Scratchbuilt scrapwagons- 0121modeller "show's you how"

[0121modeller]

Scratchbuilding bogies out of styrene strip componants , has anyone ever tried this with good results ?

I relize the type of plastic may be slightly different to the RTR sort , as being more flexible & hard wearing than styrene , but I've some brass pinpoint axles to ease the wearing on styrene, as for flexing the built-up bogie as to fit in the axle & wheels , well , that might present another hurdle.

Type of bogies I need are Schlieren bogies, there's no RTR items available to purchace as donors, nor are there kits of this type of bogie, so scratchbuilding them maybe the only option.

Any thoughts ?

[thebritfarmer]

I have no idea at all as this is beyond me but if anyone could build then it would be you

[Bufferstop]

Hi Dave, I see no reason why not. I've built a few chassis for 0-4-0s using 60 thou sheet and brass frame bushes. Bogies should be ok providing there's enough material to give it some strength. Try a basic plate frame one first. It would be an advantage if you can find some long straight metal rod the same o/d as the brass bearings, you put them through the bearing holes and use them to check for squareness, the extra length shows up any errors. I'd be tempted to leave of the axlebox detail until you have a working bogie with the brass bearing caps in place, then build the detail around it. I think you would do a better job than I could, but I'm sure I could produce a working bogie.
John W
aka Bufferstop

[b308]

No reason why not, its the same as a plastic kit with plastic bogies... Would agree with the brass bearings though, both to make it run better and prevent wear.

[0121modeller]

Thankyou all for replies made & your kind comments has boosted my confidence too, & thanks Bufferstop for the tips given in your post

I've just ordered about a dozen photo's from the Paul Bartlet photo website , photo's of JXA & PXA Sheerness Steel Scrapwagons

Dave.

[Jim S-W]

Hi Dave

Did you ask intercity models?

http://www.intercitymodels.com/Bogies.html

Hth

Jim

[0121modeller]

Hi Dave

Did you ask intercity models?

http://www.intercitymodels.com/Bogies.html

Hth

Jim

Thanks for the link Jim , I'll contact them Monday

Dave.

[0121modeller]

Update on this, thanks to Jim S.W. for his link to Intercity models, I phoned them yesterday, unfortunately they're out of stock of the bogies I want, but the good news is that they'de be re-casting more bogies within the next couple of weeks.

Photo's I'd ordered from the Paul Bartlet website came through the post yesterday also, so I'll have plenty of time to study the photo's of the particular types of scrapwagon I'm building in relation to the bogies I soon hope to aquire from Intercity Models, It may be the case, depending on what I decide when they come, that I'll not actually use the bogies sent to me, as, if possible I'll try & make my own from styrene based on the items sent to me, rather than try & scratchbuild them using just photographs for referance.
I'll update on this as & when.

[red death]

IIRC Colin Craig is going to do some Schlieren bogies as well, see here: http://colincraig4mm.co.uk/#/bogies/4553870602

Might be worth asking Colin when they might be available.

Cheers, Mike

[0121modeller]

IIRC Colin Craig is going to do some Schlieren bogies as well, see here: http://colincraig4mm.co.uk/#/bogies/4553870602

Might be worth asking Colin when they might be available.

Cheers, Mike

Thanks for that, I may well need to contact them, I've just sent a letter to Appleby model engineering enquiring about the bogie frames I need, I'll give it a couple of weeks & if I've heard nothing from either Appleby or Intercity models , then I'll be contacting Colin Craig.
Thanks again

[0121modeller]

I'm currently scratchbuilding Scherlien bogies , 4 of them - enough for 2 JXA Sheerness type scrapwagons, I've built the side frames for them so far, some inspiration idea's & methods may well follow shortly & I'll post here how I did them - if my efforts are successfull.

[0121modeller]

I've made sufficient progress as to post my progress;

I studied all my photo's of both the scrapwagon with Scherlian bogies & a close up photo of a Scherlien bogie fitted to a 100 tonne fuel tanker type wagon

I decided to use Evergreen #4502 embossed sheet styrene, the recessed lines & spaced squares make its so much easier to mark measurements, score & break to precision as required, I've used a boardmarker as to show up the recess more clearly,


I studied my photos & other information & came to a conclusion for the size of bogie, I'm probably within 2mm give or take- so that 6 inches thereabouts of accurate scale size.


Using Evergreen strip #135, duplicates of 2 sizes were cut to excact duplicate lengths using my NWSL Chopper, angled cuts to lower portion of girder cut after stright cuts had been done,


cut componants of styrene Evergreen #135 were welded together,


Excess trimmed off with knife,


Cut down excess with chopper


I carefully positioned & fitted them on using tiny spots of Revel Contacta


I used styrene strip Evergreen #123 (0.5mm x 1.5mm) to follow around the profile of #135 (0.75mm x 2.5mm) as to make odd shape girder design of bogies, applied & complete as seen below;


Press studs make ideal handbrake wheels, in this case, the 6mm size is especially suited to the scale size and design of wheel that are on some scrapwagons I have photo's showing them fitted with Scherlien bogies,

I've already started on next stage, I need to be sure certain bogie width & wheel fitment / clearance measurements are correct before I assemble certain areas with plastic weld, commit photos etc,,

And also I await tiny 3mm dia x 4mm grub screws to arrive from mail order, can anyone guess what I have in mind to use them for if suited ?? - I'll post another update soon , then all will be revealed...

[Blue_2]

Will you be using the grub screws as springs by any chance?

[Bufferstop]

Looking good already Dave. So that's what you meant by getting out the chopper
John W
aka Bufferstop

[0121modeller]

Will you be using the grub screws as springs by any chance?

Correct Blue_2 .., using tiny grub screws is a possible solution to best represent them, but a couple of aspects of the grub screws need to be crucial as to give a fair likeness, the size inc thread; 3mm dia , the length being 4mm , and the type of thread, idealy the grubscrews will have a coarse/wide thread , the real springs on my photo show 4 slanting rotations.

If the grubscrews look suitable, then I'll just need to put each one in a vice as to file off some of the tread on one side so it appears & glues better onto bogie sideframe below girder when fixing with a tiny spot of aryldite or UHU.

I've other back up plans/methods just in case the above idea does'nt work out.... so I eagerly await the postman as I type

Looking good already Dave. So that's what you meant by getting out the chopper
John W
aka Bufferstop

Yes John, I'll always get my chopper out for tasks like this ,, I highly recomend the NWSL Chopper to modellers who do a lot of scratchbuilding with styrene.

BTW, if anyone noticed... spot the mistake in the last photo of my previous post ...- the position of handbrake wheel is in-correct, it needs to be other end of the girder, but its not permanantly fixed in yet, that photo was just to give an idea for suitability of using a 6mm press stud.