David Holman

The Christmas period has traditionally been a productive time for me. Generally, there is little on TV [though Mrs Brown 's new year episode was eye wateringly funny, to me at least], the days are short, the weather miserable, so best to stay in and make things. Initially, got on with casting van sides - three sets of GNRI 9 tonners, plus two sets of what appear to be either SLNCR 'semis' or early Guinness vans. These were then made up into the relevant vehicles, using ABS castings for W irons, axles boxes, buffers etc. The GNRI vans have been sprayed with Halfords red/brown primer, to represent the fitted variety, while the two semis are in the usual Halford's grey. The weathering process will tone it all down eventually, while the lettering [on the GNRI vans at least] is hand done with a white gel pen. Thank goodness for a simple set up. One prezzy was a Classic Commercials kit of a 1939 Austin van. A more simple, boxy vehicle is hard to imagine, but the castings [whitemetal and resin] are superb. Takes a long time to build though, because you stick a couple bits together, then have to do a bit of painting, then add some more, paint some more and so on. At the moment, it is intended to be the delivery van of Keogh's Model Bakery, whose shop is just behind the station, but as yet am unsure what to do re lettering. Might try Letraset, or alternatively will create a full panel on the laptop and print it off on ordinary paper to stick to the sides. The rest of the time has been spent planning/fretting over the Railcar, though, as usual, once started things to flow, albeit not always smoothly. This week, received a formal invitation to exhibit Arigna Town at the Chatham Show in June. In some ways, the layout could go out now, but as mentioned before, there is still a lot to do to make it more presentable and interesting for the public. Nevertheless, all being well 14/15th June 2014 will see the layout's debut at the Medway Sports centre in Gillingham.

With 59 on the blighters to do, seemed a good idea to make a couple of masters and get the casting resin out again. The interior photo in Backtrack Magazine [1995], gives a good idea of the layout, with 11 rows of 3 + 2, then two more doubles by the rear driving cab. The pictures show the process. The masters are plastic sheet [2 layers of 80 thou for the squabs and 40thou for the backs], with 40x10 thou microstrip for the beading. As you can see, these were then stuck to another piece of sheet and a wall of more microstrip built around them. Silicon moulding material was mixed and poured into to this, then left overnight to set. Next day, it was a case of little and often with the casting resin. 2x half teaspoons worth [5ml in all], was all that was needed for each set of seats. This takes 45 mins to set properly, so it look the whole day to run off the 13 sets required. Next day, sat down with files and sandpaper to tidy up the castings, after which it was a case of fixing the two parts together with cyano. The seats are mounted on strips of 40thou and will be painted before fitting into the model. Progress on the latter has mainly been a case of research and planning. The sides will be built up in layers, so the glazing can be slid in after painting has been completed. The drive unit is causing a bit of head scratching, because the 3' dia wheels [yes, I know, slightly too big], have 1/8" axles, and Slaters to not do an extended version like they provide for 3/16" axles. Rang them up to see if they could do a couple of specials for me, but seems the process is all computer controlled machinery and a new bit of software would need writing, pushing the price for two axles to about 50 quid... So Plan B [for railcar B] is required. Currently favouring some brass tubing to act as a sleeve; will cut the axles in half and then araldite them either side of the tube. Eileen's Emporium do a 1/8 - 3/16th brass tube, which is ideal because that means I can use a standard gearbox. Ensuring the drivers can be quartered properly is the tricky bit. There are various solutions, so will let you know how I get on. Other pictures show how I do my planning - a drawing is the starting point, but pictures need scrutinising and I make a lot of notes and sketches as I go along, hopefully ensuring mistakes are kept to a minimum. Doesn't mean there won't be rather too many though - and a lot of rude words to with them. Life is complicated - that's why it is fun, allegedly. Apologies that the pictures are in the wrong order.

Many thanks once again chaps - your knowledge and advice is much appreciated. Have attached a photo of the picture in Backtrack showing the B's interior. Can't help thinking the main panelling & window surrounds look like dark wood [or same green as lower exterior], but photo is not dated, so no telling whether this was the case during its working life on the Sligo. Have been having a closer look with a magnifier at the colour pictures and still think the seats are either dark green or perhaps blue, while the inside of the driving cabs certainly appear brown. Oh for a time machine! Have been doing a bit of work on the model, so will add and update to that thread shortly.

Here's another tester for you and one of the main reasons why IRM is so helpful. Am compiling info for the SLNCR railcar B. Got the drawing, plus a range of photos, including the colour ones in Irish Traction & Irish Rly in Colour 1 & 2. However, would appreciate any info on the interior of the railcar, including: - colour of seats; in one pic they look green, but were backs same as upholstery? - interior paintwork; driver's cab looks brown, but was passenger compartment the same? - flooring; have my own photos of the Finn Valley's Walker railcar [grey], so could be the Sligo's was the same? - driving controls; any ideas? Forgot to record details above... Also, was there a door between the passenger saloon and the luggage compartment? Have a nice picture of the saloon from Backtrack Nov 1995,albeit in black and white, but has enabled me to master and cast the seats. Am hoping a few of you might have seen the Railcar in CIE days and/or Downpatrick, so fingers and toes are firmly crossed in anticipation.

That chassis is indeed curious & never noticed it before. Still beat me round the head and I get there eventually... See the bonnet has lots of louvres. Always a pain in the proverbial, as you can see from the bodge on my horsebox. Will be interested to know what ideas the rest of you have for these things. Are there suitable etches available for instance, or is it easy to portray them in 4mm scale?

Many thanks John & John - could well be old Guinness vans I am looking at. The Alpha kit is 15' over headstocks, so the resin castings I've made are close enough for either by the sound of it. The Sprinks album has pics of round roofed vans too. Richie - am afraid the vans you note in Fermanagh's railways are all the standard GNR type, apart from 84 on p 167, which is a SLNCR semi. On p92 there is an end shot of a rounded roof type, which may well be one of the Guinness vans John has mentioned; number looks to be in the 1xxx range. No side pics in any of my books though. Will wait and see if anything else comes out, but could go back to making them Sligo semis - a bit of masking tape on the roof should do the trick. New Years' resolution is to join the IRRS! Have probably said this before, but modellers of Irish Railways badly need a wagon reference book of the sort English railways seem to have for each post & pre-group company. Are there the resources out there for someone to produce/collate enough pictures, drawings etc?

A very fine piece of work indeed.

What a superb site. All those magazines to go through. Awesome!

If you do try liquid poly over the top coat, make sure that the undercoat has not only dried hard, but also polish it too (finger or cotton bud), to further harden the paint, otherwise the undercoat will craze as well and you will be back to bare pastic or metal.

Certainly does! I've got that book. Will check it out. Many thanks.

Wouldn't use cork sheet if it comes as a roll. Tis a devil of a job to get it flat. Cork floor tiles work really well though. At the moment they can be got from Wickes. A pack of 9 does a square metre. Very easy to cut and lay.

Here's one to test the historians. Am currently finishing off a couple of those low, rounded end vans. Obviously somewhat ancient, they still seem to crop up in photos, even in the 1950s - possibly rebuilds of the 'semi-covered' versions of even earlier. Cattle vans also seem to follow this pattern too. Anyway, though the Sligo had several [and running numbers are clear in photos], I can't find pics of GNRI/CIE of this type. As I'd prefer to model the latter [probably got enough Sligo wagons for now], does anyone know of any running numbers, and indeed, where the GN [or CIE] logos would have gone, please? Hopefully the picture below clarifies the wagons I mean. Mine are resin cast sides, which I did from my own masters. Very easy to do and worthwhile even for just 2 wagons. May eventually do more if I can get the numbers! There are 3 GN fitted vans behind, done in the same way. Will post more pics once they are weathered.

Thanks as ever for the positive comments. A couple of folk have emailed wondering about the fact that the box was green, whereas Sligo livery was a red/brown [where it hadn't peeled off]. Truth is I did it green cos the Alphagraphix card kit is that colour. However, managed to find a note in Desmond Coakham's Broad Gauge Carriages [p91] which has a pic showing the box at Manorhamilton in 1959, prior to the final auction and it was indeed green, though very tatty. Always grateful for constructive criticism - it is the path to ever more accurate modelling. Here is another picture of the box, which hopefully highlights the peeling/worn paint better.

Wasn't [isn't] the Isle of Sodor between England and Ireland? In some ways now a shame that Thomas & Friends are computerised - in the early series they were genuine Gauge 1 models. However, am sure your ideas will be much more credible!

Vey much agree with BosKonay on the merits of cork, but continue to use it nevertheless & it does, as he says, work well as the ballast shoulder. An alternative is to use some sort of light foam underlay. the type sold to go under wood/laminate flooring springs to mind, but you'd need to be building a big layout [or laying a floor] to make it worthwhile buying as it only comes in quite large rolls.

You've been busy - and well worth the effort too. Even in primer they look rather classy.

If you think about it 5-600 smackers is not really a lot for a hand crafted [as opposed to factory made] model. Was doing a buildings demo at an exhibition a few years ago & was asked by one bloke if I did commissions. Told him I was still working full time, but if he didn't mind waiting, a building like the one on show had taken me around 80 hours work. Minimum wage at the time was around £5 an hour, so that made it at least a £400 model. Add in materials and research time could easily add another 25%. Note that is minimum wage - so would hope I would have been worth a bit more than that. While operating a well known, entirely hand built layout a few years ago, we tried to estimate its value for insurance purposes. Built to museum standards, we guessed at around £30 an hour for such craftsmanship and gave up when we'd passed a quarter of a million...

Thanks - sounds like good advice. Think I will probably stick with 8' 6 wheelbase though, partly because of the proportions re slightly larger wheels and also because I've spent £14 on a set of profile milled connecting rods. The latter always a key starting point for me when starting a chassis - they go a long way towards eventual good running and con rods are a pain to make as well!

Wow, that looks a splendid model - and no doubting the parentage of the prototype either. Will add it to my files - it will be very useful. Many thanks.

A new year and a new project – an attempt to scratchbuild a model of the Sligo Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway’s Railcar B in 7mm scale, 36.75mm gauge. This afternoon, managed to make the trailing bogie – only a couple of hours work, but four or five times that in terms of thinking. As you can see from the photos, it is mainly made of plastic sheet: 60 thou for the bogie sides and 80 thou for the frame stretcher. The axle boxes are cut down ABS whitemetal of an early LSWR pattern. Decided on plastic partly to reduce weight, but also to speed up the process. Plastikard is so much easier to cut than sheet metal, though 10 thou nickel silver is easily cut with scissors. The tractor unit frames will be nickel silver though. The bogie is pictured on a print of the plans on our website. Have drawn myself a 7mm scale version, but this has highlighted a number of problems with the original plan. It may well be that printing it has skewed some of the dimensions, as the wheel base of both bogies measures as 8’ 6”, but the given dimension is 8’. Among other contradictions, it shows the overall length as 54’11” over buffers, but this is the length when all the panel lengths are added up. This does correspond to the drawing [220mm], but the overall width, a stated 9’6, measures as 9’ 9 on the drawing. It brings back memories of one of the first coaches I built. It was a 4mm scale LSWR brake third, done from plans in the old Model Railway Constructor which involved cutting out a 10 thou overlay for the panelling. Only when the model was nearly complete did I start to worry that it was looking too big. Checking the scale on the plan revealed it was actually about 4.7mm to the foot. Words such as the one which rhymes with what rowers put their oars in [and how suck is written in the King James bible] were vented with great fluidity, but the mark 2 version somehow got built in half the time… Anyway, as well as the above dimensions, the plan shows the driving wheels as 2’ 8 and the bogies as 2’ 4. Neither of these are readily available, so have gone for Slaters 3’ drivers and 2’6 wagon wheels for the bogie. Hence am thinking that, even if the wheelbase is only 8’, with proportionally larger wheels it should still look alright. That and the fact that the wheels are half hidden anyway. Nevertheless, measure [at least] twice and cut once, remains my motto – even if I don’t always remember to practice it. An early problem with the drivers is that they are one eighth inch axles. Slaters do a 34mm back to back in 3/16, but not 1/8. Am waiting to see if they will do a one off for me, but if not will use brass tube to sleeve the wider back to back and bore out the main gear accordingly – the latter for someone down the Club who knows how to use the lathe methinks. Otherwise, apart from ensuring the articulated trailer tracks properly, there is nothing I haven’t done before. Bodywork will mainly follow the examples of David Jenkinson in Carriage Modelling Made Easy, while I might well do a bit of resin casting for the seats. Exterior livery is well documented, but if anyone knows what the internal colour scheme was, I will be very interested. A case of watch this space – though am not expecting this to be a quick project.

Emery boards, new workshop files [old ones full of solder], which shows the missus did read my wish list. However, also got a the Classic Commercials kit of a 1939 Austin van in 7mm scale. She gave me this too - though in actuality I'd bought it myself at the Reading Trade Show. However, if you tastes are as specific as mine, it pays to be careful!

Here are some notes about my latest wagon for Arigna Town and the rather extensive weathering job I gave it. The model is of the Sligo Leitrim horsebox, actually a WLWR model, given to the SLNCR after their own was damaged in an accident. The Sligo’s van had been old, but the replacement was even older… As with much of my stock, it begins with an Alphagraphix card kit, though as usual it is only used as a drawing. Bodywork is a plastikard shell, embellished with Evergreen strip. Running gear is made from whitemetal castings, supplied by Alphagraphix, while wheels are the usual Slaters, opened out to 34mm back to back, to suit Irish broad gauge in 7mm scale. The first photos show the completed model in primer – Halford’s automotive spray can – which was then brush painted in overall grey brown acrylic [using artists colours], as I wanted to simulated bare wood showing through old, faded, peeling top coat. The Alphagraphix card kit shows the horsebox to be painted dark green, so next day a top coat of Humbrol dark matt green went on and this was then left to dry and harden for a couple of days. The next steps are largely copied from Martin Welch’s book ‘The Art of Weathering’ and involve using Humbrol Liquid Poly to partially dissolve the top coat and begin to expose the acrylic wood colour underneath. This is the clever bit, because we don’t want to put the base wood colour on top of the main coat – that is just not how it happens on the real thing… The next pictures show the effect of the Liquid Poly on the top coat. Suggest you use your computer to zoom in on the surface and see how it has become crazed and cracked. As before, this then needs to be left to harden for a couple of days before the next steps. Once hardened I then used a small flat screwdriver blade to scrape away at the crazed paint, exposing bare wood beneath. A glass fibre pencil was used in the same way to remove even more paint and therefore almost bare planks in places. Where metal strapping was exposed, this was later over painted with a mix of Humbrol grey, gunmetal and bauxite [64, 133, 53] – these colours also used on the underframe. The lettering went on before this – done by hand using a white gel pen, then a fine tipped orange marker on top. Again this got gentle treatment from the fibreglass pen to wear it down. All of this work not only scrapes the paint back, it also fades it to a lighter shade, as per real life. The final act was to give the whole model a thorough dusting with weathering powders [Freestone Models], including the roof, which had earlier been painted in Precision roof dirt. Still need to add door handles, but hopefully the model now looks as it would have at the end of its working life – dirty, faded and rather worn out.

Wonderful stuff - always look forward to seeing the latest postings. Have done outside Walschaerts and dummy inside Stephensons, but inside motion really does move it up a level, even in broad gauge.

As we know that one of our group was/is a postie, am now wondering who will admit to being the prototype for the model below? The models are whitemetal, from PLM Castaways. No painting instructions, but the Web is endlessly helpful [Google images of donkey carts worked well]. Nowt on the harness either, but again, the web has plenty of advice on how to harness your donkey, should that be your thing... Used single strands of fine wire, stripped out from multicore for the reins, but they are VERY basic and my levels of patience are very selective! Still have to decide what load to add. Turf one possibility, though this is a coal mining area. An thoughts on final detailing most welcome.

Now there's a thought. Thanks minister - will have a go.