Building a Unit Models wagon kit - 3

As predicted, various levels of weathering have appeared on the Unit Models wagon.  The whole wagon received a thin coat of brown translucent paint, an old product from the sadly missed Penhaven range.  This was followed by a wash of black over the more naturally coloured planks inside.  I then used dry brushing exclusively, some warm rust tones on the strapping, then highlights in two shades, darker followed by a lighter shade.

I've fitted MicroTrains couplings - I do need to touch in the screw head with some black paint, but this may have to wait until I decide whether to give the whole wagon a coat of Citadel 'Purity Seal' varnish once the workshop is warm enough.

Colin

Building a Unit Models wagon kit - 2

Just a quick update really.  The weather last weekend was warm enough to venture to the workshop and waft some primer (sounds so much more refined than blast...) over the Unit Models wagon and also the Romney style coach roofs, acknowledging that for them it was a first coat to find any defects in the filling (which I did...).

I was surprised to find that the Unit Models wagon had a lot more surface texture than was apparent in bare resin form, and not all of it looked too convincing, so I soothed out the sides a little where required, back to resin in places.  At this stage the wagon looked a mess and I seriously considered not going any further with it.  Common sense prevailed and using Games Workshop Foundation series 'Charadon Granite' paint, lightened a little, coverage was no problem, although a second coat is always worthwhile.  Metalwork was picked out in a off-black mixture and the inside in a natural wood colour.  The whole lot now has a coat of Vallejo matt varnish to protect it ready for the inevitable assault of weathering.

Meanwhile, the soldering iron has been in use again lately, but Ill leave that for another day, got to scoot...!

Colin

Building a Unit Models wagon kit - 1

The chance discovery of a very cheap Peco N gauge wagon (for the cost of a chassis kit) at the Pontefract show last weekend led me to buy one of the relatively recent Unit Models O9 wagon kits to see what they are like.  I chose the wooden open wagon with a drop-side door.

On opening the box the kit is in two parts, a chassis frame and body, both cast in resin.

Both parts are relatively flash-free although there are some blow-outs in the casting of the various bolt heads.  I opted to replace these with plastic rod slices as it seemed to be the quickest way of resolving the problem. At 29mm wide this is definitely a 'minimum gauge' wagon and although I had thoughts of trying to narrow it to c.25mm to match my other stock I decided to build it as it came as a 'quick' project to fill the odd spare minute or two.

It was at this stage that I realised that the chassis I had was a 10ft wheelbase one rather than the 9ft version required for the kit.  Ooops.... This was easily resolved by cutting away the centre section of the chassis completely (having stripped away all the N gauge brake gear), which will also allow space for a little more weight between the sections.  The Unit Models frame includes a nifty cut out for the Peco weight to sit in:

As can be seen above, I've removed a 1mm x 5mm slice from the centre of the headstock and added a piece of 1mm styrene behind it in order to accommodate a MicroTrains coupler.  With the body assembled to the frame the wagon is actually complete and ready for painting (which will have to wait for warmer weather to spray the primer).  I've added some wire handles/catches for the drop down door.:

More once painting is underway....

Colin

Credit where credit is due...

A couple of months ago I was kindly sent a batch of MicroTrains unassembled coupler parts by a fellow member of a modelling forum.  There was however a little bit of a problem.... the tiny centering* springs were missing.  Whilst they are listed as a spare by a model shop not too distant from here, I suspect they haven't got stock in-store and the shopping 'experience' there can be, er, interesting these days (I'm told). Having then searched online for these, and seen some hilarious postage charges from the USA, I happened to ask on the P&H Models stand at the Wakefield show.  They didn't have any, but could get them in time for Pontefract, so an email confirming the part number was sent and at the Pontefract show I had these in my hand at a very reasonable price:

This has enable me to get on building couplers and there will be several spares for the future.  So credit where credit is due, to P&H Models for their customer service.  Sadly I hear they are winding down exhibition appearances to concentrate on their new shop in Louth, they will certainly be missed at shows - their Evergreen styrene prices are very competitive!

Colin

*deliberate Americanisation, it's on the packet!

Bet I couldn't eat three....

My wife returned from a local charity shop the other day with a small plastic bag containing a few railway items she had bought for a pound.... usually such well intentioned gifts tend to turn out to be nothing much of use to an O9 modeller, but this time, she has hit gold:

It may not look much, but there are some useful bits in this Grafar-made promotional item (I think from the 1980s?) and the added bonus is that I always wanted one when they were available, but no-one would have eaten enough Shredded Wheat in our house to get one!

Colin

Re-roofing the 'Romneys'

Moving on from straightening out the roofs of the Exmoor-style coaching stock, the next job for winter tinkering is to address the problems with the roofs on the coaches known as the 'Romneys'.  Although RH&DR in style, they actually owe their origins to the work of Clive Mortimer and his planned 'Great Ouse Valley Railway'.  There were actually several of these coaches, mostly shell-only, and three, no.s 9-11 were selected for rebuild back in 2005/6.  Here is no. 10 ready for paint in Feb 2006:

From this picture the construction of the roof is all apparent, chopped about Hornby/Dapol brake van roofs covered with tissue secured with solvent.  So much solvent that six years later the result is seen on no. 11:

It's a bit wibbly-wobbly along the edges and starting to bow upwards at the ends.  The only solution is new roofs, these have been built using the same materials as the originals but with the split in sections moved over one of the doors.  There will be no tissue paper cover this time, one of the reasons back in 2005/6 was to hide my bad cleaning-up of the roof sections of their rainstrips and chimney.  I think I have made a better effort this time, please excuse the typex in use as filler as a final fill over the join, this will of course be smoothed back before painting:

Things may slow down at this point as it is minus 3 degrees in the workshop and not exactly the time to be spraying primer.  Luckily, these coaches were semi-retired some time ago so there is no hurry!

Colin

Running Repairs

In what is traditionally the miniature railway 'quiet season', even in model form the Somerthorpe Miniature Railway can find a list of jobs for the workshop team to do, and that's before they even dare contemplate anything 'new'!

Following on from the rather protracted overhaul of No.3, I have now started to tackle one or two other outstanding jobs in the stock box.  First on the list was a quick bit of work on the 'Exmoor' style semi-open coaches (14-16).  The roofs on these coaches were held in place with UHU solvent free adhesive to facilitate access to recover loose figures etc, however over the years this has had to resist the roof trying it's hardest to warp.... and lost.  The roofs on these coaches are cut and shut from Dapol/Hornby GWR 'Toad' roofs, with a layer of 20 thou styrene over the top to give a smooth finish.  Not equally layered on the underside this has caused the warp.  My attempted solution is below:

What at first glance looks like a multi-coloured spider attacking the workbench is actually no. 16's roof, on the underside two strips of 20 thou (black) styrene have been cemented in place and the clamps are holding the roof straight against two lengths of November 5th rocket stick.  Each roof has been clamped like this for at least 24 hours.  The result is a much less warped roof.

Here no. 14 demonstrates the next phase of the process.  I have again used UHU solvent free to allow easy access in the future (but more of it this time around), and then held the roof in place with elastic bands for a further 24 hours before removal, with the end result demonstrated by no. 15 (each coach is getting an equal turn in the pictures today!):

Whilst working on no. 16 I actually surprised myself at some of the little details I had forgotten that I had included, including the window between guards and passenger compartments, and that I customised the guard figure (Prieser) with rolled up flags under his arm (no doubt from their 1/48th Aircrew set):

This little overhaul has kept me out of mischief for a few days, fitting well into limited time and quite frankly not feeling so great and not wanting to do to much.... Next into the workshop are the 'heritage' Romney Hythe and Dymchurch style coaches, which will need completely new roofs to solve their problems...

Colin