A Cacophony of Wagons

O9 wagons have been something of a theme during January. As hinted previously, there were already a couple of wagons in the paint shop before the latest builds were completed, a flat and a 'Tops' wagon.

The 5ft flat is (I think) one of my earliest Black Dog Mining chassis, having been the flat with two oil drums in a previous life, then an open and now a simple flat using a Black Dog body - but not a flat, it is a much cut down open wagon - don't ask! It is finished in a well-worn wooden state.

The open 'Tops' wagon body is the scratchbuilt one that had been transferred to the ex-Shifting Sands generator wagon in that exchange that we don't mention any more... Reunited with it's original Black Dog 6ft chassis, which has been stripped and repainted to match the body.  Internally a repainted floor was required after work to remove the glue marks left by the last load. Finished in worn grey with a weathered wood interior.

On to the new-builds, the single-plank wagon, technically a refresh of the ex-Shifting Sands generator carrier, has emerged in pretty much the original colours of grey body and black solebars, with a weathered wood interior (and rather a lot of sand dust!)

The new two-plank 'Tops' wagon has an overall weathered wood finish, in contrast the to weathered grey of the previous example. I've used different shading underneath colour washes to try and give the effect of different types of wood on the body planks and underframe areas.

The three-plank drop-side wagon is painted in Humbrol red/brown with a weathered wood interior and weathered black hinges/strapping. I painted a wagon converted from a Chivers O-16.5 kit in this colour a few years ago and rather liked it. The eagle-eyed will spot that I have used a brown MicroTrains coupler, which is a very similar shade.

Judging from the short testing session after taking the photos it may be necessary to have a coupler 'Grease-em' and adjustment session, but that can wait for another day!

Colin

Three Wagons Roll

The three new wagons seen in my last post have now received a coat of primer, doing it's usual wonder of making everything look a lot better. It also allows us to look at the wagons in more detail.

Firstly this is hopefully the final incarnation of the (ex) Shifting Sands 1-plank wagon. You may recall that this 6ft Black Dog Mining chassis gained a 2-plank 'Tops' body not many months ago with the original load transferred... we'll pretend that didn't happen... that body is heading back to it's original chassis and the load will go in another of the more miniature railway outline wagons in the fleet. The chassis was stripped of old paint and this new body uses one of the floors from the planned batch of wagons and one plank recovered from intended sides and ends.

Next is a fairly standard (for me) 'Tops' wagon on a 6ft Black Dog chassis. Another floor from the intended batch build and sides cut down to 2-plank (spare planks went to the body above). End handrails are recycled from the similar body that became the 009 Christmas present wagon, which was a shorter body intended for a 5ft chassis so I haven't gone totally mad! 

That 5ft body had been intended to go on the chassis of the last new wagon, a Sidelines Gnine chassis. This is the same length as a Black Dog 5ft chassis but with a longer wheelbase and taller from rail level. I had acquired this with a mine tub body as it was all Steve had at the time. I reduced the chassis height by about 1mm some time ago and had originally created a 'Tops' body for it. But it never looked balanced right in that form and the chassis seemed to look better with a flat or 3-plank body. As I have another 5ft flat in the works I opted to use a shortened set of 3-plank sides intended for the batch build, with a newly marked up floor. I used modified Grandt Line hinges again but only a pair each side rather than three, which looks a lot better balanced for a shorter wagon in my eyes.

 

They'll now join the queue for the paint shop (there are already be a couple of wagons in there to complete first).

Colin

My Oh-Nine

Last year I tentatively started work on a new O9 project, based on Julian Andrews brickworks plan. More information can be found under the 'Getting Something Moving' tag. I had an aim of using some of the commercial models that have become available since I built 'Shifting Sands'. To this end I completed the MG Models 'classic' diesel, started converting some KB Scale open wagons to O9, as well as reviving a Black Dog Mining wagon larger than my usual stock with an eye on perhaps representing an 18" gauge line. 

It all ground to a halt, it started with problems with the loco build not least painting it twice, followed by my less than successful attempts to re-gauge the KB Scale wagons resulting in wobbly wheels (some would say it was prototypical!). Disheartened I diverted my attention to other projects...

More recently I started scratchbuilding 3-plank drop-side bodies to fit Black Dog Mining chassis, putting together enough parts to build a batch of 2 or 3 identical vehicles beyond the initial prototypes. I eventually hit on the use of Grandt Line door hinges (on the left) rather than using Slaters embossed rivets.

But they still didn't hit the spot, perhaps looking too 'main line' for a 15" gauge line, as I now envisaged the project. The more I thought about it I realised that the issue was simply that I had my own style of O9 modelling that differed a little from the commercial offerings I had initially tried to use. I used to joke with Steve Bennett of Black Dog Mining that commercial O9 models were all made to be as big as possible for the gauge (the mythical scale 4ft wide), whilst Gn15 seemed to be about making things as small as possible for the scale! My O9, on the other hand, is rooted more in the average prototype 15" gauge outline and a width of approx 3ft 6ins.

I also realised that I owned a fleet of O9 wagons that rarely saw the light of day on 'Shifting Sands' that with a couple of additions and changes I could create a fleet to suit a 15" gauge railway built to miniature railway proportions but with some sort of purpose. 

So I've started on a few additions (so much for identical!)...

Now I just need to find that purpose!

Colin

2020 Hindsight

With the end of 2020 in sight the O9 Keef has had a few jobs completed on it and to all intents and purposes is considered "complete" enough to be sat in the display case. Since the last set of photographs I have added (and weathered) glazing, lightly weathered the loco and fitted MicroTrains couplers. These were the first set of couplers I had assembled for some time, I had forgotten what I was missing out on...!

One thing I haven't made any attempt to do is secure the body to the modified Bachmann chassis, it will likely be a blu-tac job. A reminder that the basic 3D print for this loco it available from A1 Models on eBay - and that I have made several changes to model, especially around the underframe.

There is an air of indecisiveness about the future of the model, it almost, but doesn't quite fit with my plans. A bit like 2020 really... I'm really happy that I have been able to continue modelling throughout the year but with hindsight, what has emerged is something of a mixed bag, a collection of individual models that actually achieve no real collective "whole". I started in this vein with MG Models 'Classic' loco, two paint jobs later and whilst it looks OK it might not be what I really want it to be.

Of course 'Beck Bridge' had a makeover to include a backscene, as seen above, which whilst successful it has still not found a real home for display!

At Easter, with time on my hands I started a micro layout based on Julian Andrews brickworks plan, this has never got beyond the initial phase other than a few tweaks as I searched for a suitable aesthetic for the rolling stock, and failed to get the result I wanted using KB Scale kits (nothing against the kits - just how I wanted to use them), and then some doubts over alternative scratchbuilds.

Not everything has been inconclusive, a Meridian Models Ashover coach kit received as a gift actually led to the one completed project of the year, the 009 diorama 'Humberston'. What started as a plain Manilla build of the coach in original condition turned into a customised rebuild of the coach to represent the LCLR modifications and a Simplex scratchbuilt to match, along with a suitable display base with platform and signal.

I hate to admit it but the other real success story was also 009, although the door is open for an O9 reworking for next Christmas!

Don't worry, I'm not about to rename the blog, plans are slowly coming together to revive the O9 micro layout and the locomotive and rolling stock aesthetic might also be resolved. Watch this space in 2021!

Happy New Year to our reader(s)

Colin 
 

Alan Keef K12 in O9 - Everythings Gone Green...

With a dry spell of weather over the weekend I managed to get a coat of varnish over the ever-so-slowly painted Alan Keef K12.

The green is Halfords 'Meadow Green', but you might have guessed that! Black and red areas were brush painted, red first over red oxide primer and then the green and red were masked off for the black to be painted.

Grilles are some old etched fencing panels cut to shape, blackened, painted and added in between painting and varnishing. The cab side panel has not come out too badly in the end, although this is somewhat helped by the very flat finish the Humbrol varnish creates.

There are a few jobs to complete such as glazing and I think it will definitely need some weathering to hide the ropier parts of the paintwork. It might have to wait though...

Colin

Christmas Tree Halt

I think most micro layout builders have thought at some point about building a seasonal scene, myself included. I thought about it again in November this year in light of having acquired what I thought was a thick cardboard 30cm cake board earlier in the year. However I reckoned that I might have left it a bit late at my rate of progress so decided not to. Roll on a week or so and challenged to create a Christmas decoration for a virtual Christmas meeting I simplified the plan down, and this is the result...

More of a decoration than a serious layout, on starting construction I discovered the board was more likely MDF than card when stripped of the foil covering. I added some strips of recycled 8mm ply underneath to strengthen it. The track is some (very) secondhand N gauge flex track with the rails curved using an improvised rail bender. This was surrounded by mount card, and covered with wood filler. The rest of the scenery is polystyrene and card covered with wood filler, then a layer of white paint/filler/PVA mix and the snow itself is largely paint. Two Noch fir trees form the centrepiece and are accompanied by some smaller, bare sea moss trees, recycled from my daughter' s winter diorama.

The sign and bench are scratchbuilt from timber scraps, treated with button polish (shellac) and lightly painted. The sign was printed on photo paper and fixed in place.

The loco is my modified Minitrains Bagnall 'Isla' and the brake van modified from a Dundas WHR kit. The wagonload of presents was constructed especially for the project and started life as a scratchbuilt O9 body that was surplus to requirements, it was narrowed down, extra floor plank ends marked on and placed on a Colin Ashby 009 chassis. It contains miniature presents made from balsa blocks wrapped in miniature wrapping paper downloaded online and printed! 

 

Although 009 at the moment, in theory an O9 version is possible if the right stock was available...

Colin

Alan Keef K12 in O9 - 3D Print Manipulation

I haven't managed to get much modelling done over the last couple of weeks, but I have managed to tweak the 3D printed K12 a little to better reflect the prototype. 

Having removed the original axleboxes and smoothed away the remains I added 20 thou styrene behind the frames cut to the correct shape, and then 40 x 30 thou strip to build up the depth below the axlebox positions. The bottom of each buffer beam gained a 60 x 60 thou strip. Once set in place these items were shaped to suit and Milliput used to fill any gaps.

New axlebox and spring detail is formed using various sections of styrene strip, the springs being much thinned down rod. I did try to scribe a spring effect onto this before cutting but it remains to be seen whether this will actually show up.

The grilles caused some fun and games as I initially thought I had no suitable square pattern material in stock. In the past I have used old sections of A1 Models chain link fencing etch for this but had nothing the right size in the usual place. Thinking that I had some fresh pieces in my 4mm scale scenic stash I was stumped when I couldn't find them, it was only when locating the diamond pattern etch I'd used on my 1/24th Lister that eventually found the spare length of fence!

The coupler blocks that I created a few weeks ago by laminating together styrene sheet and strip have been located at a height to suit MicroTrains couplers. They are drilled to allow a 1015 coupler to be secured with a screw from underneath. Bolt head detail is from EDM Models

On the front end I have added slithers of Plastruct hex section to represent the bolts at the top of the bonnet front. 

At this stage rather a lot of paintwork had been rubbed back, and I did have a concern that in places the primer had not adhered to the rubbed-down factory finish. Several edges saw the paint chip away all to easily... After a good scrub down I applied a very light coat of primer as a proof coat and also in the hope that it dried better as a thin coat. After a few more adjustments another coat was added and the end result was this.

 

It's a bit rough in places but it will have to do, and hopefully painting and weathering will distract the eye a little. I've now given it a rub down with 1500 grit wet and dry in preparation for a sprayed coat of green, I've chickened out of Keef factory applied orange!

If you fancy an O9 K12 yourself, A1 Models have the print listed on eBay here...

 

Colin