Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

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jim s-w
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby jim s-w » Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:27 am

Lord Colnago wrote:
IMGP0245.JPG

This one is a very old Airfix body on another Rumney RCH chassis with pretty much the same add-ons as the others, the container being a Parkside FM. The container shackles are a mix of Ambis and scratchbuilt parts and yes, I have noticed that the roof is lifting at the end of the container and that the shackles need a touch up to hide the bright bits that are showing through! A job for this evening. I plan a mixed rake of containers and Insulated vans of which this is the first. Well, you've got to start somewhere.


I know this is a blast from the past but how many sets of shackles are on the ambis etch? Their website doesn't say

Cheers

Jim
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Lord Colnago
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:52 am

jim s-w wrote:I know this is a blast from the past but how many sets of shackles are on the ambis etch? Their website doesn't say


Hi Jim,

There are four different types of container shackles in the Ambis range and the easiest thing to do is to show you the following photos. If you need any more info, let me know.

20160928_112418.jpg


20160928_112540.jpg


Following on from my last posting, here is a photo of the finished van mentioned therein and another showing how the magnetic vacuum pipes connect up. Its easy to see how they suffered damage from the couplings! It is the subject of the next wagon tutorial and I'll start writing it up when I can drag myself away from the modelling!

20160928_112054.jpg


20160928_111942.jpg
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jim s-w
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby jim s-w » Thu Sep 29, 2016 6:17 pm

Thanks for that. Most helpful

Jim
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Tue Dec 13, 2016 5:57 pm

Whilst things have appeared quiet on the wagon building front, nothing could be further from the truth. I have been busy completing the wagons that I had been using for my demos so here are some pictures of the finished articles.

20161213_150616.jpg


First up is a LNER Cattle Van. I think its origins lie in the old Westykits model which is now sold by Parkside. It certainly needs a fair bit doing to the body in order to represent a later build, Diag.122, as here. The chassis is from Dave Bradwell. I have a confession to make however. This was intended to be the subject of the third wagon tutorial and I had photographed each stage of construction up until Scaleforum came around. For reasons I can't now explain, after Scaleforum, I ploughed on with the construction but completely forgot to photograph what I was doing. So, apologies and you will have to wait for the third tutorial until such time as I get around to building a suitable model.

20161213_150626.jpg


A Ratio body on one of Mr. Newitt's chassis plus some extra body detailing to match the photo that I worked from. Its a LMS Diag. 2039 van and, judging from the collared buffer housings, it was built as an unfitted van and converted at a later date. That nice Mr. Newitt waited until I finished it and then brought out his body detailing etch! He did, however, send me one, so I suppose I'll have to do another van just to use it up! I used Archers transfers for the extra rivet detail and these aren't easy to fix to plastic bodies. They like to move around or attach themselves to your fingers! I found that it was best to seal them in place with varnish, which once applied, solved the problem.

20161213_150643.jpg


Another Ratio van kit, this time with a Masokits sub-frame underneath. I had originally intended to put a Morgan underframe underneath this one but couldn't lay my hands on it when I needed to, hence the Masokits chassis. I have now built a van with the Morgan underframe, of which more at some other time. This is a diag. V34 van, again built without vacuum brakes but converted later on.

Now for some minerals.

20161213_150944.jpg


First up, a Diag. 1/106 BR 16 tonner. The last batch of these was identical to the much more numerous 1/108s. A fairly straightforward build of a Parkside body with a Rumney models chassis. These Morton 2 shoe brake gear chassis go together very easily and, more importantly, very quickly. Very useful properties, given how many more I have to build!

20161213_151000.jpg


Next up are a pair of 21 tonners to Diag. 1/110, the riveted variant. These two Parkside bodies were put together for me, probably at least ten years ago if not more, by Len Folkard. The idea was that I would scratchbuild the underframes. Suffice to say, they were put away in a box and disappeared when I moved to sunny Norfolk. They recently re-surfaced and I thought it was about time that I got on with completing them. Of course, Rumney Models now do the correct chassis so I was saved the scratchbuild, so moving does have hidden advantages. This first one has a pressed end door. When I mated it with the chassis, there was a small gap, approx. 1mm. between the bottom of the door and the top of the chassis. I couldn't work out what the problem was at first, but the solution seemed to be to insert a plastic strip of the appropriate height, thus filling the gap. I did eventually work out why there had been a gap. The door used must have come from a 16T kit. On a 21 tonner, the vertical ribs at the top of the end are longer than those on the 16 tonner, hence the gap. I had no intention of trying to seperate the parts, especially given how long ago they had been assembled, in order to put in longer ribs, so I can live with it this time.

20161213_151019.jpg


The second one has a conventional fabricated door but otherwise is to the same specification as its companion.

20161213_151308.jpg


This is the first of what will be a pair of LNER Single Bolsters to Diag. 197. Their short wheelbase gives them a lot of character, at least to my uncultured eye. It is a Dave Bradwell kit, which, if memory serves, are sold in pairs. Not a lot to say about them except that, as with all Dave's kits, I thoroughly enjoyed building it.

20161213_151317.jpg


An ex-Southern wagon, which for me, is quite a rarity. Perhaps that's something that I should rectify in the interests of having a balanced wagon stock. It is to Diag. 1375 and the LNER built identical wagons, although I don't have their diagram information immediately to hand. It is a Cambrian kit on yet another Rumney Models chassis.

20161213_151347.jpg


A real blast from the past is this one. I have had an old 3H LMS Diag. 1666 5 plank Open knocking around my cupboard for many a long year and again, I thought that it was about time that I built it. It has Masokits sprung W-Irons and brake gear.

20161213_151404.jpg


A quick look at the wooden floors inside the last three wagons, for those interested in such things.

20161213_151509.jpg


Bringing up the rear, appropriately enough, is this LMS Diag. 1657 Brake Van. There is some extra detail added to the body sides and I used Archers rivets once again. It also utilises Masokits sprung W-Irons. I decided to drill out the buffers for springing on this one, something which I now do pretty much as a matter of course. A word of caution is required here though. When you do the final drilling out to 2.5mm. for the heads, you won't have much buffer left so have the heads to hand and insert them straightaway to protect the buffer bodies from handling damage. You know how I know this!
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby PeteT » Tue Dec 13, 2016 6:20 pm

Ooh, tasty!!

There are several D2039s to go through (or more across, all being well) my workbench sometime.

Which technique did you use for the wagon interior - looks excellent to me (& yes, I will admit an interest, if not in depth knowledge, of such things...).

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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby iak » Tue Dec 13, 2016 6:46 pm

Extremely naughty wagon naughtiness Fr.
Some serious noodling methinks. :thumb
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Lord Colnago
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:47 pm

PeteT wrote:

Which technique did you use for the wagon interior - looks excellent to me (& yes, I will admit an interest, if not in depth knowledge, of such things...).


Hi Pete,

I used a set of AK Interactive paints, Old & Weathered Wood, Vol.2, available from Hobby Holidays, amonst others. I started by painting random planks using the greyer shades from the set. I find these paints quite thin, almost like a wash, which suits my purposes nicely. Once dry, I give the whole floor a wash of any suitable light grey acrylic and let that dry. This will start to hide he randomly painted planks but they should still show through. If they look too strong, then give the floor another wash. The idea is that they should just effect the shades of the overall wash and break up the uniformity. Such old planked wagon floors invariably were covered in dirt and even rust stains. I reproduce these using weathering powders. A very light dusting for overall dirt and a more directed brushing in for rust and other stains. If you overdo it, you can use a little water to lift the excess away and this will leave a streaked effect, very useful for vertical surfaces. Continued washing will remove it altogether if things go really wrong. It can also be useful to seal each powder coating with matt varnish so that the layers are not effected by subsequent layering. This varnishing will also have the effect of slightly toning down the weathering powders.

Hope this helps.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Le Corbusier » Wed Dec 14, 2016 4:29 pm

It can also be useful to seal each powder coating with matt varnish so that the layers are not effected by subsequent layering. This varnishing will also have the effect of slightly toning down the weathering powders.


What Varnish do you use for this purpose?

Tim
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Wed Dec 14, 2016 5:17 pm

Hi Tim,

I generally use Vallejo acrylic varnishes and paints. There are two different paint ranges, Air and Color. As you might expect, Air is for airbrushing and I find I don't need to thin them down. The Color range is designed for conventional brushing but can be thinned for airbrushing. I tend towards the Air range but have a good collection of the other. You may be lucky to have a supplier near you but you can find them online easy enough.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby PeteT » Wed Dec 14, 2016 8:11 pm

Thanks John, it certainly looks the part so I'll try and find my painting round tuit and have a go!

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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby timlewis » Sat Dec 17, 2016 2:49 pm

Very nice wagons!

Re. your LMS D2039 van: do Rumney Models do a detailing kit for LMS van bodies? I haven't be able to find it on the website, or is it a very new product that hasn't made it on to there yet?

Not wishing to be picky, but have you added the extra ironwork at each end of the diagonal bracing on the LNER cattle wagon, which was present on the 10' WB later builds? - if not (and assuming you're bothered about it!), the easiest course of action might be to re-number it to one of the 9' ones (Dia 39?) that got re-built to 10' - there's a few examples in Tatlow I think.

Cheers.

Tim

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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Sat Dec 17, 2016 4:00 pm

Hi Tim,

I don't think the detail etch is available yet. Justin sent me a test etch. Kerp your eyes open though, I don't think it will be long before they're out there.

As for the extra ironwork, always assuming that we're talking about the same thing and I don't see why not, then yes I did add it. I suppose I could have taken a closer photo to show it clearly but I deliberately didn't as I feel that some of the larger than life photos we see nowadays are a little unkind to the model and certainly don't represent normal viewing conditions.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby timlewis » Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:53 pm

Thanks for that John - I'll keep a look out for the Rumney bits.

Regarding the ironwork, I did zoom in to see whether it was there, but couldn't quite tell from the photo, which does rather beg the question of whether it's actually necessary! I've done 5 of these (also with Bradwell underframes as you have done, and they do take a long time, with fiddly alterations to the bodywork). I have the kits to do a few more, but I'm tempted to do a couple of the 9' WB ones that were converted to 10', as the bodywork will be a lot easier!

Tim

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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:58 pm

Hi Tim,

Yes, I didn't know that there was the option of doing the simpler 9' converted to 10' version but, as you say, there is a lot of work involved in the 10' wagons and if I do another, the conversion option looks quite attractive!
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Tue Aug 08, 2017 3:26 pm

I can't quite believe that I haven't posted on here since December. Its quite disconcerting to think about where the time goes. I have been far from idle however, although I have been working on a couple of locos at the same time as what you are about to see. More on the locos elsewhere in due course.

If its disconcerting to think about not having posted since last December, then its even more so to think that I moved to sunny Norfolk over 10 years ago. I thought therefore, that it was about time that I went through the box of wagons that were packed away in preparation for the move! There's nothing cutting edge coming up, just a brief sample of some of the things that I have been up to. I won't bore you with the minor repair work, replacing broken tie bars, glueing axleboxes, etc., back on, but one or two may be of interest. I upgraded some wagons where the running gear was particularly poor but, by and large, most survived their time in hibernation pretty well.

First up then is a very old model of a LMS Long Low from, I believe, a Blacksmith kit. It may still be available, I don't know. This had the most work done to it and looking at its running gear, I'm surprised that it ever ran properly at all! It is compensated and, as designed, the compensated end balanced on a fold up ridge, rather like the Society units do, with fold over tabs to keep all in place. I removed this and set it up as per Chris Croft's method, which he explained in MRJ 15. I used a plastic jig, which fits over the axles to set the wheelbase and align the axles so that they are parallel to each other. This all works fine but there is a problem. The brake shoes and hangers attach to the compensation unit and the brake push rods attach to the shoes, thus impeding the movement of the unit. I replaced the push rods from the kit with some brass strip of a more appropriate size and drilled them out 0.35mm at the V-hanger ends. The tumblers were similarly drilled out and a 0.31mm wire passed through the push rods and tumblers. This was then soldered to the tumblers from the outside, with the push rods well out of the way. The push rods were the aligned in the correct place and the cross wire cut back and folded over to retain them in place. The other ends were soldered behind the brake shoes and both were drilled out as before and the push rods were then unsoldered and all was cleaned up. The cross wire process was repeated which results in the push rods being able to move with the compensation unit. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the finished wagon and I hope that the subterfuge doesn't show!

20170808_135033.jpg


20170808_135045.jpg


The next two wagons are Bachmann minerals that have simply been re-wheeled. Nothing else. I thought that they would be useful subjects for some experimentation with some weathering techniques. I think they look OK but its not really for me to say. The first is a plain 16 tonner and the second a slope sided one.

20170808_135115.jpg


20170808_135137.jpg


Lastly comes a solution to a bad bit of modelling. The wagon is a BR 13T Highfit from a Parkside kit. It was built more years ago than I care to remember, when my modelling standards were not what they are today. I have quite a few wagons to a similar standard and I'm not going through them all to bring them up to today's standard. Life's too short for that. They run OK and I'm happy with them. The problem with this one though, is that as an open wagon, you can see the weight because I didn't have the good sense to put it underneath the wagon but put it inside. Yes, I know, a court martial offence! They made me Chairman as a punishment!! The solution was to simply sheet the wagon and again, I used it as an opportunity to experiment with a weathering technique on the sheet. It looks OK but, as I said, its not about what I think.

20170808_135219.jpg


That's about it for now. I intend to get back to my neglected WD over the next few months but I still have a dozen or so of the old wagons to sort out, which I will do whilst waiting for glue to go off or paint to dry or something like that, so it may be another little while before I post on here again.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Noel » Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:45 am

I fear, my lord, that I bring bad news, for which I offer humble apologies...

M43160 is to LMS D1798, which according to M Peascod's drawing in Essery & Morgan's "The LMS Wagon" had a floor of 7in x 2in boards, plus eight symmetrically placed 12ins x 4.5ins boards, which were therefore raised above the general floor level. The end one is 12ins from the end of the body and should be visible in the photograph. This seems to have been standard for LMS wooden Plates; I believe that the later steel wagons had battens, as with the LNER and BR practice. The reason for both was to keep the load off the floor so that it could be loaded and unloaded more easily by crane, using hooks on chains suspended from spreader bars. I would accordingly question the presence of the chains, as they are not securing the load, and there is nothing within the wagon to secure them to. [The few photos I have seen suggest that the normal practice for such loads, when contained entirely within the wagon body, was for them to be left unsecured.] Geoff Kent's "The 4mm Wagon" page 41 shows his version of what I think is the same kit, in which he puts a false floor to incorporate the raised planks [and uses the same wagon number!]. There is also a photograph of the original in 1961, which shows that one side, at least, was by then made of two narrower planks, not one wide one.

I would suggest, based on colour photographs, that mineral wagons did not rust uniformly, and that it would be appropriate to use more than one colour to represent this.

With regard to the Highfit, apart from the apparent absence of the brake cylinder, the brake gear will not work on any wagon with a cross shaft. BR Wagon sheets for general use were 21ft x 14ft 4ins.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:01 pm

Hi Noel,

No, not bad news at all. They are all wagon that I've had knocking around for sometime and, as I said, my standards have hopefully gone up a notch or two since they were built.

I am a little confused though about the comparison with Geoff Kent's model. He built 43140 whereas mine is 43160. The only photos I have for it show it with a single planked side. It may have reveived two in later life but I have no evidence for that. The fact that it had only one plank and that was fixed is what led me to make an educated guess that the loading chains may have been left in place to assist unloading. I couldn't see how they would get chains underneath the load for unloading with the fixed sides in the way. Having said that, there were some clever chaps around who may have had a trick or two up their sleeves for that. As for the floor, well its too late to do much about it now.

John.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Noel » Wed Aug 09, 2017 6:05 pm

Lord Colnago wrote:He built 43140 whereas mine is 43160


Sorry, my mistake. :oops:
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Sat Oct 07, 2017 5:40 pm

The works have been quite busy of late, however, the only new wagon built has been a Mousa Models LNER Toad E brake van, which is largely 3D printed. I found this kit to be simplicity itself. The solebars, w-irons, axleboxes, springs and footboards come as one piece, as does the main body, although the verandah ends are separate items, which makes assembly very quick and you don't have to worry about the alignment of the footboards or that they might get knocked and come adrift. Its currently awaiting its turn in the paint shop, which seems to be quite busy at present. When its finished, I'll post a picture.

As I have mentioned before, I finally got around to sorting out all of the wagon stock that I had before moving to Norfolk. That job is now finished, so progress can be made on some other stuff now. I did not want to get too involved in bringing them all up to the specification I use these days. I was happy enough compensating wagons back then and, as long as they ran, that was good enough for me. I didn't see any need to chase my tail on them. Where do you stop? What if the specification I use today is old hat in 10 years or so and I've moved with the times? There's not a lot you can do about it. As I say, if they run OK, there's no problem. I did replace some cast or plastic bits and pieces, like brake levers and lever guards, but, for the most part, that was because they hadn't survived their period in storage too well. One or two re-paints and a few already covered here and that was about it. The nice thing about it all is that I have pretty much doubled my wagon stock in a relatively short time.

As a result of the above, wagons aren't really a high priority at the moment, but I dare say I'll be building more soon enough. I just can't resist.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Le Corbusier » Sat Oct 07, 2017 6:01 pm

Lord Colnago wrote:the only new wagon built has been a Mousa Models LNER Toad E brake van, which is largely 3D printed. I found this kit to be simplicity itself. The solebars, w-irons, axleboxes, springs and footboards come as one piece, as does the main body, although the verandah ends are separate items, which makes assembly very quick and you don't have to worry about the alignment of the footboards or that they might get knocked and come adrift.


This may sound a bit contrary ... and I suspect is partly due to the fact that I am just starting out in this modelling lark .... but I am a little sad that Bill is moving away from the etched brass kits. This is not a comment on the quality of the 3d printed offerings, just that there is something about producing a wagon from an etched sheet which I find satisfying. I know its not scratch building and someone else has worked out and produced the etches ... but never-the-less for me there is a real sense of reward on completion - I am not sure I will get the same kick from the 3d printed models.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Sat Oct 07, 2017 6:20 pm

Hi Tim,

I understand what you're saying. I do enjoy building etched kits and I have plenty to be going on with. It is nice however, just once in a while, to produce something just a little quicker. The finished article looks the part, which is the main thing. The kit has a simple etched sprung sub-frame, which sits between the solebars so there is some folding and soldering to be done, but, like the body, its a very quick and simple process.

I suspect that, as the 3D printing process becomes more and more sophisticated, we'll see more and more kits produced that way. But that doesn't stop us from building etched kits and feeling the satisfaction that comes from the finished article.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby billbedford » Sun Oct 08, 2017 8:49 am

I've just been checking my sales figures and i've found that, with two or three exceptions, the resin/printed wagon have out sold the etched ones by more that two to one. So the future direction of the business looks like a no-brainer.

The LNER Brake was cast in resin. I'm now working on another one that will be printed. To accommodate the process I have decided that this one will be broken down in to its constituent parts, (sides ends, floor roof etc.) and the modeller will have to assemble it.

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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Le Corbusier » Sun Oct 08, 2017 9:50 am

billbedford wrote:I've just been checking my sales figures and i've found that, with two or three exceptions, the resin/printed wagon have out sold the etched ones by more that two to one. So the future direction of the business looks like a no-brainer.

The LNER Brake was cast in resin. I'm now working on another one that will be printed. To accommodate the process I have decided that this one will be broken down in to its constituent parts, (sides ends, floor roof etc.) and the modeller will have to assemble it.


Bill,

I can believe it ... mine is just a personal sadness ... I looked at one of your resin wagons at scaleforum and was very impressed with it - I just like making things ;)
Tim Lee

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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Thu Aug 02, 2018 1:32 pm

Things have been quiet wagon wise of late. The only wagon I have built lately is one of Bill Bedford's Toad Es and a couple of photos are attached. It was a fairly simple build using Exactoscale wheels and parallel axles as per my usual specification. I had to use brass wire instead of some of the handrails supplied but that apart, the kit is as it comes.

IMGP0778.JPG


IMGP0780.JPG


John.
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Re: Goings on at the Norfolk Wagonarium

Postby Lord Colnago » Sat Dec 01, 2018 7:49 pm

Way back in April 2014, Colin Parks suggested an interesting method for weathering wagon chassis and it has taken me until now to get around to trying it! Colin suggested spraying the chassis in a track brown colour and then misting over that with a black once dry. the idea is to leave the base colour showing through in various places. I think I probably went a little too heavy on the black/grey that I used but it doesn't look too bad and I shall try not to be so heavy-handed next time. The first photo below shows the results. The wagon is a Bachmann body sitting on a Dave Bradwell chassis and is destined for the North Norfolk Area Group's North Elmham project.

LNE Van Bachmann Bradwell.jpg


The other wagon recently completed is yet another BR Van, Parkside Body and Rumney chassis.

Br Van Parkside Rumney.jpg


You may have noticed over the years, that I like to experiment with things. My current method of connecting vacuum pipes from wagon to wagon involves a long piece of elastic thread, permanently fixed into the end of one wagon, whilst the other end fits into a hole in the end of the adjacent one. The pipe coupling, up until now, has consisted of a narrow piece of masking tape wound around this "pipe" as a means of representing this. I have never been entirely happy with this and have come up with a better method of representing the hose couplings, which I will describe in the following photo sequence.

Vac pipe 6.jpg


This is the starting point. A pair of MJT hanging vacuum pipes.

Vac pipe 5.jpg


The first job is to take a 1mm. drill and carefully drill into the end of the pipe. When the drill gets past the cast coupling you will notice that the pipe bulges slightly, at which point, cut the coupling away from the rest of the pipe.

Vac pipe 4.jpg


Clean up the ends of the couplings, you might need to ream them out very slightly, and slide them onto the elastic thread.

Vac pipe 3.jpg


Now push them together in the centre of the length of pipe and superglue them in place. The whole assembly can now be fitted to your wagon. I tend to paint it after fitting as its a whole lot easier!

Vac pipe 2.jpg


I should have shown you what the finished article looks like on a wagon and there is one fitted to the BR Van shown above, but it may not be all that clear, for which apologies. Here however, is a single pipe made the same way, which I think looks a lot better than the original casting. I think that from now on I shall use this method, even though it takes a little longer. Thus far, I have only got the drilling out wrong on one pipe, so its not all that difficult to do but I do find it good fun to make up these little fancies.

My apologies for the size of the photos, I had to use my mobile phone to take them as my camera has taken to photographing black dogs on dark nights! Once its repaired I can get back to decent size photos. There may well be a method of re-sizing the ones above but, as any Committee member will tell you, technology and I don't get along.
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