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

[AJC]

Do you use compensation on any wagons?

Rarely - almost never in fact - I don't find it necessary and even if supplied often build wagons rigid. The clasp braked palvan is a case in point: the supplied springing is soldered solid! Partly this is because getting useful running clearance on clasp brake systems is difficult without having the brakeshoes a long way away from the wheels and partly because it's a lot of faff. The 21 ton mineral actually is sprung and the supplied system works quite nicely. I do compensate locos, mostly for reasons of improved electrical pick up.

Looking again at these photos, I must sort out the pivot on the brake lever of the hybar. Oops.

Adam

 

[AJC]

I've shown the beginnings of my ICI chorine tank here and there have been small developments which mean that soldering operations are near complete on this one, barring a couple of plates underneath to accommodate the mounting screws. The end supports for the cross bracing on these wagons were fabricated from channel and angle, as was normal for post-war tank wagons. Now I didn't have suitable channel for these, but I did have some L section which, once soldered in place provided the bones of the answer. The remaining side of the channel is from scrap etch from the chassis kit while the holes are part of an abortive attempt to model the boltheads that hold the real things in place. I had thought of doing this by soldering in pins but will instead use little plastic cubes; there's less risk of everything falling apart that way.



The other ongoing wagon project that I've alluded to earlier. This is another 21 ton hopper - a fairly substantial rebuild of a Parkside LNER dia. 100 wagon into a BR dia. 1/145. These were built by Metropolitan Cammell and also by Hurst, Nelson. They were interesting in their hybrid construction with riveted panels and framing in the same style as the welded 1/146. Here's a link to a Paul Bartlett picture: BR 21 ton coal hopper - rivetted bodies HTO | B416996_Hop_21_diag_1-145__m_ (thanks Paul). I



Now I'm not certain what the handrails inside the wagons were actually for and though Parkside supply them I usually trim them away. In this case, I've chosen to reinstate them in 0.3mm brass. The end platforms are from the Dave Bradwell chassis etch for the earlier chassis with NER style brakegear - which will also yield steps and rap plates in due course - because they are thinner than the Parkside versions - while the corner reinforcement plates are spares from the Rumney Models chassis which went under my dia. 1/107. There's still a very long way to go with this one; perhaps a dozen or so handrails for a start!

Adam

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

what the handrails inside the wagons were actually for

Probably to enable maintenance crew to clamber out?

 

[AJC]

Probably to enable maintenance crew to clamber out?

That's about right, I think - what I've understood from asking the same question over there is that they were certainly for access for either shifting frozen or clogged loads (the rap plates on the sides served a similar but less invasive and safer means of doing the same thing) or to pack the bottom doors with straw or grass to keep the small coal in worn-out bottom doors. Interesting, I think? They are a pig to model, I will admit.

Adam

 

[Wagonman]

I'm just curious to know how those handrails stood up to having 21 tons of coal dropped on them every few days...

 

[AJC]

If this picture is anything to go by, not well:



Note the variation of types.

Adam

 

[JimG]

I'm just curious to know how those handrails stood up to having 21 tons of coal dropped on them every few days...

That would depend on the type of coal. If the normal load was the very fine type of coal for chain grates then there probably wouldn't be much damage.

Jim.

 

[AJC]

That would depend on the type of coal. If the normal load was the very fine type of coal for chain grates then there probably wouldn't be much damage.

Jim.

I doubt that any such consideration was made if photographic evidence is anything to go by and would think that the handrails suffered in the process! It's a rare old fiddle to do in 4mm (and uses a lot of wire for limited effect) but as with so much else, I will know that it's there and will feel better for having done it. I've got the day off tomorrow so perhaps this wagon will progress?

Adam

 

[JimG]

I doubt that any such consideration was made if photographic evidence is anything to go by and would think that the handrails suffered in the process!

Adam,

I spent a few of my school summer holidays working as a labourer in the local distillery helping unload 16T mineral wagons with fine coal for the chain grate furnaces in the power house. The wagons were tipped on a hydraulic lift but the fine coal was notorious for clogging if it was damp and the only damage resulting from this was a row of dents on the floors of the wagons in line with the axles where we hammered the floor with a long metal pole laid on the axle while the wagon was tipped. So the fine coal didn't do much if any damage to anything, just the humans.

Life wasn't so easy when we got the occasional larger mineral since our hydraulic lift couldn't handle the longer wheelbase and we had to empty it by hand with spades. I learned how to shovel efficiently quite quickly.

Jim.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Life wasn't so easy when we got the occasional larger mineral since our hydraulic lift couldn't handle the longer wheelbase and we had to empty it by hand with spades. I learned how to shovel efficiently quite quickly.

It must have been even tougher for the Clyde puffer crews when they had to unload coal from the cargo hold between tides after beaching.

 

[AJC]

An update on my Italian ferry van from plastic sheet, last seen here. As can be seen below, the bare carcass now has all the various framing, the double skin on the roof and a start made on the door fixtures. Most of this is from Evergreen strip, though in the case of the hinge detail, the 10 thou' thickness has been sanded back a little: it will still be over scale! Next on the agenda are the remaining door details before I think more about the underframe.



The overall impression is pleasing, but the truth of how well I've done will be seen only when it ends up in primer. In the meantime, here's what it's supposed to end up like - in silver!



Italian Vans at Hove Station, 30 June 1966 by Ian Nolan, on Flickr

Adam

 

[AJC]

Returning to another earlier theme, the colours of Charrington-liveried hoppers, Justin Edwards on the BR wagon research Yahoo! group has pointed me in the direction of this (from a slide on eBay):

35mm SLIDE OF BR STEAM LOCO 80137 - 1960's | eBay



Adam

 

[AJC]

After much fiddly detailing, I'm happy that this is complete above solebar level. More sub-solebar stuff to do now but that should be reasonably straightforward, if, in this case, a bit representational.



The U-shaped steps were an engrossing challenge. I could have tried bending angle into the appropriate shapes but bending that in two planes without significant distortion is not simple and the results are unlikely to be robust. In 4mm, one can get away with bending strip - etch waste - into a 'U' and then adding the joggle into the solebar. The legs of the 'U' are overlong and plug into holes drilled in the floor: the fun part is to bend 0.45mm wire to match and then solder it in place! Having managed this two-in-two, I then squared everything off and stuck them on before they could vanish. It's all looking promising at present, so fingers crossed...

Adam

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Returning to another earlier theme, the colours of Charrington-liveried hoppers, Justin Edwards on the BR wagon research Yahoo! group has pointed me in the direction of this (from a slide on eBay):

Adam

Ha! I saw that in the group email, and was going to post it here. These things always turn up after Closing Time

 

[AJC]

Ha! I saw that in the group email, and was going to post it here. These things always turn up after Closing Time

It does remind me that I need to do something about the lettering on my model. Those 'R's are interesting: there's something almost Helvetica-like about them. Now once upon a time, Letraset would almost certainly have produced something suitable. Now, however, without going down the custom route, I may have to compromise. Archer Fine Transfers do something that's the right size and about the right weight, but ordering direct from the US is rather extravagant for a couple of packs of transfers (and the UK wholesaler is currently out of stock of these).

Adam

 

[Overseer]

It does remind me that I need to do something about the lettering on my model. Those 'R's are interesting: there's something almost Helvetica-like about them. Now once upon a time, Letraset would almost certainly have produced something suitable. Now, however, without going down the custom route, I may have to compromise. Archer Fine Transfers do something that's the right size and about the right weight, but ordering direct from the US is rather extravagant for a couple of packs of transfers (and the UK wholesaler is currently out of stock of these).

Adam

The lettering is very Helvetica-like, and probably was Helvetica. The oddity is the H is upside down on all the wagons appearing in photos in this thread so far. The S is also upside down on the wagon in the latest colour photo but seemingly the right way up on the others. It looks like the lettering was applied as precut vinyl letters - 1963 seems early for vinyl lettering, but maybe not.

It would be a pity to not get the lettering right after repainting the wagon. If the other options fail let me know, I have the software to adjust the letters to match the photos and should be able to print in red but haven't tried it yet.

 

[Lyndhurstman]

The lettering is very Helvetica-like, and probably was Helvetica. The oddity is the H is upside down on all the wagons appearing in photos in this thread so far. The S is also upside down on the wagon in the latest colour photo but seemingly the right way up on the others. It looks like the lettering was applied as precut vinyl letters - 1963 seems early for vinyl lettering, but maybe not.

It would be a pity to not get the lettering right after repainting the wagon. If the other options fail let me know, I have the software to adjust the letters to match the photos and should be able to print in red but haven't tried it yet.

Excellent Knowledge. Excellent. Thanks for sharing - and having the eyes on the inversions.

 

[AJC]

Closing in on completion now with lots of enjoyable little details. Since these follow continental practice, many of these are unusual; take, for example, the axle keeps which were made from 1mm angle, bent in funny little ways and soldered in place. The straight lengths of bar seem familiar from British wagons seem rather more straightforward!



The other element in the photograph above is the odd-leg 'vee' hanger, odd because the pivot for the brake lever is not carried on the same brake shaft as the vacuum cylinder or, presumably, the air brakes. Presumably the lever acts on this shaft by some equivalent of the Morton cam. It's not immediately obvious to me how this works, but in 4mm this doesn't much matter and the result, shown below looks near enough like the real thing so far as I'm concerned



The axleboxes (roller bearings) are from 4mm diameter tube filled with Miliput but will need caps when that's set. Tonight's remaining task will be safety loops and, perhaps, the lamp irons on each corner...

Adam

 

[AJC]

By way of a break from chasing tiny fragments of plastic strip around the workbench I've started something else; a quick project, albeit building a very unusual wagon. Last time I went visiting my parents in Somerset, I flipped through a back issue of GWRJ and found, on the letters page, a nice picture of a GW dia. O30 open at Reading in 1965. These differed from those I built a little while ago by being constructed from steel sheet rather than planks. Given Swindon's form with building iron wagons in its early days it's perhaps surprising that they didn't pursue this beyond the 50 of these that they built between 1932 and 1934, but having found this picture I thought a model would be fun and Cambrian produce a kit in 4mm. As originally built they looked much like W124189 in Paul Bartlett's collections: GWR open merchandise OWV ZGV | W124189

More detail can be had from John Lewis's article in GWRJ, no. 38. My model (it will represent W124174) differs in that the prototype had been modernised as part of BR's vac' fitting program in the 1950s with tiebars, Dowty hydraulic buffers and, presumably, the usual modifications to couplings, gaining either instanters or screw links (I've assumed the former) and, probably, a couple of lamp irons. It retained spoked wheels at the time of being captured on camera, but very little paint which is what makes it fun.



The kit is one of Cambrian's most recent and comes with a one-piece chassis which is excellent, even if it does feel a bit like cheating. I've replaced the supplied axleboxes and used some Parkside mouldings for the brakes because they happened to be loose on the bench - the Cambrian ones will be used somewhere else at a later date. Buffers are on order and the sole modification to the body, thus far, is to add a protector plate to to door and to rescribe the plank lines inside the door; Cambrian still make these raised on the inside of wagons but that's easily dealt with by a couple of passes with a scalpel blade.

Adam

 

[AJC]

And thus, I said it would be quick.



This is the opposite side showing by home-brewed GWR type ratchet brake lever guides, three parts in each, all butt jointed! This joins the queue of wagons waiting for the weather to warm sufficiently to put some primer on. Looking at the forecast this may be some time yet.

Adam