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Erudhalion

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  1. Erudhalion
    Background
     
    As those few of you who have read some of my previous posts know, over the past few years I have been building stock appropriate for the Forest of Dean in the early '20s. As mining was traditionally the largest industry of the area, a huge proportion of the rolling stock in period photos are PO mineral wagons, generally built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company. Broadly speaking, the wagons owned by the collieries themselves were 10t or 12t end door types, while the coal merchants favoured fixed end types.
     
    When it comes to models, Cambrian makes GRC&W 10t fixed end and 12t end door kits, both with wooden solebars, of which I've built a few. Recently Brassmasters has also added 3D printed bodies to their range to go with their brass underframes, but I haven't tried them out, as although I'm sure they make are fine models, they are quite expensive when compared to plastic kits.
     
    The problem for me was that, judging by the excellent Severn & Wye Railway books by Ian Pope et al., from which I got all of the photos I have based my drawings on, the most commonly used type of wagon used by the collieries was of the 10t end door kind, which I couldn't find a kit for. I had considered whether kitbashing the Cambrian kits could produce results, but after perusing a few websites, I decided that I could easily obtain all the bits, such as W-irons and brake gear, which would enable me to scratchbuild whatever wagon I liked. I thought it would be a quick and easy task to produce a CAD plan of a 10t end door wagon, but the more I looked at photos the more I discovered that there actually were quite a variety, with differing strapping patterns, number of planks and kinds of underframe. So I set about making drawings for each type, which I have presented below.
     
    Some aspects are a bit speculative, generally because of the quality of the photos: while the GRC&W works photos are very crisp and detailed, some of photos of the wagons in the wild are not quite to that standard, plus the scanning process has inevitably produced slight distortions. I have assumed that the wheelbase is 9' for all wagons, and worked out the solebar length from there, assuming it is either 15' or 16'. The details on the ends are often hard to determine, so I have based them on the Cambrian kits. I have also only drawn the parts of the wagons that need scratchbuilding, so the brake gear, W irons, buffers etc. have only been sketched in.
     
    7-Plank Wagons
     
    These wagons all have 7 equal width planks and wooden 15' solebars and headstocks, side doors 5 planks deep with T-shaped catches on the 2nd plank from the top, and J shaped strapping on either side of the door. Most but not all have one set of brake gear.
     
    Variant A
     
    The inside diagonal strapping on the sides is secured to the outside of the corner plates on the ends. The end door pivot goes through the topmost plank on the sides and is connected to a full-height piece of strapping. The end door sometimes has a pair of inclined handles between the fourth and fifth plank from the top, and al feature a V-shaped vee-hanger.
     
     

     
     
    Variant B
     
    Outside diagonal strapping fixed directly to corner plates. End-door pivot sits in a cutout in the topmost plank and is connected to its own short piece of strapping, next to the full-height one. End door sometimes has diagonal handles. Door spring fitted centrally between arms of V-shaped vee-hanger.
     

     
     
    Variant C
     
    Only one photo of this variant, branded Speech House, in an unusual light coloured (yellow?) livery, so it was probably a special wagon of some kind.
    Outside diagonal strapping, end door hinge through topmost plank and connected to diagonal strap and full-height J-shaped vertical strap. Additional short strapping on the sides around end door catch. Cylindrical cover between the side door hinges. Vee-hanger with parallel ends, handles on solebar between ends of crown plates rather than outside them.
     

     
    6-Plank Wagons
     
    The lower four planks are the same depth as 7 plank wagons, while the top two planks are deeper.
    The end door pivot is supported above the wagon sides by two short bars which seem to be bent inwards, although the exact shape is a bit hard to determine. The short bar is bolted to the top of the vertical strapping.
    The side door is still 5 planks deep, and held closed by catches to the side.
    All have inside diagonal strapping secured through the corner plates at the fixed end.
    Most of these also appear to have only the one set of brake gear.
     
    Variant A
     
    Wooden 15' solebars and headstocks, J-shaped strapping either side of the side door, presumably with the lower end bolted to the diagonal strapping. V-shaped vee-hangers.
     
     

     
    Variant B
     
    Steel 15' solebars and thinner steel headstock, all vertical strapping bends around the bottom of the sides and is secured to the solebars. The lower ends of the diagonal strapping are secured with bolts which protrude below the wagon floor outside the solebars. The detail on the fixed end more uncertain, there seem to be some bolt heads between the corner plates, but unlike the wagons with wooden underframes, the two vertical wooden beams are absent. Parallel-ended vee-hangers.
     
     

     
    The 7 and 6 plank varieties are by far the most common, but there were also one photo of a 5 plank wagon and one of a 4 plank. The 4 plank wagon in particular is quite different from all the others, and seems to me might be an older style of wagon.
     
    5-Plank Wagon
     
    The planking on the sides seems to go deep, medium, shallow, shallow, medium, top to bottom. Having only one photo, I can't tell if this is correct. Wooden 15' underframe with parallel-ended vee-hangers and brakes on one side only.
    4 plank-deep side door with T-shaped catches on the topmost plank.
    End door pivot like 6 plank wagons, but the pivot supports are more sharply bent over the top of the sides.
    Outside diagonal strapping going over the corner plates and the vertical strapping by the door. The diagonal straps are kinked outwards to accommodate this. At the open end, the diagonal straps pass under the end of the pivot supports.
     
     

     
    4-Plank Wagon
     
    A lot of features about this wagon are speculative, it is hard to tell from the photo even if it has an end door. As one end doesn't seem to be arched and the same end doesn't look like it has corner plates, it seems likely that it has an end door.
    4 deep planks with the side door 3 planks deep, T-shaped catches on the topmost plank.
    Wooden 16' underframe with apparently steel headstocks and V-shaped vee-hangers and brakes on both sides.
    Narrow corner plates with a single row of bolts on the sides.
    Bolts for the diagonal strapping on the sides and all details concerning the end door and pivot are based on the 5- and 6-plank wagons as that side of the photo is not as clear. The fixed end is also almost invisible in the photo, so details are also speculative.
     

     
    So there you have it, that is what I was able to do with the photos I have available. I'm quite sure that there are inaccuracies here and there, apart from the speculative parts, I'll come back and correct them if I find any. It might be that this information is already out there somewhere, but I quite enjoyed the process of working things out, and I will eventually put some of it to use once I have finished building the loco to haul them. I haven't included any measurements, but the drawings are supposed to be to scale, and I do have the CAD files, should anyone want them, which can be scaled and measurements taken directly from them.
     
    Anyway, enough armchair (or to be more accurate, beanbag) modelling, I need to get my 2021 done.
  2. Erudhalion

    Of Toads and Travels

    By Erudhalion,


    Rolling stock
    Life, as ever, gets in the way of the serious stuff. This time it was, in rough chrinological order, a new job, a trip to Korea, a subsequent move to Düsseldorf, and marriage. However, things have now settled down a bit, and I have got back to modelling, although, alas, I had to get rid of the nice workbench I had made.
     
    Since my last post, the brakevan had progressed to the point depicted in the photo, when I was forced to stop due to the lack of handrail wire and an appropriate tube for the chimney.

     
    I have ordered the wire from Wizard together witha few other bits for the next project, which will be the 2021 pannier I ordered over a year ago.
     
    The kit went together well, I thought, and my soldering was, for the most part, not as messy as I feared, and my newly aquired glass fiber pen can probably sort out the worst of it.
    The fret supplied in the kit is very similar, but not identical, to the one assumed by the instructions, and as far as I can see some pieces are missing. Luckily my wife has donated some nickel silver sheets left over from her uni days to the project, so I should be able to make some replacements for the missing components.
     
    I am still missing the buffers, which will need ordering from mjt at some point. The ones supplied in the kit are nice turned brass items, but a bit generic for my liking.
     
    Hopefully, the brake van will finally come together over the next few days/weeks.
  3. Erudhalion

    A Tale of Two Wagons

    By Erudhalion,


    Rolling stock
    My last post featured two Coopercraft wagons which were looking a bit sad after about a decade sitting on a shelf. I decided it was time to reassemble and repaint them, and make some improvements along the way.
     
    The first thing I did was disassemble them as much as possible without causing damage and removing some of the old paint. The open wagon body came apart completely without much fuss, while the mink's roof came off, but the rest of it stayed together, which made removing the paint a bit tricky , although I did manage to clean up the area where I had originally managed to spill a drop of solvent when I originally built it.
     
    I then started putting them back together and Improving them.
     
    Underframe
     
    After a bit of research on the Coopercraft website and on the GWR wagon book, I determined that what I had were a V4 mink and an O4 open. These two diagrams had the same underframe featuring DCI brakes, at least initially (the V4's were upgraded with vacuum brakes at some point after construction). Having looked at some photos of the real things, I realised that the underframe as supplied in the kit was lacking the prominent swan-necked lever which actuated the brakes, as well as the quadrant sitting behind the brake handle.
    I decided to have a go at making a representation of these out of plasticard. Luckily there is a space between the V-hanger and the brake rods which is just wide enough to slot in a lever. Using a diagram of a DCI brake as a guide, I stuck some masking tape onto a piece of plasticard and sketched out the shape.
     

     
     
    Once cut out, I ensured that it didn't interfere with the wheels. Next I had to fashion a piece that looked vaguely like the DC brake quadrant, which was quite fiddly considering the size, but I think I succeeded in crafting something that looks ok on the finished wagon. I glued the swan-neck lever to the V-hanger and the back of the W-iron, glued the quadrant to the back of the bracket holding the brake lever and then added the pair of links between the two with10 thou plasticard. This is what it looks like on the open wagon, the mink had the same treatment.
     

     
     
    Buffers
     
    A couple of the buffers had long ago snapped off and disappeared, so I decided to replace them all. My first plan was to turn replacements on the pillar drill from 4mm brass rod, but after a couple of attempts I decided I couldn't do it consistently enough to get the results I wanted. The two I turned looked fine on their own, but one was actually 1mm longer than the other, and with files and a drill I decided I couldn't turn a complex shape like this accurately. After pondering the matter for a couple of days, I decided the solution was turning the buffer head and shank from the brass rod, and then thread a buffer body made from plasticard onto it. I glued up a few different stacks of plasticard, as you can see in the photo (which also features the two attempts at solid brass buffers):
     

     
     
    - 8 buffer bodies (3 layers of thicker plasticard)
    - two stacks of 4 layers of 10thou plasticard to form the raised lip at the end of the buffer body
    - two more stacks of 4 layers 10thou to form the lip/radiused edge between the buffer and the headstock (in hindsight I don't think these were necessary)
     
    These last two stacks were only lightly glued together, as the plan was to separate them into 8 of each component.
    I then turned the end of a piece of rod to form a spindle 1mm in diameter (the same as the buffer shanks). This was heated with a small blowtorch and pressed through the centre of each of the stacks of plasticard in turn, melting through them to create an appropriately sized hole and also to enable me to turn the plastic components tu the right size and shape.
     

     
     
    After a few hours of work, I had two of the following kit of parts:
     
     

     
    It turns out my clever plan wasn't quite as clever as I thought, as the turned plastic parts were not quite as concentric as I was hoping, as well as incredibly fragile. however, I managed to get them all superglued together in the end.
     

     
     
    I must have slightly underestimated the thickness of the plasticard, because the new buffers are a little longer than the originals, but visually at least, I think they are fine.
     

     
    Reassembly and Painting
     
    I now put the open back together. I had to fabricate some new door stops to fix to the solebars as the ones provided in the kit didn't seem to look much like any of the ones I could see in period photos, and I had also put them in the wrong place when I first build the wagon. I crafted some new ones by heating strips of plasticard in boiling water and forming them around a file handle. I then cut some spacers and glued the lot on the solebars in line with the oblong plates of the door. Well, nearly in line as it turns out. The four sides of the body were then glued on.
    On the mink, i glued one of the two hefty hex nuts i had put inside back to the floor, added a piece of plasticard to stop the sides from bowing inwards and put the roof back on. I then built up some couplings and this was the final result:
     

     
    (You can see my soldering improving as i tried out different flux, techniques and solder)
     
    Primer was then brushed on (still no access to an airbrush, but I get decent results, I think), and a good quantity of GWR goods grey was mixed. I managed to get the proportion wrong (9:1 rather than 7:1), but it looks alright. I added a bit of white for the mink, as I wanted the open to represent a recently repainted wagon with 16" letters, while the mink would still be sporting the old 25" letters, so I wanted a more faded look (which I definitely didn't get).
    I then applied methfix transfers and very carefully cut them with a scalpel while still damp so they would follow the shape of the planking. The mink was then drybrushed all over in light grey and I tried to add some slight spots of peeling paint and rust, which were unfortunately both obliterated by the light grime wash I applied to both wagons. Here is the finished result:
     

     
     
    The mink especially is a lot smarter than I would have liked, but overall I am quite satisfied, they are definitely much improved, I reckon. The inside of the open has been drybrushed a bit, but it suffers from the unusually high floor and lack of detail these Coopercraft kits seem to feature, so I might provide it with a load or tarpaulin at some point to mask it.
     
    Except I managed to set up some ancient Lima track on the floor and run them around a bit, and it tuns out that my new buffers prevent them from going around the bends. I think it is simply because the curves I have are pretty tight (384mm). They should be alright on more sensible radii. If not, I will have to move the couplings outwards a bit.
     
    Oh well, you live and learn.
     
    Talking of learning, I have made a start (with much concern and trepidation) on the brake van!
  4. Erudhalion

    The dawn of the brass age

    By Erudhalion,


    Rolling Stock
    First of all, new modelling bench! We've been rearranging things about the house after our flatmate left and left a Black & Decker-style workbench behind. I promptly commandeered it and made a work surface which is held in the vice using a piece of MDF and various left over bits of wood, mainly from Ikea shelving. The lamp was salvaged from the cupboard of disgrace in my violin making workshop. Overall I'm pretty happy, it certainly beats the small table I was using before. (If you are wondering what Darth Vader's head is doing there, its a phone holder).
     

     
     
    Second of all, an update on the PO wagons: Cannop and Pates & Co are basically done, although I might still do some minor adjustments to the weathering. Pates & Co turned out grimier that I was hoping, I was aiming for a lightly weathered wagon, with some coal dust around the side door and a bit of grime on the underframe, but I overdid it a bit. Still, I don't think it looks unprototypical. The other thing I'm not totally satisfied with is the colour of the grimy wash I mixed up, which ended up a bit too red for my liking, a sort of rusty colour. It looks alright on Pates & Co, but the white letters on Cannop have gone a bit of a weird colour, although I notice it is not too apparent in the picture. I might try to rectify it, but I'm not sure how at this point.
    Another thing which isn't obvious in the photo is the absolute pig's ear I made of one of the couplings on Pates & Co, where I assembled the S&W coupling with mounting plate as per instructions, only to discover that the plate wouldn't fit between the headstock and wheels and that the paddle was resting on the axle so it would occasionally prevent it from turning. A bit of filing and bending and touching up and adding blobs of solder sorted it, but I'll check next time before assembling everything.
    On a side note, as I was looking for photos of wagons as a reference in the Severn & Wye books, I came across the views of the then new footbridge at Lydney Jcn in 1908 in the first few pages of Vol. 5. They features rows of PO wagons under the bridge, I was surprised at how clean most of them were: the majority appeared to be pretty much spotless, at least on the actual body sides. The underframes seemed to be a bit dusty, but still in a very good state compared to pictures I've seen of similar vehicles in the '40s or '50s. I wonder if this was typical in the pre-WWI period.
     

     
    The shunting truck is almost done, I've been trying to work out how to fit couplings to it: one side is going to have and S&W coupling, the other a loop of wire for tension locks to hook on to, but I've also fitted hooks for instanter couplings, as you can see below. A bit overkill maybe, but I'll see how it works in practice.
    I was also thinking that some lamps and other assorted bits would give it a bit more character, so I might at some point order some.
     

     
    I recently discovered two of the first wagon kits I ever build, about 10 years ago: a GWR OPEN (possibly diagram O4), and a MINK, both from Cooper Craft. The quality of the kits is pretty good, lots of nice crisp detail. Unfortunately, that can't be said about my workmanship. As you can see, the open is literally falling apart. I'm in the process of disassembling them as much as is reasonable, removing the yellowed decals and stripping the paint (Humbrol enamels dissolve in alcohol! You learn something new every day). The open also has weird door stops hanging off the solebars which don't appear in any of the photos of similar wagons in the Big Book of GWR Wagons, so they are coming off and I'll fabricate some new ones. Both will then be repainted in GWR livery (not the weird greenish tinge I had decided looked like BR freight grey). I will also need to turn some new buffers for them from brass rod using my Ultra-pro lathe (pillar drill and an assortment of needle files).
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Finally, look what arrived in the post (after the customary month of waiting for Italian customs to actually do their job):
     

     
    A Nucast Partners 2021 kit and a AA1/AA3 Toad kit from Roxey Mouldings!
    As excited as I am for these, the more I look at them the more I think that I will need to do a lot of research (both on soldering technique, chassis building etc and on prototype) before I even think of getting started. Anyone know where to find Lydney shed allocations from around 1920?
    I hope I'll be able to do them justice.
     
    Exciting stuff!
  5. Erudhalion

    More wibbly-wobblyness

    By Erudhalion,


    Rolling stock
    Well, December got a bit hectic, I didn't get much modelling done.
     
    However, progress is being made:


    The lettering on this wagon was much more of a challenge than the Cannop wagon, but from a distance it looks ok, I think. Close up it is a bit of a mess, but I hope that weathering will make it less obvious.
    The tiny curly lettering unfortunately spells "Empty to/ Uorgreens Colliery/ Forest of Dean" on one side, as the tinyness and the curlyness made it rather hard to tell a U from a W.
    But still, I am reasonably happy.
     
    I've had a bit of an issue with the lettering on the shunting truck.
    My original plan was to have "S&W. Joint Shunting Truck" as per the photo so kindly posted by @Western Star a few blog posts back. However, as I only have the HMRS wagon transfer sheets at hand, this entails doing a bit of cutting and rearranging of letters. However, it turns out that although all the letters are there, they aren't in the same condensed typeface you can see in the photo and so don't fit on the side of the toolbox. 
    As it isn't the same design of shunting truck as the photo anyway (M4 rather than M3), I applied rule 1 and it is only going to have "S & W Joint" on the side (assuming I can craft the "&" out of something).
     
    In other news, I might be ordering a 2021 class kit from NuCast Partners in the coming days.
    Exciting stuff!
  6. Erudhalion

    Wibbly Wobbly

    By Erudhalion,


    Rolling stock
    After a mere seven months later, I have almost finished the first of the two PO wagons. 
     

     
    The lettering on the side was not too difficult, although one side took two goes. I had real trouble getting nice sharp corners on the letters, especially the wagon number, but I think it looks all right from normal viewing distances. The spacing and shape of some letters is a bit wobbly, but looking at the photos in the S&W books, the lettering on various wagons with nominally the same livery is less consistent than I imagined, so my inaccuracies turned out to be prototypical (luckily).
    The lettering on the wagon side was assembled one letter at a time with HMRS methfix transfers, which is how I discovered that acrylics are alcohol soluble. It took about a week to letter the first side, but by starting all three lines of text at the same time I was able to cut down the time significantly for the second side. This lettering is in keeping with the rest of the wagon when it comes to regular spacing and correct alignment, as I found the process rather fiddly. The transfers on the solebars are by Fox.
     
    I am a bit uncertain about how to weather this wagon. Pre WWII PO wagons seem to be in unexpectedly good nick in many photos, so I think I'll keep it relatively light. S&W vol. 5 has a photo dated 1908 of a rake of PO wagons in Lydney with what appear to be almost spotless sides but considerably dirtier running gear, which struck me as a bit odd.
     
    While I think about that, I have started lettering the next PO wagon.
     

     
    As you can see, the lettering is still very much in the wibbly-wobbly phase, I hope I'll be able to tidy everything up and add the proper black shading to the letters. The completed wagon side should read PATES & Co / college coal exchange/ 22 Cheltenham, plus the various "Return empty to" and so on, which I'll do with transfers again.
     
    I have also painted the shunting truck and added some transfers. I think I will have to be a bit inventive with the HMRS GWR transfer sheet to assemble the writing on the side of the toolbox.
     

     
    My plan is to use this as a conversion wagon between coupling types, but I an not sure whether I want S&W on one end and tension lock on the other; or S&W and 3 link, considering the amount of brake detail I'd have to remove to fit a tension lock.
     
    Lots to think about, but at least things are moving again.
  7. Erudhalion
    So, things have been moving along, although not at a particularly fast pace.
     
    First, the loco coal wagon from the last post.
    It is not done yet, I've added a bit of rust and wear.
    The excellent pictures from Mikkel's blog (https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/11531-detail-hunting-at-didcot/) were invaluable for reference.
    It is all still a bit raw, it needs a wash of general grime to tone things down a bit. I'm reasonably happy with how it is coming on, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the overall look. Maybe once it is all toned down I'll be happier.
     

     
    I'm not entirely sure what causes the lighter discoloured patches in the paint, but I tried to replicate the look with some thinned light gray (Vallejo glaze medium and water). I've also used some soot from my parent's chimney to detail the interior, I've got a large jar full of the stuff I meant to use to make pigments for violin varnish, but it seems to work pretty well as a substitute for real coal dust. Unfortunately the glue, water and a drop of washing up liquid has left a mess on the floor of the wagon. I'm hoping a bit of matt varnish and a black wash will make it look better.
     

     
    The next batch of models has also been primed. As I don't have access to spraying gear where I am, I decided to use a brush. Although it doesn't look great, it think it will work out all right. Pictured are a small office building (free with an issue of Railway Modeller from a couple of years back), and three Cambrian Model Rail wagons: a shunter's truck to dia. M4, a 12T end door 7-plank and a 10T fixed end 7-plank, both Gloucester designs.
     

     
    I plan to use the shunter's truck as a conversion wagon between tension-lock and S&W couplings. I assumed there weren't any in the Forest of Dean, but while leafing through The Severn & Wye Railway Vol. 5, I came across a picture of a 16xx heading to Lydney docks from the yard with a shunter's truck (looks like an M3, judging from the upper handrail), so it seems like at least one was allocated to the Forest area. I'll have to see if I can find out what the lettering on the toolbox sides was. Failing that, I can make something up.
    The kit has a lot of good detail, especially the various shafts and brackets associated with the DC brake gear. I haven't fitted any couplings yet, so I might have to remove some of these bits to make room, but I will try and keep it to a minimum.
     
    I've also base coated the two wagons: the 12T in black, and the 10T in red.
     

     
    The idea here is to do a bit of miniature signwriting: the black one will be a Cannop colliery wagon, while I plan to finish the red one as one of Pates', a coal merchant from Cheltenham who bought coal from Foxes Bridge colliery. There are photos of both in the S&W railway books.
     
    I have no idea if I will actually manage this.
     
    The Cannop livery is as simple as it gets: CANNOP in large, sans-serif unshaded white letters exactly four planks high and the wagon number in the lower left corner. I have a couple of sheets of HMRS PO wagon transfers for the smaller script stuff. The Pates livery, on the other hand is more elaborate: for a start the letters are shaded black, there is also more writing in general on the wagon, some of which I might be able to do with transfers, but I'll have to see. Another issue is that the transfers are an off-white creamy colour rather than white, but maybe once the whole wagon is weathered it won't be as obvious, I'll have to see about that.
     
    Anyway, I hope it is feasible.
     
     
     
     
  8. Erudhalion

    Cracking on

    By Erudhalion,


    Rolling stock
    Look at that, two posts less than a year apart!
     
    The crane is now very very nearly finished. As I hope you can see, I've added the jib retaining chain and fashioned a hook for it with a piece of guitar string a and a tiny scrap of plasticard. The chain is not quite as long as I would have hoped, but not so short as to cause problems running (as far as I can tell using the three bashed up pieces of old Lima track I have at hand). I managed to damage the match truck's S&W coupling, so I've prised it off pending repairs. 
     

     
    I must say, although it is far from perfect, I am very happy with how it has turned out. I don't think I've ever built a kit as intricate, but I've managed to finish it off as I wanted.
     
    The next item on the small coffee table/workbench is a loco coal wagon (diagram N30). I've gone for a slightly darker shade of gray (7:1 black to white as opposed to the crane's 7:2), the idea being that this would be a fairly new wagon. The plan is to give it a light weathering, mainly grime and coal dust. I need to scour the internet and the wagon bible for some reference pictures.
     

     
    During the week my order from Cambrian managed to find its way through customs, so now I have five mineral PO wagons and a shunter's truck to build. The kits themselves are (as usual) pretty good, but one minor disappointment is that it seems that at least some of the wheels are quite wobbly. I've seen from other threads on this site that it appears this is not unheard of with Alan Gibson wheels, but I wasn't overjoyed when I found out. Still, at least they look nice, I suppose.
     

     
    I've started building the shunters truck, which, although maybe not the likeliest item of Forest of Dean rolling stock, I plan to fit with an S&W coupling on one end and a tension lock on the other, as I have a fair bit of RTR stock of various vintages which I might want to use. The S&W coupling should also let me install most of the DC brakegear's various brackets and shafts.
    The toolbox is full of lead fishing weights, but I'm not certain if that will be enough, I'll weigh it today and see. I generally try to reach 30g with these short wheelbase wagons. A bit more would be better, but so far I've had trouble finding places to put enough lead.
     
    Anyway, progress!
  9. Erudhalion

    Picking up

    By Erudhalion,


    Rolling stock
    Well, another few years have gone by since the last post.
     
    The Lydney station project has ground to a halt, but the general plan has remained the same: I'm trying to work on smaller projects I can manage with the space and money available. I've decided to focus on Forest of Dean and roughly 1920s as a time period.
     
    I have braved the customs of the post-Brexit world and ordered some bits and bobs from Wizard and Cambrian, some of which have turned up. 
     
    The Cambrian GWR 6-ton hand crane I assembled years ago is first on the list: it has finally been painted, filled with lead in the toolboxes, balance weight and under the chassis, and fitted with 3mm S&W couplings on the outer ends, and 3 link (crane) and instanter (match truck) between the two. 
    Special thanks to KNP of this parish for inspiration and encouragement as regards the match truck lettering. Next it needs weathering and the jib retaining chain attaching.
    The crane itself is basically finished, I've managed to make quite posable, the jib can be raised or lowered and the crane can be rotated. I drilled some tiny holes in the chain drum so it can be rotated (with the help of a small piece of wire). I also had to fashion a new hook (plasticard, a fishing weight and a piece of violin E string), which is removable so you can thread the pulley for double chain lifting on. Over the years I lost the original hook, as well as the pon securing the crane body to the chassis, and while painting managed to break all four buffers off, so I turned some new brass ones with the help of a pillar drill and some needle files (very high tech). Now all I need is for Italian customs to get their act together and get the wheels I ordered to me.
     
    Next up (in hopefully less than a couple of years) a GWR loco coal wagon.


  10. Erudhalion
    Well, that was rather a long break.
     
    I had started preparing some old baseboards for my planned Forest of Dean inspired layout, but work ground to a halt a few years ago. The boards are still there, but I haven't got the space to work on them any more.
    In the intervening years, I have been to the read Forest of Dean as a working volunteer on the DFR, so have had a chance to look around and be inspired.
     
    What I've decided to do is build a few FoD inspired structures, both to get to grips with scratchbuilding and potentially to have something to use on the layout, when I get a chance to work on it again. As my modelling budget is pretty much non-existent, I've decided to use the piles of humble Packeto-Cornflacko and Backo-Ringbinder-Refillblocko that O have accumulated over the years.
     
    First up is the station building, which is a 4mm version of the original wooden S&W Lydney Junction station building. The S&W books by Ian Pope & Co have proved invaluable, as vol. 1 has a full set of 4mm scale drawings. The plan is to have full interiors and lights.
     
    The main structure is made of two layers of BRR (which is a fairly high quality card, light gray and about 1mm thick), which is coincidentally about scale thickness. The first real hurdle was how to replicate the rusticated weatherboarding on the outside. After a few experiments, I settled on strips of medium weight paper. Among my father's vintage technical drawing equipment I found a machine for drawing equally-spaced lines, which I used to mark out the strips and guidelines on the sides themselves.
     
    Next I need to cut out window and door apertures and cut the 6 internal walls (5 across, one lomgitudinal separating the gents toilets from the ladies) and the ceilings. Not sure if the original had flat ceilings, but I need them for rigidity. Unfortunately popping over to Parkend to have a look at and original building is not really an option (unless 1600km counts as "popping").

  11. Erudhalion

    Doom and Woe

    By Erudhalion,

    Things on the loco front are going less than ideally.
     
    It turns out the primer I used is unsuitable for metal, and basically hasn't stuck much, a light scrape with a fingernail is enough to scrape the paint off. When I removed the masking tape I had applied, quite a lot of paint peeled off with it, including a large chunk on the rear buffer beam (or maybe I should say the front, I'm not entirely sure with these engines, all the photos I've seen appear to have them running cab first). Here is the result:
     

     
    Also, in certain conditions the blue parts look a bit purple.
     
    What I'll have to do is strip the entire thing back to metal, hoping the thinner doesn't eat through the superglue I used to attach the smaller detail and start again. This time I'll use the Games Workshop primer which I already have, and which I know works well on metal. I'll also do a blue basecoat, and then mask it off and spray the black parts, I hope the results will be better.
     
    I have also finished the can of paint thinner, so I can't start stripping until I get a new one.
     
    On a more positive note, I've bought two 83x30cm sheets of 10mm plywood which I will assemble into some sort of baseboard so I can have a test track and actually run some trains. I still need to find something to use as track underlay, I've been looking in hardware stores for some suitable foam, but they only seem to sell very thick sheets. I suppose I could cut it, but I'm worried I won't be able to get an uneven surface.
     
    The track plan will be similar to the 009 part of the layout plan on the forum thread I linked a few posts back, basically a loop with two sidings off one end of it, three points in total.
     
    I have also been thinking about frog polarity switching. I am designing a solid state switching system. One possibility is a normal DPDT switch powering the motor through RC citcuits (to convert DC into a pulse) which in turn switches on one of two transistors connecting the 16V AC to the motor, while at the same time switching on one of another pair of transistors connecting the appropriate polarity power source to the frog (it's less complicated than it sounds ).
     
    If I can get hold of a momentary DPDT, I could do something more elegant by powering the motor conventionally, and having a flip flop circuit supplying the appropriate polarity to the frog. One problem I can see with this design is that I have to make sure that the initial state of the flip flop is the right one for the position of the switch, or it will supply the wrong polarity.
     
    Anyway, I'll post schematics as soon as I have something I reckon will work.
  12. Erudhalion

    Coming Together

    By Erudhalion,

    Progress has been slower than I thought, but a start has been made.
     
    I've decided to solder the main components (body sides, front and back, boiler and tank top, tank front and front footplate/boiler barrel) together, and superglue the smaller details to the assembly. I have also decided not to use the spectacle plate part supplied and make a new one out of plasticard. The one supplied in the older style seen on the GVT engines Dennis and Sir Theodore, I'll go for a more enclosed type similar to the one on Glyn.
     
    Anyway, The pictures show the progress so far. As you can see, my soldering technique is somewhat lacking (to say the least ), but the joints seem solid enough, and I've done minimal amounts of damage (slightly melted the left hand side of the front footplate casting, luckily the tank front covers it).
     


     
    A test fit of the other part show that there are some gaps to fill, I should have some epoxy putty somewhere, or maybe I can make some plasticard fillets.
     


     
    I have also completely disassembled the chassis. The top of the two large blocks will have to be filed down by about 1mm, while the front of the blocks will have to be narrowed to fit inside the front boiler barrel . I'm not entirely sure how to do this, but I'll find a way, I hope . I'll also have to find a way to secure the chassis to the body.
     


  13. Erudhalion

    Back on the rails

    By Erudhalion,

    After some years of inactivity after having made an attempt ad a trainset-on-a-plank style layout, I have decided to start modelling again.
     
    The long term goal is a BLT set in an alternative version of the the Forest of Dean in which the tramways have been modernized in to a steam hauled narrow gauge network. The initial planning was discussed here:
     
    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/43485-gwr-forest-of-dean-and-narrow-gauge-oo-layout-planning/
     
    As I have a degree and other trivial matters coming up and getting in the way of the serious things in life, I don't have the time to start a large(ish) project like that. So to get the ball rolling, a visit to Parkside Dundas has got me enough stuff to get to grips with 009, which is new to me.
     
    I have a Peco Dennis kit to build, with a Bachmann 0-6-0 chassis to mount it on, a couple of freelance wagons and some track. I'll get to work on them soon.
     
    Watch this space.
  14. Erudhalion

    Weighing Up

    By Erudhalion,

    So, not a whole lot going on again.
     
    I've primed my Peco Dennis, ready for base coats which will hopefully go on in the next few days. I'm going to keep the same black and blue colour scheme I had decided on.
     
    I was recently in the UK, so I visited K S Models in Stevenage (which is an excellent little shop) so I stocked up on some plasticard and bought these
    the Cambian Models 6 ton GWR crane, 1 plank PO wagon and GWR N30 loco coal wagon. They went together well, but the crane is rather fiddly. I'm going to spray them to in the next few days. The crane is going to be plain BR black, the N30 the usual BR grey, and I'm not too sure about the 1 plank wagon, more research is needed, I think.
     
    I also hope to find time to start stripping my previous attempt at a layout. The plan is to remove everything, then cut the board in half along its length to have a 4m x 55cm area. The plan I drew up is this:
     

     
    I'll probably modify it slightly once the boards are set up an I can get a better feel of how much space I've got. The setting is supposed to be somewhere in an alternative version of the Forest of Dean in the '50s where the tramways were modernised into a narrow gauge steam operated network. The thin black line is meant to be 009 track, which is slightly higher than the standard gauge to allow easier transfer of goods.
     
    I've also been pondering which coupling to use, because I would like to have hands free shunting with delayed uncoupling. I was looking at Sprat & Winkle and Dingham, and as much as I like the look of the Dinghams, I will probably go for the Sprat & Winkle, as they look less fiddly and can be built so the vehicles can be put on the layout either way round.
     
    (Sorry for the lack of pics, someone seems to have taken my camera.)
     
    EDIT: I've started this thread about the construction of the layout: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/97276-ketford-00009-gwrbrw-baseboards/
  15. Erudhalion

    Stripping Down

    By Erudhalion,

    I'm back!
     
     
     
     
     
    ...with little progress to show for the past months (on the modelling front anyway, other things have changed, such as deciding to go for luthiery rather physics). What I have done in the last week or so is stripped the paint off my GVT Dennis, so I can refinish it with something else. It turns out there was about half a ton of paint on the model, covering a lot of fine detail. Next time I'll try being gentler with the airbrush. It currently look like this:
     

     
    As many of the smaller parts were superglued on, as well as the spectacle plate being plastic, I couldn't just plonk it in some thinner. I've had to use thinner soaked cotton buds to wipe most of it off. The boiler fittings and the roof are in the glass jar soaking in thinner.
     
    I've also managed to break the solder joint between the tanks/boiler top and the sides at the cab end, so I need to fix that too.
     
    I have no idea how to remove the paint from the plasticard spectacle plate without turning it into a gungey mess or scratching it. I'll probably leave it, there is no detail to be covered up on it.
     
    The next step is cleaning everything, then reassembling and priming (this time with Citadel Miniatures White spray stuff).
     
    While I'm in the mood for stripping stuff, I might even start disassembling my old attempt at a layout to recycle boards and track, but we'll see.
  16. Erudhalion
    I still haven't had time to go and get some thinner, so I haven't made any progress there.
     
    I have been thinking of point control circuits that also switch the frog polarity, as I said in the last post. Here is what I have come up with:
     
    Using a standard DPDT switch:
     

     
    S1 is a normal (non momentary) DPDT. The top half is connected to the 12V DC auxiliary output of my Gaugemaster controller and powers one of the two transistors (Q1 or Q2) through an RC (R1 and C1 or R2 and C2) network that converts the direct current into a pulse (C=1uF and R=100kOhm should give a pulse of about 0.1s). This switches on the appropriate transistor momentarily, so that the 16V AC output is connected to the correct motor coil.
     
    The other half of the switch connects the frog to the correct polarity track power output.
     
    I haven't tested this yet, but I think it should work all right. I'll keep you posted.
     
    As I said in my last post, I was thinking of a different arrangement using a momentary switch and a flip flop to power the frog, but thinking about it it just seems to be more complex, as I'd have to use the track power output to power the flip flop, which will probably cause trouble at low voltages.
  17. Erudhalion

    Grime and Muck

    By Erudhalion,

    Blimey, it's been a long time.
     
    Progress has been slower than ever. I ordered a few things from Gaugemaster: solder, flux, more track work, and an extra wagon (GVT mineral wagon). I discovered I can't have Railmatch paints or poly cement sent to Italy, so I've used Humbrol enamels as I can get them locally.
     
    The rolling stock all went together well, and I decided to attempt weathering.
     
    As you can see, the wagons are rather heavily weathered, while the brake van in just a bit dirty.
     

     
    As I was looking up photos of wagons to use as reference, I discovered that that the Parkside Dundas "freelance" mineral wagon is actually a pretty good model of the ex-Plynlimon & Hafan Tramway wagons that ended up on the Vale of Rheidol Railway. Another unexpected thing I discovered is that the wood that shows under the peeling paint on many wagons is various shades of grey, rather than brown or thereabouts, as as I was expecting. I presume it is due either to the accumulated grime or some sort of treatment it is given (unfortunately I only realised after I had already painted the inside wood colour). Anyway, I kept this in mind as I was painting the wagons. Both of them have peeling paint and unpainted replacement planks, as well as rusty metal parts.
     

     
    On the ex-Hafan wagon and the brake van, I airbrushed the basic dark grey coat, black underframe, roof (for the van) and interior (for the wagon) with enamels. The GVT wagon I painted with a brush.
     

     
    Then I painted the details (peeling paint, ironwork, replaced planks), still with enamels and drybrushed the lower part of the wagons with a light beige colour,
     
    I then moved on to washes, made with Games Workshop acrylics. I started with a weak white wash all over the wood parts, to simulate paint fading, and a dark grey one over the light grey planks, because in the photos I was using you could see that the wood was not a uniform shade of grey.
     
    I then carefully painted on the lettering (which is fairly awful, I need to perfect the technique), and then applied a rusty wash to the metal parts, first a dark one, followed by a much lighter and oranger one (Scorched Brown first, then Bestial Brown). When all that was dry, I applied a Graveyard Earth wash all over the wagon to simulate general grime, and streaked it vertically with a paintbrush as it was drying.
     
    The inside of the wagon got two coats of black wash.
     
    On the brake van I only applied the final general grime wash, but I think I will give the roof a grey or black one as well.
     
    I solved the weight problem by superglueing some a steel nut to the floor of the brake van and one under the coal load of each wagon. That seems to give good performance.
     
    On the loco front, I finished assembly using proper 100° solder, which was an incredible improvement. I fashioned a new cab front and sides with plasticard, with offcuts from electrical resistor leads as beading around the door.
     
    For now I have primed it and given it a black basecoat. The final livery is going to be black skirts, tank tops and boiler front, blue tank sides and cab (and maybe boiler barrel), white cab roof. If I can pull it off, it will also have black and white lining around the tanks. I also plan to give it some light weathering.
     
    Here are some photos of the loco before priming. As you can see, I added what I think are whistle, regulator and sand box control rods coming out of the cab front.
     

  18. Erudhalion

    Stocking up

    By Erudhalion,

    I've taken a brake from the tram loco, pending the arrival of the solder, paints etc., so I've built the freelance mineral wagon and guard's van kits form Parkside Dundas.
     
    The mineral wagon went together fine, I'm still getting used to how small these things are.
     



     
    I decided to modify the guard's van to turn it into something more brake van like. I took inspiration from an L & B van that has a similar arrangement of central window on one end and duckets (I thinks that is the right term).
     


     
    The duckets are meant to be of welded construction (no rivets, or planks ) with a separate roof, I saw similar ones in a photo of a Talyllin vehicle. They are a bit asymmetrical but they look alright to me. I still haven't glued the body of the van to the floor because I want to apply glazing to the windows after I have painted it.
     
    The wheelsets in both kits had a back to back measurement that was about 0.5mm too narrow, so that the ran fine on plain track work, but had trouble with check rails, so I carefully widened them put by hand, and they seem to run fine now.
     
    Both vehicles are also very light, and I'm a bit concerned about this. I think I will add a bit of weight under the floor of the mineral wagon, I think I've got some suitable sheet metal somewhere. I'll also glue some metal scraps to the floor of the van. I need to do some research to see how much weight to apply, I don't want to overdo it.
  19. Erudhalion

    Whizz whizz grind

    By Erudhalion,

    So, things have been trundling on.
     
    The basic body is now assembled: I have persevered in my wicked ways as regards the solder used (still the electrical stuff I had lying around) but I have ordered some 100° solder and some appropriate flux, which should get to me eventually (I ordered some humbrol paints as well, but it turns out you can't send them by air, so I'll have to arrange things differently). I have also managed to make a hole in the tank front with my soldering iron. I will have to either make a plasticard patch or maybe I'll be able to fill it with solder. I'll have to see.
     
    The next thing I had to do was reduce the width and hight of the chassis to get it to fit inside the new body. This entailed removing about 1mm from the top on the engine mounting and one rectangle about 4x4x1mm from each side of the front part of the chassis. After some consideration I decided that it was impossible, or at least beyond my ability, to do by hand. A power tool of some sort was needed: enter the Dremelesque!
     

     
    I just happened to see it on the bargain rack next to the real thing at a fraction of the cost (it came with many attachments of all kinds and even a 1m extension shaft which doesn't work ). I wonder how long it'll last, but I've done what I wanted with it.
     
    Anyway, here are the two sides of the chassis after filing down:
     

     
    And here is the assembled chassis next to the body:
     

     
    To get a proper fit I had to remove the lower mounting lugs which form part of the rear body casting, which are meant for the GF 94xx chassis.
     
    The next thing to tackle is the fact that the two halves of the chassis are in fact part of the electrical circuit, so simply plonking the body on top shorts the whole thing out. I need to put some paper or something to insulate the front.
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