2996 Victor

Sitting on an old crate, perhaps!

Superb!

Thanks, Alan, that's ingenious- I've got a few of those frets so I might have to give that a go! Cheers, Mark

Excellent - that's a fantastic result! How did you create the typical BCDR outside axle guards? Cheers, Mark

Maybe not as the door is X-braced! Slater's kits are back in production, their website is here bizarrely about twenty minutes down the road from me! The MR large cattle wagon might be cut-down-able, though! Interestingly, one Lot had roof doors!

I wonder if their MR box van has any milage in it for converting. Admittedly, it's an assymetrical design so you'd need two kits to splice together, but the heavy outside framing is in character. Just a thought!

I know what you mean! I used to be able to hand-letter quite passably but dimishing eyesight has, I suspect, put paid to that! Excellent use of the (Derby) Midland wagon kit - Slater's, I'm guessing - it really does look the part with the tarp. Cheers, Mark

Excellent work there, if I may say so - the wagons all look resplendent in their grey as does the carriage on its green. For lettering, are you going to use transfers or hand lettering? Cheers, Mark

Looking forward to seeing the results, Jonathan: you've beaten me to it as I've run out of my chosen shade of grey! Plus I haven't got any wheels yet..... Cheers, Mark

Fantastic work on the quayside inset track, David, and the harbour wall! Scribing in the stones is quite cathartic, but as you say best done in chunks Cheers, Mark

Thanks, Jonathan, I thought that would be the case but in all things, "ya never know!" particularly, as you say, when it was not uncommon among British companies - the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railways and the Cambrian Railways spring readily to mind. All the best, Mark

Oops! I'd forgotten that..... Thanks, Ken, that's great - I'll go with that. The Hurst Nelson wagon seems to have black-painted ironwork - would you say that was purely for photographic purposes? I've not come across any mention of it otherwise. Thanks again and best regards, Mark

Hi Ken, Credit where it's due!!! The models are superb. But a coat of paint certainly makes the details pop! Thanks for the suggestions for the buffers - I've fitted the short ones to the convertibles and they do look good. I've also given those two a coat of grey, although looking at your pic - great two-planker, by the way - I think it's a bit pale. My preferred era is 1905 give or take a few years either way, so I'd guess there's be a mix of DW&WR and D&SER lettering. How high do you reckon the lettering would be on the convertibles? Many thanks once again and best regards, Mark

The hernia surgery is healing up nicely, which has allowed me to make a little progress with the warehouses at the back of the layout, with the back halves added from 2mm mounting board to the end wing, and small extensions added to the back wing to bring the ridge tiles away from the backscene. I've done the same for Nos.4 and 5 Steampacket Terrace at last. Hopefully more soon! Cheers, Mark

I chose to have the wagons without buffers and source some myself as I wanted to fit sprung buffers. I've got a stack of MJT steel buffer heads and springs and some Bill Bedford/Mousa Models 3D-printed housings, some Midland, some GWR. Here you can see a set of Midland round-based housings sitting in the headstocks of one of the cattle wagons: Hmmmm, a bit short methinks! Comparing these buffer housings in the Ashbury Van with photos, definitely makes them look a bit short, so I've got some GWR carriage buffer housings on order to see how they look. Thinking a bit more about livery, Shepherd/Beesley barely touches on the subject of wagon livery saying only, "In later days wagons were painted slate grey with the company initials applied in large white letters". I presume this applies to both the DW&WR and D&SER eras? Any ideas? Thanks for looking in, Mark

Interesting. Three or four years ago I used DecalFix, bought specially, on some Cambrian Railways wagon transfers from the Welsh Railways Research Circle - it was a disaster. The transfers wouldn't adhere let alone conform to details. Not sure who the decals were printed by, though, but they responded far better to MicroSol. The DecalFix left a nasty sticky residue as well, and I haven't used it since! I do realise it's a case of what you get on best with! Cheers, Mark

Thanks, chaps! The accolades need to go to Ken @KMCE really - he's the real craftsman! Cheers, Mark

Hi everyone! Welcome to my new Workbench thread which will be focusing on DW&WR/D&SER wagons. I was recently delighted to receive from @KMCE of this parish some of his rather excellent 3D-printed wagons, namely three cattle wagons, two convertibles, two opens and one Ashbury box van. The plan is that these will be 21mm gauge/P4 standards, with sprung buffers. I still haven't decided on couplings..... Ken has done a really superb job on these wagons, and if you haven't got any yet then I'd really recommend them. So, as a preliminary, they were all washed using fairy liquid and gently scrubbed with an old toothbrush, and then thoroughly rinsed off. The water was kept to a tepid temperature to avoid the risk of distortion. Here they are drying off: Nice, eh? Following this, most of them were treated to a couple of thin coats of my favoured primer/basecoat, which is Tamiya's AS-29 IJN Grey-Green in a rattle can. I think it makes an excellent base wood colour. Unfortunately, as you can see I should have bought two cans..... The eagle-eyed among you will notice I've already put the bars into the rearmost cattle wagon. Which brings me to: The bars in the cattle wagon are from 0.020" phosphor-bronze wire, and the printed-in holes needed just a little help with opening out: Following which, the PB wire bars could be inserted: The cut inner ends located nicely in the printed-in holes so they didn't need any work. Once all the wire bars were in place, a tiny dob of extra thin CA glue was used to secure them: And once the glue had cured, the excess wire was trimmed back with a set of side cutters, and then carefully filed flush with the wagon framing. Here is the set again, with the cattle wagons and the Ashbury Van (top right) having received their PB wire "bars". In the case of the latter, 0.015" wire was used. That's all for now. As soon as I can get buffer housings fitted, it'll be time for painting and lettering. The choice of shade of grey is, as always, perplexing in the extreme! Cheers, Mark

Splendid! Perhaps an interior light to show off your work, perhaps not too bright as would befit a gas mantle? Cheers Mark

Hi, Yes please, that would be incredibly helpful, thank you! I'll PM you my email address. Cheers, Mark

I'm actually quite relieved that it's not just me.....! I've also had some great stuff from Shapeways, notably Coastline Models Cambrian stuff, and several other suppliers. Our own KMCE's DSER wagons are superb. This is one approach I'm looking into. I've had a look at silhouette cutters and they certainly have some uses, although as I understand it they're not really suitable for materials over 1mm thickness. But the layering approach has a lot of mileage in it for elaborate coach panelling and even outside framed wagons. Cheers, Mark

Thanks - I'm aware of these, but I've had a few items from there and, while I don't like to berate a fellow modeller's efforts, I was really quite disappointed. Some wagon bodies were significantly in error when compared to known dimensions, and the print quality was rather poor. I recently ordered a couple more items but the print quality wasn't improved. Best regards, Mark

Brilliant, thank you!

Dear All, this is a tentative enquiry of my fellow modellers, and nothing may come of it. However, I'm thinking in terms of typical 6-wheel carriages and full brake, and 4-wheel goods wagons such as an open, a cattle, maybe a convertible, and a goods brake. I'm thinking primarily of 4mm/1ft scale with 21mm gauge, but of course if the designs prove feasible and can be scaled up or down, then that's something to consider as well. I'm considering the various options for making these, 3D-printing being an obvious candidate, but also laser-cut wood similar to the freight car kits from America from manufacturers like LaBelle, Bitter Creek and Leadville. All quite vague, I know, but at this stage I'd like to know if I'd be going it alone or if I might be over-whelmed with folks who could be interested. Let me know! Mark

Very effective! More, please! Cheers, Mark