Mikkel

Hi Ian. Well I get frustrated sometimes. Firstly because every time I go travelling you post something nice and I have to make delayed replies like this. You really must time it better! :-) Secondly and most importantly, why are these models not on the frontpage of RMweb? They are absolute gems! Fantastic modelling Ian, this is so inspirational. You may say they are old but I can't see that. How did you make the figures, or are they ready-purchased? Good luck with the continued work and please keep us posted.

Hi Richard, it's certainly fun to scratchbuild, but at this point it's still very much dabbling :-)

Thanks again, Job :-) Don, I can't blame MJT for my problem with the height of the axleguards on the body, I simply slipped up somehow :-) Your experiences with the rocking feature are interesting. I did actually build one unit rocking to experiment with it, but somehow it seemed odd to have "loose" bits on a wagon (says the man who runs everything with the wrong gauge!). In any case, with my very small layouts track does not take so long to do, and so getting the trackwork even is a manageable task. I can imagine that on large layouts, the rocking axleguards can be useful as there may be more places where the trackwork is inevitably a little uneven. Although I am speaking as a complete novice in all this!

Hi Rob, I agree with Jan, your fiddle yard is pretty special and deserves it. But easier said than done of course, I find that kind of work a bit nerve-wracking! :-)

Hi Mike, for a moment there I thought the first photo was your layout! The fact that I could think that shows just how good your work is. These are superb scenes. It must have taken some time and patience to arrange them right!

Hi Job, nice step by step illustration. I know what you mean about having to wait 24 hours between steps, it can be annoying :-) That photo from Clink street, wow, what a scene! Maybe you can do an extension of Northall dock! I'll join the Rmweb John Thaw fan club.

Cheers all, much appreciated. I'm certainly learning a lot from this little project. Will investigate the Bill Bedord jig, thanks. Sasquatch, thanks for that tip about the rivet transfers. I wasn't aware that they work best with a varnish undercoat. It could be a problem for me as I like to brushpaint on top of sprayed primer, so putting a layer of varnish in between that may not work so well. I'll do some experimenting. If all else fails, I'll bite the bullet and make the rivets from sliced plastic rod.

Thanks everyone. I do think this is a good prototype for first steps in scratchbuilding wagons. I tried to illustrate that with the photos, so I'm glad if it's of use to others. It has certainly made me realize that it isn't so complicated as it may seem - although other wagons are of course more complex. Thanks for the tip about a bufferhole height jig, Miss P, will try that next time. I'm itching to finish the wagon but will be going off on some work travel so it will have to wait a little while.

As part of the wagon building programme for Farthing, I wanted one of the early 1-plank opens with wooden solebars. There is no 4mm kit available, but then RMwebber Wagonman pointed out that they are in fact a very straightforward design. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to gain some experience in scratchbuilding wagons, which I’ve never tried before. I chose to build one of the 18ft types - namely no. 5141, of which there is a drawing and photo in "GWR Goods Wagons" by Atkins et al. Thanks to RMwebber Buffalo, another good photo was found in the BGS Broadsheet No. 46. Yet another RMwebber - Miss P - recently pointed me in the direction of the MJT range of underframe components. This etch for their (rocking) axleguard units is very nice and has the added advantage of some good plates and rivet strips. The axleguard units fold up nicely in just a few seconds. They are designed to be compensated by allowing one unit to rock under the wagon, but I didn't really see the need in my case. There are guide holes on the back for punching rivets, but I didn't have an appropriate tool and so will add them later. I built the wagon directly on the axleguards. This seemed easier and safer at the time. In light of what happened later, it would probably have been better to build the body first, then add the axleguards. Regardless, this shot illustrates that scratchbuilding a wagon doesn't have to be rocket science. "GWR Goods Wagons" has a useful cross-section diagram in the introductory section which shows how wagons with wooden solebars were built up. I tried to follow this as far as possible. Here the "side rail" has been added to the solebars. On these particular wagons, the side rail extended over the headstocks as seen here. Gotta keep things level. This wagon was partly built while on holiday, so I used an app in my smartphone which turns it into a spirit level - a tip I got from Phil Parker's Blog (the exact page eludes me). There are various apps available for this purposes, I use one called "Carpenter's Friend". I tried to build up the underframe bracing using an illustration in "GWR Goods Wagons." That's one of the nice things about scratchbuilding, you begin to understand how things were constructed. Here the floor has been fitted between the side rails. The floor planks should extend to the end of the wagon, but because the styrene sheet is thin it would look wrong when seen from the end. So I added separate deeper styrene sections at the ends. This trick cannot be seen when the wagon is fully built up. Uh-oh! Up to this point things had been going smoothly. I was becoming smug. I had visions of scratchbuilding the Eiffel Tower. Blindfolded. In 1:1. Then I put the wagon on the drawing and came right back to earth: The body was sitting too high on the axleguards. There followed a lengthy process of dismantling nearly everything, swearing, becoming impatient, getting glue all over the place, blaming the government, swearing some more and finally managing to re-assemble the whole thing. I ended up back where I started, but with the axleguards now at the right height and the side planks added. The side- and end- planks were 11 inches heigh.The siderails can be seen inside the wagon, as per the prototype. MJT have some nice GWR grease axleboxes (right) that are a good fit with the axleguards unit I was using. But they are fitted with the standard 4 (5?) leaf springs, which later became standard - whereas no. 5141 that I was building had 9-leaf springs. MJT also have some universal 9-leaf springs, but only separately (left). So I cut away the 4-leaf springs and prepared the 9-leaf ones for adding to the grease axleboxes instead.The hole in the back of the axlebox fits over the bearings in the axleguards. Miss One Planker wearing her jewellery. Axleboxes, springs and detailing in place. For the detailing I bought this nice set of wagon detailing etches from Mainly Trains. As it turned out I only used a few of the parts, as most of it was already on the MJT axleguard etches, which are even crisper. The one-plankers had wooden end stanchions with metal plates, which adds character to the wagons, I think. I had planned to use the cornerplates from the Mainly Trains etch seen above, but the rivet pattern was wrong. So instead I used scrap parts from the etch, and will add the rivets later. So this is how far I've come. She's a little dirty here and there after the unplanned rebuild, but that should clean up. I need to add buffers, brake gear and not least rivets. For the latter I've ordered some rivet transfers, which will be interesting to try out. Many thanks to Wagonman, Buffalo and Miss P. for the help and tips so far.

Hi Pete, what a great tip. It looks very convincing. I must try this in 4mm. Thans for sharing.

Great work. Those are not easy shapes to build in styrene, but even now with a Bluetack assembly they look right. The whole model just oozes character, very inspiring.

Hi Al, that roundhouse shot is superb! You should post it in the "most realistic photo" thread. I hadn't actually noticed the brackets until you mentioned them.

Castle, what a great account of what is clearly a very special experience! I liked how you brought in GWR moguls to make the rest of us understand - it immediately made thing clearer and more familiar for me! Thanks for taking the time to share the story.

Very interesting stock, I hadn't heard of the sledge brake concept before! Your clean stock thread was very welcome, it's a relevant and interesting debate. I've learnt a lot from it.

Maybe we should just give up christmas and have a modeller's workshop instead. No ankle socks and you end up with a model.

Thanks Jim, much appreciated. The lettering issue seems to be resolved, so I can finish the ends. Always dangeorus to leave a build with small bits unfinished, as the thoughts turn very quickly to the next project!

Nice and neat. Those coupling rod splashers do look a bit tricky! There's a christmassy feel to these photos. Is your workshop on the North Pole by any chance? :-)

Hello Don, nice progress with the woodwork, I can really begin to visualise it now. The whole thing look very neat. The pedestrian way up must have been a little hard on the legs!

Wow! That is really impressive, Job. It must have taken some time, but as usual it as worth it. Fantastic!

Hi Mike, thanks a lot for the link to that photo, I hadn't actually comes across it before. The Warwickshire Railways site really has become an amazing resource, hasn't it. Yes you're right about the lime, but I just can't get myself to paint it so fully white. It looks odd in 4mm I think. Probably just a personal preference. I just Googled Episyrphus balteatus. Looks very much like the one. I had a look in a book for the exact species, and there were at least 6 that looked almost the same to me. But that is like saying that all GWR locos looked the same! :-)

Hi Pete, plodding along and adding bits here and there is such a nice way to be modelling. But then for you maybe there is time pressure - I can't remember if this one is for a customer? That injector is a little gem, the photo of it where it is mounted in place really shows your high standards. This is going to be a very special loco!

Hi Castle, I've just read your P17 and Grampus build. Very nice work as always, with some clever and creative kit-modification and -bashing. Very inspirational for me as I would like to have some of these types on "the sidings". I really like your finish on the wagons, it somehow adds weight to them and makes them look real - especially the light but effective weathering on the P17.

Very nice to see this layout on here, I also remember seeing it in MRJ. Good modelling wears well! :-)

I can imagine how tricky that must be! BTW I have a number of HMRS sheets accumulated over the years, and I've noticed that the size of the letters and numbers vary between the sheets. Lettering from one sheet may not fit in the available space, while the same lettering from another sheet will. It has to do with the thickness of the print, I think. A bit frustrating.