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Sam’s Trains – HR Open Wagon in 4mm/1ft
Somewhat out of the blue, I was bombarded by adverts for Etsy for something that I actually might buy (who knew that was even possible?). This was a small batch production of a HR wagon apparently being marketed as an ideal accompaniment to the Rapido’s Jones Goods. The pictures in the adverts suggested that it had captured something of the character of a highland wagon, so I allowed my loyalty to all things Highland to take a hold and I parted with £25 to see what it was like.
Sam is a youtuber who has created a niche for himself by producing caustic and generally very critical reviews of manufacturer’s products to gain views. How he has not been sued for libel for producing this clickbait I do not know, as a number of manufacturers must have thought about it given what he says about their products. As a result this, it is fair to say I was pretty concerned about what I might get – my conclusion is somewhere in the middle, some good points but there are plenty of errors too.
The model is of a Jones era open merchandise wagon to diagram 19. There are insufficient records to confirm when the prototypes were in production but probably in the 1880s upto the latter part of the 1890s. Similarly, withdrawal dates are unknown but it is probable that they lingered to the LMS era, but probably not by much. It was designed to be used for a variety of merchandise, often below a tarpaulin, but might well have been pressed into the carriage of minerals or even fish. Certainly, they were used for transporting sheep which was a seasonal (and substantial) traffic for the Highland. When used thus, they would be fitted with flakes to provide a higher fence to reduce the sheep suicide rate caused by jumping from moving trains.
The model is 3-D printed from resin and the quality of the printing is surprisingly good with almost no stratification lines. The resin seems to have some flex to it so ought to be durable and the wheels run relatively freely in the bearings. The resin appears to be self-coloured, with the chassis being in black and the body the intended livery (mine was in grey but there is a red oxide colour for the highland livery versions). This had led to some errors of colouring in that the trunnions and couplings should be black and the grey is too light as well as needing a bit of green to be a match for LMS grey. However, the lettering livery selected is the later LMS livery with small branding suitable from 1936 and is not strictly speaking correct even then as it has the wrong layout and an impossible wagon number. To be fair to Sam, he admits this is a “what if” prospect so if this floats your boat so be it.
The principal dimensions of the model are generally good; except for one important point. Jones era wagons used 3’7” wheels and this is fitted with 3’2” wheels. One of the implications of this is that the buffer height is too low but fitting the correct sized wheels does correct this. Swapping the wheels as an OO modeller you will need a trim of the framing on the underside to allow the flanges clearance to turn and all 4mm modellers will find that the brake block fouls the wheels and has to be replaced – or as i did softened with the heat of a soldering iron and bent back. The correct wheels should be split spoke and whilst these are available from the r-t-r manufactures in the smaller size, I don’t think they do them in 3’8” so you Gibson wheels are your best bet. The impact of the larger wheels is quite striking; they look rather quaint and from a time past compared to what is generally available to the modeller – but then again, that is exactly what they are!
Most of the detailing is crisp and fine, but in some respects too fine such as the brake block. Conversely the body sides are too thick – possibly a compromise to make the model more durable or easier to produce – but never the less it makes the wagon a bit clunky. The buffers are separate and it looks quite realistic to convert them to sprung buffers if desired. The model comes with safety chains which are very nicely made but these would only have used early in the wagon’s life so the fixing holes need infilling for any modellers from the turn of the 19th century onwards. The trunnions also seem to be overly wide and the operating rod for the brake pivot has been extended to the blind side of the wagon for some reason – so a little surgery is thus required.
My model was bowed, with the high point to the middle of the wagon – whilst many wagons did bow over life, it would normally be the other way with a sag in the middle. This is likely to be a function of the manufacturing process – I suspect that putting it in very hot water will soften the resin and allow the bow to be corrected. What will not correct with hot water is the rather odd slatted floor – not sure where this comes from as there will have been no desire to deposit the commercial material on the track! A new plasticard floor is thus required. Less easy to fix will be the axlebox / springs which are significantly undernourished but are integral with the W irons so adjusting these will require the use of etched W irons and then castings if you can source these.
It is likely that this model is intended for customers who just want something “Highland” to go with their Jones Goods’ and for whom these errors are not going to be important. Against this criteria, the model is acceptable and if this promotes a bit more interest in the Highland Railway, this is fine with me.
However, if you want a more accurate model then the list of things to be attended to is not inconsiderable and as the joke goes, if i wanted to get to there, i wouldn’t be starting from here! I will be putting mine on ebay before too long is perhaps the most succinct conclusion I can offer!
A pair of rather nicer dia 19 open wagons; this time fitted with raves for sheep traffic bult by Ian Terrell from Mircrorail kits. Whilst the origins of the kit will go back at least 40 years, they doo look crisper than the Sams Trains version.
Now That Didn’t Take Long…………..!
I have recently bought one of these – a minature bench saw by Proxxon – second hand from ebay for a moderate amount of money, along with a diamond disk with the intention of using it to cut copper clad fibre glass.
If you have attempted to cut copper clad sheet yourself you will know that it is a stunningly good way of blunting tools!
I wanted a better way of cutting copper clad sheet for frame spacers and, particularly, sleepering for trackwork. Having got it I obviously wanted to put into use…………..
So obviously I didn’t choose something simple and instead opted for a scissors crossing because I have never built one before. So here is it, a B7 turnout scissors crossing in P4 with a relatively wide line spacing as this is to be used in a fiddle yard between the up and down roads .
This represents over 24 hrs of work even though the time to make the sleeper bases was quite moderate.
My conclusion on the bench saw is that it is a much better way of cutting through copper clad sheet. The diamond blade slices through it easily. What is less good is that for fairly narrow strips (such as sleepers) it is difficult to get a consistant width along the strip even using a fence. Not a problem for fiddle yard track, but if it is to be used out on the front, it will need to be better.
I have also spent some time thinking through how i can wire this as it is quite challenging for the crossings for the central section. After much pondering, i have decided it is not challenging at all as i will simply cheat and use frog juicers !
What Have I Been Doing…………..?
Gosh, another year where my intentions to increase my rate of posting have got away………..
Whilst work and home life have intruded, I have still managed to get some modelling done; including a rake of NER coaches for John James for which i do get something in return in due course.
The rake had a pair of three compartment thirds, of which this is an example:
All of the coaches were constructed from D&S kits on my Miscellany Models Fox bogies with replacement roofs formed of nickle silver sheet. I find that the plasticard offering in the D&S kits to be their weakest point. The problem with this is that if you make your own roofs i find you might as well also cut out the section below the clerestory – it makes a huge difference for the coach to be illuminated from above. The issue is, that there is a lot of work in these roofs – I found that for each there was 15+ hours of work just in the roof!
Also in the rake is an all third, which is probably my favourite of the build as it feels quite “pure” and also wihtout the problems of the composite…….see below…….
The rake only needed a modicum of first class accomodation made up from a composite diagram 7. Alas, this had a challenging problem that needed to be overcome, with the clerestory side pieces. These were much shallower than those on the other kits orwith the ends supplied in this kit. In addition to being obviously incorrect given the inconsistancy but the frames around the glazed lights were stunningly delicate. I regret persisting with this, i should have just drawn up some replacements in CAD and popped them in the next etching order.
However, i solved the problem by soldering a flat strip, 1.5*0.5mm along the base. in theory it should be to both the top and bottom but that was not realistically possible and I decided life was too short. After much fighting, cussing, fighting, screaming and more fighting, I did get it there, as I hope you can see.
I was asked to do these as gas lit coaches and therefore there is a bit going on below, as one might say.
As the coaches were quite long lived, they went through many detailed changes. for anyoen who is contemplating building some, I would heartily recommend reading David Addyman’s notes on how he built his in the Scaleforu Forum https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=7210&p=101662&hilit=ner+coaches#p101662 David’s coaches are modelled in the 1930s, so have different lighting arrangements, footsteps, bogie spring dampers and sides to the clerestories. Lots of things to be aware of if you are doing something similar.
At the end of this rather mammoth build, I had four coaches that i was rather proud of. They look rather fine on John Wright’s Benfieldside viaduct.
I am also pleased that i do not have to paint these; i am still looking for my lining mojo. I had it as a teenager, but have grown shy of lining. Maybe something for the Christmas break?
In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures of the newly restored NER coach 818 at Kirby Stephen, courtesy of the Beamish website. Does’t she look magnificant? I really must get up to see her.
Portchullin, Perth and British Railways Modelling
June is a busy month for Portchullin.
Firstly, we will soon set sail in the van to Perth with both Portchullin and Oli & Chris’ Cessy en Bois for their model railway show. The details for this are below and there are a lot of good layouts there, including the two biggest P4 exhibition layouts – Mostyn and Burntisland. So there is plenty to see even if Portchullin does not float your boat (……….as if……….). If you are visiting do please say hello.
Its a long drive to Perth from Surrey, so to break the journey up a couple of us are going to visit a number of home based model railways that you can’t see at shows. The current plan is to visit eight layouts, two preserved lines and the Perth show, so we will be well and truely model railwayed out by the end of the trip!
As you would imagine, being able to visit a number of layouts that don’t generally get seen will provoke the camera to come out andas there are a number of treats in stall, keep an eye out for future blog posts.
The other activity for the month has been the writing an article for publication in July 2024 issue of British Railways Modelling. This, combined with photos from myself and Andy York makes what I hope is an enjoyable article.
I have particularly talked about the origins of the layout and how it was conceived, with a smaller amount of information on how it was done. It should be available simultaneous with this post and if you have any thoughts on it, I would welcome feedback.
Still Swapsie – A Signal for Nampara for Hendrawna Part 2
Having assembled the basic post and ensured that it was working, the bolts can be filed away and we get to the following stage.
The spectacle plate plate is rather unusual in that it only has one lens which isn’t available via any manufacturer and the arm is notably shorter than I am used to so I had to etch these to suit. Although I could not find a lamp that matched what was on the prototype, I was able to modify a MacKenzie & Holland lamp from MSE to suit. Thereafter, the remaining assembly of the signal was fairly unremarkable.
And then once it had been painted, including the unusual red highlighting on the finial that I rather like:
And of course we must have the obligatory video to show that it really does work!
And for those of you that might want it, this is the drawing of the signal, which has two arms, at Didcot.
Swapsie – A Signal for Nampara for Hendrawna (Part 1)
Swapsie – the childish act of swapping things according to Wiktionary.
Do you remember at school swapping a Top Trumps set for a the latest Hot Wheels car or similar? I do! I remember getting roundly b*llocked by my mum for not recognising the value of things I was giving away and (metaphorically I am pleased to say) swapping gold bars for glass beads almost like the Incas and Cortez.
In the world of toy trains, the same happens and is very useful where someone can offer something that you don’t have (or find difficult to make) in return for something you do have. This is one such example. Sitting next to Duncan Redford at an EM Gauge Society/Scalefour Society skills day a few years back demonstrating signal construction a barter was arrived at whereby I would build Duncan a signal in return for him doing some 3D design and printing. I think it is fair to say that neither of us have rushed with our respective shares of the bargain but with the next ExpoEM only a week away, I have shifted into gear to finish the started signal that was my part of the deal.
Duncan is building a GWR broad gauge era layout and wanted a close replica of a signal that the GWR Society has recreated at Didcot, but adjusted to have only a single arm. So after coming out in cold sweats about the idea of modelling anything GWR (!!!) I took a look at it. Like many signals, there are differences and similarities with other signals but after a bit of study it became clear that it was sufficiently different that a site visit to Didcot to be required.
Having measured it up including, when no one was looking, a climb to the arm/lamp to measure it, I came home to draw it. I was shocked to find that it was tiny; 3mm/1foot at best and I had a panic attack -had I mucked it up and mis-measured it. Obviously, being a professional surveyor I could not possibly have done that, could I? After a few months, the fear that I had niggled on me and so came about site visit number 2 and a further climb up the signal ladder. Nope, it really is tiny – both the post and the arm are notably smaller than I am used to.
There are several unusual aspects to the signal; the one glass spectacle plate, the tapered arm and the very pronounced stiffening around the slot in the post were all going to be key to capturing the character of the signal. So out came the computer and a small fret was added to an etching order for the arms/spectacle plates. I then formed the basic post from 4mm square section brass which I filed to a taper with a 2.5mm cross section at the top.
Despite having built a few slotted signals already, they are still pretty difficult to get to work well. The difficulty that I have had is to get a soldered joint onto the arm spindle when it is encased in the brass post around it that acts as a heat sink. On a number of occassions the joint has broken and the arm no longer operate. I was determined this was not going to happen this time and have adotped a different approach, by assembling the arm first and then mounting it within the post whilst this was being assembled.
I had filed some 4mm square section into a taper to form the full length of the post. Even though I was about to cut a section of this out, it is necessary to form the full length of the taper so that it is consistent across its full length. Once I was happy with this, i filed two pairs of slots in the outside of the post on oppposing faces. The depth of these was such that the tongue between them was the correct size for the slot in the post. I chose to mount the finial at this stage, with some 296o solder and a lot of heat (from a minature blow torch). This is what it then looked like:
Next, I cut away the block of post that sits between the two filed sections to create a hole in my post. As there is around 2 hours of work to get the post to this point, it is a bit nerve racking chopping it like this! I then cut a pair of 1*4mm brass plate lengths to sit on the tongues and drilled both to receive a 14BA bolt. This was threaded through the first of the plates and adjusted until this a continuation of the taper of the post – this entails some filing of the metal to make the outside face match the post and plate match. It was then soldered in place, again using the 296o solder and a blow torch, to look like this:
The photograph above shows that these plates were wider than the post, in practice the prototype acheived this by planting timbers across these sections but it is easier to do this by way of using the sider plate material.
Temporarily mounting the second plate enables the hole for the arm spindle to be formed through both parts of the arm. The arm was now attached to the spindle with more use of the 296o solder and the use of a couple of minature washers either side of the arm so that I could be confident that the joint would hold.
Releasing the second plate now allows the arm/spindle assembly to be inserted and any adjustments made to ensure that it can move freely in the slot by securing the second plate in place with a 14 BA nut. The nuts and bolts are scarificed in the build by leaving them in place for the next step because once I was happy that it was correct I soldered the second plate in place including the nuts and bolts. This time I used 145o solder which meant that it would not disturb the first plate as I was doing this and this is what it then looks like – a slotted post with an arm within that is firmly attached to its spindle!
More to follow; including the second piece of bartering that I know someone is looking out for progress on!
The Colour Red – or the Quest for LMS Crimson Lake
A topic that comes around from time to time, including to my lips, is what colour exactly is Crimson Lake? I thought that my analysis and that of others that have contributed to the discussions were worth sharing more widely; so here goes……….
The Historical Context
The first good insight I have is from George Dow who was a prolific author of the 1960s and 1970s, including on liveries who wrote in the Railway Modeller in 1973:
However authorative this is, fifty years later, with the change from natural to synthetic pigments this is not of great help. Also B&Q do not stock alizarin lake last time I looked as it is a pigment produced from a complicated processing of a vegetable and is probably fairly inconsistant anyway. https://www.winsornewton.com/row/articles/colours/spotlight-on-ruby-madder-alizarin/).
The Problem With Reds
Many years ago, when I was still in my shorts, I worked in a printing ink manufacturering business and red was one of our bugbears. This was for three reasons; as a colour it is less opaque than many colours so were prone to poor coverage, it is also prone to fading and like all paints, it is affected by the surface treatments, in our case varnishes. All of these issues affect how Crimson Lake appears on both the prototype and our models.
A Caledonian diagram 106 non-corridor composite shortly after being renumbered to 19952. This appears to have been acheived by painting over the predecessor number and then the application of the fresh number and then varnishing. The patches that have been so treated stare at you somewhat and ilustrate how the paint and lustre deteriorate! Photo by H.R. Norman ref 6081 and now in the NRM
Its still a problem now too as this diagram 2171 full brake at Kidderminister shows. Photo SVR Enthusiast via Flickr
Both of these coaches have been painted in the same top coat, Precision Paints LMS Crimson Lake. The top coach, the clerstorey, followed the paint sequence noted by George Dow above – a first undercoat of LMS wagon grey, followed in turn by 75% grey, 25% crimson; 50% each; 25% grey, 75% crimson and finally 100% crimson. On the lower coach, the crimson was neat and painted over an undercoat of LNER bauxite. Both were painted at the same time, in otherwise the same manner and in both cases they were varnished but not weathered. The difference is startling! Photo and models by John Hastings Thompson.
Does Colour Scale
Like weight, I am not convinced that colour scales or perhaps it does but given that our models are smaller than the prototype it is more heavily heavily by contrast. I am sure we all know about the optical illusion causing the viewer to read differnt colours of the same sample by virtue of the background – is this happening to us as we perceive the colour of a model? Try the sampel from the Exploratoium below:
The presence of lining is also a major influence of the feel of the colour. The gold and black of the LMS seems to add a bit of sparkle and depth of colour to the red.
It was a Long Time Ago
We must also remember that the last LMS crimson lake locomotive or coach will have been repainted seventy years ago and even the last BR maroon loco was withdrawn sixty years ago (plus there is the argument as to whether they realy were the same colour as well!). Whose memory of colour is good enough to survive this long? Even photographs from this era as a whole cannot be relied upon due to the variability of colour rendition, the nature of the light that the subject was recorded in or the level of contrast with its surrounding – none of these issues have gone away with modern digital photographs!
I for one have never seen either original colour and my view of what crimson lake is being based on the preserved locomotives that I have seen over my life. Have the preservationist got it right? Maybe they are better informed than you or but if this was true, why is there so much variation in the colour from the ready to run manufacturers or even the paint manufactuers?
However, whether they are right or not, the preservation scene has set my expectation of what the right colour is and I suspect the same would be true for all of us. Whilst I hate making modelling decisions on any history which is not real, I have reached the conclusion that the right colour for me is one that matches what I have seen in the UK preservation scene.
Where does this leave us?
Possibly the first conclusion is that there are a wide variety of reds that we can safely consider to be correct for Crimson Lake – phew, because when I look at my models I do have variences!
The second conclusion is not only is some inconsistancy acceptable, it is actually essential because red faded so noticeably. I am less convinced that the changing of hues seen across some colours but a toning down of the colour and tinging to a more matt colour is definitely prototypical.
In my personal quest for a colour I have been through multiple agonies to get the right colour. Thirty years ago, it was Precision Paints Crimson Lake but this seemed (to me anyway) change and become too purple over time. I then used Rover Damesk Red from a rattle can but found this too uncontrolable or, if I held it further from the model prone to to giving the orange peel effect. I was then put on to the solution to all our colour problems by Jim Smellie (of Caley Coaches).
This suggestion was to use the colour that the preservation industry generally use to source paint for the 12 inch to the foot models. This comes from Craftsmaster paint who have a series of specialist railway colours for most of the colours that we will wish to use. I use a numberof their colours including Crimson Lake. I have yet to adulterate this but i do intend to let it down with some white to imitate fading – hopefully this will not send me down another quest for the right faded Crimson Lake!
Delayed Delivery – Part 2
Once the basic structure of the gantry is in place, the real task of making the signals signally commences. First up were the smoke deflectors and the brackets for the balance weights. Also fitted are the main portions of the fan route indicator, but that will be explained further once I get it going!
For the arm bearing point and lamps I am using some 3D prints produced by Steve Hewitt and available from Shapeways. They can be found here https://www.shapeways.com/product/JJRSB … arketplace. They are fairly expensive but they are neat and save a lot of manufacture. There is, however, a but – they are very delicate and I am very fearful of thier long term durability. I am highly likely to draw some of my own up and get them cast in lost wax. It will make them even more expensive but I have about a 50% casualty rate at the moment, so maybe in the long term it will be cheaper!
The arms are Masokits, these are definitely the best available arms for LMS/LNER/BR semaphores. This is especially true of the minature shunt arms as the MSE ones are simply too delicate to bother with (imagine how do I know that………….!). So this is where we are now at with the arms mounted temporarly on the bearings.
There are five movements in the down direction (three of which operate via the route indicator) and then a pair in the up direction – hence the back to front arms.
The plates at the top of the dolls are mounting points for ladders. It transpires they are wrong and have already gone!
So the intensity level has dialled up a notch with these portions (especially breaking the bearing/lamp fittings) but it really gets interesting when you try and make these things work.
I don’t know myself yet (although I know for the couple of arms I have finished, so I have an inkling), but i think it might be fun to have a little sweepstake on how many moving parts there will be in the finished gantry. Five arms, three fan route indicators and each is operated by way of angle cranks. Each arm, crank and intermediate wire counts as a moving part, as do the servos………………..guesses please?
Delayed Delivery – part 1
After a long pause, caused by that irratating thing called life getting in the way, I am looking to deliver on some long made modelling promises over the holiday season.
The major task is a rather full on gantry signal with no less than eight movements on it (which is an improvement, when initially designed it had nine!), including a rather natty fan route indicator. This is for a friend’s layout and is in return for some signal cabins that he built no less than 15 years ago – I told you the promises were long made! Mind you, he hasn’t got the layout fully running yet, so I am still ahead of him!
The gantry spans only two lines so it can be formed with channel section. There are good drawings and pictures in LMS Journal no 5 of this. I have made mine from milled brass section and then the landing was a custom etch I designed as it takes a surprisingly large amount of material and effort to construct this from scratch. These etches included the doll base plates although the dolls have a thickened tube at the lower level which of course I forgot and had to undo later work to put on!!
The signal is to be located on an embankment which meant that I could not simply put flat base plates on the foot of the gantry columns. Instead I have constructed a housing that matches the slope of the embankment and then the baseplates are partially sloped to match this with square sections representing the foundations of the prototype columns. Below these baseplates I have then formed housings to take the servos which will eventually operate the arm actions.
So far, this is pretty easy modelling (although I lost a number of drill bits opening up the stanchion positions on the landing – grrrrrr!). The tough bit comes next……………
There are potentially two viewers of this thread who might be thinking that I have long outstanding modelling promises to them too……………I am also working on one of these too!!
News from Miscellany Models
With the assistance of Duncan Petford, Miscellany Models are now offering engraved glass windows featuring the thistle emblem that the Highland used to obscure the windows of toilet compartments. They come in packs of five, for £7 postage included and are available here.
These are laser engraved on 1mm perspex and really lift the appearance of a Highland coach, as you can see:
Sadly, I have also had to increase the prices for most of the products. The costs of the last few deliveries from my etchers have been eyewateringly expensisve, so I need to defer a degree of this. The good news is that this is an indication that more products will soon be featured too – so Highland and LMS modellers keep an eye out.
highland miscellany 