A Cunning Plan - Part 2 - Flat In/Flat Out

As indicated in the previous post, the Heywood flat wagon would spend it's time hidden behind a fence, regular readers may have guessed that the destination would be the right-angle siding on 'Odsock Corner'. In position the axleboxes are barely visible from the main viewing side and hidden behind the sheeted object from the other side. At least I have the satisfaction the axlebox detail is mostly there...

The arrival of the Heywood wagon was proceeded by the removal of the propped-up, missing axle KB Scale skip frame, which gave way easily leaving no visible glue marks or damage. The Heywood wagon is secured in place using wire wound around the axles, twisted, threaded through holes drilled in the board and held tightly in place with the insides of chocolate block connectors. A three-handed job of course! Some cast whitemetal flower pots and a twist of wire have been placed on top to break up the open space.

The skip frame has moved on to the cunning plan, part 2. It has now taken up residence at the end of the line on 'To The End', seamlessly blending into the junk pile 

Before being on 'Odsock Corner' the skip frame was resident on 'The Headshunt'. There is still a space to fill there which will be the next task...

Colin

A Cunning Plan - Part 1 - The Heywood Flat

"I have a cunning plan..." or words to that effect, muttered only to myself but possibly broadcast on the NGRM Online forum a couple of months ago. The plan directly affects both 'Odsock Corner' and 'To The End' but starts in the acquired box of Owen Ryder O9 bits with a wagon floor casting.

I didn't need an operational wagon but one that would look good hidden behind a fence (more about where in another instalment), so not having the correct axleboxes wouldn't be an issue. The top of the casting had the plank lines re-scribed using a Olfa-style cutter which made for a very neat finish once painted. Owen's coupling castings add some much needed detail. However, what lies underneath is a very different story...

A scrap Farish brakevan chassis was hacked into bits to provide some running gear. Too much hacking in fact as one W-iron actually fell off and had to be surgically reattached. This prompted me to add Heywood style suspension, much modified 3D prints from the same friend as those on the brake van. These actually had no axlebox so the original was covered with styrene strip. The original W-irons hang below the cosmetic ones, but the fence will hide a lot!

Painting was the usual black-grey wash, followed by weathered wood effects on the planking and Vallejo 'Leather Brown' as the main colour, with metalwork in black-grey. Enough weathering has been applied to give a work-a-day look ready to be placed in it's new home. It is sitting on a set of Matheson 7mm diameter wheels that had developed a bit of a wobble, ideal for a non-runner!

More soon.

Colin

Heywood Brake Van - The Paintshop

I'm pleased to report that the Heywood brake van is now complete, painted and ready for service...

Now you may be thinking that we have missed a stage somewhere as last time it appeared on the blog it was still in raw materials, and you would be right, This is the missing photo of the primed model, as always the coat of primer has brought the various elements of the build together as one, I was very happy with the finish and the way the parts sit together, my careful attention to any gaps seeming to have paid off. 

Painting started with a wash of black-grey to get in all the plank lines and corners, an under-shade so to speak. Vallejo 'Flat Earth' was used as the main colour for all the woodwork, dry-brushed as far as possible to leave the shading in the recesses. The shade of the 'Flat Earth' was varied for a light second coat, lighter on the interior and darker on the exterior, just to add variety. Metalwork was finished in black-grey with a dry-brushing of gunmetal grey and the roof in a mid grey. The plate on the bodyside was painted black with the lettering dry-brushed off-white, using an improvised mask made using a hole punch and a post-it note!

After a coat of Humbrol acrylic matt varnish from an aerosol, the painting stage was complete and I am pleased that the joins in the roof have all-but disappeared, only visible if the light hits at the wrong angle! Couplings are Greenwich for use on 'Odsock Corner' and to save building a new set, these were <ahem> "borrowed" from my recently built 8-seat coach, as was the passenger. A decision will be made about that vehicle soon...

More Heywood soon...

Colin

Denton Road - O9 at Kirklees

The annual Kirklees Light Railway gala weekend has rolled around again, this year's theme is milestones, with the 60-year old 'River Mite' and 50-year old 'Northern Rock' visiting from the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. 

The Ratty was also represented in miniature by Daniel Winter's 'Denton Road', an O9 combination of elements from several railways. but with a strong Ratty theme to to the stock.

20 years ago I was building freelance O9 stock from bits of plastic kits and eventually evolving to scratchbuilding prototypical equipment. Daniel has embraced 3D printing to produce those components that are required over again, such as R&ER enclosed stock, but still scratchbuilds other items, including the Rivers Irt and Mite seen here with the proposed Greenly 0-8-4T single Fairlie.

There's even an Atlantic, which has prompted me to consider getting my long-stalled project out again (well, that and a visit to Rhyl during the summer...)

Not everything is unique to the layout - the Chivers Finelines open coach makes an appearance, one of the few commercial O9 items that represents true miniature railway practice. A reminder that if you wish to order one, they are only available directly from Chivers Finelines.

This was the first occasion that I have seen and had the chance to ride behind 'Northern Rock', a very impressive machine indeed, so much so that I had two rides up the hill behind her, I usually try and get an uphill ride behind all visiting locos but having ridden behind 'River Mite' before I made an exception, opting for a downhill run instead.

If you're reading this as soon as I post it, there is still a chance to see it all on Sunday 13th September!

Colin

Heywood Brake Van - The Roof

The roof of the Heywood brake van has been perhaps the most involved part of the project. The kit parts included only the main frame, I've no idea what was supplied with the kit originally for the main piece. The scrapbox revealed some 20 thou black styrene that I had already curved over a drinks can some time ago, and there was sufficient material to do the job twice, which turned out to be useful...

I had decided that the roof should be removable during the painting stages and as the frame piece really just balanced on the four pillars, I wanted some way of locating it at the final assembly stage. I opted to use some 3 x 1mm lengths of nickel silver etch fret attached to the inside of the pillars to achieve this, attached in place with superglue, 2mm on the pillar and 1mm above for the frame to locate to.

Corresponding strips of styrene on the inside edge of the roof locate it correctly fore and aft. The roof is the aforementioned styrene, which was glued to the frame with epoxy adhesive and clamped together until dry, helping to bring the material to the correct shape as it was a slightly tighter radius. When set it was trimmed to shape but the first attempt looked awful so it all came off for a fresh try with the remainder of the material. This was the result, and compared to the drawing that had kindly been provided by David John of 'Rhyd' fame, it looked wrong...

The drawing, and re-inspection of photos, revealed  that the roof frame should be wider than the sides of the vehicle, so I set about widening the roof. Had I not used the rest of the black styrene I might have started over again, but I set out to recover what was there. 40 x 60 thou styrene strips were added either side of the frame and once the glue was set they were sanded to be vertical with the vehicle sides. This reduction in width was sufficient to allow 15 x 30 thou strips to be added as extensions of the roof giving a neat overhang. The ends were treated to 15 x 20 thou strips to create a more consistent overhang once sanded gently back once the glue was dry. Milliput was used to fill all gaps and once sanded smooth the new roofline is shown below.

As an extra stage the roof has subsequently been sprayed with filler primer and smoothed out again to ensure there are no tell-tale marks for the joins. 

A good clean-up and the paintshop beckons!

Colin

Heywood Brake Van

I recently acquired a collection of Owen Ryder O9 whitemetal castings via the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association which included an almost complete set of parts for the Heywood Eaton Hall 4w brake van. The missing parts included the etched underframe and axlebox parts, the seat back and whatever was used to form the roof. 

The castings required a little fettling here and there but otherwise were not bad for something marked "1994". With the seat back made up from styrene, end rails formed from 0.7mm brass wire and holes drilled in the floor piece to accept them, the main parts are seen here ready to assemble.

But what of the running gear? I could have borrowed the etch from an un-opened Heywood wagon kit I have but that would just move the problem on. A bit of careful measurement found that an N gauge Peco 10ft wheelbase chassis would fit with a fair bit of of er, persuasion... It would need some suitable axleboxes and luckily I found some 3D prints a friend had kindly made me a few years ago for another project. They were modified to suit the Peco chassis and fixed in place with epoxy. There began a common thread in this build as I did the job twice as my original location of the parts was not quite straight. I then fixed the chassis into the cast floor and again, did this twice as things did not sit right first time. Once happy that the top of the floor was level I used Milliput to create supports for Greenwich couplers, filed flat once set. Drilling the holes turned out to be another do-it-twice job due to a useless drill bit...

As the alignment of the main body parts was not a perfect science, I decided that I would assemble the seat and both sides in one session, using slow-cure epoxy. Determined not to have to do this stage twice, I carefully checked alignment and conducted a dry run of the intended clamping operation. I really should have photographed this, it involved a set square, another square steel block and two large clamps, plus two spring clamps! The slow drying time of the adhesive allowed for minor adjustment and alignment checks and the outcome was a success.

There was a little excess adhesive but this was soon cleaned up ready for the next stages, which include the roof and deliberations on whether it should be fixed in place prior to painting. 

More soon... 

Colin

Remembering the Black Cat

It is one year since I wrote A Black Cat Crossed my Path, so on the anniversary of Mr Sooty's passing it seems appropriate to reveal something dedicated to his memory...

The nameplate is from Narrow Planet/Light Railway Stores and has been mounted in the fashion of 'Gwril' at Fairbourne, the spare plate is safely stored away.

Colin