I wish there were red boxes for these Allan, we're still a bit thin on the ground when it comes to RTR.  It IS a lot of work but if I want passenger stock I have to do this.

John

When I first started of in the hobby John, every layout was a 'Superquik Special'  and that's when I decided to try and scratch build buildings as I didn't want the same layout as everyone else regardless to how inferior my attempts were when compared. 

The late John Ahearn's book, Miniature Building Construction, did help but it still took me a year to get me head round it where I realized that I needed a knife and not  an axe to cut cardboard with  and proper glue and not jam to stick it all together !


Allan.

Superquik and Metcalfe kits are great starting points for the building modeller.  As you say, you can look at most layouts and spot the Superquik and Metcalfe buildings.  Nothing the matter with that, however, it is refreshing to see kitbashed and scratchbuilt buildings.

You only get better by trying.

I suppose the same applies to RTR stock.  I never left an item untouched so everything I had was unique in one way or another.

John

Over the last several days, I've been working on the second bogie set.  These will be for the brake 3rd.



I added a lot of detail, just as I did for the first set, using the Kemilway instructions as a guide.  Having gone OTT with the first bogies I really have no choice but to continue.

The Parkside thing turned out to be a bit of a bust.  I did use the brake shoes but wasn't given enough black sprues with yokes for four bogies.  I decided to make my own yokes from brass, which you can see in the bogie on the right.  The hangers weren't suitable either so I made some from plastic strip.

The diamond shaped pull rod is 0.032" brass wire.

I also added safety loops from brass wire which can be seen on the right.

None of this can be seen at all clearly when the model is running but…..

I'm just working on the bolster springs.

John

They look great John,
I won't be going to that level of detail on those that I am just working on because what I am charging doesn't really warrant it and the gent that I am building them for would have been happy with the basic Kirk bogies.

That said I have a Quad art set on order from Ian so I suspect that I will be following in your footsteps when I get that far. 

On the couple of sets (admittedly they were Fox not Gresley) of Kirk bogies that I have built so far I didn't have any issues with getting them running okay they are just a bit basic (as Ian freely admits). The addition of some steps from Styrene greatly enhances their looks.

Thanks Rob.  Quite right about the detail if you are building on commission.  Raising the bar for myself here.

I'm very interested to see how you interpret all this.

On my first set, I initially made steps from brass strip.  As I thought about it, I felt that the brass was too thin so I made some plastic strip (0.5mm) overlays to beef things up.  I'll do the same with these.

John

Bogies mostly finished:



I've built up the bolster area, note the pins on either side of the bolster on the left.  The idea of these is to permit the bogie to rock fore and aft but constrain lateral movement.  This should prevent coach rocking.  The bogie on the right doesn't have these so it can rock in all directions.  This constitutes a form of compensation.

Note the steps, made from brass strip with 0.020" wire soldered on and inserted into the bogie sides.  I made them a more representative thickness by gluing on 0.020" (0.5mm) plastic strip.

I still have to add the boxes containing the bolster springs (cut down 4BA screws).  These will be glued to the white pads under the center of the bogies.

John

Excellent John, 
A fine example of what can be done to improve a basic offering.

Thanks Rob, giving thought and attention to the interior today.  Stay tuned for pictures.

John

As I mentioned, interior of the all 3rd today.  I made the seats:



These are moulded resin from Invertrain.  While browsing I found some very apt seat covering brocaide pattern.  Probably not LNER but I think it looks appropriate.

I copied the pattern and made a Powerpoint file.  By trial and error I reduced the size until the pattern looked to be about the right size.

Next I printed enough to do all 14 seats.  I cut out and did a rough fit to the seats, folding as required to get the paper snug.

I used spray adhesive and stuck the paper down.  Messy stuff but I got it done only having to re do one seat that went ahoo.

The bottoms, sides and tops were painted a bauxite colour.  Any areas where there was incomplete bonding were stuck down with CA.

Finally a coat of matte varnish.

John

Nice, John.   :thumbs

I worked on the partitions yesterday:



The kit comes with white plastic partitions that are not full height.  I cut the ends off for the corridor.  I then added plastic sheet to make the partition full height.

The partition decoration is a paper overlay.  The original was made available by Mike Trice over on RMWeb:

Titivating Bachmann's Original Thompson LNER Coaches - Page 2 - Modifying & Detailing RTR stock - RMweb

See post #41 for the PDF.

I blew up the artwork to suit 0 gauge and, because we're in a larger scale, added real pictures.  I also added a brown panel under the buff so that white didn't show at the top of the seats.

Getting paper to stick to plastic was a two step process.  I started by laying down spray adhesive on a sheet of paper and laying the partitions on that.  This was repeated for both sides and trimmed.  I then cut out my printed partitions and used Pritt to stick them down.

Seats were attached using contact cement.

I think they pass muster but now wonder if I shouldn't make luggage racks as well.   :hmm

John

Hi John,

Nice seats. With that amount of detail do you have a  choice re luggage racks? Bit of chicken wire mesh, few pieces of brass  rod and angle, 4 weeks later…Mind you, some of the early designs had  very ornate brackets.

Nigel

Thanks Nigel, I'll do a trial fit to see what can be seen.  I know what the racks look like and have a drawing courtesy of Kemilway.  I suppose it's a matter of me getting on with it.

John

Hi John,
By coincidence  a few weeks ago I made a start on drawing up ends for luggage racks for the all third but I haven't finished them yet. 

I also thought about using the Cameo to cut circles or ovals of foil for the mirrors. I will let you know how I get on with that.

I'll stay tuned then Rob.  I didn't bother trying to make the mirrors reflective.  Cheers

John

Time for an update I think.  I've been pottering away trying to get progress made on all three coaches.

First the 3rd:



I added the strip at the body to act as a recess for the roof.  One of the problems I see with this is that the sides tend to bow in alarmingly.  Putting the roof in the recess is one feature to hold the sides straight.  Another idea I had was to use the partitions.  I slipped one in to illustrate the point.  I added a kind of hook to the corridor side to engage the top of the side.



This shows where I got with the roof.  It is pretty much correctly shaped but does need to be held down somehow.  I'm mulling over whether to make it removable using screws to secure it.  I've ordered some passenger figures from Omen-Miniatures  Omen Miniatures | Scale Figures for Modelling & Model Railways . They're a bit dear but do come highly recommended.



Here's the full brake body assembled.  At least with this keeping the sides straight is a doddle.

The 3rd brake body is in WIP.

John

I see what you mean about the recess to fit the roof into. I suspect that method will work better on the non gangwayed versions because you have a simpler end profile to contend with.
The seat and partition looks superb. I think that I may well follow your example for the all 3rd.

Indeed.  I can email you the partition artwork if you want.

John

Please John,
That would be much appreciated.