West End Workbench

45609 · Post by **45609** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:51 pm

I'll look forward to that. Kidderminster is always a good show and I try to go every year.

Would love to see some more pictures. LNER prototypes or not the fact it represents the GE in the 50's qualifies it for me.

Cheers...Morgan

jwealleans · Post by **jwealleans** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:58 pm

New thread started, Morgan.

Robpulham · Post by **Robpulham** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:49 pm

These pages really are an inspiration.

jwealleans · Post by **jwealleans** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:06 pm

Thank you, Rob. That's very kind.

I've finally found a photograph which permitted me to work out the roof arrangement of the Milk Brake. I also found some lovely roof vents from Exactoscale via MSE. The skylights I made from plastikard. It's now in the paintshop:

and the roof vents:

I think I posted the startings of a conversion of a Hornby 6 wheel tanker to an LNER diagram some time ago. This will run with the Milk Brake so I've had to make some progress with that as well.

It's had brake gear (from the Mainly Trains etch), new tank mounts and strapping, replacement axleboxes and wire bracing instead of the plastic. The transfers aren't strictly accurate but there seems to be debate about the colour and lettering they carried. Once this one is finished I have another two to do.

Finally a guest slot - not my build, but a brake van from Pilmoor. It had been built and painted grey. When I pointed out this was not accurate, I was accorded the privilege of repainting it.

I don't usually like to be overly critical of the work of others (and I have never met the person who built this) but I wasn't happy with the handrails. They were glued, incomplete and not straight. Mine aren't perfect either but they do go everywhere they're supposed to according to the diagram.

They're a nice model when built up, these vans. Lots of character to them and a nice variation for a layout.

mick b · Post by **mick b** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:29 pm

Hi Jonathan
Are you aware that 51L do LNWR Skylights in whitemetal ? they are very similar to NER versions at least.

Great models , I have never seen a LNER Milk Tank ,any photos of the prototype?

Cheers Mick

rob · Post by **rob** » Wed May 14, 2008 9:31 pm

Hi Jon,
Lovely selection of coaches from you recently,the milk van is another stunner,great teak effect.Those vents are wonderful,am I actually seeing through them or losing my marbles!?
The milk tanker is fascinating,something I would like to attempt well down the road so I'm taking careful note!
Cheers!
Rob

Robpulham · Post by **Robpulham** » Wed May 14, 2008 9:52 pm

Jonathan,

How do you hold the handrails to solder them (I presume they are soldered, it certainly looks like it). I have some to do and although the MJT ones are excellent for guards vans etc they don't do for everything.

jwealleans · Post by **jwealleans** » Thu May 15, 2008 6:24 am

Thanks chaps.

Mick - I didn't know about the 51L skylights until I'd built mine. I'll have to have a look the next time I see him at a show. They're not too onerous to build, but cast ones would have more uniformity about them, if they're the right pattern. There's a picture of a milk tank in Vol. 3 of the Carriage Drawings series. There are alsoa few in the Larkin book on NPCCS, but much later than the period we're interested in.

Rob B - no, you're not hallucinating, you can actually see right through them. I couldn't quite believe my eyes either when they arrived. They're a lost wax brass casting, so you can solder them in place very easily as well. The only problem is not clogging them with paint.

The Milk tank is based on Glenn Woods' diagram published in BRM in (I think) Nov. 2006. I've been feeling my way into doing it - the brake gear in particular is a bit of a bugger to get to fit, but you can't see the bends - but I'm quite pleased with the result. I'd like to find a way of showing the turnbuckles on the retaining straps - I did try chain, but it didn't solder up properly and never looked right.

Rob P - they are indeed soldered. It makes a much stronger and neater job. Cardboard and blutak are the secret. And the Mk. 1 asbestos finger, of course. I use a piece of cardboard (Comet packet tops folded over once are excellent for this, but other cardboard is available) to space the vertical rails off the body of the vehicle. I usually superglue those in place. If they're not quite parallel to the body a light touch with the soldering iron will push them further in. The horizontal rail is bent up and then held in place with little balls of Blutak. Keep the cardboard in place under where you're going to solder the joins as it will allow you to apply a little pressure without sticking the iron through the kit. You do need to cut the rails very accurately to length, but solder will allow you to bridge a tiny gap if you make it short. If it's slightly long (see the one on the right of the side door above) you can file gently once the joint has cooled and improve the appearance of the joint. Plenty of flux and a tiny amount of solder and you're away.

Wait until the joint has cooled before pulling away the blutak, or it'll string out and stick to everything. The best thing for removing blutak is more blutak.

One more thing - if you haven't got one of the Bill Bedford handrail bending jigs, get one. It makes making uniform length handrails so much easier.

Robpulham · Post by **Robpulham** » Thu May 15, 2008 6:20 pm

Cheers for the tips Jonathan, I have a bb bending jig so I will have a go. I have been making my mistake trying to solder such things up prior to fitting.

jwealleans · Post by **jwealleans** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:21 pm

I took a soldering iron and a few kits on holiday a fortnight or so ago just in case we had a wet afternoon. See if you can guess how cr*p the weather was.....

After a lot of coaches I thought some goods stock would be a nice change, so I rooted out a set of whitemetal pregrouping kits.

David Geen GC vans

Three NE G2 vans - fitted one David Geen, unfitted from Wizard Models/51L.

Two NB opens - 51L again. I had to put a rocker unit on one end of one of these as when I looked at it I must have been under the influence when paralleling the axles. The supplied w-irons didn't survive my attempt to unsolder them. Fortunately you get a good number of spares in the packet.

GN open and van - ABS. I think these are both originally D & S kits.

MR Motor Car van - ABS

Model Wagon Co. Midland Long Low and NB brake van. These were an Ebay buy and I couldn't complete them as I didn't have the right iron to solder up the brass w-irons these came with. This brake van is the one illustrated in the last single volume of Tatlow - just the sort of quirky little model we all like.

I managed all of them by early in the second week and wished I'd brought paint and transfers to finish them. As it is they went into primer when we came back and I'll have to have a roofs and transfers session sometime next week.

Frazmataz · Post by **Frazmataz** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:27 pm

Impressive workload, the weather must have been terrible!

jwealleans · Post by **jwealleans** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 4:21 pm

the weather must have been terrible!

It was a lot of the time. Though if you're just sticking them together these kits don't take long - I was getting through two or three in an afternoon as the rain beat down. Most of them went together very well and didn't need much fettling either.

Frazmataz · Post by **Frazmataz** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 4:42 pm

Anyways, great looking kits, I'll most likely pick some up in the near future. I see you've left the roofs of to fit weight - what do you use for adding weight?

jwealleans · Post by **jwealleans** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 8:05 am

The roofs are off because I haven't stuck them on yet - you tend to get a small piece of plastikard which you have to cut to size, bend, then apply (although Davd Geen does supply his ready bent). I did the last ones last night. You certainly don't need to weight these - they weigh quite enough, especially that Motor Car van.

jwealleans · Post by **jwealleans** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 6:35 pm

Nice sunny day so I photographed this outside. Milk Brake now ready to be weathered. I'm really pleased with the way this has come out - may be running slightly high but overall an elegant vehicle and one which I've long coveted a model of. I foretell more of these GN coaches in the future.

I've been trying to find out how I can reach Glen Woods, the expert of milk tankers to investigate the livery on this one which I'm sure is not correct. If anyone knows would they be kind enough to pass on the details?