3mm Society Midland Brake Van.

Fencehouses chassis.

 I mentioned this a while ago and have slowly been building it.
Pairing it with a Southern van , with a bit of work this is what it ends up like before painting.
The sole bar and spring and axle box have been separated and superglued to the nickle silver etch.
Is it worth the extra cost and work?
I think so and patiently wait for fine weather to start applying paint.

Fencehouses 10 ft wagon chassis.

Must admit, I have been looking forward to this!
A cracking little etch, from Peter White, in nickel silver. To free from the etch is easy, just the minimum of metal to cut through.
 Peter did give me a hint that it is best to solder the bearings before bending up the frame, which I did using the late lamented Finney and Smith pin point bearings.
Once parted from the main etch, the main section folds up along constant lines to produce a very strong box- soldered in all four corners.
The brake gear, again, easily folds and, with tabs, locates in the main etch.

So far so good, just need to slip the wheels in and spin easily- remove and paint black- then make and fit the body.

3mm Fencehouses Chassis Etch.

 Etched chassis for wagons are something I hadn't considered before.
I want (as if I need!) another SR van. Having purchased a kit from the 3mm Society shop, i then went to pick up my loco wheels from Peter White.
Amongst the goodies on his table was this etch. Just right for a SR van said a small voice!
So now I have a chassis which will go under said van and I hope that I will remember to provide a picture build of this one- I hope you will be as interested as me to see the finished van.

Smallbrook Studios IOW Brake Van.

 This has been seen before but since that the van has been painted.
It shows what a good model can be made from this kit.
I had reservations about Resin cast kits but since this and the 3mm Adams Radial from Branchlines I have changed my mind.
It means you have a good solid lump to start with and basically have to attach the bells and whistles-simples!

Keep it square!

Squares have their uses.
Not only do they enable us with failing eyesight to get thing reasonably how they should be but sometimes they just fit.
The ends of the LMS Brake Van didn't want to sit square and lo and behold what was the right width?
My old metal square- it also has a bit of weight to it so everything should dry- well square!

LMS Brake Van-2

 This is where I made the second mistake- the pips are for locating the sides of the weight box- not as I thought-detail! Still, the way I noticed this was that the box didn't fit under the chassis so I carved the necessary pips off and it now all fits!
A chunk of lead spaced with some card provides weight at the lowest point.
Next the sides which fit snugly along the chassis edge- pop the inner ends in before it sets- these are easy as there are locating pips and it all ends up square.
I must say that this goes together very well- look forward to more of the same design.

LMS 20 Ton Brake Van.

 This Cambrian Models kit produced for the 3mm Society has been possible due to a legacy by Eric Bruton. The chassis is a departure from the norm as being moulded in one piece. The bearings slip in after a touch with a broach and enable very free spinning wheels.
Do be careful with the brake shoes- I managed to break two of them due to my over zealous filing to remove the tiniest of burrs!
The axle boxes are also fitted, the next job is to make the weight box for fitting under the body.

Cambrian Models- for the 3MM Society LMS Brake Van.

 This model, marked in memory of Eric Bruton, has been mentioned before.
However, I didn't appreciate a couple of features so I unashamedly show it again.
The main deviation from the usual cast whitemetal or moulded plastic buffers is thes rather fetching clear plastic ones.
Wether these are a Shapeways type castings I know not- but they are good!
I think that a better photo of the chassis is reproduced here as well.

Latest 3MM Society kit.

 Seems a long time since the last post. Other things have had to come before the blog-time is at a premium.
However, lots of things have happened, an exhibition, at Poole and the yearly jaunt to the 3mm meeting at West Byfleet where the winters projects are purchased or those needed bits found.
The most notable thing is this new LMS Brake Van. The wagon is in honour of Eric Bruton whose photos still grace the pages of Mixed Traffic.
The kit is produced by Cambrian for the 3mm Society and well moulded in grey plastic. Cursory examination show a few departures from other kits. Firstly the chassis is moulded with the side frames. This makes a rigid foundation from which to hang the step boards etc. Secondly the handrail holes are already started for you- no excuse for differing length handrails or some not in the right place. Really looking forward to building this one- watch this space.

P.S. Hennock sneaked into Model Rail- December issue- in the Warley line up page. More advertising for 3mm

S.R. 10 Ton GUV.

Another find through the 3mm Society end of range stock.
This etch, again by Stewart Hine is not to be repeated.
This sheet of brass should make up into a good likeness of the prototype.
This means trawling through my copy of 'Souther Vans' or something like that which should be on the bookshelf- again too lazy !
Cast springs have been sourced from the Shop and a long SR type roof also aquired- may need the body slimming down however for that to fit.
There are instructions on how to roll the roof if that fails so it has two chances!

3MM Society GWR 20Ton Toad.

This is a kit that is an end of line opportunity from the Society Shop- I bid and won!
The single sheet etch is an old product produced by Stewart Hine.
No casting come with it, these will have to be sourced when I can.
If it makes up half as well as the Road Van from Finney and Smith I will be pleased.
I also have a spare set of etches from Brian Golding (Brynkits) for the handrails.

Something Unusual.

Roberts quest for the unusual continues.
A Nuclear Flask wagon is also in the erecting shop.
This has been made from photos and is yet to be completed but already it look's- from my limited knowledge- like its prototype.
Incidentally the wagon is standing on Roberts 14.2mm gauge layout yet to be named but is a minimum space type although larger than his usual creations.

Southern Railway Queen Mary Brake Van.

The meeting also produced this.
Robert has made an excellent start on a scratchbuilt SR Queen Mary Brake Van.
Built entirely from styrene sheet, the van is resting on some Kitmaster Mk1 bogies for the picture but these will be replaced with the correct type when we visit the Salisbury Open Day at Winterbourne Gunner in April.

Keeping it in mind.

If, like me, things slip the mind, perhaps you have a system to remind you of things that need doing.
When, having returned from an exhibition, there are those little jobs, such as broken coupling s, which need doing but can easily slip the mind.
I have a repair shelf. Originally a display cabinet for larger die-cast models, this is an ideal size for many 3MM models.
Quite simply the damaged wagons are placed on the shelves and when using the soldering iron orsuperglue it is easy to do these jobs at the same time. Languishing in the stock box usually mean these jobs are forgotten until the next show!

Southern Pill Box Brake Van.

This Brake Van caused me some problems when it was found that the baseplate had warped. The Cambrian mouldings are excellent however and I think the time spent getting it straightened out was worth it.This was achieved by clamping the chassis side to the base while the solvent hardened.
I cheated slightly in that I didn't fit separated handrails this time, just Meked some thin plastic rod where the handrails should go. I think this has turned out as acceptable- it also saved an awful lot of time. I still took an age to paint them as the old hand is not as steady as it used to be.
I nearly beat Bachmann to the release of this model!

Palvan.

 The Palvan kit is slightly different from the usual kits. It has cast whitemetal axle boxes and springs . The casting is attached in the same way as the normal plastic moulding, all thats needed is for a quick clean up and a dry run to make sure that there is a good fit. As can just be seen, the V hanger has been opened up to allow a thin piece of brass rod attached to the brake lever can be fitted.
The finished van is shown below- roll on the West Byfleet meeting as my kit drawer is almost empty.

Finney and Smith Loriot M

 The Lowmac has been through the paintshop and the tedious task of applying transfers has arrived. The wagon depicts an unfitted type and this means that the white lettering has to be on a black background. The backing transfer was applied, using acrylic matt varnish as an aide due to the lack of stick on  my ageing transfers. These were then left for a day and then the lettering applied. An extremely fiddly job- the result in the lower picture took me best part of an evening to complete. And yes I know the number is wrong but I am not going to buy a new sheet of transfers for one wagon.
I think the result is well worth the effort.

3MM Society BR Vans.

 A couple of vans that take but a few minutes to make.
Top is the 3mm Society PP43, BR Diagram 1/213 Plywood 12 Ton Van.
Introduced in 1952, several improvements were made over seveal diagrams.
It is noted that the 'W' irons are incorrect on the chassis moulding but when moving can't be seen!
Several variations are noted in the excellent instructions- one day I will have the time to make a few wagons not as from the packet!

The lower picture is the PP57 BR Diagram 1/1211 12 Ton Palvan.
Again introduced in 1952-have pallets really been around that long? Production grew to just over 2300 until, with the speeding up of Freight Trains they were found to be responsible for a number of high speed straight line derailments and most were withdrawn by the mid to late sixties.
A few minutes to assemble the body and drop the floor in-Add rainstrips to the roof and off for painting. Rainy weekends can be the ideal time during the TV adverts to make a few trucks!

Southern 25Ton Brake Van.

I wasn't happy with the base of the body of this wagon. It had a decided warp to it.
As I had little choice, I fitted the Solebars to the base of the body and it seems that this has cured the warp. At least all four wheels touch the ground at the same time!
It is not the squarest wagon I have made- I suppose once in a while it doesn't go quite to plan and a mongrel appears.
However, by the time the paint has dried and the roof fitted I hope it won't notice too much!