Monthly Archives: February 2013

NBR Brake Van Lettered and Glazed.

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Wow another 2 post day!

Another that has had it’s finishing touches is the NBR Brake van. This too presented a few challenges on the transfer front but it came out all right in the end.

NBR Brake Van 016

I even managed to glaze the duckets without too much difficulty despite them being a solid casting and no way in from the inside of the van. I have tried and failed to show with the photo below that you can actually see through them and out each end of the ducket. I used some 1mm perpex which I cut in to a 12mm strip from which I cut further strips 2.5mm wide. I filed the ends round and kept filing top and bottom until they were a tight fit. Once they were wedged in I ran some Johnsons clear over them to help them to stick.

NBR Brake Van 015 NBR Brake Van 014 NBR Brake Van 013 NBR Brake Van 012 NBR Brake Van 011

The rest of the windows are glazed with microscope cover slips from CPL stuck in with PVA. What I like about using PVA to stick them in is that any you get on the windows themselves can be cleaned off once dry with a bit of water on a cotton bud. But if you don’t do too good a job it looks like dirty windows.

GER Sand Wagon Painted and Lettered

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Another one that’s ready for weathering is the Connoisseur GER Sand Wagon.

In my world it has been transferred internally to the Leeds District. The lettering has been made up from some old Woodhead transfers that I picked up at Halifax a couple of years ago and some spare bit’s of Parkside that I had left. The Woodhead transfers have been revived/made usable by the application of Microscale liquid decal film and I cannot recommend it enough!

In theory you just apply a coat to the back of the transfer and leave it for 15 minutes then use it like a water slide transfer.

In practice I found that some of my transfers were still a bit fragile so I applied a second coat for strength.

To apply them I mixed a bit of PVA in some luke warm water. Then I painted the back of the transfer with the PVA/water mix to wet it (after removing from the backing paper layer) and applied it like a press fix/meth fix transfer but without the meths solution. Then I held it in place, wet the top and after a few moments the carrier film came away. From there I adjusted the position like a waterslide transfer.

GER Sand Wagon 001 GER Sand Wagon 002

More tales from the skip

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A little household repair job this week yielded another to the selection – Our header tank was constantly dripping so I fitted a new siphon valve. Chopping the thread off and a blow over with red primer left me with this.

Wagon loads 008

Wow 2 posts in one evening, I have been busy

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Three more in the weathering line up. These are 3 Slaters Midland cattle wagons. The kits arrived various incarnations of Slaters packaging indications the age of them. Despite the oldest’s plastic parts looking a murky yellow colour they all made up very nicely. The only minor downsides were that the couplings were of pressed steel and had nearly rusted away and the buffer heads are the old 2 parts type (they still need fitting and should have been fitted before assembly to do right).

Slaters MR Cattle Wagons 001 Slaters MR Cattle Wagons 002 Slaters MR Cattle Wagons 003 Slaters MR Cattle Wagons 004

Yet another long time inhabitant of the workbench joins the weathering queue!

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Yet another long time inhabitant of the workbench joins the weathering queue.

This is a Model Signal Engineering Former S&D Horsebox  that was marketed under the Fourtrack Models banner when I bought it.

S&D Horsebox 007

It has a real leather seat which shows up quite well in the shot above.

S&D Horsebox 001 S&D Horsebox 006 S&D Horsebox 005 S&D Horsebox 004 S&D Horsebox 002

The reason that it has sat so long is that I attempted to line it but in the end there just wasn’t enough on the beading to make a successful job of it. I got the yellow on but when it cam to the black it ultimately covered the yellow so I ended up respraying it

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In between finishing off my shelf queens I have also been messing about with making a few wagon loads.
I started by wanting to make some pipes. Having looked around for something suitable and finding nothing I raided the recycle box, taking out a couple of tins that canned tomatoes came in. Using a pair of snips I cut down the side and chopped the bottom and the rim off.
Then I ran them through my rolling bars to flatten it out so that I could mark it up. Once it was flat I squared the edges and marked each one into 3 sections. I cut them out and re-rolled them into smaller diameter tubes. The two cans yielding 6 tubes. I held them together with wire and soldered them with a roll of plumbers solder that I had kicking about the bench (I only used this because I still wasn’t sure how well they would turn out and I had got this for nothing so would lose nothing if they still ended up in the recycle box).
Once soldered I gave them a wash and a blow over with some Halfords grey primer and this was the result.
 Wagon loads 003 Wagon loads 006
The next one is nothing more scientific than one of the small cans that Pilchards come in. This just had the top and bottom taken out and a coat of primer.
 Wagon loads 002
Last up for the moment is from one of my never through anything away because it might be useful stock.
The idea came about from a photo on Paul Barlett’s wagon site that I stumbled upon when researching the pipe wagons – a wagon load of cable drums.
With the mental light bulb on I remembered that when making up the base boards for the layout I had cut a series of holes in the ends for the wiring to pass through.
To make these holes I used a hole cutting saw which left me some nice round sections of plywood that I had hoarded. Taking some of these pieces I sanded the edges down to smooth out a small rim where I had drilled from both sides. Then I stuck some cut down matches to the edges with pva to create the drum. I had picked up a large bag of matches from a craft shop some time ago with vague ideas and they have finally been used for something.
 Wagon loads 005
Regards Rob

 

The battle is over and I won, but only just!

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The Pipe wagon was finally completed last weekend – but I completely forgot to upload the photo’s

BR Pipe Wagon 001 BR Pipe Wagon 002 BR Pipe Wagon 003 BR Pipe Wagon 004 BR Pipe Wagon 005

 

 

As a friend warned me the door dampers were a B****r to fit. I had to almost snap them and then re-solder them to get them to the right angles to fit. Thankfully they soldered very nicely.

 

It’s now going through the paint shop before being offered up for sale.