Rob P's Rolling Stock Workbench

As I mentioned on my 4mm work bench I built another gas tank wagon in 7mm - this one from the Dragon Models Celtic Connection kit for and NBR example.




















Edit for formatting

 

Ultimately, like most of my stock it got a good dose of weathering, a bit of the process that I thoroughly enjoy.















I enjoyed building this so much that I asked Chris Basten (The owner of Dragon Models until very recently) if he would supply me with a second kit but with an extra tank and fittings so that I can have a go at a 3 tank version. I will share the build of that when I get that far.

 

Thanks Pete,

I have built a few of the Dragon kits now (and I have a good few more in the pile) so I can recommend them. Not quite as easy to put together as Jim's kit's but not a long way behind and many of the Celtic Connection were designed by George Dawson who also designed Jim's Claymore range of Scottish Locos. George also designed the next build that I will share. The ex NBR Tender Truck.

I note that Toto has one of these on the back burner.

I started by making up a few sub assemblies and because the half etched rivet marks on my example were slightly over etched making it difficult to centre the rivet press I drilled them out and used brass pins as rivets.







I wasn't keen on the cast brake lever and lever guard so I replaced them with a mixture of scratch built and bought in parts - the lever guide is from a Bill Bedford etch available from Eileen's Emporium, the rest I made from scrap etch and brass bar.]

 

The next in the sequence of assembly was to start adding the sub assemblies to the whole.


















It being a shunters truck, I decided to add a shunters pole and mountings for it - A simple strap and hook made from scrap etch. I took the idea from similar that I have seen attached the the footplates of shunting locos in various photos.

 

The shunters poles, (I made 3 in the end) deserve a post of their own.
They are made from, a cocktail stick, some half etched nickel sheet and the pointed ends of the pins that I used as rivets in the sole bars and body work (I don't throw anything away







PS. am I the only one that has to edit every post to tidy up the formatting multiple times before it displays okay?

 

Thanks Pete,
It's all the little fiddly details that have me hooked on modelling.

 

Next I would like to share with you a tale of three tank wagons.

A few years ago my son bought me a Slaters 14 ton tank wagon for Christmas. He bought with it a set of transfers. Not knowing any better at the time I built the tank as an A Class tank and what a surprise the transfers were for a B Class tank.

For those who haven't built one the tank body comes in 3 parts the theory being that you stick them together to make a cylinder....
As the proverbial goes if you can do that you are a better man than me Gunga Din.



This is what it looked like - in a word awful. To be fair I can't fully blame Slaters, perhaps I could have done a better job of preparing the pieces before sticking them together but it was done at a time when my confidence and skills at working with plastic were virtually non existent.
So I took the easy way out (for me that is, I do appreciate that others might find that route much more daunting) I rolled another tank body and wrapper from brass sheet.



As an aside to this story I had heard about modellers using the ends of coke cans for tank ends so I had a go and made a second body.





More on that later...






















Having painted it I even got as far as buying some suitable transfers but ultimately this is where it ended up amongst my shelf queens while I plucked up the courage to use the rub down transfers on it.

 

Toto wrote:

They are but they have recently been taken over by one of Chris Basten's neighbours.
Taff Vale and Dragon Models

 

Toto wrote:

Pretty good, although I haven't built the 8 ton van I have built the Avery tool van with is very similar - I will post photos of it when I finish the current tale. It's also worth noting though that some of them come from other ranges which are quite old and the etches are quite crude compared to the ex majestic or Jim's wagons - the S&D Horsebox being one example (it's originally from Derek Mundy's MSE range) I still l have a Midland horsebox from the same range to build. I have build photos so when I get there you will see what I mean.

Probably not for you (since they didn't get beyond the 1930's), I have also built the L&Y 30 ton Bogie van which makes a nice model and although really too early for me as well, I have their GNOS bicycle van in the stash - which should be fun there are 224 lost wax castings in it.

 

paul_l wrote:

Sorry Paul
Thanks for the notes on formatting, I have tried pretty much all those options. I guess it just takes practice.

 

On to the next step in the saga of the three tanks.


I had long fancied one of the rectangular tar tanks and a friend had built a Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Tar Distillers example in Oxide red which meant numbering it as No 2 (the kit and transfers as provided are for No 9 which was a Black painted example).





Because I like to do such mad things I decided to replace the plastic moulding for the lid fastening with a scratch built brass version.




I used the really useful Brass masters 7mm axle jig to ensure that the axles were at the right distance and square to each other.




The same friend supplied me with all the bits to replace the brake ger in brass/nickel and so it got built.




I also scratched the pipe work underneath.

When I came to paint it and add the transfers I hit a major snag





To suit Slaters production methods they must have changed the length of the tank to suit standard underframe. At the same time they didn't alter the size/spacing of the transfers. When you lay out the transfers on the tank side they are too long for the tank and I ended up destroying the paint work trying to get them off to start again. A plea on the GOG site for spare Y&L transfers (as a potential swap for the Shell/BP or Walkers that I had spare) elicited a good few responses and quite a stock of transfers was gathered.
I repainted and had another go at adding the transfers and this was the result.








As an aside I commissioned Narrow Planet to make the plate on the sole bar from the transfer provided.

 

Fantastic Pete, I would have thought that it would have been on some sort of tank wagon. A Nice rescue job

 

Toto wrote:

I think so, I doubt that you will be disappointed.