Don't Bin it - Repair it

The locomotive and all wagons shown here were broken and/or had parts missing, being consigned to a drawer for decades until one day....

Click a link in the table below to read about their faults and the repair methods.

Item Link	Brand
3MT class locomotive	Tri-Ang Hornby
GWR Mink D	Peco Parkside Kit
Esso Tanker	Airfix Kit
24.5T Mineral Wagon	?
GWR High Bar 7-Plank open wagon	Cooper Craft Kit
McCain Beefeater Chips van	Lima
Blue Circle Cement Wagon	Airfix Kit

Read about the layout build here.

See where you can get the buildings here.

Recovered From The Bin. Another quick Project

Another broken wagon stored away for decades. This one was so far gone that it was destined for the bin except, I enjoyed my previous wagon repairs so much that I decided to give it a second chance.

It is the Parkside PC38 Mink D general merchandise van kit. A GWR design that saw service until during the second world war. This is before the period that I model. Incidentally 'Mink' is a shorthand code devised by GWR to define a range of goods vehicles.

Further research revealed that 10 were converted for Departmental use (9 in 1947 and 1 in 1955).  These vans were in use on BR(W) throughout the 1960s (my modelled period). They carried the 'Enpart' sign and conveyed locomotive parts. The conversion resulted in different style end panels and the underframe is different to the Parkside model. I have not modified my model in this respect. 

I model the BR Southern Region main line in the west country not Western Region. The Western took over that part of the Southern Region in 1963, giving me some licence for  it to run on my layout, although I doubt it ever did in reality.

Nearly all detail was missing from the model underframe. Most notably the axle boxes and springs. These I had previously cut out for use on a scratch build wagon. That wagon was subsequently retired so, with careful manipulation the superglue fixing the four axle boxes/springs in place was severed and the parts reapplied to the Mink.

Wheels, couplings, vacuum cylinder, vacuum pipes and two buffers came from my stock.

The other two buffers I could have 3D resin printed but it is such a faff to set up and clean up resin printing it is not worth the effort for such a small job. Instead, the shanks were fabricated from proprietary kit sprues with 3D FDM printed discs applied.

The rest of the missing parts I designed and 3D FDM printed.

Dual steps beneath each door were made from plasticard and wire.

It was brush painted with acrylics. The paint was watered down a little and applied in several coats.

Decals were designed and printed on sticky back paper.

The Parkside kit is available today, costing about £20. At that price I am glad I did not bin mine!

The Final Quick Project?

Difficult to confirm the brand of this assembled kit. From remnants of the coupling supports it looks like Cooper Craft but I could not find an example on the web. It is not Parkside because that one has a little more detail.

It is a twenty four and a half ton mineral wagon.

Any way, it was another broken model stored away for decades brought out for repair.

One tie bar was severed mid way along its length and half of the other one was missing. Couplings and three buffer discs also missing.

I noticed in prototype photos that door stops, either one per door or two per door were fitted. None were on this model and no evidence of provision for them either.

Out with the 3D printer again to make the missing parts, including door stops. The couplings are proprietary. I did not have sufficient NEM sockets in stock so these were designed and printed too but they are somewhat bulkier than proprietary parts.

The wagon was repainted, decals applied (designed and printed on sticky back paper) and a weight fixed inside.

The coal load was made as follows. The base is a thick piece of balsa wood shaped with a slight curved top. A lump of Neodymium magnet was glued in a recess carved in the top to facilitate removal of the load with a steel tool. The top was painted black. Next, a layer of neat PVA glue was applied to the top and real coal dust sprinkled over. This was covered with a 50/50 water/PVA mix and real coal lumps sprinkled over repeating a second time to cover the centre part to look heaped.

And Another Quick Project

This time it is the Cooper Craft GWR High Bar 7-Plank open wagon (not currently marketed).

It had been stored away for decades due to damage. One set of wheels was missing. The coupling 'D' bar was missing from one end and the hook from the other. One brake lever and the brakes & hangers from one side were also missing.

Fortunately, I found the wheels and compatible brakes & hangers in my spares box but, one pin point of the wheel axle was missing. To repair this I filed the end of 1 mm diameter steel wire to a point, drilled a hole in the axle end and glued it in place.

Rather than replacing the couplings I decided to design and 3D FDM print the missing 'D' bar and hook. The brake lever was created like wise.

I read that when wagons from the 'big four' were amalgamated under British Railways the previous wagon identification number was retained and the BR regional letter simply put in front. Hence GWR wagon 29587 became W 29587. The numbers were printed on sticky back paper.

I had previously designed a BR tarpaulin for my 7 mm scale high-bar open wagon so it was simply a case of reprinting it at 56% for the 4 mm version.

The wagon was repainted and a steel weight fixed inside.

Another Quick Project

Repairing and creating the missing parts for broken rolling stock (that has been in storage for decades) is proving to be surprisingly enjoyable.

This one is the assembled Airfix Esso Tanker kit, dating from the 1960s. Available today from the Dapol Kitmaster range.

The tank and ladders had become detached and it was missing the wheels, one Esso logo, two brake blocks, a vacuum pipe and couplings.

Wheels and couplings came from my spares box. I designed and 3D FDM printed the vacuum pipe, brake blocks and coupling fixtures. The Esso logo was printed on sticky back paper.

Lead weights were cut to fit unobtrusively between chassis beams and glued in place.

There are two more wagons in the pipeline.

Spot the Difference

No, it's not the head code, nor the missing coach. It is the chassis, not that you can see the detail in these poor photos.

The top photo is Battle of Britain 'Biggin Hill' comprising an Airfix kit body on a Kemilway nickel silver etched chassis kit. Both dating from about 1976.

The Kemilway chassis (no longer marketed) makes up into a highly detailed chassis with compensation that requires some skill to assembly. Provision is made for the wheels & axles, gear and motor that had to be purchased separately. 

I think Dapol missed a trick here in not obtaining the rights to the Kemilway kit as it would complement the Airfix kit, which is now marketed by them under the Kitmaster badge. It would make for a cost effective operating model for those not wanting to spend hundreds on a ready to run version.

I am sure my model once ran satisfactorily but after nearly 50 years the chassis is showing its age with parts becoming detached and prone to short circuits. It became a poor runner causing much frustration.

I intended to break and bin it but looking at it again the bodywork is decent so, why not keep it as a static model? The second photo shows the result. Not with a Kemilway chassis but with the original Airfix chassis, the parts for which I had kept in storage for the past 50 years! Except, half the front bogie was missing so I recovered and fitted the Kemilway bogie, only to later find the missing Airfix part in another place.

Why bother replacing the chassis you may well ask. Well, my reasoning is this:

1. The Kemilway has not aged well and every time I look at it I may be tempted to repair it to run again. I fear it would need a complete strip down, clean up and reassemble to give it justice which, I am not in the mind to do.

2. There in storage is all the parts to make the Airfix chassis. Whilst not as detailed as the Kemilway it should be easier to build. How wrong could I be.

The Airfix chassis was more weird and complicated than I thought. For some obscure reason the centre driving wheels do not have flanges, rather like early Tri-ang locomotives. I could not stand that so designed 3D FDM 'rings' that were glued in place - much better. Now, the instructions assume you will assemble it so that the wheels rotate and cranks operate. This I failed to achieve due to glue leaching to where it should not be. It truly is a static model now!

The ideal place to display the model is at the signal on my Battledown flyover embankment. The flyover is more of a diorama than a working layout. Whilst trains can be run across it, the track terminates at both ends.

Now I'll strip down the Kemilway chassis to recover usable parts.

BTW, I have another example of this locomotive class that is a working model so, this conversion is no great loss to my fleet.

Disaster at Battledown #4

To recap, the disaster came about when I was trying to rework the wonky bridge handrails but ended up breaking the bridge (see Part 1). 

The replacement bridge is now in place. It has integrated handrails and whilst these are fixed to every bridge upright and diagonal support to keep it straight there is still a bit of handrail droop between some fixing points.

Whist the Nova3D Mecha water washable resin makes for a more robust model than the Anycubic water washable resin it is just as vulnerable to warping. Hence droopy handrail.

I decided to fit the track to the bridge deck and ballast it before installing the bridge. I thought I had it lined up to the embankment track but at one end the rails were offset by only1mm, enough to derail trains.

I removed the ballast from the joining track and freed it from the track bed ready to reposition and in so doing managed to break the track chairs along one rail.

The sleeper and integrated chairs were resin printed using the brittle Anycubic resin so, I should not be surprised of the failure.

I don't have much Nova3D resin nor Anycubic resin left. Will I have enough to reprint the sleepers?

Featuring BR1 Sleeper Chairs

Next Day

I needed 9 sleeper pairs and found 5 left over from a previous project  so, I had sufficient resin left to print the remaining 4 pairs. 

Existing Anycubic resin prints are shown on the left and Nova3D resin prints on the right. No difference in print quality (photo right). 

The Nova3D printed without deformation and being considerably more pliable than Anycubic the rail chair clips are less likely to fail.

The new section of track duly painted and ballasted (photo left). The rail breaks in the foreground are at baseboard joins to enable baseboards separation, if required in the future.

END

To Part 1.

A Quick Project

We have some toy boxes filled with cars and trucks that belonged to our sons when they were young. They are now used by our grandchildren when they visit us. Rooting through one of these I came across a Lima 00 gauge railway wagon.

It looked decent with finely detailed bodywork and pinpoint axles. Even the inside (which is never normally seen) had detailed floor planking. However, some aspects of its design clearly showed that it was meant for play by young children rather than an accurate model of the prototype for a model railway.

The giveaways are the McCain logo (never used on real wagons), blocky buffers, roof clips that are meant to be ventilators but do not have the slope of the prototype, one piece body and chassis moulding, missing faux coupling hook, no vacuum pipes nor vacuum cylinder, no tie-bar between axle boxes, brake blocks that don't line up with the wheels and it is feather light (not weighted).

Despite these shortcomings the body detail and pinpoint axles encouraged me to turn it into a more prototypical wagon for my layout. I decided to have a look at prototype wagons to see how closely it matched. On Paul Bartlett's website I came across identical bodywork for vans designed to Diagram 1/208!

I then researched to find out more about this 'toy' and came across Lima model 305687W. But whilst having identical body style and logo it has a black chassis sporting prototypical buffer stops, and naïve, faux coupling hooks. Clearly not the same model. I found other examples of 'my' model on Ebay but nowhere could I find its history. I am guessing it came from a 'play' train set. I would like to know how it was marketed by Lima so, if you know please leave a comment.

In this photo are examples of the new components to be added to the wagon. Coupling and vacuum pipe are from my spares box. The grey components are designed and resin 3D printed by myself. 

The rectangular piece is the sloping ventilator that will be glued to the flat ventilator/roof clip. Once the roof is fitted and sloping ventilator glued in place then it will (sadly) not be possible to remove the roof from the wagon.

The yellow wagon in this photo has had the logo scratched away, the blocky buffers cut off, the 'D' coupling removed, missing tie bars installed (plasticard) and a steel weight fixed inside.

I intended to buy bauxite coloured paint for the body but not finding the Humbrol satin acrylic I wanted locally I decided to mix my own colour from dark brown, light brown and red acrylic paints that I had to hand. The match came out satisfactorily using another wagon as a paint guide.

Recommended bauxite paints:

Humbrol 133 (satin acrylic)

Tamiya XF-68 (matte acrylic)
Railmatch 2235 (matte enamel)

Revell 85 (matte acrylic)

Handling of the finished wagon has started to rub away the paint in places to reveal the grey primer beneath. I might touch it up and and apply a matte varnish to seal the paint.

The decals are designed in photoshop with a 300 pixels per inch setting and printed on copier paper. The high p/in minimises bleed of the brown background into the white text during printing. 

The wagon number is DB755181, as per a wagon from Bartlett's gallery. The 'D' possibly indicates this general purpose wagon was later allocated to departmental stock.

End.

A Card Kit for July

 Pre-Heritage Swanage Water Tower (L&SWR)

View the Card Kit here.

Disaster at Battledown #3

Managing Nova3D Washable Mecha Resin

This stuff has a mind of its own.

Lattice and handrails warped.
The whole part also twisted.

This is what it does to models designed with mostly thin plate sections and how to manage it.

1. Within minutes off the build plate it will steadily warp significantly. It does not matter if supports and rafts are removed or not.

2. Whilst wet from the wash cure it slowly in day/sun/light on a windowsill for a day, occasionally rotating for all surfaces to cure. Within a few hours it will regain its designed form.

After a few hours curing 
it regains its desired shape.

3. After cure there may still be minor warping evident in places. Heat the warp using a hair dryer for 5 to 10 seconds. Bend to the required form and hold in place until set.

To Part 4.

To Part 1.

Disaster at Battledown #2

 More experiences using Nova3D Washable Mecha Resin.

I do like the fact that resin particles washed off settle at the bottom of the water tank rather than remaining suspended in the water.

I do not like the excessive warping that occurs in thin plate sections, which is what this bridge is mostly composed of. But, the situation seems to be recoverable.

Within minutes of being out of the print chamber and with supports still in place warping occurs that is quite worrying to see. (It's like those tinsel fish that curl up from the heat of  your palm). The material is also floppy like rubber. Even after curing in a UV light chamber for a few minutes the steady march of warping continues. I since read that warping is due to uneven shrinkage during the curing process.

What I had to do was carefully tie down components where areas have warped and then cure on a shelf in sunlight. Once fully cured the parts become hard with some flexibility that resists breakage.

These larger pieces were less problematical. Where warping was present I found heating with a hair dryer then moving and holding the warped part to the correct position until cooled eliminated the fault.

Before I started I wondered if the new imbedded handrails would print correctly. Well, they did! The two bent pieces at the end will reform when joined up to the next bridge part handrails.

The jury is out on the suitability of this resin. The next part to print could exhibit insurmountable warping due to its style requirements.

To Part 3.

To Part 1.

Disaster at Battledown - again

'Again', because previously I clumsily destroyed the signal at Battledown. This time there is a bigger disaster.

When I built the flyover bridge I used wire for the handrails (visible in the photograph). These were cyanoacrylate glued to the struts here and there (it looked great). Over time the wire between fixing points had become distorted and the plastic cracked at some fixing points.

Clearly the temperature coefficients of plastic and wire being different lead to stress during changes in ambient temperature between summer and winter.

I decided to replace the wire handrails with 3d printed versions using the same plastic resin. It was difficult gluing the new handrails in place, due to access restrictions and the use of cheap cyanoacrylate glue that did not want to stick. Nevertheless, I did get them fixed on one side of the bridge.

The nearside was even more difficult as I had to lean over the bridge to view the inside face. Positioning myself precariously I slipped and fell onto the bridge which caused the side to break away.

What to do about it?

I had never been happy with my choice of 3d printing resin (Anycubic Water Wash Resin +) as it produces very brittle models and tends to warp. It may be ok for 'blocky' models but not for those with a lot of thin plate sections. This, together with the replacement handrails that still drooped between fixings (see photo), I decided to remake the bridge using a better suited resin.

First though, I changed the design to integrate the handrails such that they are fixed to every strut. Also, I thickened some girder plates to reduce (in theory) warping.

With regard to resin choice I would like to keep the water washable aspect. I came across a review comparing several water washable resins. The one that gave the best toughness combined with good pliability was Nova3D Washable Mecha Resin.

First thing I noticed was the greater viscosity compared to Anycubic. Also, the resin does not run off the prints so well resulting in a little more waste to wash off. 

I first printed a batch of small bridge components (cross bracings) that were quick to print so that I can check the results before printing more complex components.

They printed perfectly and after curing in the sun for an hour the supports were cut away. Improved pliability was evident but I still managed to break leg(s) off quite a few whilst removing the supports. This might be because the the parts are very thin (0.33mm).

To Part 2.

 

Basingstoke MRS Expo 2025

Three layouts sparked my interest.

Tellindalloch in Autumn (00)

An unusual Scottish autumnal scene of a small branch line terminus where the trees steal the show. The layout was set in a 'box' framed in black with an off stage fiddle yard. 

This reminded me of my own Swanage loco yard model as it is about the same size, set in a black framed box and is an autumnal scene. There are issues with mine though in so far as the box has warped and operating potential is limited, since train movements focus on the single track shed and turntable. Tellindalloch inspires me to revisit mine to see if improvement can be made.

Market Bosworth (P4)

I am always excited to see finely detailed and authentic looking model railways. 'P4' is the clue here as to what can be expected.

Set in the early 1900's this layout is based on a real place. It is not a period that is often modelled. The locomotives, rolling stock and road vehicles spark interest due to their 'old world' character.

Of course, being P4 the modelling is to a very high standard. The building interiors even have lighting and finely detailed furniture.

Old Elm Park (0)

Simply, a locomotive yard but beyond the shed façade in the photo is the interior of a large roundhouse with turntable. A lot of details in both areas adds atmosphere to the scene, further enhanced by the deep depth of the layout.

There is a multitude of BR period locomotives on display. I thought they were all RTR manufacture and totted up the potential value to be around £20,000. I subsequently read that the owner is a locomotive builder so, if he had built the lot then a skilled modeller indeed.

This layout was my personal Best in Show.

Once Bitten Twice Shy

This is the distant signal at the west end of my Battledown Flyover Model Railway. The signal is made from a Ratio LNER upper quadrant signal pack UQ/80 with a customised platform. The lattice pole style and upper quadrant signal arm of the LNER signal is reasonably close in style to a Southern signal. 

On the other side of the embankment is the Basingstoke to Salisbury main line and two storage sidings. When needing access to that area my arm passes over the signal. (you know what is coming).

Unbeknown to me my woolly cardigan sleeve caught and locked onto the finial and signal arm. It was carried across the room where it dropped off onto the floor, closely followed by my foot which crushed it beyond repair!

I  gathered up the bits that I could see but nowhere could I find the signal arm. Now, I do have spare parts from the kit but not another lattice post. Time to design a post and fire up my resin 3D printer to make it. 

I'll recover detailed parts from the crushed signal and use a spare signal arm from the kit.

I use FreeCad for design and Lychee Slicer to create the 3D print file using its auto support creation feature. My printer is a Creality Halot Mage with Anycubic water washable resin.

The lattice network came out well but both ends were distorted and there was a bit of warping. The latter can be corrected during the UV curing process but the end distortions were considered too bad. 

The simple solution was to manually add extra supports to the ends and print again. By the way, print time for this model is 1 hour 12 minutes.

If I need to make another one in the future I think I can get away with the lattice spars being 0.5 mm wide instead of 0.7 mm that I had designed as this will give improved definition, especially at the top of the pole.

For me, semaphore signal assembly is the most difficult job on the model railway. It is so fiddly to achieve an operational signal arm.

Here is the new signal (photo right). In future, when leaning over it to reach the other side of the embankment, I must remember to remove it first - once bitten twice shy!

Postscript

Lost signal arm found. Well, only half of it. Weirdly, in the front passenger floor well of my car! Can only assume it was stuck in my sleeve and dropped off when I changed gear. But where is the other half?

A Real Gem for Denny Fans

From 1983 and recently published on YouTube. This grainy video starts off with a visit to a Great Central Heritage Railway. Stick with it because most of the video is Peter Deny explaining his modelling motivation, philosophy and techniques, interspersed with images of his model railways.

Also see Peter and pals operating his layout here.