RMweb Premium Popular Post macgeordie Posted October 6, 2019 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted October 6, 2019 When I had finished the Thompson 6 wheel Brake van it was suggested by a friend that I looked at this LMS 6 wheel van built for the Palethorpes sausage companies traffic. I was very pleased with the running characteristics of the Thompson 6 wheeler which as we all know, 6 wheelers can be a real pain in the posterier when it comes to holding the road. The story of the Palethorpes sausage company and their use of rail travel to transport their products is a very interesting one. There is an excellent article covering all of the Palethorpes sausages company railway traffic to be found in the October 2014 issue of ‘Steam Days’ written by John Dunn and there are also very useful photographs and additional information in the Essery and Jenkins book LMS standard coaching stock volume 1, General introduction and non passenger coaching vehicles. The LMS sanctioned the building of four 6 wheel vans in 1936 which had refrigeration (in the form of Ice cooling) and a fan which created ducted air cooling. The vans had ‘Wolverton’ lighting equipment, the lights and fan being controlled by switches on the doors. The vans were built to diagram D1955 as Lot 986 and numbered 38732 to 38735. The GWR built two similar vehicles to diagram O46 with the main differences being to underframe equipment and the method of hinging the doors so they are not covered by this model. The vans were built at Wolverton works and were rated to carry 6 tons. They were originally painted in LMS Crimson Lake and carried gold leaf lettering with a black border. The vans went into service at the beginning of 1937 and carried the Royal Cambridge logo along with the picture of a pack of sausages. The logo changed to ‘Pork sausages’ instead of Royal Cambridge in 1955/56, Most of the vans were out of service for transporting sausages by 1964 however at least one, M38732 was later used for parcels traffic but all were withdrawn by the end of 1966. There were two experimental insulated Milk vans built in 1935 to diagram D1936, they were numbered 38550/1. They were of very similar construction to the sausage vans but It seems the experiment with milk traffic wasn’t particularly successful and both vans reverted to use in parcels traffic within a few years. They were initially painted in plain LMS Crimson Lake and would have retained this colour which became BR maroon if they were ever repainted. They were both out of service by the mid 1960’s. These vans can also be built using the etches for the sausage van. The main difference being that the milk vans had no electrical equipment or ice cooling so all of the parts associated can be left off the model. Here are a couple of photos of the second test build. The decals are from Cambridge Custom Transfers. Here is a photo of the same van before I painted it. I've just started on the third and final test build. I haven't got very far with it yet, but I'll post some more photos as it progresses. Ian 24 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 Wow, that looks so good, congratulations. I upgraded Hornby's Sausage vans a few years ago: I wish I'd seen your work before all that bother. Sold off now. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 7, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 7, 2019 Thanks for the kind comments John. I got a bit more done today, the body is now assembled and the doors have been fitted. This is the etches before I started apart from the fact I have pre-rolled the roof. This is the basic bodyshell The doors before and after forming the bolt heads with a riveting tool And finally the door when fitted in place The doors are held in place using the hinge pieces but due to the fact the etching process isn't an exact science I had to open out the holes with a 0.45mm drill first. Fortunately very little solder leached through to the front which can be a problem when the mounting hole is too big. The reason that there is no rivet at the ends of the rhs door is simply that they are not seen when the latch arm is in place and also the raised area gets in the way of the wire which forms the latch arm. Ian 7 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 I've always had a soft spot for 6 wheeled vehicles. Beautiful looking etches. This model is long overdue I think. Almost makes me wish I hadn't switched to 0 gauge. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 9, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 9, 2019 I've not got a lot done over the last couple of days, 'Life' keeps getting in the way. I did manage to get the basic chassis done today, I'll try to do a bit on the running chassis tomorrow. Ian 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted October 9, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 9, 2019 Assuming the solebars are channel section inside shouldn't the axleguards be closer in to the centre of the vehicle? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 10, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 10, 2019 21 hours ago, Michael Edge said: Assuming the solebars are channel section inside shouldn't the axleguards be closer in to the centre of the vehicle? Hi Mike Strictly speaking you are probably right, but the reason I put them where they are is that this van will be running on a Cleminson truck type of chassis. I have put slots for the brake shoes at OO and EM/P4 spacing and I was concerned that at the wider wheel spacing the space between the axleguards might be a bit tight when the van is going round a tighter curve. With hindsight ( a wonderful thing, if you could bottle it you'd make a fortune) it probably wasn't necessary as the EM/P4 guys don't tend to have tight curves on the layouts. If you really wanted to, the axleguards could be spaced off the solebar by about 0.7mm on each side using a few bits of 0.7 wire soldered to the back of the solebar, but once the van is painted it is hardly noticeable anyway. I'm not going to be able to get any more done on this project for a few days, we are off to Milton Keynes tomorrow with the layout. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iak Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 One has created another beauty there Ian. Masterful as ever and, again, temptation... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul 27 Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 (edited) Lovely model does any one do the end ladders for these. Edited October 15, 2019 by paul 27 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 16, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 16, 2019 The ladder is part of the brass etch. If you look at the photos above the ladder is at the bottom left corner of the roof section. I’m not at home at the moment, but I’ll post a photo later so you can see how it is assembled. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 17, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 17, 2019 (edited) Paul, here are some photos of the ladder assembly as promised. First stage, fold up the sides and fit a couple of pieces of 0.3mm wire. Fit more wires in between the frames File the corners off the spacers then cut off the rest of the spacers Fit the remaining wires Carefully file off the remainder of the spacers and the cusp then repeat for the surplus wire and solder from the outside of the frames. Fit the ladder to the van, all done. Ian Edited October 17, 2019 by macgeordie 8 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul 27 Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Thanks Ian for the close up photos. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 17, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 17, 2019 I got a bit more done on the chassis today. I'll try to get the brake shoes fitted tomorrow. Ian 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 19, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 19, 2019 The chassis is now virtually complete. I still need to fit the castings and the brake rodding but I will leave that till last so nothing gets damaged. I haven't fitted the NEM boxes to this one as I am going to fit working couplings when it is painted. Time to do a bit more on the van body now. Ian 8 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 19, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 19, 2019 The Ice box, platforms and ladder are now in place, next job is to fit the rain strips, but that's tomorrows job. 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted October 19, 2019 Share Posted October 19, 2019 This is really coming along nicely. You're soldering is much cleaner than mine. I spend an awful lot of time scraping and polishing my work. I just love detailed underframes. Will you be adding vacuum and steam pipe runs? John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 20, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 20, 2019 Hi John Thanks for the kind comments once again. I will be adding the pipes to the buffer beam but not on the underside of the van as they will probably interfere with the operation of the Cleminson truck. With regards to the soldering, I have designed the van so most of the soldering can be done from the inside so very little solder shows. I find I only have problems with solder going in places I don't want it to go when I have put on too much flux. The solder will always flow naturally where the flux is lying so if you put too much on it spreads and the solder follows it. I usually apply the flux with a cocktail stick as it is more controllable. Ian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 22, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 22, 2019 The rain strips and lamp irons are now in place so the body is more or less completed. I have left the door latch levers off till the van is painted and the decals applied as this makes it easier to apply them. Once the decals are on the levers can be fitted into place and fixed with a drop of superglue. I've got the grandkids coming today for a few days so that will be the job stopped till the end of the week. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted October 26, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted October 26, 2019 The castings are now fitted and I have temporarily fitted the door latch operating levers just for the photograph. I will remove them and paint them separately then fit them permanently after the decals are applied as it is difficult to work around them. I will be ordering the etches for those members who have requested one of these vans tomorrow, so if anybody else wants one, let me know asap. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hamlin Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Yes please Ian. 1 for me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted December 12, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 12, 2019 I had a bit of spare time (a rare thing for me) so I decided to build one of the Cream van versions from these etches. In view the comment by Mike earlier in the thread I spaced the axleguards off the solebar with some 0.9mm wire so the spring and J hangers will sit in the gap between the two. The principle differences between this and the Palethorpes van is that this one had no 'electrics' so there are no battery boxes, dynamo or switch and socket (on the van end). The Ice box cooling wasn't fitted to these vans either so there was no ladder to the roof and no end platforms either. As there are slots to fit these parts I simply filled them with solder and filed of the surplus material. After I had done the end I discovered that if you fill from the back rather than the front and lay the component on a piece of wood covered in kitchen foil, the outer surface remains solder free with the slots neatly filled. The kitchen foil is there to stop the wood burning onto the surface of the brass as you do the soldering. Once that was done I managed to get it sprayed with etch primer #8 after masking off the areas which need to move freely. I just need a bit of warmer weather now so I can spray it in the final livery. The vans were only used for a couple of years as Cream vans according to the Essey and Jenkinsons book after which they reverted to being used as parcels vans so I think I shall paint this one in BR Maroon with heavy weathering to match the state of most parcels stock in the 1950's and 60's Ian 4 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iak Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 C'est magnifique! Methinks I shall be in touch Ian... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaf2u Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Fabulous Kit and build Ian, how do I go about ordering a kit (or etches) from you? Thanks Darren Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted December 12, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 12, 2019 33 minutes ago, gaf2u said: Fabulous Kit and build Ian, how do I go about ordering a kit (or etches) from you? Thanks Darren Hi Darren You have mail. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium macgeordie Posted January 28, 2020 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2020 I decided to treat myself to another spray booth over Christmas and bought one which has an active carbon filter in it so I can spray in a warm room without the fumes killing me. As a result I have been able to get a coat of paint onto the Cream/Milk van and added some transfers from John Isherwood (Cambridge Custom Transfers) the final result is quite good. Ian 11 1 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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