B Is For Best Seller

 The reason that not much new modelling is appearing on this blog is that for the last week - and for a few weeks to come - my time's being used to cast parts for my range of wagon kits to restock our friends at Narrow Planet, who kindly sell them through their webshop.

I've not kept a detailed log my if I had to guess I'd say the versatile ex-SAR B wagon is the kit I've sold the most of, and I began by casting a batch of them before moving on to the smaller DZ wagons this week.

One consequence of the pandemic - which has caused offices up and down the land to remain empty -is that I've run out of supply of the very stiff fibre card which I used in the packaging in the kits to help keep the parts flat.

I obtained this for free by recycling the bottom part of the boxes which come into our office containing packs of binding cases for sales presentations.

Now the sales team are all working at home none of these boxes are being used any more and I'm having to hunt around for suitably stiff cardboard to repurpose instead.

Five Years Later

It's been a very drawn-out affair but the end result of our second Conway Castle was definitely worth waiting for.

Himself has fitted the glazing - which is a very tricky operation - and finished it off with the nameplates which include the badge of Conway on the cabside, supplied by our friends at Narrow Planet.

The one compromise we've had to make is with the headlights.

It seems its no longer possible to get hold of the large clear jewels we've used before, and we've had to settle for amber ones.

But given that Conway became rather neglected in its years as Dinas shunter and helping out with construction trains its headlights let in water and took on a distinct yellow hue.

New Year (Same As The Last)

I find myself beginning 2019 much the same as I ended the previous year - casting another batch of wagon kits.

Sales of my SAR range at Narrow Planet have been brisk again leading to a request to produce more stock to be sold on the website.

The turn of the year is traditionally a time to make resolutions and my intentions for the next few months are that I would definitely like to build up my stock of WHHR carriages to have a more representative rake to hang behind Russell and the Baldwin.

Himself is coming towards the end of his project to build Garratt 143 and when that's done I'll be giving him plenty of encouragement to start on 130, which I fully expect to see entering service in Wales this year.

I know that he's also keen to make progress on the second FR Observation Car 152 which has been in abeyance for a number of months now.

I cast and assembled the majority of the body but I'm waiting for him to make up the brass roof and the solder the front pillars into position before I take it back and add the interior.

He's also been mentioning to me that he'd like to build some models of bowsiders 17 and 20 in their current liveries to bring our vintage sets up to date.

So, all in all, there's plenty to be getting on with.

Ready For Red Oxide

The wagon bodies I've been building for a customer are at the stage where they're ready to be given a coat of red oxide colour.

The thing I've found best for this is the spray cans of primer you'll find in your local car parts store, although it does chip easily so a further coat of varnish can be a good idea.

One of the final pieces of construction work on the ballast wagons was assembling the shafts with the cogs which operate the doors to release the stones onto the side of the track.

I've always been rather pleased with these.

It's the kind of tricky detail that might otherwise be missed off a kit but thanks to the very skillful design team at Narrow Planet I was able to get some tiny little cogs and brackets etched onto a fret.

They need to be threaded onto a length of brass wire, secured in the right spots to line up with the ends of the doors and then the whole thing is just glued into place.

And as I get more adventurous with the iron I have begun to solder these in position rather than gluing them onto the wire, which I'm quite chuffed with, too.

Wheels Of Fortune

One of the features I love best about the South African wagon kits I make are the bits I had no part in making - other than asking a much cleverer person to do it for me.

They are the distinctive wheels for the handbrakes and the ballast door mechanism on the B wagon and the NG-Y.

They were designed for me by Narrow Planet and come on a small fret along with the bogie frames, the brake gear and the cogs which go along the side of the ballast wagon.

It's a very neat piece of work and they set the kits of beautifully, especially when they're picked out in yellow when they're painted.

I always feel that they're starting to look the part when I get round to fitting them.

Kit Building

Occasionally I get asked if, as well as manufacturing resin wagon kits, I could supply them as ready-to-run models, which I don't mind doing - for a price, of course..

So that's what I've been up to this past week while Himself has been plugging away on the new Garratt build.

This time the client is looking for a pair each of my B and NG-Y ballast wagons.

I cast the parts last weekend, cleaned off the flash and now I'm in the process of gluing them together before adding the brass detailing parts which come with the kits.

If you fancy having a go at building one yourself for your fleet may I point you in the direction of the Narrow Planet shop who keep my range of kits in stock.

Strictly Come Casting

The start of the autumn TV schedules is always an exciting time on my modelling calendar.

The ladies in my house love to watch the various non-entities you've never heard of attempting to dance, and this is good news for me because it means every Saturday night there's a window of opportunity for me to disappear into the man cave and get on with a project with absolutely zero risk of me being accused of ignoring them!

Last night's task was a little humdrum, but necessary.

Last week's Superpower event at Dinas also featured the Narrow Planet sales stand, and perhaps inspired by seeing the long freight train we were running on Bron Hebog, the visitors bought up almost their entire remaining stock of my SAR wagon kits.

As a result there's been an urgent request to restock them before the ExpoNG show at the end of next month.

So this week in the man cave is going to be mostly about casting those and, as a by-product, filling my fingerprints full of resin so that I cannot use the touch sign in on my smart phone for a few days....

Multi-Media B Wagon

The last of our Worsley Works brass B wagon kits is ready to be painted.

It had been sitting for a number of years in its naked state with the etches soldered up into a box but none of the details added on.

Himself finds putting on all the angle section pieces rather fiddly, with lots of burnt fingers along the way, and is quite determined that this will be the last of them!

Many other details have been added and this is now a truly multi-media model.

In addition to the brass body he's used plastic strip on the side doors and the brake cylinder and the reservoir tank are spare bits I cast from my resin kits for the later style of wagon.

He's also chosen to use the bogies we developed in conjunction with Narrow Planet with the brass frame and the cast detailing pieces.

Lilla

With the name and works plates from Narrow Planet fitted our Robex Lilla is ready at last.

We'll just leave these here.

Sticky Stuff

The story of my modelling week so far is the boring reality of commerce.

Enough of my wagon kits were sold at ExpoNG a couple of weeks ago that I need to replenish the stocks at Narrow Planet.

It's a nice problem to have, I suppose.

I find the best way to tackle it is to try and blitz it over a couple of days.

If you get into a good rhythm, and the atmospheric conditions in the house are conducive, I find I can complete a casting cycle every every half hour or so.

Most of the designs need two sets of each casting per wagon so if I'm going really well I can knock out one an hour if everything's going smoothly.

Factor a full time job and family life into the equation, however, and I regard it as good progress if I can get a set of bits for two wagons made each day.

How you 3D printing people must shake your heads and laugh at the labour-intensiveness of it all!

Primed But Not Ready To Go

The weather conditions have, at last, materialised to allow me to spray the SAR wagons I'm building for a client; dry, mild, calm and low humidity.

Being calm and dry is most important because the models have to survive the journey to and from the nice warm house to the garage, to be sprayed, and back into the house again to dry.

If it is windy at all then there is a serious risk of them being blown off the tray that I'm carrying them on.

The problem with the rain is obvious.

There are some details to be picked out in yellow, such as the brake wheels and the handrails as well as the stripes on each end of the guards van, but that's about all I can do at the moment until the new supplies of wheels turn up.

In the meantime I need to get casting again because I've received a request to replenish the stocks of kits at Narrow Planet.

Brake Bits

You have to look hard at most narrow gauge wagons to see whether or not they have continuous brakes.

In most cases the main giveaway will be the vacuum or air pipes at each end.

The monster wagons of the SAR two feet system are very different, however sitting high on their bogies with all the gubbins on show underneath for all the world to see.

That's why when I was designing the kits - with more than a little help from the clever chaps at Narrow Planet - we came up with an etched brass fret which includes the bogies and all the hangers and other bits and pieces which can be cut out, glued into place on the body and the chassis to look something like the brake gear.

It's not an exact mechanical representation, but it looks good enough when the wagons are running on a layout I reckon.

The best bits, in my opinion, are the handbrake wheels, with their distinctive dented rims.

Two of those get soldered onto a bit of wire and fixed onto each end of the wagon.

You can just see them if you look carefully at the left hand side of the picture.

They'll stand out a treat when they're painted yellow against the red oxide colour of the wagon body.

Tool Box

Here's a closer look at Britomart, one of the models which were being given a coat of varnish in the previous post.

Himself has fixed in place a couple of the finishing touches including the oil can on the back corner of the running plate and the rather natty wooden tool box which is perched on the top of the saddle tank in front of the cab.

The final job is to fix on the nameplates and the Hunslet works plates which have been etched for us by Narrow Planet and then slot in the chassis.

It's a beautiful little model and I look forward to it appearing on many special charters and 'jollies' on Bron Hebog in due course.

Houses On Hold

Plans have changed slightly.

I did indicate in the previous post that I was going to start making a couple of the missing houses from the Oberon Wood scene, but commercial interests have intervened.

It appears that my wagon kits have been flying off the virtual shelf of the Narrow Planet webshop in recent weeks and so I am answering a call for a re-stocking of the DZs and NGYs.

I can't deny that it's a nice problem to have.

It's also a procrastinator's dream because it gives me the perfect excuse to once again delay having to sit down and draw out plans for one of the missing houses.

Fine Lines

Britomart is edging closer to completion with Himself working hard on the fine white lining.

It's not a job that can be rushed so it's taken most of the week to get to this stage.

The nameplates and rather small  Hunslet works plates are on order from Narrow Planet.

Incidentally, if you ever wondered about the brass band which adorns its distinctively tall chimney, it's not just baby Hunslet bling.

The story goes that after the engine's arrival at the FR, following it's purchase from Pen y Orsedd quarry by a group of volunteers, it was discovered that at some point there had been a very rough repair to the chimney and the band was added as a colourful way of covering it up.

I've always thought it rather suits it and completes it's rather cheeky character.

Rafters

There's been a two week break in the barn build on account of me having to run off another batch of wagon kit castings for sale on the Narrow Planet webshop.

With those done I was able to put in an hour's work the other night and I had a go at fitting some rafters and battens on the front section of the building.

The rear is to have a dilapidated covering of slates which I think I shall represent by using strips very thin card, sliced to mark the individual slates - a number of which will be slipped or missing entirely.

122 Upgrade

Fitting proper-sized modern FR bogies to all the modern carriages is going to be a long-term project, but Himself has begun with one of the carriages that shows them off to advantage - Stefco's one-off 122.

These are the bogies we make up with brass frames etched by Narrow Planet, fitted with 'top hat' bearings which then have resin castings with the axle box and suspension detail fixed on top.

So far we have them fitted beneath all the Superbarns, the rebuild of prototype 116 and a couple of the most recent Barns I've made to replace to older models.

Quite a way to go then...

Commercial Break

There's going to be a little delay in finishing off the Observation Car 150 while I answer the call of commerce.

With the high point of the narrow gauge modelling year approaching - the annual ExpoNG show - those nice people at Narrow Planet have asked if I can replenish their stocks of my resin SAR wagon kits.

Naturally, I am only too happy to oblige, and the process is it going to be as easy as it can ever be because I produced an almost entirely new set of moulds for the last batch I made so I can get straight on with the casting rather than messing about with silicone rubber first.

With luck this should only take a few days so hopefully normal modelling activities can resume next week.

Don't Forget The Bogies

There I was thinking I was almost done with 117 and ready to hand it over to Himself to knock up a brass roof and solder up some of the pesky Superbarn handrails (he hates it when I make him do those) when I realised I hadn't made up the bogies yet.

These days all my new FR carriages are being built with our own design of authentic FR carriage bogies using a fold-up brass base (produced for us by Narrow Planet) and some detail castings which I turn out to glue on top.

'Top Hat' bearings are soldered into the frame to hold the Parkside Dundas wheelsets and they run like a dream.

These pictures show the bogies folded and soldered (top) and then with the castings pushed on and glued into place (below).

The final stage, which is not shown here, is to add a section of 80" styrene on top of the stretcher so they can swivel beneath the chassis properly, but equally you could to this by putting a deeper pivot on the chassis.

Back To The Dance Floor

It took up all my modelling time last week but I finished casting and packaging the kits to replenish the stocks at the Narrow Planet web shop.

It seems perverse but I hope they don't fly off the shelves too quickly because my 'To Do' list of projects is lengthening - more about that in a future post - and I've still got a lot to do to finish the model of 'Disco Car' 121 for a customer.

The first job is to form the domed roof ends and then do something about getting it on its bogies.