Donegal Railcars 7 & 8

[David Holman]

 Followers of my Workshop thread will have seen I'm starting to build one of these railcars in 7mm scale.

 I've got some drawings and several photos, both in books and last year's Donegal Society calendar - as per the fine model above. One or two questions have arisen since I started making the basic shell of the model and any help with these will be most welcome:

• The area around the engine/bonnet always seems very dark in photos, so any info on both the front end and the lower edge of the bonnet will be useful
• Likewise the front pony truck and front coupling
• What colour were the seats?
• The fuel tank, which I think should be on the right hand side: is it round or square?
• The top picture shows an interesting cowl/cover linking the front of the body with the bonnet. Guess I'm probably going to represent this with filler, filed to shape, but what was it on the prototype? Tarpaulin, beaten metal, or something else?
• Precision Paints do the correct Donegal colours, but does anyone know of a good match car rattle can by any chance?
• What colours should I paint the driver?
• Are there any commercial transfers available for the Donegal in 7mm scale?

 Many thanks.

[airfixfan]

Will have a look through my archive in the morning to see how I help?

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, David Holman said:

 Followers of my Workshop thread will have seen I'm starting to build one of these railcars in 7mm scale.

 I've got some drawings and several photos, both in books and last year's Donegal Society calendar - as per the fine model above. One or two questions have arisen since I started making the basic shell of the model and any help with these will be most welcome:

• The area around the engine/bonnet always seems very dark in photos, so any info on both the front end and the lower edge of the bonnet will be useful
• Likewise the front pony truck and front coupling
• What colour were the seats?
• The fuel tank, which I think should be on the right hand side: is it round or square?
• The top picture shows an interesting cowl/cover linking the front of the body with the bonnet. Guess I'm probably going to represent this with filler, filed to shape, but what was it on the prototype? Tarpaulin, beaten metal, or something else?
• Precision Paints do the correct Donegal colours, but does anyone know of a good match car rattle can by any chance?
• What colours should I paint the driver?
• Are there any commercial transfers available for the Donegal in 7mm scale?

 Many thanks.

Upholstery in those was either a very dark navy blue or black. Driver's uniforms were also a very dark colour - probably black or very dark grey.

I'll have a look at the model tomorrow to see what shape the fuel tank is, and post pics.

[murrayec]

Here are a few photos of Fry's No.7

Eoin.

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, murrayec said:

Here are a few photos of Fry's No.7

Eoin.

Good stuff! That's saved me doing that tomorrow!

However - David - if there is any angle you WANT me to take a pic of, let me know as i will be in there anyway at some stage tomorrow.

 

[David Holman]

Thanks folks - useful to see how the pony truck connects to the front end, plus the lumps of lead there too. Square section fuel tank on the left, I see.

 There are anomalies in both the 0n16.5 drawings and the large scale set. The former has a much steeper ridge to the bonnet too (clearly not the case in photos), while the latter has the windscreen with a V profile.

 Fry's model looks like 'original' condition, with the big front overhang of the roof and no front coupler, or the sheeted/plated between body and bonnet front. What a stunning model though, especially for its day.

[jhb171achill]

5 hours ago, David Holman said:

Thanks folks - useful to see how the pony truck connects to the front end, plus the lumps of lead there too. Square section fuel tank on the left, I see.

 There are anomalies in both the 0n16.5 drawings and the large scale set. The former has a much steeper ridge to the bonnet too (clearly not the case in photos), while the latter has the windscreen with a V profile.

 Fry's model looks like 'original' condition, with the big front overhang of the roof and no front coupler, or the sheeted/plated between body and bonnet front. What a stunning model though, especially for its day.

I’ll actually have a look at the model today to check what year he made it, out of interest.

[Galteemore]

3 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

I’ll actually have a look at the model today to check what year he made it, out of interest.

Oct 1960 I think……

[jhb171achill]

47 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Oct 1960 I think……

There's a pencilled date of that on the underneath, but I am unsure if Fry wrote that or not. Generall he put his dates as painted-on "makers plates", with something like "C L F 11.42" on them ("11.42" meaning, for example, November 1942). Naturally, these cars didn't have such plates, of course, so the above is not an exact science!

[Andy Cundick]

The bulkhead would be steel bear in mind the bodies were built by coachbuilders so the same as on a period bus or lorry. the main visual change is that the luggage rack was cut back on No8 and the exhausts were redirected up the cab front. Colourwise i have always thought that original red was the same as Precision CDR Geranium red but post war it seems to take on a lighter hue possibly more like signal red.As for lettering in 4mm i use LTSR  crests and no ones noticed yet (same as on the Castlederg).Andy.

[David Holman]

Thanks folks and love the LTSR dodge, Andy!

Saw that pencilled in date on the underside - also that the model appears to be three rail, which I hadn't considered, but makes sense I suppose.

[jhb171achill]

30 minutes ago, Andy Cundick said:

The bulkhead would be steel bear in mind the bodies were built by coachbuilders so the same as on a period bus or lorry. the main visual change is that the luggage rack was cut back on No8 and the exhausts were redirected up the cab front. Colourwise i have always thought that original red was the same as Precision CDR Geranium red but post war it seems to take on a lighter hue possibly more like signal red.As for lettering in 4mm i use LTSR  crests and no ones noticed yet (same as on the Castlederg).Andy.

They did use a somewhat darker red initially - not a great deal darker, but a bit. A cherry red rather than British letter box red. The early railcars were a very dark purply-plum colour, later repainted red and cream, but this yoke was red and cream from new., as was its sister.

[Andy Cundick]

The original cars seemed to use the same plum as the coaches (makes sense)i used LNW Plum for both which seems about right.Andy