Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
Quite lovely work Chas. The underframe is a real treat.

Mike
Thanks Mike, I like the look of it too. Much of it should still be visible on the finished wagon, as the tank doesn't fully cover the chassis.

I've done quite a bit more since that last post, including starting on the plastic Airfix parts - I'll post some photos over the weekend.
 

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
It's finally time to look at the plastic elements of this build, meaing those parts of the original Airfix kit that are retained in the combined Airfix + Masokits design... and there aren't many of them! Aside from a couple of tiny pieces - tank filler cap, for example) this is all that's used:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240104 (1).jpg

The solebars have already had their plastic v-hangers and other protruberances removed (aside from those central electrical boxes) but the eagle-eyed will see that the circular moulding marks are still there. They're not easy to get at without damaging neighbouring rivet detail or the channel sides, but with patience they can be reducd, eventually to the point where they won't show:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240104 (3).jpg

They're then reinforced on the inside surfaces with plastic card, otherwise not only are they a little flimsy but there's not that much of the plastic in close-ish contact with the brass underframe, for glueing purposes:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240107 (4).jpg

Two strips of plastic card are provided in the kit for this purpose, but they're quite a bit thinner that the gap between the main solebar lengths and the brass, which may be because there were different iterations of the Airfix parts at different times. I initially decided therefore to use slightly thicker card - here's a view showing the two thicknesses, the one in blue being that supplied by Masokits, the one in green being my slightly thicker one, where you can see the larger gap afforded by the thinner card:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240107 (2).jpg

After glueing the small pieces in place at each end of both solebars however, I couldn't help thinking I might/must be wrong. I started doubting my idea that the Airfix solebar mouldings might have varied in thickness at different times in the kit's production history and If there's one thing I've learned from building this kit, it's the Michael Clarke thinks things through very thoroughly! The only reason I could think of as to why the reinforcing plastic strips should be that thin is to allow for more epoxy to sit between the plastic solebars and the brass frame, giving a stronger bond... so, I used the strip supplied with the kit for the remaining sections!

One other slight issue is the raised circle round each bearing hole on the plastic solebars:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240107 (3).jpg

If left in place, they cause the solebars to splay outwards when the rest of the plastic is brought flush with the brass - as shown circled here:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240107 (1).jpg

Unless I can think of a reason for their retention, they'll have to go!

In any event, I was finally able to put together plastic and brass elements for a test fit, which was quite exciting!

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240104 (7).jpg


Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240104 (6).jpg

There's also some hole filling to be done on the tanks, where the plastic walkway supports would have gone; I followed the suggestion in the instructions to use plastic card pieces:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240104 (5).jpg

And while all that was drying, I took a look at the buffers. Finding suitable looking ones was a bit of a quest, but the kind folks at Dart Castings came to my rescue with some GWR ones, plus some larger buffer heads to substitute. These are of a type I've used from them before, where the steel buffer heads are moulded within the white-metal housing, a very effective method that also allows the heads to be swapped should the need arise, but the use of suitable gripping tools and a bit of oomph! Here you see the housing, with the smaller diameter head removed and the larger one next to it:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240104 (4).jpg

I can't decide whether to solder the white-metal housings to the buffer beams before or after putting in the new steel heads. Putting them in before soldering adds material that might act as a heatsink (where I want to be in and out quickly, soldering such small white-metal items to a relatively much larger brass assembly) but OTOH they'd perhaps be nicely seated if they're there before heat's applied, plus there's then no chance of blocking up the holes through the housings... If anyone's tried that both ways please let me know what you found.

In the meantime, the solebars have had their reinforcement pieces added and the filler pieces in the tank halves have been filed back, a slightly awkward operation as I didn't want to mark the otherwise very smooth and shiny tank surface around the where the pieces are glued in place:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240107 (5).jpg

Looking again at this last photo, I think the question of removing those rings round the plastic bearings should involve checking clearances for the sprung bearing carriers with the plastic solebars in place: do the outsides of the brass bearings poke through and interfere with the plastic?
 

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
As I suspected, not only did those rings around the bearing holes in the backs of the solebars have to come off, but the protruding rears of the brass waisted bearings poke through the bearing carrier frames far enough to need some extra clearance:

Airfix-Masokits 20240111 (2) solebar bearing cavity enlargement.jpg

I used a 3.5mm drill to open out the holes in the plastic, including some upward and downward lengthening of the slots:

Airfix-Masokits 20240111 (1) solebar bearing cavity enlargement.jpg

And now, the plastic solebars sit flat against the brass and the sprung bearing carriers are free to move fully upward and downward, without fouling the plastic:

Airfix-Masokits 20240111 (3) solebar bearing cavity enlargement.jpg

Job done: next will be buffers and the tank...
 

AJC

Western Thunderer

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
The buffers you actually want for these weren't anything like the ones you've got (nice though they are).

As built some had Dowty hydraulics: Esso Class B 22t Vac brake tank wagons | Esso3300.

Later most (all?) seem to have got long OLEOs: Esso Class B 22t Vac brake tank wagons | ADB999041

Both can be had (drilled out for sprung buffers if required) from Lanarkshire Model Supplies.

Dowtys: BH04

OLEOs (NB, not available drilled out): BP04

Adam
Hello Adam, thank you very much! I'd done some looking but hadn't found the Lanarkshire ones - a much better match!

You say that the OLEOs are not available drilled out: does that mean the Dowtys should be available drilled out?
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
Hello Adam, thank you very much! I'd done some looking but hadn't found the Lanarkshire ones - a much better match!

You say that the OLEOs are not available drilled out: does that mean the Dowtys should be available drilled out?

I think that's right - the side walls of the OLEOs would be *very* thin (though looking at the listing, it seems that the Dowtys aren't either - I suspect because you can't get suitable heads, but @Dave F. (who is LMS) can confirm.

Adam
 

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
Thanks Adam - @Dave F. I just emailed you via your site too, as I didn't know you're also on here; apologies for the double-up. No problem if they're not available drilled out, the white-metal castings look very crisp and a much better prototype match than the ones I'd been going to use.
 

Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
Just had a very helpful email from Dave Franks of Lanarkshire MS who confirmed the choice of their BH04 Dowtys for early tankers and he also explained that "the reason the BH04 can't be drilled is that as per the prototype the buffer and shank are off centre to the housing due to the housing being the oil reservoir so if put in the lathe by the spigot the buffer head would run eccentrically" which is very interesting to know.

Thanks again Adam for pointing me at these buffers, I now have some on the way. I wasn't entirely happy with the ex-GWR ones I'd been planning to use and new it would proibably niggle; now, I have the agreeable feeling of knowing that a niggle's been removed! :)
 
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Chas Levin

Western Thunderer
Well, a somewhat longer interval between postings for the start of this year, due to other things taking up what would have been modelling time.

A couple of them are related activities though: what started out as a minor re-organisation of my work room (a former 2m by 2m box bedroom) turned into a full re-location into our largely unsued dining room (with the agreement of Mrs Workbench, of course!) so while that took a lot of time and energy, it's resulted in my having a much bigger room to work in, with almost everything I use or need in the same room (no more running up and down stairs every five minutes for a slightly differently shaped file ) and the space to have my small layout out and operational all the time, instead of only weekends and holidays. Also, much better light and a new (well, pretty old actually, from Ebay) desk to work on, with lots of small shelves and deep drawers!

Meanwhile, in other news, I have taken up the post of Interim Secretary of the Great Northern Railway Society, which is very exciting! My appointment is 'Interim' at the moment as it has to be voted on and approved at the next suitable Society meeting in April, but I've already been organising forthcoming meetings, getting to know the other committee members and so forth and it's great to be involved in things.

Work on the Airfix-Masokits Esso tanker has therefore been brief and mainly focussed on the tanker. Uniting the two halves and one end (so that the resulting assembly can be mounted on the chassis for testing weight on the springs) showed that the mating of the pieces - original Airfix plastic - was not exactly seamless, so a quantity of Green Stuff was applied an dleft to harden overnight:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240223 (1) tank.jpg

I forgot to take pictures of the initially glued halves to show the gaps but they weren't pretty!

Smoothing that lot down and then removing the sanding work marks from what was a very smooth plastic surface has taken quite a lot of time and a range of very fine rubbing pads, but I'm getting there:

Airfix-Masokits Esso 20240223 (2) tank.jpgAirfix-Masokits Esso 20240223 (3) tank.jpgAirfix-Masokits Esso 20240223 (5) tank.jpg
 
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