Odd Jobs

I've hit a wall with the body of my new WHR carriage because I've run out of the right size of styrene strip for adding the beading detail.

My back-up plan of raiding Himself's stocks failed because he hasn't got any either!

So while I wait for fresh supplies to arrive I've had to think about what other jobs I could be getting on with to progress the model which is increasingly being built in reverse order.

The seats and tables have already been cast - that was the first thing I did - so instead I've soldered up a pair of bogies and glued on the castings with the axle boxes and suspension details.

For these latest WHR saloons I've made a new mould to represent the roller bearings and improved suspension which have been retro-fitted onto the former SAR wagon bogies at Boston Lodge.

For the fold-up brass part I can use the same etch which goes into my wagon kits.

I've also taken the opportunity to get my least favourite bit of a carriage build out of the way and fabricated and shaped the corridor connections which are very fiddly to do.

The new packets of strip should be hear soon and then I can begin detailing the door and end pieces which I made last week.

Doing The Chores

Everyone has tasks on a model project that have to be endured rather more than enjoyed.

As I wrote last time, for Himself it is making trees, and for me its always been making up the corridor connections.

It's not that they're particularly difficult to make, just slightly fiddly and drawn out with lots of bits of styrene to be cut, glued together and then shaped to make up the six finished pieces needed.

But they do look good, so it's worth it in the end.

The other job which I never look forward to is making up and fitting the truss rods which is just down to my pure incompetence when it comes to bending metal.

No matter how much care I try to take I can never get the angle of the bends correct at the first attempt, nor the holes in the floor which the ends are inserted into, which results in much tiresome faffing about.

It's just one of those necessary evils which has to be tackled as part of making a carriage but I'm always glad when it's done.

I'm Glad That's Done

So in the end I decided to tackle one of my least favourite jobs: the corridor connections.

Might as well get it out of the way, I reckoned.

I'm not too keen on it mainly because it's both fiddly and slightly boring at the same time.

The fiddly bit is joining the three bits of strip together the make the U section.

The boredom comes because you have to do that six times, and then after that there's a lot of filing and sanding work to round off the corners so they look at least something like bits of rubber folded over.

I'm always glad I've done it though because I think it's really essential to getting the look of  FR corridor stock right. 

It's just that I never look forward to having to do it.

An Open And Shut Case

Another small job I got done this weekend - because I'm not getting much time to do any big ones, frankly - was to fit the corridor connections onto the Disco Car.

The bottom end - that's the end pointing away from Blaenau - is being modelled in the open position as if it had the rest of the train behind it.

Once upon a time I would have called this the Porthmadog end but since the advent on the WHR that's no longer the case, however I can't bring myself to refer to an FR carriage, especially one I'm building in pre-WHR days, as having a Caernarfon end.

At the other end - pointing to Blaenau - as the Disco Car was always the first corridor vehicle in the train this model is being made with them closed over.

I have also now got around to blanking off the right hand window at the top end.

This was a modification done when the carriage was fitted with gas heating when the INCa push pull train was being put together at the very end of the 1980's.

The heating equipment was hidden in a compartment taking up part of the first window bay at the top end on the clock side of the carriage.

I don't know why the window in the end was covered over at this point. Was it purely aesthetic or was there was functional reason why?

Maybe one of our readers knows?

Make The Connection

It's not been the most productive of weeks on the workbench.

I have succeeded in getting the domed ends of the roof on the Disco Car shaped and finished.

And last night, looking for something that I could achieve in short bursts of activity - not having the luxury of a solid block of time - I decided to make a start on the corridor connections.

It's not my favourite job, as I have written before, but at least this time there is a little variety because on of the end is to be modelled in the closed position.

As ever, we must take comfort from the small pleasures in life.

Loving The Jobs You Hate

There are times when you just have to grit your teeth and get on with the more boring bits of a model build.

For me this is invariably the corridor connections.

In my book they're absolutely essential items to getting the look of modern FR / WHR carriages right.

I have seen quite a few models of FR Barns made from the various brass kits on the markets but hardly any of them have had the hinged extensions added on let alone anything which represents the rubber folded and fixed at the ends where they rub up against the neighbouring carriage.

And no matter how well made, or well painted the carriage it just looks wrong.

(Unless, of course, it's a Barn in its very original, teak-liveried condition)

And that's why I think it's worth going to the effort of making them, but I won't deny it is an effort.

Each piece - and there are 6 of them needed for a carriage - is made up of 4 bits of styrene, so that's 24 pieces in total to be glued together and shaped.

I've written a full step my step guide on the blog before so have a search back through the posts if you're interested in having a go yourself.

Even when you've done the fiddly part of gluing together the U section (rubber bit) and fixed it into the main piece which connects to the carriage end you've got to shave it with the scalpel blade, file and finish it off with emery paper to give it a convincing, rubbery appearance.