Mr Grumpy

[Mr Grumpy]

The lamp irons and roof are now fitted and the home straight is in sight!
I'm hoping to spend some time completing and possibly priming the chassis tomorrow.
The van is sitting a little high as I haven't added the weights yet.
Mark JJ has kindly supplied me with some liquid lead which will go into the sandbox bench, and I will use curtain weights in the cabin.

 

[markjj]

I'm proud to know my lead will be put into such a work of art Richard. You have done an amazing job of it you should be proud of yourself !!

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I'm proud to know my lead will be put into such a work of art Richard. You have done an amazing job of it you should be proud of yourself !!

As I have said elsewhere, thanks for your support and encouragement, I'm hoping my next one will be as good as yours

 

[Mr Grumpy]

The suspension took a little fettling of the axleboxes with a dremmel and dental type burr to work smoothly
The van is now finished and runs very smoothly. I need to nip out and pick up some etching primer and get some paint on.
I'm now thinking ahead to my next project. I have a few kits waiting on the shelf, and quite fancy a pannier. However, I have a nice WEP mink that may come up next

 

[Mr Grumpy]

The V23 mink won the toss and has therefore found itself sat on my bench.
Following on from my MMP and latterly my Southwark Bridge toad, there doesn't appear to be much in the amount of etchings with this kit. I will change the white metal buffers as they aren't great.There are however two informative pages of wagon history relevant to this wagon. A basic compensation unit is also included.
The etches were quite tarnished and have had a good clean before punching out the hundreds of rivets

 

[Mr Grumpy]

This is a nice kit and very straightforward to build. I reckon it would make a great starter kit for someone wanting to take the plunge in to etched brass kit building. Hope I don't mess it up now
Here's a couple of photos of the end of the wagon. Basically, the outer ends and sides are built then joined by the doors. The first photo shows the stanchions and vent hoods fitted prior to soldering. The stanchions are slot and tab construction, and a little twist of the tabs holds everything firmly in place. The hoods were a tad tricky to bend at the thin end of the wedge, and I filled the slight gaps with solder and filed flush.
The next photo is the unit soldered.

 

[adrian]

The hoods were a tad tricky to bend at the thin end of the wedge, and I filled the slight gaps with solder and filed flush.

It looks an interested build sequence - it certainly saves all the hassle of lining up the corners and soldering them. It looks good. For small folds like that I have a pin hammer which I have polished to a mirror finish, I can then use it to tap these small folds on a small anvil and it doesn't leave tool marks on the brass.

 

[adrian]

As we always say photos are the principle currency on WT so I thought a couple were in order.

These are my metal forming hammers, a pin hammer and a raw-hide mallet. On the pin hammer the end has been filed smooth, then draw filed, then increasing grades of wet and dry and finally a polishing wheel and wax to get a mirror finish. It's useful for sharpening up folds or smoothing out any undulations, this can be done by either gentle tapping or just rubbing along the surface. The mirror finish means that it doesn't leave tool marks on the material. I tend to use the pin hammer to clean up sharp corners, the raw hide mallet is used more for curved sections, roofs, tender flares etc.



Two items I would recommend for any tool box, and not expensive at all. For the pin hammer I use an old sock to protect the surface when I chuck it in the toolbox!

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I'm really enjoying this kit and the 'fruit D' is on my birthday list
I deepened the etched fold lines on the sole bars before bending and they folded without too much of a fight The doors have the locking rod and clasp. I annealed the brass straps before forming them round the door lock rods.
The roof was a bit of a struggle as it's quite thick brass. I annealed it and rolled with a wine bottle. It's not soldered on yet. I'm investing in rolling bars soon.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I haven't had as much time as usual, but my wagon is up on its wheels (Slaters) I usually prime my wheels and wrap the tread with tape. I thought as the wheels actually came without signs of rust, I would leave them open to the elements and see what happens . The simple answer is nothing. I wash the wagon as usual after each session and lob it on a radiator and that's it.
The chassis is a simple fold up channel, with the etched brakes, which fit only the correct way round and on the correct side. They are really nice etches I found I had to add a strip of brass shim to each side of the inner chassis as it was slightly too narrow between the sole bars. I checked everything, but could find no discrepancies with the build. The axle at one end is fitted in to a very simple compensation cradle, and it all works well. I swapped the buffers for Slaters (Thanks Mark) and made my own vac pipes. (Jury's out on weather I will make a new pair) I made a former for the roof and soldered it in the middle before soldering the roof to the body. The roof needed a slight trim.
Just the brake levers and rain strips to fit before painting, followed by the buffers. I'll paint the toad at the same time.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Without doubt making up the brake lever ratchets is the fiddliest, in fact the only fiddly bit of this kit.
Here's a couple of photos, one before and one after. The actual ratchet needs loads of care to pull square

 

[Mr Grumpy]

My wagon is just about finished, apart from painting. (Buffers and hoses just temporarily placed) My al fresco spray booth hasn't got much above freezing so it will have to wait


I enjoyed this wagon so much, I have ordered the fruit D, which conveniently found itself on my birthday list Also ordered were a set of GW 10" rolling bars.
I'm having a break from rolling stock and will be building this coal loading hopper from MMP which should make a nice change

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I hadn't meant to make a start today, I had merely nipped In to the workshop to carry out some tidying up. But as these things happen, I got distracted and got stuck in to the hopper.
The hopper body is perfectly straightforward to build, you just need to think ahead before making the bends. Essentially what you see here are two sheets of brass making up the hopper and at the bottom, a veneer of two flat U shaped pieces that have rivets punched out and soldered to the hopper floor. The hopper was soldered upside down on a pane of glass to ensure it stayed square.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

The next part up is what I guess to be some form of filter to remove the coal dust as the coal falls from the hopper on to the loading chute and then the scales.
I wonder if Dave could exhibit his etchings in Tate Modern? They are certainly more worthy than some of the carp hanging in there

 

[Heather Kay]

Mr P certainly wins in the origami for brass stakes. He seems to make flat metal do impossible things with a few folds, which is most admirable.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Once all those parts are soldered together, you end up with the part joined to the hopper bottom, and a shutter that opens and closes. The shutter was annealed prior to producing the curve.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

The next instalment is making up the hopper/chute door. It involves adding three serated bars to the door, some tricky folding of the door runners soldering the handles together and adding the three tiny cogs. All went well until I decided the door should be modelled closed, and on removal, two of the aerated bars became detached and went for a flight across the workshop:-( I generally never give up, and spent, let's say, a long time scouring the area, but they remain lost. However, there is one spare I had cut from the fret, so this was soldered in, along with the operating rod and cogs. I'm very happy with the end result, and it's now on to lots of folding for the legs and framework.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Apart from a good scrub and painting, my hopper is finished. It's been a very enjoyable kit to put together, and I still have the coal dust box, scales and weights to make tomorrow. Nothing says wood like real wood and that is what the loading stage is. It's been a very useful practice piece for my MMP suburban coach chassis.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I spent the best part of a very enjoyable day making up the scales, weights and coal dust box.
Everything went together perfectly, even though the scales are probably one of the fiddliest things I have made I did manage to build the scales so that they worked, but got a bit of solder in to the joint, so it will stay with the weighs platform pressed down.
I hope to get the primer on soon.
I would thoroughly recommend this kit to anyone who has a coal yard in the in the early diesel era on.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I have built virtually all the buildings necessary for my Tetbury branch. So far, the buildings have mainly been from the Timbertracks range. They were all very straightforward and enjoyable to build, but one vital building was missing, the enginemans' cabin. I therefore commissioned one from Intentio, and after approval, it arrived a few days later.
The building is very basic, so the kit doesn't have too many parts, but everything has been nicely cut and the window frames are exquisite