MOTW - The Zoo Carr.

All FR enthusiasts probably have their own mental associations with certain items of rolling stock.

For me this semi-open bug box - or Birmingham knifeboard Observation Carr, to give it a more formal title - always brings to mind the 1930's and images of Tan y Bwlch and Bessie Jones in Welsh costume.

The real carriage is a replica which was completed in 1997 and makes use of some of the original components from carriage number 2 (or 6, if you prefer) which was re-rebuilt into a closed First Class carriage.

This model was built from a Chris Veitch kit and shows number 1 as it ran when first restored to traffic in a two tone green and ivory livery.

The actual carriage has subsequently been repainted into what I consider the rather drab 1930's colour scheme of solid green sides with red ends.

Ooh, I Like That!

At the risk of striking a nauseatingly self-congratulatory tone I have to say I am rather pleased with the way my casts for the business end of the ballast hopper have fitted inside the wagon.

The effect is very pleasing.

They fitted together just as I had intended, which I suppose proves that I had managed to make the master fit exactly half the space.

I have also glued together the casts for the vacuum reservoirs and the brake cylinders and fitted them in place at one end of the prototype wagon.

The cover which fits over the cylinder is being etched by Narrow Planet - along with the bogies, handwheels and the ballast door mechanism - and when they turn up I think I'll be pretty much ready to begin the production run.

Contact me through the Boston Largs Works address (on our sister website) if you're interested in ordering some of the kits.

Internal Divisions

I am hoping that I have now designed the last bit of the 3D jigsaw that is the NG Y ballast wagon kit - save for the brass bits which I shall entrust to Narrow Planet.

This last piece is perhaps the most complicated and ambitious on the wagon. It is the internal sections which guide the payload to the eight doors at the bottom of the hopper.

(The irony is not lost on me that all this effort will be wasted on buyers who choose to model their wagons loaded!)

As I have done all the way through the project I am trying to cast this in the least amount of pieces possible, which in this case means dividing it in half into two mirror image sections which meet in the middle.

Being mirror-image, of course, means I only have to make one master.

What makes it particularly challenging is the way the main sloping section rises up into the body of the hopper and joins with the sloping ends, which has been achieved by means of the small triangles at the top corners.

The three dividers have also had to be shaped to fit into the angles inside the wagon and have a triangular section along the top which protrudes to rest on the top of the frames,

It is these which concern me most.  I am hoping they will cast OK in the mould.

Here's how the master sits inside the wagon.

If - and it's always a big if - I have measured and made it accurately enough, two of the casts should fit neatly in the hole and meet in the middle.

The silicone mould is setting as I type, so I'll find out soon enough...

Diddy Dickie Bow

Yes, dear readers, another strange post title for you to ponder.

Take a look at the picture and then tell me if the title now makes sense to you?

Yes, that's right! This little bit of the NG Y ballast wagon does indeed look a little like a bow tie, don't you agree?

One of these will fit on either end of the door / chute casts I showed you on Monday.

I took a snap of it snug as a bug in its moulding box seconds before smothering it in RTV rubber.

As you will have gathered if you are a regular reader - and a very warm welcome if you're new, by the way - I have now ceased to bother with the virtually impossible task of measuring out 5% of a minuscule amount of RTV catalyst when I'm make a mould, and instead I've taken to slopping it in using the well known scientific measurement 'That looks about right', so the damn thing may well have set firm by the time I finish typing this,

Alternatively, of course, I could still be waiting to de-mould it on Christmas Day.

That's why resin casting is such fun!

MOTW - Bug Box 5

For me this is the original FR 'bug box'.

The reason number 5 (as was) is so iconic to me is that visiting the FR as a child in the 1980s it was the only one remaining in service.

Or perhaps, to be more accurate, I should say it was the first one to come back into service, because it had recently emerged from being totally rebuilt, almost single-handed, by the late Ron Jarvis.

I think it is fair to say that it was his single-minded dedication to restoring these unique Victorian carriages that led directly to the wonderful fleet of original and replica four-wheelers which so enhance the FR these days, including the most recent addition the 'port hole bug box'.

Ron's work was taken up by the volunteer Team X whose efforts in turn can be traced through to the magnificent HLF carriage workshop, and the stupendous vehicles it produces, today.

Our model shows number 5 as it was running in 1988 (the year in which Dduallt was originally nominally set)finished in the cherry red livery with black ends.

It is made from a Chris Veitch brass kit, as are all our bug boxes.

These are excellent kits - and I'm not just saying that because Chris reads this blog.

Welcome To Bombay

The trouble with blogging is the longer you go on the harder it is to come up with nifty titles for the posts, and consequently the puns become strained to breaking point.

You might well believe that this one has indeed snapped!

So what follows has got nothing to do with travel and nothing to do with India. It is, in fact, all about the casts for the doors / chutes for the NG Y ballast wagon which I have now fitted to the kit prototype.

So why the Bombay reference? Well, to me these always seem a bit like the bomb bay doors on an old aeroplane because of the way they are curved and sit slightly back from the vertical.

It may not make much sense to you but at least I've given you the courtesy of an explanation!

Here's a view from the underside so you can see how they fix onto the wagon chassis.

My original plan had been to have them fit inside the frames rather than on them, which was the way I designed the original master for the door unit.

However when I fitted the first casts in place I thought they looked too far inboard, and they also hung down too low and would foul the track, so I modified the master and cast another pair (which are a couple of mm shallower) which are what you see here.

Now I've got these fixed in place and I am happy with how they are sitting the next step is to design the side / end pieces.

More Kit Bits

I've had success, at the second time of asking, with the latest moulds.

As I predicted a few days ago the silicone did set super-fast this time.

Rather than still being soggy after four days, this time it turned solid overnight.

Clearly I have now gone to the other extreme with too much catalyst in there, but at least I've been able to reclaim the masters and start using the moulds and here's what's come out of them...

What you see here are the bits for the ballast hopper doors, the Z struts for each end and the brake cylinders and vacuum reservoirs which are cast in halves to be joined together.

The next step is to fix these bits onto the prototype wagon to check they fit properly and look right before I set about preparing some more moulds for the production run.

For these I will be grouping some of the parts together in the same moulding box to speed up the process when I come to run off the kits.