ScR steam in the 50's

A relatively quiet summer modelling wise - too much good weather and a commission to build two 0 gauge wagon kits - brass - that turned into a saga; suffice to say it has cured me of any 7mm leanings, but I recently put together a little gem - an ex HR six wheel coach that lingered on in departmental use long enough to be preserved. I have done it in its last days as a S&T dormitory coach, and here it is at Thurso, dozing in a siding…



It is built of plasticard and sprang forth from a Silhouette cutter, courtesy of a fellow modeller with a greater understanding of the input side than myself. He also kindly assembled the body, while I fitted the running gear and the rest of the finishing off. Still awaiting transfers as no one does such an obscure area as Highland section departmental stock, so some thought is needed to get round this.

Pic of the platform, with two Royal Mail vans arriving to load a LNER parcels van with the evening mail. It was a common sight well into diesel days to see red vans parked on the platforms on the North line.

 Hi Ben, nice to see the results of the scratchbuilt coach. Look forward to seeing it finished.

I just went into O gauge myself and I'm curious about the brass kits you had a go with.  I'm building a Parkside brake van kit at the moment.  I'm exploring the possibilities with kits and RTR.  One of the reasons I went for O gauge is that there are more and more reasonably priced RTR locos coming out.  Having tackled several 4mm loco kits and never finished any of them, I'm not too keen to tackle a 7mm loco kit.

I've built several 4mm etched brass wagon kits and found them tricky but got 'em done.  I hope you don't let one setback put you off O gauge altogether.

John

They were originally a 4mm fret scaled up, which as it happened led to some basic errors. Got them running eventually, but it was a waste of a lot om time I could have used on my own projects. I have built some 0 Parkside kits in the past, and they were a different matter altogether.

Hornby's latest little gem  hard at work as a distillery engine with limited permitted main line movements shunting its load at Helmsdale. Cracker of a model, and photo was taken on a tablet with a HD app downloaded to see what it could do.

Recent work has involved a kind friend who has mastered the Silhouette cutter and ran off a CR breakdown van that was based at Helmsdale for me. He put the body together and I fitted the running gear and painted it - result is a lovely model of one of the depots vehicles and which is most unlikely ever to appear in any other form.

Another departmental van was based on a GSWR six wheel brake that proved popular with the backroom boys once its revenue days were over, with several being altered as needed to suit requirements at various depots throughout the old LMS area of Scotland. I cheated slightly here by using two Ratio four wheel kits but it bears a passing resemblance to the real thing, so long as you don't know too much about such things… :oops:

It's only now I notice you use Spratt and Winkle Ben, I use the same.

Phil

Yes, simple and reliable. I use them single ended which makes life a lot easier and the 3mm delayed action version.Coaches are Kadees for historical reasons but of the two types I far prefer the S&W's.

Continuing the Silhouette theme, a fellow RMwebber very kindly cut an assembled a MR dining car for me. This ended its career on the Inverness/ Helmsdale run so will be right at home here. Here it is as I got it.



And after it passed through the works…..

Very very nice, before and after.

Really interesting seeing the work with the silhouette Ben. I've been thinking about one for some time and actually placed an order today. 
The thing that nailed it for me was not being able to get some whitemetal Dean bogies for a coach I was kit bashing and read about the Silhouette on RMweb. I figured that I could make them using the Silhouette which would then hopefully lead on to coach building.

The clerestory coach you've shown is superb and just the sort of thing I was looking to do. I notice the bogies are cut, so can you tell me what thickness of styrene is used and how many laminations for the bogie sides. I was thinking it would need 4 x 0.25mm (010").

Good job Ben!

Phil

Thanks, I'll pass the bulk of the compliments on to the guy who did the hard bit! The bogies are Comet I think, and I'll ask him about the sides - didn't pay much attention to them  and now they are painted its difficult to tell, but 20thou is his usual material, with panelling etc done in 10.

Thanks Ben

I'd assumed that as the bogie sides were white that they were cut from styrene as well. Obviously the springs and axle boxes are whitemetal.

Nick

Oh my, oh my, oh my…. those coaches and departmental vans are lovely Ben.
Special stuff indeed.

Cheers

Marty

[user=401]pnwood[/user] wrote:

Really interesting seeing the work with the silhouette Ben. I've been thinking about one for some time and actually placed an order today. 
The thing that nailed it for me was not being able to get some whitemetal Dean bogies for a coach I was kit bashing and read about the Silhouette on RMweb. I figured that I could make them using the Silhouette which would then hopefully lead on to coach building.

The clerestory coach you've shown is superb and just the sort of thing I was looking to do. I notice the bogies are cut, so can you tell me what thickness of styrene is used and how many laminations for the bogie sides. I was thinking it would need 4 x 0.25mm (010").

Here is his reply -

"I used two layers of 10 thou. These are stuck over Comet 8 foot  wheelbase Southern bogies. The axleboxes are Wizard Clayton MR ones,  with the back filed down to just leave the box. The bolster details are  Coment LMS ones."

Once the input side of things is mastered the cutter is making what was to all extents impossible projects almost run of the mill. If I was starting my build again I would probably use it for the likes of signal cabins and huts  - the HR lattice bridges are another likely candidate.

HTH

Thanks Ben that is very useful info which gives me confidence that I can make my own embryonic silhouette project work. 

Couple of shots taken recently in daylight. I've been busy adding to my already over extensive wagon fleet recently - can't seem to stop building these things…Anyway, some activity at Helmsdale today.

Beautiful, Richard.   :thumbs

I like the wagons with the tarped loads. They add another dimension to what is already a diverse and unique range of rolling stock.
Cheers

Marty