Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[Rowsley17D]

5 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

It's not entirely been a walk in the park of course. When it came to removing the buffer collars from the sprues, they simply shattered. A dig in the box of bits turned up a surplus set from a Cambrian kit. These fitted straight over the turned metal buffers supplied by Slater's.

It would be very useful if Slater's could supply those buffers as a separate item. I'd probably buy a couple of hundred!

 

Why not have a word with them? I've found them very helpful in the past.

[MrWolf]

That's a good idea. It can't hurt to send them a cheeky email. It would certainly solve the problem common to most plastic wagon kits, the fragile buffer mouldings. I'm lucky if I can file them into an actual round shape and remove the parting lines without breaking them.

It would be fairly simple to cut off the buffers and drill out the stocks on wagons, retaining the original stock, which you can't always buy and adds to the cost if you can.

The Cambrian kits are easy, as the construction methods are the same as Slater's, but with a plastic buffer.

[Siberian Snooper]

I have made the buffer collars from plastic rod, put a short length into the chuck of a drill and securely clamp the drill, I use a workmate and with a small diamond file turn the rod down to the diameter required, just a guesstimate by offering up an intact collar. I then drill the hole and gingerly cut each collar in turn. I then rub it on some wet or dry to thickness. I don't know if the dimensions are the same, but with the collar painted, and the wagon on the trainset, it looks ok, to me.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Siberian Snooper
Bad grammar

[chuffinghell]

20 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

If someone offered to 3D print pagoda hut rooves, to a length specified, there would be a ready market.

 

The rest of the hut is fairly straight forward to make, but the roof is a real challenge. 

give me a few more weeks to play around with Solidworks and I’ll have a go

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

That's a good idea. It can't hurt to send them a cheeky email. It would certainly solve the problem common to most plastic wagon kits, the fragile buffer mouldings. I'm lucky if I can file them into an actual round shape and remove the parting lines without breaking them.

It would be fairly simple to cut off the buffers and drill out the stocks on wagons, retaining the original stock, which you can't always buy and adds to the cost if you can.

The Cambrian kits are easy, as the construction methods are the same as Slater's, but with a plastic buffer.

Wizard models sell turned steel buffer heads, I've started using them in most of my Cambrian and Parkside kits to replace the plastic ones.

[JustinDean]

4 hours ago, Nick C said:

Wizard models sell turned steel buffer heads, I've started using them in most of my Cambrian and Parkside kits to replace the plastic ones.

Useful info there. Steel turned buffers are way better than plastic moulded and I’ve been wondering if and where they can be purchased. 
Im off for a late night look through the Wizard Models site then!

 

Jay

[St Enodoc]

11 hours ago, MrWolf said:

You will then have the much bigger problem of the buffer centres being around 0.35 mm lower than they should be.

This to  me is a much bigger visual issue than a little step in the ends of the solebars.

On the real thing a variation in buffer height of an inch (or more) would be common, whether as a result of wheel wear or, more likely, the difference in spring height between loaded and empty wagons.

[MrWolf]

That's a very valid point. It's just that I am trying to make sure that all of my buffer heights are consistent to prevent the possibility of buffers overriding when wagons are being propelled over crossings and curves.

[St Enodoc]

23 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

That's a very valid point. It's just that I am trying to make sure that all of my buffer heights are consistent to prevent the possibility of buffers overriding when wagons are being propelled over crossings and curves.

That's fair enough. I just think that if a difference of 0.35mm makes that happen you probably have something more serious wrong somewhere.

[MrWolf]

That's true enough. I'm probably worrying about nothing there. It's not as though I am trying to fit scale couplings to the mixed bag of proprietary models and unweighted plastic kits (junk) that I was running through a mixed bag of different types of proprietary (junk) points that I had thirty years ago.

My trackwork may not be state of the art, it's good old Peco code 100 (for a number of reasons), but it's all long radius points and solder jointed flexitrack. I've had  no problems so far.

I've been reading the (entirely justifiable) work related gripes on your thread and been tempted to add my own experiences, but figured that something off topic wouldn't be polite as a first post! 

[St Enodoc]

13 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

That's true enough. I'm probably worrying about nothing there. It's not as though I am trying to fit scale couplings to the mixed bag of proprietary models and unweighted plastic kits (junk) that I was running through a mixed bag of different types of proprietary (junk) points that I had thirty years ago.

My trackwork may not be state of the art, it's good old Peco code 100 (for a number of reasons), but it's all long radius points and solder jointed flexitrack. I've had  no problems so far.

I've been reading the (entirely justifiable) work related gripes on your thread and been tempted to add my own experiences, but figured that something off topic wouldn't be polite as a first post! 

Post away!

[aardvark]

5 hours ago, JustinDean said:

Useful info there. Steel turned buffers are way better than plastic moulded and I’ve been wondering if and where they can be purchased. 
Im off for a late night look through the Wizard Models site then!

 

Jay

 

You might also have a look at Lanarkshire Models.

[MrWolf]

A couple more that have been sitting around. I can at least paint them all as a batch.

 

 

L&Y 12 ton machinery wagon.

 

 

LMS 12 ton vent van.

 

images lost.

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by MrWolf

[Tortuga]

They look good. What’s the kit for the LMS van? Cambrian?

[Regularity]

18 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

They look good. What’s the kit for the LMS van? Cambrian?

Looks Cretaceous to me…

 

I’ll get my hat.

[MrWolf]

It's the Ratio 572 LMS 12 ton covered goods van, as now produced by Peco.

These kits have very nice metal wheels and bearings. I filed off the lugs under the floor that are intended for Tri-ang or Peco couplings, otherwise it's straight out of the box. 

The roof needs to be aligned carefully, but it's nothing serious. A very enjoyable build.

[MrWolf]

14 minutes ago, Regularity said:

Looks Cretaceous to me…

 

I’ll get my hat.

 

As it's plastic, I'd have accepted Çarboniferous.

 

That woulda scored you a round of applause and maybe t Gonk for your rearview mirror...

[MrWolf]

 

A coat of primer is a big help.

 

Images lost

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by MrWolf
Site keeps crashing when loading pictures.

[MrWolf]

Apparently, I need more LMS wagons for this layout.  

 

 

Images lost.

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by MrWolf

[Tortuga]

3 hours ago, MrWolf said:

It's the Ratio 572 LMS 12 ton covered goods van, as now produced by Peco.

These kits have very nice metal wheels and bearings. I filed off the lugs under the floor that are intended for Tri-ang or Peco couplings, otherwise it's straight out of the box. 

The roof needs to be aligned carefully, but it's nothing serious. A very enjoyable build.

I’ll have to get hold of at least one for Alsop.

Just going off prototype photos of the line in the ‘50s, it seems like the two or three Parkside BR diag 1/208 vans I’ve already built will be sufficient, but I’ll definitely need to build up stocks of different grouping vans.

[MrWolf]

15 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

I’ll have to get hold of at least one for Alsop.

Just going off prototype photos of the line in the ‘50s, it seems like the two or three Parkside BR diag 1/208 vans I’ve already built will be sufficient, but I’ll definitely need to build up stocks of different grouping vans.

 

Cambrian also do quite a range of LMS vans, with and without vents and also the all steel van. I've got several of them, but they're on the back burner pending buying another stock of wheels. Newer Cambrian kits come with some very decent wheels and are denoted by a W after the catalogue number.

[MrWolf]

If it helps, out of the box of doom, the Cambrian LMS kits I have are:

 

C101 LMS 12 ton vent van, steel ends, Dia1832A b1929-31

C80 LMS 12 ton van, Dia1664 b1924-26

C84W MR 10 ton van Dia664 b 1911-21

C102 LMS 12 ton van steel ends, Dia1663 b1924-28

C9 LMS 12 ton all steel van, Dia1828 b 1929-30

C57 LMS 5 plank high sided open, steel underframe Dia1667 b1924-30

C58 LMS 5 plank high sided open wooden underframe Dia 1666 b 1924-30

 

There's plenty of others , but I'm keeping it all pre 1938.

[Tortuga]

The problem I have with Grouping stock is identifying which wagon diagram a particular vehicle belongs to from a photo.

I’m even more lost when it comes to identifying carriages.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Tortuga
Clarity

[Compound2632]

11 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

C57 LMS 5 plank high sided open, steel underframe Dia1667 b1924-30

C58 LMS 5 plank high sided open wooden underframe Dia 1666 b 1924-30

 

Taking those two diagrams together, by 1930 there were three of them for every four GWR wagons of all types.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Compound2632

[MrWolf]

7 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

The problem I have with Grouping stock is identifying which wagon diagram a particular vehicle belongs to.

I’m even more lost when it comes to identifying carriages.

 

I struggle with that too. There's so many minor variations. It would appear that all of those listed were still around in the early 1960s.

 

Carriages? They're the big shiny things that aren't locomotives??