irishthump Posted April 28, 2013 Author Posted April 28, 2013 (edited) I had been planning to buy a few Hornby timber wagons but after seeing this thread http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/1212-Four-Wheeler-Timber-wagons I decided to go the scratchbuilt route. I had a few of those horrible Hornby Railroad range tanker wagons so I decided to use the chassis as it looks roughly the right size. I cut away most of the underframe detail. An old paperclip makes some passable brake gear and makes the chassis look a little less bare! I removed the tension lock couplers and used filler to make a suitable mounting point for a Kadee No.5 coupler. Coupler mounted... The wagon bodies were built from styrene. Fitted to the chassis and given a coat of oxide primer, weathering to follow... Hardly prototypical but I think they'll look good on the layout! Edited December 22, 2022 by irishthump Quote
irishthump Posted April 30, 2013 Author Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) Well, close to 42'9" anyway! I had a few Hornby Railroad flats which I decided to cut-and-shut. Here's one glued up... A couple after the glue had set (I used 5 min epoxy). Some buffers made from filed-down tacks. Added some styrene detailing and Kadee couplers. All four finished and sprayed with red oxide. Edited December 22, 2022 by irishthump Quote
Shinkansen Posted May 1, 2013 Posted May 1, 2013 Nice scratch building work on the timber wagons. Looking good. I have to get the finger out and do a rake of my own sometime soon. Really looking forward to seeing the finished article. Good thing about these is you could build a prototypicle length train without breaking the bank (errr too much). Nice work on the flats too, It really does lift it above the Hornby Railroad original. Reminds me of another project on my 'to do' list Tom. Quote
201bhoy Posted May 1, 2013 Posted May 1, 2013 Well done! Those container flats look really good! Quote
BabyGM Posted May 1, 2013 Posted May 1, 2013 Nice work on the scratch building and container wagons, I'm currently on and off scratchbuilding some timbers aswell but they are not near as good as yours Quote
Hunslet 102 Posted May 1, 2013 Posted May 1, 2013 Good job and great work on the wagons.A superb thread for those,myself included,who are working within tight budget constraints,most of my own stock has been built up via this method down through the years. Quote
irishthump Posted May 9, 2013 Author Posted May 9, 2013 Well, finally got the flats and timber wagons weathered. Here are a few pics... Weathering was done with washes and powders. Quote
Kirley Posted May 11, 2013 Posted May 11, 2013 Your weathering provides that extra layer that lifts your models to a higher level, well done. Quote
Aussie Phil Posted September 18, 2013 Posted September 18, 2013 As a fellow scratchbuilder I really love your work. Your layout and models look amazing Quote
irishthump Posted November 5, 2013 Author Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) A little bit of weathering! Finally got round to doing my 071... Edited December 22, 2022 by irishthump Quote
irishthump Posted November 5, 2013 Author Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) and 161... Edited December 22, 2022 by irishthump Quote
heirflick Posted November 5, 2013 Posted November 5, 2013 lovely weathering... just like looking at the real thing! Quote
Barl Posted November 7, 2013 Posted November 7, 2013 That's a great job on the weathering, really brings them to life! Quote
irishthump Posted January 18, 2014 Author Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) I recently picked up a Supertrain 142 from Wrenneire and a sound equipped decoder arrived in the post for it yesterday so I thought I might take a few pics of the installation process for anyone who isn't familiar with it. It's really not too hard and this might be useful for anyone comtemplating it. First pic; 142 with the body off. You'll notice the handrails are still attached. I could never get the hang of removing these and as you know they are a bu**er to put back on! As I mentioned on another thread I have found a way around it. First remove the front cab (the one at the opposite end from the roof grill. Now, you have to remember to release the handrails from the cab to allow you to pull it straight up, you may need to use a very small flat screwdriver to help release it from the body first. Once that is done I turn the loco upside down (you really need a foam cradle for this job) and release plastic tabs that hold the body on from underneath. It's easier to see/access them if you remove the bogie sideframes. The tabs are clearly visible in this pic (yes the orange coloured body really helps to locate them!) The main body and other end cab can then be removed. Remembering again to detach the handrails from the cab sides. Next job is to install the speaker. I'm using a base enhanced speaker which as you may know will not fit under the body without a lot of work. The metal chassis block needs considerable filing down to make enough room. I'm not prepared to do that under any circumstances! Gareth from MSB recommended this little tip which is to remove the back of the speaker housing: It is easily done with a small flat screwdriver and it doesn't effect the sound in any way. (At least not to my ears and I have tried the speaker with and without the back casing.) Like this the speaker is a near perfect fit on top of the metal chassis block. It can be secured with silicone or blue tack. Just be careful of the wires under the speaker, I pushed them down too far and they ended up rubbing on the drive shaft and making an awful noise. I had to remove the body again to correct it! I trimmed the speaker leads as I didn't want them getting in the way when trying to refit the body, then soldered them to the connection points on the circuit board. These are clearly marked "SP+" and "SP-", red goes to "+" and black to "-". Then it's a simple matter of plugging in the decoder, or so I thought! All my other sound equipped 141's have Zimo decoders which fit fine, but this one is a ESU Loksound which is slightly bulkier than the Zimo. I notice when I plugged it in that part of the decoder was touching the circuit board.... I wasn't sure if it was metal-on-metal contact but I didn't want to take the risk of a short circuit, so I placed some plastic tape on the circuit board to be safe. It's normal packing tape, which insulates fine but I will have to keep an check to make sure it isn't affected by heat from the decoder. And speaking of heat... Ventilation is an issue with dcc as the decoders generate a lot of heat in operation. I found that on the 141's the roof directly above the decoder could get quite hot, most likely because of the space inside the body being so tight. My answer to this was to drill out the exhaust outlet on the roof of the model! After all it's supposed to be a hole and I found that once I did this the body sheel didn't get anywhere near as hot, in fact you can feel the warmer air escape through it. How's that for prototypical! I then gave the loco a quick test before replacing the body and cabs. Then it was time to play! I'll post a video of it in action soon... Edited December 22, 2022 by irishthump Quote
Shinkansen Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 Excellent tutorial there Irishthump. Well put together and nice clear photographs. Look forward to seeing (and hearing) 142 in action very soon Tom. Quote
John McGahern Posted January 27, 2014 Posted January 27, 2014 Fantastic! I'll have to pick your brains for some tips! Quote
irishthump Posted April 10, 2014 Author Posted April 10, 2014 (edited) An Xmas present of some vouchers for Mark's Models resulted in me picking up 080 a couple of months ago and I finally got around to weathering her over the last few days. Have a look and see what you guys think.... Edited December 22, 2022 by irishthump Quote
murrayec Posted April 10, 2014 Posted April 10, 2014 Hi That's very well done- 'A handy man with a bit of Dirt' murrayec Quote
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