1/32 scale Great Western Railway 4 wheel parcel van by michael mott

[michael mott]

As suggested I will begin here. My boat building mojo is having a rest while i indulge my other main interest building odd and interesting railway models.

This build will be a one off scale model of the GWR parcel van built in 1876, I am using as the main reference the pictorial record of GWR coaches by J. H. Russell

 

 

From the information in the book i am compiling my own drawings which are a work in progress.

 

Some early test pieces to work out my buildimg methodology, leaning heavily on the work of David Jenkinson who wrote a great book about making carriages out of styrene plastic.

 

it is late so I shall continue tomorrow.

 

Michael

 

 

[Egilman]

I'm down brother, pullin' up the easy chair as we speak...

[Jack12477]

Me too !

[Canute]

I'm in. Interesting work with this styrene.

[yvesvidal]

Fantastic beginnings so far....

 

Yves

[michael mott]

Thank you all for the positive responses.

In David Jenkinson's book he does the entire body out of Styrene sheet stock.

 

The outer panel layer out of .015" for gauge 1 (1/32)  and .010" for O gauge (7mm scale) these are primarily English scales. here are the common scales and gauges for clarification

 

I found that David's method of cutting out the "doily" or panel layer to be very hard on my wrists he draws on the styrene after giving it a light buffing with some 400 grit to give it a key. then using a Swan Morton scalpel cuts out the panels leaving a 45 degree mitre at the corners, and then uses rat tail files to create the rounded corners. 

Needless to say this is not easy to accomplish, I made one "doily' this way before giving up and deciding that there was a better way. so I made these

 

 

 

The first time I used them was great but they kept slipping so I wrapped some blue tape around to facilitate an easy grip. and began with an end panel, you can see the punch in its original form. also I used some printable cardstock so that I could eliminate the drawing by hand on the card 

 

 

 

Because the punches are small and home made they need to be cleared which although not difficult is a pain because it is slow.

 

 

 

 

However if the punch only has to cut out the curve of the mitered corner things go a lot more swiftly, as the piece tends to drop out on its own more time than not.

 

 

 

Here is a new set of Panel "doilies" being cut by first following David's method of cutting the bulk of the straight lines out first leaving the miters in the corners and then using the punches to round off the corners in the cardstock. This was a much smoother way to do this and my previous experiments with gluing the cardstock to the styrene proved to work just fine. I used Methyl Ethyl Ketone  (MEK) to bond the card to the styrene as it capillaries so well.

 

 

And last one of the panels glued and trimmed ready for the next steps.

 

 

That's all for the moment.

 

Michael

 

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by michael mott
insert picture

[yvesvidal]

You would be almost better off, 3D printing these panels..... Working with Styrene can be a dread sometimes, but PLA (filament) is ten times worse.

 

Yves

[michael mott]

Yves, Yes there are some really amazing models being put together with the 3D printing processes, it though requires a whole new set of skills that I am not prepared to spend the time to learn. If I were 30 or 40 years younger then perhaps. But I am learning enough new things with my current set of skills as it is, and i am having fun solving the challenges that crop up.

 

Michael

[realworkingsailor]

Looks fantastic! Great to see you back at the bench.

 

I wonder if this tool might help make things easier on your wrists:

 

https://www.micromark.com/Nibbling-Cutter

 

A model railway friend of mine (who was amazing at building styrene structures from scratch) has a set, and they sure speed up the process.

 

Andy

[michael mott]

Hi Andy thanks for the compliment. I actually to have one of those nibblers, and it is useful for some work but not this work. but thanks for the link anyway, I should probably get a new one as mine is a Bit Tired.

 

Michael

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

You would be almost better off, 3D printing these panels..... Working with Styrene can be a dread sometimes, but PLA (filament) is ten times worse.

 

Yves

Yves, I actually have several friends on another fora that use a Cri-Cut to make flat styrene panels like this... Those automatic paper cutters seem to work well with 5, 10 and 15 thousandths sheet....

 

Was thinking of when I get rich and famous of converting some of my paper model collection to digital files and building them in styrene....

 

There are many ways to do this work, Michaels way is more efficient and easier than just a straight edge and files, but like everything else technology marches on....

 

The modeling skills on display here still astound me...

[michael mott]

Starting over again somehow just as I was finishing I lost it all.

Next the inner and outer side pieces ready to be laminated together, the upper portion is boxed with some 1/8th strips and the lower section clear to allow the outer layer to form the curved tumble-home. the inked line on the inner was a guide for the hand plane to for the bevel on the .040" inner wall.

 

The bottom edges were glued with MEK and left overnight to cure fully.

 

 

Once dry the test side panel was primed and painted with the brown colour, note the differing textures of the styrene and cardstock. I will ensure that when priming the actual model I will address this issue by giving the raised panel a light sanding to smooth the surface during the priming coats.

 

 

The next task was to paint the inset areas with the cream colour and was advised by those who do a lot of coach painting to use very thin coats and to flood the panel areas and let the paint flow up to the border and not fiddle with it. this worked very well. after a couple of coats.

 

 

And almost there.

 

 

I took a break to let the paint harden up and started on the wheels which are a composite construction with steel tyres and wood between the tyre and the hub this is the standard Maunsell wheel which was designed to reduce the noise of the steel on the rails from being to loud in the coaches.

 

 

I also noted that the painting was incorrect and did some remedial work to correct it.

 

 

When starting the actual coach I followed David Jenkinson's method of building an inner box that the decorative panels would attach to.

 

I transcribed the bevel of the sides to the end panels and this worked well when using the block plane.

 

 

Then the outer panels were glued on , the top spacers were made horizontal to allow for glazing to be inserted from the ends before the end panels are permanently fixed after all the painting is complete.

 

 

The end panels were made the same way as the first test pieces complete with their windows and tumble home and are able to be slipped in-between the side panels which are a little longer than the inner box.

 

 

The roof substructure is made from a solid piece of yellow cedar and will be covered with and overlay of card and fine cloth to give the correct overhangs and texture.

 

 

The edges of the roof substructure was slowly rebated to let it slip down inside the protruding side panels.

 

 

The small protruding section called a ducket were made independently from the main body for the same reason as the ends and will be fixed after painting.

 

 

The curves at the top and bottom were made from solid styrene and then the paper overlay was added afterwards.

 

 

 

That's it for now.

 

Michael

[gjdale]

I’m always fascinated by your builds Michael, so I’m in for the ride.

[Canute]

Very intriguing build, Michael.  What is the ducket 's purpose. It looks like a smaller version of the observation position on a bay window caboose/van. Excellent work.

[Landlubber Mike]

Very cool Michael!  Clever way of using the punches to get those rounded profiles.  I learn something new every time I log on here.  Looking forward to watching this one come along!

[michael mott]

13 hours ago, Canute said:

Very intriguing build, Michael.  What is the ducket 's purpose. It looks like a smaller version of the observation position on a bay window caboose/van. Excellent work.

Ken the ducket is for exactly the same purpose, the clearances and loading restrictions that were part of the early English railway standards are likely the reason for the small protuberance.

 

Grant thanks for coming along for the ride.

 

Mike, thanks. Learning and sharing of information it one of the joys I find that this site does so well with all the contributors and their various builds.

 

Michael

[realworkingsailor]

14 hours ago, Canute said:

Very intriguing build, Michael.  What is the ducket 's purpose. It looks like a smaller version of the observation position on a bay window caboose/van. Excellent work.

Canadian Pacific experimented with bay window vans in the late 19th century. They didn’t work so well in the winter, as the snow would accumulate and block the windows. 
 

I found a couple of photos here (3rd and 4th from the top): http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cpr_rolling/five.htm

 

You can see the construction is almost identical.

 

Andy

[GrandpaPhil]

Very cool build!