The steel frame on these carriages is a very obvious feature of the design.
There are two ways of doing these: either as part of the chassis / underframe unit, or attached as a layer behind, and continuing below, the main bodyside panels. Over the years I have carriages which have been made both ways.
On 103 I went with the false frame as part of the chassis solution, as you can see below...
In retrospect, this was rather awkward, because it necessitated a cut away beneath the vestibule doors, as you can see above.
So on 121 I've elected to have the 'frame' as part of the bodyshell.
You can see here how a section of wide strip - 5.5mm wide in this case - is bonded to the back of the main bodyside panels..
The really big difference between 103 and 121, however, is in the treatment of the roof.
The Superbarns are tricky because the top of the doors rise up above the cant rail line. This is unique among FR / WHR carriage designs.
This compromises my normal styrene roof technique which relies upon a flat underside / base to attach each side of the roof skin to, and to allow supporting ribs to run the length of the roof.
On these Superbarns if I had a flat underside along the complete length of the roof you would see it through the top lights above the doors.
I managed to work around it on 103 and successfully fashioned a roof out of styrene, but, frankly, it was a bit of a hassle.
So for 121 I've decided to go for a thin brass roof skin. However, the carriage still requires a flat base to fulfil the function of strengthening the top edges of the bodyshell and keep it all square and straight up there.
Here it is in place...
You will notice how it has stepped sections at either end. These are there to lift it clear of the raised top light windows while strengthening the ends of the carriage.
I know, I know, I'm a traitor to the cause of styrene modeling. I feel rather unclean for submitting to brass.
On the other hand, perhaps I am just mellowing with age?
No comments:
Post a Comment