Wagon body

Hi All.  I had an accident with my long wheelbase Brake van that I had installed my Lanarkshire Models track Cleaner in. I do have other brakevans but, they have too much detail underneath to fit the roller.My idea is a five plank wagon body to fit on the chassis, and I would like some advice on this “First Time Project”
with suitable materials for the bodywork planking.  Best wishes.  Kevin

Hi Kevin,
The simplest would be scribed styrene.

Hi Rob.    Thank you for your reply.    Best wishes kevin

Hi Kevin,

1. Is the accidented body shell repairable? Most things are, stepping on it excepted.
2. Scribing styrene sheet. Do you have the tools? You need a sharp and hardened point such as a tungsten dart head. Plus very accurate cuts and some means of ensuring a 90 degree corner (Lego is good for this if you don't have a jig).
3. Consider styrene strip glued to a thin styrene sheet backer.
4. Go wood strip glued to a backer of thin ply.
5. Convert the van to a flat wagon with a one plank side, cover the mechanism with a tarp or a wooden shipping container. No need for those pesky doors you get on regular wagons.
6. Get a cheap van off eebygum.
7. Buy a new replacement and save hours of work and frustration.

Me? Number 5.

Nigel

Hi Nigel. Thank you.The Van was very brittle, old plastic, and splintered into so many bits. As far as Eebygum are concerned, I have never had any luck. The Idea behind the scratch wagon is a bit of practice at scratch building and utilisation of the chassis 
And a long wheelbase chassis is essential for the track cleaning roller. If I was to attempt to convert the van? The plastic may shatter with a saw?   Best wishes. Kevin

Didn't Dave from Lanarkshire Models offer you a spare brake van body Kevin?

Bill 

Hi Bill.  Thank you. Funny you should say that, he did but I have so many brakevans, and they have so much going on beneath the solebar that the roller will not fit. Which gave me the idea for a bit of practice scratch building .Best wishes. Kevin

Yes, the roller assembly only fits the one brake van.

Have fun and good luck Kevin.

Bill

I'll offer my tuppence on the subject of scribing plastic.  I use this Olfa Plastic Cutter:

Collections - OLFA.com

It makes a groove and I find it very useful.  Used it to make my brake van interiors among other things.

John

Hi John.  Thank you for your tuppenyworh. It does seem like a good idea. Another suggestion that I have beenconsidering is “V groove from Evergreen” plastic sheet, with plastic stripfor the strapping .  Best wishes. Kevin

The back of a knife blade makes a perfect scribed line in styrene.  A nice fine, sharp three square Swiss needle file will be ideal for going down the groove smoothing out the line you've scraped in case it's a wee bit woolly.Obviously you should have a 3 or 4" engineers square to ensure a right angle where you need it.  A good trick to stop a steel rule slipping is to lay a strip of masking tape on the back of it.

Cheers,
Martin

Hi Martin. Thank you for your support. I need all the help and encouragement that I can get with both scratch andkit building . Best wishes. Kevin

No problems,Kevin. That's what I join these things for as I've done this game professionally and as a hobby for decades.  Just ask away. Making your own is so fulfilling. It'salso dirt cheap once you have the wheels and W irons, but they're not TOO expensive and of course, you can make plenty of wagons while saving for the bought in bits.  Contrary to popular belief, scratchbuilding is NOT difficult. I was doing it when I was barely a teenager and won a cup for a rake of GER wagons when I was just 13.  I just followed what I'd read in the Model Railway Constructor, of blessed memory.
An alternative to your track cleaner is to design a plausible vehicle from scratch which looks like it might be part of a track maintenance train, paint it screamin' yella and nobody would know the difference.

Cheers,
Martin

Hi Martin. Thank you for your reply. On one of my kits the W irons needed a bit of persuasion, to fit a bearing, me being a bit heavy handed I drilled right through . That is just one example. As I have the brakevan chassis already, even though it is a bodge? it will do for me, and the idea of an engineers train in “Screaming Yellow” or even a London Transport engineers train in grey, to go with my ex GW 0-6-0 Pannier Tank. Best wishes. Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Real planks>V groove (unless you can get 4mm scaled it is HO scaled and meant for vertical planks)>scribed. If you scribe, you will need a stainless steel ruler with a smooth edge, otherwise the scribing blade/point will chatter on the indentations. You will need a 4 square needle file to get 45 degrees chamfer on the edges. The pointy end makes an effective scribe. Three square gives 60 degrees. Twelve inches to the foot had this as rain drips. Turning a sharp or even blunted cutting blade over to use the back pointy bit is effective but downright dangerous.

Styrene is funny stuff, you need several passes with a light touch to stop the material from moving away from the edge. It works best if you can clamp the sheet and the cutting edge, and use spacer blocks to set the width of the plank. Using the pointy end of a dart held at 45 degrees to the vertical gives pretty much the desired depth and chamfer. I'll post a picture in a bit.

Your post prompted me to look at Lanarkshire Models. No shipping to Canada or America? So I stopped looking after I checked out the brake van.

Nigel

Nothing remotely dangerous about using the back of a scalpel, any more than the dangers (?) of using a cutting blade of any kind.
Using a strip of masking tape on the back of the steel rule will do as much as possible to stop it slipping.  Clamp and use spacer blocks if you still want to be doing it this time next year!
Part of doing it yourself is the implied assurance to yourself that this time next year you'll far more confident and twice as quick.  I have developed methods that get the job done, because the sooner I did stuff, The sooner I could invoice for it and get n with the next job.  Whilst you may not be doing it for money as I used to, you should still want, surely, to get as much done in as short a time as possible, in order to do more.
Despite being a professional for years I am not a patient man. There's always more to do.  I do recommend, however, that you mark your plank spacing with a knife from a steel rule. Rub a grubby finger over the marks and they'll show up as very fine lines.  If you use a square file to make the plank lines you run the risk of the gaps being too wide, especially in the smaller scales. Tat's why I use a 3 square (triangular) file, which I also grind at the end at an angle, which helps guide it in to the knife scratched line and is also a useful graver, which, having just lost mine of many years, I find is £28 to replace!  Ergo, make one for nothing.

Cheers,
Martin

Hi Kevin

See below for a quick sample using a dart tip, a cutting knife (the back of the tip) and a 4-square needle file (much abused, now relegated to simple tasks such as this). Four cuts top to bottom - the dart, the back of the blade tip, the 4-square file, and the 4-square file after 2 passes to make a chamfer. To my eyes all look good except the 4-square with the chamfer - way too big a gap for HO/OO scale, better suited to S or O.

Couple of tips here. Gently go over the styrene with 400 grit to roughen up the surface, that will stop things moving around (go in the long direction - it will give a hint of grain). Gently go over the styrene surface after making the grooves, as the cutting action will raise small lips either side of the cut. And use thick sheet, if you use thin it will curve immediately.  You should be able to do the four sides in about 10 minutes.

Nigel

Excellent tip about roughing the surface, Nigel. I should have remembered that, but it's a long time since I made a styrene wagon. I tend to use Steamed Pear these days.The 3 square file makes a much narrower groove, but yes, probably still too wide for 4mm scale.

Martin

Hi Martin (and Kevin of course),

One method you mentioned above for grooving was to use the tip of a scalpel blade upside down. Ouch! Scalpel blades are designed to easily cut through flesh (their intended purpose), and need to be treated with respect, especially as they are being used next to the hand holding down the styrene in question. If anybody is contemplating this method, please do what I do and only expose a mm or so of the blade of a box cutter or similar. Health and Safety commonsense applies in the hobby room as much as anywhere else. Spending an evening at the local emergency room having a deep cut sutured/packed with coagulating film after spilling claret everywhere is not my idea of scratch modeling.

The pointy end of a dart or the tapered end of a 3 or 4 sided needle file is much preferable, and a lot less dangerous. Or get a commercial cutter/scriber where the blade is protected. Some things you shouldn't do with a scalpel, this definitely is one of them. One more thing is to wear those safety glasses when using scalpel blades, they don't like lateral forces, and will shatter quite easily. There was a recall quite recently of bad scalpel blades that were doing exactly this.

Bottom line - use the appropriate tools for the job and use them properly. Those new to scratch building please take note, scalpels (and other blades) are for cutting, not scribing.

Nigel