Adam

Yes, that almost certainly would - unless the vac' pipe packing was on both, of course? That, however, only applied to Palbrick Cs, so I'm told and so the photos I've seen suggest. These had narrower bodies so any question of them being out of gauge would not have arisen. Pity, it would have been a fun thing to model. Adam

And so for the first of the slightly more complex bits, the sides. These were quite thin and had edges and handholds/lifting holes edged with, I think, some sort of metal sheet. The edges were similarly treated. Here's a real one, courtesy of Paul Bartlett: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/palbrick/h2bee321d#h2bee321d Obviously if someone is daft enough to make a batch of four of the things, it makes sense to mark them all out at the same time on a strip of 20 thou' (probably too thick). Of course, I had to make life difficult at this stage by making one Palbrick A which had a slightly different sort of centre stanchion... The holes required a new scalpel blade and a bit of care, but even so I've marked out a couple of spares. Note that I've done one where the sheet has been replaced upside down. This seems to have been quite common (indeed, I have pictures with both panels upside down - ) but I may or may not use it. I then made the liners for the handhold which even on a loaded wagon are visible on the inside too. I cut these from 5 thou', slightly oversize, and have solvent welded them in place. These will be left to harden up for a few days before tidying up and adding the edge strips. No, I'm in no hurry to do any more, but since I've started, I may as well carry on. Adam

Ha! Crownline did do a kit, a long time back as, I think, did Genesis. Even before that, Keyser produced one and we've got one of those, I think. It's rather crude, to put it politely... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/102418-palbrick-wagons-from-ks-kits/ Being serious for a moment, they aren't inherently difficult for the most part, apart from the end with the clamps which is. I'm not looking forward to that bit - even Geoff Kent found it tricky, though having had a close look at his models, he has used a couple of interesting dodges which I fully intend on 'borrowing'. We'll come to these in due course. Unusually for me, these wagons will also have permanent loads which will be structural. Adam

Thanks Mark. I'm rather surprised that I got away with the plastic plate frames on this and if I ever do another, I'd be inclined to do the structural frames in metal sheet but basically, it's an open top box and thus relatively simple. Having got the taste for scratchbuilding, it can be quite addictive since it opens up the path to all kinds of things that are too much trouble to convert. Lowmacs - possibly among BR's most varied fleets allowing for the very limited numbers built - are a case in point and there is at least one more that I'd like to do, though without a military load. Well, probably... What I'd really like someone to produce, however, is a Warwell and, as it happens, there's a nice picture of warwells, loaded with Commer-cabbed Fordsons and bona fide Commers at Hove on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/31890193@N08/14593038963/ Now, if only someone did a diecast Bedford RL that wasn't a fire appliance... EDIT: Arrgh! wishlisting! Adam

A couple of project updates, one from a slow-burning construction programme and another showing one in paint. First, the Lowmac, with load: And without: The chassis has been painted matt black from a spraycan - I'm after a fairly tidy finish for this - with a wash of thinned Humbrol matt chocolate. I'll work back into this is due course. The deck was treated to a coat of brownish grey - a mix of metalcote gunmetal, matt leather and some matt light grey. Once that had dried thoroughly, I worked back into that base coat with the same colours in a lighter mix, watercolour fashion with several very thin coats. The metal elements on the deck were picked out in matt chocolate at the same time. I left the result for a couple of days before working back in with washes of heavily thinned metalcote gunmetal with more, or less matt red orange (Humbrol no. 100), worked along the grain and in light streaks down the ramps from the metal panels which were treated to thicker versions of that mix. The effect could be a bit more subtle, but there will be an army ambulance parked on top... The Palbricks, meanwhile are causing a certain amount of head scratching while I work out the best construction sequence. These are quite complicated and, in 4mm, relatively flimsy, which is why they'll be modelled with the pallet brick loads as fixtures. Four at a time is hard work... Adam

Hi Colin, and all the other contributors. I can report that construction of the Lowmac is now complete. Bit late for primer today though. Adam

It's John Hayes - an excellent book - those raised ends, often curved, are very much a period feature of fixed end wagons which appears to have vanished from new builds about the time of the First World War. Cambrian do two: a Hurst Nelson type (C52) and a Wheeler and Gregory (a Somerset builder, I have some doubts that they'd have built many for Midlands customers) which is ref. C74. I've built one of those for my rather eclectic - overly so - NCB internal user fleet; nice kit. Adam

All the above projects have gone back on the shelf for the moment and work progresses on the SR lowmac. For those not watching closely, the bits added since the last update are, as follows: Worksplates Chain rings, on the deck and on the headstocks Rivets on the headstocks Springs completed Still to add: More rivets Label clips axlebox keeps brake levers and guides In other words, lots of fiddly stuff. Adam

I reckon so, but the brakeshoes may well act neatly on the flanges... 22.93mm between W irons if that helps at all. Adam

Ha! Dad has a rather nice pair of draughtsman's dividers which are perfect for this job (offset scribing, marking out planks, that sort of thing) but can I find a pair as good? All those I've seen are either far too big, have too much slop - poorly made - or come as part of expensive sets. The verniers do the job nicely - 8mm of the top edge if you've a Ratio GW open that needs doing, by the way... Adam

This was the other railway-related Christmas item - a Bachmann grain hopper. All I have done thus far is to change the wheels (EM wheels just drop in), remove the tension lock couplings, add some three-links and to trim off various moulded grab handles before drilling for replacements (there's more to do of these). I have also filled the larger than acceptable gaps with Milliput and taken off the extraneous step moulding on the side without the inspection hatch. The damage to the paint finish doesn't matter because the vehicle will be repainted. Bachmann, btw, have clearly used this picture as their exemplar: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brgraincgo/hc5b1c99#hc5b1c99 The big remaining job is to replace the brakeshoes in order to bring them somewhere near the wheels. The moulded ones line up with OO wheelsets, even if they aren't desperately close to the treads; replacing them will resolve both these issues and should be straightforward. I fully expect the paintjob to take longer than the rest of the work... Adam

Happy New Year. I hope it's brought you some welcome respite, though not, on my case, a new cutting mat. Sorry Colin. Following Christmas, two opens have become three. The third is a BR-built, LMS design from a Parkside kit and, like the GW pair, would have been retro-fitted with vacuum brakes. The mouldings are excellent, marred only by the axleboxes supplied which were not quite one thing nor the other. The whitemetal ones shown are from MJT/Dart Castings and will be altered - the groove in the top filled in with Milliput - before painting. All the various holes in the ends are for Rumney Models tarpaulin bars - these would be really good in 7mm for those so afflicted - drilled using a supplied jig. Clever stuff. The GW one (rear) has also received new axleboxes, this time LNER pattern which were occasionally retro-fitted, Masokits screw couplings and MJT buffers of a Dowty hydraulic type. The other alteration on the GW opens was to scribe the extra 'half' plank in, using my digital vernier gauge. I know this isn't what they're meant for, but... The container, by the way, is complete and ready for paint. This one will be crimson. Adam

BR did end up with a disproportionate number of the Barclay-built version (Barclay didn't build all that many) so the odds were in favour, but should you ever have to build another, you'll be forewarned. EDIT - just for reference, the other builders to use the 'WD' type handrail stanchion were Hudswell, Clarke and Vulcan Foundry. A Hudswell machine here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/7128376177/in/album-72157627014288780/ And a Vulcan Foundry here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/5857138500/in/album-72157627014288780/ Note the 'Lambton' cab and rather dainty (for an Austerity) cast steel wheels. There is more prototype information out there, notably the instructions for the RT Models chassis kit (4mm). I should add that I wrote that bit of the instructions and completely forgot to mention handrail knobs though they were noted in the material by Don Townsley I used. Oops. The instructions are here: http://www.rtmodels.co.uk/4slc001%204mm%20scale%20%2000emp4%20austerity%20chassis%20revised%20design.pdf Adam

I note what you say about the handrail knobs but it's worth noting that not all the Austerity tanks bought by the LNER had the plain, 'WD' type ones. All the Hunslet built locos (the majority built but not in the majority owned by the LNER) had the normal type. As I recall it was the Barclay build that had the WD version* but since I'm on the way to work I don't have the relevant data to hand. The only two J94s sold to industry, and the only two preserved, incidentally, were Barclay-built so if you're following one of those - 68077 or 68078 - that's fine. Adam * one of the other builders did likewise, but which escapes me right now.

Very nice work Andrew, and as I'd expect a splendid-looking bit of design from Chris Gibbon. Good to see that Cheddar is progressing too. Don't forget to do something about the preservation-era repair on the dome - though that's a fairly easy bit of reshaping. TMS is a great aid to modelling but often too distracting for 'real' work I find. Have a good new year, see you at Southampton. Adam

I reckon they've come out quite well, considering - making them from solid was definitely the right option - and only one ended up junked in the process. I'll need to add the dampers/adjusters but the difficult bits are now done and the remaining details are just a bit fiddly. Having found the other Lowmac, the overall project is also on course. Adam

And here the Lowmac rests at Christmas, no more will be done until New Year now. The springs have been shaped - steps filed into the undersides to represent the leaves (I didn't bother to scribe the leaves in themselves) - straps added and the mountings added. If I wanted to be critical, I think that I've made the springs themselves a bit too deep but you'd have to be very intimate with the prototype to notice. A few more deck-support brackets have gone in under the ramps and the access panels for the draw hook springs added to each end of the deck. So what's still to add? Many, many rivets, works plates, label clips. securing rings and, I suppose, a coat of paint. Oh, and the load... ... and the second Lowmac, an original Airfix item, yellow plastic and all: Of all the possible versions of Lowmac produced by the pre-nationalisation companies, BR chose to produce 52 examples to a GER design. The modifications made were fairly simple - new shrouds over the buffers, new buffers, brake levers and remodelled axleboxes. Its a bit shorter than the SR vehicle and lower-rated in terms of weight so should present a nice contrast when employed in a train with the same load. Adam

Thanks all - now, I've had a bit of a think and made a start on a set of springs for the Lowmac. There are various approaches that could be used: Spend ages seeing whether I or any of the parts manufacturers had anything suitable Making a jig of some kind and building them up leaf by leaf like the real thing. In styrene - and scale thickness would be 5 thou' or thereabouts - there is a very real risk of a big solventy mess. Photocopying the drawing, gluing that to some plastic sheet and cutting out of, say, 60 thou' sheet - this carries with it the risk of the blade going 'ping' Or...? Well here's what I did, based to some extent what Geoff Kent and dad did when similar problems turned up: make my own. First, some measurements: The spacing between the spring hanger centres is/was 3' 6" (14mm in 4mm scale) with a bit of overhang at each end - I reckoned that 15mm would be plenty long enough. I marked out two pencil lines 14 mm apart on a piece of 20 thou' styrene sheet with a centre line between them. I chose 20 thou' because it's easy to cut, and can be laminated onto 40 thou' to bring it up to thickness. Marking out the curved top edge was simply a matter of finding something of a suitable diameter, about 4"/10cm in pencil. then made a small mark with the point of a scalpel on the centreline, 2mm below the curved line and scribed all the way across the strip and gently, 1mm either side of that centreline as a guide for trimming the bottom edge of the spring. See the picture below: Note that I've trimmed the strip off over width to make up the full length of the spring and marked out one extra to allow for errors. The acceptable springs were then mounted on 40 thou', solvent welded in place and will be allowed to set prior to further shaping and detailing. Adam

Since I've been far to busy to worry about putting off making springs for the lowmac, the Trestrol has been weathered and, since it was just about bright enough this morning, has been photographed prior to loading - because I really think this is a wagon that will benefit from it - and it's an impressive thing - just imagine the size it would be in 7mm! So that's more or less there, barring the aforementioned load and the crud of hammerscale and detritus that should be in the well. Back to spring-dodging... Adam

That really is splendid (a bit clean, but splendid, none the less). I take some issue with the idea that this is ungainly too - think of the Webb compound versions of the LNWR 0-8-0 (and especially, the 2-8-0), anything Hughes designed for the L&Y with outside cylinders, Urie's big tanks for the LSWR, the Caley 0-8-0s with the odd axle spacing...); relative to all of those this is elegant. Compared to the works of Wordsell and Raven, however... That said, these locos were from a different epoch of loco' design and the established norms of elegance in loco design hadn't really taken hold. Adam

What a pleasure to see an Irish model built to the proper gauge, such a difference (the 16.5 compromise in 4mm always makes the models look like they're Cape Gauge prototypes) and so beautifully executed. I shall have to try and catch this at a show sometime. Thank you for sharing these details. Adam

Paul - Thank you for the offer, I know about the drawing in SR Wagons - and if I remember rightly, there's a drawing of the heavier, BR-built riveted version in there as well: http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/wagon/90036.htmlwhich I reckon would be an easier build - but I will be in touch about the HMRS drawing by email. Adam

It occurs to me that the real thing must have holes under the metal plates on the ramps since they wouldn't work even with P4 flanges. I've added these plates from 5 thou' and secured them with cyano' over what remains of the gouged 40 thou'; I didn't want to involve a solvent and thus risk the structural integrity. Sitting in a presentation this afternoon sketched out a few ideas and I reckon that the core of a scratch build would have to be brass sheet, representing the floor (which I believe was a later addition) with the running gear fretted from more sheet brass. That would form the basis of the wagon but cosmetic frames and detail would be easier in styrene. This would be an *interesting* challenge for tool making in any form, but I can't help but thing the best solution would be a cast whitemetal kit. Adam

Hi Colin, you're very kind, as ever. You will have missed the genesis because it never appeared online! Is this the picture you meant? http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/srspecial/h393d36bf I had the basis of it from the drawing in SR wagons vol 4 and the basic elements were lifted from that, starting with the floor, scribed in 40 thou'. The side plates were a bit of a problem and are the reason that the thing sat at the bottom of a box file for a couple or three years. I was unhappy with some of the reinforcing work between the frames and concerned about the flanges rubbing on the underside of the floor (which is why the prototype has metal plates there), and had gouged the deck there away almost to nothing and I wasn't happy with the frames. Basically, the ends of the frame plates are perpendicular to the deck but the bits under the well aren't! That said, when rediscovered, all 4 wheels sit flat on the rail, the axles are parallel and the wagon is stable so I've persevered, adding more reinforcement. Thus far it's working... The Bulleid cast steel flatrol is something I'd like to have a go at, but... http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/srspecial/h221b8e46 I reckon making the bits should be ok, it's making the wagon durable I have concerns about, and making the bits will be a big investment if I can't make the structure stable and the wagon workable. I'm keen to see how you'll go about it. Adam

Thank you Gerry - it's very kind of you to say so (I enjoyed your cattle wagon build in MRJ recently too). The joy of scratchbuilding for me is mostly the challenge; the end result of something a bit different a welcome bonus.* It makes a nice change from working with other peoples' design decisions and subject choices as well. Now a Damo - assuming it's what I think it is (a kind of short CCT?) - would be something really interesting to see in model form, go for it. Adam * I'll admit that the reason I'm building four PALBRICKs is to have one more than Geoff Kent, eventually!