David's Workbench

[Galteemore]

Fascinating to see you re-enacting the real history of the CVR stock David. Although your two CVR tank locos are probably nervously hoping you don’t take this historical fidelity  too far! 

[David Holman]

Certainly no scrapping allowed - though have wondered if (had they been in better condition), the Swilly might have been tempted to take them on?

 Not sure what purpose they would have had, but might have looked good in that lined, dark green they used.

[David Holman]

Measure twice, cut once, the old saying goes - to which I would add, Look, Look and Look Again. This is because, in checking out photos of Phoenix, noticed that I'd missed a couple of things on the Railcar and Unit, in particular the front buffer beam - or lack of it.

 Must admit, I had wondered about this especially whether it was painted a different same of red to the body. Well, how wrong can you be, because not only is the buffer beam much narrower than it was in Clogher Valley days, it is also black. So, out with the Dremel and a slitting disc to cut down the offending articles, then a coat of matt black and job done. The ladder to the roof rack on the railcar is in the wrong place & needs to be offset to one side, but that will have to wait, so don't tell anyone for now.

  Phoenix has proved to be another reason to study as many photos as possible. Cream upper body, red lower body and black under frames? Not quite. The window frames seem to be black, as is the beading above/below the red body work. This certainly helps lift the ugly duckling a little, though swan it ain't! The picture below gives some idea, though there is quite a way to go yet, in particular weathering. Some photos show it utterly filthy, but in others it is quite well turned out, so no decision yet.

 

[David Holman]

Two new posts on the same day? Don't know what the weather is doing over the water, but in this corner of Blighty, it is still April - windy, with hefty showers involving cats, dogs and donkeys. So, a bit of footy and cricket [thank you Australia], as background to some more modelling.

 Phoenix has taken quite a while to paint, because no sooner did I tidy up a bit of black then was noticing cream and/or red then needed attention. After that, it needed its name adding, along with the number plates.

 The latter, being Number 11, was readily made from bits of plastic sheet and strip. My Slater's plastic numbers fret has become rather brittle, so just as well only '1's are needed, followed by a red background then brass coloured paint for the raised bits. Lettering is from a set of transfers that have been lurking in a folder for many years. Unfortunately, each letter has a significant carrier film which can be seen in some lighting conditions. 

 Couplings and weathering are still missing & Phoenix got pretty filthy at times, so that is something I'll need to psyche myself up for.

 Something else that needed finishing off while the paints were out are two 'red vans'. These were ex Clogher vehicles, used with the Railcars. Mine are resin cast bodies I did several years ago, mated to Branchlines wagon chassis. Have fitted larger wheels, as per Donegal practice, because they initially didn't ride well on the CVR 2 foot ones, especially at the much higher speeds involved.

 Lettering is just white gel pen and again, couplings and weathering are yet to be applied. These vans only went up to number 23, so given my two have different strapping to ones seen in photos, have given them 24 and 25.

Edited June 16 by David Holman

[jhb171achill]

Mighty stuff indeed - as usual!

[David Holman]

Nearly six weeks since I last reported on model making & while have not been entirely idle, it has mostly been getting NPQ ready for Chatham, plus a week's holiday on the stunning island of Corsica - fabulous scenery, lovely weather, amazing railway and challenging, often scary roads.

 Anyway, the photo below shows things have not entirely been going well in the workshop. I could share some of the adjectives used over the last couple of days, but none are appropriate for polite society. It all revolves around the Swilly Barclay tank.

 While it looks ok, running is not all it should be, partly because I used a High Level coreless motor, which really doesn't like my Gaugemaster Hand held controller [feedback type]. In addition, the chassis isn't happy on some of the points on Fintonagh. This is because I made the frame spacers the same width as my Clogher stock, but the Barclay's six wheel frame needs more side play. So, replace the motor with an open frame type and then remove the frame spacers one at a time [to ensure the frames stayed properly aligned] and reduce their width by 1.5mm. Simple enough? Well, no...

Narrowing the chassis seems to have worked ok - everything still lines up, but having made a bit of a Horlicks with the Gibson driving wheels first time round, decided I'd replace them, along with the motor. I'd ordered a set of outside cranks with the wheels, but being 4mm scale, they are far too small, so decided to use the brass ones I'd made originally. This required a bit of work, as they were drilled for 2mm holes to go over Slater's wagon axles, but so far, so good with them going over full width 1/8th inch steel axles. Troubles really arose as I started to fit the cranks as the 12ba crankpin nuts didn't want to go back on their bolts, so I had to replace most of them, along with several nuts which disappeared into the ether. How Tullygrainy manages with 14ba ones I've no idea...

 Eventually got the chassis rolling again, only to find that the new motor is not only bigger, but sits at a 45 degree angle, requiring bits taken out of the chassis so that the body will sit properly. The latter is still tight, so more work needed there. That's as far as I've got, because for some reason, the cranks now foul the ends of the slide bars [didn't before!] and the conrods seem tight too. I don't give up easily, but am seriously thinking I might need to build a completely new chassis.

 A couple of other bits of work came from the need to fettle NPQ's track a bit more. Chatham showed there was still a bit of a ridge at the baseboard join - on the loop side - so rail was remove and new pieces fitted. Fingers crossed, stock now runs better over this section. The headshunt point has been eased a bit more, to keep the 0-6-4Ts happy, while the entry point to the loop needed the outer blade filing as Fermanagh's bogie was derailing for some reason. It was certainly very hot while setting up on the Friday, so it may be this was behind the problems.

 Off line lie in a darken room and seek solace with some falling down water.

[Tullygrainey]

Ah David, what a nightmare. I sympathise entirely. That's very demoralising. Why is it always the case that one reasonably small change has a major knock-on effect and causes a catalogue of other problems? There must be a rule somewhere governing it.

You did well narrowing the chassis without losing alignment. I hope you don't have to remake it. Probably the right, but also the hardest, thing to do now is to put the whole lot in a drawer for a week and then go back to it with a fresh eye.

Hang in there

Alan

[David Holman]

Thanks Alan. You may well be right!

[Galteemore]

Sounds dreadful David. Occasionally you hit a spot where nothing seems to go right and you find yourself wondering if cross stitch or crochet might be more rewarding - accompanied by dark thoughts of taking a hammer to the delicate brass framework in front of you. Alan’s right. Park it somewhere and go make a plasticard wagon or something completely non-loco related….

[Mike 84C]

Totally understand your problem David, I am also working with the same sort of problems but if I put the kit back in the box I fear it may never be finished  as "too hard". maybe that's why it was part built on a dealers stand!.  

[David Holman]

 Well, I don't often give up, but the Barclay 4-6-0T's chassis is beyond redemption and the only option is to make another one. After a couple of days away from it, I went back and made a list. Some things were redeemable, but not all.The former included:

• cutting back the bolt holding the boiler to the firebox to give the motor sufficient clearance
• Straightening the crank pins
• Strengthening the keeper plate
• Taking inspiration from Tullygrainy and others, I made myself a wheel quartering jig

 

Despite all the above [and the fact that it somehow worked before], I think I've 'over fettled it', to the point where there are too many issues with clearances, so its got to go. 

 Am going to use horn blocks on the new chassis, though still trying to decide whether to just use outside frames, rather than inner ones with dummy outers. Also need to think about fitting better mountings for the underhung dummy springs, so they can be removed to allow attention to the wheels and motion. Probably need to make new cranks too...

 All the above means new stuff needs ordering, so the loco will go on the shelf for a while while I have a go at something else. When you build pretty much everything for a layout, there's always plenty of options, but for now have simply tidied up the workbench, so I can make a new start once I've decided.

 Meanwhile copies of the photos Andrew Burnham took at the Chatham Show for Railway Modeller arrived this week, so have been putting the finishing touches to an article on Northport Quay. Probably not until next year, but it is alway nice to know you are having something published - and you get paid too! While writing the article, cheered myself up by looking back at the one I did for Arigna Town in the April 2015 Modeller & Andrew's photos for that really came out well. The new ones are good too. Nothing that hasn't been seen on this forum - the layout isn't that big after all - but good to see that the mixture of cool and warm white LEDs I use give nice, muted colours. Can't post them here -  Andrew uses a 25 megapixel camera so each file is way too big.

[Galteemore]

So sorry to hear that David, and thought I was having a bad day at the bench yesterday !! Don’t know why we do it to ourselves….but the result will be worth it. As you say, in the scratch building world there’s always another project to distract for a while….

[Tullygrainey]

That's a real shame David. It's always worth trying to rescue a project that's gone awry but sometimes a new start is the better option. Recognising that we've reached that point and accepting it is the hard bit. The new chassis will be all the better for the lessons learned, I'm sure.

Good to hear that NPQ will feature in a future RM. Look forward to that. In the meantime, the only way is up 

Alan

PS I like the quartering jig. I think I can see how it works.

Edited August 5 by Tullygrainey

[Mayner]

I had a similar experience to your Braclay with an EM saddle tank about 15 years ago and ended up having to replace both the driving wheels and coupling rods to salvage the loco. I 'overfettled' the rods and made them unusable in attempting to ease a 'tight spot' in the quartering and later realise that I could not achieve sufficient clearance between the coupling rods and slidebars/crosshead with the existing wheels & cranpins. 

The loco is a non-runner on 'static display' on its original wheels these days, while it waits its turn in the Workshop. My EM stuff is failry low priority in comparision with my Irish and American stock, the loco has been a 'slow burner" bought over 20 years ago before we migrated to New Zealand, a lot of the assembly carried out in Motel rooms during the American phase of our journey, I have had the replacement wheels and complete with a set of recessed crankpins in stock for about 5-6 years but haven't gotten around to completing the loco. 

Hopefully I'll will be able to find the parts when I eventually get round to completing the assembly of the loco!

[David Holman]

So, to a new project - and hopefully something simpler! On my list is Donegal Trailer No3, which will be running with recently converted CVR Railcar 10. Bought one of the Alphagraphix card kits for this a while ago & as ever, it makes a useful starting point for a scratch build.

 Began by making an outline drawing & then had a think about how to produce a chassis. I've still got a couple of Branchlines etched brass CVR wagon chassis kits & decided I could make one of these up & then slice it into three parts to create the 9' wheel base of the trailer. As per my other CVR wagons, I use Slater's top hat wagon bearings, drilled out to take axles made from 2mm brass wire, with 14mm wheels.

 The body is being built on a 2mm plasticard base with a 1mm inner frame on to which 0.5mm acrylic glazing is added for the windows, then 0.5mm plasticard outside that for the lower sides, creating the tumblehome in the process. After all the frustrations of the Barclay tank chassis, it was nice to get something new going in fairly quick time.

[Galteemore]

Excellent stuff. Be interested to see your method of replicating the vestibule - bound to be more sophisticated than mine  

[David Holman]

 Steady progress on the trailer this week. As well as the AlphaG kit, there is help in the form of three quarter views from opposite ends in two photo albums - one the Steve Flanders pictorial, the other Michael Bunch's Donegal Diary, part 1. Indeed, only recently realised that Trailer 3 was custom built as such & not a repurposed earlier railcar like some of the others.

 Much of the work has been fiddly, with 40, 60 & 80 by 20 micro strip for the glazing [inside and out] and some 10 by 20 for the lower panels. The seats have been made from 40 thou sheet, with three separate pieces for each. To help with painting, these were mounted on a separate inner floor. Painting the interior has been quite a challenge too. Used Humbrol brown and a very fine brush to do the glazing bars and doors.

 The pagoda style roof has caused much pondering. The AlphaG card kit provides one idea and may use this as a template to create a 20thou 'cover' to the under frame illustrated below. Alternatively, may cover everything with filler and then sand to shape.

[Andy Cundick]

Slight point David its actually Trailer 5 .Trailer 3 was the ex Blessington railcar. 5 was built in 1929 to work with the smaller railcars.The kit is in its 1938 rebuilt form when the frame was raised to enable to work with the steam stock in an emergency.The roof rack was removed in 1954.The trick with the roof is to laminate plasticard sheets in alternate black and white then file/sand to shape you can see how uniform the curves are by the lines formed by the different  colours.Andy

[David Holman]

Good stuff - many thanks, Andy. My time period is second half of the '40s so that works out fine.

[David Holman]

 My little project of Donegal trailer No5 is about complete, though the couplings still need buffing plates, lamp irons need adding and a bit of weathering wouldn't go amiss. Overall though, a nice, cathartic exercise after the frustrations of the Barclay chassis!

 

 The roof was finished by a combination of a 20thou 'skin' and some car body filler. The chassis took a bit more thought, especially when I realised the wagon etch I'd used needed cutting down, because the trailer has no sole bars as such, while brake gear is a case of bits and pieces cobbled together and hiding under a coat of matt black.

 Couplings are work in progress. Am experimenting with slimline tension locks, removing one of the hooks from each pair & adding a round buffing plate, so they look like narrow gauge 'choppers'. A piece of soft iron wire [paperclip] will be soldered to the dropper of the remaining hook, so an electromagnet can be used to lift this hook to uncouple.

 As can be seen below, the trailer will be used with Railcar 10. Photos indicate that, because the seats weren't reversible, both trailer and railcar were turned at the end of each journey, which will make for a nice set of moves on the layout - ideal when trains are short. Have made sure the trailer is free running, so Railcar 10 has no problems in hauling it.

 Meanwhile, pondering on a replacement chassis for the Barclay, have now taken delivery of a few items to help in the form of MJT horn blocks  and Slater's 7mm scale outside cranks. Decided my home made cranks were not up to standard, while the Slater's ones have the advantage of having square holes to sort out quartering. Still an issue though, because they don't do a 21mm gauge extended axle. However, am hoping I'll get round that by using their 7mm scale wagon axle, which has a 35mm central section an eight of an inch in diameter, with extensions each end of a smaller diameter.

 Rummaging in my box of brass tube, found some square section that nicely goes over the axle extensions and [with a bit of judicious filing] can be made into a good fit for the outside cranks. So, with a simple jig I can now have self quartering outside cranks and what's more Gibson driving wheels will fit nicely over the square section tube.

 So far, so good, though I'm still going to need to make new frames and coupling rods, for which I need to do a much better job than last time. Wish me luck!

[Galteemore]

That’s terrific work David -really looks at home! You’ve made a lovely job of what is actually a complex shape.

Edited August 14 by Galteemore

[Tullygrainey]

Wonderful stuff David! Trailer no. 5 has come out beautifully and in record time too! It looks perfect behind the railcar. 

[David Holman]

Barclay Chassis 2.0

Have been brooding a lot these last couple of weeks over my inability to get this chassis right, though I console myself with the fact that outside framed/outside cylinder chassis are far from common and there isn't a great deal of information around to help. Where there is, conventional wisdom seems to say do a conventional inside chassis & add dummy outside frames. Trouble here is that with the Barclay tanks having underslung springs, this makes getting wheels motor gears out rather difficult - hence my going along the keeper plate route.

 Was still thinking about that when I ordered some MJT horn blocks from Dart Castings, which use 14ba nuts to allow the bearings to be dropped out if required. However, in the end I decided this was not for me & have gone back to a more traditional approach. This was influenced by the drawings Roger Cromblehome [Alphagraphix] kindly sent me. Interestingly, these just use the outside frames & are therefore a much simpler affair than trying to build an inner and outer chassis, with horn blocks and compensation.

 I also made the drawing below, in order to establish clearances for wheels, motor/gearbox cranks, coupling rods and so on. As can be seen, there is plenty of room for the motor - though not if I'd used the MJT horn blocks, which are 4mm deep. High Level ones are much slimmer mind. Using washers will limit any side play on the centre, driven axle, but enable enough on the outer axles to cope with my 3' radius paintwork.

 The main problem with this approach is that wheels/motor/gears have to pretty much stay put, once fitted, plus working out when to prime and paint the chassis will also need careful thought.  The trade off is [hopefully] a much simpler chassis.

 So, back to basics - starting with the coupling rods, made from two strips of brass, soldered together, drilled for the 4'2/5'4 wheel base, then filed to shape.

 Next came the outside frames, done in the same way, but with significant use of a slitting disc in the Dremel. Crude, but effective and [for me anyway], much quicker than a piercing saw. I then made myself a simple jig to add a couple of frame spacers to one of side frames. The jig is just two pieces of L shaped aluminium angle, screwed at right angles to a piece of Contiboard. Hair clips hold the frame and spacer in place while they are soldered together.

 Once both spacers had been soldered to one frame, it was time to dig out my Poppy's Woodtech chassis jig. Mine is actually designed for 0 gauge, 3/16th inch axles, but by using two lots of brass tube over the 1/8th axles, still works well enough, as shown below.

 The three long pieces of 1/8th steel rod indicate everything looks parallel, so [fingers crossed], the rest should follow. You might just be able to see the brass top hat bushes in the frames. I've deliberately put these facing outwards & have filed them down so that the 29mm 1/8th inch section of each axle sits nicely within them - allowing the outside cranks to clear the frames.

 So, there we are, with the final picture showing the new frames sitting nicely under the Barclay's bodywork. Unlike the previous version, the cylinders, slide bars and motion brackets will all be part of the chassis, because fixing them to the footplate was not a good idea.

 That's it for a few days though as the Domestic Authority has decreed we need to do some decorating and as we all know this [like work] is the curse of the modelling classes...

[Tullygrainey]

That's coming together very nicely David. I've been poring over this since you posted it. Love to see the stages as structure emerges from plain sheets of metal and there's always something to learn from others' techniques. Your chassis looks suitably robust. A great start. Good luck with the rest of the build.

 

[David Holman]

Slow but steady progress on the Barclay chassis.

 The top spacers were put in next - the rear one containing the hole for the bolt fixing to the body, the front with the plate to which the bogie swivel post is attached. There is no front fixing as the front top spacer slots under a piece of L shaped channel to hold it in place.

 Next up was a small piece of L shaped brass on which sits the 8ba nut for the bolt for the bogie unit. The fiddliest bit [inevitably with the most rude words] involved fitting the cylinders, slide bars and motion brackets. For reasons I can't explain, these were fitted to the loco body originally, which made it a complete faff when adding the crossheads to the cylinders. Most of the bits were retained from the original effort though there were times when I wondered if I should have made new ones! I did end up making new slide bars and was initially concerned that I could neither find, nor buy any brass strip of the right size. The local model shop came to the rescue with some small section U channel, into which I soldered some 0.8mm nickel silver wire which then plugged into the cylinders. Hopefully, all seems to be in place & you can see where I've put in a bit of packing between the cylinders and the frames, which gives an all important bit of extra clearance for the cranks, rods & so on.

 I'd bought some MJT horn blocks, but decided against using them. However, the cosmetic etches have been soldered to the frames. They will largely be hidden once the cranks have been put on, but should given a reasonable impression.

 And so to a squirt of automotive primer. Whether this is too soon or not remains to be seen, but at some point soon, I need to fit wheels/motor/gears and eventually the outside cranks and rods. Once in, the former will pretty much have to stay that way, because I certainly don't want to be dismantling everything too often or any time soon, once fitted.

 The chassis can be brush painted, while the wheels will be pretty much invisible - good job, as they have twice as many spokes as they should. Things like brake gear and the underslung dummy springs will be glued in place, as it is really not a good idea to get a hot soldering iron anywhere near the Gibson wheels. For now, I'll be waiting for the postman to send me a pack of 1/8th inch shim washers to pack the axles. The motor will drive on the centre axle, while the front and rear ones need bit of side play. Fingers crossed, once the wheels are in place I'll be able to get on with the cranks and rods. It would be rather nice if these worked nice and smoothly after all the hassle that went before, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Tullygrainey]

Fingers crossed for you here too for the next stage

[David Holman]

 Still waiting for a new pack of 1/8" shim washers, but in the meantime, realised I could set up the cranks and axles for easy quartering.

 As already mentioned, Slaters wagon axles are 1/8" diameter, with 1.8mm extensions. Their 7mm scale locomotive cranks, though plastic, have square section brass centres, so how to square off the ends of the wagon axles? In my box of metal sections, I found some 2.4mm square section brass tube, which has enough meat on it to enable the inside to be drilled out to 1.8mm diameter. Hence the square section tube can be slid on to the axle ends, to be glued in place via a simple jig to ensure the square ends line up - thereby enabling the cranks to be quartered.

 Slightly unfortunately, the inside section of the cranks is about 2.2mm square, so the new ends of the axles need a bit of filing down to make them a nice snug fit. However, once done, it was then possible to fit the cranks to the axles. The crank pins are 12ba bolts, over which brass top hat bearings go & the coupling rods then slide on to this, held in place with a nut and washer.

 Initially, the coupling rods were a bit tight & I also found the cranks were catching on the ends of the slide bars. However, a bit of gentle reaming soon eased the crankpin holes, so with the slidebars cut back a little, I soon had what should be a nice rolling chassis.

 The outside frames mean there is plenty of room to fit the motor gearbox, though it will undoubtedly be fiddly threading axles through washers, gears and wheels, so not there yet!

 

[Tullygrainey]

Ingenious solution David. And proof that round pins in square holes can be made to work! Excellent stuff!

[David Holman]

Well, as the photo shows below the chassis remains far from plain sailing, with half the contents of the tool box in use. However, not a disaster either - more a case of being as methodical as possible, carefully investigating each stage, although a couple of self inflicted errors certainly didn't help.

 Error number one [despite the best laid plans] was discovered when I came to fit the wheels and found two of the frame spacers weren't in the right place! Fairly easily fixed, but annoying just the same. 

 I was expecting wheel fitting to be tricky and so it proved. I cut my modelling teeth on Romford Wheels [EM gauge] and Slaters [7mm], both of which have square ended axles with screw fitting. Gibson wheels [for me anyway] are another matter, being a force fit on the axle. Simple enough with inside frames, but outside ones mean threading the axle in first, then both the wheels & finally the frame on the other side. Though a tight fit to begin with, the wheels soon seem to become very loose on the axle and/or the rim. Add in the need to thread the centre axle through the gearbox and   a recipe for profanities is quickly brewing!

 Things weren't helped when I discovered that the square tube I'd added to the ends of the axles was working loose - negating all my efforts to make quartering simple. Salvation came when I remembered I'd got some Loctite 638 jointing compound. An innocent looking green liquid, it has been holding key areas of the inside motion in my Sligo Tank for several years now, despite being bathed in oil, so it is good stuff. The downside was needing to do more dismantling that I wanted, but that's chassis building for you.

 You may have noticed that the motor is now facing the other way - another round of dismantling...

  Finally got everything together & with the fixing nut on the main gear slackened was able to roll the chassis and check for clearances all round. Next came the connecting rods, which needed a fair bit of fettling before they ran smoothly. 

 Another complicated task was fitting the pickups and wiring everything up to the motor. Nominally, there ought to be plenty of space between the outside frames to do this, but in practice there is less room than you'd think & I've needed a lot more wires than usual too.

 Still, early this evening, after a brief trial with some fly leads on the bench, the chassis successfully ran under its own power around Fintonagh. Not quite mission accomplished, because there is still the bogie to fit, the conrods, along with brake gear and springs, plus painting and weathering. The paint on the bodywork needs attention too, but at long last I'm starting to feel more confident of getting there.

[Johnny B. Good]

On 28/1/2024 at 2:26 PM, David Holman said:

 Currently awaiting a few things to finish off the Barclay [eg crew, builder's plates] & don't want to do the weathering just yet either. However, have added some coal to the bunker, plus the ever present jack and toolbox on the front footplate. Therefore felt it worth posing the loco with my Swilly coach and wagon on Fintonagh, as shown below.

 This week, attention has turned to providing the rest of the mixed train that will go with the Barclay, along with trying to address the thorny topic of which couplings to use.

 Alphagraphix were able to supply me with the Swilly open wagon kit in the picture above, along with half a dozen Donegal 9' wagon chassis and a card kit of a Swilly 'large van'. However, Swilly wagons all seem to be on 8' wheel bases, so a bit of adapting has been required.

 Decided I wanted two large vans to go with the open [& brake coach], so as I've been doing for several years now, used the card kit as a basis for making body sides and ends from plastic sheet. For anyone who has never scratch built stock before, a van is a good place to start. The sides are just two rectangles; the ends the same, but with curved tops. I've used 40thou plastic sheet,  marked & then scribed to represent the planking. Wagon doors are two more rectangles done the same way, then the various different bits of strapping are made from 40x40/60/80 thou strip. The floor is a rectangle of 80thou sheet. The various stages are shown below., though only one side and end [of one van] has been done so far. The white metal chassis has had a scale foot cut from the middle and six inches from each end to fit the Swilly vans; brake gear is yet to be fitted.

 The question of which couplings to use has caused much head scratching over the last few weeks. Have been using Kadees on Fintonagh [ok, but not perfect] but the change to 2'7 wheels compared to the Clogher's 2' diameter have needed a change of plan. Tried 0 gauge Kadees, but they look too big and the in track uncoupling magnets are grabbing at the steel wheels. Did consider using Kadee S scale couplings, because size wise they look better, but the magnet problem remains, while they only seem available direct from the USA, with high postage costs...

 Plan B was to use Zamzoodleds, which are correct profile, narrow gauge 'chopper' couplings. However, these are currently not available, plus they are relatively expensive too. So to Plan C.

 Looking at the chopper couplings, it seemed to me that they are not a million miles from a bog standard 'tension lock', especially in slimline form. A bit of research on the web suggested that it should be possible to make them uncouple with electromagnets, while they are much cheaper than Kaydees or Zamzoodleds. Would have happily used Alex Jacksons, now I've got used to them, but these need standard buffers on all stock which don't exist on narrow gauge.

 Nevertheless the AJ concept helps, because, by soldering a piece of steel wire [paper clip] to the hinged coupling hook, facing backwards into the wagon chassis, this can then be acted on by a below track electro-magnet [Dingham type from the Gauge 0 Guild], enabling remote uncoupling. A basic set up is shown below. Still work in progress, but the principle seems ok.

  A further issue with all types of 'hook and bar' type couplings is that they are 'handed' with a hook and loop one end and just a loop at the other. When your layout has both a loco turntable and a turntable fiddle yard, this really causes problems as you soon find you have two hooks [or two loops], face to face. However, have now managed to solve this, as if you have just loops at each end of all locos, then all that is needed is a 'barrier wagon', with hooks at both ends, for those times when two loops are facing each other.

 To go through an entire sequence, would take far too long to explain, but over 3-4 sequences the Barclay, with the two vans I'm building, plus the open wagon [which will have hooks at both ends] can arrive, swap one van/wagon with one from a siding, turn the engine and depart. No doubt it will give operators [me included] a bit of brain ache, but with just these vehicles to worry about, shouldn't be too complex. Hopefully. The other Swilly train I want to build will just involve one of the Kerr Stuart pacific tanks and two coaches, so hooks at each end of these and just loop on the loco is all that is needed.

 Cunning plan, Baldrick...

 Also have to mention the small matter of Ipswich 1, Maidstone United 2.  The Stones are  4 leagues and 96 places below Ipswich in the football pyramid, but despite the latter have 38 shots on target to Maidstone's two,  my local team prevailed and are now through to the 5th round of the FA Cup!

Magic.

 

Hi David,

I hope you don’t mind me asking but I read your posts and always learn something new. So your models here are in O scale right? So if I wanted to try scratch building a van similar to yours but in OO scale, would you recommend I still use the 40 and 80 thousand plastic sheet (that’s like 1mm and 2mm?) and then the 40x40/60/80 thou strips? Or should I be using something a different size? I’ve been using Evergreen because it’s easy to find over here. And I probably do use the same size, but I hate hate hate buying the wrong thing when all I had to do was ask someone first to get the right thing!!!!!! Lol

Thank you,

John

[David Holman]

No problem John, always happy to help.

For 4mm scale you should be fine with 40 thou for bodywork, because the smaller size reduces the problem of warping. Depending on the prototype, microstrip for strapping will be smaller in section because 80 thou equates to six inches in 4mm scale - likely to be too wide/thick - so check your drawings.

 Have always used Evergreen strip, but it gets ever more expensive and my local model shops don't seem to sell it, which is a shame. Slater's Plasticard still do a limited range with more strips in a pack for less than Evergreen, like 50-100 instead of 10. Their 80x20 is particularly good value.

 Solvents can cause problems with thinner plasticard, so if you can get it , D-Lemonine is more gentle option.

[David Holman]

 At long last, the Barclay tank is about where I want it to be. The chassis continued to put up a fight, but with a day at home while we had a plumber in to move a couple of radiators, an opportunity to do lots of fettling meant I got things there or thereabouts.

 The bogie has needed a piece of brass strip to provide a bit of downward pressure on the front end & it ran even better where I removed a large piece of crud from one of the flanges. Dummy springs and brake gear largely completed the job - though couplings still need adding.

 After all the work on the chassis, paintwork on the body needed serious attention, so after a clean up and a respray in matt black, I sent off for some lining and lettering from Fox Transfers. These duly arrived the very next day and while the lettering [Londonderry and Burtonport Extension Railway No2] was simple enough, the lining was a real trial of patience. Swilly loco lining seems to vary on every loco over the years, so while I'm not going to claim any fidelity for No2 during my chosen period of the later 1940s, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it either.

 Then thought long and hard about the weathering, because Swilly locos were generally well kept, but looking at colour photos, it is clear that paintwork wasn't always in ex works condition either, so it was back to Martyn Welch's excellent book The Art of Weathering for ideas.

 The under frames were the standard mix of Humbrol Gunmetal, leather and black - plus a dusting of weathering powders. Areas like outside cranks and cylinders were picked out in Metalcote gunmetal [2004].

 Being too lazy to set up the airbrush for what was going to be little more than a couple of light passes, I instead used the stippling technique. Metalcote gunmetal, gloss tan and roof dirt [mixed 2:1:1] was lightly brush painted over the whole body, apart from the smokebox. The trick then is to use a 'flattie' brush to stipple the paint, all over until it dries, which then gives a nice, fairly even, covering. You have to do small sections at a time, but for me it works quite well. The finishing touch, once the paint has hardened overnight, is to polish the surface using cotton buds, fingers, cloth or whatever seems appropriate. This give a nice sheen and the loco, while work stained, still looks well cared for. The smokebox gets the same treatment, but with ordinary gunmetal.

 So, there we are - it's been a long haul, with a completely new chassis and probably three different paint jobs, but I'm really pleased with the way it has turned out. Indeed, while it is all still fresh, I probably ought to have a go at the Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T, but something different [and less stressful] may well be appropriate before that.

 I've rather indulged on the photos, but, after all the effort, it is nice to see a model that has finally turned out ok.

 

[Galteemore]

Fabulous work David. Long and winding road to get there, as it often is, but this is a terrific end result. 

[Tullygrainey]

At last, reward for all your effort David. That is a brilliant model. Totally convincing rendition of a hard working engine. The weathering is perfectly judged and thank you for the details of how you did it. 

[jhb171achill]

3 hours ago, David Holman said:

 At long last, the Barclay tank is about where I want it to be. The chassis continued to put up a fight, but with a day at home while we had a plumber in to move a couple of radiators, an opportunity to do lots of fettling meant I got things there or thereabouts.

 The bogie has needed a piece of brass strip to provide a bit of downward pressure on the front end & it ran even better where I removed a large piece of crud from one of the flanges. Dummy springs and brake gear largely completed the job - though couplings still need adding.

 After all the work on the chassis, paintwork on the body needed serious attention, so after a clean up and a respray in matt black, I sent off for some lining and lettering from Fox Transfers. These duly arrived the very next day and while the lettering [Londonderry and Burtonport Extension Railway No2] was simple enough, the lining was a real trial of patience. Swilly loco lining seems to vary on every loco over the years, so while I'm not going to claim any fidelity for No2 during my chosen period of the later 1940s, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it either.

 Then thought long and hard about the weathering, because Swilly locos were generally well kept, but looking at colour photos, it is clear that paintwork wasn't always in ex works condition either, so it was back to Martyn Welch's excellent book The Art of Weathering for ideas.

 The under frames were the standard mix of Humbrol Gunmetal, leather and black - plus a dusting of weathering powders. Areas like outside cranks and cylinders were picked out in Metalcote gunmetal [2004].

 Being too lazy to set up the airbrush for what was going to be little more than a couple of light passes, I instead used the stippling technique. Metalcote gunmetal, gloss tan and roof dirt [mixed 2:1:1] was lightly brush painted over the whole body, apart from the smokebox. The trick then is to use a 'flattie' brush to stipple the paint, all over until it dries, which then gives a nice, fairly even, covering. You have to do small sections at a time, but for me it works quite well. The finishing touch, once the paint has hardened overnight, is to polish the surface using cotton buds, fingers, cloth or whatever seems appropriate. This give a nice sheen and the loco, while work stained, still looks well cared for. The smokebox gets the same treatment, but with ordinary gunmetal.

 So, there we are - it's been a long haul, with a completely new chassis and probably three different paint jobs, but I'm really pleased with the way it has turned out. Indeed, while it is all still fresh, I probably ought to have a go at the Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T, but something different [and less stressful] may well be appropriate before that.

 I've rather indulged on the photos, but, after all the effort, it is nice to see a model that has finally turned out ok.

 

Wow - I certainly wouldn't say this has turned out "OK" - "outstanding", though - certainly! Yet again, very well done indeed. Very nice prototype, in my opinion one of the most well-proportioned narrow gauge locos ever to run here.