Paint Shop for the Wee Ben

HR Small Ben frames with inside motion and balance weights.

While stripping down the Wee Ben ready for the Paint Shop I realised that the motion plate was in the wrong place and that the balance weights were back to front. This came about when I chanced upon a drawing of a projected enlarged Small Ben in Cormack and Stevenson's "Highland Railway Locomotives 2". I've had this book on my shelves for ages but never looked at these drawings of engines that were never built before. Anyway, there it was...a drawing that included enough detail of the inside motion to show me that I'd got it wrong. So I put it right and I think it looks better now with the balance weights the right way round. The frames of course are not prototypical in the area of the bogie wheel arch, they are cut away to allow the wheels clearance, which was not the case with the real thing, the frames should curve down to support the motion plate. When the pistons are mounted in the slide bars the motion will be complete. You can see the earlier erroneous version of the inside motion under the Blog sub heading for the Small Ben which contains more construction details and photos.

HR Wee Ben; details of boiler mountings and spectacle plate.

I comissioned an etch for the stepped circular lookout surrounds and I think they improve matters; I have a few left if anyone wants a set. The engine is to be HR No.8 Ben Klibreck. Ben Kilbreck, as it's now known, is a remote mountain in the far North which I climbed a few years back with my wife and the dogs when we were chasing the Munros. I'm pretty sure that No.8 carried an early style brass number plate with the lettering and numbers incised and inlaid in black. As you can see I've mounted the number plate on the cab side already, I'll mask it with tape when I spray the engine.

Highland Railway Coach Complete.

HR D19 3rd Class Coach

The coach body was air brushed with Phoenix P727 HR Dark Green 1885-1912 (Dull). I thought at first it was too dull and tried a coat of gloss varnish but that was too bright and I reverted to a duller finish. The chassis was air brushed and then dry-brushed by hand though not extensively. The couplings were blackened with Carr's Metal Black, which is more durable in use that paint.

HR D19 Interior with Passengers.

The interior was more difficult than the exterior as there was a lot of masking to be done and everything took several coats of paint. I think I made it even more difficult by gluing the seats in the compartments before I painted them; I painted them by hand to give them some texture and it took at least three coats of paint. I've only done a basic job on the interior, there's very little detail though it looks fine from outside even without the pictures on the bulkhead above the seats. I might add these later, I'm not sure if there was a mirror there as well, anyway it's a detail that will have to wait as I've started work on the Wee Ben...stripped her down, getting her ready for the paint shop.  

Visitors at CD0GG Open Day

Caledonian Railway 264T Class engine with a goods train in the scenic section of the layout at CD0GG.

NBR/LNER agricultural implement wagon with Fordson "F" crawler tractor load.

Caledonian Goods Brake Van brings up the rear.

CR 264T Class 0-4-0 with wooden tender heads the train.

Caledonian Single No 123 awaits her turn in the sidings, a welcome visitor.

I resolved to take only finished painted stock to the club Open Day today in Carlisle and to this end I assembled a short goods train of appropriate stock headed by my trusty Caledonian Railway 264T Class engine. I took a petrol tank wagon built from a Slaters' kit; my recently finished NBR "IMP" with its tractor load and a Caledonian goods brake van that I built some time ago from etches supplied by Caley Coaches, to bring up the rear. The fine scenic section of the CD0GG layout proved to be a very effective setting in which to photograph the train, I think you'll agree it looked a treat.

Fordson "F" Crawler on NBR "IMP".

Fordson "F" Crawler on NBR/LNER Dia. 99B

Tractor roped and blocked on the wagon deck.

I have a backlog of models, including 4 engines and 2 coaches, which have been waiting in the sidings for the paint shop for far too long, and I intend to address this as a matter of importance. In fact I've already begun work and my HR D19 6-wheel coach is well underway and... as you can see in the accompanying illustrations, I've actually finished the NBR wagon with its tractor load in good time to run at the weekend at the Members Day at CD0GG in Carlisle. The tractor, in the absence of any firm evidence, is roped and blocked onto the wagon bed in the way that I'd do it rather than in the regulation manner of the LNER. The word "SIGHTHILL" on the wagon curb rail presented a problem as I'd no transfer for it so it had to be contrived with a mixture of a few individual transfer letters and a few painted ones. The key to this problem being a new 00 sable paint brush that I bought this morning in Cockermouth, in one of the few remaining art shops in Cumbria.
The crawler tractor is being taken up to the north of Scotland  to replace some poor old horses that are due for retirement from the Forestry Commission, they'll be glad to see it.

The Festive Season

NBR / LNER Agricultural Implement wagon Dia 99

The Festive Season has not proved unduly distracting this year, I told the relations I was in Australia and spent the time saved in the studio building this NBR "Imp", with a minimum of modification, from a Celtic Connections kit. It runs well on a solid wheelbase. The buffers and draw hook are solid too, not sprung. I don't think its a problem to have a wagon with solid buffers in a train, though it might be a good idea to put it between two wagons with sprung buffers.

Fordson "F" awaiting tracks

Fordson "F" Trackpull Crawler

 
This is the load for the NBR "Imp"...a Fordson "F" crawler tractor built from a white metal and brass kit by "The Model Company" of NZ. I bought it from ABS models at a show last year. It's a well engineered product with plenty of fine detail, takes a bit of building though. You can build it with steel field wheels too, as I did myself some time ago; this alternative version can be seen in the "Wagons" section of the Blog.

Fordson "F" Crawler Tractor load on NBR "Imp".

The tractor is the 1926 version so I'll probably finish the wagon in LNER livery...the earlier NB livery includes a fearsome amount of script lettering along the solebar which I don't fancy confronting. I'll have to contrive some rope lashing and wooden blocks and wedges that I know the railway company would've used to steady the load when in transit.

As I mentioned in my previous Post... I bought Geoff Holt's book "Locomotive Modelling", wrapped it up and opened it Christmas Day. It was indeed a slim volume but it was a good buy, a great book if a trifle overpriced. I'll be ordering vol. 2 without a doubt...good one Geoff!

What else was lurking under the Christmas Tree?  Well, the only thing of modelling interest was a Meteor Models' 14 Ton Rail Tank kit which looks a decidedly interesting build. Oh... and I bought the wifey a Highland Railway timber wagon kit from Invertrain which I thought she'd enjoy seeing going round...I think I'll probably build it for her. 

A Slim Volume and a Running day at CD0GG.

On Friday a rather slim package dropped through my letter box, I knew it was Geoff Holt's new book on locomotive building...Volume 1. I'd only ordered it the day before at some considerable expense. This was good service on the part of the bookseller, however I was a little taken aback by the slimness of the envelope it came in, it seemed as if the contents were no thicker than a magazine. I viewed it with some trepidation and considered opening it but gave it to my wife to wrap for Christmas Day. I will give my reactions on opening the said packet in a later posting.

On Saturday I took my completed Coal Tank to the Members' Running Day at CD0GG at their premises in the basement of Carlisle Citadel Station.

LNWR Coal Tank at CD0GG

 The superbly modelled scenic section of the Carlisle group's generous layout makes a fine backdrop against which to photograph models.  The Coal Tank is running through the station with a short train comprised of my Highland Railway D9 composite coach and a well modelled Maryport & Carlisle Railway Horsebox belonging to one of the members. The engine ran very well and I was pleased with her performance. I've a backlog of models awaiting the paint shop here in my workshop so a painting session is my next priority. I've already stripped my HR D19 coach down ready to paint so I'll start with that and afterwards my long neglected "Wee Ben".

NW Coal Tank and HR composite coach glide smoothly through the station at CD0GG.

Coal Tank waits in the sidings at CD0GG

I modelled the fireman from photos of  typical Coal Tank crew, he doesn't have a uniform or railwayman's cap but wears an old flat cap and his "working clothes". The driver's out of sight on the left...both the crew members are now available in my "Heroes of the Footplate" range and will be added to the Website soon.   

HR D9 Coach, More progress



HR D9 Chassis wheel-springs and hangers.

 
When assembling and mounting the springs and their hangers on the solebars the sequence of work is important. The spring-hangers and the leaf-springs, along with a length of rod on which four brass discs, a washer and a terminal nut are mounted are soldered together in the flat. Then the spring-hangers are bent to shape and soldered in place on the bottom of the solebar. The centre wheel-springs are different to the outer ones and are more of a fiddle to build, however the sequence of assembly remains the same.



Buffers, couplings and safety chains on the buffer beam

 The couplings are made from castings by CPL and work prototypically. The safety chains I made myself from 0.6 wire; the hanger is a short pattern brass hand rail knob with the sides of the head flattened with a file and the hole enlarged and countersunk.

HR D9 Third Class compartment.

HR Third Class compartments were designed to seat ten passengers, it looks like a tight squeeze. My passenger is from my Heroes of the Footplate range... SP2 Seated Gent 3rd Class passenger. I haven't made any First Class passengers yet though I intend to do so. The inner skin of the coach is in place and this forms a slot, between it and the outer skin, into which the glazing will slide. I'm waiting for some cast brass grab-handles from LGM but they'll not be available until after Christmas, so I can't solder the inner skin in place yet.



HR D9 Roof fittings.

When the oil lamp that lit each compartment was removed a bung was fitted in the hole to make it watertight, a lamp top and a bung are in place on the coach roof; these are castings from my own range of HR accessories which you can see at  http://www.borderminiatures.com/