Liver & Fry's workbench

[Liver & Fry]

Does anyone have any experience with Poppy's WoodTech? They appear to make some 4mm kits for Highland Railway coaches:

Poppys WoodTech - 4mm scale items

I plan to enquire with them, but just wondered if anyone knew of them from their own experiences?

- James

 

[timbowales]

I've only used their chassis jig, very pleased with it though

 

[Herb Garden]

I'm the same, the chassis jig is a godsend but I never used anything else

 

[Liver & Fry]

"And now for something completely different..."

Back in April last year, I came across the kit for an L&Y Dia.3 van by Three Peaks Models (which subsequently led to me building the Dia.1 open). At the time I was put off by the obvious seam line around the ends of the van and so I never went through with ordering one.

Then one day, whilst researching for a future project, I discovered something interesting:

Much like the Hull and Barnsley refrigerator van of Hornby fame in the early 1970s, Triang produced an Insulfish van that was quite clearly based on an L&Y Dia.3. It got me thinking, can you breathe life into an old model by making it into what it was meant to be?

One auction site visit later and I got this:



Dimensions wise, from what I can tell, the body is the correct length, 2mm too wide and unclear on any height discrepancy. However, the side strapping looks correct and so will form a suitable basis.

I split the wagon apart:



Before giving the body a wash and removing the transfers:



The roof and chassis will be replaced and some relevant components are on order. This is very much a trial and error project and I'm not wholly concerned about 100% accuracy of the finished item. It's simply a bit of fun, to see what I can make of a 60 year old wagon!

- James

 

[Rob R]

There are loads of them on said auction site from 0.99p upwards so this will be a project to follow with interest (even though it is 20% too small).

 

[Liver & Fry]

I now have a rolling chassis on the Dia.3 van. This was courtesy of some pre-made w-irons I'd thrown together a month or two back as spares for when I fancied a quick build.

The underside of the body was marked up for the correct 9ft wheelbase before being framed by some 1/8" square balsa strip to make up the underframe of the wagon. It's quite delicate stuff so I did have to perform surgery with some filler but fingers crossed it should turn out OK! The w-irons were then fixed in place:



The finishing touch for tonight was to add the brake shoes:



As far as I can tell, these vans were initially single sided for brake shoes, with a pair of brake levers both pointing to the same end (right, in the above instance). I am happy to be corrected before it's too late, mind you!

Some L&Y buffers also arrived today, but I've run out of time to fit them tonight. The land of nod calls!

- James

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Hello
A nice project. Be aware that for Morton brakes, the brake assembly was on the clutch side of the wagon, and the brake push rod on that side followed the slope of the brake handle; i.e. down from right to left.

LMS 3 plank medium open ZAO ZAV ZXO ZXV ZRV | M472958 13T 3 plank open merchandise diag 1927 � Paul Bartlett Collection w

Paul Bartlett's Photographs

PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com

Cheers

Jan

 

[Liver & Fry]

Hello
A nice project. Be aware that for Morton brakes, the brake assembly was on the clutch side of the wagon, and the brake push rod on that side followed the slope of the brake handle; i.e. down from right to left.

LMS 3 plank medium open ZAO ZAV ZXO ZXV ZRV | M472958 13T 3 plank open merchandise diag 1927 � Paul Bartlett Collection w

Paul Bartlett's Photographs

PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com

Cheers

Jan

Would it have a Morton clutch though if the brake levers are both pointing the same end of the wagon?

- James

 

[magmouse]

Would it have a Morton clutch though if the brake levers are both pointing the same end of the wagon?

- James

It needs a clutch, otherwise trying to put the brakes on with one lever would be prevented by the other lever still in its resting position and unable to drop down. It doesn't need the reversing clutch which was the Morton innovation, allowing the levers to be on the right hand end on both sides of the wagon.

From a modelling point of view, the clutch would be pretty much invisible, and the brake push rods would be as you have them.

Nick.

 

[Liver & Fry]

It needs a clutch, otherwise trying to put the brakes on with one lever would be prevented by the other lever still in its resting position and unable to drop down. It doesn't need the reversing clutch which was the Morton innovation, allowing the levers to be on the right hand end on both sides of the wagon.

From a modelling point of view, the clutch would be pretty much invisible, and the brake push rods would be as you have them.

Nick.

Thank you!

 

[simond]

It needs a clutch, otherwise trying to put the brakes on with one lever would be prevented by the other lever still in its resting position and unable to drop down. It doesn't need the reversing clutch which was the Morton innovation, allowing the levers to be on the right hand end on both sides of the wagon.

From a modelling point of view, the clutch would be pretty much invisible, and the brake push rods would be as you have them.

Nick.

being turbo-pedantic, particularly when the thing‘s are already invisible as Nick says, it needs a clutch both sides

 

[robertm]

Is that more pedantic than hyper pedantic?
Asking for a friend….

 

[Herb Garden]

Is that more pedantic than hyper pedantic?
Asking for a friend….

I think it goes:

Pedantic
Mega pedantic
Hyper pedantic
Turbo pedantic
Uber pedantic
Rivet counter

 

[Liver & Fry]

Detailing has been the name of the game tonight! Axleboxes, springs, buffers, drawhooks and solebar ironwork have all found their place on the Dia.3 this evening, whilst the shade of the air has turned a shade of blue and my knees now ache from crawling round on the floor looking for said bits of ironwork I kept dropping...

Still, I think it was an evening well spent:



I still need to extend the framework on the end of the van and fit brake levers (and invisible clutches...) when they arrive. The roof will be another adventure entirely! But, it's all coming together nicely now...

- James

 

[simond]

Is that more pedantic than hyper pedantic?
Asking for a friend….

No, just quicker….

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Detailing has been the name of the game tonight! Axleboxes, springs, buffers, drawhooks and solebar ironwork have all found their place on the Dia.3 this evening, whilst the shade of the air has turned a shade of blue and my knees now ache from crawling round on the floor looking for said bits of ironwork I kept dropping...

Still, I think it was an evening well spent:

View attachment 231462View attachment 231463

I still need to extend the framework on the end of the van and fit brake levers (and invisible clutches...) when they arrive. The roof will be another adventure entirely! But, it's all coming together nicely now...

- James

That's very nice. I apologise for the confusion regarding the brakes. Keep on keeping on.

Cheers

Jan

 

[James Spooner]

Detailing has been the name of the game tonight! Axleboxes, springs, buffers, drawhooks and solebar ironwork have all found their place on the Dia.3 this evening, whilst the shade of the air has turned a shade of blue and my knees now ache from crawling round on the floor looking for said bits of ironwork I kept dropping...

Still, I think it was an evening well spent:

View attachment 231462View attachment 231463

I still need to extend the framework on the end of the van and fit brake levers (and invisible clutches...) when they arrive. The roof will be another adventure entirely! But, it's all coming together nicely now...

- James

On the question of making peace offerings to the great panjandrum of the carpet, I bought an EMGS apron a couple of years ago and find it is very good at catching about 90% of what drops off my workbench. Not foolproof but it definitely clears the air of blue language and saves the knees!

Nigel

 

[timbowales]

On the question of making peace offerings to the great panjandrum of the carpet, I bought an EMGS apron a couple of years ago and find it is very good at catching about 90% of what drops off my workbench. Not foolproof but it definitely clears the air of blue language and saves the knees!

Nigel

An additional refinement (that I've not got around to doing yet) is to attach velcro to the bottom edge of the apron and the edge of the workbench. Helps to starve the Carpet Monster whilst giving way if you stand up without detaching it first

 

[Liver & Fry]

Didn't get time to post this last night, but I've now fitted the brake levers and V hangers to the Dia.3:



The clutches are there. They're just invisible

- James

 

[Liver & Fry]

Live from the workbench! I'm finishing off the lower end detailing before I move on to the roof (although, that will come after I've added weight inside, which will need to set, so I may give a preliminary coat of paint and add weight today and do the roof at a later point...)

Anyway, enough rambling! I've tried some wood offcuts and extended the end framework over the bufferbeams:



This project (and modelling generally) will potentially slow down for a few weeks from tomorrow as I have another module starting on my post grad. I'll do bits where I can (I think I'll need to for my sanity!) but the updates may not be quite as regular.

- James