Colin parks

Hi Frank, That B&W photo was not intended as a trick shot, but the jumper cables had proven hard to photograph. I can see what you mean about the photo looking like one of Dave Smith's! Many thanks once again for all your help with the various EMU projects over the past five years. All the best, Colin

Hmm. Perhaps I'll just travel the land with a box of EMUs on offer in future! Colin

Final tweaking, with intermediate jumper cables now fitted to the 4 SUB. Being shorter than the ones on the 4 COR, it wasn't certain that the shorter cables would stay attached until blasting the unit up and down a few times. (They did stay on.) A few pictures of the two HAPs, after testing them to see that all has gone back together. The one to the left is un-powered, being connected to the other with a magnet on a wire on the leading bogie which locates onto a screw head on the powered unit's trailing bogie. It allows the train to be divided in the fiddle yard and just the front two coaches to be used. The coupling of the units allows the two types of side of a 2 HAP trailer coach to be seen at once The windows have come out like the 4 SUB's as both these units should do. The contrasting features of the cab fronts Er, that's about it until conversion to P4 later in the year. Colin

You should hear how I nag him about doing a BR banana van then Ian! Colin

Hi Adam, I have checked to Paul Bartlett site and the diagram is 1375 - regardless of vacuum brake conversion or not. There is a very similar LNER type to dia. 175/78 etc. with thicker planks and a different bolt pattern on the strapping and corner plates. The link below shows a wagon of your SR 1375 type and to the left is an LNER one. (Don't ask me exactly which diagram - it's hard to tell from the evidence of one corner plate.) http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/sropenmerch/h31616790#h31616790 Colin

Hi Adam, How did you make the capping strip clips? Most are black but some are white. Would it be true to say that the black clips are single tiny blocks of plastic let into slots in the top edge of the top planks? I remember seeing these wagons at Newhaven in the early 70's, so it's nice a bit of nostalgia for me to see a model of this type. This wagon type is one of those I have been nagging my brother to produce for a couple of years, so I am glad to see it has made it into production. All the best, Colin

One 2 HAP is complete and sporting some nice shiny commode handles courtesy of Howard. The unit shown here is the motorised one. This shot is pleasing to me in that the first class stripe does not now occupy the whole depth between cantrail and top edge of the window. This is partly due to window position and narrower stripe (painted-on rather than transfer). The large corridor windows now have panes which all sit in the same plane and are also curved to match the body side. While not flush, the glazing is much more acceptable and will not be liable to falling out like the old stuff! The door droplight glazing is set back 10thou. more than the fixed quarter lights, which makes a difference, though adds a great deal to construction time as all panes are separate items. Comparisons with the old sides: The new ones are not perfect but the original sides now look rather embarrassing when put alongside. The windows of the scrapped sides were all the same depth, whereas the door drop lights should be slightly deeper. Added to that, the windows were too large and too angular, the former defect thus leading to the panels between compartments being too narrow.

Hi Andy, That coach is very fine indeed! Perhaps one way of solving the balance/tilt issue without resorting to the exact weighing of parts would be this: Make one bearing surface of one of the bogie stretchers so that it cannot tilt sideways by adding strips of plasticard either parallel to the solebars side of the pivot bolt. On the other bogie add strips at right angles to the pivot bolt. It will give a degree of compensation to the coach chassis too. That is how people like Portchullin Tatty do it anyway! All the best, Colin

Hi Mike, Sorry I didn't realise that the commode handles on your chosen prototype were round. I'm a bit of a one-trick pony as far as knowledge of coaches (some SR EMUs)and their fittings goes! All the best, Colin

Gosh, What cultural differences there are between Britain and Brazil: we plumb our houses with pipes made from an increasingly rare metal and flush our toilets with water of drinkable quality which most of the world would die for (and are dying for the want of it in some places). I would gladly post you some flux, but am not sure how it could be contained safely and not look like a suspicious package. For the small amount of brass-work I do, La-Co Regular Soldering Paste is very good. The paste is non-toxic, acid-free, and lead free. It is manufactured in the USA by: La-Co Industries, Inc./Markal Company 1201 Pratt Boulevard Elk Grove Village Il 60007-5745. Perhaps a look on the internet for a USA supplier this product might be worth a try, they're only one continent (and non oceans) away from you! All the best, Colin

Hi Mike, Just catching up with your thread. The point about having no instructions when scratch-building a coach is a good one. You have got it just about right by saying you will leave the handles off until after painting. On the first coach bodies I built the handles were fitted prior to painting and this made the spraying process a bit more difficult, not to mention having to scrape the paint off the handles afterwards. Re. the commode handles, which look to be nice and consistently bent using the Bill Bedford jig, they would look even more realistic if the faces were flattened with a needle file. As for the door handles, I have used them once and while they are well turned, the handles seem to be over-length/width by about 40%. This can be redressed by careful filing as seen here on this painted example, dating from 2010: Having said all that, the plastic panelling work that you have shown here on this coach is exemplary. All the best, Colin

Hi Peter, Those duckets have come out very well in brass. I'm surprised that flux is a problem to find in Brazil - surely there must be plumbers out there?! All the best, Colin

Hi Bernard, The coach glazing looks very good and it is interesting to know how thin it is too. It looks as if PETG could be curved too using boiling water, but I have managed using a 'cold' bending method. Again, I admire anyone who can build coaches like yours that have bodies which are mostly glazing. All the best, Colin

Thanks talisman56, I have come to the same conclusion myself! I'm going to contact Modelmaster to see why there are no markings for the van ends. Colin

Hi Dave, Yes, agreed. The unfortunate thing is that the re-designed Modelmaster '4353' transfers have absolutely no load markings at all for the van ends of EMUs. At the risk of being blunt, it makes the transfer sheet rather useless as every EMU it covers had a luggage compartment! I have decided to keep the '2 Tons' transfers on the HAPs for now, being better than having nothing there at all. All the best, Colin

Thanks Frank. It is just as I feared, having read through all my Southern books last night. It appears that all these units with a similar van size were one ton, although the first ten all steel 4 SUBs were originally rated at 1 1/2 tons by the Southern Railway. All the best, Colin

Wow. Hats off to you for glazing those buses SRman! I have made a rod to beat myself with here, as the sheet I have to use fits the slots that have been made in the cantrail above the windows. I tried heat and the strips 'cupped', with the heat being on one side, I should have anticipated that. I suppose boiling water would have worked if the strips were immersed, but what work in the end was to grip one end of the strip and coil it up like an old clock spring. When released the plastic had adopted the curve required, any correction s were done with finger pressure. All the best, Colin

Hi David, If you can make a loco, you can surely make an EMU! The NER was one of the pioneers of electric traction after all (didn't they have electrically powered parcels units? (= very few windows)) But take my advice start off with a prototype where the glazing was flat! All the best, Colin

Hi Howard, Thanks for your generous comments. The windows, repair strips and other features are improvements over the old sides' features, but the painted-on corridor hand rails look pretty cheesy so more will have to be done to get an acceptable solution. The commode handles you sent me have arrived so many thanks for those. (We were out this morning when the post was delivered, but the dog did not chew through the envelope, having rather more interest in the latest copy of the Private Eye which gave her more to get her teeth into.) One thing you might have expert knowledge of is the maximum load of a 2 HAP van/luggage compartment. Due to Modelmaster not now containing the 'Load X Tons Evenly Distributed' on their new BR(S) EMU white transfer sheets, I was forced to used old Modelmaster transfers with the load of '2 Tons', which is probably not correct. My only consolation is that the script is virtually illegible from 'a normal viewing distance'. So any ideas on the loading limits of 2 HAPs?! All the best, Colin

Painting complete and transfers on, I have been trying out the glazing. The big snag with the PETG sheet that I have is that when trying to introduce a gentle curve in the window panes to match the body side curvature, there is a slight crazing which wasn't encountered with the material that has been used in the past for EMU glazing. The varnish over the transfers was Humbrol Satin but has turned out matt. This is fine as I hope to re-instate the stained and stripy look that some 2 HAPs ad due to the effect of the carriage cleaning fluid used at that time (the 4 SUB should probably be similarly weathered). The over-spary above the cantrail will be dealt with. Hope you like the mending plate Howard! Experiments with heating the glazing sheet to produce an even curve will have to be undertaken. The trial of ruling on the handrails met with only partial success: the lines are straight and at the right level, but the larger pane has a smudged line and the smaller one got scratched! Back to plastic rod perhaps?! Colin

I'll put a word in! Colin

Hi Mike, The coach is looking fantastic with such crisp detail. I have just re-read the whole thread and although I do not have much understanding of CAD drawing, the work you have done is quite outstanding. The way the bottom edge panelling is kept straight with the sacrificial support strip is very clever. All the best, Colin

Hi Adam, That Bobol D looks superb. Bogie bolster wagons are not that commonly modelled to this standard. My favourite details are the chains, which you are bound to say is one of the easiest parts of the build to do! Now, six or seven of these vehicles would make a nice train.... All the best, Colin

Hi David, The loco is looking very nice indeed. I look forward to seeing it painted. There are one or two detail differences between your model and Steve's (number of boiler bands & 'object' behind chimney). Did the class vary in design or are the models of the same loco at different periods? All the best, Colin Oops! I now see that post #116 seems to answer the question!

Hi Peter, That van is coming on quickly. I was offline for one day and when I get back on you have produced almost all the body parts! It isn't clear why you think the duckets might be made of brass rather than plastic sheet. Re. the plate-work or strapping on the body, have you thought about using plastic sheet and adding the bolt heads separately? I have seen some 7mm wagons made this way and the builder even went to the lengths of using individual bolt mouldings inserted into holes. Perhaps plastic rod inserted into holes would work well too? All the best, Colin