Buffet Box

I passed that magic moment this week where a carriage stops being four separate pieces and comes together into a body shell.

114 is much more delicate that my average styrene carriage because it has so little beading on the outside, meaning that most of it is just 0.20" thick.

In order to prevent it developing any permanent warp I quickly moved on to cutting the floor / chassis and not only making the roof but gluing it into position at a much earlier stage than I usually would.

This should keep in shape reasonably well, and by the time I have fitted the seats and the glazing it will be really quite solid.

Skin A Car

At long last Saturday night was modelling night.

With the two ladies in my life away for the weekend, and the youngest sound asleep, I had a couple of hours undisturbed to make some serious progress on 2047.

The first job was to finish putting in the remaining ribs and fixing the roof skin in position.

Fortunately the WHR saloon design has always had a flat area immediately above the inset entrance doors which means I can employ my usual styrene skin technique, rather than being forced to use a brass one (which shows the curve beneath) as we do on the FR Superbarns.

I also got a lot of work done on the underframe, but I'll show you that in the next post.

Amazing Glazing

One of the most satisfying aspects of scratch building models is the challenges you have to find solutions to.

A good example of this is the glazing at the front of the observation car 150.

The angle of the bend is such that you need a piece of perspex which keeps its shape rather than something which will spring back flat at the first opportunity.

Initially Himself experimented with heating some clear sheet before bending and then letting it cool, but it left a blemish.

Then he found some sheet which could be bent when cold without marking, but he had a very limited supply of it.

Furthermore,  once you've got the angle correct you've also  got to account for the curve which follows the roofline at the front.

Ultimately he decided to make up two large pieces which have the L shape at the front and extend all the way along the sides of the carriage, meeting in the middle at the central window pillar at the front.

I think he's done a superb job, again.

The only downside is that now he's handed it back to me I've got no excuse not to get on with trying to make the rather fancy first class seats to go in it!