4mm An EM Workbench: whitemetal double act

AJC

Western Thunderer
Not finished, but fully liveried. I'm waiting for it to cool down a bit before I commence the next round of wagon weathering (and need to complete a few more, really). In the meantime, I'm off to brave the heat and play some cricket.

LNE_Fish_003.jpg

Transfers from Cambridge Custom (the cast plate on the door seems to have been all the branding required for most of these) as the spacing was better than the (supplied) Modelmaster ones.

Adam
 
BR unfitted brake

AJC

Western Thunderer
A wagon round up:

1. Loads of lamp irons (and still more to add).

LNER_Brake_001.jpg

Bradwell_008.jpg

The lamp irons are from Masokits and consist of doubled-back 5 thou' brass, much stronger than a single etch of 10 thou'. In both cases, by the way, they would have been a retro-fit on the real thing as both had fixed side lamps as built in LNER fashion.

I've fixed the chassis to the body, too. Location is by means of small self-tapping screw and fixing is by means of epoxy. It seems solid enough.

Bradwell_009.jpg

More as and when it cools own a bit!

Adam
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Looks cool and the lamp irons are a big improvement on the mouled items.

Matt

They're certainly more resilient than the plastic versions! What is perhaps less obvious here is that they are pinned onto the body - I used 0.45 wire but only soldered it into one of the holes - the other hole was drilled with the lamp iron in situ and a length of wire superglued in. This was much easier than drilling both holes in advance and also easier than soldering a pair of pins into one tiny component! The trick - if that's what it is - is to use a nice long bit of wire and to trim it to length once you're done.

Adam
 

matto21

Western Thunderer
Looks good in any case. You've made a really clean job of removing the moulded handrails too - I really wish I'd done that on mine. I've another 2 to build do it's definitely a step I'll try next time.

Matt
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
I'm putting off the handrails for the moment; not in the mood. So I've started (almost finished) something else:

SECR_van_001.jpg
A Cambrian kit for an SECR van - the progenitor of the 'standard' SR van. I've built almost all the other versions over the years so this is a natural regression. The differences - a bottom flap door, like a cattle wagon; a 9' 6" wheelbase and (because the SECR were too hard up to pay Morton's patent fees perhaps), lifting link brakes:

SECR_van_002.jpg
I've replaced the axleboxes, too (these are from Rumney Models). The wheels should be split spoke, I think, certainly the survivor at the Bluebell has: 15750 SECR COVERED GOODS VAN - a photo on Flickriver. Problem is, I've only got the one axle-worth...

Adam
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Hi Adam,
We may have a spare split-spoke axle in Stores, if you need it. I can check this evening.

Cheers

Jan

That’s very kind, Jan. Would - as a P4 monger yourself - it be compatible with my more generously proportioned EM standards? If it is, then yes please. If not, I’m sure I, and the vehicle in question, can wait until Scaleforum.

I must admit that I didn’t mean to start this one but the prospect of the complexities of brake vans didn’t really appeal and it was so hot last weekend that any liquids I tried went off almost instantaneously!

Adam
 

Lyndhurstman

Western Thunderer
That’s very kind, Jan. Would - as a P4 monger yourself - it be compatible with my more generously proportioned EM standards? If it is, then yes please. If not, I’m sure I, and the vehicle in question, can wait until Scaleforum.

I must admit that I didn’t mean to start this one but the prospect of the complexities of brake vans didn’t really appeal and it was so hot last weekend that any liquids I tried went off almost instantaneously!

Adam
Hi Adam,

I know I have some EM axles that I've saved from EBay purchases. They're in a tobacco tin somewhere in the dark, cool depths of the Tiny Train Room. There may be split spokes in there...

In other views, I concur that Brake vans are wonderful things, and that the plethora of solutions to bringing up the rear is a whole modelling area in its own right, but the tricksy nature of their additionals does make me swerve sharply away from them. I have several Parkside PC14s that whisper their craving for completion, but I've managed to deny their siren call so far..

Cheers

Jan
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
Here's what I meant to do last night:

BZ_001.jpg

Courtesy of @Macgeordie, here's the chassis of a Thompson-inspired six-wheel brake (BZ). While I was away in Somerset, I put together the working bits (because I had access to a large layout for running trials - which it passed) and meant to finish the details in order to make a start in the body. And then I found that the element on the soldering iron had gone. Ho hum. Never mind, you get to see how it works, based on the Cleminson principle of articulation with a lightly sprung centre axle. I made a minor modification here, soldering the springs to the bearing rather than having it act directly on the axle itself causing drag.

BZ_002.jpg

Brake rigging and castings to add next and then buffers but not until the iron works again... Painting doesn't need heat, however, and the SECR van has progressed. Just the first pass of paint because, as you can see, I've missed the odd bit.

SECR_van_003.jpg

Adam
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
Lettered

SECR_van_004.jpg

This one will be an internal user (hence the number beginning with 0 and the white cross - these from Cambridge Custom, the real vehicle in mind was from Folkestone Harbour). The idea is that it'll spend its days parked up at the end of a siding at Podimore as additional goods storage along with associated clutter.

Adam
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
Going back a bit to revisit the Warwell bogie bolster which I've now painted. Before that, this morning, a couple of work-in-progress shots:

Warwell_012.jpg

Warwell_013.jpg

The delay (I last did something to this model late summer last year!) is partly down to the house move, but partly because finalising the fine detail simply didn't appeal. The chains for the bolster pins were a right fiddle I don't mind telling you and the bolster pins themselves took more thinking about than was ultimately necessary - they're 0.7mm nickel silver wire with a wrap of shim strip round them. I subsequently drilled a hole to insert the securing chains through them.

Adam
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
The BZ chassis is getting there - I have to sort out the J hangers which will be challenging (the whitemetal castings supplied aren't wonderful) - but it's otherwise almost done.

BZ_003.jpg

So brake and steam heat pipes are added, along with the vac' cylinder and safety loops and couplings. The vac' dummy is from Rumney Models...

BZ_004.jpg

Reasonably tidy.

Adam
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
While I struggle with sorting out the spring hangers for the BZ (turns out what I though might be the 'hard way' is probably the easy way after all) I've been doing work round the house while the weather holds, just.

We've inherited quite a nice shed at the bottom of the garden painted gloss black and with some interesting build choices which I've slowly been putting right. The last major one is some replanking, necessitated by a bit of wet rot caused by some ill-thought-out decking installation. I couldn't get the exact section so ship lap and batten to the rescue...

IMG_0491.JPG

The panelled doors are down to wet rot, too (inset vertical boards and poor paint choices).

Adam
 

ullypug

Western Thunderer
BZ looks good. I've got one to do. No idea if they ever got to Somerset in reality but in my reality, they might have!
Shed looks good, though it'll look better when there's a layout in it!
 
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