Ben Alder's workbench

Discussion in 'Workshop Benches' started by Ben Alder, Apr 24, 2017.

  1. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    I thought I'd start a thread here to take a look at some of what I get up as I seem to spend more time making things I don't really need than actually playing with the layout. A particular weakness are plastic wagon kits, but we'll go into that another day - I thought I'd start by going over some detail work I did on the Hornby Black Fives. The major shortcoming with them was too much daylight between the front loco frames and a horrendous front bogie, caused by its need to go round train set curves. I cut back the front of the bogie and fitted Markit LMS bogie wheels, which improved it no end. The full option would be to replace the bogie with a Comet one, but what I did was sufficient for my eyes. I also fitted a guide wire to the front of the bogie, linking into a loop behind the buffer beam to help steer the bogie in to curves and stop the loco body going straight ahead while the wheels were going round the curve. This only works on fairly generous radii, but makes a big visual impact. As I did this some seven years ago, a lot of the pics I took have been scrubbed, but I'll take one or two to show what I did.

    Here are some with the frames being added. I bought a Brassmasters detail kit for this, but asI had five to do I used the brass kit asa template and made them from plasticard. The pics are self explanatory.

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    And one of a finished engine with all the work invisible, thus doing its job!

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    Something else I did was to fit cylinder ends - as it comes they have a cut out in them, once again for train set clearances - you can see it in some of the photos. Here is a view that shows them in place - it's one of these small extras that makes a big difference...the cut out under the smoke box is also visible - its one of these things that once realised just had to be sorted.

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    The tender with lifting lugs and a strip at the rear- the strip is hardly apparent when weathered but the lugs are.

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  2. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    It's great being to have the ability to see a fix for these things. :thumbs:

    Toto
     
  3. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Got me looking at my Black 5 under a different light :whatever:

    Another job for the to do list :avatar:

    Paul
     
  4. SMR CHRIS

    SMR CHRIS Staff Member Moderator

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    Nice work bench topic start the additions to the loco really make a diffence, like Paul next time I have my 5 out will be looking at it as the gap is some thing that has always looked wrong.
    :tophat::tophat::tophat:
     
  5. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    I took some more pics tonight that hopefully will show some of the bits I did and didn't have images for. Firstly, the guide wire for the bogie. It is fastened to the bogie near the front and is loosely fitted through the loop on the beam, allowing it vertical movement. This was an idea I read about in one of Iain Rices's books, BTW.

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    The replacement loco /tender connection - Tony Wrights option and you can get a close connection with this yet still manage fairly tight curves.

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    The tender with the extra lip removed -makes a big difference, and the plastic is soft and easily trimmed off with a scalpel.

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    I don't have a before pic, but here is a link to an image of an unmodified one.

    https://hattonsimages.blob.core.windows.net/products/r2895xs_2.jpg

    Lastly, a view of the add in strip under the cab side with a bit of cosmetic pipework added. Again a worthwhile piece of work if you are viewing the loco at eye level.

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    Edit - a couple more WIP pics turned up in another file.This one shows the unde rcab extras.

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    And the front bogie arrangement - I forgot to mention the springing I added to keep the bogie in contact with the track - it can be seen here redy to be glued in place.

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  6. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    A look at the LMS cattle wagon next. Generally, until the recent Hornby SR release, the cattle wagon has been very badly treated over the years. The most accurate example of any type RTR has been the venerable Airfix kit from the sixties, which with a bit of tidying up can be made most presentable. Every other offering, including the Oxford model has faults to a greater or lesser degree, usually falling on the greater side.

    Anyway, Parkside Dundas have excelled themselves again with a kit of an early LMS wagon, up to their usual standards and a treat to put together. Unfortunately it is a model of the earliest LMS build, heavily influenced by MR practice and very scarce on the ground post war, having been superceded by later designs, although I have a photo of one at Thurso in 1963, a date when most published sources say they were no longer around. It is of an unfitted version but with a bit of work can be made into a vacuum braked type that lasted longer. I'm not going to bore on about detail differences on these early ones too much, but the main differences were in the door pattern and strapping arrangements. If you are interested in such things you will know what I am going on about - its a wagon thing .....:lol:

    Here are two early types, the first without vacuum brakes but through pipes, hence the bauxite livery and the second with them and slightly different side strapping.[​IMG]

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    Cattle and sheep traffic was very important on the north lines and at sale times sidings were choked with these wagons, but by the time I am modelling these early ones were very much a minority so I took a good look at the kit to see if anything could be done with it. Later LMS wagons had a more modern look without the outside framing but were dimensionaly similar, so after some though I decided to alter some to the later diagram. In the end it turned almost into a scratch build rather than a kit conversion, but it has given me a fleet of late steam cattle wagons.

    Here is a finished late wagon - quite different from its 1920's cousin..actually a BR continuation build of the later LMS type.

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    I approached this by cutting out the doors from the kit sides and altering the bottom planking detail and trimming off the wooden vertical stanchions from the end. at the beginning I removed the same from the sides but as I was building a batch I realised that this was too much effort and managed to use the internal partitions, which had the same planking spacing as the sides as donors for the new bodies. The metal stanchions on these ones were a mix of right angle and L shape plastistrip and fitted underframes were bought from Parkside. I would add that on the fitted earlier version seen above I used the LMS J hangers springs glued on to the kit solebars.

    Some photos now showing the build.

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    This shows the initial stage of cutting out the doors and altering the bottom flap - most wagons had a smaller top door and larger drops. It would have been a lot easier if they had made this a kit option, but I suspect that the continual poaching of their kits by the Big Two has made them a bit less inclined to put too much detail into their latest releases.

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    This is at the start of the project, with a modified basic kit to make a second diagram build that was vacuum braked - different strapping and doors and Archers rivet transfers for bolt detail.

    I'll now show the what turned out to be a production line assembly of the later types of wagons. In the end I did about eight or so of them an soon realised that a batch approach was the only semi sane way of doing this. So, each component was tackled in turn, which actually worked out well, but this was the most of any one design I had done so many of at once, and was glad when it was over :thumbs:

    The ends need a bit of work - all the wooden fittings removed and angle iron added.

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    The doors at their early stages with an extra plank on the drop.

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    The replacement doors and the new planked sides were sort of jig assembled to make sure they were square.

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    And done.

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    A view of the assembly line with sides done and ends underway. As is my usual, I only decorate or finish one side of wagons and coaches as they are handed so only one is ever seen - saves time and money!, hence the blank plasticard door showing :giggle:

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    Couple of pics showing a later stage, basic body put together and strapping in place.

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    And with running gear - Romford wheels and brass wire cross pieces, along with reinforcing strips along the roofline. Before the roof is glued in a crosspiece of plasticard is added to stop any potential bowing of the sides.

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    Some rivet detail added - Archers transfers, which make this an easy job. Although any lack of them is invisible to the eye, it does show up via the digital lens so I put on the necessary minimum.

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    A semi finished one, undercoated in German Red Brown. There are so many surfaces on these wagons that brush painting would have been a nightmare so this was done as a primer and shading and tones were added later.

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    I don't seem to have kept any painting pictures, but here are one or two of finished wagons.

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    All in all, a satisfying build and it has given me what I wanted and to me is what I actually enjoy most, butchering hapless kits in to something to suit my own ends :cool:
     
  7. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Hi there Richard. How long does it take to complete a wagon ? A lot of fine work involved there.

    Toto
     
  8. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Thanks, this was an extreme example of wagon works- usually less is involved. This project took two or three months off and on ,with a break for other jobs and a hunt for the roofs that I had made the mistake of tidying up and forgetting where I had put them. A couple more photos came to light of the build, one of the body bracing.

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    You can just make out the square of lead on the floor for weighting. The other shows the Spratt and Winkle coupling in place along with sprung buffers to allow for close coupling. At the other end with the bar the buffers are rigid.

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    The finished wagons in their undercoats waiting for top coats and weathering - it all looks a bit garish at the moment but they toned down well enough. There are three Bachmann RTR's and an Airfix one amongst them.

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    A view of the chaos that is my work bench with a more normal wagon build under way. I make the body, leave overnight to harden then fix underframe and wheels and later add brakegear and buffers.and like to do these in batches of six to ten as it is as easy to do a number at once rather than one.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    House keeping note - I have added another two pics to the Black Five post before the cattle wagon one.
     
  10. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Hi there Richard. I like the springing idea. Keeping the bogies under that bit pressure should go a long way to preventing derailments. Great idea. :thumbs:

    Toto.
     
  11. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Latest off the bench has been a set of LMS vans. Strangely enough, despite being by far the largest of the pre war users of covered wagons, the LMS types are almost completly absent from the RTR ranges - those few that are around are very flawed, and even kits offer a limited choice. However, if willing to adapt things most types can be produced. I have been pottering away at this project for some time now and have now reached a stopping point , having made far too many.....

    Briefly, the LMS van went through three phases - an early one based on MR practice with a mix of wooden and all metal types - the thirties models that were the bulk of the fleet and post war developments with plywood as a side material. This is simplfying things a lot but gives the broad outline. Here is a shot of the three developments.

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    Early, late and middle.

    The bulk of the work was based on the Ratio kit, which is a good base to start on the many variants, although I did use the Dapol unpainted one as well, which although a BR wagon is a basically the LMS body with some minor alterations that can be retroed into an LMS version. This gives an acceptable layout model rather than an exact scale replica but does me.

    I'll show some of the assembly work first - the usual clutter that accompanies everything I seem to do.

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    This was later in the build - first things involved altering bodies as necessary.

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    An old Airfix- now Dapol- van getting its door planking changed to a vertical type. and below a Ratio side with the same treatment. The bottom van has had its end plating removed and plastic sheet scribed to make a wooden ended version.

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    Getting the first join right. I leave this till set and then assemble the floor and other sides and again leave for a day or so to fully dry. The Ratio parts go together accurately enough but it makes things easier with a solid structure to work from.

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    Some of the bodies more or less ready for primer with subtle differences.

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    Two wooden ended types, with different strapping. I used right angled plastic for the end stanchions and Archer transfer rivets as the lack of thm shows up on screen....

    A look now at some on their first running trials. a bit of tweaking of brakes and axlebearings was needed on a few, as is normal but they are all now in service.

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    This is an old Airfix body , more or less the standard version, but with eight shoe brakes as some got when vacuumed fitted either when built or during BR's upgrading of the wagon fleet in 1955.

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    One of the wooded ended vans also with roof vents. These were removed in a lot of vans along the way.

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    The Ratio kit as it came apart from the eight shoe brake.

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    Another wooden ended van on the left and one with vertical door planking on the right. Both have "traditional" brakes with a metal tiebar to reduce pressure on the axle boxes. This is a feature nearly always missing from RTR vans but is an essential part of the overall look of a wagon.

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    LH van standard while the RH one has no side strapping at all.

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    LH one is a straight LNER type built during the war for the LMS - the only difference being the abscence of the small end loading hatch that was a feature of the LNER vans. RH van has vertical body strapping bbut no diagonal ones.

    I could go on but unless this sort of thing rings your bell it is probably of little interest, but it does show some of the varities that existed in supposedly similar vehicles and makes, to my mind, for a far more interesting goods train than a string of all exactly the same out of the box ones. A final shot of them coming in for their photo session.

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  12. Ron

    Ron Full Member

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    Fascinating history and building Ben, thanks :tophat:
     
  13. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    It certainly shows some of the benefits of kit building, allowing easier customizing of the fleet, and as your photo shows, it does make a difference with the slight variations on each wagon, the more you look the more there is to find.

    :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

    Paul
     
  14. cmcan

    cmcan Full Member

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    Ben,

    You make it look easy and simple. :thumbs:

    Do you make or use any jigs when doing your conversions/alterations?

    Cameron
     
  15. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Nice to see the alterations being done. Great work.:thumbs:
     
  16. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    Superb work, and the finished train of vans looks great, definitely a POTW candidate. :thumbs:

    Cheer's, Pete.
     
  17. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    cmcan wrote:
    Thanks all. Working with wagons is fairly straightforward and a good intro to kitbashing. I never bother with jigs for this sort of thing as there is rarely much repitition involved with most wagons being individual cases. Coaches I do make use of a handrail bending jig - Bill Bedford makes one and is an essential part of a modellers bench - and depending on the job do occasionally make one up, but I generally just work from photos and use the eye as my guide - I'm not a scale modeller, more an impressionistic one and if it looks right that does me fine.

    There are a few strays still on the bench, some waiting wheels and a few unfitted wagons needeing a grey finish. This I find harder to do than brown - getting a worn and faded look is a lot more effort , and I have half a dozen to do that have accumulated, so now may be a good time to tackle them. I'll report back once they're done :twitch:
     
  18. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    I recently butchered a Hornby 700 into a passable CR 812 to give me a type of loco that ran on the FNL, so I'll show some pics that I took along the way. First stage was to strip the body of all fittings and remove the dome as well. The external piping that was part of the metal body was filed smooth and the firebox bulges were sawn and snapped off. On the first conversion I did a year or so ago I filed these off, but this caused a good bit of damage to the boiler and a lot of filling, so this time an easier approach was tried.
    First stages...

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    After the body had been seperated and the culling had been done the space where the dome had been was filled in with white Milliput, worked wet to get a smooth finish. It took a couple of applications and sanding to get it flush enough for my needs but was soon done. The first rub of acrylic filler can be seen on the firebox side - De Luxe Plastic Putty , highly recommended BTW.

    Things went together bit by bit - a plasticard winged smokebox front and a Caley Coaches thingy in front of it - the name escapes me for the mo, and a chimney and dome from the spares box. I know this irritates the starter cobbler but it is an essential for jobs like this; the result of strategic gathering over the years. It's a bit like the old Irish saw about not starting from here if you want to get to your destination, but snatch things up as you see them if your interests are backwaters like mine....

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    As an aside, this project started as a Bec 700, an ancient white metal kit, conversion, but memories of my original nightmare with the DJH offering and adolescent attempts at the same thing pushed me to the newer alternative. It can be seen in the background and the footplate here. It was consigned to a fellow modeller who is content with such things...

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    Coming together - the cab profile has been altered; plasticard and strip trimmed to shape; the old handrails reattached and steam heating and through braking pipes attached below the footplate. boiler bands were Evergreen strip and Archers rivet transfers used on the smoke box front. That is something that can't be bypassed - the digital camera notices their omission even though they are all but invisible to the eye...:whatever:

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    Tender detail - handrails steps and plates; uasually never seen but 57585 did a lot of passenger work, running tender first and I decided this couldn't be omitted. Plates are from a Comet etch and not loco correct, but who knows? Steps are poly strip.The tank fillers come from a cannibalised DJH kit, as do the tender underframe sides, almost the only salveagble parts from the kit, although I did use the boiler in a HR rebuilt Loch build; another story.....

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    Bit of a back step here - an early trial of the whole thing. the tender got areplacement T9 underframe as the axle spacings are different and the excess footplate in front of the smokebox was trimmed back after all conversion work was done.

    Lastly, a glimpse of the chaos I work in but with a few of the reference photos I found. 57585 turns out to have been well recorded compared to its Helmsdale sister, 87, and four good images have surfaced recently. Some can be seen here, along with the excellent booklet on the restoration of 828 and a couple of articles on building a trio from the Scalefour Society. I joined this, not because of any leanings that way, but they have an excellent quarterly magazine. and recently featured an article on the Caley Coaches kit. I'm more than wary of copying models, but this class was relatively homongenous and the write up had lots of useful detail shots.

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    Finishing of the loco was Games Workshop Chaos Black spray over Humbrol grey primer; two or three light coats of each; Klear applied on transfer surfaces, then Micro Sol to bed them down , and after dfrying off a spray of Army Painter matt varnish. Smokebox and footplate were given a mix of Lifecolor grubby blacks and it will all be toned down with the airbrush in the summer on a dry still day when the wife is not around as my spraybooth is the dining table and an open back door; plus copious newspaper protection, but I suspect it is better she is ignorant of this.....

    Lastly, a repeated shot of the finished article...

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    I did BR on one side and the early crest on the other as only one is visible at a time :giggle:BTW, note the extended cab roof shelter. This was probably a hangover from their original deployment north of Inverness as snowplough engines after the war, but it was obviously appreciated in the often harsh Caithness winds.....

    Edit - reading through it, I forgot to mention the strip along the bottom of the tender. This was a welded patch to stop leaks from corrosion and most ex CR survivors seem to have had this bodged job done latterly.
     
  19. Ben Alder

    Ben Alder Full Member

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    Just after I did all this Caley Coaches kindly released a set of Macintosh brass chimneys, one of which was suitable for the two engines I had done, so the existing ones were removed and sent back to the stores and the replacements fitted. A good improvement to my eye, I must say... Here they are in more or less as they came, and attached on the bench.

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    And in service...

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  20. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    What a fantastic project Richard. A very brave one at that. I like to see things being taken back to the raw like that and reborn in new glory.

    A great result. Thanks for sharing the rebuild.

    Toto.
     

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