Adam

This is all very positive Justin and the BR version of the LNER chassis will be very handy for all sorts of things. Never mind Presflos, though, roll on the Shochood B... Adam

Now this is a departure. Somewhere is a forgotten drawer are some guilty secrets: coaches. I suppose one has to have them... Anyhow, dragged from the depths is a Bachmann mk1 BCK which is intended to form the rear of a rake of Western Region stock which dad and I have knocking about. I rewheeled the thing and did a certain amount of detailing ages ago, but have only now got around to thinking about tedious things like corridor connections. There are lots available from the trade and at one point, I considered using a set of Masokits items but dad has had success with the idea Chris Pendlenton (lifted in turn from Mick Wakefield) described in MRJ 200 and this is straightforward, simple and quick. It goes like this: Disassemble, score around the corridor moulding. You can remove the moulded corridor by sliding a curved scalpel blade between the corridor moulding and the end - there are four spigots holding it in and a couple wiggled out, while the rest were cut. Cut out around the scored line with a piercing saw (you can chain drill if you like but I generally confine myself to a hole in each corner: it makes less mess) and through the full width of the end as far as the outer face of the buffer beam. Check that the corridor moulding can pass through the hole easily and if not, ease with a blade. Next, thicken up the corridor - you need to add 2.8mm of material according to Mick Wakefield - a couple of layers of 40 thou' and one of 30 thou' will do it though I can't see why 3 layers of 40 thou' wouldn't do the job. Allow to set and then trim. Next, a backplate must be added to the corridor, trapping the corridor in place, and yes, that's more 40 thou. Remember to trim the top corners to clear the roof strengthening ribs. For this to work, springs are required. These are from 0.31mm phosphor bronze and soldered to a piece of scrap brass: These are mounted a little behind the end (you'll need to trim a bit of the floor of the interior moulding) and, this done, secured the spring to floor using a leftover screw from something or other and a smear of epoxy since I really don't want to take the lid off again any time soon. So here's the finished item, first pressed in: And released: I might get around to the rest of the details soon. Or maybe not. Adam

The lining, I remember was waterslide, possibly Model Master. Lots of patience, cocktail sticks and prodding with damp brushes if I remember rightly. There's no simple answer, I'm afraid. Here's the pictures I have - the doors are both modelled, but one is open. Adam

Very nice indeed Dave. With reference to the earlier discussion about cab doors, 30225 certainly did have them, right up until withdrawal (and my model of that loco includes them). They can be seen in this picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29644579@N07/6955176134/ The other thing to note about 225 is that someone, somewhere along the line, scrubbed off the paint on the splasher beading to reveal the brass beneath, something seen here on 30236: https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/5732838151/ Tricky to do on a whitemetal splasher... Adam

Yes, and here's a wagon I don't yet have transfers for - Railtec will provide, eventually. There's a host of vehicles I'd like to do that I can't letter right now, but well, I've got quite a lot of things on the shelves: And here is where the Palbricks have got to - they're all the same at this stage and don't look awfully Palbrick like but one 10' wheelbase Morton-braked chassis looks much like another. The fruit van has inched forward too with buffers refitted, safety loops (office staples) and vac' cylinder in situ and those fiddly little struts between the bottom of the verticals and the solebars. There's a nice little step below the doors - presumably because of the fact they were built for Weymouth traffic and would have regularly worked the quay, though Fruit D's have something similar. This side on view shows where it will go: https://www.flickr.com/photos/elmtreephotos/9235852955/ Adam

It's going to become a Palbrick A, Colin. There are three more chassis in a similar state - two with Morton brakes and the 8 shoe version as well - and they'll all be Palbrick Bs. Eventually. The 8 shoe chassis has gained its springs and a floor and so on since but I haven't photographed it. I should add that the only reason I'm contemplating these wagons is that John Isherwood [Cambridge Custom Transfers] does the lettering. Aiming to do four at once though is probably a sign of approaching insanity. Adam

Thanks for that - it's a thought, but one I won't pursue since it looks just fine as it is and only next to a scale model of a GW van (and then, most likely, only end on) would the discrepancy be obvious. Geoff Kent, for what it's worth, left it alone! Yes, I'm sure it would work, if done with care. I would expect the Ratio ends to be a little finer than the sides from the Mainline moulding but I doubt that would matter; I'm happy with it as is. Adam

Hopefully a quickie project, from the same estate collection as the RCH minerals, is equipping an old Mainline (or was it Airfix?) fruit van. A lovely looking moulding, it is, in fact, a bit long and a bit wide, but frankly, this bothers me not one jot. The chassis mouldings come from a scrap Ratio van and a spare Parkside floor. Some previous owner had attempted to improve the original chassis with ABS brakegear and buffers and I will reuse both - I've already fitted the brakes. The tiebars are my usual lengths of brass angle. Adam

Hi Colin, Thank you. The crosses indicate that these are internal users. There were various means used to indicate this, but crosses of various kinds were the most common. As an aside, I should probably have eradicated evidence of the bottom doors - most colliery operations would have had no use for them and refloored them accordingly. Adam

The finished trio - I revisited 6908 in order to add some more three-dimensional hinges, but otherwise, it was a simple weathering exercise and the three vehicles are now complete. Adam

I'm not familiar with the prototype bridges Andrew, but there's something about the paint treatment that makes them look a little as though they've been Yorkstone clad. I'd have expected squared rubble rather than ashlar? And if ashlar, wouldn't parallel courses have been used? Perhaps the blocks as scribed might be a little 'flat' and might benefit from more relief? Adam

And here's the finished wagon - lettered with a very small brush - the examiner can't find his chalk (chinagraph pencil) so the broken spring isn't noted yet but the overall effect is precisely what I was after; a wagon just about holding together. Adam

Here's the tatty one after a second pass of weathering. The first was a coat of overall grime, based on the gunmetal/light grey/matt leather combo that I used on the interior. I think this left the wagon looking a bit flat. Here it is after varying the density of the red and reinstating it on the corner plates. The same matt wine was used with a smidge of light grey to suggest fading. Note the spring on the left appears to have been squashed - this is a cock up which will become a feature. A chalk mark pointing out the broken spring will be added per this Gordon Edgar shot: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12a_kingmoor_klickr/5783756730/in/album-72157626724121567/ Next, lettering. Adam

He's on the traders' list... http://www.scalefour.org/scaleforum/2015/traders Adam

Old news, so far as Justin's range is concerned, but here's an example of one of his etches 'in the wild'. The detailing etch for the Bogie Bolster E under one of my pair of models of conversions from them, the Coil R (more on my workbench thread). The 'value-added' element should be fairly obvious, I think. Adam

And so to the paintshop. These are finished in my usual internal user paint scheme of Humbrol matt wine (#78) and will be hand lettered as and when I find myself in the mood. This is how they appear now. The two Slater's vehicles will be relatively tidy in terms of paint and finish while the Cambrian version will be really very scruffy. Most colliery systems displayed this sort of contrast. The white crosses, by the way, were applied using a mapping pen and white (permanent) ink. Adam

Crownline did at one years ago. Body good, chassis (on the one I saw at least) was from a Coopercraft Cattle van and thus totally wrong. I have a notion that Genesis Kits might have done one [EDIT - see above] once too. There's a good drawing of a Palbrick B in Bartlett et als' wagon book. Bill Bedford certainly has had one as 'pending', and indeed still does. I darsay it might be quite good when it appears. http://www.mousa.biz/fourmm/wagons/br_wagons4.html The 2mm Association does a kit for a Palbrick B/C as a twin pack: http://www.2mm.org.uk/products/info/?prodnum=2-564 Adam

Or then again... I have a small project to construct a rake of Palbricks, but have only got as far as the chassis at the mo'. From my research (conducted with the aid of the Yahoo BR wagons group), it seems that the hoses were only applied to Palbrick Cs, which had 8 shoe brakes and a rather narrow body. This is certainly born out by all the pictures I've looked at. Adam

All correct - well, not the doorspring, not deliberately anyway. The other things are the catches for the bottom doors. These are fully represented on the left and vestigially on the right. Both are meant to be internal users and the bottom door facilty was often removed and with it, the working bits of the catches for them. You can see this, just beneath the solebars in these Paul Bartlett pictures: http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/cadebycolliery/h129cc526#h1869f91b http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/cadebycolliery/h129cc526#h1dbf937d Pretty inconsequetial, but fun to do, I think. The process looks a bit like this (mocked-up). If you imagine the scribed line as the rear of the solebar, the three 0.5mm holes are drilled thus. Two triangles of 10 thou' (probably 100% overscale, but there you are) flank the pair of holes as shown. Next, twist a length of 5A fuse wire or similar around a drill or cocktail stick to form a representation of chain and locate in the rear hole, a length of 0.3mm wire goes in the front to form the handle and both are secured with a drop of cyano'. It takes moments really, but is a total pain to photograph. Adam

Looks like the old MAJ kit, long unavaiable. Nice underframe, shame about the raised planking lines. Adam

And here are the Slater's pair, finished. If you want to play sport the differences (and there are some, very minor), feel free. Both are now in primer and will harden off for a bit. Adam

And here's the result of most of the fiddly bits, barring the bottom door catches. Both the Slater's vehicles are at identical stages while the Cambrian one lags for want of suitably brakegear - I'm out of ABS 9' brakes but I think I have some etched ones, somewhere.. The brake levers and guides, by the by, are from CraigWelsh, via the Scalefour Society public e-shop. They yield a nice end result, but, being Nickel Silver are prone to failure during assembly. You do get spare lever guides, however, but my view is that they would be better in brass... Adam

A splendid model - and an extremely rarely modelled prototype - very nicely weathered. Adam

Thanks all - the effort is useful, but three wagons at a go is probably more than is sensible! They're all done now, thank goodness. The fiddly bits aren't at an end, however... Adam

Not a lot of modelling going on just lately, but, following a chance acquisition from the vast collection of bits and bobs picked up by a recently deceased club member, to whit, three RCH minerals, two 7 planks from Slaters and an 8 plank without end doors from a very early Cambrian kit. As befits wagons acquired from a former union rep, these will be finished as part of my NCB internal user fleet. Both kits are, in fact, excellent and flawed in different ways: the Cambrian kit includes all the details, inside and out and goes together very well. Age, unfortunately, had not been kind to the plastic and the underframe was far too brittle to use or even to remove from the sprue. The Slaters versions didn't have that problem, but lacked any internal detail above floor level. Sorting underframes is much easier... All those boltheads are worth the effort. They are worth the effort. They are worth the effort (repeat until convinced/the solvent addles your brain). Adam