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Offline kariosls37  
#151 Posted : 07 May 2012 04:23:52(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Mark

It's probably best that he's left in a supervising role, he does less damage thereBigGrin

Despite the foreman, a lot has happened at the workshops.
First the W irons were cleaned up and fitted
UserPostedImage
Then followed the details. I had made a few pictures of a very simular wagon in the Dutch Railway Museum a few years back for reference, and these were used as a basis for detailing, the rest was done via the usual guesswork.
UserPostedImage
The brakeman's hut didn't pose any problems either. The roof is still loose, and won't be fitted untill after painting. The handrails on the end were a bit tricky, and were built from a bit of 0.75x0.25mm styrene that had the bent and drilled. Two bits of 0.5x0.25mm styrene formed the other flange of the angle iron, and brass handrails were attached once the glue had set overnight. The filler on the cover of the handbrake is evidence that I don't always get it right the firs time, I had made it completely round, but then I found a drawing that showed these wagons had a round side and a flat side, meaning I had to make some adjustments...
UserPostedImage

The HSM wagon has also been finished. More of the usual really.
UserPostedImage
UserPostedImage
That rounds off the construction phase of the set of coal wagons, painting and decalling are all that's left, and of course a load of coal, 123 scale tonnes of it!

Thanks for watching,
Rick
Offline borntman  
#152 Posted : 12 May 2012 01:13:12(UTC)
borntman

United States   
Joined: 24/01/2010(UTC)
Posts: 120
Location: Huntington Station NY
I noticed in model railroader that they used shaped resin blocks with washers inside them to make the coal loads. These were than painted black and had real coal (as if there is any other kind) placed on top. The washers were for easy removal by a magnet.
Offline kariosls37  
#153 Posted : 23 May 2012 12:40:11(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Borntman. I came across that article as well. It would be suitable if you have a lot of wagons of the same type, which is what I was trying to avoid. The washer trick is interesting though. I have heard of concealed wires as well to hook the loads out as well. I will see how it goes, I might use it if I can find some old bits of iron.

I can't sit still for long, and it has already been some time since I printed the drawings out, so it's high time I made a start.
My layout won't be complete without a train or two of regional railway carriages(Lokaalspoorrijtuigen). These carriages were not as heavily built as mainline carriages because of the low speeds involved(60km/h max in the thirties). Like the coal wagons, I will build a batch of them which will save me time in the long run.

With a bit of research I was able to determine what ran in my area and era. Trains were short, usually consisting of an engine, guard's van, second class carriage and a third class carriage. Occasionally another third class carriage was attached, and some services had the guard's van replaced by a comined postal-guard's van.

The first carriage to be built is a guard's van from the series D 4101 - 4145. like all vans that ran these services, they were actually mainline vans demoted to regional service. They were almost exact copies of vans built for the Prussian State Railways, except for the door on the blind end, which was addes at the SS's request, who took delivery of the vans in 1895 and 1900. Fleischmann makes a model of the Prussian van, which can be converted using a simple upgrade set.
I coudn't be stuffed finding one on Ebay, so I am just going to build it myself. This way all my carriages look the same as well.

Drawings came from the usual source:
http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g15/emmer_van_floortje/NS%20materieelboek%201924/Hoofdspoormaterieel/D%20bagagewagens/?action=view&current=20080110093003407_0005.jpg

The usual start was made on the underframe. I knew the chassiss was going to be tricky, with 3 axles to go around curves. With the track on my layout being amost at eye height, I wanted all wheels to be on the rails at all times too, which didn't make the chassis any easier to build. I have come up with a straightforward solution though, here it is:
UserPostedImage
The left axle is attached so it can rock, but is otherwise fixed to centre the carriage on the track. The centre axle is fixed at two points, but can slide about 3mm from side to side in curves. The wheels have also been made a bit thinner to give extra sideplay. So far this is just a basic 3-point compensated chassis as I have showed here before.
Then we have the last axle. For starters, it can rock like the left axle. However, instead of being fixed to the chassis, it is attached to a bit of spring steel, allowing it to move up and down to stay on the track, and to allow the other two axles to do the same. It is also fixed in a way that only allows the spring to move up and down so that end of the carriage will also stay centred on the track. This axle does not really support the carriage as such, but simply matches whatever the other two axles decide to do.

To my relief, the carriage does go thouth the tightest curves on my layout, and it can just manage an R2 curveCool

The body soon followed, being built from 0.5mm styrene. Strips are starting to dress up the body too:
UserPostedImage

Because 0.5mm styrene is a bit flimsy, the inside has been reinforced with 1mm thick styrene, and the side doors are made from the same material
UserPostedImage

Thanks for watching,
Rick
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Offline kariosls37  
#154 Posted : 05 June 2012 00:16:34(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
It's taken a while, but I have finally managed to paint and varnish the last two coal wagons.
The painting was more of the usual, and went fautless. The varnish was a diffrent story however. My jar of Humbrol 135 had gone thick, and it was a struggle to paint one wagon, so I gave up after doing the HSM wagon. I have had this problem more often, of Humbrol varnishes(but not paint)
going thick after a while. Has anyone else had this problem?
The varnish, once dried turned out to be very matte, more than it is usually, but it still looks good as it looks like a wagon that's due for a service and repaint
UserPostedImage
The next thing I tried was a can of Tamiya varnish I had from ages back, which turned out to be empty. This weekend, armed with a new jar of Humbrol 135, I fired up the airbrush once more. I intently didn't stir all the thick stuff on the bottom of the jar through the varnish, as this is what makes it more matt. The net result is a wagon that's shinier than usual, like a wagon that has just been repainted.
UserPostedImage
After varnishing, glass was fitted to the inside of the windows with a bit of Krystal Klear and the roof was painted with some Humbrol 94 to resemble the older sand-coated roofs, after which the roof was glued on.

With all 9 coal wagons built, it was time to take them all outside for a photo. Unfortunately the track was too short to add an engine, so you will have to imagine that for now. In the meantime, here is an authentic 1930's train of empties making it's way back to the coal mines in Limburg on a sunny winter's day
UserPostedImage

Thanks for watcing,
Rick
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Offline Mark5  
#155 Posted : 08 June 2012 07:07:53(UTC)
Mark5

Canada   
Joined: 29/01/2012(UTC)
Posts: 1,420
Location: Montreal, Canada
Wonderful to see them all together Rick!
Thanks for posting these photos. ...

Would love to see a photo or video of the train with locomotive in transit.
Will you be running these on a club set or elsewhere?

Also, do you have decals or will you make some to put on the coal cars?

- Mark
DB DR FS NS SNCF c. 1950-65, fan of station architecture esp. from 1920-70.
In single point perspective, where do track lines meet?
Offline kariosls37  
#156 Posted : 09 June 2012 00:45:03(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Mark,

I may see if I can get the whole lot outside for a photo on a good day.
Running is a bit of an issue at the moment, I have ordered a whole lot of couplers for them a while ago, but so far only one set has arrived at the hobby shop. Currently I have 2 coal wagons that can be coupled. A few other wagons now have couplers too, plus the van. I am in the process of chopping up some couplers for the stake car at the moment, as it needs special treatment...

As the NS 3931 is very picky about it's curves, I can only run it on my own DC layout and the club's modular layout, which is only set up at shows, and even then there's usually some bugger that wants to be creative and sets up something with an R1 or R2 curve in it... The NS 3931 has done some laps on it thoughThumpUp
However, I may give running the wagons a go next club meet time as they are mostly 4-wheelers, plus some substitute motive power.

As for decals, read back a littleWink

Cheers,
Rick
Offline kariosls37  
#157 Posted : 13 June 2012 05:50:07(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
And now we go back to the van.

Work continued on the underframe details of the van. The construction method is pretty much the same as the coal wagons, only the spring length has changed a little. The axleboxes are the same standard SS type as used under wagons, so some more resin castings were made. I have only mentioned the process so far, so I thought I would show how I make my resin castings in more detail.

Resin casting is usually associated with expensive, specialised materials and processes, but my method uses cheaper, off the shelf bits that are low-tech and simple to use with a little care.
To start with, we need a mould. For these axleboxes I glued the backs to a sheet of plastic. This plastic sheet will form the flat top of the mould once it is finished. With the masters ready, I can start the mould by carefully applying a thin layer of rubber over the masters and the base. The rubber I use is Woodlands Scenics latex rubber, which I bought ages ago and it is nowhere near empty. The initial coat of rubber is left to dry, after which more layers are built up with drying time in between until a sturdy mould has been formed. Only then are the masters and base removed.
Unfortunately I have no pictures of this, as I haven't made any moulds recently.

Next up is the casting itself. First up, the moulds are coated in a thin layer of Vaseline. This will prevent the mould from sticking to the casting. I use an old paintbrush for this. Don't be stingy, a little more will cause much less harm than not enough.
The resin I use is ordinary fibreglass resin from the hardware store. It is measured and mixed according to the instructions. Because most of my castings are tiny my measuring is done by counting droplets of the components.
With the resin mixed, I first use a little bit of wire to get a drop of resin in the mould which is used to coat the surface of the mould. This prevents air bubbles sticking to the mould. The mould is then filled gently and slowly from one corner to reduce the number of air bubbles that form. Any bubbles that do form are fished out, and the mould is topped up if needed.
Once cured overnight, the castings are removed and cleaned up, ready to use.
UserPostedImage
The main players of the casting process. In the foreground is the full axlebox mould, to the right is a bit of wire for mixing and the lid I do my mixing in, and behind it the two parts of the resin.

And here are the axleboxes(and some other stuff) attached to the underframe.
UserPostedImage
Details were also added to the underframe, in the form of some brake gear and a gas cylinder.
UserPostedImage
That's all for now, more will follow later

Cheers,
Rick
Offline kariosls37  
#158 Posted : 10 July 2012 13:14:46(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
I've been making some good progress on the van.
The underframe was first to be finished. It got some drawgear, identical to the stuff fitted too the goods wagons. Next up a little jig was made up to bend the supports for the running boards. These have to be fairly good, because errors will result in a wavy running board. The supports themselves were bent from brass wire and were inserted into holes in the solebars. The styrene running board was then superglued onto it. The result is not quite straight, but I am satisfied with it.

Above the frames, the most significant addition is the roof, which was bent and glued on. The roof on the lookout was also modified a bit using some styrene strip and filler to improve it's shape. Vents for the gas lights were turned up on the cordless drill using some old sprue. The andrails also recieved a fair bit of attention. The real van had elegant curved dandrails, which were tricky to make, but using a bit of brass rod it was not too hard. The horizontal handrails were a bit easier, although the supports were made out of small bits of styrene shaped to match the real thing. They are tiny, but by putting them on a bit of wire 8 at a time it was not that hard to get them uniform.
UserPostedImage
The handrails on the balcony end had me stumped for a while, as I couldn't figure out how to make sturdy end handrails out of the available materials, until I read of someone making details out of staples. So the stapler was raided, and it din't take long before some nice handrails were present on the balcony end.
UserPostedImage
The blind end is a little less detailed, with it just having a gagway support, gangway, a door and more of those nice handrails.
UserPostedImage
That's the cosmetics pretty much done.

These trains will also have to run at night, and the Guard can't do his paperwork in the dark so some form of lighting had to be fitted.
Three warm white LED's on the roof of the van are connected via a bridge rectifier to phosphor bronze wipers on the outer wheels. A capacitor is also wired in to make up for bad contact. Right now, the van looks like this when the power is on:
UserPostedImage
A tad bit bright maybe...BigGrin
I still have to play around with the resistors to give it a more realistic gas light appearance.

I will wait a bit with painting until I have some more stuff than needs to be painted in the same colours, more on that soon.

Thanks for watching,
Rick
Offline NZMarklinist  
#159 Posted : 11 July 2012 13:41:29(UTC)
NZMarklinist

New Zealand   
Joined: 15/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,757
Location: Auckland NZ
Very good Rick ThumpUp BigGrin

"then there's usually some bugger that wants to be creative and sets up something with an R1 or R2 curve in it... "

Jeez Rick, someone has a lot to answer for Wink LOL I'm not a fan of that module either ThumbDown
Glen
Auckland NZ

" Every Marklin layout needs a V200, a Railbus and a Banana car", not to mention a few Black and red Steamers, oh and the odd Elok !

CS1 Reloaded, Touch Cab, C Track Modules, K track layout all under construction. Currently Insider
Offline kariosls37  
#160 Posted : 16 July 2012 23:44:02(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Glen.

And on the subject of things that don't go through R1, I have started work on the NS 5301 again.

The project had stalled a while back mainly because I was waiting on a few crucial parts to arrive. These include screws to screw everyting together, a gear and a matching worm. Without these I cannot run the engine, and because the engine will be running on DC layouts, the engine must be a good runner and not have any sorts. While the kit looks well made, you really don't know how it runs until you actually get it going.

The screws could easily be ordered in from North Yard, a reliable local supplier. However, the gears had me stuck for a while, until I had a clever moment and measured up the gears I did have. Luck was on my side that day, the 0.4 module gears supplied were a patch to the ones North Yard stocksCool Once they arrived, work could start again.

Some 2mm shafts were found in the parts box and round to length, bushes were made up and the gearing was fitted for the first time. The first gear after the worm is in a bit of an odd position, because the North Yard worm is a bit bigger than what the gearbox was designed for, but it works.
UserPostedImage
As you can see, the motor has also been wired up, and the engine has now done a bit of running, and everything runs very well.

Next up on the jobs list was the brass ring between the firebox and the boiler. The firebox is an old design, with most modern fireboxes having the same height and width at the centreline as the boiler barrel. This transition from the firebox to the boiler barrel was of course done with a brass cover.
The brass casting was not present in my kit. Instead, I cut some brass tube of the right radius to length, halved it lengthwise and then carefully bent it round. I then had to halve it again. This time I used a file to do the work. holding such a thing is quite tricky, but I soldered it to some leftover brass sprue like so:
UserPostedImage
I could then hold the ring in the vice, where the ring could be filed to size.

I had in the meantime also come across a drawing on the net, amongst other things, it showed the screw reverset in the cab. A few posts back cou can see the lever reverser I guessed these engines had. This was removed, and using styrene the body of the reverser was made up. The handwheel was also made from nickel silver wire, which will be fitted later. As I was putting styrene on the cab anyway, I made up some brake taps as well. The front one is for the brakes on the engine only, the other applies the brakes on the whole train.
UserPostedImage

Going back outside, some missing parts were turned up. Suprisingly, handrail knobs were quite easy to make from brass wire turned to shape in the cordless drill. Lids for the sandboxes were also made up in a simular fashion. The brass nails the instructions tell you to use were not present, and looking at photos I could see they left room for improvement, which I did.
Some other details were also made up, and handrails were temporarily fitted. These are nickel silver and will be attached after painting
The engine now looks like this;
UserPostedImage
UserPostedImage

Cheers,
Rick
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Offline NZMarklinist  
#161 Posted : 17 July 2012 16:58:12(UTC)
NZMarklinist

New Zealand   
Joined: 15/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,757
Location: Auckland NZ
Good on you Rick for perservering, and finding the materials to complete the model to your high standards. ThumpUp

Hope it goes as good as it should look Wink
Glen
Auckland NZ

" Every Marklin layout needs a V200, a Railbus and a Banana car", not to mention a few Black and red Steamers, oh and the odd Elok !

CS1 Reloaded, Touch Cab, C Track Modules, K track layout all under construction. Currently Insider
Offline Ian555  
#162 Posted : 17 July 2012 18:17:19(UTC)
Ian555

Scotland   
Joined: 04/06/2009(UTC)
Posts: 20,235
Location: Scotland
Hi Rick,

Wonderful work. ThumpUp

Ian.

Offline kariosls37  
#163 Posted : 19 July 2012 12:31:22(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Ian and Glen.

Motivation was not really a problem for me, Having it sitting on the layout part-built was enough to keep the mind ticking over on what to do for those final missing parts.

The loco runs very nicely now after a few tweaks here and there, especially keeping in mind that everything is still unoiled(so I don't have any problems with painting and if it runs well now, it should only improve after oiling) and that currently it only picks up power from the drivers on the left hand side. The right hand side picks up via the bearings and chassis, so is is as ideal as possible for that side. I plan to add wipers to the left hand leading and trailing wheels to improve pickup.

Cheers,
Rick
Offline kariosls37  
#164 Posted : 15 August 2012 10:07:42(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Slowly but surely the final bits have been sorted out on the NS 5301 in between other projects. Following cleaning and a final inspection, this weekend a major milestone has been reached; the loco has now been primed.
For the priming I have used etch primer in a spray can. Because the primer is normally used on cars, the volume of paint coming out the can would drown a model in paint. Instead, I sprayed the primer into the jar of my airbrush. I added some two-way thiner as well to get the right consistency for airbrushing. This method works really well, as I have full control over where the primer flows and the primer is applied in nice thin layers. The only part that wasn't primed with etch primer was the backhead, as this has some styrene on it. Here, Tamiya primer was used instead.
The result:
UserPostedImage
And the top of the loco in detail
UserPostedImage

Although not really visible in the photos, the brass still shows through slightly, meaning that the primer is a nice thin, even layer. It is also nice and smoothThumpUp
Hopefully I will continue with some paint next weekend. In the meantime I have started something else, but more on that later...

Cheers,
Rick
Offline kariosls37  
#165 Posted : 19 August 2012 12:12:14(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
With the van done and the loco not needing much work, it was inevitable that I would continue with my regional railway train project.(The loco needs something to pull after all...)
The second class carriages allocated to the area I model were from the series Bl 1021-1070. These were built between 1905 and 1914. They could seat 40 people, with the seats at either end of the carriage facing windows in the end walls for a nice view of either the countryside or more likely, a carriage or van. They are big carriages for being four wheelers, being two metres longer than the van. This was posible due to the low speeds encountered on regional lines.
A drawing of the carriages can be found here:
http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g15/emmer_van_floortje/NS%20materieelboek%201924/Locaalspoormaterieel/B%20tweede%20klasse%20rijtuigen/?action=view&current=20080111150554910_0007.jpg

They were started a few weeks ago, and this is roughly where they are up to now:
UserPostedImage
The walls were built up flat, the core being 0.5mm styrene with strips on top. The curved tops of the window were punched using a sharpened bit of brass tube. Before assembly, the bottom of the walls was curved inwards and reinforced by laminating styrene on the inside.

The floor is made from 0.8mm styrene, a bit sturdier than the 0.5 I normally use. The seats are stuck to the floor, which is part of the frame. The floor drops out so I can access the interor of the carriage for whatever reason. A shot of the interior so far:
UserPostedImage
And if making one is a big job, I might as well make two more...
UserPostedImage

Thanks for watching,
Rick
Offline FMS  
#166 Posted : 19 August 2012 13:52:15(UTC)
FMS


Joined: 01/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 839
Location: PT
Beautiful job!
Regards
FMS
Offline kariosls37  
#167 Posted : 21 August 2012 09:46:52(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks FMS

This weekend I managed to find some time to fire up the compressor to do some painting. As I was working with a number of diffrent paints, I started with the paints that needed the lest agressive thinner. The theory behind it is that doing it this way I minimise the chance of traces of a more aggressive thinner wreaking havoc with other less agressive paints.

This meant Tamiya olive green was first up, thinned with a little 42 Below(It's cheaper than the Tamiya thinner and works just as well). Unfortunately the jar I had was on the old side. Even though I strained the paint through some pantyhose I keep for that purpose, It still had some minute lumps in it. For this reason I only painted the van with it, the loco will get paint from a new jar so I can be 100% sure of the finish.

Next up was black, being my trusty Humbrol 33. No problems there. This was done over both days of the weekend.

With some of the black parts having cured overnight I gave these parts a coat of (Tamiya) clear to protect the paint. Last on the list was painting the buffer beams on the NS 5301. These are seperate parts that can be glued on later to save the hassle of masking them. The paint used here was a specific shade of red manufactured by a model railway firm in Holland, and is the same paint as used on the NS 3931. It is an automotive laquer, which is very nice to work with and dries in minutes. The downside is that the thinner used is very agressive, a gas mask and gloves must be worn during the painting. To finish off the weekend a start was made on some of the hand-painting.

At the end of the weekend I had this;
UserPostedImage
UserPostedImage
Some of the hand-painted bits include the brake valves, regulator and firedoors in the cab, black bits on the buffer beam and some silver bits on the front of the loco.

Cheers,
Rick
Offline kariosls37  
#168 Posted : 08 September 2012 11:36:34(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Work has continued on the loco, although it has taken longer than I had wanted. The chassis is now near to being assembled for the last time, although it has suffered a major setback. The method of letting the gear mesh with the side of the worm did work at first, but it hasn't stood the test of time. This means I have to get a new gear wheel, which will suit the worm much better so the net result is an improvement.

The top of the loco has also not been without setbacks, with the masking tape taking some of the paint below with it. However, after removing the paint it was repainted again. To reduce the amount of masking to a minimum I have brush painted all of the black, only masking the line on the water tanks and an edge in the coal bunker.

The net result after some masking:
UserPostedImage

I have been giving the cab a fair bit of attention, and I am now almost finished with the details. I still have to attach some handwheels and the reach rods for the Westinghouse pump and the blower, but it is getting close. A glimpse of the interior:
UserPostedImage

Hopefully I will not encounter too many problems now, the finish line is getting close...

Cheers,
Rick
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Offline river6109  
#169 Posted : 08 September 2012 17:16:11(UTC)
river6109

Australia   
Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 14,614
Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
Rick,

Great details and unbelievable worksmanship

excellent.

regards., John
https://www.youtube.com/river6109
https://www.youtube.com/6109river
5 years in Destruction mode
50 years in Repairing mode
Offline kariosls37  
#170 Posted : 10 September 2012 11:16:39(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks John
Offline NZMarklinist  
#171 Posted : 10 September 2012 15:51:01(UTC)
NZMarklinist

New Zealand   
Joined: 15/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,757
Location: Auckland NZ
Originally Posted by: kariosls37 Go to Quoted Post
Thanks FMS

Even though I strained the paint through some pantyhose I keep for that purpose, It still had some minute lumps in it. Cheers,
Rick


Hi Rick,
You obviously need to nick your panty hose off a better class of bird, those ones from the SLSC probably have sand in theirs Wink LOL
Glen
Auckland NZ

" Every Marklin layout needs a V200, a Railbus and a Banana car", not to mention a few Black and red Steamers, oh and the odd Elok !

CS1 Reloaded, Touch Cab, C Track Modules, K track layout all under construction. Currently Insider
Offline Christoffer  
#172 Posted : 20 September 2012 22:09:37(UTC)
Christoffer

Norway   
Joined: 23/12/2010(UTC)
Posts: 760
Hey Rick!


Great looking steamer! Cool to see your still in action with the brass. Keep it coming

Christoffer.
Offline kariosls37  
#173 Posted : 23 September 2012 11:56:59(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Christoffer. I'm still working on it occasionally. I got a new gear wheel that should do the job this weekend, so with a bit of luck I will be able to show some more progress here somewhere this week.

Cheers,
Rick
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Offline borntman  
#174 Posted : 24 September 2012 14:02:52(UTC)
borntman

United States   
Joined: 24/01/2010(UTC)
Posts: 120
Location: Huntington Station NY
That little green loco is just beautiful
Offline kariosls37  
#175 Posted : 25 September 2012 21:55:29(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Borntman, hence the reason I'm building itWink
Offline Yumgui  
#176 Posted : 25 September 2012 22:11:33(UTC)
Yumgui

United States   
Joined: 20/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,660
Location: Paris, France
Excellent progress Rick !

Very, very enjoyable to see both layout and rolling stock/loco ideas advance simultaneously ... out of the ordinary !

Yum ThumpUp
If your M track is rusted ... DON'T throw it out !
Working on: https://studiogang.com/projects/all
My heavy train station renovation: https://youtu.be/QQlyNiq416A
Inspired by: http://www.nakedmarklin.com/... Am not alone in this universe, phew.
Offline kariosls37  
#177 Posted : 23 October 2012 11:45:44(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Yum, I tend to keep a number of projects on the go at the same time, this way when I can't be stuffed working one one(which is inevitable) I can continue on another. Right now I have no less than 5 projects on the go at the same time.

And on one project, a good amount of stuff has happened. First of all, I have solved the problems with the gearbox for good I hope. In the Mk II gearbox I have removed the gear that was causing the trouble by a smaller one, allowing it to sit squarely under the worm as it should be. To do this I chopped the old 20 teeth/10 teeth gear up, keeping the 10 teeth part. A brass bush was made up to combine the salvaged 10 teeth gear with a new 17 teeth one.
In this picture the 10 teeth gear(above), the 17 teeth gear(below) and the brass bush(turned up from pieces of brass tube on the cordless drill and soldered together)
UserPostedImage
This was fitted into the gearbox, together with some new bushes for the correct positioning. After some minor adjustments it is running nice and smooth and has been reliableCool

The cosmetics have also been helped along quite a bit. First of all, a suitable tool was found to do the lining; a superfine Stabilp permanent marker. The lines were drawn using some styrene jigs piece by piece. The whole loco got a coat of varnish afterwards to remove the purple sheen of the marker pen.
UserPostedImage
As can be seen, the piping has also been completed. Some pipes were easy to make, but others like the long steam heat pipe on the fireman's side took a lot of effort to figure out what on earth it was for, where it came from and where it went. The scarce photos were used to great effect here, although each engine varies so only the driver's side can be guaranteed to look like it should, as I only have a photo of that side of the real 5301.
UserPostedImage
The brasswork has also been treated with some varnish after polishing. As the loco is meant to look like it is beng used, some red-brown paint was added to the varnish to mimic the tarnishing of the parts. The actual safety valves got a much heavier treatment with brown to represent the dark oxidised bronze colour the real safety's had. The balance arm and spring were painted black to represent the painted steel prototypes.
UserPostedImage
Knuckle couplers were also added, being a standard knuckle coupler where the gead was chopped off and attached to new mounts made mostly from brass wire. I did not have to make many modifications to allow the couplers to be mounted, and they are all out of sight.
UserPostedImage
And finally a look down into the cab and the top of the tanks. Here you see a lot of equipment which is found on practically every loco worldwide, but which are rarely seen on models. On the fireman's side water tank you can find a rake(for raking out coal, ash and clinker in the firebox) and a long shovel for scooping out ash from the firebox. Inside the cab in the top left corner is a broom(very important, seriously) and on the shovelling plate the shovel. On the enginedrivers side tank top sit a block of wood and a jack, both used for rerailing purposes. Just out of sight is another jack on blocks sitting beside the smokebox. Inside the cab all bronze parts have also been given a coat of my brown paint/varnish mix to imitate the tarnished bronze.
The loco has also been coaled up, with a big pile of lead hiding under the coal for extra traction. As I have not put any weight in the front yet the engine is on a bit of a lean, as can be seen in the photos.

The engine is now very close to being finished, the wait is on a decoder to arrive, after which I can do the final assembly.

And now a question for the alert user; Who can tell me what the loco is sitting on?

Thanks for watching,
Rick
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Offline river6109  
#178 Posted : 23 October 2012 13:12:06(UTC)
river6109

Australia   
Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 14,614
Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
Rick a shiny glossy surface, e.g. marble
https://www.youtube.com/river6109
https://www.youtube.com/6109river
5 years in Destruction mode
50 years in Repairing mode
Offline kariosls37  
#179 Posted : 23 October 2012 22:34:07(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Yes, it is a shiny surface, but it is not marble...
Offline kariosls37  
#180 Posted : 01 November 2012 05:01:34(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Time for some news from the car & wagon workshop.

Besides working on the loco, I have also made some progress on the cars and van.
First of all, the van. It had been painted and varnished a while back, but it needed a few little things sorted out, which are now done. The interior has been painted and the window frames have been redone, which rounds off the painting. The electricals inside have also been finished, with the brightness of the lights now at a realistic level. The pickups are a bit too stiff to my taste, and the van does not run easily, but it is acceptable. I will use phosphor bronze strips next time I think.
Some pictures:
UserPostedImage
UserPostedImage
The only things that are missing are glass and couplers. The former I will do tonight, the latter may be a while as I am having trouble in getting the right ones.

There's also been some progress on the cars. On the outside the wheels have been installed. One side has the wheels sitting in the usual pinpoint bearings, the suspension on the other side can rock, and the mech is pretty much the same as on the van.
UserPostedImage
Gas tanks, truss rods and brake cylinders have been built so far for the underframe. As I found some drawings for various Westinghouse brake parts, the brake cylinder is a faithful reproduction of an 8" set which I suspect these cars had.
UserPostedImage
Again, the car is on the "mystery surface". Any more guesses?....
And last but not least, I have finished painted the interior. Each seat now comprises of 5 parts and a shared back rest, and with 20 seats to a car that makes a total of 336 parts... it does look nice though.
UserPostedImage

Thanks for watching,

Rick
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Offline Christoffer  
#181 Posted : 01 November 2012 05:09:59(UTC)
Christoffer

Norway   
Joined: 23/12/2010(UTC)
Posts: 760
Originally Posted by: kariosls37 Go to Quoted Post
Time for some news from the car & wagon workshop.

Besides working on the loco, I have also made some progress on the cars and van.
First of all, the van. It had been painted and varnished a while back, but it needed a few little things sorted out, which are now done. The interior has been painted and the window frames have been redone, which rounds off the painting. The electricals inside have also been finished, with the brightness of the lights now at a realistic level. The pickups are a bit too stiff to my taste, and the van does not run easily, but it is acceptable. I will use phosphor bronze strips next time I think.
Some pictures:
UserPostedImage
UserPostedImage
The only things that are missing are glass and couplers. The former I will do tonight, the latter may be a while as I am having trouble in getting the right ones.

There's also been some progress on the cars. On the outside the wheels have been installed. One side has the wheels sitting in the usual pinpoint bearings, the suspension on the other side can rock, and the mech is pretty much the same as on the van.
UserPostedImage
Gas tanks, truss rods and brake cylinders have been built so far for the underframe. As I found some drawings for various Westinghouse brake parts, the brake cylinder is a faithful reproduction of an 8" set which I suspect these cars had.
UserPostedImage
Again, the car is on the "mystery surface". Any more guesses?....
And last but not least, I have finished painted the interior. Each seat now comprises of 5 parts and a shared back rest, and with 20 seats to a car that makes a total of 336 parts... it does look nice though.
UserPostedImage

Thanks for watching,

Rick


Hello Rick

You are really good at this, I love your work man!
Looks really good, i hope you will continue post updates on your work!
ThumpUp ThumpUp ThumpUp

Maybe i should send you a kit and let you build it for me? BigGrin BigGrin RollEyes

Love it! Keep it up!

Christoffer
Offline kariosls37  
#182 Posted : 01 November 2012 10:45:10(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thank you very much Christoffer ThumpUp
As long as I build stuff I will show it here, so don't worry, I won't stop any time soonWink
As for assembling a kit, I'm always keen to try something new, so who knows...Wink

And a live workshop update, The glazier has just fitted the last window in the van, another job ticked off the list. ThumpUp

Cheers,
Rick
Offline kariosls37  
#183 Posted : 15 March 2013 04:51:12(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
It's about time to show some more progress on the car front.

With decals in, I put aside some time to put all the decals on the van. Not shown on the photo are the couplers, which I have fitted since the photo was taken. It is now sitting in the "to varnish when I get some time" pile. At present this "pile" approximates the shape of a layout under construction, which is where all the unfinished stuff inevitably ends up accumulatingCool Currently the unfininshed stuff greatly outnumbers the finished stuff, but with the arrival of a large pile of couplers from the States and decals from a slightly less exotic destination I hope this statistic may change soonCool

The second class cars are also slowly nearing completion. A lot of work has been done on the underside of the cars, finishing the brake gear, suspension detail and other bits. The headstocks have also recieved their drawgear, with brake hoses and some hand grabs left to do.

With the bottom done, my attention turned to the top. The roof consists of two parts; with the middle section being a simple bit of styrene sheet curved to the radius of the roof and then glued on. The ends are rounded, requiring a little more attention. The basis was formed by a pre-curved bit of styrene fitted to the car. A bit of channel was fitted to it to serve as a conduit for wires in case I want to fit lights later on. You can see this in the second pic

The sub roof was then covered in a generous dollop of filler, which was then filed and sanded to shape. While the dust settled inside I took some photos in the nice summer sun.

Now it's onto end and roof details....

Thanks for watching,

Rick
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Dpruis_29.JPG
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Bl6_17.JPG
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Offline Mark5  
#184 Posted : 16 March 2013 06:25:29(UTC)
Mark5

Canada   
Joined: 29/01/2012(UTC)
Posts: 1,420
Location: Montreal, Canada
Great to see your progress Rick. ThumpUp
I am looking forward to downloading the video version from netflix Wink
Thanks for posting!
- Mark


BTW The mystery surface was a large sheet of resin, right? Blink
DB DR FS NS SNCF c. 1950-65, fan of station architecture esp. from 1920-70.
In single point perspective, where do track lines meet?
Offline kariosls37  
#185 Posted : 18 March 2013 05:12:42(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Mark

The surface does have a resin outside, but it's core is foam, plus a stringer running through the middle of it. A sheet would be a bit of an abstract definition for it.
Any more guesses?

Cheers,
Rick
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Offline kariosls37  
#186 Posted : 25 April 2013 13:13:04(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
The next job to tackle is the ends. Although they look pretty straightforward, they are an involved piece of work. Being at the end of the car, they have to stand up to a little abuse. This means styrene can be ruled out, and the whole thing was made from brass and a little spring steel(because I'm all out of 0.35mm brass wireRollEyes )

There are six parts to the assembly, all laid out in groups in the first photo, together with a finished set on the left. The end rail consists of a bit of brass shim(thin brass sheet to the uninitiated) with a shim brass step soldered on it, a handrail made of brass strip and a top rail of the same stuff. Some brass wire finishes off the construction.

The triangular handrail, meant to stop people from stepping off the gangways between the cars is standard to most regional service cars and vans. To aid the bending of this part a simple jig was fashioned to ensure accuracy and to save time in the long run. This jig is the brass bit in the second picture, with a bent up handrail in it.

The resulting pile of bits was soldered up. Stubborn as I am, I didn't go for my low melt solder, copious amounts of flux and a bit of holding allowed me to solder around other soldered bits without too many things getting unstuck in the process.

Once they were all soldered up, it was a simple case of gluing the assembly to the chassis and drilling some holes in the roof to hold the two vertical supports in place.

The last picture shows the assembled rails fitted, ready for further dressing up with gangways and handbrakes.

Thanks for watching,
Rick
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Offline Christoffer  
#187 Posted : 26 April 2013 09:58:46(UTC)
Christoffer

Norway   
Joined: 23/12/2010(UTC)
Posts: 760
Hi Rick!

Perfect as usual ThumpUp ThumpUp Thanks for sharing ThumpUp

Have a great weekend!
Offline kariosls37  
#188 Posted : 12 May 2013 11:23:36(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks ChristofferThumpUp

Meanwhile in the workshops, work has been progressing slowly. A major mental stumbling block which had me stumped for a long while was the gates. In real life, the side gates were nothing more than three hinged bars which rotate and fold upwards to allow passengers to pass through when needed. Not too bad to model if I didn't want to pull the top off. In order to do so, the gates would have to move out of the way to let the gates move out of the way to clear some handrails. A lot of condemmned ideas later, I settled on having the gates rotate out of the way. With the hardest bit out of the way, using some more jigs more 0.35mm spring steel(I still haven't got around to topping up my brass wire supplies) was bent up and soldered. While some gates were made in the open position, most are in the closed position to reflect on their state when the train is in motion.

From the gates we move up to the roof, where lamp irons were made up and fitted. Something simple for a change.

While that was going on, I was busy making resin castings for the roof fittings. I had made rubber moulds of the gas vents and air (torpedo) vents a while back. The gas vents being not much more than a truncated cone, are a simple matter of cleaning them up and plonking them on the roof. The torpedo's are not as easy, and are cast in two parts, being filed to size. even with a jig to hold them, they still are tricky to get right. Two halves make one vent, with a bit of brass wire to mount them on the roof for good measure. There's 8 gas vents and 10 torpedo's per car, and two cars have been done so far. The vents are the last thing on the list, then there is a couple of small bits to tidy up before the car can be sent off to the paint shopCool

This morning I took part of the layout outside and took a couple of photos to illustrate the progress so far

Thanks for watching,
Rick
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Offline kariosls37  
#189 Posted : 20 May 2013 13:41:12(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
This week saw the last of the gas vents and torpedos cast and fitted. After some minor work(filing W iron bottoms square, gluing spreader bars into the right position) the gasfitter was called to install the plumbing for the gas lights(they don't work alas, that's something I'm still working on...) The plumbing was just made up of a main "pipe" of solid core copper electrical wire, with a strand of stranded electrical wire forming the little pipes to the individual lights.

With the last torpedos being put together, I had the presence of mind to take a picture of the different stages from casting to finishing. Along the way I use a little jig to hold the halves. That's the bottle cap with the hole in it in the bottom right corner of the pic. Along the top are some gas vents as well.

Of course with them all done, I put them together for the (hopefully) last picture before they get a coat of paintCool

The cars are now prepped and ready for the paint shops, if I get some time between playing big trains this weekend I may get a coat of paint on.

In the meantime, I have started another exiting project that has been on the list for a while. See if anyone can guess what it is. Hint: Blauwe Brabander

Cheers,
Rick
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Offline kariosls37  
#190 Posted : 22 May 2013 02:35:50(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
And now for something completely different...
(with apologies to Monty Python)

In 1908 a brand new class of 4-6-0 express engine appeared on Dutch rails which was a size bigger than any passenger engine up to that time. The engines were ordered from the usual firm of Beyer, Peacock & Co, Manchester to be delivered to the Noord Brabant Duitsche Spoorweg Maatschappij(North Brabant-German Railway Co, NBDS) in a striking blue livery lined out in red and white. They quickly aqquired the nickname Blauwe Brabander(Blue Brabander) as a result of their colour and owner. These engines were good performers on the heavy boat trains running from the channel ports to Germany, and after trials by other companies these started building their own designs of 4-6-0's. The initial class of 6, NBDS 30-36 was expanded in just before WW1 by ordering two more engines from Hohenzollern in Germany. The first was delivered in 1914, becoming NBDS 36. The Great War intervened, and the other loco could not be delivered until 1920. In the meantime the SS had taken over the NBDS, so the last loco never had an NBDS identity.

With the formation of the NS in 1921 the locos became the NS 3501-3508, and in the mid thirties were stationed at depot Zwolle, which saw them venture out to the North of Holland, including the general area of my interest. However, being a relatively heavy and big loco, it would never have ventured onto branch lines like Nieuweveenschekanaal. However, I like the engine and as a first scratchbuilt loco it has plenty of space to get rid of the neccesary mechanisms and electronics. Plus, the inhabitants of Nieuweveenschekanaal probably won't care since the even heavier and powerful NS 3931 is already a frequent visitor.

To meet the necessary weight restrictions imposed by the NBDS track standard of 1908, the engines were lightly built. By the late thirties this caught up with the locos, with cracks in the frames reaching a size that resulted in the scrapping of all but three locos. The 3501,3505 and 3508 soldiered on at half speed(50km/h) until just after the war.

My loco will become the 3506, because as the last of the first batch, it has the nice Beyer, Peacock plates, I have photos of it and it was retrofitted with a longer bogie tender.
After I'm done, I hope to have it looking something like this:
NS 3506, 1936

That's the dry history out of the way, now for the build.

We start with some 0.3mm brass sheet, marked out and with holes for the bearings drilled before cutting. Putting some screws into the holes to hold all four sides together, the sides were filed to shape.
Following on from this, some brass strip was drilled and tapped to accept M1.4 screws and soldered to the frames(I could have just used the M1.4 nuts I had, but that would have been too easy and too clever rolleyes] )The screws will allow the sideframes to rotate, letting the bogie compensate for lumps and bumps in the track An added bonus is that the bogie will hopefully be less prone to derailments.

The bogie spacers were folded up from pre-drilled 0.75mm brass sheet. I always have trouble figuring out cut lengths for thick bits of bent sheets, so it took me two goes before I got it right.

I had just enough bearings for one bogie, but with wheels in both bogies the first tangible piece of the new loc is a factWoot

Thanks for watching,
Rick
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Offline kariosls37  
#191 Posted : 19 July 2013 13:28:33(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
And now I dart back to my cars. In the past few weeks thay have been painted green, repainted, lined, decalled and varnished. Because the beading was picked out in black, it took a while to get all the paintwork done. It didn't help that the green coat had some thin spots that needed remedial work.RollEyes With the paint and varnish on, two cars were glazed, the third one waiting for me to get some more glazing material.

The finish line is getting close...

Cheers,
Rick
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Offline kariosls37  
#192 Posted : 27 July 2013 12:52:56(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
This week I got some glass to do the windows of the last car. That leaves the cars finished and ready for serviceCool

A light weathering will follow in time, but for now here are some photos of the cars and the complete rake as it is now.

Thanks for watching,
Rick
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Offline Yumgui  
#193 Posted : 27 July 2013 22:44:19(UTC)
Yumgui

United States   
Joined: 20/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,660
Location: Paris, France
Rick,

Can't add much to what has already been written ... aside maybe from; not only is your craftsmanship a real pleasure to see, but the creation of your own very personal scaled railroad world is unmatched ... ! Can now see the result of months (or years) of work in your last post ... ^^

We (I) mere Märklin collectors can only go on and blather about factory made models in series, hoping that not too many people have the same ones in order to be "original" or "special" (exaggerated OK, but true nonetheless) ...
Rather than looking at other brands to complete consists which Märklin never made and will never make, you're slowly but surely convincing me, time willing, to make my own !

Your thread is a real refresher here !

So, thanks again for it,

Y ThumpUp
If your M track is rusted ... DON'T throw it out !
Working on: https://studiogang.com/projects/all
My heavy train station renovation: https://youtu.be/QQlyNiq416A
Inspired by: http://www.nakedmarklin.com/... Am not alone in this universe, phew.
Offline kariosls37  
#194 Posted : 29 July 2013 10:28:43(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Thanks Yum, I'm glad you are enjoying it.

For me it's a means to an end, a fun one at that. There's not much chance some mainstream manufacturer will ever look at many models that I have built because they just are too obscure. I just build what I want, and I want what I build.

If you want to give it a go, I would reccomend getting a kitset like the one I started out with to get to know how to build a wagon, and go from there. If you are used to working with your hands it won't be too difficult. This thread is pretty much a running commentary of my first steps and stumbles into the world of building rolling stock, and this is me, still stepping and stumbling frequently three years later. Hopefully one day it may be of use to another beginner.

Cheers,
Rick
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Offline Mark5  
#195 Posted : 30 July 2013 20:41:17(UTC)
Mark5

Canada   
Joined: 29/01/2012(UTC)
Posts: 1,420
Location: Montreal, Canada
Woot Woot Woot ThumpUp Love Love Love

Fantastisch! Heel mooi! (dutch)

Fantastic! Very Beautiful!

Would love to see a little video of this beauty in action.

So.... what will the next adventure in brass be??

- Mark
DB DR FS NS SNCF c. 1950-65, fan of station architecture esp. from 1920-70.
In single point perspective, where do track lines meet?
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Offline Yumgui  
#196 Posted : 30 July 2013 21:21:40(UTC)
Yumgui

United States   
Joined: 20/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,660
Location: Paris, France
Originally Posted by: kariosls37 Go to Quoted Post
Thanks Yum, I'm glad you are enjoying it.

For me it's a means to an end, a fun one at that. There's not much chance some mainstream manufacturer will ever look at many models that I have built because they just are too obscure. I just build what I want, and I want what I build.

If you want to give it a go, I would recommend getting a kit-set like the one I started out with to get to know how to build a wagon, and go from there. If you are used to working with your hands it won't be too difficult. This thread is pretty much a running commentary of my first steps and stumbles into the world of building rolling stock, and this is me, still stepping and stumbling frequently three years later. Hopefully one day it may be of use to another beginner.

Cheers,
Rick

Great advice Rick !

Have been (slowly) getting ready for new things, like brass soldering.
I can handle just about any building job, been doing it since age 6; and it's still fun too ... it's always a whole new world in this domain !

And this thread has been a major motivation to learn new stuff ...

Y ^^ ThumpUp

PS: Someday, I'll have something to show for it ... as you do now ... ^^
If your M track is rusted ... DON'T throw it out !
Working on: https://studiogang.com/projects/all
My heavy train station renovation: https://youtu.be/QQlyNiq416A
Inspired by: http://www.nakedmarklin.com/... Am not alone in this universe, phew.
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Offline kariosls37  
#197 Posted : 15 February 2014 09:02:00(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
After a long silence, once again the workbench is showing some signs of life. After a mad rush of making Nieuweveenschekanaal presentable and displaying it, the layout was left for what it was and I found some unfinished projects. One which had been annoying me for quite some time was a half built goods van. I recieved this from Werps Modelbouw together with the loco, NS 5301, to make up for the long wait. What was in the box was some nice nickel silver etchings and a couple of castings. While most of the stuff was there, not all of it was, such as the channels for the sides. Still a pretty nice surprise though. The etch was for a CHD, a very close relative to the cattle van on the previous page.

Even though there were no instructons to go with it, the wagon was started and was easy enough to build. Wheels and bearings are just my usual type fitted to most of my rolling stock, so their absence was no problem either. However, just before completion I hit a snag. The kit provides beautiful gusset plates to fit in the corners of the body. (For the non-engineers amongst us, gusset plates are triangular pieces of steel bolted or riveted to corners of framing to give it more strength. ) With no instructions an no answers to my emails as to which that stalled the build.

After the layout had been to the show and back, I was after something different, and the CHD was within reach. By now I wasn't too fussed as to being 100% with the gusset plates, so I just soldered them on as per the basic sketch I had, with the different rivet and bolt patterns on them being placed where they seemed most logical. The rest was then finished off, with some styrene headstocks, channels and details being made to suit. Some shunters steps from the leftover box and couplers finished the wagon off and now it is finally ready for priming and paintingCool
UserPostedImage
UserPostedImage

All in all, despite the problems in finding out what goes where, it is a very nice kit to look at, absolutely loaded with nice details.

Happy modelling

Rick
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Offline kariosls37  
#198 Posted : 17 February 2014 23:18:38(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
After the wagon interlude, it was time to pick up a more substantial unfinished project, the NS 3506

A long while back I had already done the bogie sideframes. The bogies are packed with detail, which had to be made. To start with, a bit of thin styrene was embossed with rivets using a scriber, and then glued to the brass sideframes. Using a variety of styrene shapes and strips the axlebox and springing details were built up, looking something like this:
UserPostedImage
As you can see, the floor was also built up to get an idea of bogie spacing.

Then the project was put on the shelf so I could make the layout presentable. Fast forward to the present, and now a start was made to the top. The shell of the tender is a box. Made out of thick 0.75mm styrene, this provides a solid base. The tender is saturated with rivets, so there will be another layer of thin styrene to go over the top of this.
UserPostedImage

Once the basic box was done, the first details were attached, such as the rear headstock with it's rivet detail and the edging on the bottom of the tender. Even though the whole thing does cover part of the bogies, the bogies still have enough swing to get the tender through curves.
UserPostedImage

Cheers,
Rick
thanks 4 users liked this useful post by kariosls37
Offline kariosls37  
#199 Posted : 17 March 2014 23:34:34(UTC)
kariosls37

New Zealand   
Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC)
Posts: 1,067
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
All this time I have been quietly building.

The 3500 class has nice curved tender tops, something typically British. It is however a right pain to model. In order for the curves to stay nice, some thin brass was bent and filed to the right shape first.
UserPostedImage

What followed then was soldering up the front and rear walls to the brass bits, and gluing it to the rest of the tender.

The sides are infested with rivets, which had to be punced one by one using a scriber. To keep (in)santity levels to a reasonable level, a movie was put on the laptop, brain was left out of gear and with a rule and scriber the rivets were punched into thin styrene. Once done, the brain was re-engaged and the sides were stuck onto the tender. Some round beading was also added with this result:
UserPostedImage

Then followed a whole lot of to-and-fro-ing between the model and photos. About halfway through I noticed something didn't look right on the tender. After checking more photos it turns out that the sides of the coal bunker are shorter on all but one of the tenders, and it so turns out the drawing I used was for the tender with long sidesCursing Cue some chopping and changing, and now the sides are the correct length. After that the detailing was finished. The photo below shows the front of the tender, complete with a shovel on the firing plate and a rake and pricker on the side of the tender.
UserPostedImage

The other side contains more brackets and steps. The buffers are pretty much ready, they just need a little go in the lathe when I get access to one.
UserPostedImage

That leaves the tender pretty much done. Wheels have also arrived for the loco for the UK. However, before the building of the loco starts I have a Fairlie interesing project on the go...

Cheers,
Rick
thanks 2 users liked this useful post by kariosls37
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