7mm A Tiger of a Tank

farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
iak63 said:
Oh dear....
Wibble! :confused:

Mind, did I hear that some under-gubbins for the Slaters BR van kits were in the offing frae MMP?
Now that would be a place to start...
Well maybe :))
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MMP tell me March next year but that maybe a Moveable Feast. I'm waiting for them as well so I can make a few of Slaters I have hidden in the store cupboard.

Ken
 
farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
I've now got the tank fitted to the chassis and the ladders in place albeit with some delicate filing of the wire ends to finish.
I spent ages trying to get the tank to sit down properly including filing of some of the central rivet heads on the chassis. I'm still not 100% happy with it but couldn't get it to fit better, maybe something I did wrong earlier.

Now the gratings, filler and valve to fit before moving on to the next project. The resin tank ends are not fixed yet so weight can be added to compress the springs added earlier in the build. DSCN1121.JPGDSCN1123.JPG
 
SteadyRed

SteadyRed

Western Thunderer
I've got a 'B' version of this wagon, it is towards the bottom of a pile, so will be sometime before it sees the light of day.

Hope I can build it as well has you have done The 'A'

Dave
 
farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
SteadyRed said:
I've got a 'B' version of this wagon, it is towards the bottom of a pile, so will be sometime before it sees the light of day.

Hope I can build it as well has you have done The 'A'

Dave
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Hello Dave,

I haven't done the B but the body fitting is probably the same. In retrospect I would have fitted the body differently by making sure the strengthening plates sat right with the tank first then fitting to the chassis after.

Everything is great in hindsight and I will probably do a B later (MMP rub their hands in glee at another expected sale).

Ken
 
farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
Just about finished. I have added the filler, discharge valve and grating rungs. Couplings have been changed to correct type and various vacuum hoses added underneath the chassis and to the buffer beams. Overhead electric flash warning panels added and I will fit the Esso plaques on the brackets but not until after painting.

I have found a supplier of very fine 40 links per inch chain to add to the discharge plugs (and to finish the 16 ton wagon) eyesight permitting.

In retrospect I would superglue the rungs to the gratings as the longitudenal bars warped slightly when soldering, even using low setting on the resistance iron with just a quick tap of the footswitch.

Painting won't take place for a while until I have finished my new house (my current day job) and installed workshop, probably around 9-12 months. I like the silver finish with red solebars but have yet to find a photo of one of these with bottom discharge.

DSCN1140.JPG DSCN1139.JPG DSCN1136.JPG
Ken
 
Len Cattley

Len Cattley

Western Thunderer
Hi Ken lovely build there, did the grey pipes in your last picture come with the kit or did you purchased them else where?

Len
 
SteadyRed

SteadyRed

Western Thunderer
They are indeed provided in the kit & also other MMP vacuum braked kits. They are also available in the "wagon coupling & vacuum pipe set" from MMP.

Looking at it I would have thought it was guitar string, but on closer inspection I am not sure. For your Info they are 19.85mm long & 1.65mm diameter (don't ask how many coils!, too many to count)

Dave
 
farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
As SteadyRed says a generous length of tube is provided. It is quite soft and, although the inner bore looks very small, slides over the pips on the castings quite easily.

I have weighted the wagon so it sits with the springs about 75% compressed.

Ken
 
farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
I have finally fitted the last two bits, the small chains that connect the discharge screw caps to the chassis. I am priming it a the moment and will post a photo when done.

Does anyone out there know whether any of these A class wagons were painted all black around 1960-64? The silver body and black chassis with red solebars which I had originally hoped for would be very difficult to apply although, I hope, not impossible.

Ken
 
AJC

AJC

Western Thunderer
farnetti said:
Does anyone out there know whether any of these A class wagons were painted all black around 1960-64? The silver body and black chassis with red solebars which I had originally hoped for would be very difficult to apply although, I hope, not impossible.

Ken
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No, not black - probably pale grey in place of silver if that makes it any easier. Careful masking seems unavoidable. Might brush paint the underframe be easier?

Adam
 
farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
AJC said:
No, not black - probably pale grey in place of silver if that makes it any easier. Careful masking seems unavoidable. Might brush paint the underframe be easier?

Adam
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Thanks Adam. If it can't be black then that is how I was thinking about tackling it. Spray the whole thing silver/grey then brush paint the chassis black and solebars red.

Ken
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Going by the title I expected to be one of these grown up :(. This a GHQ 1/285 scale Micro Armour Panther painted by my neighbour. The base is a 30mm square.

Panther[1].jpg

I like your tank car build Ken. It is a very good model of a prototype which usually never receives a second glance.

In connection to liveries. According to R. Tourret's book Petroleum Rail Tank Wagons of Britain class B tank cars (oil/diesel) were black and class A tank cars (petroleum/aviation fuel) were originally silver with red solebars as you have alluded to. Then they became light grey as suggested earlier. Class B tank cars remained black. Before WWII tank cars were usually the Oil company's liveries before black and silver became standard.
 
farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
Thanks David. After a bit more online research it seem silver changed to light grey quite early on so grey it is. Also the top of the underframe was grey also, everything underneath that black apart from the red solebars,

Ken
 
Pencarrow

Pencarrow

Western Thunderer
Heather Kay said:
For what it's worth, my technique is as follows:

- Clean the item to be blackened. What I usually do is buff it with a steel wire brush, or scratch brush if it's small, to get the worst of any surface corrosion.

- Use an old paintbrush or cotton bud to liberally paint the blackening fluid on.

- Wait for as long as you think it needs to go black; for steel this takes only a few seconds, longer for brass and nickel silver.

- Set it aside to dry.

- Use a cloth or brass whizzydisc wheel to clean the surface residues off and buff to a shine if you like.

For Slater's wheels, a swift going over with some kind of abrasive brush is usually sufficient, followed by the fluid. Sometimes, it might need a second dose, but I always buff with the wire brush first. I rarely clean off the fluid, allowing to it dry before cleaning up things like treads of tyres.

It works for me. It's basically the technique outline by Martyn Welch. I sometimes wonder whether we overthink these things. ;)
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I've read a lot of threads about blackening wheels and have tried a few methods myself. I've come back to some I did about six months ago and have found them all rusty. I used IPA, Casey's gun blue and then a wipe with wd40 - all on Slaters wheels. What have I done wrong?
 
farnetti

farnetti

Western Thunderer
So here is the photograph I promised showing the discharge pipe cap chain. I don't know why I put off doing them for so long, they didn't take long to do.

_DSC0088.jpg

The photo also highlights on of the problems with rolling etched metal. The horizontal etch is parallel with the rollers and so tends to bend in the etched line rather than the material next to it. I have already filed the metal adjacent to the upper lines and will have to do it here also.

If I make another I will paint it before attaching the tank to the body, make ladders in a suitable jig and attach them last.

Ken
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Referring to earlier comments regarding wheel blackening I've noticed you've also painted the wheels as seen your photograph above.

As an experiment I would clean the tread and flange and blacken these leaving the face painted. Like you and everyone else I have blackened wheels with gun blue and noticed rusting. Now I clean the wheels as Heather has described to remove any grease and other foreign bodies before blackening. Once blackened I wipe them dry with a piece of kitchen towel. So far this has minimised rusting, unfortunately I can't say prevents as rust will occur given the right conditions. I also use silica gel sachets I have saved from various purchases in my stock boxes.

Incidentally the Protocraft wheels I use for my US P48 stock come ready blackened and have a wax coating which needs to be washed off before use. This I haven't done but will clean the wax from the treads. However, it has given me an idea to try and find a thin clear liquid wax to apply to wheel faces once blackened to seal them before painting and/or weathering.
 
Mr Grumpy

Mr Grumpy

Western Thunderer
farnetti said:
So here is the photograph I promised showing the discharge pipe cap chain. I don't know why I put off doing them for so long, they didn't take long to do.

View attachment 53149

The photo also highlights on of the problems with rolling etched metal. The horizontal etch is parallel with the rollers and so tends to bend in the etched line rather than the material next to it. I have already filed the metal adjacent to the upper lines and will have to do it here also.

If I make another I will paint it before attaching the tank to the body, make ladders in a suitable jig and attach them last.

Ken
Click to expand...

Hi Ken.
When I built mine, I secured the ladders with (if memory serves) 14ba nuts and bolts and made the ladders removable. Once painted/weathered I secured the bolts with a tiny dot of super glue.
 
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