West End Workbench

[kimballthurlow]

All very beautiful models.
After doing a few D & S white metal ones, I appreciate the work done.

regards
Kimball

[jwealleans]

Thank you, chaps. The J72 body is a Mainline one, with the bunker slightly shortened, on the chassis which comes with the Mainly Trains J71 conversion pack. I have a feeling that's by Iain Rice. They do a J72 detailing pack which does include a Comet chassis and is also on the side of the bench at the moment.

[jwealleans]

I built the J72 chassis over the weekend. Interestingly the smaller wheels for this loco - also from W & T - were spot on for gauge unlike the larger J71 ones. I had to make a new fixing bracket for the rear of the loco as the Wills fixing arrangement is completely different. Some spare etch from Arthur's J73 - satisfyingly robust nickel-silver - did the trick. It's within tolerance in terms of buffer height but I think the front needs a small amount of packing. I also hadn't noticed before now that the safety valve cover leans forward.

[jwealleans]

I've only had the off half hour here and there at the bench this week and the main job in view is a pair of High Level gearboxes, which are better done in a single session. So I've been picking away at this a little at a time.



It was given to me by a member at Ormesby part built and incomplete. I had to strip it back so far - hence the damage to the ducket, the traces of Squadron Green and the replacement strapping - and also make new stepboards. The upper ones are brass angle soldered to two cross pieces which are superglued to packers under the floor.

I had more of a grapple with it last night and tidied it up a bit more. Filled in a hole in the roof, replaced the upper strapping with some of the correct width, fixed lamps (I'd never noticed that the Parkside moulding has one bracket wrongly positioned), lamp irons, ducket bottom repaired. I think it can have a coat of primer.





This evening Mrs W has been hosting a party to which I was not invited... so I now have one gearbox built and running. It's nice to see everything move together as it should; this will now be stripped down and painted before the crankpin washers are soldered on and pickups fitted. It's a Mashima 1224 and High Level Roadrunner + 54:1. I've put the drive extender on the RR + behind the axle so there's plenty of room for a flywheel. You lose the cab interior but with doors moulded closed and a crew member leaning from each side of the cab it won't show.

[Robpulham]

When, I was modelling in 4mm I searched all over for one of these Parkside brake van kits. It was at the point where many web sites still had them listed but nobody had any... I ended up getting a K's whitemetal kit and building that. Fortunately Jim McGeown has a 7mm version in his range and I have one stashed for a future build.

I do hope it won't take as much fettling as your though Jonathan, I think you are definitely doing the silk purse job on this one.

[jwealleans]

Do you know, Rob, I had no idea (or I'd forgotten) that they don't offer this kit any more... so are there no available kits for LNER brakevans at the moment (apart from Graeme's resin components)?

[Robpulham]

Thankfully I don't have the same problem - I have 4 different LNER brake vans from Connoisseur, and one from D&S already in the pile and Medley list 5 different NER brake vans so that should satisfy me for while at least....

[jwealleans]

Fortunately I also have a fair pile of brake vans stashed away in varying states of completion and I acquired another at Middlesbrough thanks to my good mate Scottiedog. I think I have one which came from your good self, in fact.

This week I received a package from John Peck at Precision decals. This was to finish off a build which has dragged over almost 18 months, although to be fair I think they're among the most complex vehicles I've scratchbuilt. The artwork for the transfers I did myself in GIMP, not without some difficulty after I upgraded to the latest - seemingly quite buggy - version. However once sent through I had them back in my hand in three days and for the very reasonable consideration of a tenner.



Above is the type of van which is preserved in the NRM, although the colour of that one is apparently like nothing they ever wore in service. These are both painted using colours sourced from a French supplier, so hopefully they are something like accurate. One is in original pre-1938 PLM livery, the other SNCF brown.



These were scaled down from the dimensions of the larger vans using some HMRS photos which at the time were all I had. Predictably, about 3 weeks ago I came across a drawing with basic dimensions on the web. Too late now... These seem to have appeared after the war and carry what I think is a later style of SNCF lettering but before the UIC standards came into being.



While I was knocking up a sheet of white lettering I revisited the CCTs I built last year and included the missing legend for those.



... and while I had the box of transfers out I caught up with these which had been painted for some months; the horsebox is D & S but lettered using the Parkside transfers for the same vehicle. These BR ones don't look so bad; the LNER ones in the pack, to my eye at least, look way too big.



While everyone else was at the football tonight I put washers and pickups on the J71 chassis and it's ready for the rolling road once the Araldite sets. It's a bit lumpy yet, but with a bit of running in and a flywheel we should get it something like.

[Atlantic 3279]

I see there will be no shortage of covered vehicles for Thurston. I'm not surprised that those scratch built ferry vans have taken so long, as it seems to have been a long drag with my scratchbuilt bogie coal wagon for what appears to be a fairly modest result. The inclination to scratchbuild further wagons, except where absolutely necessary, is definitely lacking at present.
Are John Peck's transfers good/easy to apply and of consistently high quality in your opinion? Waterslide or other? I was just wondering whether you would think it worth talking to him about doing replacements for the LNER and maybe BR Eastern Region stuff that we may lose if the HMRS range ceases.

[45609]

......replacements for the LNER and maybe BR Eastern Region stuff that we may lose if the HMRS range ceases.

Have you heard something that I haven't Graeme? I'll admit that I've never been a great fan of the Pressfix type but I'd be lost without Methfix.

[jwealleans]

Are you not a member, Morgan? It was flagged up on the eGroup a few months ago and the following has been on the Transfers page for some time:

"Currently we are having difficulty in obtaining supplies of the special paper needed for 'Methfix' and 'Pressfix' transfers. We still have good stocks of most sheets, but regret that some are not available at present. "

Apparently the factory which produces the special paper has ceased to do so and a new supply has not yet been located. As it had to be bought in an industrial quantity there is no immediate dearth of most types, but stocks will run down.

To answer Graeme's question, John's transfers are waterslide and have a very fine backing film. This makes them fragile and on some background colours the white can be a touch transparent. The detail is very good - most of the tiny lettering on those wagons is legible. His turnaround is very quick as well. It will really boil down to whether someone can do the artwork. It had crossed my mind to do some for the grain hoppers - the only current supplier is Powsides and though their lettering is correct and complete it's too big to fit in the relevant place on the Parkside kit. Maybe someone else might like to have a go? I have three of those hoppers to refurbish.

[45609]

Erm...<looking sheepishly at toes>...no I'm not a member. Will I be cast out for this indiscretion I just figured that I can't be a member of everything. Now you mention it I do now recall hearing the story about paper availability.

[jwealleans]

Much of the weekend was spent on the J72 chassis, but that would just be more of the same photos. The J71 has now been fettled and partly run in and has had chassis - body fixing and coupling hooks fitted. There is a bit more work to do to increase clearance behind the front steps on the offside, I may need to thin those down a bit more or resite them altogether. I had to raise the rear by about 1.5mm, which I did by enlarging the original holes downwards and then filling the upper part with bits of plastic. It would have been easier to do this before fitting the rear buffer beam. Here it is shunting a few trucks on the test track. Load tests are to follow tonight and then brake gear and final detailing before the paint shop.



For those who may be interested (one or two people have mentioned that they've the same conversion kit to start) here are the motor/gearbox/flywheel and pickup arrangements.





There are one or two details to fit - boiler clacks and whistle being the most obvious - and I need quite a few bits for the J72 which were missing when I bought it. I can see that Arthur will be hearing from me shortly.

[Dave]

It was news to me also about the transfers, as was the fact the Parkside guards van was not available....I will have to take care of the ones I have.

I love the J71 and J72 builds, I still need to finish a J72 I started many years ago with a Perseverance chassis. I found it again recently and it should not take too long to finish by the looks of it, just a respray of the body as all the added details are on it.

[jwealleans]

Bits and bobs ordered from Arthur and Mainly Trains, so I have a couple of days to get the J72 chassis put together.

Took the J71 down to the club tonight; I've wired it up back to front (careless) but the haulage test was a success:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpzUpWXVjr0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7naEC38Bls

(There's a bit of inaction at start and end; I did try to edit it out but YouTube kept rejecting the edited versions and I'm not going to waste all night on it....)