4mm An EM Workbench: Mini-Signwriting (rough)

[AJC]

The end is almost in sight! The last remaining detail parts will be a set of safety loops before moving on to reassembly and painting. So what's new? I've rebuilt the axleboxes (losing the nice moulded LNER lettering in the process), steps and some tiny door springs. Fiddly just about covers it, but I think it's worth it.



Note that I've also rebuilt the chutes - the Trout had chutes that were 8' over the ends, these SECR hoppers had an 8' aperture so I simply trimmed the existing ends, tidied up and added some new ones once I'd glued the assembly in place.



Adam

 

[AJC]

And here's the near finished SE&CR hopper, in the paintscheme that I guess the real thing would have ended its days. All the pictures I have of them in the BR period were taken before 1952 and show the vehicles in well-rusted Southern livery which is probably pushing it for something that lasted until after 1960. So all over black it is. The straw lettering isn't, as you'll observe, BR Gill Sans as I strongly suspect a repaint would have been performed outdoors at Broadclyst or Meldon and the signwriting on BR(S) service stock often looks a bit crude. So my way of approaching this comes from the HMRS sheet for Scottish pre-grouping wagons (various types of fish wagons on the NBR and Caley had the yellow letters, I think). Being Pressfix this was *fun*, but the end result isn't bad at all and will be improved by full weathering, but that's for another day.



Adam

 

[matto21]

That's a really nice job Adam!

Those new doors look excellent!

 

[Overseer]

And here's the near finished SE&CR hopper, in the paintscheme that I guess the real thing would have ended its days. All the pictures I have of them in the BR period were taken before 1952 and show the vehicles in well-rusted Southern livery which is probably pushing it for something that lasted until after 1960. So all over black it is. The straw lettering isn't, as you'll observe, BR Gill Sans as I strongly suspect a repaint would have been performed outdoors at Broadclyst or Meldon and the signwriting on BR(S) service stock often looks a bit crude. So my way of approaching this comes from the HMRS sheet for Scottish pre-grouping wagons (various types of fish wagons on the NBR and Caley had the yellow letters, I think). Being Pressfix this was *fun*, but the end result isn't bad at all and will be improved by full weathering, but that's for another day.

View attachment 137211

Adam

Adam
The pressed metal side doors look good and well worth the effort. Talking of pressed metal, it is a minor detail but I have been hoping you would fill the joints in the pressed metal verticals so they look continuous. The gaps probably look more obvious in photos, as they catch the light, than in reality. Also, shouldn't the hopper corner angles at the operators end continue down to meet the solebars? Looks good though.
F

 

[AJC]

You’re quite right on both points, Fraser, and as soon as the boy is properly in bed (as opposed to sleeping on my shoulder) I’m going to attend to them. The angle at the operator’s end I’m especially annoyed about because I’ve made the parts and completely forgot about fitting them.

Adam

PS - the nature of the mouldings are such that you really can't fill the pressed ribs properly until you've painted the thing/paint it properly with the filled ribs correctly done. It is done now, but the Miliput must set before I can do any more.

 

[AJC]

Insanity, it’s often said, is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. It’s usually attributed to Einstein, but doing the same thing multiple times with simple tools and expecting a truly consistent result is almost as silly. I’m not sure the great physicist was daft enough to attempt to batch build four Palbricks in 4mm scale. Even Geoff Kent stopped at three and he’s better at this than I am. Dragged back from the depths (I think they're in here somewhere a house move or two ago) is my own dabble with madness, a Palbrick A and three Palbrick Bs.



I've now done what I should probably have done in the first place and built the loads which are structural. The ends of at least a couple and suffered from a spot of warping in storage but the chassis are all true. The difficult bits are still to come, the lift out side panels and the clamps but these can be built off the pallet loads, I think. It may not be for a while, however...



The fun thing about Palbrick Bs is that some were Morton-fitted and some had 8 shoe BR brakes so I've modelled one of the latter and two of the former. I need to straighten that tiebar, too.

Adam

 

[matto21]

Really nice! I was tempted to scratchbuild a Palbrick a while ago, but thankfully got distracted by a load of other random projects!

 

[AJC]

Really nice! I was tempted to scratchbuild a Palbrick a while ago, but thankfully got distracted by a load of other random projects!

There’s an etched kit now - I’d reckon that learning to solder is a better option!

Adam

 

[AJC]

In a break from tracklaying, here's a long term shelf queen which - and this makes me feel a bit better - was someone else's shelf queen first. Ultimately this loco must date to perhaps the early '90s when Bob Alderman was still working in EM. His intention was to put a new chassis under a Mainline standard 4 and to reuse the valvegear. The frames are Comet, I think, and I have two left hand ones so Bob's first loco must have had two right hand frames. So I was gifted the bits - Sharman drivers, Ultrascale pony wheels, and a rather battered Mainline body and tender. And I did a fair bit to it, but then Bachmann and Hornby produced modern versions! So back in the box it went, as the PhD and work took priority (and besides, it was a bit big for anything I had space for). But since Bob died last year and I now have the makings of a layout that might occasionally need such a thing and Yeovil Town shed had a few, 75003 has popped up again.

The tender has been done for absolutely ages and is basically the Mainline effort detailed:



The photo is a bit naff, and ages old, but since it looks the same, let's move on. The frames look a bit battered and hacked about, but remember, they're meant for the Mainline body and... I'm using a Bachmann spare which is a rather different, and much better detailed, beast. That said, I'm going to revisit the plastic pipework and 75003 had some eccentric lamp irons on the front (SR position on the smokebox, but GWR pattern which meant discs had to be hung off them: 75xxx Class 4 4-6-0 | 75003 1964c Verwood near Wimborne) so these need to be added.





You might be wondering about all the cut outs? Well, like Bob, I'm planning on using RTR motion and cylinders, this time the excellent set produced for the Hornby version of the Standard 4 4-6-0 available as spares. They're much less faff than any of the Comet or Gibson versions and look a lot better than the Mainline set. Simple beam compensation here and a bogie pivot running in a slot with a spring offering side control. So, yes, this loco contains elements of all three RTR versions of the type which amuses me, at least.



The bogie is Comet with modifications (new spacer, 3 point compensation, not that there's much point in that!). So next is sorting out a way of restraining the motor and making it go. Perhaps the Frankenfour will get finished this year?

Adam

 

[Mike Garwood]

Looks Great Adam...but why the choice of bauxite primer? I agree about the look of the valve gear, I haven't been brave enough to see if it would work in P4. I can't see any reason why it shouldn't - can you? This is another type of engine that's in a waiting room.
Look forward to more.

Stay safe

Mike

 

[Heather Kay]

Not my scale any more, but I shall follow along anyway. Good modelling is good modelling, after all.

Somewhere, I have an Airfix ex-Kitmaster Class 4 - well, several kits actually - along with a Comet chassis kit that I had intended to build up. Those were the days before good RTR, and I thought it was cheaper than titivating what was available. It was way beyond my skill set at the time, and has been in the Storage Box Of Doom ever since. It’ll probably end up in landfill.

 

[AJC]

Thanks both - Heather, if you find the bits that's still a viable route to a standard 4 2-6-0 and I could be interested.

Mike - bauxite primer was probably what I had in hand at the time/I was then planning to build a black WR loco: it's been 15 years in the (not) making so I honestly cannot remember. It'll be sprayed over with grey shortly as I've tweaked a couple of things since. I'm going to modify the tender dragbeam shortly as my thinking about drawbars has changed so the chassis will need a repaint anyway.

Adam

EDIT - re: the valvegear, Mike - if straight RTR conversions are ok for clearances, there's no reason why this approach should be a problem, well, no more of a challenge than outside valvegear presents anyway. The one potential vulnerability is the peened mazak rivet on the motion bracket, but that's resolvable if it does go wrong.

 

[Heather Kay]

I could be interested.

I’ll bear that in mind next time I go where the Box lives. I’d rather it found a good home.

 

[AJC]

The post has arrived, and with it, the latest MRJ, no. 282.



Some great stuff therein, and the star is Hywel Thomas’s terrific Morfa Bank sidings, but there’s much else, including Karl Crowther’s take on Kentside and the Kendal branch and a proper sized mill chimney.



Personally, there’s something more modest, but hopefully worthwhile, my model of a little prefab bungalow. Hope you enjoy it.



Adam

 

[matto21]

Congratulations on the article! I'll look forward to getting my copy.

Out of interest, and it is interest only, how do people submit stuff to MRJ seeing as they don't seem to even have an email address?

And no, I'm not looking to submit anything, it's pure curiosity!

 

[simond]

Email address? I wish they’d take direct debit subscriptions!

 

[AJC]

Thanks Matt. I can only speak to my experience which relies on being asked on a friend of a friend basis (Karl Crowther’s EM gauge mafia if you like), but there’s an element of pitching an idea or being asked about something in particular - a Rumney Models review was the first one - and Karl has been kind enough to ask me back to pitch ideas, but Paul Karau has oversight and says yes or no, so far as I understand it. I’d be the first to admit it could be more transparent, but the circuit of editors is known and they’re all decent people.

Adam

 

[matto21]

Thanks Adam, like I said, it's idle curiosity only.

I guess part of me admires how they're still so old fashioned, but the other part wonders how they manage to keep such a high level of content with no real way to attract contributions!

Matt

 

[AJC]

Thanks Adam, like I said, it's idle curiosity only.

I guess part of me admires how they're still so old fashioned, but the other part wonders how they manage to keep such a high level of content with no real way to attract contributions!

Matt

Well, it's probably fairer to say that there's limited digital engagement and, from the day job, I'm here to tell you that this isn't uncommon (the amount of times I've been told 'it's all online, surely?', or, 'there's hardly documents surviving from the Middle Ages', or 'Why not digitise all the documents?', etc. and had to patiently explain that it's not like that and wouldn't solve anything if it was).

The exhibition circuit is a feeder for all the print magazines and I don't think most people realise quite how much exhibition regulars dominate what gets published and how many of those people know each other really well independent of the digital realm. It's something I'm only dimly aware of, and it has consequences in the opposite direction - see the court of Tony Wright thread on the other channel for one example of that. Tony's idea of what a model railway *should* be is something achievable in a particular context and coming from a particular direction but it's quite influential (some people feel the need to excuse themselves for not doing that which is, in my view, daft). Obviously, there's all these forums that people put their own stuff on and that democratises things a bit, but only to an extent; editors are understandably wary of publishing stuff that nearly everyone who might buy the magazine has already seen unless they add something to it.

Adam

 

[NHY 581]

I've been lucky enough to see my efforts appear in print but have yet to make it to the dizzy heights of MRJ. One day maybe

The current MRJ is very good indeed. I've only made it as far as Morfa sidings but I must say the pre-fab looks jolly.....er......fab.

Top job.

Rob