Liver & Fry's workbench

[Liver & Fry]

Now, bear with me on this one, for it will be a slow burn, but it was intentionally planned as such to fill the gap in my absence whilst I work on the next module of my PgCert...

Welcome to Part 1 of what I'm dubbing the 'Rainbow Van Trilogy'. It's not quite the Cornetto Trilogy and in theory it should be a tetralogy, but the existence of the 4th vehicle in kit form seems to be but a dream!

In 1906, the L&Y dabbled with the concept of assigning individual liveries to vans built for, and designated to, special traffic; pastel green for fish, pastel blue for butter, pastel pink for meat, white for refrigerator vans and vermillion for gunpowder vans. This was abandoned in 1908 and the food related vehicles gained white, whilst the gunpowder vans gained the standard grey livery.

It is in this latter form that Rapido released an L&Y variant of their "not-quite-mink" gunpowder van. At the time I purchased one simply on the basis that it was a wagon in L&Y livery and it would go with other regionally appropriate vehicles I planned to collect/build.

Then, during the Dia.3 rebuild, it occurred to me - Why don't I backdate the model to the short lived red livery? After all, I have plans for other special liveried vans, so why not add to the ridiculous colour spectrum that will be on display?

And so, in between working on the Dia.3, I slowly began working towards this:



Powsides do a sheet of transfers specifically for the gunpowder vans, including the "To be returned to Wakefield when empty" markings. I have ordered one of these, but I am aware of (and sympathetic to) the difficulties currently faced by them and the delay in service. Unfortunately I am also aware that, occasionally, the quality of some of the finer decals can be lost, with parts rubbing off before arrival. As such, you'll note I removed the main transfers, but kept the "return" notice, alongside the works plate on the solebar and the detail of the raised warning notice on the door. The intention being to paint around these, but with a view to removing and painting over the "return" notice should the powsides decals be suitable upon arrival.

That's where I shall leave things for now, but hopefully that gives you an idea of what's to come. All I'll say is, it's bright!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I've certainly started something of an L&Y wagon theme now, and having been thinking about "getting around to it" for sometime, it makes sense to crack on and complete the "rainbow vans" as I've dubbed them.

So which better kit to start with then the one that inspired all of this? A Dia.72 Fish Van, by David Geen.

Now, I'd like to address the elephant in the room. The kit represents the 2nd batch of this type of van, built to a width of 8' rather than 7' 6 1/2" of the originals, and with a "slight different sliding door arrangement". The "narrow" vans are known to have been painted green, but there is uncertainty over whether the 8' wide vans ever did. If so, it's likely only the very first of the batch were. Because I have no real option in terms of kits available, because 5 1/2" in 4mm scale is scarcely noticeable, and because no one can 100% confirm I'm wrong for doing so, this van will be painted green and given an early number from that batch.

With that in mind, here's what I had to work with:



The brass etches are additional parts I acquired from @John Duffy of Scottish Wagon Works in June last year. The chassis etch is for a 10' 6" wheelbase (the Dia.72 is 10') but I hope to use some of the common L&Y underframe parts to create something better than if I solely relied on the whitemetal parts of the original kit.

The first task was to clean the sides and ends of any flash, as well as removing the cast V-hangers, as these will be replaced with brass ones from the etch:



I then began construction of the main body:




And latterly fitted a floor section:



That brings us up to the present where I am about to sit and put together the compensating W-iron units:



I may also take the opportunity to build the second set of units for the Dia.64 Butter Van that is due to be built next.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

It's barely been two weeks, but it feels like an age since I last did any modelling! That said, the PgCert is in full swing and when I have had any time to myself I've just wanted to crash out and rest, so I'm somewhat surprised to have found motivation this evening!

The plan is to continue the plan from before: build the next in the trio of the "rainbow vans"; this being the Dia.64 Butter Van. This is another David Geen kit but I've found it easier to get my head around now I've had some experience with the Dia.72.

The focus tonight has been on the main body:



These were the respective parts prior to cleaning the flash. I have begun the process of putting the body together, but at this half way stage I'm letting the respective halves set before continuing further:



It's not much of an update, but just a reminder (mostly to myself) that I'm still here and haven't totally been consumed by coursework!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Well, as the past few projects have been a rather colourful affair, it's time for something dark and drab. How about all over black? Oh go on then...

For a while, Three Peaks Models teased the idea of producing an L&Y 'Tin Tab' brake van (Dia.21). Earlier this year this finally came to fruition and I jumped on the pre-order list as soon as I caught wind of the project being green lit.

383 of these distinctive iron bodied brake vans were built with slight detail variations between 1890 and 1901. The model produced from this kit represents the 204 examples built between 1882 and 1897.

I say kit, it's a 3D print one piece body, with a floor section and some aesthetic detailing components (spring/axlebox combo, buffers and glazing).

This is the body:



It's a neat print, with very little flash or need for cleaning up.

One immediate issue that I am aware of is how narrow the underframe is between the solebars. These will need filing out inside if I'm to get some MJT W-irons in, but that's a problem for future me!



For the most part I'm quite pleased and hopefully this will be a quick and simple build to help me reset.

(There, I've said it now. Settle in for 15 posts of "and then this problem arose"!)

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

In the last post I said I needed a break (from L&Y wagons...) but what I meant was I need a brake...

A brake van for my GE wagons!

Yes, moving much closer to home, I've decided to finally crack on with a pair of GE Dia.1 brake van kits by Pre-Grouping Railways. I actually got these a couple of years ago as a Christmas present and I've been meaning to get around to them. I nearly did after building all those opens at the end of last year, but then I got side tracked by pretty colours and built some L&Y stock instead... However, as I've just finished building a brake van, now seems the perfect time to segue back to these.

Here is an overview of the main components provided:



Footboards are also provided, along with card for making up the roofs.

The bodies need a little bit of tidying. On one end of both examples, theres a bit of flash and inconsistency in printing (one van has a gap between planks where its run too thin) along with some warping of the end roof frame arches, to the point I may cut the offending ends out and try and remodel them myself.

Aside from this, the bodies look like the prototype they're meant to represent. I've gone for one of each, insofar as these were built with both 9ft and 10ft 6in wheelbases.

The idea will be to batch build the pair, as I've done with previous matching wagons (e.g the Highland loco coal wagons).

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

A small tangent from the current thread, and a reminder that there is an eventual L&F layout at the end of all this, once I have the time, space and skills to do so!

Recently I discovered this year's Bachmann Collector Club model of Midland 1P No.1540 in its 1881 guise of Midland green. This was, initially, a club exclusive but it appears it may not have been quite as popular as the previous S&DJR version, for No.1540 has now been made available to non-club members.

Naturally I took the opportunity!



It's a tad surreal to me to see a Midland loco in green, but I'm really taken by the look of the thing.

Now, what's the relevance to a would-be L&F layout? Well, by the 1880s, the Midland was operating through-services into Lynn via the Peterborough, Wisbech and Sutton Bridge Railway (PW&SBR). One online source suggests "two Midland 2-4-0 passenger engines of the 1070-1079 class and two or three double-framed goods engines were stationed at Lynn for this traffic". (Source: SteamIndex )

The plan is that the layout will be set in the early 1880s, and so when a loco in an era and company appropriate livery appeared, I had to. There's a slight bending of reality in that it's No.1540 on the passenger turn, but it ticks a box!

The accuracy of the model is limited by the Bachmann tooling, which naturally caters for more "modern" examples of the class, but it is an excellent starting point. Eventually the loco will need converting to EM as well (as that's the plan for the layout) but that's one for the future. The important part was securing the loco.

I guess, by a technicality, that as the wheels turn, this counts as my first operational loco for the layout? Here's hoping for plenty more to follow!

Now, what would be an appropriate set of coaches to go with it...?

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

I'd meant to update on Thursday, ran out of time and then ended up making more progress Friday evening, so here goes a bumper update!

The focus of this latest work has been the brake rigging underneath. This orientated around two focal points: The clasp brakes and the crossbar.

The clasp brakes on these vans operated on the outer ends of each wheel, giving four points of contact for the whole van. A clasp yoke then connected the shoes at each end of the van to the off-centre crossbar by pullrods, with the whole apparatus being operated by an operating arm which fed into a bar on the inside of the van which was operated by handwheels on each veranda (still with me?).

The exact arrangement was concluded by comparing side and end on drawings, and I sketched it out (top down view) for my own benefit:



(I dont expect that to make sense to anyone, but bear with me...)

The arms for the brake shoes as supplied are a tad generic, and don't factor the arrangement on these vans whereby the shoe is set 2/3 of the way down, with an extension below to where the clasp yokes attach. My solution for this was to take a whitemetal casting for some dual brake shoes, cut the shoe (and arm) off and fit them upside down, as seen below:



I then focused on making up the arrangement for the crossbar on each van:



Before adding the clasp yokes and fashioning some pullrods out of brass strip (intended, on their etch, to make guide loops for conventional wagon brakes - they'll look ok once painted!):



The eagle-eyed may notice the lack of attachment on the compensated end:



Rinse and repeat and we have two vans!



Getting the angles correct and trying to line up both ends before the glue set was... fun(!) but I am pleased with the outcome:



I have since prepared and painted the handbrake wheels, as well as drilled the holes in each end of the vans to fit when the paint is dry:



I'm awaiting some new 4-leaf springs and drawhooks, and then I shall finish detailing the W-irons and bufferbeams before painting the underside. I also need to fit sandpipes too!

The brake gear was definitely what daunted me the most, so now I feel like I'm on the home stretch, even with a list of tasks still to do! I've definitely found the momentum again though, which is nice. I've already got my next wagon build lined up as well... But we'll save that for another time!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Hello again!

I'm not back officially, with the GER cattle wagon builds Skeetsmere still ongoing. However, like @Herb Garden, I too am attending Workshop Wise (North East and Borders Area Group EM Gauge Society show on 25th October) where I'm doing another wagon building demo, following on from my LDEC wagon build last year.

With that in mind I need to get a project off the ground so that I have something to work with on the day. My focus this year (I've has this planned since my L&Y jolly at the start of the year) is going to be an L&Y Dia.49 meat van.

Introduced in 1901, these were an upgrade of the older Dia.20 and shared ideology with the Dia.72 fish vans, being 18ft long on a 10ft wheelbase. They are somewhat elusive vehicles and thus far I've only seen a single photo of one. Equally, because of this, kits of such vehicles are but a pipe dream, meaning this will be my first scratch built wagon...

So why bother? Well, it's the next one in the "rainbow van" series (what, you didn't think I'd leave that at a trio, did you?). Pastel pink this time! That's certainly going to stand out...

My approach to this has been to build up the four sides as individual parts, and then I can put them together as if they were a kit, thus following a more logical (and familiar) sequence of steps.

Below is an example of how I've figured things out in my head:



Its not to scale and in all honesty I dont expect anyone to get it, but hopefully it will become clear as we go on...

So far I've started making up the two sides. For the main structure, I've used 1mm thick plasticard, cut 4mm shorter than the full length of 72mm (18ft), over which I've then laid out the planking (2mm high, with a 1mm thick strip at the bottom) and cut to the correct length for the van:



Over this I've then started adding 1mm square strip to make up the outside framework:



A tiny 1mm square has been left at the top corners to allow the ends to slot in.

The sides are going very much according to plan and hopefully the ends will follow suit accordingly! I'm not sure how far to take this before Workshop Wise, but logically I need to at least have four complete sides that I can put together there (along with the rest of the vehicle). Thankfully motivation is on my side and the wind is in my sail this time!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

So, I've weirdly found myself in a place of limbo. I have prepared the L&Y meat van as much as I need to for now and work on the GER cattle wagons for @Herb Garden has paused until a solution can be found for the chassis (see the 'Chronicles of Canary Sidings' thread for more info). As such, with a week to go, I am without a project (and no, I have no desire to go back to those GE brake vans yet. I'm now considering surgery to correct the incorrect doors and I am yet to decide on an appropriate lettering solution for the 9ft variant. Its all a bit disheartening!).

Followers of 'Canary Sidings' will no doubt have seen the build for a rare Stelfox kit of a GER Dia.55 7 plank open wagon. I was fortunate enough to come across one on a well known auction site recently and so I took the opportunity.

I'm not intending to rush this one through before I head to Newcastle next week for Workshop Wise; this is simply something to fill my time today, but there is no harm in starting by getting the body cleaned up and some sides put together. Like @Herb Garden I will eventually be using brass w-irons instead of the plastic sprue provided.



- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Well, Workshop Wise has now been and gone and progress has been made.

I'd actually worried that I'd run out of things to do given I'd limited myself to building the sides up and maybe putting the body together. @Herb Garden kindly provided some back up projects, but in the end these weren't necessary.

The day started by continuing the side I'd previously test run making the doors on:



An outer door frame was added, and then I started on the upper portion of the body that features ventilation.

I've previously searched extensively for something that would be appropriate to represent this and settled on an A1 Models etch for a Class 20 bodyside grille (use what you can!). I put the lower framework in, cut the grille to size, slotted each bit in and then placed framing over top.


I then added the lower framing:



And repeated it all on the other side:



This took me to the end of the event, but unfortunately I forgot my model filler so even if I had time, I wouldn't have been able to finish these fully. The gaps in the frames need filling and filing. That said, it's a significant step forward in the build!

My thanks go to @Herb Garden and the team at Workshop Wise, and it was also good to see @Ian N too!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

And what of the Dia.55?

Well, I didn't get a chance to make progress before going up North, but last night I did find time to add some GE axleboxes and springs:



Brakes to follow...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

In other news, I needed to let out some pent up frustration, so I chose violence against the Dia.1 brake vans by removing the incorrect doors with a Dremel!



(Obviously I tidied up after with a file...)

This will allow me to make up new doors, at the correct height.

It has also been brought to my attention that by the turn of the century, the GER had ceased using vermillion on headstocks of brake vans and so when the tin of grey arrives, these will be reverted back to the body colour (the new doors will need painting anyway).

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

This evening has been spent layering up the inside of the Dia.55 to create the internal wood effect:



Just waiting on the grey...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

What brand of paint have you used to create the worn timber appearance? What colours?

Thank you. Graham

Hi Graham,

I use enamels, but the choice of original colours used was very much "what do I have available" and that became the standard thereafter.

The base colour is Revell SM382 'Wood Brown' - This is a generic, slightly teaky/golden shade but it makes a good base coat to build upon.

I then go darker, using Revell SM381 'Brown' - the idea being to dry brush this into crevices, corners and plank gaps where dirt would accumulate.

From there I go progressively lighter. First with a sandy colour - My choice ended up being a tin of Phoenix P504 'GER Loco Tan', but I'm sure similar sandy shades can be found elsewhere. Whilst I apply this all over, I sometimes emphasise areas of wear with this shade and contrast it against the darker bits.

The final layer is a light grey, which currently is Revell 75.

Whilst there are defined stages in my process, I often find myself touching in bits where I'd like a bit more dark/sandy yellow/grey and theres a bit of blending and general fettling until I'm happy with the final appearance. Some come up better than others but each one is fairly unique which I believe helps the cause!

I've realised when I discussed this before, way way back in post #7 that I never specified the exact colours used, so I apologise to any and all who may also have been wondering!

I hope this helps!

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Just a small update on this project. Whilst I had the soldering iron out for something else, I've made up the w-irons for the Dia.49:



I'll come back to these/the van build (and tidy them up a bit more) when the other projects on the bench are done.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

The tin of grey has arrived and so the Dia.55 has received its first coat of grey:



I'm hoping painting will be complete by tomorrow night and I can do the lettering on Friday.

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

And last but not least in this trio of updates, having received the grey, I have corrected the headstocks on the brake vans. After vermillion was abandoned on brake vans built after July 1886, the buffer casings were painted black in line with other stock on the GE:



Next job is to make up some new doors...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Painting was completed on the Dia.55 today meaning I will be able to crack on with lettering once dry:



This will likely be what I focus on now as the end is in sight and it'd be nice to get a project done and off the bench (you all know how I dislike having too much on the go at once, and yet I currently have six wagons at various stages of completion!).

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Having finished the Dia.55, attention has turned back to the brake vans and trying to work out how best to make new doors for them.

The real things had an outer frame, with raised beading surrounding five planks internally.

To replicate this I first cut out the back of the door itself and plugged the gap with this, before using 1mm plastic strip to mark out the outer frame:



I then used 2mm plastic strip to fill the space in the middle with five planks:



Beading was then adding using wire (I do not know the thickness of the wire - It's just a reel I had spare that fit the purpose):



I'm happy that, once painted, this should look the part.

Only seven more to go...

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

As another year comes to an end, it's time for another review post.

This one is notably shorter than last year, starting with a reasonably good turnover before life got in the way and, sadly, motivation waned. That said, seven projects made it off the bench and five are in progress.

The year started with another GNR open, in the earlier style of lettering. It feels like a lifetime ago since I did this one, despite 2025 feeling like it's flown by!



After this, things took a decidedly L&Y turn, with the next five projects being of that nature.

First up was the Dia.3, made by re-purposing a Triang van. This was a fun project and one I'd recommend for those wanting something different.



Next was another conversion job, turning the Rapido L&Y "not-quite-mink" into a slightly more representative example, but in the contested/controversial red livery.



Continuing the colourful theme, I finally built the wagon that had sent me down the L&Y route in the first place; a Dia 72 fish van!



So attractive did I find this green, that it actually inspired a DIY project in the summer!



After green comes blue, so naturally I built a Dia.64 butter van!



And of course, every goods train requires a brake van, so a Dia.21 'Tin Tab' followed:



From here on in, things become a bit muddled. Having built a brake van, it seemed sensible to keep with that theme and finally build my GE Dia.1 kits. These have been frustrating to work on and sapped my motivation. I found myself putting off nights of modelling because I didn't want to work on them, but I also dislike starting new projects whilst I have something on the go. As it stands, the vans are lettered, and simply require handrails to complete, but sadly they won't be finished within 2025.



The final project that made it off the bench in 2025 continued the GE theme, that being the Dia.55 open:



That leaves the unfinished projects which, despite my better judgement, were all started at a similar time to meet deadlines for Workshop Wise.

First up are the cattle vans for @Herb Garden (see the Canary Sidings thread). These are awaiting new solebars before work can continue.



Finally we have a scratch build for an L&Y Dia.49 meat van, which I intend to be the next project to reach completion once the GE brake vans are done:



And that's brings us up to date! It's certainly been a year of two halves, and I'd very much like to find my stride again in 2026, but I know better than to make promises!

As always, thank you to everyone who has followed, read and commented on my progress this year - It is most appreciated!

With that, all that is left to say is Happy New Year!

- James