Alan's Workbench

[Tullygrainey]

26 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Lovely work Alan. Almost looks like 6 separate etches to be cut off….suggests to me some kind of strapping to be located near each wheel set - possibly on solebars? A  careful study of prototype pics may reveal the answer….sadly I’m nowhere near my Coakham books.

Thanks David. I think you're right in saying it's a set of 6. I haven't been able to see anything corresponding to them in the photos I have or in DC's lovely drawings. The one side-on pic of this particular vehicle (in Coakham: Irish Broad Gauge Carriages, pg 81) is murky in the solebar area. They may end up residing in my 'spares' drawer 

[David Holman]

Life is complicated - which is why it is fun. Allegedly, anyway...

Like your thinking.

[Tullygrainey]

On 20/9/2023 at 1:26 PM, Galteemore said:

Almost looks like 6 separate etches to be cut off….suggests to me some kind of strapping to be located near each wheel set - possibly on solebars? A  careful study of prototype pics may reveal the answer….sadly I’m nowhere near my Coakham books.

Mystery solved. You were absolutely right David. Six bits of strapping for the bottom of the W irons.

Should've been soldered on before any folding up of the chassis and impossibly fiddly to attach now. The first one I attempted pinged off into a parallel universe somewhere and will not return. The rest have now been labelled 'not required on journey'.

[David Holman]

Scary stuff...

[Tullygrainey]

Verging on the impossible

[Horsetan]

7 hours ago, Tullygrainey said:

Mystery solved. You were absolutely right David. Six bits of strapping for the bottom of the W irons.

Should've been soldered on before any folding up of the chassis and impossibly fiddly to attach now. The first one I attempted pinged off into a parallel universe somewhere and will not return. The rest have now been labelled 'not required on journey'.

I wondering how the spring carrier behind the iron is supposed to run straight if there's no allowance in the iron itself for the bearing to run up and down.... Bill generally put in an oval hole so that the bearing could be guided. It looks like he forgot to design it in here.

[Tullygrainey]

39 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

I wondering how the spring carrier behind the iron is supposed to run straight if there's no allowance in the iron itself for the bearing to run up and down.... Bill generally put in an oval hole so that the bearing could be guided. It looks like he forgot to design it in here.

There are guides for the bearing carriers behind each W iron, just visible in this pic.
 

The BCDR practice of outside W irons possibly made this extra layer necessary. The irons are too far apart to retain a standard OO gauge pinpoint axle

Edited September 21, 2023 by Tullygrainey

[Tullygrainey]

A quick question which I hope someone can shed some light on. The coach I'm currently building is an Oldbury Brake Third, built around 1880; It has 6 compartments in total - 5 passenger compartments and one for the guard.

 

In all the photos I can find, only 3 torpedo vents seem to be visible on the roof. Is it possible that there were 3 on each side, alternating thus?

Cheers

Alan

[Angus]

Hi Alan, 

In some early third class carriages the compartment partitions were not full height. 

This enabled lighting and ventilation to be shared across compartments. The vent would therefore fall on the partition. 

That said, if they are torpedo vents on an 1880 carriage I would be fairly certain they were later additions. 

[Tullygrainey]

27 minutes ago, Angus said:

Hi Alan, 

In some early third class carriages the compartment partitions were not full height. 

This enabled lighting and ventilation to be shared across compartments. The vent would therefore fall on the partition. 

That said, if they are torpedo vents on an 1880 carriage I would be fairly certain they were later additions. 

That's very useful. Thank you Angus. The clearest photo I've seen was apparently taken in 1951 just before withdrawal,  so it would be reasonable to suppose that as you say, there might've been a few changes over the course of 70 odd years!

Regards

Alan

[Tullygrainey]

Progress on the BCDR coaches has been a bit sporadic lately. Having started out with etches only, I've now gathered castings for springs, buffers, vents, axle boxes and vacuum pipes from various sources. I've also started on the second coach, hoping to get both to the painting stage so they can be done together.

Having said that, a third one, a 5 compartment 3rd on order from Mousa Models, arrived sooner than expected, a nice surprise so it's in the queue now too. 

There's a lot of repetitive work in coach building which for sanity I tackle in short bursts. Each of the brake thirds has 12 door handles, 12 grab handles, 14 drop lights, 14 ventilation panels ...  you get the picture. All belong in the 'little things sent to try us' category.

This is the current state of play with the second kit. The 12 torpedo vents are white metal castings from Alan Gibson(4M722) and the 6 lamp vents are improvised from 10BA brass washers and cheesehead bolts with the slots filled with solder. Four of these are trimmed off flush on the underside of the roof and two screw into captive nuts in cross members to hold the roof in place.

Rattling along in 3rd class,

Alan

 

[David Holman]

Love the roof fixing idea! Will definitely be looked at for my Swilly coaches. 

[Tullygrainey]

More castings attached to the BCDR coaches. I've managed to vaporise white metal in the past, even with a temperature controlled soldering iron so I bottled out and epoxied them on.

MJT

2289: 6'6" Coach springs

2251A: L&Y Axleboxes

2308: 24" Coach/Wagon Buffers

A Gibson

4M600: Vacuum pipes (These are brass and were soldered)

 

The axleboxes were the best match I could find, going from prototype photos but they were too thick, front to back, to fit behind the lower step. The piercing saw came to the rescue and did a neat job of slimming them...

 

The spring units also needed slimmed a bit to allow them to slide into place so they were filed down on their backs using a cheap file, now clogged with white metal...

 

With the castings in place the steps could go on...

 

Beginning at last to resemble something you might've seen trundling down to Banllynahinch a while ago.

 

With all the handling, there's a fair bit of tarnish on that brass now which will need removing before any paint goes on. I use Barkeeper's Friend abrasive powder with an old toothbrush. That does a fairly good job of cleaning things up but I wondered if there was a better way.

I consulted the Googlesphere on the subject of cleaning brass and came across a recommendation for tomato sauce. (Really!) I tried it on a little bit of scrap tarnished brass and it worked remarkably well but I'm not sure about using it on a whole BCDR Brake Third. Getting the sauce out of all the crevices afterwards might be an even bigger problem and colour-wise, it's not close enough to Crimson Lake to leave it in place.

Keeping the sauce for my chips,

Alan

 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Lovely work Alan

[popeye]

They look great even without paint. 

[David Holman]

Fine work and handy to know where I might get whitemetal castings for a Swilly 6 wheel coach, albeit it a way down the road for now.

 I use stainless steel sink cleaner on brass and nickel. A brand called Shiney Sinks was recommended back in the day, but Cif or similar works well enough with an old toothbrush.

[Galteemore]

Nice work Alan. I use Sainsbury’s bathroom cleaner or Viakal. Spray on, scrub with an old toothbrush and rinse. 

[Tullygrainey]

More BCDR coach work. Group portrait in brass...

 

Nearly ready for paint 

Alan

 

 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Beautiful workmanship.

[Tullygrainey]

These private owner wagons saw service on the BCDR network, transporting coal landed at Dundrum, County Down. Provincial Models did a nice model of one.

(Photo: Demond Coakham)

 

As a distraction from soldering door handles onto BCDR coaches, I did some surgery on one of my Provincial EDSS opens, (Apologies Leslie. Look away now ) aiming to try and nudge the Dapol chassis a little closer to the appearance of the prototype. 

 

Starting point -  I'd already weathered it a while back.

 

Butchery. Not pretty...

 

but getting better...

 

An MJT wagon compensation etch provided the bits for outside W irons...

 

and bits from the spares box did the rest...

 

And now, back to coaching

Alan

 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Lovely work 

[Tullygrainey]

Back with the BCDR coaches. Primer coats...

 

first top coat...

 

second coat and some transfers.

Travelling third class again.

Alan

[KMCE]

Now, they look well.  Nicely done Sir.

[Flying Snail]

4 hours ago, Tullygrainey said:

Travelling third class again.

Alan

... first class modelling!

[Tullygrainey]

More little things sent to try us - glazing coach windows.

It would be nice if a single bit of acetate could be used to glaze a whole side but the internal bracing meant each window had to be glazed separately.  Took me two days to do three coaches. Unseemly language was used along with the Glue'n'Glaze. Still, it's done now.

 

The seats are back from the upholsterers too. Authentic BCDR 3rd class pattern, don't you know. Ready for fitting...

 

... and just as well. There's a motley bunch of passengers impatient to get going.

All aboard

Alan

 

[Patrick Davey]

Great to see these coming together so well Alan!  Fair play to you for the patience required for this!

[Galteemore]

If the passengers are that desperate at least the Clogherhead toilets are functioning. These are looking fabulous. 

[Patrick Davey]

Alan you have all the stock you need now to recreate Ballynahinch station!

[Tullygrainey]

1 hour ago, Patrick Davey said:

Alan you have all the stock you need now to recreate Ballynahinch station!

may need to repurpose the spare bedroom for that one Patrick!

[David Holman]

Fine models - coaches really are a trial of endurance!

[Dunluce Castle]

Great progress! Looking forward to seeing them together complete. 
 

Where did you get the figures from? They look the part too.

[Tullygrainey]

3 minutes ago, Dunluce Castle said:

Great progress! Looking forward to seeing them together complete. 
 

Where did you get the figures from? They look the part too.

Thanks Nelson. The figures are a mixture - Some whitemetal ones from Dart Castings (the Monty’s range) and some plastic ones from the Dapol (the old ex-Airfix) passenger set. Dart also do a whitemetal passenger set - a 14 figure job lot similar to the Monty’s range but of lesser quality and considerably cheaper. They’re in the mix as well. They’re pretty crude but since they’ll be tucked inside an unlit coach, they don’t need to be perfect

[Tullygrainey]

The BCDR Oldbury coaches are just about finished bar some minor tweaking.

All aboard. The roofs are detachable so that drunk passengers can be helped back to their seats if they fall over.

 

The bodywork should probably be lined out but I don't have that sort of courage.

 

A little bit of light weathering has helped blend body to chassis...

 

... and Diesel No.2 has something appropriate to haul at last.

 

Mind you, what it's doing at Loughan Quay is anyone's guess.

 

 

[Gabhal Luimnigh]

Beautiful work and lovely setting.

[Dunluce Castle]

Fantastic!!