Great Western Horsepower, which was my main point of reference.
     

     
    My plan was to use the etched droplights on the outside of the window, and make plasticard ones for the inside of the droplight. Here, the brass part is held in place with sellotape, while the plastic part is cut to match:
     

     
    In the end, I managed to lose the brass droplights while working on other parts of the build, and had to replace them with more plastic. One of them has since turned up, and I am confident the other will appear when we move house.
     
    The ventilation grills over the door were marked out by punching two lines of holes in plasticard using the rivet press:
     

     
    These could then be cut through to make the slots with rounded ends. Once fitted, the side panelling was complete:
     

     
    With that done, the body could be assembled:
     

     

     
    I then made the rest of the interior - floor, partition and end wall:
     

     
    I knew I would need to paint the brass body and interior parts before fitting the interior. The flanges on the top of the brass sides prevent the interior dropping in as a single assembly, so I designed the end panel, partition and floor to sit tightly between the interior sides, so the sides would be held tightly against the inside of the brass body at both ends and along the bottom once assembled. The use of various layers to make the sides meant there was some distortion as the solvent dried, but they are flattened out because the end, partition and floor wedge between them.
     
    Next was the seat, the back of which also forms the partition with the thin compartment used for storing bales (partitions that go between the horses):
     

     
    Opposite the seat is a low box, that covers the spring mechanism that counterbalances the weight of the drop down doors to the horse compartment.
     

     
    Above, there are three hatches, in line with the heads of the three horses the box xan accommodate, which allow the groom to check on the horses. The hatches are each on structures with tapered sides and bottom, projecting into the groom's compartment. I made these up with layered plasticard, cut and filed to size:
     

     

     

     
    The drawing shows the seat as upholstered, but not the back. I used a 3D print from CPL, filed down to make it a bit thinner:
     

     
    The drawing is difficult to interpret, but seems to indicate an armrest on the centre line, so I made one from plastic strip, and cut the cushion in half to fit round it:
     

     
    Back with the brass body, final details were added - end handrails, door bolts, and so on:
     

     

     
    The grab handles were bent up from brass wire, filed to make the flat front face:
     

     
    Looking at the prototype photos, the drop down doors to the horse compartment have rounded strips where the door lands on the platform, and at the bottom of the door. I used some plastic rod, scraping it with a scalpel to make a half-round section:
     

     
    That completed the detailing, with the exception of the door handles for the groom's compartment and the bale compartment, which stick out and are vulnerable to damage. I left these off until the very end of the build:
     

     
    The brass body was painted first with U-Pol #8 etch primer, and then Precision GWR coach brown in an aerosol. Once hard, the paint was rubbed down and buffed using Giles's technique, described here:
     
     
     
    Weathering was with water soluble artist's oil paints, mainly raw umber, which is very similar to the GWR chocolate, but which gives the impression of dirt accumulating around the edges of the panelling, and so on. The process is to brush on plenty of paint all over:
     

     
    This is then wiped off with paper towel, leaving it in the nooks and crannies. The paint dries very slowly (days) so you can keep working it until you are happy.
     
    The interior was painted with Vallejo acrylics. Once painted, it could be finally assembled into the body, but before that, I set up the scene with the groom figure - an S&D whitemetal casting - and photographed it for the record:
     

     
    And then installed in the body:
     

     

     

     
    At this stage, the chains for the door securing pins were added from twisted 5 amp fuse wire:
     

     
    Transfers are HMRS pressfix, and the door handles are lost wax brass castings from the Broad Gauge Society; they completed the build of the body:
     

     

     
    In the final instalment, I will describe the roof, and the interior lighting.
     
    Nick.
  7. magmouse

    GWR Horsebox N4 - part 3

    By magmouse,


    Non-passenger coaching stock
    In this post I describe the roof and lighting for my diagram N4 GWR horsebox, following previous posts detailing the build process for the underframe and body.
     
    Before getting into the nitty-gritty of the construction, I want to say a few things about why I chose to light the interior of the horsebox. My plan is to be able to run Netherport, when it is finally built, in night mode - or, more accurately, dusk mode: the last light in the sky, lamps starting to be lit in buildings, and of course in passenger trains. I have ambitious plans for a theatre-like cyclorama sky, on which sunset can take place. Partly this is inspired by my earlier career as a theatre lighting designer, but even before that, memories of visiting Pendon as a boy in the 1970s, and seeing the Dartmoor scene in its night state, with the lit train crossing the silhouetted viaduct.
     
    The horsebox seemed like a good starting point for experimenting with coach lighting - only one compartment to be lit, and planty of space for whatever electronic gubbins is required. Most people use LEDs for this purpose, and it's easy to understand why - they are small, cheap, have a very long life, and use very little power. However, they have one big drawback - colour. Nominally, you can get LEDs in a variety of shades of white, from warm whites (yellow/orangish) to cool (bluish), but the issue is that the spectral output is not that of a naked flame or heated lamp filament. I won't get too technical here, but the upshot is that warm white LEDs are almost always a bit pink or a bit acid yellow/green, not a true warm white.
     
    There are two disadvantages to this - firstly, the colour of the light looks wrong, and secondly, there is a risk that colours are not rendered properly. Due, I suspect, to my professional background, I am particularly fussy about light colour, and I am sure many people find LEDs perfectly acceptable. I also think it may be possible to find LEDs that would meet my needs, but I haven't managed to yet.
    I did some experimenting with small filament lamps, and found that a 12V, 60mA lamp run at half voltage gives both a good colour for the naked flame of an oil lamp (which these horseboxes were equipped with), and the right brightness to light the compartment in subdued room lighting:
     

     
    As an aside, please don't judge the colour of light in these photographs - or, probably, any photograph. There are many steps going from the light in my room to the light that enters your eyes when you look at your screen, and there is no overall control of that process to ensure consistency and accuracy.
     
    Having established a light source that would get me the effect I wanted, the next question was control. After a bit of research, I chose the ESU Lokpilot 5 FX as a DCC decoder - the FX version does not include motor control, it just provides control for accessories. A key advantage of this decoder is that you can set it to provide a slight fade in and fade out on the lighting outputs, rather than a snap on and off. This seems better for an oil lamp.
     
    Here is the decoder being tested with the lamp and a 100R resistor wired in series to drop the voltage to the required 6V:
     

     
    The test rig has a small circuit board with an 8-pin DCC socket to plug the decoder into, wired into 'choc-block' connectors. The circuit board was a cheap eBay purchase, and very handy. I also used one in the finished horsebox so the decoder can be easily removed if necessary.
     
    I added a 'keep alive' to the circuit, using the design given in the ESU documentation, although this seems to make very little if any difference:
     

     
    With the plan for the electronics sorted, I moved on to the roof. The kit includes a brass roof, ready formed to the required profile - though it did need some tweaking. I felt it was important the three sub-assemblies (chassis, body, roof) remained separable, for access to the interior of the grooms compartment in case of dust or parts becoming detached, and to the electronics. I arranged for a length of studding to go vertically in the centre of the horsebox through a hole in the chassis floor, to a nut soldered to the centre of the roof. I soldered a nut to the bottom end of the studding and cut a slot in it to take a screwdriver. tightening the studding clamps the roof down onto the body, and the body onto the chassis, holding everything together. I made the roof with slightly too much curvature, so the sides of the roof are clamped down onto the body first, so avoiding any gaps.
     
    To ensure the roof didn't bend in the middle, I soldered a piece of brass channel along the centreline, stiffening the roof lengthways. The nut was soldered into the channel:
     

     
    In the above picture you can see the roof has been sprayed white - this was after covering the top side with model aircraft tissue, glued on with the relevant dope. This gives a nice, subtle texture, which worked well with the weathering later on.
     

     
    The lamp was attached to two lengths of copper wire - stripped out from a bit of 'twin and earth' electrical cable. The idea is these help draw the heat away from the lamp - the lamp runs at about 50mA when at 6V, and that current also flows through the dropper resistor, so that's 0.05A x 12V = 0.6W of power being dissipated. Not huge, but it's a confined space and I would rather get it away from the delicate compartment interior as quickly as possible.
     

     
    And with the copper wire trimmed:
     

     
    At the other end of the roof (the 'kicking' end) I added a small PCB connector on a piece of stripboard, so the roof could be disconnected when required:
     

     
    The final detailing of the roof involved adding rain strips from plastic strip, the oil lamp top and the ventilator. The kit includes a nice cast 'trumpet' ventilator, but by my 1908 period these had been replaced by gas lamp tops. There is no lighting in the horse compartment - the gas lamp tops were used purely as vents.
     

     
    The oil lamp top was a nice casting, with dimples where the holes should be, but the appearance can be improved by drilling these out with a 0.5mm drill. I realised it would be possible to drill up through the centre with a larger drill, and have the small holes meet in the middle. The lamp top of course has the actual lamp directly below, so a little light comes out of the vent holes, which you can just see when it is dark. In reality, this almost certainly wouldn't happen - there are too many baffles controlling the air flow for light to come out - but I couldn't resist this little piece of theatre.
     

     
    The final element of the lighting system is the pickups. These were made with phosphor bronze wire, rubbing on the edge of the flange. For each of the four pickups, I soldered a short length of fine brass tube to a piece of stripboard, and also soldered on a length of flexible electrical wire. These units were glued under the axles, with a piece of plasticard to pack them up so the pickups would clear various obstructions:
     

     
    The phosphor bronze wire was then added, bent into a right angle and fed into the brass tube. A dab of solder fixed the wire to the tube. Doing it this way allowed me to adjust the tension of the pickup wire against the wheel at the moment of soldering.
     
    The four wires were routed above the chassis floor, held in place with some plasticard 'cable guides':
     

     
    I tested the pickups with a temporary setup comprising two of the 12V lamps in series, driven by the DCC power, without the decoder. This showed that the pickups work OK as long as the wheels and track are scrupulously clean, though with some occasional and very slight flicker, especially when changing direction. The keep-alive circuit doesn't seem to help much with this - once in use, I will have to see if it is acceptable or not. Plan B would probably be some kind of battery or super-capacitor set-up, constantly topped up by the DCC power.
     

     
    I added another connector, so the chassis can be disconnected from the rest of the electronics:
     

     
    The keep-alive circuit and the PCB with the DCC 8-pin socket were glued to a plasticard construction to stop them falling about inside the body, with the risk of a short circuit. You can't see if very easily here because of all the wires, but hopefully you get a sense of it:
     

     
    A final addition was this plasticard item - a block with a conical hole to guide the length of studding into the nut when putting it all together, glued to the roof:
     

     
    And all this work is so our groom can read his paper after dark:
     

     
    In the gathering gloom, the train slowly makes its way, taking groom and horses towards their destination...
     

     

     

     
    Nick.

     
  8. magmouse

    GWR Horsebox N4 - part 1

    By magmouse,


    Non-passenger coaching stock
    Well, it's been a while since the last post...
     
    It's not that I haven't been doing any modelling, it's just that this horsebox has been a bit of an epic, as you will see. I'll describe the build in three parts:
        the underframe     the body, including the interior     the roof and lighting. It's worth noting that I worked on each of the three sub-assemblies in parallel, so this won't be a completely chronological account of the build, but hopefully it will make the most sense this way.
    The starting point is the D&S etched brass kit, which is no longer available, but I was able to find one unbuilt on eBay. The kit is quite an old one, based on hand-drawn artwork rather than CAD, and there are a few issues with it. Nevertheless, it's a good starting point.
     
    The chassis build starts with the floor, bending up the buffer beams:
     

     
    The kit provides for one axle to be compensated:
     

     
    The holes for the bearings are too large for Slaters ones, and measurement and testing suggested the axleguards would place the bearings too far apart for the Slaters axles, so I added some washers to pack the bearings out (or rather, in):
     

     
    The complicated Dean brake gear, with its outside rigging, means I needed to think carefully about the order of assembly, and when things would be painted. I wanted to paint the wheels to simulate the teak centres, and this would be difficult once they were trapped in the axle guard assemblies, so I painted them first and then protected them with Tamiya masking sheet:
     

     

     
    The axle guards provided for the fixed end have tabs that look as if they should go into slots in the floor, but there are no slots, and it is unclear how the axle guards should be located. The above picture shows how I made the fixed axle into a separate unit, using spare brass from another etched kit. This was located with a couple of pieces of brass wire acting as locating pins. The pins are soldered to the floor, and the axle guard unit has corresponding holes.
     
    The brake gear is designed to be attached to the rocking unit at one end, and the floor at the fixed axle end. I decided to keep these as separate assemblies for as long as possible, so they could be fully painted before putting everything together. I assembled the brake gear on a sheet of squared paper, sellotaped to a piece of glass:
     

     

     
    Incidentally, one GWR drawing of a horse box refers to the compartment end as the 'groom's end' and the other end as the 'kicking end', so I decided to adopt this rather delightful terminology.
     
    The rods for the outside linkages were made up using the wire and etched parts provided in the kit:
     

     

     
    I used epoxy glue to attach strips of paper to the brake shoes, to ensure no short circuits:
     

     
    Next was the vacuum cylinder and associated parts:
     

     
    A dry assembly tested that everthing would go together. At this stage, everything could still come apart for painting and further work - the rocking axle unit is held in by the pivot rod, which can be slid out, and the fixed axle unit is on its locating pins, which are simply bent over slightly to hold the axle guard assembly in place.
     

     
    Next were the solebars. The kit provides overlays, half etched to provide rivet head detail. There are also raised areas where the spring j-hangers fit, and also for the small triangular brackets that support the body. However, based on the picture of horsebox number 8 in Russell's GWR Coaches part 1, the kit has the brackets in the wrong place. I decided to file the corresponding raised areas flat:
     

     
    The prototype has bulb-section solebars, with a top flange and a rounded thicker section at the bottom. The kit doesn't make any provision to represent this, so I tack soldered brass wire to the edge of the kit fret, and filed it to a half-round section:
     

     
    This was then soldered to the solebar overlays:
     

     
    They cleaned up to give a nice representation of the bulb solebars:
     

     
    And here they are attached to the floor assembly:
     

     
    Another issue with the kit is that on one side the spring stops (etched as part of the solebar) are in the wrong place, and do not align with the centre of the bearing springs. I cut these off and replaced them with a bit of spare etch, in the correct place.
     
    The kit includes whitemetal j-hangers, which I felt didn't capture the look of the original, and would be rather fragile. I decided to bend up my own from brass wire:
     

     
    The trick with these is to file the wire to half thickness where the circle has to be formed at the bottom of the hanger. I probably should have made some kind of jig, but with a bit of faffing I managed to make eight that were reasonably similar.
     
    The kit has etched steps, but since these stick out a long way they are potentially very vulnerable to damage. I soldered nickel silver wire to the back of the supports and under each step, to add strength. Filed to a rounded profile that is deeper than it is wide, the result is much stronger, while still looking reasonably delicate.
     

     

     
    Back to the brake gear, and the pull rods. Two rods need to meet and attach to each end of the double crank. I bent one piece of wire to an angle, so the two could be soldered next to each other, before filing back to a vee shape:
     

     
    The pull rods were attached to the cranks:
     

     
    The main chassis component was complete at this stage, with the brake assemblies and axle guard units (complete with wheels) kept as separate parts for painting.
     
    One thing remained - the axle boxes. The kit comes with quite nice grease boxes, which are correct for 'as built' condition, but by my period they should be oil boxes. I used some cast whitemetal boxes from ABS, which needed some modification before they could be soldered to the springs:
     

     
    The springs are a little thin, so I ended up gluing the spring/axlebox assemblies to a piece of 10 thou black plasticard using thin CA glue, then cutting round them to beef everything up a bit. This helps ensure the springs sit above the ends of the j-hangers as they should, rather than being recessed behind them.
     
    The axleboxes weren't glued on until final assembly, as the springs need to sit above the ends of the j-hangers. The axlebox/spring units had to be be carefully teased into place, as they are also behind the outside brakegear rigging. I realised I had made a mistake at this stage - the strengthened footstep supports clashed with the springs at the groom's end. I ended up cutting the springs into two pieces, with a piece of 10 thou plasticard glued to the back of the two parts to hold them together and to the axle guard. From normal viewing angles, this is pretty much hidden by the steps themselves, but it is just visible if you know what to look for.
     
    I replaced the kit buffers with Slaters sprung ones, but I only attached them at the end of the build. They need to be glued on with the rams and springs already assembled, as there is no room behind the buffer beams to screw on the nuts because of the brake gear.
     
    Vacuum pipes are ABS (nicer than the kit ones) and steam heating pipes are brass castings from CPL, as are the screw couplings.
     
    You'll see the underframe painted and assembled in the final part of this build, but in the meantime, here is a taste of where we are heading:
     

     
    Next time - the body.
     
    Nick.
  9. magmouse

    GWR 4-plank wagon

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    For this first wagon build write-up, I thought I'd start with this GWR 4-plank. For my 1908 period, these represented around 40% of the GWR wagon fleet, so I can hardly have too many. Certainly, whenever I add something exotic, such as a Macaw bolster wagon, I probably need to make a couple more of these...
     

     
    Given that I need several of these 4-plankers, it is very handy that PECO make an excellent 7mm scale kit for them. The mouldings are crisp, well-detailed and fit together nicely, and the design even includes compensation, with one axle pivoted in a sub-assembly. There isn't much to say about the main part of the build, and everything went smoothly until I got to this point:
     

     
    My plan was to do this wagon in the earlier red livery - my 1908 period was selected to allow a mix of red and grey wagons, on the basis that the change of livery was in 1904 (see the many threads covering the various debates about the date of the switch if you are interested!). I sprayed the body with a red oxide primer as an undercoat, which came out a bit rough, so I rubbed down the main areas, as you can see in this picture.
     
    I also painted the inside as an experiment with techniques for painting bare, distressed wood. I hadn't planned to use this finish, as I was going to give the wagon a sheeted load of hay, based on @Mikkel's 4mm scale model. However, I rather liked the wood effect I managed to achieve, so I changed my plans - which led to a lot of research and a certain amount of heartache...
     
    My next idea was that the wagon would be left without a load, but I would add a sheet rail. It is unclear if any 4-plank wagons were built with sheet rails, but they certainly were retro-fitted, with one third having them fitted by 1910 according to @Chrisbr:
     
    https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/113035-more-pre-grouping-wagons-in-4mm-the-d299-appreciation-thread/&do=findComment&comment=3828158
     
    I made the sheet rail using 1.6mm brass wire, and some strip and sheet brass. To get the flat section at either end, the wire is annealed to red heat and allowed to cool to soften it, then flattened somewhat in a vice, after which it is filed and bent to shape:
     

     

     
    The rail fits to the body with a short piece of 1mm wire acting as a pivot, in holes drilled in each end of the wagon. I used the drawings of the RCH standard sheet rail as a basis, as this seems very similar to the GWR pattern - they are available here:
     
    http://www.cs.rhul.ac.uk/~adrian/steam/RCHWagons/images/rch1028.PDF
     
    A couple of things to note - the vertical part of the rail needs to be the right size so the rail rests exactly on the top edge of the wagon side, and the blocks that space out the semi-circular guide are deeper on GWR versions than the RCH drawing shows, so reference photos are important to get this right.
     
    At this point, the next issue arose. I had used the cast number and 'GWR' plates on the wagon provided in the kit - a common feature on new-build wagons in the late 1890s and early 1900s. However, the number plates on the wagon ends were in the way of the sheet rail apparatus. I started searching for wagons that had cast plates and rails, to see how things were arranged, I found examples of 5 and 7-plank wagons, which have the rail mounted higher and so have room for the plate as well, but no 4-plank examples. The only conclusion I could draw was that 4-plank wagons were not fitted with sheet rails and cast plates at the same time, so I decided to remove the plates.
     
    The semicircular guides were made from brass L-angle, bent around a suitable round object. It was quite a struggle to stop the metal twisting while the curve was being formed, and the L-shape tended to open up and had to be bent back. I realised afterwards it would be much easier to form the guide from T-section, and then file off one arm of the T to leave the L-section profile required. I have since tried this method and it is indeed much more straightforward to get the required shape.
     
    The spacer blocks were made from Evergreen strip of the required dimensions. The brass guide, the spacer blocks and the end of the wagon were drilled through with a fine drill, and track pins used to attach the assembly to the wagon. Thin cyano glue bonded everything, and the pin heads and ends inside the wagon could then be cut off. Here is the finished assembly on the completed wagon:
     

     
    I finished painting the wagon with Vallejo acrylic paints - a mix of 70.957 Flat Red, 70.829 Amaranth Red (actually orange) and a touch of 70.822 German Black Brown. There is yet another big debate to be had about the red colour used by the GWR, and how it weathered, but for another time...
     
    I used the HMRS Pressfix transfers for the lettering, but while I was looking at photos to work out the placement of the various elements, another issue arose - I could not find any photo of a 4-plank open with oil axle boxes, small lettering "G.W.R" and a sheet rail. This led me down a major rabbit-hole, discussed at some length in this thread, for those who might be interested:
     
     
    The conclusion was that the particular combination of features and livery I have modelled was either rare or non-existant. I could repaint it in grey livery with large 'GW' lettering, but I have decided to live with it, at least for now. The moral - yet again - is to work from a photograph of a specific wagon you want to model. At least I think that's the moral. Maybe it's "don't worry, be happy"...?
     

     

     

     
     
    Nick.
  10. magmouse

    MERG DCC Controller

    By magmouse,


    Control
    The build of the fitted iron mink, featured in my last post, is progressing rather slowly - a combination work projects, being away for a week or so, and the current heat. The room that serves as both my home office and modelling room is in our loft conversion, and gets very hot in the current kind of weather, which rather puts me off doing anything. So, to fill the gap before the mink is finished so I can write part 2 of that post, I thought I would share some pictures and notes on the DCC control system I built a little while ago.
     
    The system uses MERG modules in a custom-built case. MERG, for those not familiar, is the Model Electronics Railway Group, and joining MERG gives access to the wide range of kits for electronics modules the group produces. In my case, I chose:
    CANCMD2 - the heart of the system. This module takes commands from any controllers attached to the CBUS bus, and outputs DCC commands to the track. CANCAB2P - a hand-held controller, that connects to the CBUS CANUSB4 - an interface that connects the system to a computer (Mac or PC) so it can be controlled by software such as JMRI.  
    Here is an overview of the system - from left to right: the power supply (also provided by MERG); the CANCAB controller; the cast metal case with the other modules in:
     

     
    Inside the case:
     

     
    Under all those wires and the two switches are:
    Top left - the USB module Top right - the CANCMD2 module Bottom left, in the shadows - the small, separate PCB with the socket where the CANCAB controller plugs in. Also visible is the buzzer (the white thing attached to the side of the box at the top) which signals fault conditions.
     
    Connections are at the end of the box:
     

     
    One of the two switches changes the command module from programming mode to 'track' or 'layout' mode. The module outputs a maximum of 1 amp, so enough for a small layout or for use with low-power locos. A booster module can be added if more current is required. The other switch terminates the CBUS - the bus needs to have terminating resistors at each end, but not anywhere else. I have included a socket so additional CBUS modules can be added, in which case the termination must be turned off, and a terminating resistor provided at the end of the string of additional modules.
     
    I decided to recess the switches, partly to prevent them getting damaged, but mainly so they wouldn't get changed accidentally:
     

     

     

     
    The kit for the CANCMD module is just for the PCB and electronics, leaving the user to provide a case. The CANCAB controller kit, though, comes with the case and labelled front panel - everything you see here:
     

     
    The meters are a bit of frivolity on my part - they aren't strictly necessary, and if you want them, a module with digital meters can be had more cheaply, and which probably gives greater accuracy. What can I say - I like old-school dial meters, and these retro-style units make me smile.
     
    The voltage meter reads the track voltage. It is a DC meter, so a rectifier module converts the AC track power / DCC signals to DC - you can just see it glued to the inside of the lid between the two meters:
     

     
    The current meter is also DC, and reads the current as it comes into the unit, from the power supply. This means it reads the total system current draw, not just that of the track.
     
    I chose the cast metal case because I wanted something that would act as a heat sink for the CANCMD module, and I find these cast alloy types easier to drill and work than steel cases.
     
    The MERG kits come with excellent, detailed instructions, and provide a cost-effective route to a DCC system, as long as you are happy with electronics soldering. Mostly this is straightforward, but the CANCAB module has some quite small, fiddly bits to do.
     
    I haven't worked out the details yet, but I think it should be quite easy to adapt a CANCAB module to work with other hardware for the speed knob and buttons, to build it into a more conventional control panel. At present, though, I don't have a layout, so this set-up means I can run a DCC loco on a short test track, and it will also serve for a small layout when the time comes.
     
    Nick.
  11. magmouse
    The iron covered goods wagon, codename 'Mink', is a familiar, perhaps even iconic, feature of the GWR from 1886 onwards. Less well known is the small number of vehicles built with a standard iron mink body but passenger-rated running gear, akin to that of horse boxes of the time. Details can be found in the HMRS publication All About GWR Iron Minks by JH Lewis et al., which has a drawing and a couple of photographs.
     
    Originally intended for use on branch line passenger services, they seem not to have been a great success in that role, with several being reallocated to other uses soon after being built. However, it seemed like a nice idea to build one for the Netherport branch, especially as it presented an opportunity to have an iron mink in red livery, as a counterpoint to my grey, 1904-liveried example. I also thought it would be good to build the Dean vacuum brake gear, which I haven't done before, as I have several more vehicles planned that need it. Most of all, the 3'6" wheels, 10' wheelbase, steps and clasp brake gear, all under a normal iron mink body, had a quirky appeal.
     
    The starting point was an ABS kit, intended for use as a grounded van body:
     
     

     
    The doors with vertical planking, as supplied in the kit, were a later modification, so I needed to make new doors to the original design. My initial plan was to cut the top off the cast doors and solder this to the side castings to make the lintel. Before assembling the body, I cut out the back of the solebars to accommodate the cast springs, which came from the Broad Gauge Society. I also cut away the metal where the vee-hangers needed to be, to get them closer to the correct position - otherwise they would be set back too far due to the thickness of the cast solebar.
     

     
    Before assembly, I also drilled holes and cut the solebar flange away to fit the Slaters lost-wax cast step supports:
     

     
    The sides and end castings needed a fair amount of fettling to get them to fit snugly, but once this is done the body goes together well. I used low-melt solder at the top and bottom of the corners to hold the body together while I checked alignment, then I soldered down the inside of the corners:
     

     
    The springs are not exactly right - they are the correct length, but the shackles attaching the spring ends to the solebar are not quite the right design. The spring castings come with a tab at the top to fit on the back of the solebar, which went into the cut-out I had made previously:
     

     
    I made the doors with plasticard and Evergreen plastic strip, with hinges from rod. The long bolt fastening the door and the handrails (a distinctive feature of this iron mink variant) are from wire, while the chains for the pins of the middle and bottom latches are twisted fine fuse wire. I decided at this point to remove the cast lintel and build it from placard as part of the door, as the cast ones were slightly uneven along their length once filed to the roof profile.
     
    The plasticard lintels will be filed to profile later, once the doors are fitted:
     

     

     
     
     
    I wanted to make the floor detachable, with all the running and brakegear fixed to it, to make assembling the fiddly brake gear easier. The wheels are therefore mounted with inside bearings, using modified parts from the Broad Gauge Society.
     
    I soldered two pieces of double-sided PCB inside the body, as mounting points for the underframe:
     

     
    The axle guards don't hold the bearings, and are soldered to the inside of the body assembly, over the tab of the spring castings, which were filed back a bit to create a flat surface:
     

     
    I soldered in the step supports. The castings are not completely straight and true, but can be carefully bent into the correct shape. I waited to do this until I added the steps and could get everything aligned in one go. There is a risk of breaking the castings by bending them too often.
     

     
    The steps themselves are made of brass angle, with the vertical side cut down to the right height. It's all soldered together for strength:
     

     

     

     
    The brass angle is too thin to represent the wooden steps of the prototype, so I used plasticard strip to build up the thickness. The strip was attached with cyanoacrylate glue:
     

     

     
    The doors are not fixed at this point, just posed for the photos. I felt it was better to leave attaching them as late as possible, to avoid damage and improve access.
     
    The axleboxes are ABS castings, with the tops modified to connect to the springs as per the prototype. They look a bit of a mess here, but a layer of thin plasticard will fix that:
     

     
    A few more details - spring stops and document box added to the solebars, and holes drilled for the attachment of a horse hook, as well as the end vents fitted:
     

     
    Axle boxes sorted:
     

     
    The buffers are Slaters long GWR type, on packed-out bases as per the prototype. The holes in the headstock castings are much too big for the spigot on the back of the buffers, making it hard to get the spacing and alignment correct. I therefore used this rather comedic clamping arrangement while the glue dried:
     

     
    So that completes the body and underframe - next time, the running gear.
     
    Nick.
  12. magmouse
    A PO wagon with a difference, in two ways: the livery is fictional, and it wasn't built by me, but by my father, Bill.
     

    The underframe is Slaters, and the body is scratch-built in plasticard. The lettering is hand-painted using - if I remember correctly - Humbrol enamels.
     
    Dad spent most of his career as an airline navigator, flying long-haul, which meant he would often be away for a week or more. In the early days he enjoyed seeing the many places he flew to and socialising with the rest of the air crew, but latterly he took to putting a small kit of paints, brushes, thinners and wagon sides into his flight bag, along with the maps, scale rulers, protractors and other tools of his pre-digital trade. He would sit in his hotel room and letter wagons. Over time he developed a technique of mixing rub-down lettering - made for the graphic design industry by Letraset - with hand painting. The rubdown letters helped set the overall shapes and define the straight lines, while the hand painting ensured a paint-texture finish, and adjusted the subtleties of the letter-shapes to be those of the sign-writer, not the typographer. He always said the letter S was the hardest to get right - "it looks like a meat hook" he would complain, before getting the brushes out for further adjustments.
     
    To start with, he worked in OO, and built up a train of 100 coal wagons - mostly PO with a GWR loco coal or two - inspired by the long mineral train at Pendon. Later, he moved to modelling in O gauge, and again PO wagons and their liveries were his great interest.
    Towards the end of his life, he and my mum downsized into a small flat, and he sold off most of his stock (he never built a layout of his own, preferring to contribute to club layouts at the REC in Farnborough). He kept a few things, though, which have since come to me, including this wagon - his signature piece. That's me - the "& Son".
     

     

     

     
    Nick.
     
    Postscript
     
    I have just a few photos of Dad's other wagons, which I took on black and white film at a time when I was doing my own film processing. Some show the OO wagons, and some O gauge. The OO ones were often made with plywood sides and ends, and strapping made from toothpaste tube - in the days when such tubes were made of a soft metal, ideal for punching bolt heads into and cutting into strips. The O gauge wagons were mostly Slaters kits, sometimes 3H.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    It's hard for me to be objective, of course, but I think I can fairly say that the lettering on Dad's PO wagons was as good as as any - I have occasionally seen work as good, but never better. They were truly a labour of love on his part.
  13. magmouse
    [There is quite a lot of back-story to this post - feel free to skip to the bit about wheels if you want just the nitty gritty!]
     
    Like many modellers, I suspect, I spend time pondering what my priorities are, what I want from my hobby, and how to get the most satisfaction within the constraints of time, money, space, skills, and so on. This post then, is not about something I have already made, presented as a piece of 'finished' work. Rather, it's about why I am here and where I am going, in both philosophical and practical terms. It's also about wagon wheels.
     
    I became a railway modeller as a boy, as a natural progression from a train set (my joint best toy alongside Lego). My Dad and I developed the hobby together, first with an OO GWR layout in the loft, never finished due to a house move. Later as a teenager I got into 1970s BR - recent history at the time - in EM and then P4. Meanwhile Dad progressed to 7mm scale, still GWR, never building a layout but making stock and scenic items for a couple of club layouts. For me, life, work and family intervened, and modelling stopped for a long time, though there was some intermittent work on a garden line in 16mm scale.
     
    When I decided to get back into the hobby around 18 months ago, I knew I wanted to work in 7mm scale, having enjoyed seeing my Dad's models, and sharing his love of wagons. I also knew I wanted to model the late Victorian or Edwardian period, for essentially aesthetic reasons. Although Dad had sold off most of his stock when he moved into a flat towards the end of his life, I still have a couple of items that he kept, including a Dean Goods -
     

     
     - and a PO coal wagon - more of which in an upcoming post.
     
    The Dean Goods became a guiding factor in my plans. The livery is 1906, with 'Great (garter) Western' on the tender, which, together with the putative red-to-grey wagon livery change of 1904, set my modelling date at 1908. The Dean Goods would thus be feasible in the 1906 livery, and a mix of red and grey wagons would be appropriate. It steered clear of the all-brown and lake coach liveries, which I don't care for, and was still early enough to plausibly allow some 1, 2 and 3 plank wagons in small numbers. And of course, I would be modelling to O gauge finescale standards, because that is what the Dean Goods is.
     
    A year or so went by, with me happily building wagons and learning more about my chosen period with all its nuances and intricacies. I started gradually to develop a backstory - Netherport - to accommodate what I want in a layout. No rush - our current house, at least as currently configured, has no room for a layout, but that is fine - I like making wagons.
     
    Then two things happened to disturb my equilibrium. Firstly, I put up a display cupboard for the wagons to go in, so they could be on show but protected from the dust. Naturally, I got the Dean Goods out of its box and added it to the display. A while later, in an idle moment, I found a bit of O gauge track, wired it up to an ancient H&M Duet controller, and put the loco on it. Given it hadn't run for 10+ years, it was OK. A clean of the wheels and track, and it was passable, if not great. The gears were noisy and it sometimes needed a nudge to start, suggesting pickup issues.
     
    I took a look underneath. Construction was fairly basic, typical of a kit-built loco of its era. The gears and bearings looked worn, and the pickups appeared rather rudimentary. There was quite a lot of 'slop' in all the moving parts - a testament to its history of putting in the miles on a club layout. None of these things are impossible to fix, but... 
     
    Decades ago, I had taken the Hornby 'Britania' that was the pride of my childhood trainset, and attempted to convert it to EM, using Sharman wheels. I was way too inexperienced and unskilled for such a project, and I abandoned the attempt, but not before the loco was in such a state it could never return to its original condition. I had lost something of significant sentimental value, and gained nothing other than a painful life lesson. I wasn't going to make the same mistake with the Dean Goods - it has earned its retirement.
     
    The second thing that happened was that, in the comments section of a blog post, I mentioned I had once modelled in P4. Mike @airnimal said he was a little surprised that someone who once modelled in P4 would not adopt S7 standards when moving to 7mm scale. I didn't mention the story of the Dean Goods, and made some excuse, but it got me thinking.
     
    And not just thinking - fretting. If the Dean Goods is going to be a shelf queen, then I am no longer tied to period, railway company or track and wheel standards. Except, of course, I have the 13 wagons I have built over the last year and a half, with FS wheels, and none of them designed to have the wheels removed or replaced. Unlike the pinpoint axles used in 4mm scale, the 7mm scale axles have long journals and deep bearings, making it pretty much impossible to spring the wheel sets out without causing major damage.
     
    There followed a period of reflection, and looking at forums, websites, photos of models, my own models... I have several times decided that, on balance, I am happy with finescale standards. I told myself that narrowing the gauge to 31.5mm, at least through pointwork, allows good-looking track, and it isn't as if the gauge difference is huge, unlike the change from OO to P4. My fretting became focused on the appearance of wheels...
     
    With a couple of wagons on the bench in mid-construction at the stage where wheels must be fitted, I have decided I need to make a decision, once and for all. I have therefore been paying a lot of attention to wheels. Mainly wagon wheels. A complicating factor is that - even leaving aside the formation of the flange and tyre, not all wheels are made equal. Slaters are the primary source of S7 wheels, but looking at the finescale ones, the Peco wheels are nicer in terms of delicacy of the spokes and a slightly more subtle flange. Would Slaters S7 wheels be an unequivocal improvement over Peco FS, and what about other makes?
     
    There was only one choice - a wagon wheel beauty contest. The credit card was flexed and wheels ordered or dug out of stock:
     
    Slaters FS Peco FS 51L / Wizard FS Slaters S7  
    (all plain spoke 3'1.5" wagon wheels)
     
    And here they are, lined up for the pageant, in the order listed:
     

     

     

     
    And a reminder of what we are aiming for:
     

     
    So what do we notice?
     
    Slaters FS
    heavy looking tyre the spoke moulding looks quite delicate from the front, but it is deep, so when looked at obliquely the effect is heavy and way over-scale. there is a wide range of types available wheels feature free rust, available to 'special' customers only  
    Peco FS
    even heavier tyre slightly more subtle flange profile than Slaters FS much better spokes - more rounded and delicate only available as plain spoke and disk, in 3'1.5" size  
    51L / Wizard FS
    nice, delicate tyre (though the improved appearance is partly down to the chemical blackening and the pronounced chamfer on the front edge of the tyre) delicate spokes when seen from the front, but they are deep, like the Slaters only available as plain spoke, open spoke, and 3-hole, in 3'1.5" size  
    Slaters S7
    subtle flange profile, of course, being S7 thinner tyre than Slaters FS, with a narrower tread as per S7 standards more delicate spokes than Slaters FS, though still lacking the rounded profile of Peco, and still quite deep. wide range of types available  
    So the category winners are (judged very subjectively by me!):
     
    Best tyre profile - Slaters FS (with Wizard getting an honourable mention)
     
    Best spoke profile - Peco FS
     
    Best available range - Slaters (tie between FS and S7)
     
    For me, not having seen the Slaters S7 wheels 'in the metal' before, they are better than I was expecting - the difference between them and the Slaters FS wheels is more than just the flange profile. The tyre is thinner, and the centre moulding is more subtle. The Peco spokes are better, but for overall effect it has to be the Slaters S7 - and of course Slaters have the range to bring that benefit to all stock, not just conventional wagons with plain-spoked 3ft wheels.
     
    So here is the announcement (did someone at the back say 'about time'?):
     
    I'm 90% sure I am converting to S7.
     
    Actually, I am 100% sure, because I know if I don't I will regret it, and the decision needs to be made now. So that's it, decision made.
     
    Although, I have pretty much no idea how I will convert the existing stock. I will go into more detail on that another time, but I know I will be needing all the experience, knowledge and moral support folks can bring to bear on the matter.
     
    For now though, that's it - as always, all comments, indications that I am mad, indications that I was mad not to do it in the first place, and general ribaldry are welcome.
     
    Nick.
     
  14. magmouse

    GWR 1-plank (part 1)

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    This wagon is a 'first' in two respects: it is my first wagon with Scaleseven wheels - though it didn't start that way - and it is my first scratch-built wagon in 7mm scale (and for at least 30 years...). The build was also at several points an object lesson in why one shouldn't assume, as we will see.
     

     
    If it is a scratch-build, where to start? There's not kit to work from, respond to or rebel against. There are not, as far as I know, detailed drawings for these 1-plank wagons, though Atkins et al's GWR Goods Wagons has an outline drawing. The GWR 1-plank wagons came in a bewildering range of lengths and widths. I elected to build one of the 18ft over headstocks, 7'8" over side sheeting types, as this is what the drawing showed, and these seem to have survived in reasonable numbers to and beyond my 1908 period. There are a couple of pictures, in Atkins and in Russell's GWR Wagons Appendix, showing a number of detail differences between the two examples. I decided to mix and match a little, for variety and interest, rather than follow a specific example precisely.
     
    When building these wooden wagons, and in the absence of detailed drawings, it really helps to understand how the prototype was made, and follow that. The spacing between the solebars is determined by the distance between the axle journal centres, since the bearing springs are centred on the journals, and the solebars on the springs, so the weight of the wagon and its load is transmitted vertically down to the journals.
     
    The side, or curb, rails run down each side of the wagon, attached to the solebars but sticking up above them by the thickness of the floor planks. The side planks then sit on top of the curb rails. The dimensions of the curb rails determine the width of the floor, and this is where I made my first mistake. I knew the overall width, across the side planks and curb rail, from the drawing. The end of the curb rail is visible at the end of the wagon (notched to accommodate the headstock), so I could estimate its width. That would then determine the distance across the solebars.
     
    What I didn't realise until I looked at a drawing of another wooden-framed wagon is that there is a packing piece between the solebar and the curb rail, increasing the overhang of the curb rail and wagon body relative to the solebars. As a result of this misunderstanding, on my model the solebars are too far apart, and the overhang is too little. It isn't much, and not too obvious, as the packing piece is fairly thin, but it is an error.
     
    Based on this incorrect assumption, I cut the floor from 80 thou plasticard, with planks scribed on and the top surface roughened with coarse sandpaper to give some texture, which helps when painting the dirty-bare-wood interior later.
     

     

     
    Next were the curb rails, made from Evergreen strip - having a good stock of various sizes really mades these kinds of build much easier, as the strip comes cut accurately to size and square.
     
    The curb rails have a distinctive chamfer along the bottom edge, except where the bolts are that hold everything together. I marked it all out in pencil and used the edge of a scalpel blade to scrape the chamfer:
     

     
    The bolts were made with plastic rod, cut overlength and then trimmed to protrude the same amount using a piece of scrap brass etch with a hole drilled in:
     

     

     
    I glued the curb rails to the floor, and while that assembly was drying, I made the headstocks:
     

     

     
    The curb rails need to be notched to take the headstocks:
     

     
    Oh, yes - they are the second set of headstocks, as I made the first pair from the wrong thickness material. Don't assume that the strip of plastic sitting on the bench is the piece you previously got out of the packet to make the headstocks. It might be an imposter...
     
    One thing to keep an eye on once assembly starts is that on the prototype, the top edges of components was often given a chamfer, to help rainwater to run off and not be drawn into the cracks. This applies to the top edges of the headstocks, the side curb rails and the end rails (represented on the model by the end edge of the floor piece). This is easy to do with the edge of the scalpel, as long as you do it before assembly. Reference to photos guided where and how much to do.
     
    A feature of GWR wagons of this period (1870s or so) is that the running number and 'GWR' were incised into the solebar, and I wanted to replicate this. For more discussion of techniques and the prototype context, see:
     
    My first attempt was with the point of a pair of dividers:
     

     
    A bit of a mess, but not too bad when painted:
     

     
    For my second test, I used a sewing pin sharpened to a small chisel shape on an oilstone:
     

     

     
    I did also order a set of punches, which with a bit of practice gave quite a good result:
     

     
    However, I decided the shapes of the letters were too far from those of the prototype, and I stuck with my miniature chisel. I first drew out the letter forms, looking at photos, and then started cutting the straight lines with the chisel and a ruler. The curves were done last, freehand. The choice of running number, 4171, with all straight lines, was not an accident...
     

     

     
    Next were the ends, starting with the stanchions. These were made of strip, chamfered as before, and the washer plate and nuts added from more strip of the relevant size:
     

     
    The end plank was made from more strip, and the stanchions attached:
     

     
    I made the corner plates from a strip of 10 thou, so I could glue on all the nuts before attaching them to the ends and sides, which I find easier. Here are the ends with the corner plates attached, and the strip - marked out in pencil - in the background. Can you spot the next error?
     

     
    Yup - the end at the top of the picture has the corner plates the wrong way round. I removed the unwanted nuts and added new ones. Don't assume you made the corner plates on the strip in the orientation they go on the wagon. Mutter, mutter, scrape, scape, glue, glue.
    Because the sides sit in between the ends, and the ends are located by the stanchions, I didn't want to make the sides until the ends were glued in place. Before I did that, I wanted to sort out how the wheels and axleguards would be attached.
     
    I aim to provide compensation on wagons were this is straightforward to do, and I wanted to try making my own system. I had some axleguards from a WEP etch, so I made these unto units with a piece of double-sided PCB cut to the right size:
     

     

     
    For the rocking end, I made a pivot from brass rod and tube - the short pieces of tube at either end are soldered to the rod, while the central piece is free to rotate. This middle part is soldered to the rocking unit, while the ends are mounted to the wagon underframe.
     

     
    Packing pieces of plasticard adjusted the ride height of the wagon:
     

     

     

     
    It all looks good, right? Well, no - this is where the next assumption would bite me on the derrière. But not quite yet.
     
    I attached the ends, and then cut the sides from more Evergreen strip, and attached them. Elaborate clamping kept things in place while the glue dried:
     

     

     
    The corner plates were added in the same way as before, making sure they met the plates on the end with a little bit of melted plastic oozing out to fill any slight gap. Once set, I filed and scrapped this to give the slightly rounded edge of the prototype.
     

     
    The next job was the axle boxes. In the absence of commercial parts for the GWR grease boxes, I decided to make my own. After working out the dimensions from photos and a few drawings that either give dimensions or are detailed enough to scale from, I built the boxes up from plastic strip. The starting point was the back half of the box, that the spring bears on, with a hole for the brass bearing:
     

     
    I built the rest of the box before cutting this part to length, as it makes things much easier to have a 'handle' to grip as the parts are assembled.
     
    More layers, made slightly over-wide to be filed down later, made up the front of the box. Again, the strips were over-length, to be filed to the profile of the top slope of the box once assembled:
     

     

     
    I added the top detail in 5 thou plasticard:
     

     
    Final trimming and filing, and we are done:
     

     
    Except we have to make three more...
     
    One of the pictures of 1-plank wagons I had showed it with 10-leaf springs, not the more familiar 4-leaf, so I decided to model that. I found some springs of the right size and shape - though only 8-leaf - on some ABS LNWR whitemetal axleguards, so I chopped and filed until I had just the springs left. By the time I had done that, they seemed a bit thin, so I stuck them to a piece of plasticard, cut round them and trimmed to the profile of the whitemetal part:
     

     

     
    Once I had the springs and axle boxes, I naturally tried these in position on the axleguards. Equally naturally, they didn't fit - the space between the axlebox and solebar wasn't right, and too much of the axleguard etch showed below the box. After some head-scratching, re-measuring and staring at drawings and photos, the penny dropped. Remember what I said about assumptions? It turns out that the WEP axleguards have the hole for the bearing positioned for 3'6" wheels, not 3'. Mutter, mutter...
     
    I unsoldered the bearings, filed out the holes to a slot, and resoldered the bearings in their correct position:
     

     
    Of course, this meant the packing I had added to get the correct ride height of the wagon was now wrong. I removed it, and filed the top of the axleguard etch to be flush with the PCB (it had projected up above it slightly before). With a small piece of packing for the rocking end, that got the ride height to where it should be.
     
    I added a couple of strips to locate the non-rocking end, and used simple jigs to get the axles the right distance apart (thanks to Mike @airnimal for that tip):
     

     
    With some additional plasticard pieces to locate the ends of the rocking beam, I had a wagon that could sit correctly on its wheels. I didn't fix the axle units in place at this stage, as it is much easier to do all the solebar and body detailing without getting in the way, and possibly getting damaged.
     
    This seems like a good point to end part 1 of this build - detailing, brake gear, buffers and finishing in part 2!
     
    Nick.

     
  15. magmouse

    GWR 1-plank (part 2)

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    So this is where I left it last time - the basics of the underframe, running gear and body complete, but a lot of detail to go:
     

     
    Detailing on the sides and solebars came mainly from Ambis etches. The document box is an ABS casting, and the horse hook is a piece of wire for the loop, and plasticard for the base.
     

     
    The bolt ends on the underframe are from plastic rod as before, including the strap bolts that pass through the headstock. I am not aware of a photo that shows the interior details clearly, so the only thing I have added is the side knees. There is a photo that gives a glimpse of the interior of what may be a GWR 1-plank open here, which gives a sense of the thickness of the knees:
     
    https://lnwrs.zenfolio.com/p864799494
     
     

     
    There are also two L-brackets each side, attached to the solebar and supporting the curb rail, which I made from an etched part for the vertical, and a piece of plasticard for the horizontal. I also attached the springs, and made the spring stop blocks from plasticard.
     

     
    You can also see in this picture I have drilled out small holes where the rings go to tie the sheet ties to, on the solebar and end rail. I didn't add the rings at this stage, and I still haven't - I am planning to make a 'lift van' (container) as a load, and until I have worked out the roping arrangements I won't know if I need the rings to hang down or be pulled upwards under load.
     
    I added the cap strips to the top of the sides and ends, with a strip of 10 thou plasticard. I cut my own strip for this rather than using ready-made, as the cap strips are just slightly narrower than the plank beneath it, and need to be just the right width to get the right effect. I only realise now I am writing up the build that I didn't add the domed bolt heads that hold the cap strips on as well as bolting the planks to the curb rails. Oh, well...
     

     
    The two best pictures I have of these longer 1-plank wagons both show the unbraked side, unfortunately. It is possible to make out that they have a single wooden brake shoe, but no detail - in fact, I couldn't find any really clear picture of GWR single shoe brakes. There is a picture in Russell's GWR Wagon Appendix of a dumb buffered three plank wagon, where it is possible to see the brake gear, partly in silhouette, and I decided to follow that. I suspect the type I have modelled, with its push-rod mechanism, is more complex than most one-shoe brakes, where the lever is attached directly to the arm that suspends the brake block. So, it is probably a slightly whimsical choice, but I fancied it, and in the absence of more concrete information, I decided to go for it.
     
    The push rod with its adjuster and the associated lever was made from wire and some spare etched parts. The adjusters, with all the holes, comes from the push rods of ordinary wagon brake gear, and I kept one side over-long while soldering it all together, so there was something to hold onto. The spare material was filed back later.
     

     
    And here it is with the brake lever added and the whole thing cleaned up:
     

     
    Here is the brake lever guard - this early type has a pin-and-hole locking mechanism, rather than the familiar ratchet. One the left is the strip that runs down the back of the brake shoe, with the attachment point for the push rod - again made from an odd bit of a brake gear etch.
     

     
    I made the brake shoe from plasticard, starting by scribing the curve to the right radius with a pair of dividers, and then cutting the other sides in relation to it.
     

     
    And here is the brake mechanism assembled. I kept this, the lever with its cross-shaft and the lever guard as separate parts, only assembling it all after painting, right at the end of the process. This helps avoid damaging these delicate components.
     

     
    The buffers are 3D prints kindly made for me by Duncan @drduncan, adapted from his 4mm scale versions. We spent some time looking at photos, discovering there are at least two different types with subtly different details such as the thickness of the ribs and the root radius where the guide meets the base. We also noticed that the packing that sits between the cast buffer guide and the headstock again varies, so we decided not to include it as part of the 3D print.
     
    The prints were designed to work with Peco GWR buffer heads and springing mechanism. I discovered I had drilled out the holes in the headstocks too large for the spigots on the buffer prints, as the prints hadn't been finished at that time. The length of the spigot is critical, as it determines how far the buffer heads protrude when held in position by the spring wire behind the headstock, and so the effective buffer length. I therefore made new spigots from plastic tube, to go over the printed ones.
     
    Here we see the packing pieces (spare components from Slaters MR buffers), the plastic tube, the printed buffer guides, and an assembled buffer:
     

     
    And fitted:
     

     
    This next picture summarises the state of play, with springs and buffers in place, and the locating pieces for the wheel and axleguard assemblies. Also in this picture you can see the whitemetal part that holds the brake lever and its cross shaft - borrowed from an ABS set of LNWR single-shoe brake lever components.
     

     
    Now on its wheels, physically complete apart from the brake gear and couplings:
     

     
    Painting started with a coat of grey primer, and continued with painting the interior with a bare wood effect (I'm planning a separate post on my method for that at some point). I find it preferable to do the interior first, as it is easier to deal with any over-spill from this slightly messy process before doing the body colour.
     

     
    The body colour was my usual mix of black and white Vallejo acrylics, brush painted. The lettering made use of Railtec's excellent bespoke service, as the G and W need to fit the side exactly, and are therefore a non-standard size.
     
    Underneath, the brake gear was added, though I still haven't glued it in place as the brake lever covers where one of the sheet tie rings needs to go, so I need to finalise the load and roping first. I glued the wheel assemblies lightly with a couple of dabs of glue, in case I want to remove them in the future. By this point, I had decided to change to S7 standards, so a set of Slaters S7 wheels replaced the original ones:
     

     
    I applied some light weathering with grey powders (mixed from black and white to get a bit of variation) and did some final paint touch-ups - and done!
     

     

     

     

     
    Nick.
  16. magmouse

    Private owner wagon 'United'

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    This time I am returning to that ubiquitous item of the early 20th century railway, the private owner coal wagon - in this case, a 6-plank end-door type built by Gloucester RCW, in the livery of 'United' collieries. The model is of course the familiar Slaters kit, and so is very similar to a build to the 'Ocean' wagon I have posted about previously:
     
     
    The big difference with this one is that it is empty, not loaded, so there is full interior detailing needed, and that is the focus of this post. But before we get to that, I made one change compared to the process I used with the 'Ocean' model that is perhaps worth noting. With 'Ocean', I went over the lettering with white acrylic paint (Vallejo) to give a more 'solid' colour, before assembling the body (much easier to do with the sides flat on the work surface). I needed to do this again with 'United', but this time I tried using white artist's ink, as an experiment. I thought I could apply this with a dipping pen, hoping it would be easier to control than using a brush. However, I found the surface tension of the water-based ink, combined with the surface of the printed lettering on the wagon, made it hard to get the ink to wet the surface. Gentle rubbing with the pen would get the surface to wet, but it rather defeated my aim, and I finished using a mixture of pen and brush. I would probably go back to paint in future.
     
    The interior detail comes from a set of brass etches from DJ Parkins. These provide the planking as well as the internal washer plates, etc. - the planks are half-etched, with the grooves between them etched all the way through, and the washer plates are the full thickness of the brass. Bolt heads are pressed out from behind in the usual way. The resulting level of detail that can be obtained is excellent, but it turned out to be less straight-forward than I had hoped...
     
    The set of etchings is specifically intended for this Slaters kit, but I found the sides and ends a little too long, and the floor a little too big. The instructions say to glue the etchings to the inside of the plastic kit parts before assembling the body, but I didn't do that. My reasoning was that there is always a slight vagueness around the fit of the sides and ends at the corners, and the floor within the rectangle made by the sides and ends. It seemed to me to be better to assemble the plastic parts first, fettling them as needed, and make any necessary adjustments to the etchings at the point of fitting them, rather than trying to file down an over-sized etching while already glued to the plastic component.
     
    Having to remove a little from the floor etch, and the ends of the side and end etches, wasn't too much of a problem, and of course it is better these are over-size rather than under. It did though mean, by the time I had filed a bit off, the washer plates in the corners were right up to the corner, rather than having a small space between the washer plate and the corner itself. It isn't too obvious in the finished model though.
     
    More problematic was that the height of the sides and ends was significantly too high - around a couple of millimetres. I have no idea why this should be the case, as the etches are bespoke to the kit, but there it is. I filed off the excess height, though this needed care and was quite a lengthy process, because the etch is mainly only half thickness, and has slits where the plank lines are, so it is delicate and hard to hold still to file. It was done in the end, but it would be nice if the etches were nearer to the correct size.
     
    While I am talking about the etches, one other oddity is that the floor has etched marks on the underside to be pressed out as bolt heads. The pattern of these suggests they align with the wagon's middle bearers and the diagonals that run from the centre outwards towards the ends of the headstocks. It wasn't until after the model was finished I read a comment on the forum about floors being nailed down, so no fasteners would be visible. This of course makes sense - bolt heads sticking up would be very annoying when shovelling coal out of the wagon. Well, it's done now...
    I decided to paint the etches after they were filed to fit, but before gluing them in. I gave them a coat of light grey etch primer, then of a creamy 'new wood' colour, followed by some knots and marks in brown and gunmetal. A wash of black artist's ink (another experiment) concluded round one of weathering:
     

     
    The ironwork was then painted black. The etches were glued into the assembled body using Aleene's Tacky Glue. This worked well, smearing it carefully onto the back of the etchings in as thin a layer as I could manage. Once in place, a piece of thick corrugated card cut to size was clamped over the etch to keep it flat while the glue dried. Despite using the minimum of glue, some of it squeezed through the gaps between the planks - since neither surface is absorbant, there is nowhere else for it to go. The first time, this glue stuck the cardboard to the inside of the wagon, and I had to hack it out with a scalpel, damaging the paint finish. After that, I used a small piece of clear polythene (from a resealable bag) as a barrier. Glue still came through, but it was fairly easy to remove once set. You can see in these pictures where removing the excess glue has taken off some of the ink wash, which had to be touched up later:
     

     
    I did some filling of the outside corners and any other places that needed it such as around the headstocks. It all looks a bit of a mess at this point, but courage mon brave, it will come out in the end:
     

     
    The etchings have extensions to the ironwork on the end door, to be wrapped around the horizontal bar that forms the pivot to hinge the door. The intention of the etches is the bar sits below the top of the door, and the ends of the bar go into holes in the corner plate either side. Gloucester wagons generally have the bar above the height of the wagon, however, and in any case, having filed the sides down to size, the bit of the etch with the corresponding holes had gone.
     
    I made the pieces that support the ends of the bar from some scrap etch:
     

     
    The bar was made from some straight brass wire, initially cut oversize while everything was fitted and glued into position with cyano:
     

     
    The bar was trimmed to length, and painted black:
     

     
    The DJ Parkins etches include the capping strips, with etched marks to be pushed out to represent the bolts that hold these in position:
     

     
    With the body complete apart from final titivating, the wheels and brakegear were next:
     

     
    The brake pushrods should be at an angle, not parallel with the solebars, so they align with the wheels. To achieve this, and to ensure I could get the brake shoes close to the wheels (I greatly dislike seeing too much daylight between shoe and wheel rim), I cut the Slaters moulding up and assembled the parts separately.
     
    To get the angle, I filed the vertical plastic piece that represents the brake shoe hangers to the right angle, and glued a small piece of plasticard on. It is easier to get the geometry of this joint right before fitting to the wagon itself, and the piece of plasticard packs out the position of the brake shoe to get it close to the wheel tread:
     

     
    Then just glue the plasticard to the underframe - seen here held in place by self-closing tweezers:
     

     
    Once the shoes are on, the vee-hangers are attached and the push rods can be glued onto the tumbler.
     
    Buffers and couplings on, and we are nearly there! The Gloucester works plates are POWsides transfers on a black-painted rectangle of 10 thou plasticard. A 'scribble' of white paint with a very fine brush represents the writing on the other plate, which is a moulded detail on the Slaters kit solebar.
     

     
    The inside after some more touching up, though I found every time I thought I was finished, I would come back to the wagon and see another tiny spot of bare brass or pale paint glaring out at me:
     

     
    Weathering on the outside was a light dose of powders, mainly black to represent coal dust, and a little dry-brushing. I had had to replace the capacity and tare lettering at the bottom of each side with decals, as the original printing hadn't taken properly. The transfers silvered slightly, which I didn't notice until later - it only shows up in certain light - so I disguised it with a bit of brown paint and weathering. You can still see it in the pictures if you look, but at normal viewing distances it disappears.
     
    I gave the inside a final dose of weathering powders and black paint in the corners and around the washer plates, followed by a coat of matt varnish. I use the Tamiya TS80 Flat Clear spray, which I find works well. And there it is, done:
     

     

     

     
    Nick.
  17. magmouse
    What's that you say? Another GWR 4-planker? Haven't you had enough of those? Well, if you're sure...
     

     
    This is 41211, freshly turned out in 1908 style: grey paint with 25" lettering, axleboxes upgraded to oil types, and a sheet supporter fitted. All the latest features of a truly modern merchandise wagon of the new century, in fact - Swindon has played its A-game. Not so, unfortunately, the folks who have loaded it. The rather filthy sheet has been put on crooked, obscuring the wagon number, and it hasn't been tightened properly, so risking the formation of puddles, should it rain.
     

     
    A look round the other side offers a clue. The straw sticking out of the door suggests it was shut rather hastily - perhaps there is some kind of crated livestock inside, or some other troublesome load? We will probably never know...
     
    ––o0o––
     
    The construction of this wagon follows similar methods to those I have shown in previous blog entries, so in part this post is a recap, with one or two new features, and some photos of stages of the process not shown in the earlier posts.
     
    The starting point of course was the Peco (ex Webster) kit - in this case, one picked up second-hand as a 'fixer-upper' - already built but not painted, and with broken brake gear. I began by removing the remains of the old brake gear, and giving the wagon a good clean. The new brake gear was made up using a spare moulding from a Slaters (ex Coopercraft) kit - one of the benefits of modelling the first decade of the 20th century is most wagons had only single-sided brakes, so there are often left-over parts from kits that provide for either-sided brakes.
     
    The vee-hanger was an etched brass component, and the cross shaft follows my now standard method, with an thin inner wire and sections of brass tube to make up the full diameter. This way, the holes in the various components only need to be the size of the wire, not the entire shaft.
     

     
    I didn't fit the brake lever and guard at this stage, as they are prone to damage during the rest of the construction. Next was the sheet supporter, following the methods used for the empty 4-plank and sheeted 5-plank wagons already described:
     
     
    The supporter was made in two halves, from 1.6mm brass wire. The ends were filed down to take a strip of nickel silver, to form the flat section:
     

     
    Pins were soldered in, to fit into holes in the wagon ends to hold everything in position. It's perhaps worth noting that the pivot mechanism on this wagon is fixed to the bottom plank, unlike the previous 4-plank wagon, which had it fitted to the second plank up. This means the verticals of the supporter need to be a different length - the rail should land exactly on top of the sides when tilted over. One motivation for this difference was to get as much variety in the height of the bar between this and other wagons with sheeted rails - both the 5-planker already built, and others planned.
     
    The supporter bar was assembled with additional strengtheners in the centre:
     

     
    The mounting points for the rail were made from plasticard and glued to the wagon ends:
     

     
    The rail was mounted in position, with the inner vertical supports held in plasticard blocks glued to the wagon floor. It is important the rail is firmly fixed, as it gets a lot of handling during the fitting of the sheet.
     

     
    You can also see in this picture the formers, which help the sheet form the shape I wanted. These were made from 20 thou plasticard, and I made a paper template for the curves to ensure they were the same on both sides. The formers in the centre of the wagon have a dip in them, to get the sense the sheet is fairly slack, and hanging under its own weight.
     
    I'd learned my lesson with the semicircular guides, this time making them from T-section instead of L-section. This ensures the material doesn't try to twist as it is bent round a former (in this case the handle of a tool, which happened to be the right size). Once bent to shape, one side of the tee was filed off, leaving the required L-section.
     

     
    The guides are attached to the wagon by spacer blocks - wood on the prototype, and plastic section on the model. Brass wire pins add strength, and I drilled the holes for these in the guides first. The guide was then held in position and used as a template to mark and drill through the blocks, so small errors in the positioning of the holes in the guides didn't matter.
     

     

     
    Once the wire pins were in position, the joints were flooded with thin CA glue. The pins were cut off and filed down, leaving a small amount protruding to represent the fixing bolts on the prototype.
     
    The trapezoidal-shaped plate and the latch pin at the top of the semicircular guides were made from plastic sheet and rod. I didn't bother with the detail on the plates on this build, as they are almost completely hidden by the sheet.
     
    The tying-off hooks on the ends and curb rails were added as before, made of soft iron wire.
     

     
    The brake handle and guard were from Ambis etched parts, and safety loops and door springs from nickel silver strip:
     

     
    For the straw coming out of the door, I prised open the door that had been glued shut by the previous owner. Before I could add the plumber's hemp, I needed to paint the wagon, which I did with a grey mixed from Vallejo black and white acrylics, over an undercoat of matt black aerosol spray.
     
    Lettering was from the waterslide transfers supplied with the Slaters GWR wagons, which I prefer to the Peco ones. 4-plank wagons aren't high enough for full-size 25" GW letters, so I used the 16" version intended for the later livery. These are a bit too small - they should reach almost to the top of the sides - but given they are almost completely hidden by the sheet, I didn't worry. The whole lot was given a coat of Vallejo matt varnish, which actually gives a nice sheen suitable for a newly painted wagon.
     

     
    To hold the straw in position before the door was shut, I added a small piece of plasticard inside the wagon, at right-angles to the side and just inside the door opening. Lengths of plumber's hemp was glued to this and the wagon floor before the door was shut and glued in place. Finally the straw could be trimmed to length.
     

     
    The sheet was made as before, using Ian Smith's artwork printed onto 60gsm paper with a laser printer:
     

     
    The back was covered with aluminium tape:
     

     
    The artwork was printed with a lower contrast, rather than a full black and white, to give a head-start to the dirt effect. Weathering powders were the next layer, applied with a wet brush before the sheet was cut out and fitted.
     

     
    Fitting was as before, starting at the ridge, using thick CA glue applied with a cocktail stick. The sheet was deliberately attached slightly of centre, and not quite square to the wagon, to give an asymmetric effect. I worked down each of the curved formers, gluing as I went and ensuring the sheet followed the curve to give the sagging look I wanted. The end folds were formed last.
     
    Once the EZ line ties were attached, the sheet was touched up (the laser printing tends to flake a little at the folds or with handling). Final weathering was applied with powders and paint washes, until the writing was just barely visible, as often seen in photos. I applied minimal weathering to the wagon itself, as I wanted the contrast between newly outshopped wagon and grubby sheet.
     
    The 4-plank open was the mainstay of the GWR wagon fleet in the late 19th and early 20th century, and most loads required sheeting to protect them from rain, soot and the risk of fire from cinders. This build, then, is about as typical as you can get for my 1908 period. The straw poking out from the door (based on a prototype photo) adds a little intrigue to this otherwise commonplace wagon.
     

     

     

     
    Nick.
  18. magmouse

    GWR 2-plank open wagon

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    The GWR adopted iron, and later steel construction for underframes quite early, compared to most other railway companies. For reasons of variety and aesthetics, I wanted to have a mix of wooden and metal underframed wagons, and my 1908 period was partly chosen for this reason - there were still a few GWR wooden underframed wagons around.
     

     
    One such is this 2-plank open, built from the WEP etched brass kit. Overall, it is a nice kit, and I built it pretty much as intended, but there are one or two issues with it that needed attention, and opportunities to upgrade, that I will discuss here. The build, and especially the buffer modification was inspired by @wenlock's build:
     
     
    I didn't take a series of photos during the build with this one, so I will go through a few pictures of it taken when it was physically complete but before it was painted, and comment as we go.
     

     
    There are a few weaknesses with the kit. The top edge of the sides and ends is made by a thin strip that folds down from the outer faces of the sides and ends, supposedly to meet the inner sides and ends. I found they didn’t meet very well, and as a result, there was a kind of groove along the inside corner. I decided to make a virtue of this, filing it to a consistent shape all along with a square needle file, with the idea it might suggest the capping strip of the prototype.
     
    I found the inside bearing units (one of which is pivoted to provide the compensation) made the wagon sit at different heights at each end. I had to rebuild the non-pivoting one to reduce it’s height. Overall I don’t much like these compensation units; they seem fragile and error-prone.
     
    Another weakness is the way the solebar details (washer plates, etc.) are etched as outlines into the metal, rather than being separate pieces added on. I added etched crown plates (the semicircular ones over each axlebox) from Ambis, and plasticard washer plates for the others. Because the Ambis crown plates were a slightly different size to the etched outlines for them, I used a bit of filler once all the soldering was done, which you can see as a white area below each crown plate.
     
    The kit gives a representation of the spring bump stops, over the centre of each spring, but it is 2D and at the back of the solebars. I added bump stops made in plasticard. I also made label boxes from plasticard, and the horse hook was added from brass wire.
     
    The kit's etched detail for the shoes that take each end of the springs represents the later type, with a gap between the solebar and the end of the spring. On these earlier wagons, the shoes were a different type, with a solid face, so I used a bit more filler here, and filed the face flat, which gives a reasonable representation of the prototype.
     
    A challenge faced by the kit designer is to use etched brass, which is a thin, sheet material, to make the chunky volumes of a wooden wagon. Actually, the kit is quite clever in this regard, and it mostly works well, though it took some careful fettling to get the sides, ends, floor and solebars in the right relationship. The ends of the headstocks in particular require care, with a bit of filler needed afterwards here and there to ensure the prominent ends look like they are made from solid wood, rather than the hollow metal structure they actually are.
     

     
    On the brake side of the wagon, all the same solebar detail work was needed. The vee-hanger in the kit is on the back face of the solebar, when it should be on the front face. I replaced it with an etched brass one, and added some nuts from plasticard. The brake lever in the kit is straight, and the ones in prototype photos I have seen are curved. I was able to form the curve by very careful bending with pliers. The lever is too long, taking it in front of the end of the buffer beam. I shortened the lever at the ‘wide’ end, which was a mistake because it meant the joggle where the lever fits around the axle box is in the wrong place. Next time I would use a different lever, or shorten it at the handle end, and rebuild the handle.
     
    One other thing to say, visible in this photo, is that the location of the door hinges and side knees is etched into the main side metalwork, as a guide to positioning. This is helpful for getting these parts in the right place, but the etched lines form an outline outside, rather than under, where the added part goes, and so are still visible when it's all complete. I didn't attempt to fill these etched lines, as I thought I would end up just filling all the other detail and making a mess. The etched grooves aren't too prominent, especially once everything is painted.
     

     
    The kit is supplied with whitemetal buffers. I decided to replace these as I wanted turned steel heads. This was also an opportunity to attempt the heavy ribbed type of buffer guide, rather than the plain ones provided.
     
    The basis was a set of Slaters Midland Railway buffers, which have moulded plastic bases, turned brass guides, and turned steel heads. I added the ribs from slivers of plasticard. The first stage was to cut a strip of 10 thou, with the width of the strip the same as the length of the buffer guide, between the base and the wider part at the outer end. Triangles were cut off from the end of the strip, and the right-angle corner of each triangle trimmed off so the rib could fit neatly where the base of the brass guide flares and meets the plastic base.
     
    The brass guide was held in a vice, and each rib added, holding it with tweezers, dipping its long edge into a small puddle of thin CA glue, and placing it on the guide. Once they were all attached, the whole buffer was flooded with more CA glue to fix everything solid. When set, the slight curve to the ribs was carved with a sharp scalpel.
     

     
    There isn't much to say about the wagon interior, except the kit gives some nice detail.
     
    There are some aspects of the kit which aren't quite right, but which are not really fixable. There seems to be too much space between the top of the springs and the solebars, so the axle boxes are too low. This is difficult to fix as the spring position is set by the axle guard / solebar etch. The solebars seem too far apart. On the prototype the body doesn't have much overhang past the solebars, but the kit has very little at all. The difference is subtle, but it slightly affects the character of the wagon.
     
    I painted the wagon with a red oxide primer from a spray can, which formed the basis of the GWR red livery. The lettering was done with Pressfix transfers, and weathering was a mix of dry-brushing with pinks and greys, to give the slightly faded look, and washes of greys, browns and black for the dirt and escaped axlebox grease.
     
    I haven't given this wagon a load, and the plan is it will act as a runner for a couple of 4-plank wagons carrying overhanging loads of deals, yet to be built.
     
    Despite the various issues with the kit, I very much like the character of this wagon, which is so different to the later, metal-framed GWR types. The wooden brake shoes, curved lever, and massive ribbed buffer guides, with the all-wood construction, are firmly 19th century, at least in GWR terms, and contrast with the later wagons described in previous posts. I am grateful that WEP have produced a kit for this relatively obscure prototype, for all it's weaknesses - it nicely fills an important position in my wagon plan for Netherport.
     

     

     

     

     
    Nick.
     
  19. magmouse

    GWR Loco coal wagon (diagram N13)

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    Locos need coal. I haven't started building the loco stock I will need for Netherport, but I thought I would get ahead by building a loco coal wagon.
     

     
    Slaters offer a kit for a 10T example, which claims to be a diagram N13 - ideal for my 1908 period. However, there are some significant issues with the kit, most notably that it has square corners with riveted angle-iron reinforcement, while the prototype had round corners with no reinforcement. Later types had square corners, and the kit is closer to those, but they are out of my period.
     
    Another problem with the kit is the body width, which scales at about 7'6" against the prototype's 8'0" over the side panels. Although the discrepancy is only 3.5mm is 7mm scale, I felt it was important in terms of the character of the wagon to get this right - looking at photographs, it is noticeable how low and wide these wagons were, compared with a typical narrow-and-tall wooden coal wagon of the period.
     
    A final issue with the body of the kit is the top edge of the sides and ends, which is represented as a riveted strip, when it should be an outward-facing L-section.
     
    I addition, the underframe and brake gear uses the same mouldings as the 5-plank open kit, and they have the same issues I described in my build for that:
     
     
    I hope this isn't seen as too negative - the kit's mouldings have very nice, crisp detail, and considering one only pays a few pounds for these compared with the cost of buying the wheels, buffers and couplings separately, it is excellent value. Despite the amount of work needed to address the issues above, I would rather modify the kit and benefit from the very neat rivet and ironwork detail, than start from scratch.
     
    So, to begin: the first task was to widen the body and create the round corners. I glued some 40x156 thou strip to each corner on the chamfer, to make the width 56mm. I then filed down the added strip and moulded rivets, to give a flush finish. The picture shows (top and bottom-right) the added strip, and (bottom-left) the finished result:
     

     
    The rivet detail was also removed from the ends of the sides:
     

     
    The sides and ends were glued together, built around my right-angle block and held in place with magnets:
     

     
    The inside of the corners were strengthened with L-section plastruct. This is essential, as a lot of the original corners is later filed away to make their rounded shape.
     

     
    The corners were rounded initially with a file, but to get the final shape and a consistent radius, I made a scrapper from a piece of thick scrap etch brass:
     

     
    The scrapper is used by dragging it along the corner, held almost at right-angles to the direction of movement. The scrapper shaves off the plastic until the required shape is reached. When I thought it was done, I painted the corners black to make it easier to see any last lumps and bumps.
     

     
    To create the correct L-section along the top edges of the sides, I added a strip of brass, jutting out. The existing moulded detail then made the vertical part of the L-section, with its rivets.
     
    To stop the sides looking far too thick when seen from above, I used brass strip of the correct width, but not covering the whole of the top of the side moulding, so I could then file back the inside edge. I made a couple of tee-shaped jigs to position the strip while gluing it, to get a consistent position. The strip was glued on with cyano-acrylate glue:
     

     
    The finished result, with the corners of the brass strip rounded:
     

     
    The next step was to reduce the thickness of the sides at the top, filing the plastic back as far as the brass strip. The inside of the corners are rounded with a half-round file. All this requires care and patience - there is a lot of plastic to remove, and the wagon body is quite delicate before the floor is fitted. Eventually it was done, though, and the floor could be added - I hade a new one from plasticard to ensure it was a precise fit:
     

     

     
    (the red dot on the floor and side show which way round and up the floor goes)
     
    Of course, this strategy to get thin-looking sides and ends only works with a loaded model - the tapering of the sides would be too obvious with an empty wagon, which would need internal detailing in any case.
     
    The underframe was modified and put together in the same way as for the 5-plank wagon, except that this time I assembled it on the floor, which was easier than putting it together before attaching it to the body:
     

     

     
    As before, the headstocks need to be extended and angled:
     

     
    The prototype has a profusion of gussets and side-knee extensions connecting the body and solebar - these were added with plasticard. The brake-gear was based on Ambis and WEP components:
     

     
    To make the shape for the load, I used my usual technique - a former carved from a stack of corrugated cardboard glued together and covered with papier-mâché (I had to look up those accents!). This was glued into the wagon, and the gap round the edge filled with lightweight wall filler. The whole thing was then sealed with enamel gloss varnish, to ensure the glue for the coal can't run down under the former.
     

     
    The wagon was ready for the paintshop, with my usual paper masking for the wheels:
     

     

     
    Painting was a bit of a faff with this wagon. I started with an undercoat of sprayed matt black from a rattle-can. My first attempt at the top coat was with Precision GWR wagon grey. This came out slightly streaky, despite being very fully mixed with a stirrer in my mini drill. (It is worth saying at this point that I am skeptical about the idea that loco coal wagons were black, rather than standard GWR grey).
     
    My second attempt was with a mix of Vallejo acrylics - approx 5:1 black and white. This looked quite dark - more like a not very deep black than a grey. I then did a test piece, and found that weathering with powders could bring the colour to where I wanted it.
     
    Lettering was from the Slater’s transfer sheet provided with the kit, with no gloss varnish undercoat. I applied them with Micro Set, following the instructions.
     

     
    This left slight ‘water marks’, but these disappeared under a coat of matt Vallejo acrylic varnish. This was followed by plenty of grey weathering powder while still very slightly tacky, or at least soft. This gave an almost completely matt finish, covered the watermarks and made the edge of the transfers invisible.
     
    As a side note, for a less weathered or new finish, the Vallejo “matt” varnish gives a nice sheen for a new wagon. It would though need a glossier finish under the transfers, or perhaps just over the transfers, to hide the edges before the matt varnish went on.
     
    For the load, I used real coal, in large lumps as per prototype photos. Some pieces were quite shiny, so I tried applying a waft of Tamiya spray matt varnish. This turned some of the coal pieces white in patches - aghhh! I have no idea what chemical reaction caused this, and I was able to fix this by touching in with matt black paint, but be warned...
     
    And there we are - once I get to building the first loco for Netherport, there will be loco coal waiting for it.
     

     

     

     

     
    Nick.
     
  20. magmouse
    You will be pleased to know it isn't all GWR 4-plank wagons here...
     
    Netherport's imagined location on the Dorset coast is in LSWR territory as much as GWR, so any non-GWR wagons being seen at Netherport are more likely to be LSWR than anything else. Looking at the local geology, it seems the nearest area with clay suitable for brick-making would be to the east of Netherport, and served by the LSWR, so this 3-plank open is bringing bricks for construction work in the town.
     

     
    The kit is from the old ABS range, much of which is still available from @djparkin. The whitemetal castings are excellent, with some beautifully crisp detail. They also capture well the chunky character of the wooden prototype, with its angled headstock ends doubling as stops for the drop-down sides. As always with these kits, some careful fettling to make sure the main parts go together just right is time well spent:
     

     
    I used lowmelt solder, only soldering the corners where the headstocks and solebars meet. Because the lowmelt provides a very solid joint, there is no need to solder the ends to the drop-down sides, so these remaining looking like they are separate parts, as they should.
     
    The brake lever and vee-hangers are whitemetal, and inevitably a little thick, so I decided to replace them with etched components. The double vee-hangers come on a fret that allows you to fold them up and assemble them with the cross-shaft, before fitting to the wagon:
     

     
    I kept the cast brake shoes and push-rods (good decision), and the cast brake lever guard and safety loops (poor decision - I should have replaced them with etched parts):
     

     
    Round the other side, because the kit allows for either-side, independent brake gear, and I wanted singled-sided for my period, I had to patch up some holes in the solebar with filler. I also replaced the cast horse-hook with wire, relocating it to a slightly different position as seen in photos of the prototype, and added some missing ironmongery with plastikard. I also managed to slightly melt the bottom of one axle-guard, and had to patch that up. The brown paint is acting as a primer where some of this work has been done:
     

     
    The kit comes with a piece of planked plastic sheet for the floor, which is rather crude, so I replaced it with a new one. Plank grooves were scribed and then the piece was sanded to roughen the surface and give some texture - this really helps when dry-brushing later.
     
    The bricks are by Juweela, available from Model Scenery Supplies. They claim to be 1:48 scale, but are actually pretty accurate for 7mm in length and width, although a bit too thin. However, the colour and texture of the ceramic material are worth the slight dimensional inaccuracy in my opinion.
     
    I first worked out how many I would need, and how they could be laid out to avoid the interior ironwork:
     

     
    As they come, the bricks are a bit pale and uniform in colour, so I made up some dilute washes of reds and browns, and soaked batches of bricks in different colours. When they dried out, there was a small but definite variation in colour, which improved the effect significantly:
     

     
    The bricks are glued to a plastikard former that sits in the wagon. This has a shape cut out to give the sense the top layer of bricks is not complete - this is seen in photos of wagons loaded with bricks.
     

     
    Where the rows needed to be staggered to accommodate the wagon ironwork, packing pieces of plastikard provided an offset, hidden by the upper layer:
     

     
    The bricks were glued in place by soaking them in dilute PVA. To fit the top layer, I used a piece of brass section as a guide to keep the rows in place while laying out the bricks before gluing:
     

     
    The interior of the wagon was painted with a couple of basic wood colours in rough coats. The paper held with an elastic band protects the outside paintwork - it's still in grey primer, but the wagon gets quite a lot of handling at this stage, and the primer can get rubbed off the whitemetal quite easily.
     

     
    Some rough dry brushing in brown and grey provides some variety to the final finish. It looks pretty grim at this stage...
     

     
    ...but it comes together with final dry brushing and washes:
     

     
    I replaced the whitemetal buffer heads and coupling hooks, and applied lettering with Powsides rub-down transfers (next time I'll get the LSWR evenly spaced!):
     

     
    And there it is - a few thousand bricks arriving in Netherport. I wonder who it building what?
     

     
    Nick.
  21. magmouse

    Photographing wagons

    By magmouse,


    photography
    A couple of people have asked how I photograph the wagons I've been posting about. The 'workbench' shots are done with my iPhone 12 Pro. The Pro version has a slightly telephoto lens, which gives a nicer perspective for close-ups, and means the phone is further away from the thing being photographed, making it easier to get some light in without casting a shadow of the phone or me.
     
    The 'studio' photos of the finished result, against a white background, are a bit more sophisticated. They are taken with my Fujifilm X-T2 mirrorless camera, with a 60mm focal length lens. The key to getting the 'studio' look, though, is not so much the camera as the lighting. The following photos and commentary explain the set-up.
     

     
    Here we see the overall set-up - the wagon is on the workbench on the piece of white A4 printer paper, which provides the background. The camera is on a tripod, adjusted to be just slightly higher than wagon, so it is looking almost horizontally but just a touch downwards.
     
    The 60mm lens is a medium telephoto, giving a field of view equivalent to a 90mm lens on a 35mm SLR film camera, or 'full frame' digital SLR, for those who are familiar. A 'standard' lens would work fine as well, or a zoom that covers the standard or short telephoto zoom range. A wide angle lens is possible, but has two disadvantages - firstly, the perspective is (to me at least) less flattering, and secondly, a closer position means the camera sees past the ends of the wagon at a more acute angle, so you will need a bigger piece of paper for the background.
     
    The flip-up screen on the camera is very useful, but not essential.
     

     
    There are a few nuances with the setup of the background:
    The paper is curved, providing a seamless, shadowless transition between the 'ground' the wagon is on and the back. The paper is held in place by a book (Cyril J Freezer's Locomotives in Outline: GWR - other railway companies are available), and the book is supported by a heavy object - a large bottle of wood glue in this case. As well as supporting the paper, the book ensures no light can come through the paper from behind, which would create an uneven background. The paper curves downs slightly at the front, where it overhangs the edge of the bench. This ensures there is some white space below the wagon's wheels, as seen from the camera position.  

     
    Here is the overall context - my home office/modelling room/hi-fi room/general midden. The point of showing it here is the lighting. This and the previous two pictures were taken with the room lights on, but for the photography, the model is lit entirely with the daylight through the window. I don't want any direct light to hit the model - that's why I am shooting into the window with a solid background. The light on the wagon is that which is reflected around the room, ensuring it is very soft - ideal for model photography.
     
    The venetian blinds are useful for controlling the light. Tipping the slats upwards means the light entering is mostly sky-light, which will be blueish on a sunny day, or whiter on a cloudy day. Tipping them down means the light is that which has reflected from the buildings and gardens opposite the window, which on a sunny day is warmer in colour than the sky-light.
     
    The light can be made slight directional by opening the right-hand blinds, as seen in the picture above. The extra light on that side reflects off the wall to the right of this shot, and back onto the model from the right hand side. Experimenting with this can give a nice effect: a definite sense of directional light, but still without harsh shadows or excessive contrast.
     
    The one disadvantage of this set-up is the wooden material of the slats. The warm colour sometimes shows in highlights on the top of the subject, and can be seen in the light reflecting from the top of the sheet in the straw-loaded wagon below.
     

     
    The specific type of camera isn't important, But my X-T2 has some key capabilities. Firstly, the exposure settings can be controlled manually. In order to get reasonable depth of field when photographing something this small, a small aperture is required - I usually use around f/11 (for those unfamiliar with these terms, there are excellent online resources that explain the basics of how a camera works).
     
    I set the ISO (the sensitivity of the camera to light) to the lowest value to maximise image quality - 200 ISO in the case of the X-T2. This, together with the small aperture, means the exposure is quite long, often 5 to 10 seconds. Because the camera is on a tripod, this is not a problem, but it does require a camera that allows long exposures.
     
    I also often use the exposure overide. If you rely on the camera's light meter, it will typically under-expose the image, fooled by the amount of white background. Slightly increasing the exposure from what the meter says will fix this, but it is important not to over-expose. Under-exposure is fixable later when editing the image; over-exposure isn't.
     
    As well as the exposure settings, the camera also allows the focus to be manually controlled. This isn't absolutely essential, but is makes things much easier. Focus is critical, because there is so little depth of field, and it is easier to control it manually, setting it once without worrying the camera is going to try and refocus at an inconvenient moment.
     
    For this kind of photography, any digital SLR or mirrorless camera will be suitable, and many other types as well. Even a smartphone with a good quality camera could do it, provided you mount it on a tripod (special mounts are available for that) and you can control the settings manually. While the built-in camera controls in smartphones are often limited, there are usually third-party apps that can give the manual control of the phone's camera that you need.
     

     
    Here is the outcome, straight from the camera. It is a little under-exposed overall, because I wanted to make sure I didn't overexpose the right-hand end which is more brightly lit.
     

     
    And here is the finished photo, after a little bit of editing: I increased the exposure slightly, and cropped to the final size and shape. It is much easier to shoot a little 'wide' and crop later, rather than trying to get the framing exactly right in camera.
     
    And that's about it - just one last thing to note: quite often, the light levels on the wagon are low. Looking at it, it seems very dark, but with the long exposure, it comes out fine. So don't worry too much about the amount of light - it is the quality of the light that counts.
     
    I hope this is useful. Your situation will of course be different, in terms of the equipment you have and the space where you can do the photography, but as long as you can control exposure and focus, and the quality of light, you will be able to achieve good results.
     
    Nick.
  22. magmouse

    GWR Iron Mink - Minerva upgrade

    By magmouse,


    Wagons
    This post covers something a bit different to the previous wagons - not a kit, but an upgrade of the RTR Iron Mink by Minerva.
     

     
    In many ways, the model is very good as it comes. The detailing is crisp and fine, and overall it captures the feel of the prototype. There are a few weaknesses:
    the roof on the prototype is sheet metal, so the edge of the overhang is very thin - just the thickness of the metal. The model has the roof moulded in plastic of course, so the roof is much thicker. The designers have done what they can, tapering the moulding underneath the edge, so from above you get a nice, crisp profile, but looking horizontally, especially at the end of the wagon, the trick is quite visible. The modelling of the doors is not quite right. The doors (panel and frames) are too far forward of the van side, which means the strip above the doors, which should overhang slightly, does not. The lettering is nicely printed, but the shapes of the large 'GW' letters are not quite right - the curves of the 'G' especially. Having said that, looking at prototype photos shows the letter forms did vary somewhat, so you can't say definitively they are wrong. What is definitely incorrect is the slight serifs on the top corners of the 'W', where the letter is adjacent to the t-irons. The buffers are held in place with a rather weak, rubbery glue. One of mine was slightly loose on delivery. The bump-stops for the springs are absent - there should be a small strip folded into an upside-down top-hat shape above the centre of each spring, to limit the upwards travel of the axlebox and spring. The axleboxes themselves, and the w-irons, are not quite right. The relationship between the w-irons and the solebar is slightly off, somehow, and the axleboxes are a little flat - overall, the effect is one of the w-irons and axleboxes being a bit two-dimensional.  
    I am sure most, if not all, of these issues are down to the need to manufacture the model at a cost people are willing to pay. I also don't want to overstate them - they are subtleties that many people either won't notice or won't be very bothered by, especially on a working 'layout' wagon.
     
    I decided that, for numbers 1 to 3, the difficulty of fixing the issues would be disproportional to the benefit. The point, after all, of getting an RTR model is a lot of the work is done for you. Items 4-6, I decided to address. The matter of the buffers was easy - I pulled all the buffers out, removed the remains of the rubbery glue, and re-fixed with epoxy.
     
    Initially, my only other plans were to touch up the paint around the buffers, and make a few changes to fit the Mink to my 1908 period - trim the bottom of the brake shoes to make them the non-reversible type, change the brake safety loops to the earlier stirrup type, change the brake lever guard to the earlier type, and add the missing spring bump stops.
     
    However, the more I looked at it - sitting on a piece of track at the back of the workbench, where 'in progress' stock resides - the more I was dissatisfied with the axleboxes and w-irons. It was now or never - if I did the other work, weathered it and mentally said 'this is ready for service', I knew I wouldn't every come back to it. I realised I had a set of Slaters GWR compensated axleguards in stock, which confirmed the decision...
     
    I started by dismantling the chassis from the body - a couple of screws and some clips. I popped out the wheels, and removed the brake gear:
     

     
    Then came the somewhat brutal work of cutting away the axleguards, and filing the bottom of the solebars smooth. The Slaters etched units are designed to go on a flat surface - the bottom of the wagon floor - whereas Minerva's floor moulding has a vestigial representation of the underframing. I used a fretsaw with a fine blade to cut out the sections of floor where the axleguards needed to go. The body has its own floor, so by reuniting the chassis and body, I could glue some plastikard to that, to pack up the Slater's suspension units to the right height:
     

     
    The suspension units could then be glued in place:
     
     

     
    The springs and their bump stops are attached to the solebars:
     

     
    The wagon comes with brake gear on one side, and a second set to fit to the other side if you want the later either-side independent gear. For my period, single-sided is correct, so I was able to fit the second set, rather than trying to reuse the now rather battered originals:
     

     
    I didn't use the slightly crude moulded lever guard. My plan was to replace it with the very accurate Ambis ones, etched in phosphor bronze, but I find these very hard to make up without them coming apart where the metal has to fold in half at either end of the ratchet. Instead, I used just the ratchet and a strip of nickel silver bent to shape - less accurate, as the ratchet shouldn't have a back to it (it is flat, not a t-section), but stronger:
     

     
    The safety stirrups are bent up from nickel silver strip, as usual:
     

     
    The new parts were painted with Precision GWR grey - a good match with the Minerva colour - and the Iron Mink was ready for final paint touch-ups and weathering:
     

     
    For my 1908 period, the paintwork on this wagon can be no more than 4 years old (the large GW livery began in 1904), so I decided to keep this one fairly clean - a bit of light dirt on the roof, chassis and in the t-iron detail, done with weathering powers applied both dry and as washes with IPA.
     
    The Minerva model isn't perfect, but it's good, and justifies the effort to upgrade the axleguards and boxes, in my view. So here it is, ready for traffic:
     

     

     
    Nick.
     
  23. magmouse
    This post continues the story of the sheeted 5-plank GWR diagram O4 wagon.
     
    The sheet was made of normal printer paper, with the lettering printed on with a laser printer, and backed with a self adhesive aluminium foil.
    The first stage was to use the artwork provided by forum member Ian Smith for the sheet lettering:
    Note that this is the 1903 design - Ian has also done the earlier design, around 1900, should you need it:
    Ian's artwork provides a full set of digits, so you can give each sheet its own number. You also need to put the date the sheet was issued for use at the middle of each long edge. The date is indicated by a number for the month over a number for the year, so 10/09 is November 1909. This is actually too late for my 1908 period, but at the time I made this sheet, I misunderstood the dating system. Later sheets also carried a 'best before' date, by which it should be returned for repair and re-finishing, and I mistakenly thought sheets with only one date carried the 'best before' date, not the issue date.
     
    Having worked in an image editing software to copy and paste the necessary numbers into the right places on the sheet, I printed it out, scaled to be 147mm long in 7mm scale (wagon sheets were a standard 21’0” by 14’4”).
     
    The aluminium tape is a type intended for sealing the joints between sheets of the foam insulation used in buildings, and can be obtained online. Mine is 50mm wide, so three strips are needed to cover the back of the printed sheet. I stuck it on before cutting the sheet out, making sure the three strips went down without gaps or overlaps. After cutting out, I painted black the back of the sheet where it might be visible when fitted and folded, and I carefully ran the brush along the edge to blacken the paper and foil edges.
     
    I made the ties with EZ Line - a fine, elastic cord. The prototype has 16 points around the edge of the sheet where the ties can be attached - one at each corner, and 3 intermediate points on each side, equally spaced between the corners. I made small holes at each point, and fed a length of EZ line through, attaching it on the back with thin CA glue:
     

     

     
    As you can see in the first picture above, I had done a trial fitting on the wagon, starting to identify where the folds and creases would end up. The biggest challenge with modelling sheets is getting something that is light and relatively stiff to look like it is very flexible and hangs under it's own weight. To help with this, I spent some time working the sheet between my fingers, building up small creases to stop the sheet looking like a sheet of stiff paper. This needs care - it is easy to over-work one place and get a single, heavy crease, rather than lots of small ones.
     
    Part of getting the model sheet to hang correctly is making it look like it is under tension in the right places, pulled by the ties. Holding the sheet in place on the wagon and comparing with photos showed a subtle effect on the prototype - along the edge of the sheet, where it hangs over the side of the wagon, the ties pull downwards and slightly bow the edge of the sheet. I made a template from a piece of brass (a spare piece of an etch), filing one edge to a gentle curve between two points spaced at the distance of the ties along the long edge of the sheet. I used the template to trim the sheet to give a very slightly scalloped edge to simulate the effect of the sheet under tension:
     

     
    At this point, I felt I wasn't happy with the finish of the paper and laser print. Modern papers have optical whiteners to give a bright white look - the result is a bluer, brighter white than the white lead paint of the period would give. I started over-painting the lettering with matt white enamel paint and a fine brush. Although fiddly, this isn't too bad as it isn't necessary to get the edges absolutely accurate - the printer has done that. I filled the bulk of the letter form, getting as close to the edge as I dared, working under a magnifier in good light.
     
    Painting the letters revealed that the black print from the laser printer had a texture of, well, print. I felt I now needed to paint in the black. My aim was to model a sheet in 'fresh from the shop' condition, as seen in period photos. When newly treated, sheets were a quite shiny black, so I used a satin black enamel paint to go over the black areas. Working the brush in different directions meant the slight brush-marks created a fine texture without an overall direction, which I felt worked well. The sheen once dry seemed right as a scale 'gloss'.
     

     
    The sheet was now ready to attach to the wagon. I started gluing the centre line to the sheet supporter with thick CA glue, folding the sheet over and holding it in position as the glue set. The next step was to glue the sheet to the curved plastikard former, creating the sense it was hanging under its own weight. Then the sheet was glued to each side, ensuring a crisp fold along the top edge of the wagon body. The sheet should hang down vertically, close to the wagon side - where it tended to bulge out, I introduced extra glue between the sheet and the wagon side with a cocktail stick, and held the sheet in place until the glue set.
     
    I next folded the corners, aiming for the effect of the ties pulling the corners towards the bottom centre of the wagon end, where the ties are fastened. Examination of photos helped get this right. Again, glue was introduced into the folds to ensure the parts that should be straight and flat were.
     
    Careful manipulation of the sheet will get everything sitting as it should be - there should be no convex curves, except where the sheet hangs over the curving ends of the sheet supporter rail.
     
    Once I was satisfied with the shape and folds of the sheet, I attached the EZ Line ties to the hooks previously fitted to the wagon curb rail (see part 1). The EZ Line was turned around the appropriate hook a couple of times, and held in place with a small drop of runny CA glue, applied with a cocktail stick. The end of the tie was then trimmed off.
     
    I found the printer ink had a slight tendency to flake off, especially with the handling required to attach the sheet, so some retouching of the black paint was required. The last steps were fitting the buffers and couplings, and some final detail weathering.
     
    So there it is - a brand new sheet on a slightly scruffy wagon. It's not perfect, and I have since made some refinements to the process of making and fitting the sheet which I will describe in future posts about later wagons. But for now, I think it captures something of the prototype wagons shown in the period photos that inspired the model.
     

     

     
     
    Nick.
     
  24. magmouse
    There is quite a lot to say about this next wagon, so I am splitting the write-up into two parts - this post will look at the wagon itself, and the next post will describe the wagon sheet (sheet being the correct railway term for what in everyday language we might call a tarpaulin).
     
    The starting point is the Slaters (ex Coopercraft) kit for a diagram O4 5-plank open. It's a nice kit, with good detail and crisp mouldings. There are some inaccuracies and opportunities for improvement, however, which I will describe as we go along.
     
    I started by assembling the body. Because I never trust the floor to be an exact fit, I attached the sides and ends together in pairs (one side with one end) first, then assembled these around the floor. Any gaps can be taken up with some plastikard reinforcement, as seen in the picture. Since the inside won't be seen, I also added a stretcher across the middle of the body to stop the sides bowing inwards:
     

     

     
    I realised after assembly I had made a mistake. The corners are mitred but with a slight ‘notch’ at the extreme corner, so the sides/ends fit with one part overlapping the other. I made the sides overlap the ends, so the length of the side moulding determined the overall length, and the width got very slightly wider. this was a mistake, as the overall dimensions would be more accurate if the corners were overlapped the other way. My wagon is therefore very slightly too wide, and too short, but only by less than a millimetre.
     
    The kit comes with an 'underframe' moulding, which spaces the solebars apart. I didn't use this, partly because it gets in the way of brake gear, etc., and also because I don't quite trust these things to get the solebar spacing correct. As it turns out, the solebar spacing is a more complex than one might think...
     
    The first issue is that the bottom flange of the sole bar in the kit is too wide. I decided the most important thing from a visual appearance point of view was getting the outside edge of the sole bar bottom flange in the right relationship with the bottom corner of the body:

    To work out how far apart to place the solebars, the relevant dimensions are:
    Prototype width over body: 7’6” = 52.5mm Prototype width over solebars, including flanges: 6’9” = 47.3mm Kit thickness of solebars, including the flanges: 4.0mm Therefore the distance between the solebars on the model needs to be 47.3 - 4 - 4 = 39.3mm. I made spacers this length out of 200 x 80 thou strip, to assemble the solebars at the correct distance.
     
    Before assembling, though, I made some preparations for the brake-gear. I replaced the moulded components with WEP etches, described in more detail below. There are 3 vee-hangers - 1 in the centre of one side, and 2 positioned either side at one end for the DC brake levers. For these to sit in the right relationship to the solebar, the solebar needs to be thinned down - otherwise the vee-hangers are set too far back. In the relevant places, I filed the back of the solebar as thin as I dared without breaking through:
     

     

     
    I then assembled the solebars and spacers as a subframe:
     

     
    Before attaching the solebars to the body, the headstocks needed fitting. These have square ends, not the correct angled ends, and are a little short. Adding some small pieces of plastikard fixes this. It's easiest to make these oversize, glue them on, and then file back:
     

     
    The left hand side filed back, the right still to do:
     

     
    I used a template to get the angles consistent:
     

     
    Then a small piece to make the top flange on the headstock:
     

     
    Because of the way the solebar and headstock meet, there is a small gap that needs filling on the back of the headstock, again with a small rectangle of plastikard:
     

     
    The solebar assembly was then attached to the body.
     
    The brakes are the kit's weakest area. The brake shoes sit too far from the wheels - something I find particularly irksome and unnecessary. Worse, the push rods are the wrong way round for DC1 brakes - the cross shaft turns in the opposite direction to that on conventional lever brakes, so the left-hand push rod should be above the cross shaft, not below. There is no detail moulded on the back of the brake shoes and push rods, so the moulding can't just be put on the other way round. As well as the vee-hangers and DC1 brake levers, I decided to replace the brake show/push rod assembly with WEP etched components.
     
    The centre vee-hanger in position, packed up on a piece of plastikard:
     

     
    And the end vee-hangers and cross-shaft:
     

     
    The above picture also shows the angled gussets that reinforce the joint between the solebar and the headstock on the prototype. I added these with some 5 thou plastikard.
     
    As it turned out, the WEP etchings also position the brake shoes too far from the wheels, so once the assembly was all soldered up, I used a fine fretsaw to cut the push rods away from the central tumbler, and re-soldered once everything was in position on the wagon. The WEP brake shoes and push rods in position:
     

     
    This picture also shows a few other things. Firstly, the continuation of the side knees down to the solebar, made in plastikard strip, with little cubes of plastikard for the bolt heads. Then there are the door stop springs. The kit comes with long springs, and long banger plates moulded onto the wagon side. These are appropriate for these wagons in their later condition, but not for my 1908 period, so I scrapped off the banger plates and replaced with square ones, positioned for the short stop springs made from nickel silver strip. Rivet heads are spots of PVA glue applied on the end of a piece of fine wire - a handy dodge. Lastly, the safety loops are made from nickel silver strip.
     
    That's about it for below the solebar. The only part I didn't fit at this stage was the 'swan neck' lever that connects the end cross-shaft with the DC brake levers on, and the centre cross-shaft that operates the brake shoes. It is easier to leave this off while everything is being painted, and only add it right at the end.
     
    Next is the sheet supporter - the rail that attaches to the ends of the wagon and holds the sheet up. Unlike the PECO 4-plank wagon in a previous post, this kit comes with components for the sheet supporter. The moulded end mechanisms are quite nice, though the semicircular guide is not quite as refined as one made in metal. Since it is largely hidden by the sheet in this case, I decided to use it. However, I replaced the rather skinny wire provided in the kit for the bar itself with some 1.6mm straight brass wire - much closer to scale diameter.
     
    The ends of the bar were filed and bent to the flat shape of the prototype:
     

     
    The hole in the end had a short length of brass wire soldered in to act as a pivot, fitted into a hole drilled in the end of the wagon.
     
    Because all but the ends of the bar is hidden, it is easier to make it in two halves, cut to exact length and soldered together afterwards, than to try and bend both ends to get the exact length needed. This also gives an opportunity to add strength in the middle so it doesn't sag or get bent while fitting the sheet:
     

     
    Here it is, with the cast G.W.R and number plates on (spares from a PECO 4-plank kit) and ready for the paintshop:
     

     
    One other thing just visible in this photo is all the hooks to tie the sheet to, 5 each side sticking down from under the curb rail, and 3 each end sticking out from the curb rail. The hooks are made from 0.5mm soft iron wire, bent to shape and inserted into holes drilled in the wagon body and held in place with a tiny dab of runny CA glue. I have also added the buffer guides - the buffer heads and couplings go on last, when everything else is done, as the wagon is easier to work on without them fitted.
     
    The paper arrangement the wagon is sitting on in this picture is the method I use to mask the wheels. I paint the wheels black before assembly, and then make a simple 'box' shape folded up from paper, with slots for the axles to go in. This means I can spray the wagon while keeping the wheels free of paint.
     
    To help ensure the sheet conforms to the right shape, as if curving under its own weight where it is draped between the sheet supporter and the wagon sides, I made a former in plastikard:
     

     
    Other than the sheet itself, which I will describe in part 2, the only other thing is painting and weathering - a mix of Vallejo acrylics to make the red, and some black and brown washes mainly on the chassis. I didn't bother with the top couple of planks, as they will be covered by the sheet, and there are no transfers needed because of the cast plates, of course:
     

     
    Part 2 will cover making the sheet, but in the meantime, here is another taste of the finished item:
     

     
    Nick.
     
  25. magmouse

    Netherport - an introduction

    By magmouse,


    General
    Netherport is my long-term project, a GWR terminus and port, in 7mm scale and set circa 1908. I have been developing a backstory, based on a some 'revisions' to the geography of Dorset, so Netherport is notionally located roughly where the real West Bay is situated. I have a list of features I would like the layout to have, but actual construction will have to await a house move, though I may do a smaller layout based on the same theme to develop ideas and techniques.
     
    For now then, this blog will be covering the rolling stock I am building in anticipation of Netherport becoming a reality at some point in the future. Hopefully some of this will be of interest to forum members, and to whet your apetites, I have put a few photos below of some wagons that will be described in upcoming posts.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    And to prove it's not all about the GWR...
     

     

     

     
     
     
     
×
×
  • Create New...