4mm Jan's 4mm WB: Hello, Old Friend

[jonte]

One sided. The GWR Open begins its descent into decrepitude. Rust and washed out grey. One side has been dosed with a cocktail of acrylic colours, lain over a lightened base grey that was brushed over the BR Early Freight Grey, and thinned dark wash dropped between the planks.
View attachment 180006
Cheers

Jan

There’s an awful lot of effort gone into producing the quality of that finish, Jan, and it was worth it!

‘Tis worthy of further study and appreciation before I could even begin to do it justice with a comment.

Thanks for sharing, Jan.

Jon

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Tarpaulin Takes
Test runs for tarpaulins. No one does a tarp for Hybar or their like, it seems. So it’s out with the SIAS (Suck It And See). Using a Smiths BR tarp as a guide, a sheet was cut out of wrapping foil (thinner than kitchen foil) and contorted into what I believe to be a suitable shape.

Then this was removed…

….
and used to draw the profile on some plasticard supports…

These were joined up longitudinally. I’ve put the bar up to make sure that it’s the highest point on the mountain. I shall probably add some 5 thou plasticard along the bottom of the slope, to give the bend of the sheet some support along the length of the side. The whole thing is demountable. I just need to find a way of making sure the sheet doesn’t stick to the former as the glue dries. I’m wondering about clingfilm…


Cheers

Jan

 

[jonte]

Great start, Jan.

Here’s one picked at random from umpteen on YouTube:

Okay, it’s not a wagon tarp, but the principle’s the same. I’ve also seen it done with soft ‘Mansize’ tissues.

Just one of many out there, Jan.

Jon

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Great start, Jan.

Here’s one picked at random from umpteen on YouTube:

Okay, it’s not a wagon tarp, but the principle’s the same. I’ve also seen it done with soft ‘Mansize’ tissues.

Just one of many out there, Jan.

Jon

Hello @jonte
Thank you. I keep forgetting about YouTube, believe it or not! Perhaps that’s beyond my cultural high water mark; I tend towards magazine articles and forum posts as a default repository. More training required, obviously!
Various people have recommended Tunnocks wafer wrappers too. I shall try with the Smiths product as well - purely because I have some, and have already opened the packet!

Thanks again

Cheers

Jan

 

[jonte]

Hello @jonte
Thank you. I keep forgetting about YouTube, believe it or not! Perhaps that’s beyond my cultural high water mark; I tend towards magazine articles and forum posts as a default repository. More training required, obviously!
Various people have recommended Tunnocks wafer wrappers too. I shall try with the Smiths product as well - purely because I have some, and have already opened the packet!

Thanks again

Cheers

Jan

My pleasure, Jan.

Indeed, there was a recent MRJ article on this very topic, but it was easier (I shamefully admit) just to go straight to YouTube. If I can find it, I’ll let you know.

Best,

Jon

 

[Lyndhurstman]

My pleasure, Jan.

Indeed, there was a recent MRJ article on this very topic, but it was easier (I shamefully admit) just to go straight to YouTube. If I can find it, I’ll let you know.

Best,

Jon

My pleasure, Jan.

Indeed, there was a recent MRJ article on this very topic, but it was easier (I shamefully admit) just to go straight to YouTube. If I can find it, I’ll let you know.

Best,

Jon

Thank you @jonte
Due to cost and storage, I only buy MRJ now and again, so if you could track it down, I’d be grateful.

Cheers

Jan

 

[AJC]

Hi Jan,

There's a few under 'tarpaulin' in the MRJ Index: Model Railway Journal Index - all 7mm, I think which is unhelpful because this is something that really doesn't scale.

Martyn Welsh used masking tape, Gordon Gravett used newspaper (a variant of his approach is what I do, but using saved tissue paper from occasional shoe purchases) and Geoff Kent uses the thicker foil you can find in certain sorts of medicament. I found normal tinfoil too thin and prone to damage but your mileage may vary.

So what I do is to build a sort of tent in 40 thou' plastic, for vehicles with tarp bars anyway, add the bar along the top and drape two layers of the tissue over the top, papier mâché style. I have a GWR open to do for my pre-Nationalisation freight - I'll model it with the hood up to show my working.

Adam

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Hi Jan,

There's a few under 'tarpaulin' in the MRJ Index: Model Railway Journal Index - all 7mm, I think which is unhelpful because this is something that really doesn't scale.

Martyn Welsh used masking tape, Gordon Gravett used newspaper (a variant of his approach is what I do, but using saved tissue paper from occasional shoe purchases) and Geoff Kent uses the thicker foil you can find in certain sorts of medicament. I found normal tinfoil too thin and prone to damage but your mileage may vary.

So what I do is to build a sort of tent in 40 thou' plastic, for vehicles with tarp bars anyway, add the bar along the top and drape two layers of the tissue over the top, papier mâché style. I have a GWR open to do for my pre-Nationalisation freight - I'll model it with the hood up to show my working.

Adam

Thanks @AJC
I went to the MRJ index after @jonte had posted, but - as you say - it was very much Senior Scale oriented. Thanks for the info in other avenues, and I’ll be happy to see your take.

Cheers

Jan

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Fold & Hold
The OOTB tarpaulin option from Smiths. If the tussle to make alternatives is as cussed as this, I may just stop here! The folds are atuck down with dabs of Copydex applied with a cocktail stick. Not bad, but I’ve ordered some 0.25 mm EZ Line Rope to try and replicate the ties, and thereby hopefully get rid of that unprototypical bagginess between sheet and sides…



Cheers

Jan

 

[Lyndhurstman]

I’m Not Even Sure Anymore
Colour me early bauxite. Another eBay rescue (why, Jan, why…?)

I’ve been off work with a bad cold - not COVID (2 negative tests) - and could only read so much. So I’ve been pottering in the Tiny Train Room when I’m able. This is (or tries to be..) an LMS D2079 van - built for them by the LNER in 1942, having wooden ends - horizontal boards - due to steel not being available in the war years. Apparently, (Essery et al, Volume 1) the 250 examples D2079 were built as 2 shoe unfitted Morton. I have presumed therefore that post-war, in being converted to vacuum brake, that rather than go to LNER 8 shoe Clasp (which I presume would need a whole new underframe) they would be given an extra two shoes and a vacuum cylinder - as well as longer buffers. I hope so, anyway, as I can't find a picture of one post-1955...
Finishing touches from are - as per - from Lanarkshire Model Supplies; viz buffers, hook, and swan neck vac pipe. Rain strip (I don’t often add them; they were seen less and less as vehicles were reroofed or re-covered, and I’ve read (or been told - did I mention I have a cold?) that there was an edict at some point saying not to bother… so by 62/63 I’m plumping for less is more.. )is Plastruct tack-glued at strategic points, then flooded, finally being filed to some sense of finesse. And because they’re a Faff. I’ve also added the tiebar between the W irons; the usual 1 mm brass angle from Albion Alloys.

Anyway, this is it in Railmatch Early Bauxite. I have yet to concoct it’s M number and Tare. Maybe when I get my head back…



Cheers

Jan

 

[jonte]

The tarp looks great, Jan, in the bottom photo.

Hope you feel better soon.

Jon

 

[Lyndhurstman]

The tarp looks great, Jan, in the bottom photo.

Hope you feel better soon.

Jon

Hello @jonte
Thanks - and thanks for the tarp DM; I’ll print out a copy when next I’m near a printer. @TimC also provided some useful info, for which - as ever - I am grateful to him for. I’ve still to lash to down; I have the ‘rope’ now, but lack the necessary clarity of mind required.. soon, hopefully…

Cheers

Jan

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Come Fitted
The last chapter; the journey out of anonymity for the LMS Van. Railtec transfers individual 3mm numbers and a 4mm M for the regional signifier, using the number range for the D2079 vans identified in LMS wagons Volume 1. Fiddly, and research shows (Tatlow, Volume 1) shows that the LNER could fit two numbers per plank. The area of the transfer site was prepared with Johnson’s Klear, and the transfers softened in place with Microsol.
After that, it was all very Wham Bam And Thank You, Ma’am. All gubbins attached, and a last brush of white in the brake lever ends. I went with a fudge for the Tare weight; I think the LNER Clasp versions were about 8-5, and the nearest I had to that was 7-16. Still, if she’s light on her feet, who’s to know?


I’ve given her a very light wash of dark between the planks. But stopped there; the gaps appear really too big (evidenced by the number spacing) and I didn’t want to accentuate them.


Cheers

Jan

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Boys From The Black Stuff

Who isn’t intrigued by a tar tank?

This is another International Rescue mission. But this time, it’s just wheels, buffers, and couplings. Everything else seems to be there.

Odd that it’s white. But it will be black. Or maybe Red oxide. Whatever it’s colour, it will wear a simple - and fictitious- livery, denoting it as belonging to Burt, Boulton and Haywood of Silvertown. They’re in Grace’s Guide - a treasure trove of industrial and commercial history. BB&H were distilling 12 million gallons of coal tar - the by-product of heating coal to make gas (like they did at Beckton, a few miles east of Limehouse Dock) which could then be turned into disinfectant, insecticide and dyes.

Yesterdays incarnation had sprung buffers, but I managed to snap the head off one of them late last night. So I took them off and replaced them with Lanarkshire’s B003. The chain of the 3 link I found in a clear-out recently. It’s about 6mm link - well over scale! But I had it, so it’s cheap I think it might have been from my old EMGS days… now that WAS a long time ago!

Cheers

Jan

 

[Lyndhurstman]

A Couple Of Things
First up, the painted version of the tar tank.

Many layers of hand brushed Railmatch acrylics later, the white has disappeared. Just for a laugh, I’m doing this fictional tank ins fictional livery; green and black, and white for the lettering. The colours of Plymouth Argyle . I’m not going to weather it, much. Ideally, it should have some rust and streaking, but I’m not inclined to take it too far. I’ve had a very fruitful conversation with Steve at Railtec, and have ordered some 6 mm high B’s (4) and H’s (2) to sit on the three panels. As well as two 1.5 mm high SILVERTOWNs to go in the bottom right hand corner..

Seconds out, Round Two…

Another rescue job. An ex-Coopercraft O4 (OPEN A) that was built to the same methodology as this one
Post in thread 'Jan's 4mm Workbench'
4mm - Jan's 4mm Workbench
… the builder has put the ends up too high relative to the solebar - which exposes the strengthening rib on top of the solebar, and the pips on the wagon ends.

… so it was scalpeled apart, and a razor saw and file taken to the excess meat of the strengthening rib …

Instead of making a new floor, I tried a new tack, and thinned down the floor from underneath, with my trusty safe-edged flat file…you may be able to see what I’m after here..


Then it was on to the brakes. Having no clue as to the progression of such things, I decided to nix the Churchward arrangement in preference to the two shoe Morton variety of later years. Whether these wagons were ever modified thus in a batch is not understood. But this one was Some ex-Parkside bits from the spares box are being pressed into service, and the Churchward bracketry at the ends excised…

And that’s where we are, for now. An evenings work on the OPEN A. You could say an open evening, I suppose…

Cheers

Jan

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Slide Away
Thanks to a wonderful cost-effective and quick service from Steve at Railtec - and a wonderfully well thought out product with the most minimal minimum of carrier - I was able to add the initials and SILVERTOWN to the tar tank. Thanks Steve.

These were a custom request, but were delivered within three days of my floating the idea to him. Doing it this way (4 Bs 2 Hs at 6mm Gill Sans, 2 Silvertown at 1.5 mm) meant I didn’t have to pay for a lot of letters I wasn’t going to use.

Cheers

Jan

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Thrashes to Thrashes
90 minutes with razor saw, side cutters, and small drills saw this ex-Hornby GWR Morton 4 shoe Unfitted lurking in The Bits Box transformed into a a 2 shoe. It will become W145385 - to match the photo on page 55 in Part 2 of Geoff Kent’s wonderful Wild Swan 4mm wagon books.

One side of the brake gear (the non-clutch side) was shaved off, the couplings and mounting bosses discarded, and the body securing pips trimmed to out of sight. Gibson 3 hole wheels fitted and LMS CH04 coupling hooks and 3 link chain added. I left the RCH buffers on; I don’t have any 1’6” RCH replacements ATM. Transfers and paint wait for another time…

Cheers

Jan

 

[Lyndhurstman]

(re)Construction Time Again
A triptych of back for good for the GWR 5 Plank (OPEN A).

1st. Shave To The Rhythm. Cutting off the remains of the buffers left some shafts filling the holes. So here I’m using a 1.1 mm drill as a locating dowel and a backstop to give me a proper location for the drill. You might be able to see that I’ve shaved off the buffer plates too; they won’t be needed with the replacement set from LMS.

2. Join Hands. The sides and ends paired up and in the process of glueing. The old bathroom shelf helps here. As does my trusty (and rusty) V block.

3. All Together Now. Lightly joined with a few dabs of Plastic Weld. I used an old 1/2 inch square lathe tool and some packing as an internal support to help me get the floor level (when the assembly was the other way up; I really should have taken a photo…). This view has it in its interim state - the RH end has since been tweaked upwards to align solebar with bufferbeam…
Pleasing little trays. A far cry (and a Great Escape) from reality.
Cheers

Jan

 

[jonte]

(re)Construction Time Again
A triptych of back for good for the GWR 5 Plank (OPEN A).

1st. Shave To The Rhythm. Cutting off the remains of the buffers left some shafts filling the holes. So here I’m using a 1.1 mm drill as a locating dowel and a backstop to give me a proper location for the drill. You might be able to see that I’ve shaved off the buffer plates too; they won’t be needed with the replacement set from LMS.
View attachment 183956
2. Join Hands. The sides and ends paired up and in the process of glueing. The old bathroom shelf helps here. As does my trusty (and rusty) V block.
View attachment 183957
3. All Together Now. Lightly joined with a few dabs of Plastic Weld. I used an old 1/2 inch square lathe tool and some packing as an internal support to help me get the floor level (when the assembly was the other way up; I really should have taken a photo…). This view has it in its interim state - the RH end has since been tweaked upwards to align solebar with bufferbeam… View attachment 183958
Pleasing little trays. A far cry (and a Great Escape) from reality.
Cheers

Jan

Top stuff, Jan, and thanks for sharing the method

Jon

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Two Sides To Every Story
It’s a done deal (other timbers are available). The Open A is now closed.
The final shenanigans involved Masokits etched door bangers, and some ‘cut and shut’ of Eastern van numbers from Railtec to make an approximation of a BR Western Region number - I hummed and haa’d about what it should be, but hopefully this is near enough. As I’ve been wont to do of late, one side is weathered, the other clean. I have photos of a freshly-repainted High Goods in 1960, so I can justify it, I think. I’ve also done the black panel a bit differently; again, I have photographs of some Opens having this extended painting of the lower two planks.

Cheers

Jan