West End Workbench

[jwealleans]

NER cattle van now soldered up and also awaiting castings. There were a few tiny niggles with this one as well but nothing major. The principal note I made was that the holes for the eaves doorstops hadn't been etched in. After taking the picture I checked drawing and photos, decided that they needed to be present and spent all of 10 minutes this morning drilling holes and adding them. I did also realise last night that I've got the solebars on the wrong way round - there's a small recess for the steps which is at the other end on both sides.





Both now at the same stage - three good evenings' work. If I'd had the castings to hand, they could have been well on the way to finished now. It would be nice if every kit went together this well.



I note the buffer discussion above; for the moment I'll go with the shorter ones, but when I order from Shapeways again in the future I'll pick up a set of the correct length housings.

[MikeTrice]

I don't blame you waiting.

Something like this perhaps based on Arthur's dimensions:

[jwealleans]

That top man Andrew Hartshorne came up with the castings in yesterday's post, so we were able to press on with nary a pause.

For future reference if anyone is looking to go by this same route, i used the following:

NERC053 NER carriage vacuum cylinders, reservoirs and levers (1 pack will do both vehicles)
NERC007 NER no. 1D J-hanger oil axleguards
NERC021 NER post-1918 ribbed wagon buffers with blackened steel heads

These are the buffers for the LNER build, which are about 1mm too short. Mike Trice has done a set at the correct length which can be found in his Shapeways shop.

For the NER build I've used NERC028 NER 4-bolt fitted wagon buffers with blackened steel heads.

The axleguards need some material trimming off the top and the backs thinning, but then they tuck nicely between solebar and suspension unit and you can flash a bit of low melt in behind them and hold them in place.

The strapping is a fiddle - I could only do one side before my eyes started to feel it - but it always is. Concerned with the perceived lack of relief on the sides, I added the bump stop for the drovers door. The double thickness strapping seems to work well, I thought. The bottom hinge is made up of 20 x 30 Evergreen shaped to a half round. That is the same width as the etched timber behind it, but it looks a bit weedy so i may try 30 x 40 on the other one.



There are a couple of door bumpers missing from the drop door and I'll probably add some small chains as well, but this side is essentially complete. End posts from 60 x 60 Evergreen next, filed to a taper and then we can get on with the end detailing and the other side.

[Atlantic 3279]

With the details added I see no lack of depth to the sides, and suitable addition of "dirt" to emphasize the louvres after painting ought to reinforce the impression of depth. Nice job. Road-rail milk tank next?

[jwealleans]

Road-rail milk tank next?

Have you done a kit for that already? Bring it on.

[IAK]

What a splendid pair.
So nice to see rare prototypes getting done, kit wise that is.

[jwealleans]

Thank you for your kind words. Let's hope there are more undiscovered gems like these waiting to break surface somewhere.

This may be the last cattle van update for a few days: the LNER van is all but ready for spraying. The roof can't be fitted until it's glazed.



NER van also well on the way, but we've found some missing items on the etch so it's stopped until I receive them.



Arthur is reworking the etches so I expect all those who order the revised version to finish these much more quickly than me.

On its way off the bench - and I was going to photograph this outside, but the weather here in the north east is awful again this afternoon - a Bachmann WD for one of my friends at Ormesby Hall.





Finally, while I was in the mood, a mystery kit. This came to me from John Houlden when he sold off his 4mm stock. It is just a body etch, very basic, instructions written by someone for whom English wasn't a first language and no clue as to the author or origin. There were two in the lot I bought, the other being a banana van.



I did enquire on RMWeb but had no joy. John thinks he bought it from 247 Developments, but Gary can't help me either. Anyway, it looked the kind of thing I was in the mood to do, so the body was soldered up - I ignored most of the internal reinforcement as they seemed mainly to be for people who wanted to glue it together - and then a chassis made up of Paxolin. Bill's sprung units and Mainly Trains brake gear and it's well on the way.



I'd still like to know the origin of the kit if anyone has an idea.

[LNER4479]

Great work on the cow trucks

I agree with 3279 - now all the little fiddly bits have been added, there's no shortage of depth to the appearance of the vehicles, definitely not just slab-sided. It (the detail) also emphasises the difference between the two different types.

Lovely stuff (as always)

[jwealleans]

Given that two of the photos in the Cawston book feature cow trucks prominently, seems to me we maybe ought to think about doing something with them in the sequence?

[LNER4479]

DO they have potential for Kadee fitment without major surgery?

[jwealleans]

Affirmative, Captain.

[jwealleans]

Having a day off is definitely a good thing. Cattle Vans now complete, bar the shouting. I see there's a little roof touching up to do and they need couplings.





I know Arthur's immersed in the drawings at the moment, but they will be worth it.

65476 now complete with fire irons and electrification flashes. The owner will add crew and coal.

[teaky]

Lovely work on the cattle vans there JW and that's a particularly charming little locomotive.

[jwealleans]

Why thank you. Tonight we turn back to one or two outstanding items.

The refrigerated van, I have concluded, was shot down from 7mm etches. The strapping was awful, far too thin and overetched and the end ladders disintegrated when I tried to cut them out of the etch. I've made replacement strapping from Evergreen strip and will order replacement ladders from MSE then ext time I have an order for them. For the moment, then, this goes in the 'awaiting parts' road.



A longtime lurker in the same road is a GN D 303 XBV, built in january 2014. It's been waiting for axleboxes and buffers which, thanks to Mike Trice, we can now obtain. I had to remove the lower stepboards to get it all to fit together, but it was stuck back together and painted tonight. Here is the underframe in primer so the printed parts are more easily seen:



Here later tonight, painted and with the body posed on top.



This is required for iteration 1 of teak set 5 on Grantham. Now it is almost complete we can look to form that train correctly. I should also mention that if you're going to build your 1938 demonstration train to go with your Stirling Single then you'll need two of these. BCK0429 from Bill Bedford.

[manna]

G'day Gents

I like that GN brake van above, the 'cow' wagons, brilliant, but are they a bit to 'Brown' !!!

manna