airnimal

Not much progress over the weekend, I have only replaced the diamonds to there correct position on my brake van I built a couple of years ago. How I managed to place the diamonds in the wrong place is a mystery when I have a photograph in front of me to act as a guild. I can only assume I concentrate to hard and miss the obvious. Because of this i went and had a close look at some of my other wagons and have been horrified to notice some more glaring errors. Is this the result of getting old or have I always had poor observation skills ? I must keep riding my bike because keeping fit is good for us or so the experts tell us. Anway I did 65 miles on mine yesterday in the sunshine which hurt a bit but I'm glad I did it. I also went to some places I hadn't been before around Fiddlers Ferry power station and over the Runcorn bridge which is closed to motor traffic at present. It was good to see the old railway bridge which is next to at close quarters.

The brake van saga continues ! I have removed the diamonds on the completed van that I put in the wrong place and resprayed the top half of the body. I will put the diamonds back in the correct location and try and match the weathering. The second van that I removed the doors to make a van with the doors open before I realised that the doors would be to short, so I have made new doors to be fitted again. The third van has had the new floor and internal partition painted and new doors made. I will make all the new handrails and detail the body before fixing everything permanently together.

I have folded up a couple of the poorly etched W-irons to see how they will sit with the unequal floor height. I needed to reduce one end by the thickness of the lower floor which is made from 60 thou plastkard. So on one of the W-irons I soldered a section of milled brass T section on end before cutting them apart. I then cut off the lower part to leave a shorter height W-iron that matches the other end, if that all makes sense. I have cut out a new inner partition and glue it to the new floor. I need to make new doors before doing all the usual detailing of the body. I still need to find some 12 mm Dia 6 spoke hand wheels either cast or etched if anybody knows a source.

I have made replacement doors for the painted van but I have not put the details on them yet. I have also made a new lower floor for the new van. This will need a lot of filler and a new inner partition which will hide the bad join at that end.

Neil, I just use Halfords grey primer and dust it down after with powders. Depending on how old I want the van to look like I just use more powders and build up the dirt levels. I have changed the way I mount the brake gear in my later models because I have found it better to have each side separate rather than the sides spaced apart with brass angle. Now I have cut the floor out I have removed one door and cleaned up sides of the frames to see what I need to do. Once the other door is removed I make make a new floor and look at modifying some old W-irons to fit the lower floor. I have some reject ones that with a bit of work ( make that a lot ) may be suitable. I think I will make new doors and fit to the one with that I modified already but keep them in the closed position and just have the new one with open doors if that makes sense. I will change the number as well because that number was allocated to Camden which I have already made for one of my friends. These vans were only ever intended to be for a few friends and myself who all wanted a couple each and the remaining ones sold at cost or even a small loss. Even though I have spent a considerable time with these vans I still make mistakes including putting the diamonds on my own example on the wrong plank, which hasn't been commented on. Perhaps people have been to kind to point it out to me.

Dave, the floor was painted with Tamiya XF-57 and then brushed with weathering powders. I have decided that I can't live with the door in the open position with the floor being to high. It may look alright on its own but if it is parked next to another then it becomes obvious that the door is to short. When I made the pattern I never envisaged I would model one with the door open. I have a spare body so nothing ventured, nothing gained .......... I am not sure what to do with this one or how I am going to alter the W-irons that I don't have to match a lower floor that I have yet to make.

I have painted the body both outside and inside the verander and made up the brake gear and W-irons. I have fixed the doors open and inserted pins up from below to hold them steady. There is a fault of my own making because the doors were never intended to be modelled open. The floor is too high so that the door is now to short by the thickness of the floor. Because of the method I use with the W-irons it would have taken a radical rebuild to model the door and the floor to the correct dimensions. I still have a spare body moulding but I don't have any more etchings even if I wanted to make another, in fact I don't have any more etch brake wheels for this build. It's a sad situation when the kit producer hasn't got enough parts to build his own model !

I am not sure what buffers Slaters supply with there ex-Coopercraft kits but PECO turned buffers are suitable. If you need any, I have a few in stock. PM me if want some. Mike

I have been busy being a grandad for the past week with little to show on the modelling front. I did make the early lamp irons this morning. I am not sure if I have posted about these before ( memory not good after running around chasing little boys all week ) but if not I will post again. They are very simple to make from rectangle brass tube and flat strip with Scale Hardware bolts. The body of the van looks a little rough but once it is cleaned and painted I think it will be fine.

I have put a couple of small castings on that I have had in my spares box for many years ( oil cans / bucket / spanner / tea caddy ) that bring small locos to life. The real coal has been added to the bunker but I am going to leave the weathering until I pluck up enough courage to have a proper go at it. I am on safer ground getting back to wagons. So I am going to modify one of my own brake van kits with the doors open on the veranda. I have several photos of these vans with the doors open so I thought it would be a different variety to add to the mix. So both doors were cut out and replacements made and drilled to accept a small peg. This allows the door to be positioned open fully or slightly ajar. Incidentally one of these brake vans is currently on E- bay where it is described as a rare kit. Fame at last !

I have done a small amount today before I went for a social distant drink with friends. I enjoyed the experience as well as the sunshine and a good walk. I have glued the guard irons on along with the steps but how long will the steps last ? They are made from plastic and only have a very small contact point to glue them under the footplate. I may make metal ones as a replacement. i have started to tone down the paintwork but I am going to take this slowly for fear of making a pigs ear of it. I will break up the coal and place it in the bunker tomorrow. Plastic coal just doesn't look right. I remember as a kid the coal man coming and dropping it down the coal hole. We used the coal hole as a way of getting in to our Victorian terraced house when we locked out. Down the coal hole in pitch black and up the cellar steps which was never locked. We didn't have anything worth pinching because we were poor. Would I go back in time ? Only for a look around and take more photographs. Bread and dripping, no thanks.

Having lost one of the safty valves to the carpet monster I have made replacements, and it only took me 3 attempts to get it looking something like decent. I haven't put the nut and washer on the top of the lever untill I can find something small enough. I haven't started the weathering yet or put the steps on. I broke one of the guard irons when I first got the loco and made replacements from brass and as yet they still have to be glued on. I haven't decided which cab to use but I think I will choose when I get a period crew and see how they best fit in. I will use real coal for the bunker and I wish to say a big thank you to Richard ( wagonman ) for the bag of coal that arrived in the post this morning.

Richard, it is good to see unusual wagons like the brake van, you should show us more. Are the rest of the wagons scratch built or is it just the brake van ? Well I got up early and put most of the loco back together. I still have a couple of parts to add or replace. The carpet monster ate one of the safty valves levers and the replacement I was making broke as I was cleaning it. I think painting the operating levers black has made a big difference IMO. I was disappointed when these locos were first announced that the plain black was not going to be a option. Then due to public demand, Minerva released a batch of plain black after I had already acquired my lined version. Perhaps Minerva has done me a favour because if plain black had been available I wouldn't have taken the trouble to repaint mine this shade of green. I need to replace the plastic coal in the bunker with real coal but where does one get some of that today. Obviously a heritage line but are any open ? I also so need to weather it to a well looked after but slightly run down example.

I was a member for over 30 years but did not renew my membership this year because I got sick and tired of the same few people on the forum. I joined my local group when it was first announced and was told at my first meeting by an old boy who was in charge that I had to bring something along every month to contribute to the group. I took something along like I was told for 5 years and in that time the old boy in charge only ever produced 1 single wagon. When I left I use to see members at Guild shows and was asked why I no longer attended. When I look back on my working life most of the reasons I left my employment for a new post was usually because of some obnoxious person being in charge. I was once given a post that I didn't want where I had to deal with people face to face. What that told me there you meet some of the most helpful and kind people and some of the most horrible humans possible. I once addressed an old lady as dear, but later got a reprimand of my superior form being to familiar. The old lady had said to me that it had made her day to be addressed so lovingly. There I think is the problem with the Guild, people, human beings. Wasn't it Groucho Marx who said that I don't want to be a member of any club that would admit me.

Richard, your loco looks extremely good, did Colin do the repaint as well as converting to S7. You should show us more of your work looking at the above photograph. I did see your article in the S7 newsletter about your layout plans for a mineral railway. I stayed in a small youth hostel just near where your layout is based about 20 years ago, quite remote part of the country. I have decided to paint my Manning Whardle a light Highland Green. I gave the parts a grey undercoat before spraying them with a rattle can which is a Ford colour. I will let them harden overnight before attempting to reassemble all the bits and pieces. I what to paint the operating rods black to get rid of the bright red bits which look a bit toy like lMO. The smoke box door has come out well but it is hard to photograph.

Neil, that's the first I have seen modified other than repainted ones. You have made a first class Job of it. I like the cab modification but I don't think I brave enough to cut mine down. I am not sure which of the cabs to use yet. I have made a new smokebox door and added a couple of hinges with .6mm rivets from MasterClub. I have also added a handrail with 4mm handrail knobs. This is like going back to my childhood cutting up Airfix kits again !

A change from the normal today. My Minerva Manning Wardle needs a repaint and a new lift up smoke box door. I have had it modified to run on S7 track by Colin Dowling ( Eastside Pilot ). When I ordered my loco from Minerva they were offering them in 3 different colours. I wanted plain black or green but they were only offering them in bright blue, red, and lined black. So I opted to have the lined black only to find out 12 months latter they were going to do a limited run of plain black ! Just my luck. I didn't like the bright red levers and the lining looks like one big yellow line when in fact there is a red line either side of the yellow which is so fine it gets lost and can't be seen from normal viewing distance. So so I decided to strip mine down and give it a repaint. I was expecting to see articles in all the magazines on people rebuilding these little locos and maybe on line to. But it has been very quiet on this front. The body comes off with just 3 small screws and is then broken down in to all the small components parts by brushing on white spirit to soften the glue holding everything together. It takes a few minutes for the the white spirit to work it's magic and then I have basically a kit of parts. Everthing is stored in a Ferro Roche chocolate box so that I don't lose anything because there are some very small components. When the smokebox door is removed it leaves a recess rather than a plain front so I have cut a couple of rings of black 20 thou plastikard to fit in the space left by the vacant door. I just need to fashion a new lift up door with new handrails. I have also removed the lining by scrapping with a number 9 flat scalpel blade because I thought the lining might be visible under any new paint.

I have now weathered down to match the other NSR wagons. I think it is better toned down rather than being ex-works.

Lots of points there to consider, but I'm just a simple modeller trying to do my best while enjoying what I make. " Better to be talked about than not be talked about " Wasn't that an Oscar Wilde quote I have managed to get some letters and numbers on from my stock of meth fix tranfers. They wouldn't stick as well as they usually do, so I had to varnish over them with my bottle of Testers Dullcote before they curled up. I still need to weather the bodywork a little. At least I have a stablemate to keep the small bolster happy.

Perhaps it's me that doesn't see what other people see. Well I don't think it looks any better built up. Perhaps a large load will cover the offending floor and distract the eye away ? I have to find some lettering the right size and hand paint the NSR knot because I don't have any that small. If the rain stays away this afternoon I will paint the axleboxes and springs and do all the little thing that make the wagon complete.

The rain stopped long enough to get a coat of paint on everything. The body has come out reasonable but then I tried to be smart on painting the wooden deck with disastrous results. I must have had about 10 goes at it with each time getting a worst result. I have removed most of the paint and tried different approaches all the time becoming more despondent. I will build it up shortly and see how it looks then. i managed to get a hair cut yesterday after six months which was a present from one of my daughters for a Father's Day present. She booked me in to a trendy barbers on line. For someone my age it's not what I am use to but the gentleman did a fine job, but when I got home and saw the cost it made me shudder. She paid by card on line but they sent me the receipt to my e-mail account. I don't wish to be ungrateful but I don't want my children spending there hard earned cash on an old fool like me.

95% complete ! Just needs a tidy up and a few bits adding and then a good clean before painting. I don't think this will be for a couple of days because of the rain. I don't have a paint booth so I have to paint outside. I hope people liked the coach bolts / rivets idea. Melting the brown rod was not my idea because I had seen it in a very early MRJ but the jig to make them all the same size was. If you need to make them with bigger heads you just increase the size of the packing underneath. This allows the bits of brown rod to be longer so increases the head size.

Richard, I put lead sheet in pockets under the floor. I don't glue them in after the problems other people have had with boiler explosions when the lead reacted with the various glues being used. I don't really have an ideal weight, I just put what feels right and see how they work around various test tracks. I have just put one on the kitchen scales and it was about 3 oz . I am not sure our scales are correct but when I have run a train of 10 or 12 wagons they have all behaved well without any derailments. It's probably because of other people's good track work rather than my wagons being built right. Getting near the end on my bolster wagon I have put some resin bolts on the outside of the headstock. On the other side I wanted some coach bolts made from plastic rather than the resin ones from MasterClub. The reason I wanted plastic is ease of use when glueing the tiny coach bolts in. When I glue the MasterClub resin ones I use superglue but with very small parts in confirmed spaces I tend to glue myself to everthing else. So so I had to make some plastic coach bolts myself. I have a little jig to make them with which consists of a strip of nickel glued to a wooden sleeper with lots of holes drilled to take Slaters 20 thou brown plastic rod. I place this on another piece of nickel but and raise it up with a couple of strip of 30 thou plastic and load the holes with the plastic rod. I then cut the rod down flush with the top surface and remove the packing to leave the rod sitting proud by 30 thou. I the run a match above the rod and watch all the sticking up bits of rod melt in to tiny coach bolts all the same size. I turn the jig over any and all the bolts fall out. Simple.

I have started on the nuts and bolts which showed up a problem with the V-irons. I hadn't got them perfectly square on. I only noticed this when I came to mark the position of the rivets along the small plank above the solebars. I marked the positions with a pencil but when I came to the two in the centre there were either side of the V-iron rather directly above. So I had to remove the pins and fill the holes in and start again. I had to take a small amount of the top of the V-iron on one side and redrill the holes for the fixings. It does look a lot better even though I haven't done the rivets just yet. I have also added a Scale Hardware brass bolt to one side of the D shackles and a coach bolt to the other side. There is still a lot of details to add before I get to the painting stage, but I have got some work to do around the house to keep the household authorities happy.

A bit more detail added to the bolsters including the chamfers on the ends. The backing plates had the holes punched through from a 20 thou strip of Evergreen and cut and shaped to size. All the bolts and rivets are yet to go on.