Kingsbridge - workbench

[popeye]

That was quick.

I think that's a real one you have cut & pasted in. 

i must get some of those, they look great.

[flange lubricator]

Nice job on the wagon here one in Cork looks like the bottom half is in red oxide    

 

[Galteemore]

Lovely job Noel - they look absolutely fab!

[Edo]

Great Job Noel

 

[leslie10646]

5 hours ago, Noel said:

Finished for now. I missed a few spots on the chassis which will have to be revisited. A most enjoyable resin kit build once I figured out the brake gear. Wasn't sure which colour finish to go for, the all grey chassis, or the chassis that had once been bauxite red. Have to paint the buffers properly.

 

Now joining its recent companion a kit bashed Dapol donor

The bulleid corrugated open wagon was the most widely used wagon on Ireland railways for many decades and by far the greatest number of rolling stock on the railways here in Ireland. It was originally used as a general purpose open goods wagon carrying all manner of agricultural and construction merchandise as well and general purpose merchandise. Along with the GSR/CIE vans these at one time made up almost the entire stock of goods/freight wagons. In their latter days they were almost exclusively used to transport beet.

 

Thank you Leslie, I finally got around to building this kit. Almost two years after I first bought it.

Played a blinder there, Noel.

No-one has any excuse for not trying the kit of this iconic, ubiquitous Irish wagon.

Over 300 kits sold now - my best seller by a century or so. There are more upstairs for when anyone wants to have a go!

Between us, I didn't quite believe it when the first batch of kits arrived at "Pettigo Fair" with those staples, but you've got to hand it to Michael, it produces a very good representation of a very delicate brake gear set-up. Bet the Chinese couldn't do better!

Very well done Sir, even if the eyes are getting on a bit - they obviously work! And are well co-ordinated with your hands

Leslie

Edited April 27, 2020 by leslie10646

[jhb171achill]

4 hours ago, flange lubricator said:

Nice job on the wagon here one in Cork looks like the bottom half is in red oxide    

 

Yes, indeed it is, or brown paint. I only ever saw two with a brown chassis, though in both cases you'd have been forgiven for thinking it was just muck!

When new, they had galvanised bodies, which would never be painted ANY colour until they were "double-decked" in their final years for beet, when they got standard wain brown.

The chassis were originally the same normal grey as all wagons, and virtually all remained this way until the "doubling".

The above brown was probably done in the early 70s, by which time actual painting of these was in truth, an exceptionally rare event; and clearly a handful got a touch of brown on the chassis - but again, nothing on the body.

[Noel]

14 hours ago, flange lubricator said:

Nice job on the wagon here one in Cork looks like the bottom half is in red oxide    

 

Cheers @flange lubricator Oh one of my all time favourite photos in the universe.  An EMD 121 in Black'n'Tan livery and a beet wagon, with CIE B&T laminate coaches in the background. Sublime. This was the photo I used as a guide when decorating B121 model below. B123 looks magnificent. Not long now for the Murphy Models 121 locos to start arriving. 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Noel

[scahalane]

Excellent work Noel. Thought I'd add these, they clearly show the chassis at some point being red/brown, probably to protect against rust as they deteriorated in later life. I snapped these at the back of Cork Yard in 1989.

[Noel]

16 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

Played a blinder there, Noel.

No-one has any excuse for not trying the kit of this iconic, ubiquitous Irish wagon.

Over 300 kits sold now - my best seller by a century or so. There are more upstairs for when anyone wants to have a go!

Between us, I didn't quite believe it when the first batch of kits arrived at "Pettigo Fair" with those staples, but you've got to hand it to Michael, it produces a very good representation of a very delicate brake gear set-up. Bet the Chinese couldn't do better!

Very well done Sir, even if the eyes are getting on a bit - they obviously work! And are well co-ordinated with your hands

Leslie

You are very kind good sir. But it is you provide the essential raw materials, we just assemble and decorate them. I really enjoyed working on this kit after avoiding it for nearly two years. It was sitting on my top shelf saying build me, build me but I was scared off for no reason, as it proved to be a straight forward build in the end. Must order some more. Only tools needed were a craft knife, a few micro files, tweezers, pliers/wires cutters, and hand drill with a few drill bits 0.5mm, 0.8mm, 1mm and 1.5mm, a small screwdriver, super glue and paint. This model does not require an airbrush to finish, a halfords rattle spray can of plastic grey primer will do and the rest can be hand painted using various weathering powders and railmatch sleeper grime for the under frame and wheels. Looking forward to building the other 4 double beet wagons and I discovered last night another Provincial Wagons kit hiding in my cave, an ex-GSWR 20ton brake van. Happy Days. Keep safe everybody, stay at home, do not relax precautions, complacency now could roll back all the good progress. Build some kits, paint some trains, lay some track. Stimulates the mind, and serves enjoyable time.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Noel

[Noel]

Really looking forward to the postman delivering 5 more of these wonderful kits. Provincial Wagons double beet.

[Noel]

Next up, a provincial wagons ex-GWSR brake van kit

Goodies in the kit box

Resin de-flashed, filed and parts ready for assembly and drilling of holes for wire parts. Might prime some of the parts now as I'd prefer the interior to be grey.

This should keep me occupied for a while during the continued lock-down.  

[Galteemore]

Very nice Noel. Look forward to seeing it finished !

[Midland Man]

Nice amount of kit there. Some of those pieces o the brake van look quite fiddly. Cart wait to sea what happens to it

[Noel]

8 hours ago, Midland Man said:

Nice amount of kit there. Some of those pieces o the brake van look quite fiddly. Cart wait to sea what happens to it

Cheers. It'll be next week before I get into it. Yea some of the small wire fitted parts will be fiddly but I'm tooled up now to handle that so it won't be as tiresome as the first one I tried. Nice looking wagon kit and fits right into my era of loose coupled goods trains.

[Noel]

Some progress on the 10 ton ex-GSWR brake van. Lots of fiddly wire and brake shoes today, but I've finally figured out a way to do it quickly with the 0.5mm drill. Its ready for final assembly tomorrow. Having figured out how to do the brake shoes faster I should fly through the next batch of singe beet wagons. Spent nearly two hours just drilling all the holes for the 0.5mm wire grab rails, and brake gear.

Made a template to bend the grab rails to the right shape and size.

Had to tweak axle bearings with drill bit to get wheels to fit and run freely.  Wheels needed to be test fitted to check for free running and to position brakes.

Ready for final assembly tomorrow.

Last time I used a modellers bench vice to hold the shoes for drilling, but that took too long to set up, needle nose pliers held close with elastic band was much quicker and safer (ie no brake shoes flying off the bench into the carpet never to be found again). The hand drill is one of the most useful tools I ever got.

There were 8 of these brake shoes to fit to the chassis using 8mm wire segments

Good night.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Noel
typo

[Noel]

I hate super glue, prefer polly but doesn't work with resin. Temporary support beam to ensure gap and perpendicular. I made a boo-boo sticking the buffers on too soon (background in pic) which would come to bite me later.

Gave the roof a prime earlier in the day so it would be handleable tonight. I've never found any primer that comes out of an airbrush that is remotely as good as Halfords plastic grey primer rattle can. Tamiya, Rail Match, Vallejo none a patch on halfords.

[Midland Man]

Hey @Noel 

It looks outrageously good. I find this a real help to sea how to do something like building a kit before you do it.

MM

[Noel]

4 hours ago, Midland Man said:

Hey @Noel 

It looks outrageously good. I find this a real help to sea how to do something like building a kit before you do it.

MM

Heres a few more pics mid construction:

Fiddley wire bits added for brake stuff. Dapol NEM pockets screwed rather than glued in place, but screw lug was filed shorter to avoid infamous dapol coupling droop. I've learned a lot this past few days how to more rapidly and efficiently use 0.5m dill to fit wire parts.

Back to my childhood airfix days when elastic bands were often used to hold parts in place while glue set. In this case superglue as normal polly won't work with resin which is a real pain because I hate working with superglue.

Confession time. I fitted the buffers to the gable ends a few days ago before chassis had been fitted to the floor. The buffer lugs protruded in a lot so I machined out some of the chassis ends to it would fit. An example of haste costing more time. My own fault I'm a visual guy, dislike reading long text instructions, figure it out myself from looking at bits and photos or paint by numbers with diagrams suits me better. Anyway got it assembled.

Machined out part of the chassis ends so that the protruding buffer lugs would fit allowing the chassis to be pushed into the wagon body and floor. Mea culpa for not reading the instructions.

Had I followed the instructions and fitted these near the end, the chassis floor would have fitted snugly 1st time, and the holes drilled in the wagon gable end would have also gone into the chassis floor for the buffers.

The brake wheels just would not superglue bond to the spindles, so switched to bostix which worked.

Pleased with the grab rails and steps

Made sure the grey primer did the inside, don't want to see white resin through the veranda bulk head windows when its finished. Roof can go on after glazing the windows.

1st coat of primer. Shows up some flaws I need to tidy up tomorrow like buffer face flashing. If you zoom into this photo below you will see that the resin is heavily pitted (ie micro holes on surface). Will have to address that before decorating and before finishing.

Overall I enjoyed working on this kit, more to do to finish it and decorate it. Wheels painted with sleeper grime tonight. Nothing worse than a weathered model with shiny silver wheels underneath.

Roof was primed earlier this morning. IMHO, there is no airbrush applied primer that is remotely as good as Haldord's plastic grey primer rattle can. I've tried them all Tamiya, Rail Match, Vallejo, etc, not a patch on Halfords once used correctly. Great weather for outdoor spraying. Dries in seconds and no damp.

I bought this kit almost 2 years ago and it sat in a drawer waiting for a rainy day. It's been fun working on it and occupied time nicely.

[popeye]

That looks really nice.

I think those steps will be trouble on one piece of wire, two would stop them from turning and bending in.

[Noel]

The postman delivered a 5 pack of double beet wagon kits this morning. Happy days. These may keep me busy for the foreseeable future. Looking forward to getting stuck into these once the brake van is 100% finished.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Noel
Typo and OCD

[Noel]

13 hours ago, Noel said:

Heres a few more pics mid construction:

Fiddley wire bits added for brake stuff. Dapol NEM pockets screwed rather than glued in place, but screw lug was filed shorter to avoid infamous dapol coupling droop. I've learned a lot this past few days how to more rapidly and efficiently use 0.5m dill to fit wire parts.

Back to my childhood airfix days when elastic bands were often used to hold parts in place while glue set. In this case superglue as normal polly won't work with resin which is a real pain because I hate working with superglue.

Confession time. I fitted the buffers to the gable ends a few days ago before chassis had been fitted to the floor. The buffer lugs protruded in a lot so I machined out some of the chassis ends to it would fit. An example of haste costing more time. My own fault I'm a visual guy, dislike reading long text instructions, figure it out myself from looking at bits and photos or paint by numbers with diagrams suits me better. Anyway got it assembled.

Machined out part of the chassis ends so that the protruding buffer lugs would fit allowing the chassis to be pushed into the wagon body and floor. Mea culpa for not reading the instructions.

Had I followed the instructions and fitted these near the end, the chassis floor would have fitted snugly 1st time, and the holes drilled in the wagon gable end would have also gone into the chassis floor for the buffers.

The brake wheels just would not superglue bond to the spindles, so switched to bostix which worked.

Pleased with the grab rails and steps

Made sure the grey primer did the inside, don't want to see white resin through the veranda bulk head windows when its finished. Roof can go on after glazing the windows.

1st coat of primer. Shows up some flaws I need to tidy up tomorrow like buffer face flashing. If you zoom into this photo below you will see that the resin is heavily pitted (ie micro holes on surface). Will have to address that before decorating and before finishing.

Overall I enjoyed working on this kit, more to do to finish it and decorate it. Wheels painted with sleeper grime tonight. Nothing worse than a weathered model with shiny silver wheels underneath.

Roof was primed earlier this morning. IMHO, there is no airbrush applied primer that is remotely as good as Haldord's plastic grey primer rattle can. I've tried them all Tamiya, Rail Match, Vallejo, etc, not a patch on Halfords once used correctly. Great weather for outdoor spraying. Dries in seconds and no damp.

I bought this kit almost 2 years ago and it sat in a drawer waiting for a rainy day. It's been fun working on it and occupied time nicely.

There was no compo culture back in the 1930s so the steps may only be a problem if I run with 1980s or 1990s modern era trains.  

[Noel]

Kadee height checks out perfect against height gauge. Will leave coupling off the other end of the wagon and instead put on a 3 link coupling.

The underneath stuff - gubbins

Gloss varnish and decals next

Prior to decoration, test ran with another brake van I'd kit bashed from an ancient tri-ang hornby wagon. Don't worry @jhb171achill the black chassis is a temporary affair.

[jhb171achill]

Wow! A GSWR plough van as well! Superb stuff!

[leslie10646]

Great stuff, Noel. I usually ask my customers to confirm arrival of kits, but you've gone one better by posting them on line and e-mailing me, thanks.

Sorry about the woodworm in your 130 year old woodwork!

Likewise sorry the handbrake wheel proved a pain, but it's a really nice little detail.

Another Master Class in resin kit building, thanks.

Good old Halfords! Like you, I find my little "twist drill" invaluable - mine has been mainly used track-laying, mind.

I've been buying all sorts of tools, encouraged by Richard McLachlan and guess what? After years sitting in boxes, they are all proving useful now!

I wish you many years of happy running with the finished article - a lovely piece of archaic rolling stock!

Keep well.

Leslie

 

[Galteemore]

Nice work Noel. Spoked wheels set it off, too.

1 minute ago, leslie10646 said:

 

I've been buying all sorts of tools, encouraged by Richard McLachlan and guess what? After years sitting in boxes, they are all proving useful now!

Leslie

 

lol Leslie - Richard does the same trick on me with IRRS drawings!  

[Noel]

2 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

Great stuff, Noel. I usually ask my customers to confirm arrival of kits, but you've gone one better by posting them on line and e-mailing me, thanks.

Sorry about the woodworm in your 130 year old woodwork!

Likewise sorry the handbrake wheel proved a pain, but it's a really nice little detail.

Another Master Class in resin kit building, thanks.

Good old Halfords! Like you, I find my little "twist drill" invaluable - mine has been mainly used track-laying, mind.

I've been buying all sorts of tools, encouraged by Richard McLachlan and guess what? After years sitting in boxes, they are all proving useful now!

I wish you many years of happy running with the finished article - a lovely piece of archaic rolling stock!

Keep well.

Leslie

 

Thank you Leslie for a lovely kit, really enjoyed working on this, the brake wheel was my own lack of experience. It's an adorable little wagon that can straddle the era between steam and early diesel, between green flying snail coaches and black and tan laminates, and when grey ruled the rails before yellow was invented,  I've some catching up to do in the garden and then it will be back to finish this and the 5 double beets that arrived today. Keep safe and well. Hope the layout is going well. I only discovered three days ago the the chuck in my hand drill can reverse handling narrow or wider drill bits. Had it 3 years but only figured that out doing this wagon. 0.5mm is now my goto drill bit and ideal for the 121 grab rails too.

[leslie10646]

Noel remarked: I only discovered three days ago the the chuck in my hand drill can reverse handling narrow or wider drill bits. Had it 3 years but only figured that out doing this wagon. 0.5mm is now my goto drill bit and ideal for the 121 grab rails too.

That's mild, Noel - after twelve years I discovered that my Smart Car's tailgate had a keyhole and could be opened by turning the key! Previously I'd always used the wee button inside by the steering wheel. Unobservant, or what?

You can thank Michael for the kit - I simply suggest the things, find the info and then harry him until it appears. I'll whisper, too, that Glenderg of This Parish was a willing contributor of critical info for this van.

Edited May 5, 2020 by leslie10646

[Broithe]

19 minutes ago, leslie10646 said:

Noel remarked: I only discovered three days ago the the chuck in my hand drill can reverse handling narrow or wider drill bits. Had it 3 years but only figured that out doing this wagon. 0.5mm is now my goto drill bit and ideal for the 121 grab rails too.

That's mild, Noel - after twelve years I discovered that my Smart Car's tailgate had a keyhole and could be opened by turning the key! Previously I'd always used the wee button inside by the steering wheel. Unobservant, or what?

On a cycle ride within my 2km operational radius the other day, on a road I would rarely use in 'normal' times, I encountered two chaps I have known for about 25 years.

They were about 200 metres apart.

I could still see the first when I met the second.

This came as a great revelation to me as, for 25 years, I have believed them to be one person with a very poor recollection of our recent conversations.

[Noel]

Working on Leslie's lovely ex-GSWR brake van kit got me back doodling with these two kit bashes after lying dormant on the shelf for some time, one destined to be an ex-GSWR plough the other perhaps the same or another invented ex-GSWR some type of brake van. If a goods train doesn't have a brake van at the end, IMHO it's not a train, just a collection of rolling stock without end.  Donors were former Tri-ang Hornby soft plastic from about 1973. I would have played with these with my younger brothers.

Doodling with half finished kit bash projects is fun cause the time line is your own.

 

Jonathan ( @jhb171achill) I wish to assure you those black chassis will be a thing of the past once it comes to painting and decoration. There will be no yellow, not even the tea bags inside the cabin.

Edited May 6, 2020 by Noel

[jhb171achill]

17 minutes ago, Noel said:

Working on Leslie's lovely ex-GSWR brake van kit got me back doodling with these two kit bashes after lying dormant on the shelf for some time, one destined to be an ex-GSWR plough the other perhaps the same or another invented ex-GSWR some type of brake van. If a goods train doesn't have a brake van at the end, IMHO it's not a train, just a collection of rolling stock without end.  Donors were former Tri-ang Hornby soft plastic from about 1973. I would have played with these with my younger brothers.

Doodling with half finished kit bash projects is fun cause the time line is your own.

 

Jonathan ( @jhb171achill) I wish to assure you those black chassis will be a thing of the past once it comes to painting and decoration. There will be no yellow, not even the tea bags inside the cabin.

Looking good, Noel! They'll make a very nice plough van. There's one at Downpatrick - they lasted quite late on, as you know. You COULD make one all-brown, for the 1970s / 80s!!

[scahalane]

Nice clean modelling Noel.

[Midland Man]

Amazing stuff @Noel. 

What kind of wagons are you going to use. If you  going for late steam days early diesel ma i recommend  the GNRI ballast as a rake of them was used by CIE up to about 1965 on the midland line ballast pit.Hope i do not seem rude in any way.

Does anyone make a kit of them as they do look quite nice.

 

MM

[Noel]

Thanks for the tip @Midland Man I hadn't planned to run them with ballast wagons, more just to have one laid up in yard sidings, and the other as a backup brake van.I'm sure they could run with some IRM ballast wagons late 60s perhaps even early 70s in bauxite livery as suggested above.

[Mayner]

5 hours ago, Noel said:

Thanks for the tip @Midland Man I hadn't planned to run them with ballast wagons, more just to have one laid up in yard sidings, and the other as a backup brake van.I'm sure they could run with some IRM ballast wagons late 60s perhaps even early 70s in bauxite livery as suggested above.

Funnily enough I though CIE had bought some GW Toad brake vans  when I first saw a CIE ballast train in the early 70s. The Triang-Hornby vans are ideal for your period as the old style GSWR & possibly GNR vans were the only plough brakes in service until the new steel bodied brakes were introduced in the late 70s  and would have run with the new ballast hoppers (IRM Model) introduced in the early 70s. 

The Triang-Hornby GW van with its two side windows looks very close to the old GSWR  brakes, the only thing missing is an Oil lamp on the roof (like a MGWR 6w coach) and the big "ships wheel" on the veranda for lowering and raising the plough. They tended to look quite decrepit in service weathered planking and faded steel sheeting. There is a photo of 8452 in the 79 version of Locomotives and Rolling Stock of CIE & NIR, main difference from the Triang model is the veranda is planked and the van part sheeted in iron.

[Noel]

Decals and I don't get along.