Painting is still progressing and Chris seems to have the bug too – she has finished weathering the L&Y bogie van while I have the coal wagon ready for it’s transfers.
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Painting and Lining
As a bit of a break from construction I have had a couple of days doing some painting.
Just after the new year I went along to Warren Haywood’s house (Warren is another resident of Wakefield). Warren had kindly offered to give me some hints and tips on painting and lining (for those of you who don’t know Warren’s work, Warren is a professional model painter who paints for among others Tower Models and Finescale Brass).
When we arranged it Warren suggested that I take along my bow pens, bow compasses etc. so that he could try them out and suggest which may need attention (or throwing away :lol:). I also took along the tender for the A3 working on the theory that if I needed something to practice on that could be it.
Once he had tested my pens etc. Warren kindly suggested that he line the red and white of one side of the tender to give me something to work to when I started myself – As you might imagine I jumped at the opportunity.
Yesterday I had a go at the other side.
I am sure that you can work out that the top image is Warrens fine work, while that below is mine. My mlines are not quite as fine as Warrens in places but that said I am quite pleased with the result, and as someone else once remarked – you cant see both sides at once 😀
Back to the NBR D71
Once the bogie coal wagon was finished the mojo stayed in place and I made some good progress on the D71
First I found photographic evidence that Bill was right when he said that the gangway versions of these coaches had internal opening guards doors – so off they came.
The bogies are the Newbould models Fox bogies and they only come with brake shoes/supports for the outer ends of each bogie. By good fortune a rummage in the spares box yielded enough spare Connoisseur brake shoes/and supports for the inner sets – they did need a bit of creative bending to get them fitted but fitted they are. The spares box also supplied enough yokes (Connoisseur again) for the outer axles which left the inner ones without. To get around this I first put a piece of rod through the brake shoes and then I measured the Connoisseur yokes. Next I got some scrap etch strip and filed a V 17mm from one end and then bent it around and soldered the joint. I then filed the open ends to and angle that would allow a second strip to be soldered across the open end to create the triangle all these joints were made with 227 degree solder.
These were clipped to the rode across between the brake shoes to make up the yoke. They still need a piece of rod to give the appearance of being able to be pulled on/off but they are better than nothing at all.
The rather nice full stepboards finish the bogies off and they were surplus from the Kemilway Fox bogies (they are designed to cover both GNR and NER variants).
Dragon Models Cambrian/LMS Leeds Forge 30 ton bogie coal wagon
Since the 2nd of Jan I have been side tracked yet again. This time I have been a bit selfish in that I have built this straight from the pack, following the instructions and without taking any photos along the way – just for the pleasure of building it.
The only problem that I encountered was when drilling out the buffer shanks, the only 4mm drill bit I had wouldn’t cut butter so I had to buy a new bit, the rest of it went together just as the designer intended. It is worth mentioning that because of the amount of rivets in them some of the strips need to be straightened after rivetting but I would expect this so I don’t see it as a deficiency of the kit.
This is the Dragon Models Cambrain/LMS Leeds Forge 30 Bogie Coal wagon which I have fancied ever since seeing it on the Dragon stand at various shows. Chris bought me it as a surprise for Christmas so it would have been rude not to build at least one of my Christmas pressies.
I have even managed to get it primed too.
Underframe Complete
Yesterday was a good day at the bench seeing the underframe complete (I think!) and the sides/ends assembled along with the end doors and corridor connections fitted. I need to do a bit of a repair job on one of the scissor connections because when soldering it on I got the whole thing a bit hot and one of the joints soldered solid.
I will get some photos of the body work later but here are a few of the underframe to be going on with.
