Pugsley

Have you narrowed the bogies on this one, James? If the steps are the correct prototype size then they will stick out a bit further than they should due to the width over the bogies. The brake cylinders make a big difference B)

Links for the next chapters of the saga: 26 - Getting somewhere at last! 27 - OMG, I think it's going to work! 28 - Getting there slowly 29 - Quick bogie update 30 - More bogie progress 31 - Spring bounce 32 - A milestone moment! 33 - Doing a jig 34 - Back to life... 35 - Mocking.... 36 - I dont believe it! I decided to finish another 'quick win' task before starting on the bogies - fitting armrests to the seats included in the kit. The armrests are filed from 1x2mm Evergreen styrene strip, to more or less the shape and size in this picture: http://briandaniels.fotopic.net/p61285107.html Next up, bogie assembly!

Very kind of you to say so James, but it's not that great, just a few bits of 0.7mm wire soldered together as appropriate! It makes a refreshing change from trying to do the same thing with 0.2/0.3mm wire Besides, the unions are a bit thick, it's going to be difficult to thin them now that everything is stuck in place. Re the drinks cans, they're a great source of cheap metal (well, technically free as I'm paying for the contents ) I've thought about using them a few times, but I'm not sure how well you can solder Aluminium, so I've never actually used it. I must chop up an old beer can one day and give it a whirl! I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with the 66. Are you going for individual stanchions on the chassis? I guarantee it'll do your head in if you do!

Whilst waiting for the final bogie parts, I've decided to start on all the little detail jobs that need doing on the 37 - 8 sandboxes for the sanding gear to fit on and the pipework between the fuel tanks. You will remember my attempt at sanding gear on an earlier entry - I've subsequently discovered that MMP do a class 37 sanding gear set, so I bought one of those instead. The thought of making another 4 assemblies filled me with dread! The main parts of the sandboxes were cut from 0.33mm brass, cut into a strip 3mm wide, by 11mm long. The edges of the cut strips were coloured with permanent marker to help see the marks for forming. The parts at the top of the picture are the strips bent to shape. Lines were scribed at 4mm and 7mm, working from one edge. These were used as guides for pressure to be applied using a Stanley knife blade, which marked where the bend should be and scored to make folding easier. Once folded up, sides cut from 0.127mm brass, to the approximate shape, were soldered onto the formed strips. These were then trimmed to shape as closely as possible using sharp scissors, then filed to the exact shape. In this pic, the three stages of the process can be seen, working right to left. These now need to be drilled in the centre, for the sandpipe assemblies to be soldered in, before mounting them on the chassis of the loco. I'll wait until the bogies are in before mounting them. I've also knocked up a representation of the pipework between the fuel tanks, out of 1.2mm brass and 0.7mm nickel silver wire, with the larger pipe being 1.8mm dia microbore tube. The pipe fittings, such as flanges and unions, are made from styrene sections. I've been assured that I should receive the new design of bogie parts tomorrow, so the next update should be the first completed bogie, with any luck!

It's most like, IMO, the form of modern art that involves installations - the kind of art you immerse yourself into. These also incorporate elements of craft, engineering and design. So, we are all modern installation artists! (Where does that leave those steam modellers though, that's hardly modern )

Wonderfully surreal, yet appropriate Very good!

I think it's the curse of railway modelling. I'm forever getting so far with a project, then moving on to something else. I think Mikkel has summed it up completely - it is inevitably one of those reasons why I move on and start something else, or I get seduced by the idea of something new and exciting. It's about challenges with me and a desire to learn. So far I've learnt about re-wheeling, building track, weathering (still learning that), designing etched parts, and miniature engineering (essentially that's what the 37 is), amongst others. I can do those now, so the next things to learn are 3d design, and moulding/casting. After that? Who knows, but there will be something! The Sentinel looks fab BTW B) B) B) - I'm really looking forward to building my 7mm scale one

Yep, it's the unwritten rule of weathering, one side always looks better than the other! Try gently sanding back your patch with very fine wet and dry paper, used wet. You want 1000 grit minimum, 1200+ would be ideal. That may reduce it in thickness enough to make it look like a cleaned patch. Would a couple of washes of 'neutral' make any difference to the colour? The rest of it is looking really good, and the patch doesn't look that bad.

I like it - nice and subtle B) The part that seems to have made the biggest difference to the 'out of the box' look is that wash of 'neutral'. BTW, if you apply gouache to a matt surface, particularly for fine streak detail, it doesn't really need varnishing, it won't come off terribly easily. Larger effects, such as rust, will.

Hi Wayne. It's kind of finished, in as much as it's numbered and decalled. It just needs weathering and the finishing touches now - I'll put some pics up when it's done.

A very elegant solution, which I wish I could be there to see. Please take plenty of pictures B) B)

Part 10? That's nothing, I'm up to part 23 on one of my projects! The banana is looking great - the efforts you've gone to have been worthwhile, you'd never know it was 2mm scale. Sorry to hear about your problems on the job front - I hope you find something soon.

I see the 'P87' track is getting good use, as normal

To be fair, the rest of their stuff is pretty good, certainly the ballast and their own brand static grassmasteralike amongst other things that I've used. It only seems to be the textured paint which is rubbish.

Yes, it did get rather crowded at times that can only be a good thing for the future of the show. The new venue is a vast improvement, with a little tweaking of the way everything's laid out, I think next years will be a cracker. Will - I like to use a little imagination in my titles, to brighten up what others may not find particularly interesting (I know that this kind of extreme modification isn't everyone's cup of tea). Thanks for the compliment - I don't think of these bits as being particularly professional, but I have had to work to hitherto unknown, to me, standards of accuracy! The loco might not be finished for Christmas, but things are on target to have it complete by the Bristol O Gauge show at the end of January, where I'm hoping it'll debut on the S7 society stand.

Thanks Mike, it has had a good 5 - 6 years of abuse, it's probably time to get a new one. Didn't see you at Taunton - is that 'cos you saw me first? Thanks James, I hope it turns out as good as I want it to.

I'll echo the comments above - I had exactly the same experience with it. It was the concrete version that I used, the sand texture was far too coarse, and it only stuck in patches. I'd never use it again.

David, Again, thank you for the information, especially the part about the extra lagging. I think I'll just have to mock up a series of different barrel diameters in my drawing package and go with the one that looks most right, based on approximations from photographs. Thanks again for your help.

As an update to this entry, I've since tried stress relieving the wound spring by heating them. Unfortunately it seems to soften the springs to the point of being useless! The final springs will be left in the raw state after winding, only time will tell if they retain their springyness!

I've continued with the various outstanding jobs whilst waiting for the final design of parts to be returned from the etchers. The artwork was sent off on Wednesday, so the parts should be in my possession at some point next week. In the same manner as Chris Pendleton with his 4mm Deltic, I've used the springs on the JLTRT sideframes as the studs for mounting the parts for the primary springs. Here the modified sideframes can be seen: The mounts need a certain amount of cleaning up, but this can be done quite easily with the judicious use of files. The frames have all been cut to the same depth and diameter using a home made cutter, again shamelessly cribbed from the MRJ article. It's made from a length of 3/16 inch silver steel, drilled 3.3mm. The brass stud is turned to 3.3mm OD, with a 1.5mm tail, to fit into a 1.5mm hole drilled into the centre of each spring moulding. I also made the revised axles, again from 3/16 silver steel. They are each 45mm, turned to 75 degrees at the end, which will hopefully assist with centering them when the wheels are pressed on. The sideframes have been cleaned up where the moulded axleboxes have been sawn out and I've also removed the moulded securing hooks and lifting lugs - these will be replaced with etched parts, which are included on the bogie frets. Work this afternoon will concentrate on making up the rest of the traction motor units, and getting everything ready for the mark 3 bogie parts. The equalising beams need to be cut in half, and then filed down to fit in the stirrups, which will be soldered to the axleboxes.

David, Yes, the information is very much of use, thank you. That, coupled with photographs and information from other sources, means I now have virtually all the information I need to model these vehicles. The only information that now eludes me is the diameter of the donor tank - the TT007C diagram only gives the total width over ladders. Having done some quick mock-ups in a drawing program, I think that it was around 7'6" diameter, but can't be sure. Your information also clears up some of the inconsistencies I've found in terms of the BR diagrams, with regard to barrel dimensions, as mentioned above. I can see where you are coming from with regards to referring to those numbers as a series, but it is a series of numbers, albeit spread across differing types of wagon. I guess we're both correct, it's just a question of semantics.

David, I'd like to start by thanking you for clearing up the details of these particular wagons. However, as much as this thread may have irritated you, the tone of your response has also irritated me somewhat. Doing my own research into these wagons has thrown up inconsistencies in the data, and how was I to know that the information that you had came first hand from the Transport Manager at Ince? The word 'suggest', in the email you refer to, was used as I did not know at the time what was correct, having found differing information. I'm sure you'll appreciate that not everything in books is always 100% correct, and it seems that offical BR diagrams are also incorrect at times. I would like you to re-read what I've written in earlier postings and point out just where I described what I'd found so far as 'fact'. My statement about the number series TRL51431-49 is perfectly correct - the book that I have detailing wagon numbers doesn't have anything listed for the series of numbers between 51431 and 51449. Thus my assertion that I didn't have any details of the wagons with those numbers is completely correct and not erroneous, as you have suggested. Looking at the BR diagram books on the Barrowmore MRG website, the index pages list 51435-449 as diagram TT022B. Looking at that particular diagram in the same file, it lists the registration as 51410-51414, and gives the barrel dimensions as 2676 wide, 7620 long, the same as the TT022H (and J) diagram. This, coupled with the existence of the barrel-less chassis of 51410 and 51411 led me to the wrong conclusion. Unfortunately, those of us who do not have the benefit of first hand information have to rely upon what they can find out themselves, from an array of sources that may, or may not, be accurate, including official BR information.

That's looking good, and you've got nice colouring on the tanks.

Will do, thanks. Well, you did ask... Having compared the diagrams for the HCN tanks and the official diagram for the Nitric Acid tanks, the barrel dimensions are exactly the same in both length and width, so I'm fairly sure that they are the same. Quite why the underframes were swapped is a mystery - both of the ones at the Langollen Railway are fitted with air brakes and parabolic springs, so that can't be the reason. The only thing I can think of is that the underframes of the donor wagons were in better condition. The chassis of 51953 was definitely from a Chlorine tank, as the others may have been, but I haven't been able to track down a diagram, or any details, for the wagons in the series between 51431 and 51449, but as this series is in between Chlorine and Anhydrous Ammonia tanks, it is possible that they were Chlorine tanks similar to the picture posted above. What I have found out is that, despite the difference in appearance, all of the underframes were built by Charles Roberts, just that 51953 was of a later design, being a couple of years newer than the others, I originally thought it might have been built by Pickering, Wishaw. That's everything I know about these wagons now! I just need to get on with making the model...

Thanks E-W-D, I must confess that I'd already plundered that picture from your fotopic site! I don't suppose you took a photo of the one to the left of it, which is one of the Gloucester Pedestal fitted ones (either 949 or 950) did you, please? It's a little outside the scope of what I was doing, but it'd be interesting to see one in that livery. As for the Chlorine tanker, it's not the same diagram as 410-414, these were Hydrocyanic Acid tanks, with a much larger barrel, according to the diagram I've got. However, it is of use as the chassis appears to be virtually identical to those used under 51948/51-52, so thanks again! Of the 4 equipped with parabolic spring suspension, 953 is the odd one out as it has a chassis of a different appearance. I do now have the diagram for these wagons from a different source, so I'll be able to confirm if my hypothesis about the re-use of the barrels from 410 to 414 is correct. Certainly the chassis from TRL51410 and 411 are alive and well at the Langollen railway, but the barrels are long gone. I'll stop now, as it's probably getting a bit boring.. (Edited for factual inaccuracy - repeat after me, I will not post facts from memory whilst at work, I will not post facts from memory...)