Dad-1 - Workbench - West Bay Wagon Works

[Dad-1]

I've had a think about the Parkside PC-35 kit, I can't be kind about it
so will not be doing anything in depth.
PC-35 is a Conflat 'S' with a DX 4 ton open container.
The original design was LNER, where the containers were I read, painted a shade of Oxford Blue,
with white markings. The Conflat being in bright LNER bauxite.

Problems I have with the kit are :- First miniaturised and truncated instructions and I still have 2 long 'chocks'
that I have no idea what to do with, the instructions mention the 2 short 'chocks and tells that only 1 was used
if carrying 2 x small 'C' containers, those you don't get and can't be bought as separate items ??
The container supplied is a DX type, but is nothing like the only picture I have of a BR produced DX container.
The kit supplied item is of much lighter construction, perhaps a LNER type ?? That would be in blue for white markings.
The picture I have of a BR DX shows a light grey, very light, with much more bracing
The enclosed decal sheet for BR period gives white text, on the BR containers all the markings are on black panels.
White text on a very light grey wouldn't work !!

The wagons XP decal has a little way below it the 10.00 WB marking, but there is no way you can fit this single decal.
The low sides of chain pockets is right on the limit for the XP letters.
All the wagon decals are correct being just white.

There just seems to be a miss-match of container/period.
Luckily these were soon consigned to history, both wagon & containers. Best comment I can make is don't bother.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

As it's such a shockingly awful day I shall start my next wagon build.

Another Dapol, and an interesting wagon, The BR made fine powder twin silo from 1960.
There were 2 different diagrams of this wagon made, 30 with a 10 Ft wheelbase followed
by 100 with a 12 Ft wheel base and this is the version that Airfix tooled prior to Dapol taking
on Airfix railway range. This wagon is probably the best bargain you'll ever find as it's been
priced as the standard range, but is a much more complex and contains many more parts.



I have in the past made 3 of these, and while I'm clearing my wagon kit stock thought this would
be something different. Bachmann did once think about tooling for this, but the projected price
was well into the £40 bracket when these kits were under a tenner.
There was a tooling fault that I doubt has been corrected, but I can't recall exactly what it was,
this will appear as the build progresses. I do remember it was a slot in the hopper side that was in
the wrong place.

No pictures yet as I've just brought the kit up from my shed.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

What else on a wet day ?

I can't recall if I fitted brass bearings in my 2015 builds.
I have on this with the usual requirement for Dapol kits.
Use a 2.0 mm drill to bore out all axle boxes JUST SHY of drilling right through. Then open
the top slightly with a 3.0 - 3.2 mm drill, enough to accept the shoulder.
Parts fit well with just a minor scrape in most places. The buffers are surrounded with a
very thin flash that comes away easily.



I have added a couple of cross shafts, and included links to the vacuum cylinders, but otherwise
this is quite busy for a cheap kit. In fact competitive on quality with any plastic kits. They do
recommend painting before building up the hoppers. Something I will be doing.



I know the old tooling error is on the hoppers, I doubt anything has changed, but that is for another day.

This kit was bought at the end of last year and non-magnetic wheel sets were appearing in Dapol kits.
I did a check and found that one set is non-magnetic, the other set has a non-magnetic axle, but
slightly magnetic wheels. Work that one out !!! Should be fine for Kadee use.

Geoff T.

[Phred]

I wonder if the wheels in question were subject to some sort of friction which imbued them with a weak magnetic charge, like when you rub a screwdriver on something so that the screw will stick to the end long enough to get it started in the hole. Would be interesting to see if they are still magnetic at some later time.

[Dad-1]

Hi phred,

Probably made in china with the cheapest steel the factory could find and
made up wheels thrown in a bin by the 1000. What you get is sheer luck.
I once rang Dapol when the non-magnetic ones started to appear - They had
NO idea of what was being used !!

Geoff T.

[TimberSurf]

I think I heard, Dapol have recently bought a new CNC machine, so that they can manufacture the wheels themselves in the UK

[Mountain]

I think I heard, Dapol have recently bought a new CNC machine, so that they can manufacture the wheels themselves in the UK

I think that is a wize move for Dapol.

That kit does look interesting. Agree with the painting. Many a time I have built a loco and in my impatience to get it looking "Complete" I failed to paint the cab first before assembling and wished I had later!

[Dad-1]

I do like the idea of them making more 'In-House' where possible.

I can't go much further as I have to wait for some glued joins to fully harden
before I can sand off to get the finish I want.
Both hopper tops just resting on with a few other 'bits' just plugged in for a
photograph. Alongside is one of my 2015 builds, still looking O.K after some
9 years of use, at that time the kits cost £5.40 each.



This time I want to add a little more contrast on pipework and such, the overall
freight brown tends to be a bit dull. Yes freight brown ? shouldn't that be bauxite ?
I can't recall what Humbrol enamel I used.

Geoff T.

[Mountain]

I think the colour looks right. I have seen some in books that look more reddish but photos were in bright sun setting sunlight, and it could have been a coat of rust as so many BR wagons tended to look in the 1980's!
But to me, if it is out (Looks right to me) a slight redder colour may do, but I think as it is the colour looks ok... Though time to get the railway books out!
Actually, Hornby used to use that brown shade of colour on their twin silo wagons so it can't be too far out.

[Dad-1]

Hi Mountain,

Paul Bartlett's site has both colours and some streaky worn liveries look like the late
Bauxite has been over painted on the original brown, but worn off in places !!
His site has a good selection of photographs of the 1/277 diagram, even couple of
the short 10 ft wheelbase version 1/274. The 'new' 1/274 is most certainly brown.

This is quite a complex kit and there are some fiddly bits where this time my old
fingers struggled. I painted bauxite last evening, but as yet not hard enough to handle,
I will photograph later today.
I decided to paint before adding the two ladders where there are electrification flashes
under the back of the ladders, I need to get the decals on here first. I still haven't
put the access platform on as that would make it difficult to paint all the upper
pipework.

Ahh yes the kit's little decal sheet only has 1 electrification flash decal, luckily I have a
complete 'Fox' sheet here.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Current state of play.

This Railmatch paint is taking it's time to harden with the rather glossy
finish showing off the less than perfect silo seams..All the top piping in
with just the walkway and two ladders to add, but some decaling to do first.



My 9 year old model back into it's environment of a yard. I question my skill
levels, is old age catching me up ?



Both colours are acceptable, initially most were brown as opposed to bauxite.
Varnishing and weathering will take away the comparative glare of my new one.

Geoff T.

[Lysander]

I find Railmatch 'out-of-the-bottle' a slow curer too, Geoff.

Tony

[aleopardstail]

is that acrylic or enamel paint?

have found the Vallejo acrylic range is worth a look, especially for stuff thats getting weathered so exact colour matches matter less. the model colour range is huge and while its a military focussed range its got about every shade of brown going

[Dad-1]

Hi aleopardstail,

It's an enamel, O.K that is old fashioned, but that's what I've always used since the 1960's
and I generally understand how to work it.
At least with Lysander's comment I can rest that it's not been me over thinning. Some paint's
I've had never fully hardened, Hannan't Xtracolour enamel Blue Angels Blue was probably the
worst for that.

These wagons most certainly were painted in more or less these two colours as Paul Bartlett's
photos show. Luckily freight wagons had a hard life, suffered re-paints of varying quality so
we are in a world where rough approximations are acceptable. I suppose if in doubt make extra
dirty !!

Paint dry today, but I'm busy for the next couple of days so the second coat will have to wait.

Geoff T.

[aleopardstail]

Hi aleopardstail,

It's an enamel, O.K that is old fashioned, but that's what I've always used since the 1960's
and I generally understand how to work it.
At least with Lysander's comment I can rest that it's not been me over thinning. Some paint's
I've had never fully hardened, Hannan't Xtracolour enamel Blue Angels Blue was probably the
worst for that.

These wagons most certainly were painted in more or less these two colours as Paul Bartlett's
photos show. Luckily freight wagons had a hard life, suffered re-paints of varying quality so
we are in a world where rough approximations are acceptable. I suppose if in doubt make extra
dirty !!

Paint dry today, but I'm busy for the next couple of days so the second coat will have to wait.

Geoff T.

Enamel works, for me the only times I've had issues with stuff not curing properly its been a mix of temperature and humidity, combined with the primer. enamels are way harder wearing, last time I was doing these dapol kits (the meat wagons mostly) I used enamels, over a car body primer (probably the cheapest grey I could find).

its weird when stuff doesn't fully cure, even over time, but then I had had plastic adhesive that a year later hasn't cured. it could be an issue with the paint not totally mixing right