Two coats of primer. Two coats of sleeper grime. It looks very light but it is a mucky rusty brown, honest! Cheer's, Pete.
These kits are the most detailed buffer stops around in my opinion, no doubt this one is destined to adorn your layout work in progress Thaxham
They are definitely a nice set of castings with very little cleaning up to do, plus they fit together well. I have two more to build but I need to crack on with the layout before then, plus repair my 3 way point, one of the switch blades has come adrift and I will need to replace the tie bar as the copper cladding has come off . Pete.
Oh dear Pete that is frustrating, I know with my C&L points I though I'd be clever and scratch build tiebars using their shoe connectors to the switch blades, what a fiddly and time consuming process. I used thin brass etch strip as the tie bar as I didn't like the copper clad which came with the kit, insulation was made by cutting and bending the tie bar into two L shapes and gluing together using a thin strip of plasticard as insulator. So far it works well.
York Paul and I were having a conversation about his wobbly wagon on Totos thread. So rather than post on there I thought it best to do a separate how to on my workshop thread. Anyway the gist of the conversation was I had the same problem a while ago and this is how I over came it. I built this wagon a long time ago as the price indicates. When I had finished and plonked it on the track it wobbled and when running over points it would derail. It came close to getting launched out of the window. Any way, I pulled the offending axle and wheel set out and cut the ends off the axle where they fit into the axle boxes. I then cut some 6mm x 0.5mm brass strip bent it into a c shape to fit over the axle between the wheels. After very careful measuring I then cut a short bit of round brass wire approx 1.5mm about 20/25mm long and soldered it to the brass strip. I also drilled and fitted some 1/8" axle bearings. Next up I found some approx 1/4" ABS square rod with a 1.5mm hole running through it and cut two short lenghts and slid them onto the brass wire each side of the rocker and glued them to the wagon base. The ABS plastic is a swine to glue as ordinary solvent doesn't touch it, at the time I did it I used a solvent I got from work, I cannot remember its name but I remember it was vicious. I think plumbers solvent works on it though. I haven't found any of the original rod but here is a bit of half round channel made of the same stuff. Now some close ups of the finished article. It's important to measure carefully before cutting and drilling so as not to finish with a wagon higher at one end than 'tother! I hope this has been of help and interest, it doesn't have to be a cure for a wobbly wagon on its own, it can be fitted as a compensation as its built. Cheer's, Pete.
Great thread Pete, I totally see how your compensation device works now and thanks for posting. The attractive thing here is that this can be made up from stuff out of the bits box... so its an attractive, simple and economical way of solving what otherwise has been an aggravating problem.
As I became a little flush lately I have splashed out on a few things for the workbench, first up a new airbrush compressor and two airbrushes that came with it. I have also been on Evilbay and invested in a couple of wagon kits and won a third on auction. Also on the workbench recently is a Slaters LNER O gauge brake van kit I bought off one of our members, it had been started and for whatever reason been dismantled again. I was very lucky to get it for a very good price so I didn't worry about any problems with the rebuild. One or two bits had gone astray but were easily scratch built, once painted no one will know. This is how far I'm at at the moment. Thats all for now. Cheer's, Pete.
Hi Pete, Lovely figures love your locomotive and your coach you are building well done. Regards, Gloria.
Hi Pete, Forgot to mention your buffer stops and your Guards Brake Van excellent stuff, Regards, Gloria.
Hi Pete, Looking at your builds, we are renovating a 7.25 4 seater carriage it was articulated but now it just a single carriage with 2 bogies each end.It was in green but have painted it in chocolate. Had to buy some steel angle to replace the original as it had to be turned around to fit and to make a derailing strip for safety reasons.Will try and post a photo when completed. Regards, Gloria.
Today I have mostly been assembling the brake rigging under the brake van I'm building, luckily I have one I built earlier to refer to as the instructions are lacking detail. Once the glue has dried I will have a go at the wheels and axles. Pete.
Pete with me being fairly new to the forum, I have just been reading and enjoying your workbench thread. You have a nice selection of kits and I’m looking forward to seeing the brake van develop.
Thanks Mark. There are several workbench threads on the forum and the idea is to hopefully encourage other members to step out of their comfort zone by showing how things can be done. I do like kit building but I am very slow though I usually get there in the end . Pete.
After a short delay I have extracted my digit and done some more work on my brake van, those of a nervous disposition may be affected by my butchery, however, I am a great advocate of the number 1 rule. I have fixed the "W" irons in place and fitted the bearings followed by the pre painted wheels and axles. I found the locating positions for the w irons a bit tight so I cut 1 part off, I suppose it would have been easier to shorten one end of the w iron but didn't think of that until I'd trimmed and fitted every thing. Anyway. Hit the wrong button, sorry. Then fixed the axle boxes and springs etc. I fitted the brake actuators and operating rods etc plus the sprung buffers. After drilling the holes in the solebars for the step hangers, I drilled and fitted the handrails and lamp irons. To help in getting the handrail lengths right I made a small jig, a piece of plasticard with holes to match the dimensions on the body, bent the brass wire on the jig and with just a couple of small adjustments the handrails fitted well. I didn't fit the step board hangers until almost the very last part of the build as I was afraid I might knock them about, I then gave the interior a lick of paint, first coat, before I do the glazing. And with the step hangers in place. This is as far as I've got today, the hangers are fixed using 5 minute epoxy, however it takes 24 hours to get full strength, at which time I will adjust them to fit the step boards. Thats all for now. Cheer's, Pete.
Nice brakevan built Pete that brake rigging is a bit of a fiddle to get right. Are you doing a BR version or an original LNER one mate and if so will it be a vac fitted example ?
It will be a BR version, I already have the LNER type. I am building it to go with the 16 ton minerals I got from Telford and yes it will be the vac version. Cheer's, Pete.
Nice builds Pete. A bit late now, but for the buffer stop you could used some thin double sided copper clad ( evil bay listing for 1.6mm thick Copper clad ) between the cross members and the frames to act as insulators - I know late as usual. Paul