A Highland Miscellany - Swapsies

[Portchullin Tatty]

Dinner Time – A Gresley Buffet for Portchullin

 

Whilst my memories of the former HR’s line from the 1970s and early 80’s only ever had BR mk1s as coaching stock, there were occasional strays coming onto the line in the form of Thompson/Stanier full brakes and Gresley buffet cars.  As I understand it, a pair of the latter were indeed the regulars on Glasgow to Inverness trains.  So, wishing to enliven my passenger trains up a little on Portchullin, I thought that it was time that the punters had a buffet car to buy that notorious rock hard pork pie in!

 

Hornby introduced a range of Gresley stock some ten years or so ago and they represented a significant step forward in terms of quality of coaching stock generally and particularly in comparison with their predecessors.  If I recall correctly there were some problems with the direction of the graining that Hornby quite quickly sorted out and the teak coaches look the part – especially as to do them oneself is a very challenging exercise.  The only vehicle that they offer in blue/grey is the buffet and this is what it looks like.

 

 

As with nearly all r-t-r models now a days, the finish is exemplary and at first glance it definitely looks the part, capturing the curves at the roof very well and it will stand out nicely in comparison with the remainder of the coaches on Portchullin.  It is true that the panelling cover beads are a bit thick, which is not visible on the teak finished coaches due to the graining but is rather more visible on the grey here but as I am going to weather down this vehicle to a fairly battered condition, I am hoping this will fade to a lessor impact.  Some commentators criticise the tumblehome being to slight and the bogies being slightly incorrect but I am struggling to see either defect so will ignore these points.

 

What I will not be ignoring, however, is the most significant problem with the model.  These vehicles only made it into the 1970s because they underwent a fairly significant rebuild in the 1950s.   Hornby have simply painted their LNER era model in blue/grey whereas the rebuild affected their appearance on one side quite significantly.  Here is a comparison and you can see that three windows have disappeared altogether, the panelling arrangement on the near end is different and the roof vents were adjusted to accommodate the revised internal arrangement.

 

 

I have seen moans about this error and even moans from people at the people who are moaning.  I make no criticism of Hornby at all; it is obvious that the revised tooling that would have been necessary to correct this would have made the model uneconomic.  Therefore, we have to either accept it is as it is or pick up our tools to correct it.  I make model railways to do simply that, make them and I derive the greater proportion of my satisfaction from building or modifying things – thus I simply see this as part of the pleasure!

 

So my next project will be a bit of plastic surgery on an old lady, to get her looking proper!  I do not propose to do a full respray so it is not that difficult to do, so to both the moaners and the moaners at the moaners, I would simply encourage you to pick up your knives to follow suit!

 

Thank you to Hornby for providing the base model and also for the use of the colour photos.  The prototype photograph is courtesy of Paul Barlett.

[Portchullin Tatty]

Scrap Tank Test Build Part 9 – Finishing the Body

 

I have now had the castings back for the various fittings for the Scrap Tank; the masters being in part my own 3D prints and some turnings that I commissioned from Jeremy Souter.  This is what they look like:

 

 

I did not seek to do everything for the whole model as some parts are available from other suppliers and I did not want to duplicate their work.  Thus, I needed to get the safety valve/safety valve bonnet from Alan Gibson, a smokebox door from Lochgorm, a whistle from Markits and smokebox door handles from Comet.

Once these, along with the remaining handrails, were fitted, the body is complete and it certainly appears to be taking on the character of the real thing so far as I am concerned!

 

 

 

 

 

So next up will be the cylinders, crosshead and connecting rods!

 

 

 

 

[Buhar]

Stunningly beautiful.

[jrg1]

When the model is complete, is it possible to list parts used, and sources?  I always liked the Scrap Tanks, and Highland generally, and would put one on the build list if I knew where to aquire all the bits and pieces

[Portchullin Tatty]

When the model is complete, is it possible to list parts used, and sources?  I always liked the Scrap Tanks, and Highland generally, and would put one on the build list if I knew where to aquire all the bits and pieces

 

The intention is that I will release the artwork and castings that I have produced as a (nearly) complete kit.  What is not included will be listed along with sources.  So you can add it to the build list!

 

If you go back through all of the postings you will note that there will be separate chassis for both OO and then P4/EM.  A 7mm one is on the dream list, especially if it were not to include castings.

 

It will still be a while off, as there were some things to iron out following the test build - and I have a full time job to pay the bills!

[Portchullin Tatty]

Whilst this posting was on my blog a while back, I seem to overlook transferring it onto here. So here is the next instalment on the Gresley buffet - entitled the cruellest cut!

 

The first task in dealing with ready to run vehicles is to work out how to get into them – not always as easy as it sounds! In this case, this is achieved by slipping finger nails between the sides and the underframe solebars; this releases four catches and the top pops off. The interior then slips out without bother but the glazing is a little more tricky as it is secured with some very gooey glue. Whilst this releases the perspex relatively easily, it was difficult to then remove the remaining glue – I found it best to do this by rolling it with a thumb and accumulating the residue on a scrap of paper but it was a pain getting it all off.

 

Prior to attacking the model with knife and blade, a sensible precaution is to protected all of the areas that are not to be cut with masking tape, which you will see I have done. This was effective but I did find that I dislodged a filler pipe when I removed it, so perhaps a slip of paper over these would be prudent next time.

]

 

Then it was time to get cutting; I varied between using a razor saw and a scalpel to cut a grove by using parallel cuts but in both cases it is important to cut to the waste side of the finished line. I found that it was best to work to an existing bead line, even though when working to the saloon end of the coach the bead was the side of door jamb (this is where I found the knife best and I made sure this was one of the first cuts to be made) so that there was no stress on the thin piece of material. By the time the cutting had been finished the holes were quite big!

 

Nearly all the cutting done now; but the last panel to the right did also get cut away

 

It pays to dress the sides of the opening with care so that they are straight and square as this makes the fitting of the infill pieces much easier. These should be cut fractionally over large and then sanded back by small degrees checking regularly to determine if it fits and taking care to ensure that the square/straight edges are maintained. Once it fits, I let it into the hole and secured with butonone and then left it to cure for a couple of hours so that I did not disturb it when I subsequently fitted the beading. This was formed with 0.2 * 0.2mm microstrip and these needed to be set out with considerable care – aided by the use of venier calipers – to get them regularly spaced and vertical. Even the most minor of inconsistencies detract from the affect.

 

Replacement panels now in place, including a partial infill of the window by the door

 

Next up was the removal of the various roof vents and cowls as these too changed. I suspect that these were no consistent across differing vehicles and it is quite difficult to determine what goes where but I was assisted by some photographs from here. Utilising some of the vents salvaged from the Hornby model and also from Comet Models, the latter generally with their shields filed away as the roof views I have have straight flanges as shields – which I formed with brass strip as I though plasticard would be knocked off.

 

Roof vents in place, based on a photograph of the roof of 9132 at SRPS in the 1970s (as below). I also noted that the alarm gear on the roof was at the other end of the vehicle in comparison to the Hornby model, so this is going to need to be cut away and recreated at the opposite end.

photo with thanks to Donald (Blackhat) 

 

The coach, as have most of the quite numerous Gresley buffets that have been preserved, has now been back dated to its original LNER arrangement.  This photo shows what it looks like now at Boness.

 

photo with thanks to Dave Hall

Edited October 23, 2015 by Portchullin Tatty

[Portchullin Tatty]

I guess that it is pretty difficult for the RTR manufacturer to take a stab decent corridor connections because they have to design for toy train set curves and clumsey hands but it is a weakness of all proprietary coaches.  Hornby's buffet also seems to have overly skinny corridor connections and most noticeable they are mounted too low - they should finish at the meeting of the roof with the ends.

 

Whilst it is possible to simply slice off the connections off and move them up, I chose to remove the and them with some produced by Comet - as this is an LNER vehicle, you need the Pullman type.  The core of the operation of the corridor connections are the bellows which are formed with a pair of sheets of fairly stiff paper.  These have slots cut to half their width and are then folded into a concertina shape, with the slot between the folds.  Two such pieces are then offered up to each other, with the slots opposing and these then slide over each other as shown in the first picture.

 

 

Thereafter, the etched end plate is attached to one face.  Whilst not provided in the kit, I formed a second plate from plasticard and affixed this to the other end.  it is important to ensure that no glue gets on the concertina sections of the paper, as they need to be capable of compressing with minimal effort to correctly operate without derailing the carriage.

 

 

This is how Comet envisage that the completed connection should look like but I felt that the bellows did not look very realistic, especially from above where the crossing point is all too obvious.  In practise, the top of these connections had a fabric roof and applying this dramatically improves the appearance of the connection and has the added advantage of providing some control to the operation of the connections which do tend to expand out and look rather flabby!

 

 

I dealt with this by putting the rain hood on the top of the connection, which is afterall prototypical (and makes a huge difference to the appearance as you can see).  I did this in a manner that meant it acted as a restraint to the movement of the connection.  I acheived this by only gluing it at the very back and front of the connection, so that the bellows could move unimpeeded but once they had moved to the required extent, the rain hood pulled tight and stopped them going any further.  I found that doing this at the top was not sufficient as their movement continued at the bottom and they took on rather drunken appearance - however, this was solved by simply repeating this at the bottom.

 

Key to getting this to work was to use material for these restraints that was ultra flexible.  I did think about trying silk but settled instead on the rather more mundale - plastic from a bin liner.  This is remarkably thin but is still tough enough to hold the connections.  A tiny dab of super glue at the front and back and then it can be laid onto.  It is important not to sigh with releif for some time though - the stuff is so light that it blows away at the slightest.  So this is what it looks like:

 

 

I think that I have still allowed the connections to be too big and if there were two together this would definitely be true but next to a rather skinny Bachmann corridor connection, I think they look pretty good (and a big improvement on the originals).

 

[Portchullin Tatty]

Gresley Buffet - Part 4: Finished

 

…..but, before it was counted as finished, it needs to be doing the job it was designed for – buffeting.  And that means it needs to be populated with people.

Regrettably few modellers, even finescale modellers, actually put people in thier coaches (and sometimes in contrast to platforms which are stuffed with them!).  This is a shame as they do make a difference to even a fairly casual viewer.  At a show recently, a dad and his son who were probably not modellers spotted the people in my coaches instantly.  I’ll take that as proof of the point!

 

As is common with rtr coaches, the seats are moulded in place such that there is no room for the little peoples legs, so some severe amupation is required!  In the case of Hornby’s buffet, the seats are also modelled pushed tightly underneath the tables – which has meant that the backs to the seats or the lip of the table also needs to be hacked away a bit.  As all of this surgery occurs below the waistline of the coach, it is not visible from outside so your Dr Crippins’ tendancies will go unnoticed!!

 

Next up was to paint the exterior where the new plastic was cut in and here I had some problems.  I was warned by Brian of Shawplan that I should paint the whole side when I repainted the new sections but I decided not to follow this advice – something I now regret!! So having masked up theadjacent areas and sprayed in only the affected sections i found that the grey that Hornby used was notably bluer than that provided by Precision Paints.  The first attempt at repainting had the colours sticking out like a sore thumb and even on the second attempt, with a dab of blue in the mix is not perfect but is just ok underneath the grime.  So, if you are proposing to do follow this build follow Brian’s advice, not mine!

 

Once a couple of new windows were cut into the reshaped windows in the kitchen area of the buffet car, it was necessary to weather the vehicle.  These buffet cars were notorious for being  really tatty by the 1970’s; partly because the paint supposedly was prone to debonding from the underlying teak but also because the automatic washers were not good at getting into the corners of the panelling.  After an overall spray of dirt to tone down the colours and another to represent the brake dust and track muck, I used two techniques to represent the weathering on the panelling.  The first was to spray the whole coach with a mist and once it had started to dry a stiff artist’s brush was dipped in thinners was used to remove the bulk of the paint.  The areas that it does not come away from are the nooks and crannies around the panelling; the same areas that would have retained the dirt in the real things.  I to find, however, that the margine between where the paint has been removed and not can be a bit stark, so I used a second technique to both hramonise this and also acceptuate the effect.  Using a heavily thinned dirty black paint, run a brush over the whole of the sides – the paint runs to the corners and achieves the same effect.  It pays to be brave with this as the wetting effect of the thinners makes this initially look much darker until the thinners have dried off.

And this is what the finished article looks like………

 

 

So thanks Hornby for supplying the model in the first place and the inspiration to do some plastic surgery.  Whilst this write up may have lasted some months, actually this was quite a quick conversion – the basic surgery on the side was only 4 hours – so why not have a go?

  

[Portchullin Tatty]

Most years I attend the Missenden Railway Modellers Spring Weekend and have just returned from this year’s.  The weekends have some 70 or so railway modellers congregating for a residental retreat to both learn some new skills, enjoy the company and get some quality modelling time in.  The participants split between different groups depending what they wish to do; trackwork, weathering, painting/lining, DCC sound control, backscenes and, in my case, loco building.

 

In my case I started a new loco (of course…..), but not a Highland one.  This is a North Eastern 2-4-0 “Tenant” produced by Arthur Kimber.  I am building this for Tim & Julian for them to use on their layout, Benfieldside.  Thus it is going to be in EM, but I am going to put in clearances sufficent to convert it on to P4 if this ever takes my fancy, and it will be in NER green – so it should look rather fine.  Indeed, it should look a bit like this (only hopefully at a higher resolution!):

 

 

Slightly annoyingly, the kit was conceived to be built to P4, so instead of converting OO/EM kits to P4, I am converting a P4 kit to EM!!   However, at least it is all the same skills and cutting bits off to make them narrower, is easier than splicing them in!  One small departure has been to use some Markits wheels to act as some test track dummies for the build.  The idea is that they are capable of being taken on and off without damage, are not steel (so are not going to corrode) and also that they automatically quarter themselves.  This is they in the largely completed chassis (which is a rolling chassis, even if I have not yet fitted a motor).  Also of note is the valve gear (dummy, life is not long enogh to making working inside gear – and nor am I a good enough modeller!).  At present the slide bars and pistons are not yet fitted.

 

Unlike Highland locos, the running plate and valancing has high swept up sections and really nice flowing curves.  This took quite a lot of care to form and I found it necessary to clamp both the front and rear in place initially, after the shape had been bent.  Once, however, one end was soldered in place, the second end need to be released so that the thermal expansion did not distort the running plate.

 

 

There are more of these sweeping curves to the cab, which also give rise to some tense moments as it is formed.  So long as the folds are made at the right locations and around a former the curves formed quite well.  When this is added to the running plate, it starts to look like a locomotive.

 

The boiler comes pre-rolled, with all of the cuts for the wheels and holes already formed.  The smokebox is a seperate part that is secured onto the boiler by a bolt and nut.  This is quite effective and may well be something that I mimic in the future.  The boiler does not come with boiler bands, so I will have some fun putting these on.  It also appears to be about 1/2mm too long, so some cutting and filing is going to occur.

 

 

 

This is what it looks like with the boiler plonked on it (as I said, it is a bit too long so is not sitting down properly – however, it does look good and very different from anything the Highland had!

 

 

Sorry if it looks a bit silly on its reduced size wheels!  This will get corrected nearer the end of the build

[Sandy Harper]

Mark,

Very nice. I would suggest however that you forget about fitting the boiler bands and just use the white/black/white Lining which will be more prototype thickness than over scale metal bands!

 

Regards

Sandy

[Portchullin Tatty]

Over the last few weeks, I have been revisiting a number of model coaches that I have built in the past, typically quite some time in the past as most of these have been around since either my teens or twentys!

 

Over the years techniques have changed and I undoubtedly would not build most of them in the manner that I originally built them if I was confronted with doing them again.  Having said this, on the whole my handiwork – especially in respect of the painting and lining was really quite good.  I seem to have lost my lining mojo in particular, so I am not sure I could line as well as this now.  This is something that I really must get to grips with this, as I still have a lot to do!

 

a pair of full brakes, the one to the left is a West Coast Joint Stock (from a London Road Models kit) and that to the right is straight LNWR (from a Microrail kit)

 

But the biggest area of difficulty with the coaches is that the bogies were generally formed around beam compensation units.  These are OK for a couple of coaches behind a branch train but they impart far too much friction for a full main-line train as I aspire too.  This is impossible to overcome whilst retaining the compensation units, the bar is the cause of the problem and it has to go!

 

To overcome this, Bill Bedford sprung boiges are being retro-fitting to all of my existing stock.  These rely on separate hornblocks that secure a pin-point bearing in them – so rolling resistance is significantly reduced.  The hornblocks are held in place by way of guitar wire and the effect is that they glide around the trackwork.  They thus give the impression of weight and inertia that is much better than compensation (it is possible to get compensation that does not use the rocking beams that are the cause of the fritchion I am complaining about).

 

A Midland & North British luggage composite (from a PC Models kit) and a LMS (ex Midland) dining car (from a 5522 Models kit).

 

The Bill Bedford units are only an inner bogie and they still need to have some form of detailing on the outside.  Some of these have entirely cosmetic outers, either of plastic or white metal but the two Midland coaches and the Highland TPO have something slightly different.  On these, I utilised the original etched bogie sides and laminated them onto the Bill Bedford inners.  This is very successful as it improves the Bill Bedfords notably by making them a lot stiffer and you get the crispness of the etching process.

 

This is one of my fathers, so I can’t claim credit for anything but the bogies.  A Highland Railway TP (fully scratchbuilt).  Obviously, no painting has as yet been done, so it does rather look like a ganster with gold teeth!

 

It is rather challenging to see how the Bed Bedford sprining unit sites inside the outer skins (from a Lochgorm kit) – so I will write up the process in a future blog – but this is what it looks like from the outside.

 

If, by the way you fancy some Fox Pressed Steel bogies that are neatly sprung and look the part - and almost all pre-group modellers ought to - keep watching the space. Subject to a test build or two, there will shortly be one available on the market.

 

To test them, I took them and a few other coaches to ExpoEM to use their test track.  Here we see a Barney with eight on – albeit a rather odd mix for the train and there is a fair amount of painting and lining still to be done.

 

 

And to prove that they really do work and also to allow you to see how they glide, a quick youtube video: 

 

[DLT]

Lovely stuff Mark,

Cheers, Dave.

[Quarryscapes]

 

If, by the way you fancy some Fox Pressed Steel bogies that are neatly sprung and look the part - and almost all pre-group modellers ought to - keep watching the space. Subject to a test build or two, there will shortly be one available on the market.

 

 

If they're 8' wheelbase put me down for several! I've got some MJT white metal sides here but they are far too wide. 

[Portchullin Tatty]

If they're 8' wheelbase put me down for several! I've got some MJT white metal sides here but they are far too wide. 

 

They are, I'll be doing the test build over the next fortnight and if all goes well, I will post on here.

[Quarryscapes]

Great stuff, I have the GAs for Cambrian ones here but have yet to get round to doing anything with them. The MJT bogies are wider than then step boards which is no good at all! 

[Portchullin Tatty]

In comparison to the coaches that I use on Portchullin, most coaches from the 1920s (my chosen period for Glenmutchkin) are shorter and in many cases, even without considering the six wheeled vehicles, a lot shorter.  This was driven by the technology and in particular the materials available to the railways of the time.  There were exceptions though, and my present build is dealing with one of these – an East Coast Joint Stock 12 wheeler.

 

In the early 1890’s, the journey north was all about speed and culminated in the Railway Races to the North where the rival east and west coast companies competed to get their services to Aberdeen first.  This came to an abrupt end in July 1896 when a west coast train took curves too fast at Preston and left the rails.  Although the loss of life was relatively limited (for the time), excessive speed as a result of the desire to “speed to the north” was firmly blamed.  As a result, the competing companies agreed no longer to race each other and instead sought to compete on the basis of the quality of their service and the luxury of their trains.

 

A GNR small altlantic hauling an ECJS express at the turn of the 19th Century made up predominantly of 12 wheeled stock

 

One product of this competition were some really fine 12 wheel coaches built for the East Cost Joint Stock Company (which was a joint company with the GNR, NER & NB contributing to the cost for trans-company trains).  Built from 1896 onwards, these were several different lengths (this particular example was 66'11″) but all were long, seeking to use length and mass to iron out any track irregularity.  To support this length of coach, six wheeled bogies were used, although these were rather infant in thier design and used big transverse leaf springs as bolsters.  In addition to being really characteristic and obvious – so they need to be modelled – I suspect they gave a somewhat bouncy ride!

 

Barry Fleming’s scratchbuilt body and part completed roof

 

I have been given a big headstart on this build by virtue of being given a nearly complete body/roof for a luggage composite (diagram 6 for those in the know).  This was scratchbuilt by the late Barry Fleming in the 1980s and is a class bit of modelling!  Barry gave it to my father, along with a couple of other coaches, to complete but as he has not managed to get this particular one, he has passed it to me to have a bash!

 

My etchings back from PPD

 

One of the reasons that this model was put to the back of the queue previously was that almost none of the parts required to complete it – in particular the bogies – were available, so it was all going to be a scratchbuild.  As I was pouring over the drawings and pictures in the bible on things ECJS it dawned on me that the missing parts would be best dealt with as an etch and given my developing skills in etch designing, I might was well have a go.  This is the product, an underframe, some cosmetic bogie sidesand some underframe details fresh back from the etchers.

 

 

The basic underframe has fold up solebars and buffer beams.  Each of these also has integral fold over layers to laminate on the cosmetic exterior.  This just about worked for the solbars but definitely did not for the buffer beams which distorted due to their thinness.  I will make these seperate pieces next time, but might use folding jigs.

 

 

Coaches of this era tended to have four truss rods, each with a pair of queen posts.  Stealing an idea from Alistair Wright’s designs, I made the queen posts up by a long etch that has a half etch length to wrap around the wire used for the tie rod.  By folding this over the wire and then laminating the two parts together, a robust and simple post can be created.  As it is two layers soldered together, it has the strength to allow it to be filed to a round shape to create the appearance of the original.

 

 

Although originally gas lit, by the time I will be modelling this vehicle it was electrically lit.  Whilst I probably could have bought cast batter boxes, I decided to include them in the etch and very pleased I am too – they have come out much more crisp than any of the castings I have seen and were really easy to both draw and make.  The remainder of the fittings seen here were bought in castings though, typically from Comet Models (now distributed by Wizard Models).

 

 

And this is where the underframe has presently progressed to.

 

I will describe the building of the bogies in the next installment, they are not for the faint-hearted!

Edited May 23, 2016 by Portchullin Tatty

[Portchullin Tatty]

A Dirty Skinhead...............  The SLW Class 24 and a bit of dirt!

 

A skinhead; what’s he on?   Well for the steam age people out there, a skinhead is the nickname for those BR built sulzer class 24s that did not have headcode boxes – as you can see below in Paul Winter’s photograph they did have a rather bald headed appearance and it is not difficult to see where the nickname came from.

 

 

Whilst the bulk of the class that ran on the ex Highland lines had the headcode box, for a long time one or two skinheads were allocated at Inverness and visited both the far north and Kyle lines.  Given that they do look quite different I could hardly resist getting one to offer a bit of variety on the layout.  I had been plotting getting one for a time, having bought the Bachmann version and even converted it to P4 but I had not quite got to enhancing or weathering it so it did not ever make it out onto the layout.

 

There are failings in the Bachmann model that have annimated many; the worse being the slope of the cab front which is too steep.  Whilst I feel it is close to invisible when the Bachmann model is used as a doner for conversion to a headcode fitted version (see my article in the Highland Railway Journal, issues 96 & 97) it is more apparent without the headcodes, simply because they act as a bit of a counterpose to the slope.  This was one of the reasons that my skinhead was languishing in its box (although, doing other things was the real reason!).  Although I am aware that a recast of the model has been in the offing for a while I did not know that a new manufacturer, Sutton Locomotive Works, was in the process of producing one until it simply appeared at the turn of the year.

 

 

It is fair to say I was a little sceptical initially, partly due to the pretty punchy cost of the model but also due to the amount of airwaves noise it was eliciting.  However, they were at one of the shows that Portchullin was at and of course I went over to have a gander……….  What I found was that it was really a cut above the Bachmann version, both in terms of correcting the cab and also with the quality of detailing but more than that, it had an onboard sound system that was significantly better too (and tellingly, more controllable).  An added bonus is that the model can be supplied, at a small additional cost, with your choice of EM and P4 wheels, thus making it the first true ready to run P4 loco.

 

Initially the model was available as one of the first batch in a “just built” form in green  and as 24 081 in blue, as it now is in preservation.  A bit of hunting about prototype information – notably Derby Sulzers – showed me that no’s 5113 & 5114 were transferred to Inverness for the last couple of years of their life (which coincide’s with Portchullin’s era) and that these were pretty close in form to the 24 081 form of the model.  That decided it; off went a cheque and back came the model – in a spectacularly substantial amount of box and glinting clean like a museum piece!

 

 

 

A look over the model proved to me that it was really very good, but not perfect.  The worst problem, by far, is the glazing that suffers from the moulding lines no less severely than Bachmann/Hornby models – apparently, short of putting in individual pieces of glazing, this problem is insurmountable.  Good news for Shawplan and their glass replacement kits – if Brian is not going to do a set for this model (are you Brian?).  It will repay doing them by hand no matter how hard this is if Shawplan don’t do them.  The other problem was a lot less than crisp junction between the yellow ends and the blue sides – most visible in the fianl photograph.  I did make this a little better with some 1200 grade wet & dry, but it is still not all that I would wish it to be.

 

It is fair to say that the good bits are very good indeed.  It runs perfectly (although some others have muttered about theirs) and all of the detail is very delicate – compare the door grabrails with the other models or prototype for example.  I understand that the number of seperately applied parts is exceptionally high and I can beleive that, it really does look quite a lot better than the alternatives even after the “supe-ing up” that I gave the two headcode box fitted versions I have.  There are a lot of detail variations between the vehicles and care is needed to chose wisely if you have a specific example in mind – time for a good book!

 

 

Sutton Locomotive Works approach is to release relatively short runs of differing varients, their second and third batch has already been released (see their website).  They are not saying, but I suspect some Highland Sulzers will be inevitable before too long – I am saving up anyway!

 

But the model is way too clean; although Inverness did not allow their locos to get too decrepit looking and they clearly saw the inside of the washer plant pretty regularly, they did take on a careworn appearance especially given that they were knocling on 20 years old by the time I am modeling them.  So, some subtle weathering was required – do I have the subtly of skill to do this – not really was my conclusion, not on my own anyway!  So some help was enlisted from OTMC who I share occassional modelling days with and yesterday we had a weathering day instead.

 

 

Prior to starting the weathering, the number was removed with 1200 grade wet and dry and replaced with Fox transfers, protected by some brushed on matt varnish.  The dirty-ing of the model then started with the creation of some “gunk” – a mix darkish grey with a tad of brown mix – Tamiya acrylics.  Whilst this was a relatively thick mix, it was brush painted over the more extreme coloured sections of the model – the lifting points, axle boxes and coloured pipework to the bogie and drawbar.  Then the gunk was diluted to a wash and sprayed onto the model; heavily on the underframe/bogies and more lightly on the body side.  An acrylic solvent was used and this evaporated almost immediately and once the paint was on, efforts were taken to remove it from the sides.  Cotten buds and make up buds (similar but with a flat head) dipped in acrylic thinners were dragged downwards on the sides and ends.  This removes the majority of the paint, leaving only that which gets into the nocks and crannies and can not readily be reached by the buds.  If the paint gets a bit stubborn (which it did, especially on the ends) then the process is repeated using enamel thinners which is much more vigerous and takes the acrylic off almost immediately but acheives the same effect.

 

 

I did encounter a couple of problems.  The first was not of my making in that it proved very difficult getting the wash out from behind the grab handles to the front of the cab – eventually this was fixed with the use of cocktail sticks.  The second was firmly of my making in that I used some meths to clean of some grease stains from my fingers right at the end.  It would appear that meths is pretty effecitive at removing both the wash and also lightening significantly the original blue paint on the model – aghhhhh!  Ultimately, I have had to repeat the wash effect a couple of times on the side that I did this on and it does not look nearly as subtle as it did before – so do as I say, not as I do!!!

 

 

The wash was then darkened a bit and used on the roof.  Initially this applied without masking to the centre and then subsequently with some masking.  The masking was applied such that the edge of the tape was at the line of the roof with the cab front yellow and pressed home.  However, along the sides the tape projected 5mm above the cant rail but not pressed home (so it sort of flaps above the edge of the roof).  This gives a soft boundary between where the spray goes and the protected surface below and neatly mimics the effect of the washing brushes failing to reach the roof as it slopes away.

 

The grilles were picked out with a black wash effect that has a touch of gloss in it.  The same was then used at the axleboxes and around the fuel filler points to mimic spilt fuel oil.  The while of the underframe and boigie then had stone colour mig powders dabbed on them.  As with the wash, once it is on, take it off with a brush – in this case it tends to attach itself to those parts that the brush presses it home on.  So it tends to catch more the projections than the recesses and neatly highlights the detail on the underframe/bogies.  Not done yet, but I will apply some break dust powders around the brake blocks and wheels to finish the full effect.

 

Portchullin’s next outing will be down in the west country – 30 July 2016 in Barnstaple.  Come and see the new engine – hopefully it looks a bit like this?

 

 

In the light of all the excitement that tresspassing to see the Flying Scotsman is presently giving Network Rail, I wonder what they might have made of this – and then there are the flairs to consider………….  Chris Longley, is that you – I know you were on this particular tour!

 

Edited June 19, 2016 by Portchullin Tatty

[Portchullin Tatty]

More Weathering Results

 

The class 24 skinhead was not the only output from the weathering day last weekend – indeed, it was a very busy day!

 

 

First up were some of my 1920’s rilling stock – both Highland, a timber truck from a Model Wagon Co whitemetal kit and a horsebox from a Lochgorm etched kit. Both are now close to finished – a load is requird for the former and some glass for the latter (and probably a light colour inside the groom’s compartment.

Neat vehicles though and I am pleased with them – less so than the brakevans that I managed to dislodge the lettering upon and may well need to be stripped – as you would imagine, no photos of these and nor any photo’s from today’s efforts with paintstripper!

 

 

But the main additional output was some more coaches for Portchullin.  I managed three and Peter Bond looked close to finishing his third as I left, so we had a proper little production line going!

 

 

The technique was essentially the same as I described for the class 24, although as you can see the model was broken down rather more (in part to populate the interior of the carriages – I do hate seeing trainloads of empty coaches on model railways!).  However, for the maroon coach, rather than using thinners to take back off the paint, T-Cut was used.  This is an abrasive so does not work iAdd to Postn quite the same manner but acheives broadly the same effect except that it also polishes the paint.  I did not think this was right for the blue/grey coaches (they were finished in satin in reality) but the maroon coaches were in a gloss finish and the T-cut gives a slight sheen without actually getting to gloss.  I did eventually think it was a bit too shiny, so did waft over with the finest of sprays of the “gunk” again just to take it back a touch.

 

 

The Bachmann Mk 1s are very good models that have stood the test of time well.  They are a doddle to convert to P4; taking maybe 60-80 minutes a go.  There are a couple of things to look out for – firstly is that the side frames are a touch to tight for true guage wheels and need to be filed back.  The plastic is quite flexible and does create burrs fairly easily, so once the filing has been done some work with a sharp scalpel is required to clean this up.

 

 

The next caution is that the bogie mounts are not always parallel with the rail head, meaning that the bogie can lean forward or backward.  This is caused by the chassis being screwd a little over-hard onto the body, causing it to flex slightly.  You are just as likely to have done this as the manufacturers and I get around it by making it rock slightly with some thin (20 thou) strip like this.

 

 

Arguably one of their weaknesses is the corridor connection which is a tad toy-train (well it is a toy train!).  A dodge that I have started to do is fit a few of my vehicles with some black foam in the door jambs.  Make this so that it sticks out 3-4mm and engages in the equivilent of the adjacent vehicle to block out the light.   A simple dodge that makes a big difference.  It does mean that the vehicles that are fitted thus have to be in the centre of the train (as the foam looks crude where it is exposed) but this can be done with care – for example a buffet would nearly always be in the centre of a train, so this is the vehicle of the two I fitted with this.

 

[Portchullin Tatty]

ECJS 12 wheeler update

 

As originally conceived by Barry Fleming, the floor was to be permanently attached to the body sides and so too were the lower roof sections.  The only access internally, therefore, was to be the clerestory roof/sides to the centre of the roof.  In addition to being very restricted, over time there was a little distortion of this section relative to the more chunky body, such that it has developed a bit of a bow – see the final picture of this post.  I have been building a few coaches of late and have arrived at the view that it is desirable to have the underframe detachable from the body and if at all possible the roof too.  In this case, I am going to give up making the roof detachable but will keep the underframe as a separate piece and arrange for the floor and interior to slide out of the body.  In order to provide a mount onto which I can secure the securing bolts to retain the two parts together, I came up with a metal bracket that has been glued into the coach vestibule where it is hidden as below.

 

 

With this completed, I turned my attention to the bogies.  These are based around the Bill Bedford sprung bogies, now supplied by Eileen’s Emporium – there is one with the right dimensions for the ECJS bogie.  These are only the sprung assembly and offer no detail of the real bogie at all and these were quite characteristic riveted plates.  I am not aware of any offerings from the trade for these, so I have had to create my own – out comes the CAD machine again!  Actually, they are quite easy to draft and there was a fairly good drawing available.  As with some of my other etch designs, I have used folding jigs to ensure that the layers come together correctly without bother.  In the photo below you can see the basic Bill Bedford sprung frame on the left upper, the basic etch to the bottom right and the finished side with the layers laminated to the bottom left.

 

 

And this is a close up of the bogie sides fitted and some of the brake hangers fitted.

 

 

After searching around, I decided that the best means of making the axleboxes and springs was to use the Drummond pattern axlebox/spring assembly from Lochgorm Models. These are really nice but the springs are too long such that the hangers are a bit far out for the six wheeled bogie – hence I formed a hanger point as part of the etching, which you can see yet to be folded down on the above picture.  The intention will be to insert a brass rod through the hole in this and to then mount small washers on it to give the impression of the springs.  A similar rechnique is used on some of the 5522 models bogies and is quite effective.  With this representing the hangers, those to the casting could be cut away.

The axleboxes are rather nice, as you will see, and are of cast brass.  The bad news about this is that they are really hard and quite a lot of work is required with a dental burr to open out the rear to be free of the bearing.

 

 

And a look at both bogies together, now with the bearing spring hangers in place along with the brake hangers and rods.

 

 

A key feature of these bogies was the transverse bolster springs, which are apparent between the axle spacings.  I did come up with a scheme to form these but they have not proved to work.  I think I can cut and paste a pair of the bolsters from what I have produced (ie half the number I need) so I am going to have another bash and if not, it is back to the drawing board!  So whilst I work out how I am going to wrestle with this (I do have some ideas, I just need a bit of time to implement them!), lets at least admire what the coach looks like in its semi-complete state:

 

 

There are other things to do with the coach; the centre part of the roof has a bow, there is various detail missing from the underframe, roof and ends yet to go – but it does look the part doesn’t it?

 

 

In response to the first part of this blog, Bill Bedford did contact me to help with some prototype details.  He was able to tell me that the buffers that I used would only be correct for the brakes and that the udnerframe only had two trusses, not the four that I have modelled.  So some corrections will be required……………but first those transverse bolster springs and maybe give the carriage a bit of an outing (I will bring it to Scaleforum for that).

[jwealleans]

I know of one or two people waiting for updates on these, Mark - pleased to see it moving along.

[Portchullin Tatty]

One of the most characteristic features of the Highland Railway’s locomotives for many years was the louvered chimney.  This was fitted to almost all of David Jones’ locomotives and although some lost them over their lives, most retained them until withdrawal.  Indeed this style of chimney can still be seen on the preserved Jones Goods which is presently in the Riverside Museum of Transport in Glasgow.

 

 

There is debate as to the reason that these chimneys were fitted but it is generally considered that they sought to assist in the drafting of the fire on the downhill sections of the line.  There were many long descents on the line and regulator would be closed for such descents and thus the fire was not drafted by the exhaust from the cylinders.  The louvres would have allowed the passing air to pull on the fire to keep.

Clearly for such a characteristic feature of the line, it is important to model it well on my locos but I am not totally happy with the renditions that are available.  The whitemetal chimneys look too chunky and neither the cast brass (Lochgorm) or turned brass (Jidenco/Falcon Brass) have very distinct louvres.  I feel that they can be improved and this is how I go about doing so; in this case starting with the Lochgorm Models cast brass chimney.  Similarly, if you are turning your own chimney, the same situation arises.

 

 

I started by some basic improvements to the chimney.  I found that my casting was not parallel down the shaft of the chimney, being fatter at the top, and also not particularly smooth.  I therefore turned it down a little on a drill with some needle files.  The casting sprue was not particularly central so to be able to turn the chimney it was first necessary to file this to get it more central.  Thereafter, I drilled out the chimney to 4.5mm diameter to its full depth on a pillar drill.  I am doing this partly for appearance but really because I intend to put sound speakers in the smokebox and it is necessary to leave routes for the sound to escape – the most authentic being to chimney!  Casting brass is very hard and this is no little task – it takes some time, lubricant and anyone in the house need to be able to tolerate a good amount of noise!

The Lochgorm Models cast chimney has a series of depressions to represent the louvres and these are what I felt needed improving.  I started this with a piercing saw with a fine (OOOO) slot at the top of the cast depressions.  This is cut across the whole width of the depressions and a little further beyond, ignoring where the pillars between the slots are.

 

 

These are then given a chamfer slope with a needle file that has a blank face (to make sure it does not cut above the slot).  This also needs to be taken beyond either end of the intended louvres to avoid the impact of any taper.  The top three have been formed in the picture below, with the lowest still just the piercing saw cut.

 

Once all have been formed, the next task is to undo all of the work by filling them in again!  All of the gaps are flooded with solder.  I used 145 solder as it would survive the reasonable temperatures that would be incurred in soldering it to the boiler but also be soft enough to carve out again.

 

 

The louvres were then marked out, starting with the two vertical rows either side of the central pillar that must match the highest point of the flare.  Then with a knife, the solder infill between these is cut back out.  The knife can cut through the solder to cut it out but does it will not affect the brass, so the louvre is reformed.  I found that the technique was to initially cut it away and once a basic amount was removed the blade can be scraped side to side within the louvre to get a smooth surface.  This brings up burrs of solder at either side of the louvre which are then cut out.  This is what it looks like with the first two columns of louvres done – I found it best to do it like this as it was easier to get them vertical than by doing them in rows.

 

 

You will find that you get through a fair few blades doing this as the most challenging part is getting the corners crisp (and the photography is very cruel in this regard!).  It is also easy to be a bit enthusiastic and accidentally cut pillar – if this happens, it can be reformed with a dab of solder and the process repeated until there is a neat row of four slots in four columns.
Once you are near to finished, a dusting of grey primer shows up any remaining inconsistencies and hopefully it looks something like this:

 

 

This process creates not only the slope of the louvre opening but also the dark shadow of the cavity.  In my view these features are necessary to capture the feel of the distinctive feature of the Highland Railway.  It takes around 2-3 hours to make each chimney and in I reckon it is worth the time and effort.

[DLT]

I have now found time to look through this whole thread Mark, and I have to say how impressed I am, not just with the quality of your work, but with the variety as well.

All the best, Dave.

[Portchullin Tatty]

Thanks Dave.

 

I have been a bit slack of late in keeping my RMweb workbench up to date.

 

I have been doing lots more stuff but I am typically only putting on my public blog.  You can find this here: https://highlandmiscellany.com/

 

If this is of interest to you (or anyone else) then there is an ability to subscribe to the blog by entering your email in the box (to the top left of the page) - when I post anything you will get an immediate notification and the initial few paragraphs of the post.

 

 

 

Mark

[Portchullin Tatty]

Don’t worry – this is not announcement of being turned to the dark side of modelling “Green With Rivets” (aka the GWR)! Instead it is a reference to a week’s trip to the extreme west of Cornwall to support my wife who was appearing in a musical that was running for a week at the Minack Theatre – https://www.minack.com/

 

 

As I was expecting to have a degree of time hanging around whilst the Mrs was on stage, I took a little modelling with me – in this case, a Jones era double deck sheep van. As can be seen in this George Washington Wilson photograph of Kyle – sheep traffic was an important source of traffic to the Highland Railway – the majority of the train in the platform are sheep vans and there is also a row of them in the foreground.

 

 

Ever with the eye to efficiency, the Highland developed a double deck van to double the number of sheep that could be transported in one vehicle. I believe that the Cambrian Railway and several railways in Ireland had similar vehicles, but otherwise these were characteristic of the Highland’s lines to the west coast and clearly I have to have a rake of them. Unfortunately, there is quite a lot of effort in each one………….for example each side below is made up of five layers of laminate (and they are delicate too)!!

 

 

The highland had several versions of these vans, this time I chose the second era of van, which has a single door and diagonal bracing; I do have plans for some of the other diagrams so this is a topic we will revisit at some point! The starting point for this vehicle was an etched kit from the Lochgorm range (presently unavailable, but we are all hoping……) and as already hinted, it is not an easy one! This is mostly due to the delicacy of the parts and the multi-layering of the etches that take up a lot of care to line up with each other. It takes a fair few hours simply to get the sides made up and ready for assembly and then you still have the metal bracing to do!

There were a number of elements to the kit that did not work for me. The various tabs you see in the above image are to help locate the various floors with each other but in practise they are not correctly located and just get in the way – so I whipped them off! I also ditched the compensated suspension and instead used spring suspension instead with some trusty Bill Bedford sprung units.

 

 

However, I did not spot the biggest problem until it was too late. There is an error with the design of the kit ends where one of them is missing the top gap between slats. The correct end is as per the top picture and had I have spotted this prior to the assembly of the ends, I would have been able to insert the additional gap with a piercing saw. Having missed the problem until after I had built the van, I decided not to sweat the parts apart to cut in the slat. It only shows to those that know it is wrong; the problem is that I am one of them so it does niggle!

 

 

 

Contrary to the instructions, I did not loose lay the floors in place and instead created a cage arrangement by hanging the floors from rods that were secured to the roof. As can be seen below, this enables the roof and the floors to be released from the interior of the van. This is necessary to both paint the vehicle but particularly populate it with the necessary sheep. You would be startled by how many sheep are required to fill one of these – around 50 and it costs a fair amount to populate each van. Thus, I have in mind casting some of my own in resin, although that is a story for another day.

 

 

The problems with the kit did not finish with the problems noted to date. The iron strapping was not quite right, the springs for the axleboxes are too big and the brake lever/shoe seemed excessively skinny. Thus, these were all adjusted or replaced with alternatives. All this effort and problems to solve meant that the van took a great deal longer to finish than the week that I had available – so it has taken until now to photograph it. This is what it looks like and rather dainty and different I think it is too!

 

 

And if anyone wants to see what the musical was like, here is a clip (with apologies for the rather shoddy photography which is me!)

 

[Portchullin Tatty]

A couple of my modelling friends are in the process of putting together entries into a competition to build cameo layouts being orchestrated by the publishers Titfield Thunderbolt.  To be fair to Oly, his entry is largely complete as long as he does not seek to tinker with it too much(!), the same could not be said for Chris’s entry – titled Bottom Works Siding – so he has some catching up to do!  To assist Chris I offered to make his signals and after a few weeks of work we have reached the point where they are complete.

 

Chris’ model is based on the GCR’s route over the pennines at its Yorkshire end.  It will represent a set of transfer sidings from the Woodhead route electrification to a industrial line serving a coking plant – so I suspect we will get to see a fair amount of grot in the finished article!   Its signals are LNER or BR(E) practise which is mildly different to what I have built before in some regards but not others as there was a lot of standardisation between the LMS and LNER (and BR more or less adopted LMS practise). 

 

 

So first up is an LNER standard wooden post with replacement BR miniature upper quadrant arms.  The post is a piece of brass square section that I filed to a taper (hard work) with predominantly Masokit’s fittings (which I found to be notably better than MSE’s equivalent).

 

 

This one is effectively a standard LMS/BR tubular post signal (apparently with brewer’s droop – sorry!) with a small bracket that has another miniature arm signal to it.  This is assembled with a combination of tubes and angle section from Eileen’s Emporium, along with some more Masokit’s arms.

 

 

And finally a miniature ground signal – which despite being startling small was not actually all that difficult to build – it being based on a excellent little etched kit from Palatine Models.

As a result of a lost camera, there are not really any meaningful photographs of the signals being created but fear not, I still have a few to go for Glenmutchkin, so there will be some to come!  In the meantime, and to prove that they really do go, here are some videos.