Sound Check

Himself has finished the painting, varnishing and final assembly of the model of Tin Car 121 in Disco Car mode.

Before handing it over to the customer he decided to take it for a test run around Dduallt.

It's been an interesting project modelling a carriage with virtually no interior detail.

I'm very pleased with the way it's turned out. I shall be sorry to see this one go.

Fresh Air

Himself has set a new benchmark in the drive for customer satisfaction with the glazing for the Disco Car.

My customer - who is on an ultimately futile mission to recreate his lost youth, but don't tell him that - asked to have his model of 121 finished as if it were in the middle of a rave-up at Dduallt with all the windows wedged wide open to ventilate the sweaty specimens within.

It's not the best photo in the world but you can see that Himself has done his best to oblige.

There are just a couple of jobs left to complete the model.

The numbers need to the added to each end, the roof requires a final coat of paint and there are door handles to fit before it receives a coat of varnish and is ready to hand over.

Venting Frustration

I don't think I've ever had a model before where I have left off so many bits in error.

Himself was getting on towards the final stages of painting the 'Disco Car' when he spotted something missing from the roof - the vent from the gas boiler compartment.

As it happens it's an easy part to knock up from a lump of styrene and glue it on, which is what he's done.

It wasn't as if I'd completely overlooked the vent.

It was on my mental 'to do' list but somehow got forgotten about in my excited rush to declare it 'finished' and get onto the next project.

Still, looking on the bright side, the paint job is looking good.

Late Alterations

Whilst Himself was on holiday I sneaked into his study and liberated the Disco Car from the workbench in its half-painted state.

You may remember from a couple of weeks ago that I discovered that deep within his pile of research photographs was the perfect close-up picture of an end of 121 showing exactly what cables were dangling where.

Unfortunately this was only after I had 'finished' the model and some of those details had been added on a best guess from some very poor resolution images.

So what I had put on the left hand side was, as far as I could tell, a sort of disconnected, upright pipe arrangement.

The trouble is having seen this photograph in his study I find it very difficult to unsee incorrect details like this and so even though he was already well into the process of painting it I felt morally obliged to try and fix it, even if it means making a mess of what's already there.

Now, at least, there is some sort of cable hanging there, even if it isn't a tightly spiralled one like the real thing.

With a lick of black paint no one will know it was never there before.

First Coat

I told Himself there was no urgency on getting the Disco Car painted, which means, of course, that he's started work on it immediately.

The first coats of red and cream are looking good.

However, to my horror I've discovered a couple of oversights - and halfway through painting is not the best time for that!

Firstly, I realised that I forgot to make and fit fall plates on the corridor connections.

That, at least, is easy to fix.

The other thing will be a little trickier.

When I built it I only had a very small image - in terms of file size - which showed the ends on the 'engine side' where the push pull connections are and so I had to take a bit of a punt on the bits that I fitted on the model based on what I thought I could see there.

Well, it turns out that Himself has superb close-up picture of the top end of 121 but never thought to reveal this too me until it's almost too late.

Now that I can see what's there, or at least what was there at one point in time - because they're always fiddling - I feel morally obliged to try and correct it.

The tricky bit is going to be doing it without compromising the paint job,

Pre-Fade Checks

I took my client's model of the 'Disco Car' 121 over to Himself's place the other day for a wee test run just to check for any snags or alterations required before it gets painted.

Here are a couple of short videos.

The Final Steps

Well, I hope they are.

I've been putting some final touches to the Disco Car 121 this week such as the footsteps and the vac pipes which run along each side beneath the frame.

They were really tricky to do because on this carriage I've made the 'frame' a strip which is attached behind the main bodyside as opposed to being an extension of the floor / chassis.

This means it somehow has to be attached to the chassis, which is removable, while giving the impression that they are firmly attached to the rest of the carriage.

I've also received a public correction (on our Bron Hebog Facebook page) for erroneous remarks I made on this blog about the various electrical connections I modelled on the end of the carriage.

I stated that some of them were part of the push-pull control system - they weren't.

It also appears that in true FR fashion they went through a number of iterations during the carriage's time in service so the pictures that I've been working from may or may not be correct, but I have failed to source any other photos which show that side of the carriage in enough detail.

My instinct tells me that this is maybe the time to do the modelling equivalent of 'publish and be dammed' and sent it into the paint shop.

Besides, I really am getting rather impatient to get on with the next project now.

Socket To Me

No one has ever gone so far as to accuse me of being a finescale modeller, and if they did I'd soon be able to show them things to disabuse them of the notion.

Over the years, though, I have developed a masochistic habit of adding smaller and smaller details to my carriage models, such as the electrical connections on the ends of the carriages.

On the push pull carriages there was a double set because of the control system running between the locomotive and the driving compartment in carriage 111.

It's quite a fiddly job but it really enhances the look of the carriage and now there are not many jobs left before I can consider construction phase finished.

Pipe Quartet

Adding the vacuum pipes to a carriage is something I have to psyche myself up for.

It's not that it's an especially tricky or boring job but it does involve bonding metal to plastic with super glue which is never the most satisfying of jobs.

On the Disco Car it's twice as bad because these push-pull vehicles had two sets of brake pipes - one for running as a normal train and the other was also required to operate in push-pull mode.

I don't really feel qualified to explain it so if you'd like to know more I'll refer you to this Festipedia page.

Anyway, all that really matters is that it looks good, eh?

The Wrong Kind Of Weather

Entry number 1 from the British Rail book of excuses for not getting much modelling done.

I should explain, however, that this week the west of Scotland enjoyed what may possibly end up being its summer with days of glorious unbroken sunshine so it would have been foolish not to have made the most of it.

That's not to say that I have been completely idle.

I have glued the roof on the Disco Car which always feels like a significant moment, if for no other reason than once you've fixed it on it's very tricky to prise it off again if you discover you've overlooked something.

I've also added a few more details to the interior - not that there's very many of them - in this case the thin screens either side of the entrances to the main saloon.

The focus will move to the exterior again with the double sets of vac pipes and electrical connectors to be made and fitted.

On The Decks

My customer took umbrage last week when I described him on these pages as demanding.

Well, you can read through this post and decide for yourself!

As I have mentioned before the interior of the Disco Car is pretty much empty but there are a few fixtures which remained such as the cabinets which enclosed the gas heating gear at the top end.

These were added when the carriage was first refurbished for the push-pull train.

In Disco Car configuration the top of the low cupboard was used to support one end of the shelf upon which the DJ's decks were placed, while the other end rested on the window ledge.

Naturally my client wanted this included as part of his model and I obliged.

Was he happy? Was he hell!

Some snaps, like that above, were taken and emailed off for approval and back came a list of faults so lengthy that the only option was to rip it out and do it all again.

This time, thankfully, he was satisfied.

Customers, who'd have 'em, eh?

(Editor's note: This post is not to be taken literally)

Greenwich, Meantime

I've had a change of plan with what to do next on the carriage.

Instead of adding the vacuum pipes I got out the soldering iron and added the couplings to the bogies the other night.

We have standardised with the fold-up brass Greenwich couplings on our rolling stock and they are the default option for any stock I am building for a client too.

Among their advantage is that it is very simple to re-position them, you just apply the hot tip of the iron and melt them off and fix them back in place.

I don't know what the client has planned for his Disco Car yet, and whether it will ever run on a layout as part of a train, so it is hard to know whether to set them in a close-coupled position or not.

So I have played safe and set them very generously so to reduce the chances of things like the corridor connections or the vac pipes locking with those on any other stock it is coupled do.

It's possible, after all, that it may make a guest appearance on Dduallt or Bron Hebog one day.

Bits Beneath

The Disco Car has reached the stage where there are all manner of small details inside, outside, above and underneath to add to it before it can be declared finished.

Two of them are the bits that hang from the frame, but you have to look closely to see them.

Truth be told this is the first time I have put any underframe detail on any production Tin Car I've built because until now I'd always assumed that they sat so squat on their bogies that you couldn't really see anything.

(110 was a different case because it was built up on a central spine rather than the bulky ex-Isle of Man frames used on 117 onwards.)

When it came to this model I was looking at a photograph closely and I could just make out two things lurking underneath - which I presumed to a vacuum reservoir and a battery box - on the 'engine side' of the carriage.

Knowing that I am working for a very demanding client I had no option but to knock something up to represent them.

I think the next task will be something more obvious, the two sets of vacuum pipes.

Two sets? Yes, and if you don't know why that is I'm going to leave you in suspense until next time.

Empty Vessel

It's unusual for me to build a carriage without an interior, but, of course the whole point of the Disco Car was that all the furniture was stripped out to make way for the 'dance floor'.

You might think this would be to my advantage - there's less to make - and in that respect you're correct.

However the interiors of our carriages have a structural function as well.

We generally try not to glue our glazing in place but have it floating free, trapped between the inside of the body shell and the outside edges of the seats and tables etc.

I make them to be a neat fit. Sometimes too neat so that when a layer of paint is applied they no longer fit and the sandpaper has to come out!

It also helps to ensure that the bodyside stays straight and does not bend inwards over time.

So what am I going to do on 121 where there is no furniture to hold the glazing in place?

Well, I've come up with this.

They are lengths of L dimension strip glued along the edges of the floor with just enough of a gap - I hope - that they will trap the glazing firmly and help to make the body shell more robust.

I don't believe they will be too obtrusive and in any case I recall that there was a skirt which ran along the edge of each side of the floor in the saloon anyway.

The Disco Car Rides Again!

It's a long way from being finished but I couldn't resist posing 121 for a sort of pre-works portrait the other night when I mounted it on its bogies and placed it on a length of track for the first time.

Seeing it on wheels feels like a significant step, and I suppose it is, but it's just displacement activity for all the foutery little jobs that have still got to be done.

Jobs like bending and fitting the vacuum pipes. The handrails. The bits and pieces that hang from under the frame.

And most fiddly of all, cutting the glazing.

Now this is going to be the job from Hell because the client would like to have some of the sliding windows in the open position, or at least the appearance of that. (The party-goers got rather sweaty back in the day, apparently, so maximum ventilation was required.)

Cutting perspex sheet neatly and without scratching the surface is a horrible job at the best of times because it's very tough to slice through compared to normal styrene.

Doing so with the accuracy required to line up with the tiny window pillars on this carriage is going to be an absolute swine of a job!

I'm thinking that I might try to make templates from thin styrene to begin with.  Not only will it be easier to cut but it is also much simpler to mark it out so you know where the holes have got to be.

No wonder I'm finding other jobs to be getting on with in the meantime... 

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.

Disco Domes

One of the design features which I think has always made the FR 'tin cars' easy on the eye is that they have very few hard edges.

Look closely at one of the carriages and you'll see it is softly rounded, from the windows to the thick pillars at each end and, of course, there's the trademark domes at the end of the roofs.

I've always thought they had a look of the BR MkII about them. Perhaps it was even a design influence?

To me it is recreating these soft edges which is the key to a convincing model of a tin car which I've noticed is sometimes overlooked on other models I've seen in both etched brass and 3D print.

So, as promised, a little detail on how we go about doing our domed ends.

In previous posts I've shown pictures of the roof skin with the triangles cut out of each end.

What I do next is to fit a smaller triangle, on a slant, inside the gap.

The only purpose to this is to reduce the amount of filler required and to give it a firmer base.

Once again my filler of choice is Milliput which is ideal for the job because it is firm enough that you can force it into the space and mould it with a moistened fingertip without it all spurting out at the other side, or going off so fast that you only have a few minutes working time, as is the case with some cellulose based products.

It's clay-like properties when it is freshly mixed allows you to over-fill your space and then slice the extra away with a sharp blade.

Because it reacts so wonderfully to water you can make your top surface really slopping knowing that a few minutes later it will have reverted to its previous clay-like state.

This also means you can get the top surface really smooth. If you nick it or drag across it then simply wet you finger and smooth it all over again.

I'm going to leave this now for a day or so by which time it will have set as hard as concrete and I can finish it off with wet and dry paper.

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.

Roof Skin

So, for all you roof-watchers, this is the post you've been waiting for. Ta dah!

It's not quite finished, obviously.

However, here is a snap of the roof skin glued in place with the cut out for the domed end very prominent.

What I'll do next is cut some sloping triangles to fix in the gap.

These will act as a base for the Milliput and also reduce the amount of putty that is required which will also keep down the weight of the roof.

One of the risks with this technique is that the carriage could become a little top-heavy - especially so in this case because there will be virtually no interior because it has been all stripped out for the dancing!