A Rake of LSWR Coaches

by John Kendall

A friend of mine thrust a shoebox full of coach kits into my hands the other week with instructions to build them.  OK I said, but I've never finished a coach kit before.

This is what we are talking about:

The kits are here:

A typical kit contents:

Fairly standard.  You have etched brass sheets for the coach body and bogies.  There are also bags of whitemetal and lost wax brass castings.  The roof is vacuformed.

I have the wheels which arrived separately and these are being painted.

16 July 2012

After completing some wagons, I can now get back to these coaches.  First the wheels:

I'm not wholly happy with the white band, I'll have to think about doing better.

I started the underframe of the first coach this morning.

Nothing particularly challenging so far.  Bolt detail pushes out with an old scriber.  I don't have bending bars so getting the solebars folded up without too much distortion took a bit of tweaking.  The bolsters fold up with one end being located by a tab - no guessing, very neat.  When soldered up, the bolsters really improve the underframe stiffness.  Buffer beams fold up into a double thickness and are located by two tabs on the ends - again no guessing.

Next, the step or foot boards.  These have tabs that fold up and brackets that also fold up.  The tabs go inside the solebar, the brackets outside.

I started by locating the inside tabs and soldering these in place.  I turned that assembly over and found that the board is very wavy.  Place the underframe on a scrap piece of wood (note that there are protrusions on each buffer beam so the underframe must be supported on something shorter).  Hold the underframe flat and use the soldering iron to progressively desolder and reposition the brackets.  This may take take more than pass but when you're done, the board should be straight.

Next, take tiny amounts of solder cut from the roll and tack the brackets to the outside of the solebar.  Go back and spread out any slight excess of solder.  Clean up with a fiber glass pen.

Queenposts are next, these are whitemetal castings.  Now, I think everyone is a bit leery of whitemetal because if you linger with the soldering a fraction too long it will devolve into a blob.  Soldering whitemetal to brass is done as follows:

1)  Use a 25W iron, not the 45W iron that you would use on brass.

2)  Use 70C solder and Carrs Red Label flux.

3)  Tin the brass with 145C solder.

4)  Prepare the whitemetal by filing the oxidised surface clean and smooth.

5)  Cut small pieces of 70C solder.

6)  Position the casting and liberally flux.  Place a small lump of solder adjacent.

7)  Apply the iron to the solder and casting just long enough for the solder to melt and bond the casting.

All went well, phew!

Continuing with the assembly.

I shaped some wire for the trussing.  This was put into a slot in the queenposts and soldered in place.  With some trepidation, I soldered the wire to the queen post and then to the inside of the solebar.  There are drawings in 4mm scale in the instructions.

I then folded up the V hangers, making sure the etched holes are the right size by enlarging with a  fine broach.

The vacuum cylinders were soldered in place next.  You really need to read the instructions carefully to figure out where the brake components go.  Thread them onto wire as it goes into the vee hangers and solder in place.  There is more rigging to do but I will need to have the bogies done before I can finalise it.

17 July 2012

I added the cast gas cylinders, buffers and coupling hook today.  That's the underframe done bar some wire to complete the brake rigging.

You do have the option for gas or electric lighting.  For the electric option there are battery boxes and a cast dynamo.  I chose gas because the livery will be ca. 1912.

I tackled the bogies next.  You can get a compensation kit for this, but these will be rigid.  When you cut them from the fret, you get this:

Push out the bolt detail with a scriber.  Bearings are soldered into the holes.  Make sure you get them the right way round, fold is to the inside.  Fold the sides and ends up before the brakes - this way you get less distortion.  Reinforce the folds with solder.  Fold up the brakes and reinforce these as well.  If you are doing 00, you will find the brake shoes are not in line with the wheels - I suppose the kit is optimised for P4.

Add solder to the corners to stiffen everything up.  Check for squareness - if not, hold the bogie firmly on its' back on a flat surface and run the soldering iron over the folds.

Trial fit the wheels, check they spin freely with minimal side to side slop.  If there is too much slop, hold the bogie by the bearings and squeeze onto the wheels.  Touch the iron to each corner so that the sides tighten up.

These run nicely now.

I soldered the bogie compensation springs to the bogie, those castings to the left and right in the picture below.

I had to do a fair bit of fettling of the axlebox castings to get them to sit properly on the bogie sides.

If I had used the waisted bearings supplied, I would have had an easier time.  However, waisted bearings are more useful for sprung stock so I opted to substitute shouldered bearings.

I didn't solder the axleboxes because it would have meant soldering on the visible side which would have left a mess.  Instead I used super glue - for the first time on this kit.

A word on bogie attachment.  You will need to solder a nut to the inside of the bolster.  The trick here is not to get solder on the threads.  I did it by using a marker on the screw threads and using the screw to temporarily hold the nuts in place:

Here's the underframe married to the bogies:

It is riding low and the bogies have a tendency to foul at the moment - it does run freely.  I shall raise the ride and ensure the bogies can swing freely.

18 July 2012

I spent some time today fixing the ride height.  It turns out, for me anyway, that two washer (supplied) thicknesses are necessary, one to the bogie and one to the bolster.

By the way, make sure you run a file across the top of the bogie to ensure that there are no etch tags sticking up to catch as the bogie swings.

Another thing to note is that I soldered two pieces of 0.032" wire to one bolster to stop the coach from rocking.  The screws on both bogies should be loose.  You want one bogie to be free to move just up and down (left in the picture) and the other free to move in all directions.  This provides quasi compensation allowing the wheels to negotiate dips and irregularities in the track.

The last thing to note is that I attached the last piece of brake rigging.

Now to turn our attention to the body.

The instructions say to do the tumblehome using a piece of dowel and then make the top and bottom bends.  In fact it is better to do the bends first I think.  A bending tool would be useful but I don't have one so I resorted to my square nose pliers.  First though, I scored the bend line with a couple of passes of my Olfa.  This made things easier although I still made a bit of a pigs ear of my first bend.  Subsequent bends were better.  The inside folds were reinforced with solder.

The tumble home is very subtle and I found it easier to tweak between my fingers.  I fashioned a plasticard template to help make the tumblehome more or less consistent.

The ends look like this:

There is a double thickness tab that folds up on itself - this is soldered together.  The nuts are also soldered on using the screw and felt marker method.

I spent some frustrating time getting the droplights on.  These have to be soldered from the back but there aren't any cues as to whether they are centered or at the right height.  I did scribe some lines to help me but these were of limited usefulness.  The only thing for it is to get the droplight as close as you can by eye and tack it.  Check the other side to see where you are and if you missed, desolder and try again.

I took the completed underframe to the club this evening and ran it through the most challenging pointwork we have - it took these with ease.  I am well pleased so far.

19 July 2012

I decided today to look at a representation of interior.  I was inspired in this by an article by Andrew Lambert in MRJ 82.

I cut some 0.010" plastic card to be a snug fit, marked with a felt pen and taped the card behind the windows.  I marked the windows with a scriber and then cut them out with a sharp Xacto.

Following this I wanted to get the body soldering out of the way.

I soldered the guard duckets on - it was a bit of challenge to get them on square but I managed.

I then soldered the lower door hinges in place.  The etched holes should be cleared by inserting the end of an Xacto blade. 

Following this I soldered the ends.  These are located by fold down tabs on the ends.  Reinforce with solder, then clean them up with a file.  There are slots in the lower fold of the sides.  Again, clear these with a Xacto blade, make sure the tabs fit.  Adjust the tumblehome  and ensure there are no unsightly gaps between side and end.

Position the end tab in the slots, press down firmly (but don't buckle anything) and solder the lower corner.  Make sure the end is flush with the side.  If not desolder and correct.  To get the end to go in a bit, file of the corner of the tab so that the end can slide a bit.  Once happy with this first tack, tack the top of the corner.  Again make sure things are flush.  If not put the end on a flat surface and apply the iron while pressing down.  Once happy, complete the corner with a bead of solder.

Now, join the opposing ends and sides in the same way.

It took me some while to get everything as correct as I could.  I finished off with one of the etched compartment separators.  I'll come back to these later.

I thought I'd mate the body to the underframe:

Strangely, I had trouble with the screw holes in the underframe not lining up with the nuts on the body.  I say strangely because everything has fit perfectly up to now.  I've got to think that maybe it's me.  Anyway, holes were fettled and the body is on.

21 July 2012

Not a lot of visible progress yesterday, I've come to the point now where there is quite a bit of fiddly work.

I made some grab handles for the doors.

Roof:  the kit includes a plastic form that requires cutting down to fit the coach.  Once I had done that, I was pleased to see that it hugs the coach very nicely.

At the top of the picture is the raw forming.  The completed roof can be seen at the bottom.

I started by cutting the roof to length - actually a couple of mm over length.

Then I cut material from the sides using scissors (the shape is very awkward for a knife).  Once I got close, I had a brainwave and got my power sander out.  By holding the roof on the vibrating bed (tricky this) I got the roof sanded evenly and accurately.

Finally, I trimmed for the correct length.

Next, the roof was marked out for the ventilators and lamps with a pencil.  For this coach everything is on the center line.  Having determined the hole positions, I drilled them with a 0.020" drill to begin with.  It is easier to locate your hole with a small drill than with a larger one.  Large drills can slip before they bite.  I followed this with a larger drill, but slightly smaller than the castings.  Finally I used a broach to open the holes for an exact fit.  The holes were sanded on both sides and slightly countersunk by twirling a large drill bit between my fingers.

There are grab handles at the brake end.  These were marked and drilled.  A couple of pieces of 0.020" wire were bent to shape.

Before adding the castings, the roof was sprayed white.  I put tape on the roof to protect the finish - white gets grubby easily.

End detail:  The brake end has slots for steps which are not difficult to install.  I drilled holes for the grab handles but had to make them in two parts - it should really have been one piece.

The platform near the top of the end was soldered on with difficulty - I expect I did this wrong but it's on.

The other end has quite a bit of detail.

The instructions are vague on this point.  There is a light switch (a gas valve really I guess) about halfway up and an alarm at the top.  Dave at Roxey gave me some insight on the location of these.  Later on, I found a picture of a Midland coach end that featured these details (The 4mm Coach by Stephen Williams - Wild Swan).  My rendition was inspired by this.  I assumed a gas line entered the valve from the bottom and it continued into the top of the coach.  The alarm is connected to the emergency cord in the coach and opens the vacuum slightly when pulled.  This alerts the train crew to a problem.  Brackets are represented by thin strips of masking tape.  These were flooded with super glue and left to harden.

Today, I gave the components a bath in a baking soda solution to complete neutralising the flux.  I also gave them a wash in strong kitchen cleaner.

The underframe received some detailing:

I added footsteps near the guards doors.  These were a pain to fit and I probably should have done them earlier.  I added a strip of 0.020" thick plastic strip to thicken the footboard, as recommended.  This means I need to add yet another washer at the bogie fixing.  Vacuum steam heat hoses are supplied as lost wax castings.  These were soldered in place.

I have done the couplings - at the near end can be seen a loop of nickel silver wire soldered to a piece of PCB (ornately shaped to cater for the fixing holes and hoses.

At the brake end, I will fit a Kadee coupling to the bogie.

The coaches will run as a fixed rake - hence the coupling loop (the mating coach will have a wire hook).  The brake ends will have Kadees to couple to the locomotive and to enable the train to be separated from its loco if required. 

I had second thoughts about putting the plastic strip under the stepboards so I removed them and put strip on top.  At the same time I did a trial assembly:

28 July 2012

The assembly of the first coach is pretty much done now.  I added rainstrips and corbels to the roof.

I also painted the underframe black:

I wanted to paint the coach body but when I started looking at the paint I was given and a preserved coach, the "salmon" colours are very different.  I need to talk to my customer about how to proceed.

In the meantime, I have been working on the second coach, a tri-composite (2 compartments each of First, Second and Third, all with lav access - very modern).  I'm not going to go into detail on how this is done since the methods are the same.  I will say that the experience gained with the first coach made the second much easier going.

I do want to discuss bending.  The coach sides have two flanges each which require bending 90 degrees.  There is a half etched lined to facilitate this.  The recommendation is to use bending bars but, for the first coach I decided to just use flat nose pliers.  Mistake!  I very nearly ruined the model.  The coach sides are quite thin and will cockle very easily.  I managed to recover the sides but it was close.

For the second coach I gave a bit more thought to bending.  The first thing that occurs to me is that the half etched score line could be deeper to make the bend easier.  I scored this three time with my Olfa scrawker.  I then came up with this rig:

It's fairly self explanatory, the coach side is clamped between a hard surface and, in this case, a file.  Squeezy clamps would be better, but could I find mine?....

Carefully line up the fold line with the edge of the file (dead edge here) and clamp down hard.  I simply used my fingers to fold the flange up and a hammer to gently tap the fold up.  The first side can be seen.  Pliers can be used to complete the 90 degree bend.

The four folds were made successfully using this method:

31 July 2012

Today, I assembled the sides and ends.  The result so far:

Rather too much solder on the solebars - ah well.

10 Aug 2012

Coach No. 2 is all but complete:


No. 3 is well on the way.

To update the paint question.  I borrowed a friends book on the subject of livery:

"Britain's Railway Liveries, Colours, Crest and Linings", 1825 - 1948 by Ernest F. Carter.  Published in 1952 by Burke.  I'm kicking myself because I actually found the book on a used book stand and pointed it out to my friend who bought it ($4.50).

In the back of the book is an appendix containing colour samples of 50 colours.  The text frequently describes the recipe for the colour.  For example, in the entry for LSWR 1900 - 1905, it describes the "salmon pink" as "white lead - 4lb 5oz, burnt sienna - 3oz, venetian red - 2.5oz and middle chrome yellow - 0.75oz".

I was also given additional bottles of paint and thinners, so we're off.

3 Sept 2012

After exhibiting the club layout at Exporail two weeks ago, I took some time off from modelling.

To follow up on my comments above, at Exporail, I was delighted to find a copy of the above book which I snapped up:

As I mentioned, there is an appendix which contains colour swatches of livery colour:

No. 48 is the Salmon colour I will be using.  I think that the Bluebell railway coach is painted in a later Salmon Pink from around 1915.

http://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/pics/1520.HTML

Ex GWR Ballast Wagon Kit Build

by John Kendall

This is a kit that uses etched brass as the material instead of the traditional plastic.  The kit can be ordered from:  http://www.mousa.biz/fourmm/wagons/gwr_wagons4.html

It will make up into a model of GWR diagram P4 ballast wagon.  I plan to construct mine in BR service.  Pictures can be found here:  http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brstarfish/h545911c#h1935fcc7

I thought I'd start by illustrating some of the tools and equipment I use for this work:

Obviously I have a soldering iron - mine is a Weller (can't recall the power but about 45W) and not the cheapest.  The tip is still in good shape after several years of abuse from me.  The little pot is a tinning compound.  Solders:  I like Carrs and mostly use 145 degree C (orange packet).  If I need to solder someting to a part that needs two solder joints, I use 188 deg. C (green packet) first and 145 deg for the second join.  There is less chance of the first bond coming adrift.  Flux:  I like Carrs Green label (dilute phosphoric acid) for brass and nickel silver.  There are several sources of soldering supplies, Carrs is available from: http://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=56.  Also check out:  http://www.dccconcepts.com/index_files/DCCsolderfluxes.htm  These are well regarded from what I've read but I've never used them.

I have never found a good source for brass modelling solder and flux in North America - possibly because brass kit building is pretty rare here (I wouldn't mind being corrected on this).

The keys to successful soldering:  The right tools and materials, hot iron with clean tip, clean surface, lashings of flux, a drop of solder on the iron tip and then in and out.  There should be a fizz and the solder should flow readily. 

Some may disagree but the regular electrical rosin cored solder is not suitable for this job. (On the other hand acid flux should NEVER be used for electrical work).

I also don't like lead free solder - it doesn't seem to work well, for me anyway.

I think the thing that puts a lot of folk off soldering is the fear of burnt fingers.  Well, not to worry, you will burn them but not with any kind of severity (so far I haven't - I've done far more damage with knives).  It's wise to hold parts with something other than your fingers when soldering but sometimes it can't be helped.  It's amazing the speed of the heat transfer - just grit your teeth.

Spring loaded pliers are useful for holding parts as are tweezers.  The yellow pack is a set of broaches - invaluable for enlarging etched holes.  The good old Olfa knife is a fine general purpose tool - useful for cutting parts off the etch.  Next  to it is a propelling fiberglass pen - very handy for cleaning and burnishing.

There's also a steel rule, large file (with a dead edge) and a very fine file (red handle).  I'll use the scriber to push out half etched rivets.

On to the kit.  Here it is:

As can be seen, it is one sheet of etched brass.  The parts are cunningly and artfully laid out.  The instruction sheet runs to four pages of exploded views with very few words (ideal for us guys).  The kit includes some steel spring wire, steel buffers, and something I've never seen before - 3D printed axlebox/spring and buffer shanks.  You will need to source wheels, paint and transfers.  Hornby, Bachmann, Markits, Alan Gibson, Exactoscale (EM or P4 only) and Ultrascale all do wheels (3' diameter or 12mm on the tyre, 8 spoke ).  I've listed the wheels in more or less ascending price and quality.  I am using Markits wheels (at least I think they are - they were in my wheels box).

29 June 2012

I started the kit build today.  First step was to separate the solebars from the etch and gently file down the etch tags:

The first thing to do with these is to push out 8 rivets per side with scribe.  It's seem better days and is not especially sharp.  There are actually 2 folds to make.

Folds made.  At the base of the solebar is a narrow ledge that is formed making a bend in the etch.  This was surprising difficult to do and I really should have scored the fold line better than I did.  I tried to use the steel rule as a bending bar but it wasn't  very effective. 

To join the two halves of solebar together, I tinned the inside surface with 4 small drops of solder.  I then folded the solebar.  Because of the small ledge I used the steel rule to support the piece.  I applied some flux to the INSIDE of the sole (not the side with all the detail) and ran the soldering along it starting at the center and working out.  The small file is useful for pressing the two halves together.  There should be a hiss and you will see solder just showing itself as it flows.

Lastly, in order to straighten out the ledge I pressed the steel rule against it and used the file to complete the fold.  You can twitch the ledge with pliers here and there if necessary.  I put a small amount of solder under the ledge at each end.  I left the middle - it seems strong enough. 
The result is acceptable.

Next, some details:

There are 4 boxes (I don't even know the technical term) (Edit: door bangs) to be added to the solebars.  These start out as flat pieces with two fold lines.  There's also a rivet to be pushed out.  To cut a long story short I used the file (isn't it useful!) as a former and folded the sides around it.  Use pliers to straighten things out if required (it was for me).  Then, cut very small pieces of solder.  Apply flux to the location (there's a raised rib so you can't get it wrong) and place the box.  Use the file to hold the piece (easier said than done) and pick up a small piece of solder with the iron.  Hopefully the solder will flow and the box will in the right place and straight.  In a couple of cases I botched it.  Simply heat and remove the part.  If there is a lot of solder on the rib, I found desoldering braid useful to remove it.  Try again.

1 July 2012

I just spent about 2 hours putting more fiddly bits on the solebars.

There are 4 brackets near those boxes I put on yesterday.  Strapping at the base of the W irons and spring snubbers. 

Strapping was relatively straightforward - I tinned the back of the straps while still on the fret.  When removingthese (and all parts really) try to reduce the etch tag.  I still had to file by holding the part in square nose pliers - a fiddly job in itself.

The brackets fold up and there is a tab that goes in slots in the solebar that is bent over.  The bracket is still loose.  I found the best thing is to position the bracket as close as possible and to get a dab of solder on the tab at the back.  Then using needle nose pliers, hold the bracket from the front and apply the iron while tweaking the bracket.

The spring snubbers...what a pain!  Edit:  6 July 2012:  A better way to do the spring snubbers:

1) Take down the etch tag by gripping the (oh so tiny!) piece in flat headed pliers and filing off with fine file.
2) Make the end bends first. Reinforce these with solder.  Then using a piece of waste fret (about the right thickness I found) as a form, push down on both legs trying to exert even pressure. With the bent piece balanced on the edge of the fret, finish the bend with needly nose pliers. I found, with a bit of practice that I could make a reasonably square looking "hat".

(Edit:  another way is to leave the parts on the fret and bend them.  On the fret they are a bit easier to handle)

I actually managed to lose one of the top hats but I used a piece of square tube as a standin.

Put the top hat on the work surface and place the solebar over it.  (Edit:  If the W iron is too narrow, use a file to make it just wide enough to accept the snubber).  Hold the snubber with a small screwdriver and apply the iron.  File off the excess.

I probably spent a half hour on my hands and knees looking for pieces that flew on the floor.  There really should be spares on the fret. 

Next step is to assemble the floor and solebars.  Refreshingly, there is nothing special about this and all went together easily and squarely.

(Edit:  Before soldering the solebars to the floor, file the top flush so that it sits dead flat on the floor.)
(Edit:  The inner ends of the solebar will slightly foul the buffer housing holes.  File a slight taper on the inner ends and rebate with a circular file.  The buffer housings are quite fragile so best to avoid handling these as much as possible (I broke one)).

A note about solder control.  I find it better to cut tiny amounts of solder off the roll, flux where I want to join, place the solder and apply the iron.  It's difficult to control how much solder gets on the tip - usually too much and we're resorting to desolder braid.

The next step was to do the brake gear.  The brake mechanism is only mounted on one side of the wagon.

The brakes are a double thickness fold up, with brake shoes and crank sandwiched in between.  This, as usual, is a tad fiddly.  First, I tinned the brake shoes.  Then, I put the shoes in between the two halves being careful to position it correctly.  Use a convex file to get the curved profile of the brakes.  Application of the iron causes the solder to flow and for the parts to be bonded.  I positioned the brake assembly, first tinning the underside.  I made sure of the position by threading the supplied wire through all the holes.  Use a broach to open holes that are too small.

Next is the fiddly job of positioning the crank so that its' hole lines up with rest while threading the wire through everything.  Once everything is in place, a few dabs of solder will secure everything.

The brake ratchet is next.    There are several folds but I managed to break them.  Fold the ratchet so that the loop is about level with the bottom of the W iron.  The instructions are vague on this point.

The brake lever is simply threaded onto the wire.  It has to bent in a few places to clear solebar details and I shortened mine slightly.  I did all the bends in situ.  The end of the lever should be parallel to the solebar.

(Edit:  the instructions state that the door banger nearest the brake lever should be omitted.  I saw a picture of a wagon with the door banger in place - take your choice.)

One thing I forgot to do before taking the pictures above was fit the safety loops around the brake rodding.  There are two pieces of flat etch that are supposed to bent and soldered in place roughly halfway between the shoes and actuator.  I felt these weren't quite long and were too flimsy.  I opted to drill two holes and bend up some 0.020" wire.

Now, the body.

There three main pieces - the body and two ends.  First order of business is to push out the rivets.  A word of caution, if you plan to use the horizontal strapping, you don't need the rivets in that location.  I had to file them down.  The top lip was bent using the jaws of a vice.  It sort of works but the jaws don't close evenly so I didn't get an even bend.  I tweaked the bends with flat head pliers.  The top lip on the ends was made with the pliers.

Put the coupler plate on while everything is still flat.  Tin the plate, locate and apply the iron. (The liberal use of flux is implicit throughout this - nothing will work without it).

Next use the same process with the vertical strapping and horizontal strapping if required.

Now fold up the main body until the sides are at right angles.  The ends of the vertical strapping should be soldered down to the underside of the body.

Make side folds in the ends and apply solder to these.  Trial fit them to the body, file down the solder if necessary until the end goes in - it is very snug.  Make sure the corners are square and apply the to the tab.

Attach the vertical strapping to the ends, noting which way the slots go.  Take the ribs and put them into the slots.  Get some solder on the iron, flux on the work and apply the iron to the inside of the end.  I got lazy and used my finger to hold the ribs on...wince!  (Edit:  I should have done this while the ends were on the flat, tch!)

By the way at each stage of construction I've been cleaning the work.  I also use a fiberglass pencil to remove stray solder.

Now the exciting bit, trial fit of the underframe and body.

It's looking good at this stage I think.

2 July 2012

I added some additional detail today and got the wheels installed. 

The first thing to note is the coupling hook.  Straightforward fold into double thickness and solder into the slot on the bufferbeam.

The buffer housings are 3D print.  I had to do some fettling to get them to go in.  Secured with superglue.  I did a trial fit of the buffers, lovely steel things.  The kit includes springs for these but I can't see how I can get that to work - there's just no room.

(Edit:  You will need to trim the sprue tag off the buffer housings and run a fine file around the circumferenced of the spigot.  Avoid pusing the spigot into the buffer beam holes, it can snag and break.)

(Edit:  I used a broach to open the holes in the buffer beam until the buffer housings just slip in.)

(Edit:  If you want your buffers sprung, do this step BEFORE installing the housings.  Slip a spring over the buffer shank and slide the buffer into the housing.  Push the buffer fully into the housing and hold the inside end with needle nose pliers.  Bend the protruding buffer shank to 90 degrees (or so) to retain the buffer in the housing.)

This wagon is sprung.  There are separate bearing holders which thread onto a length of steel wire.  The ends of the wire slot into holders and the bearings slide up and down in the slot in the W iron.  The wagon is very free running and smooth.

(Edit:  A very inportant thing is to use waisted bearings.  These are conical in shape.  I initially used shouldered bearings - these are much too large and won't fit in the slot in the axlebox.)

Couplings must be given some thought.  There are many choices and I've had a look at most if not all.  The best looking coupling would be prototype 3-link.  However, this is a non-starter because getting wagons coupled and uncoupled is just too difficult.

My compromise, made more than 20 years ago, is to use Kadee couplings.  Most RTR vehicles today come equipped with NEM pockets and these can be purchased separately.  For me though, I prefer to use Kadee #5 for this job.

These are easy to assemble and fitting is straightforward.  More on this later.

3 July 2012

The following describes fitting of the Kadee couplings.  First of all I determined that the depth behing the buffer beam is 3mm and obtained a piece of plastic strip (from my scrpa box as it happens) of the same thickness and fairly wide:

Cut to length, and put a notch in to cleat the back of the coupling hook.  It might be better in hindsight to snip off the back of the hook.  I then located the coupling to length by eye (I've done this loads of times) and by referring to a dry fit buffer.  The buffer head should be even with the middle of the knuckle.

Holes were drilled and then tapped using the Kadee tools.

The couplings were installed using Delrin screws:

The excess screw can be easily snipped off and filed flush to the plastic strip.  Next, I want to confirm the height.  Temporarily fix the coupling assembly with blu-tack.

As I suspected, the coupling is high by about 0.020" so I glued a 0.020" strip under the coupling and re-tried:

 This time the height is spot on.

I'll now glue the coupling base into the wagon, but leave the Kadee off until after painting (paint will clog the fine spring in the knuckle).

4 July 2012

I detailed the doors today by adding the chains used to lock the doors in place.  My first thought was to use, well, chain, but it was way over scale.  I opted instead to make a representation out of wire strands.  Strip some stranded wire and simply twist two strands together.  This was finished off by removing some links of the chain I had and flattening to make rings.  The "chain" was secured to the ring with electrical solder.  I added some wire to the 4 holes at the top of the wagon sides.  I then slipped the ring over wire and secured with super glue.  When that had set I manipulated the "chain" ends into a loop and secured that with super glue.  This can be seen below:

Other things to note are the coupling mounting pads and lead weight.  Even after adding weight, the wagon only tips the scales at ~ 30 gms.

The other job for today was to make a start on the axleboxe/springs.  These are 3D prints.  My first though was to have the pinpoint bearing slide up and down inside the axlebox - there is a slot.  However, the slot is much too small and I didn't fancy machining a larger slot since the risk of wrecking the part was high.  Instead, I used my Dremel to enlarge the hole so that it would fit over the pinpont bearing and then cut off the spring.  The spring and axlebox were filed flat at the cut.  The spring was secured with super glue on the W iron and reinforced witha couple of dabs of contact cement at the spring fixings on the sole bar.  I then...very carefully, applied a dab of contact cement to the head of the bearing and inside the axlebox hole.

In the picture, you can see the Dremel bit I used to open the axlebox hole.  A pinpoint bearing is shown for comparison and two axlebox/springs also shown.  The one on the left is as received, the one on the right has had its' hole enlarged and spring cut off.  The wagon shows the axlebox and spring assembled to the wagon.

5 July 2012

I realized late yesterday, after I had cut up the kit axleboxes, that I had used shouldered bearings instead of waisted bearings.  Shouldered bearings are too wide for the axlebox slot. 

Today I fixed the problem as follows:

1) removed the axlebox/springs from a Slater U/F kit solebars. (Not GWR standard I know, but given these wagons had an 80+ year lifespan it's possible some received RCH ones - anyway that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it), These were thinned and the bearing hole enlarged.

2) removed the shouldered bearing and installed some waisted bearings that I robbed from another kit.

The wagon runs well after all that - I still have to glue the axleboxes on.

I have now glued the axleboxes in place using superglue.  Double check at this stage that the bearings fit comfortably.  If required work them a bit more with Dremel.

Now, with the axleboxes glued on the W irons stiffen up so that the wheels are no longer as free running as before. I actually got some solder in one of the bearings. My solution: the Micro Mark Truck Tuner, http://www.micromark.com/HO-Truck-Tuner,8241.html It's designed for plastic bearings but it does a good job on brass ones as well.

After a few seconds of twirling the tuner while gripping the axleboxes tightly opens the bearing enough to get the wheels running freely.

The buffers need some attention next.  These are turned steel and very fine.  CAUTION:  When opening the packet note that there are VERY SMALL spings included.  Be VERY careful because if they fly across the room you will probably never find them again.

I decided to chemically blacken the buffers:

That's a scary looking bottle.

6 July 2012

I primed (red oxide car primer) the wagon last night.  This morning I applied acrylic Engine Black from Polly S.

I also installed the buffers.  Now, these are intended to be sprung but I couldn't see a way to secure the buffer shank behind the buffer beam, so I simply super glued them.  For the operations I do, with Kadee couplers, buffers don't need to be sprung.

One way I think it could be done is to install the buffers into the housings BEFORE putting them on the buffer beam.  The end of the buffer shank can be bent over or, use a small slice of fine wire insulation.  Perhaps next time.

The paint will tend to clog bearings and bearing carriers.  Simply work the mechanism until it loosens.  Later on these will be oiled.

7 July 2012

In preparation for the transfers, I sprayed the wagon with Gloss Varnish:

I spent the morning applying transfers.  For this I used a picture of a P4 wagon from Paul Bartlett's site as inspiration.  I didn't have exactly the right transfers but I found bits here and there in my transfer collection:

Use Micro Sol to make sure the transfers are well stuck down.

Next I sprayed the wagon with matte varnish:

This will seal the transfers.

Finally, weathering.  These wagons had lives in excess of 80 years, being first introduced into service in the last decade of the 19th century and surviving well into the BR era.  I wanted to depict mine as it might have looked around 1960.

I started by getting some red brown paint and rusty coloured powder.  I painted a thin line at the top lip of the wagon and then, while the paint was still wet I put some of the powder on.  I then gave the mix a downward brush.  I repeated this at severallocations.  I also simply applied rusty powder over other areas, especially inside.   The rust effect actually came out heavier than I wanted so I removed some of it by painting on some IPA and dabbing with a towel.

Next, with my airbrush I gave the wagon an overall spray of dirt, followed by a light spray of black.  I completed the effect by mixing black and white pastel into a grey and streaking the sides and ends (very subtle this).

I highlighted the door chains with a silver brush and painted the brake handle white.

I am very pleased with this outcome.

11 July 2012

Having thought about my lettering I decided I didn't like it.  For one thing the number isn't straight and for another the lettering on the right hand side doean't ring true for an ancient wagon.

I decided therefore to have a go at making my own transfers.  I obtained some Microscale Trim Film, both clear and white.  This is supposed to be suitable for laser printers.

I made a powerpoint file of the numbers and letters I wanted, having to print it off on paper a few times to get the size right.

I then put a white sheet through the printer (I needed white letters).  Well, I was able to get some usable transfers but I think the internal heat of my printer is too high because a lot of the print smeared.

Here's what I ended up with:

Now this is a much better result - a keeper.

14 July 2012

I finished the build of my second wagon in about 8 hours, over the last couple of days.

I painted, lettered and weathered it today.  I don't think there was any hard and fast rule about lettering.  I saw a picture of a wagon with the lettering as shown on the left.  I've also seen the number without the DW.