Dane's Workbench

[meathdane]

Not a mind-blowing conversion but a start! A heavy bash of the weathering stick and I have a (semi) passable rake of CIE wagons. I have to say I'm very impressed with the Railtec transfers! 

Next up is a K class conversion from the Bachmann Southern N class!

Edited March 7, 2022 by meathdane

[meathdane]

I've been continuing on with my conversions, and my largest one to date is ticking along, while not impressive to some of the master craftspeople here, it's my first foray into locomotive conversions. This is the progress on my N class conversion. 

 

Number 211 "Patsy" . Named for my late grandfather Patsy, and numbered for his birthday (21/1). Custom brass nameplates and running number have been attached to show this.

 

More work definitely required, including but not limited to, coal and crew, lamps, weathering the other side, apply decals and painting the buffer beams, but I'm happy with. Hopefully some day in the future I might sent him away to get a smoke generator, directional lighting and DCC to bring him more up to date.

 

The progress so far with the exception of a snapped cab side, but it's been somewhat repaired and will remain under the story of the engine being repaired after an incident with the repair scar there to prove it. 

 

After I'm finished Patsy, I'll be moving onto 255 "Daisy" so they can be reunited again in another form.

 

Thanks all!

Dane

[murphaph]

Looks really well. Enjoying your posts

[meathdane]

1 hour ago, murphaph said:

Looks really well. Enjoying your posts

Thanks a million! Really appreciate it

[meathdane]

Another quick update.

 

Patsy is more or less complete, I've applied the varnish, which has dulled the brown weathering, so I'll need to have a look at that, as well as painting the bufferbeams red, still more work to be done!

 

Seen here alongside my retired Y class locomotive

[Rob]

Looks great progress- well done!!

[jhb171achill]

Love the prototypical weathering!

[meathdane]

5 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Love the prototypical weathering!

 

9 hours ago, Rob said:

Looks great progress- well done!!

Many thanks lads! High praise coming from yourselves!

[meathdane]

OfFirst scratch built building underway, a small shed for a shunting engine

still have detailing to do on it, need to add a vent for steam and diesel fumes, some gutter work, downpipes, windows and a other bits before painting

It's going to sit on a foundation on the layout so I don't need cutouts for the rails in the door. 

Quite enjoying this scratch building stuff, first attempt at it and I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying it! 

 

 

[meathdane]

I'm on a roll this week! Making use of some time off to finally get to the wonderful Bullied Corrugated opens supplied by  @leslie10646 at provincial wagons.

 

As a first time wagon builder, these kits proved to be an absolute dream to cut my teeth on, and produced some absolutely amazing wagons! However I've just noticed I put one set of brake shoes on the wrong way around..... Oops must fix that! But past user error I cannot recommend them enough and I'd urge anyone to go ahead and order yourself some!

 

Just waiting on some Kadees and they can enter service as my first true pieces of Irish rolling stock!

 

Thanks again Leslie!

[leslie10646]

Hi Dane

Looking very good. Excellent for a first go and nicely weathered.

Leslie

(PS the money's in a brown envelope - thanks for the plug - I think they're a great wagon and worth the effort)

[meathdane]

30 minutes ago, leslie10646 said:

Hi Dane

Looking very good. Excellent for a first go and nicely weathered.

Leslie

(PS the money's in a brown envelope - thanks for the plug - I think they're a great wagon and worth the effort)

Thanks Leslie! Much appreciated!

 

The envelope will be return to sender for more kits soon. They've given me the bug for wagon building! Because I them I've actually built some tanker wagons I've had sitting in the pile for 2 years, so thank you for that!

[meathdane]

Another day another wagon awaiting Kadees, a Dapol Class B tanker wagon ready for service, 4 to go! Weathering hasn't been fixed in yet, not 100% happy with it, and not decided on Decals, most pictures I've seen have them plain black with just a running number or in their original Esso livery, I may paint them in both fashions

Im starting to build up a fleet of unfitted wagons as seen behind a suspiciously clean A15. Could also do with a layout underneath them....

I need to get on to Leslie after next payday for a few H Vans to compliment the appropriated ex-SE vans and a 20' flat as a barrier wagon

[David Holman]

Fictitious sources of traffic for model railways have included treacle mines and even a factory that produced the holes for toothbrush handles, but seems there is also a large ketchup refinery in Ireland that I didn't know about!

[meathdane]

55 minutes ago, David Holman said:

Fictitious sources of traffic for model railways have included treacle mines and even a factory that produced the holes for toothbrush handles, but seems there is also a large ketchup refinery in Ireland that I didn't know about!

Someone has to supply the country with their breakfast condiment of choice!

[Galteemore]

 

[leslie10646]

16 hours ago, meathdane said:

 

I need to get on to Leslie after next payday for a few H Vans to compliment the appropriated ex-SE vans and a 20' flat as a barrier wagon

 

 

 

They're here ready when you are .......

A pleasure to help a master builder!

[David Holman]

9 hours ago, Galteemore said:

 

I do like a good fitted freight!

[Galteemore]

With all the sausages, eggs, milk and bacon on that train, I wouldn’t be fitting into anything afterwards !

Edited March 15, 2022 by Galteemore

[meathdane]

How could you have breakfast without oil to cook it with? And how could I have an oil train without a safety lamp?

Temporarily wired for a systems check until the bridge rectifiers arrive, might add a stay alive capacitor in the line yet. Weight needed to be added as the kit is very light and causing an occasional pickup issue, as well as helping to offset the resistance from the wipers, should have gone with the axle spring pickups in hindsight

[meathdane]

Slowly starting to build up the fleet with these wonderful kits from @leslie10646, unfortunately I've lost my current workstation until the garage area becomes fully available.

(naturally enough I must have removed a load bearing piece of rubbish as the roof has sprang a leak) 

But I can content myself with looking at the pictures for the next few weeks until I'm finally in a position to get cracking!

[jhb171achill]

EXCELLENT kits! I've yet more on order.........

On 15/3/2022 at 6:47 PM, David Holman said:

I do like a good fitted freight!

I love those 6-wheel fish vans....... what's that 6w chassis like?

 

[Galteemore]

Those ones are N gauge JHB, so not sure how much use to you !

 

[jhb171achill]

4 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Those ones are N gauge JHB, so not sure how much use to you !

 

Got that - just wondering what possibilities for N gauge 6-wheel coaches!

[Galteemore]

29 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Got that - just wondering what possibilities for N gauge 6-wheel coaches!

N Gauge Society did a Stove R which had a pretty good little 6w chassis. https://www.ngsjoin.com/stove-r-6-wheeled-brake-van-864-p.asp

[jhb171achill]

13 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

N Gauge Society did a Stove R which had a pretty good little 6w chassis. https://www.ngsjoin.com/stove-r-6-wheeled-brake-van-864-p.asp

Nice little yoke, indeed. Often thought of a small BR blue shunting layout, maybe of a parcels depot with an 08. Been looking at pictures of the quite bewildering array of BR blue parcels vans ever since!

[leslie10646]

Looking forward to seeing those wagons in traffic.

Dane, if I didn't put in builder's plates for the 1953 vans, remind me, please. I have new transfers of them in production.

As they say, plenty more of these kits available from me .......

[meathdane]

7 wagons ready for the paintshop! More of Leslie's wonderful wagons and bar some user error and complete cockup of a kit, some lovely kits to build! 

Just 4 more cattle vans to be assembled and my kit backlog will be cleared!

 

Thanks,

Dane

[meathdane]

With the poor weather about, figured it was worth finishing up on my bridge build,

 

Wanted it to represent an older branchline bridge with a more modern girder bridge to allow for the mainline constructed after the original branch. I don't think it turned out too badly consider I'm relatively new to scratch building. Painting up next and I'll wait till its in position to add the road surface so there's no visible gaps in the scenery

[meathdane]

Time for a new project! 

I've long considered how far you can take the old Hornby pocket rockets. I decided I'm going to try and see, learn some new skills and bring my first "Irish" locomotive back to life. The victim is going to be my old Hornby 040 from the Irish Freight set. 

I have purchased a 5 pole motor that should work (in a perfect World), I may have a look into the feasibility of a small flywheel, going to order a DCC chip + stay alive and, change to Kadee couplings, I'm going to consider adding in a lights depending on how busy the internals become. On top of all that I am going to try my hand at detailing it. 

But my main concern first are the wheels, they seem out of true and gauge. The metal bands seem to be coming off the wheel inserts so they'll have to come off, so if I have to sort them out, while the wheel is off and axle out, I'll upgrade the drive gear to a metal one and install metal bearings too because, well, why not? I want to take this as far as it can possibly go! 

And for all those who are thinking why not just buy a new chassis and stick a chip in it, I absolutely can, and may just go down that route if I mess this up, but I want to try and see what I can accomplish with it, and see if I can make something that runs better than it did before. 

So I do have a handful of questions, 

Looking for recommendations to find some Irish-y detailing parts,

Lamp irons + lamps

Buffers 

Hooks

Sandboxs

Shunting tools

Whistle

Handrails + standoffs 

Smoke box handle

 

Mechanical wise

Worm drives

gear

Bearings

Or recommendations of a new gearbox I could try and install

 

Looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks and any recommendations! 

Thanks all! 

Dane

 

[Galteemore]

First thing to think about is - what is the very nearest Irish loco it looks like? Or look at a company eg MGWR or GSWR and identify the ‘house style’. Key thing here is probably the cab, which would be a nice little plasticard exercise. Add a bunker while you’re at it. Chimney off a Dean Goods or similar will give a GSR look. NE or GC locos in UK had a door wheel, just like Irish locos, so you may find a 3d printer who can knock some of that stuff up for you. Many Irish locos had heavily riveted smoke boxes, so do look at sorting that. 
 

In terms of chassis, an ideal opportunity to make your own, with some simple suspension. Not that hard to do and will give you immense satisfaction 

Edited Monday at 11:08 by Galteemore

[meathdane]

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

First thing to think about is - what is the very nearest Irish loco it looks like? Or look at a company eg MGWR or GSWR and identify the ‘house style’. Key thing here is probably the cab, which would be a nice little plasticard exercise. Add a bunker while you’re at it. Chimney off a Dean Goods or similar will give a GSR look. NE or GC locos in UK had a door wheel, just like Irish locos, so you may find a 3d printer who can knock some of that stuff up for you. Many Irish locos had heavily riveted smoke boxes, so do look at sorting that. 
 

In terms of chassis, an ideal opportunity to make your own, with some simple suspension. Not that hard to do and will give you immense satisfaction 

Some great stuff on there as always Galtee, i did forget to mention I am going to enclose the cab and build a bunker, old one has been lost to time, but like you said, great practice for plasticard! 

As for the rest of the body, part of me does want to keep it looking as Hornby 040 as possible, kind of an ode to where many of us likely started, the other half of me wants to go off and do exactly as you suggest. I contemplated moving the dome further forward, not unlike ones seen on J15s. I do need to look into the chimney, at the very least it needs a new top (plasticard practice again? I am going to more or less sand the surface smooth and look into riveting it up myself, and that would include the smoke box. 

 

As for the chassis, I get where you're coming from, part of the exercise is to try and get the current chassis running as close as I can get to perfection, and as I said in the original post, realise the potential of the Hornby chassis. The other part of this equation is I don't think I have the experience or tools to build a chassis, I have been watching other build and my skills at soldering are not there yet, I am looking into building a couple of smaller brass kits before taking on and potentially ruining an expensive loco kit. If I was to build something, I'd love to try a Bandon tank kit for Bantry. I'd much prefer to put in that kind of effort to build something more prototypical

I think in this instance modifying something existing is easier for my purpose, tools and experience

[Galteemore]

59 minutes ago, meathdane said:

Some great stuff on there as always Galtee, i did forget to mention I am going to enclose the cab and build a bunker, old one has been lost to time, but like you said, great practice for plasticard! 

As for the rest of the body, part of me does want to keep it looking as Hornby 040 as possible, kind of an ode to where many of us likely started, the other half of me wants to go off and do exactly as you suggest. I contemplated moving the dome further forward, not unlike ones seen on J15s. I do need to look into the chimney, at the very least it needs a new top (plasticard practice again? I am going to more or less sand the surface smooth and look into riveting it up myself, and that would include the smoke box. 

 

As for the chassis, I get where you're coming from, part of the exercise is to try and get the current chassis running as close as I can get to perfection, and as I said in the original post, realise the potential of the Hornby chassis. The other part of this equation is I don't think I have the experience or tools to build a chassis, I have been watching other build and my skills at soldering are not there yet, I am looking into building a couple of smaller brass kits before taking on and potentially ruining an expensive loco kit. If I was to build something, I'd love to try a Bandon tank kit for Bantry. I'd much prefer to put in that kind of effort to build something more prototypical

I think in this instance modifying something existing is easier for my purpose, tools and experience

Great plan and fair enough! Prob lots of top tips on RMWeb on the chassis. It’s not implausible to suggest that 101, which never actually left Swindon in reality, was regauged and  transferred to Rosslare as part of the GW’s pre WW1 commitment to cross channel traffic. Come the GSR, the loco gets an Inchicore makeover….

Edited Monday at 13:31 by Galteemore

[Mol_PMB]

101 spent part of its life as an oil burner so it could deserve a white spot. 

[meathdane]

25 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Great plan and fair enough! Prob lots of top tips on RMWeb on the chassis. It’s not implausible to suggest that 101, which never actually left Swindon in reality, was regauged and  transferred to Rosslare as part of the GW’s pre WW1 commitment to cross channel traffic. Come the GSR, the loco gets an Inchicore makeover….

I was thinking along those lines, possibly a local distillery purchase, loaned to the GSR during busy period, company goes defunct/transitions to road haulage and the GSR purchases it and allocates it to Bantry and surrounding areas as a light mixed traffic/shunter

Arrives at Inchicore after transport, reboilered due to internal issues or The emergency causing oil rationing, hence the new chimney and dome, enclose the cab at the distillerys request and a handful of minor modifications, and we have the GSR 101S (Swindon) 

 

Not thinking too deeply or too worried about the history, this is just an exercise for the fun of it