Metrocamel's Layout- Modern Engineers wagons - pics page 51

[Metrocamel]

Not alot to report - still waiting for the plastic to start the scrap wagons

The Stingray is progressing well with the electrics sorted, although I'm having bother with fitting air pipes to the Bachy Seacows - the bufferbeams are cast metal and it defeat all efforts to drill any more than the single hole provided Unfortunately this means I can't feed the leads through to other wagons with lights Also ordered a load of Cambrian engineers kits - Whales, Turbots and Dogfish - as though I didn't have nough to do

Work on the layout is underway with most of the old track taken up and the surface being prepped to take new code 75 and whatever else is salvagable (including most points since I don't have the money to replace all those). Have also tried code 75 with 6mm sleeper spacing and it looks great

Pics to follow soon - I hope

[Metrocamel]

Update time;

The Cambrian kits have arrived from H&A models - next day arrival on standard postage. I highly reccomend their service if its kits you're after. Unfortunately I'm still waitin for the plastic from another supplier so will have to make do with staring at a mockup of the JXA/PXA cut out of graph paper

Here's a few pics of what's been going on;

The Parkside 21 tonners looked nice lined up so here's another shot of them. I started spraying railmatch gloss on two of them in preparation for decals but have been putting off doing the next coat - the fumes are awful The sleeper spacing on this code 75 is also set to 6mm around the wagons - what do you think?







The Stingray now has an electircal equipment box and generator housing - the fomer needs four hinges (only one of which wants to stick on ) whilst the latter needs some bracing with brass strip.







This is a Hornby Shark weathered using airbrush fading (with a slightly blue tint) and oil paints. Two doors have been removed to be set in the open position whilst I also hung a rag over the side using millput



Those damned vandals are also defacing my stock as fast as I can paint it





Cambrian Dogfish - the only one of the kits test run since I stole the bearings from an unbuilt 21 tonner - still waiting for a bulk apck of them for the rest.



Cambrian Turbot;





Cambrian Whale - The Bachy 40 ton Seacow shows the size of the "stretched" 50 ton vehicle.





JXA/PXA mockup - it's sitting too low on its bgoies and I think the sides may be a tad too high. One thing that's sure is the length - plus buffers its going to be a nightmare round corners!



That's all for now! Hopefully I'll have something mroe complete to show you next time.

Cheers

Liam

[PTmodeller]

Very nice builds! That Shark looks excellent - you've really brought out the best in the Hornby model, which is pretty damn good to begin with. How do you find the Cambrian kits to run - I built some BAAs and found them atrocious.

[Metrocamel]

Can't say for the bogie ones yet Did the BAA have one piece bogies? The Whale and Turbot do so that should sort out any trouble with the axles. The Dogfish wobbled at first and I spent ages trying to straighten the frame but it was actually the Gibson wheelset that was out of shape

Thanks by the way.

[PTmodeller]

Yeah - fold the bogie down over the wheels/axles. It put me off building any more kits, but since you've had a better experience, perhaps I should reconsider.

[Metrocamel]

The Turbot is probably the simplest - the Dogfish is a confusing build. The Whale will probably get annoying once I move on to the end platforms, but the sides, hopper interior (which is a nice one piece mould) and centre divider form their own right angles so its pretty much guaranteed to be straight.

The easiest kit I built was the Chivers MDV - absolutely nowhere to fault it

[GROTLAND]

Hello Metro.

Your latest weathering projects have been terrific. Thanks for the explanation of 'salting'. That's a method I've got to try for mineral wagons and departmental stuff.

[Metrocamel]

Quick update which I never got time to post yesterday;







These are a Bachmann Sealion and Seacow that are going to be repainted into dutch. I've also added pipes (dual for the Sealion) and instanter couplings that work on at least 3rd radius curves and possibly on 2nd.







Whale is coming on nicely now that I've figured out where some of the parts go. Have replaced the plastic rod over the hopper chutes with metal which is a big improvement - another good idea is to file down the crosspieces of the end handrails to get a finer section - the uprights are too delicate to risk drilling for metal ones. I'm thinking of writing a build article when I do the second one since info on building these is pretty much non existant and it'll spare people the headaches I've had.

Edit - I've also found a way to sort out the dodgy running on the Cambrian kits. PT might be interested?

More updates soon.

Liam

[Lofty]

I have just cought up with your recent work Liam, very good!

[zabdiel]

Very nice! A stingray is on my to-do list, but I'd not thought of fitting working lights!

[Metrocamel]

It's an easy job to do The decoder is a decision I'm glad I made since a switch would've just been annoying. It's a shame bachmann have used such a tough metal for the bufferbeams since I can't drill them out for the wires to run on to more wagons The hornby version has plastic ones, but I'm not sure if any Stingrays were built on the welded version they've done. Will need to think of a solution soon since I was hoping to have lights on one of the Whales.

Liam

[Metrocamel]

Not much happening on the layout front since I've taken up most of the track. Will be relaying it soon, hopefully to sort out some point motors and signals ect before ballasting. In the meantime, here's a few more pics of the engineers kits;

The Whale has been going really well. Despite being the most complex and the unhelpful instructions, this has turned out to be the easiest Cambrian build. Once the main body is up and you've got your head round where the parts go at the ends its pretty straightforward. I've made the safety canopy for one end using shawplan mesh and brass wire - the kit provides soft wire which is almost useless and plastic mesh. After a bit of thought I went with solder to make this and its given a rock solid fix to something that would be easy to knock off. The other end will follow soon and I'll also be doing the same for the Bachmann Sealion.

All that's delaying this build is that I don't know what size buffers to order and that I need the airtank and distributor for the other end. Handwheels will come from here (bottom of page) :

http://colincraig4mm.co.uk/#/hand-wheels/4532593494













Here's a decent fix for the dodgy running. Build up layers of plastic strip to the level of the mount to the bogie can't rock side to side. Takes a bit of trial and error but with a bit of weight should give a smooth ride.



The Turbot and Dogfish are turning into patch up jobs since I damaged both cutting off the buffers. Also, despite being simpler than the Whale they're somehow more annoying to build. The second two will be better



For the Turbot, brass wire replaces the plastic rods given and spare arms for the vac brakes came from parkside 21 ton hoppers (you get a spare one in each kit) since the ones provided weren't great.



Lastly, here's the MDV with writing done in chalk. It's not sealed, and I noticed taht its shouldn't say 21 ton under the name. Don't know if I can be bothered to correct it though.



Comments welcome. More updates soon.

Liam

[Metrocamel]

Handwheels came today from Colin Craig. Exceptionally well made and easy to solder - much better than the plastic ones. The Whale wheels are a straightforward task of folding over to give the correct thickness (and detail on both faces) and sodlering around to give a join without any visible seams. The Dogfish ones might be more of a challenge, since they need to have handles fitted and they're "dished" using the supplied jig.

Only thing holding me up now is the buffers

Highly reccomended

Liam

[0121modeller]

The rust on the wheels of those wagons look amazingly realistic, very well done Liam , top inspirational modelling .

Dave.

[Metrocamel]

Thanks can't take the credit though - the wheels are by Intercity Models and come ready rusted

Cheers

Liam