A touch of class...First Class.

With the weather warming up it has been the ideal time to get stuck into more modelling projects. This includes finishing ones that have waited a few months for me to finish. That was certainly the case with this Steam Era Models AW car. The last items of the undergear such as the trussrods and handbrake were fitted yesterday and the car is up to a stage where it can now be painted. After painting the interior will go in, the windows fitted, vestibules finished and the handrails fitted. Show below is where the car is up to:

The plan is to paint this car in the brown/crimson colour that all timber cars received in the 1950s (and is replicated on the Auscision E cars).

Drought Relief

It's been a while since I last assembled an etched brass kit. The Rail Tractor was probably the last. In the last few days I have assembled Steam Era Models excellent 4-wheel WT water tank wagon kit. This kit is a good beginner kit for those who wish to learn how to solder etched brass kits. The only really tricky bits are getting the tank wrapper the right shape and forming the angled brackets on each end. As I had trouble bending the later I opted to use styrene strip which were the only parts I super glued. Show below are progress pics of the construction and the finished product ready for paint:

Next step is to give the model a good clean and then painting will get underway.

The wanderer..errr...Walker

The arrival of the Auscision Models Victorian Railways 280HP Walker railcar last week has provided another excellent RTR model for Victorian modellers. All versions except the 1970s livery with the dayglo orange stripes are represented. The detail is just superb as the photos below of the one I have just purchased show:

So what does the model have to do with this blog you may ask? Well as supplied the model is fitted with non-prototypical bogies under the trailer units so that the model can be operated on 18 inch radius curves. These bogies have no sideframes to provide more clearance with the body when operating on these curves. However Auscision do supply a set of bogies with sideframes in the box. One simply unclips the bogies from the undeframe, unsolder the wires for the pickups, then fit the replacement bogies and solder the pickup wires.

A photo of how much this lifts the look of the model:

Eventually this model will also be fitted with some passengers (and a driver, plus maybe a railfan in the seat at the front next to the driver) and also DCC sound. So expect the model to appear on this blog again when those projects happen.

Departmental Stock 2

The weather has been less than ideal (something to do with the season I'm told) so things pretty much ground to a halt waiting for some better weather to get these wagons painted. Thankfully some unusually warm weather for later July allowed me to get the wagons painted and decaled. Shown below are the results:

As luck would have it, just as I took the photo of the second it started raining!

With these wagons now finally finished, attention can now turn to an item of passenger stock: a SEM AW car.

Departmental Stock

The Victorian Railways had many wagons set aside for departmental duties. Most were old wagons which had outlived their original purpose and were cascaded into no-revenue service. Here are two very different wagons which came under the classification "HD":

This is a HD van which was a former U van with a 10ft wheelbase and lourves which dffered to later variants of U vans. The kit itself is a Steam Era Models HD plant truck but has been modified to represent wagon HD49 preserved at VGR. Windows have been fitted at both ends plus an extra side window on the side shown. The handbrake is on the opposite side to the brake cylinder (as on the real HD49). Round axlebox lids have been fitted and the standard spoked wheels supplied have been swapped out for disc wheels.

 

 

This HD van was a former Tommy Bent I wagon converted into a HD van by adding higher sides and a roof. This model will represent HD38 which is also at the VGR. The kit itself is a Steam Era Models Tommy Bent I wagon while the added roof section was produced by through this website (now sold-out). Bracing has been added with styrene strip below the wagon body as on the prototype.

 

Both wagons are ready for paint.



Guards van and Cattle Class Part 2

As it turned out I was able to finish off both projects with time to spare. Over the Easter weekend they completed many laps around the Bendigo Model Railroader's exhibition layout 'Elphinstone' without any problems:

After a couple of days recovery work has started on the next two projects. Both are non-revenue wagons.

Guards van and Cattle Class

With a week to go till Easter and the Bendigo Model Railroaders staging an Open Weekend I've set myself a task to complete some wagons in time for running on the club layout.

The ZF guards van is now ready for paint. The handrails, steps and vents on the roof have now been added:

Two weeks ago I attended the Sandown Model Rail Exhibition and was able to pick up the new Steam Era Models M cattle wagon kit. The original kit was as old as the GY before it was upgraded (the original tooling was 30 years old). The upgraded M wagon now includes thinner bracing above the boards and a fret of etched brass components that include shunter's steps, handrails, handbrake and brake rigging. The first it what will hopefully be many more of these wagons is now ready to join the ZF van in the paintshop:

 

 

And so begins a busy week to try and have both finished in the next 6 days.