7mm On Heather's Workbench - North Eastern interlude

[Ressaldar]

We had ours last Sunday, joined the queue at mid day and came out the other end at 13.00. The delay was caused by the computer system crashing at 09.00! Fortunately, the sun was shining and there was little wind blowing. No effects from the booster for either of us.

regards

M8ke

 

[richard carr]

Heather

MMP do etched wagon label clips they are on this set

David J Parkins

Richard

 

[Heather Kay]

MMP do etched wagon label clips

I had a feeling that was the case. I suspect - not being able to see the etch on the link - the clips are rectangular. The LNER coach ones seem to be squarer in shape.

Nevertheless, I shall order a couple up. No harm in adding stuff like that to the parts bin!

 

[richard carr]

Heather

You can see them on here the very bottom left hand corner but you only get two on this etch, I think there is more on the other one

David J Parkins

Richard

 

[Mike Trice]

The only image I could find from way back. None appear on the official images.

 

[Deano747]

Booster jab can be bad enough if you'd been queuing outside in the cold for 40 minutes. We were all oldies and once we got inside, I tell you the busiest place in that building was the toilet.!

 

[Mike Trice]

Found another image, from Mangapps:

 

[Heather Kay]

Work has been progressing very slowly here.

My main focus has been working out piping runs up the ends. As built, the WC header tanks were filled from the roof. Later, pipes were fitted to allow rail-level filling. The pipes for this are quite visible, but I’ve been struggling to find how things were handled once the pipes reached roof level.

The obvious thing is they must have been routed to the filler cap along the roof, like most other companies and BR did. Do you think I can locate any images to illustrate this? Of course I can’t! So, some further interweb rummaging ensued.

Several preserved examples show the filler pipes ducking into the body below the end of the roof. This makes a lot of sense, since the roof ends curve down, and making plumbing fit neatly - as well as routing among the passcom gear - would have been messy. I am going to follow this example, as I can’t find anything that shows otherwise, and it will make life so much simpler for construction.

 

[Heather Kay]

Happy with that. Glad I bought lots of those little brass split pins!



With the passenger communication pipework installed, plus a gangway posed, I think that’s quite adequate. Now to repeat the filler pipes at the other end, and the passenger end of the brake third, and then work out how to make four identical butterfly flags for the gear on the roof.

More, possibly, later.

 

[Heather Kay]

It took a little longer than it ought, but all the end fittings are now done. I’ve also added overflow pipes near the roof fillers. I did consider adding the original handrails to the filler areas, and if I can find some idea of location and dimensions I may still do that. Failing that, I’m sure many were removed during maintenance.

Next job is making the butterfly plates for the passcomm equipment. An idea of method is formulating.

 

[Mike Trice]

View attachment 151117
I did consider adding the original handrails to the filler areas, and if I can find some idea of location and dimensions I may still do that.

Handrails were 1'6" long and set at either 1'10" or 2'0 from the centreline of the carriage.

 

[Mike Trice]

There are two types of handle, one with the mounting plates in line with the grab rail:


and one with the mounting plates at 90 degrees to the grab rail:


Where the mounting plates are in line the spacing is 1'10" from centre and for the 90 degree version 2'0".

 

[Heather Kay]

Butterfly making today.



From Mike's drawings and photos of the LNER drawings, I gauged the size of the "wing" to be about 5in by 2.5in. Rummaging in my scrap box found some nickel silver etch that was about thin enough to withstand my mauling. I solder laminated four pieces together, marked out the shape, and set to with files. Amazingly, it looked about right. You can see two in the photo, plus a length of brass wire for the main rod.



The hardest part, frankly, was filing a tiny flat aligned at each end of the rod so the "wings" ended up in the right place. The blob of solder is sufficient to represent the fixing - the butterfly was screwed onto the end of the rod. Happy with that. A drop of superglue will hold the rod in place.

Now, to those roof handrails… the tank filler caps on the all third coach are offset 9in from the centreline, with a ventilator the same the other side. I shall go with the 2ft offset for handrails there. The brake coach has a centreline filler, so 1ft 10in sounds right. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[Heather Kay]

Grab rails done. Tiny bits of styrene strip have been glued in to represent the brackets - the far roof, on the BTK, has the brackets inside for the 1ft 10in spacing variant.

I am a little puzzled as to how staff got on the roofs. Every other railway provided steps up one or both ends of a coach. I can only assume a copious supply of step ladders at stations where tank filling might be required.

With that done, the roofs at least are ready for priming and paint. I should attempt to replicate the deflectors above each door way. Sparmax made a one-size-fits-all roof moulding, so individual door deflectors - there’s a proper name for them that eludes me presently - are left to the individual modeller.

The DJP/MMP wagon detailing packs have arrived, so I should sort out the label clips for the brake coaches, and then more priming and painting seems in order. Perhaps it might be wise to consider the internal details before proper painting starts.

 

[Heather Kay]

Can you see them? I’ve managed to simulate the door cornices (that’s the word I couldn’t find yesterday). They’re basically a slight extension of the gutter rail to encourage water away from door openings. I’ve used some very thin styrene strip and managed to attach it along its edge to the gutter ledge using cyanoacrylate.

Now I think the roofs are finished. Time to think about the insides.

 

[Pencarrow]

Finished the roofs Heather? Where's the lumps of seagull poop??

 

[Heather Kay]

Finished the roofs Heather? Where's the lumps of seagull poop??

Thats part of the weathering process.

 

[Mike Trice]

Where you have added the grab rail mounting plates in styrene, for the 90 degree version you have the mounting plates outboard. They should be inboard. The photos should show this. Hope this description makes sense.

 

[Heather Kay]

Thanks Mike. I’ll sort that out.

 

[Heather Kay]

I wasn’t planning on going overboard with the guard's fittings. However, I was surprised at how much would visible through at least the door windows. I’ve raided the spares for the heater and vacuum brake control, handbrake stand with styrene box addition, and the secure locker/desk. The rest has been knocked up from styrene strip and scrap. The fire shelf will have extinguishers and buckets, of course. The only thing I can’t make from scratch is the letter rack. It’s a wire mesh affair, which might have to be quietly ignored, save for the back sheet visible through the top light over the desk.

This is the problem when kind folk supply really useful drawings and photos.