Some delicate painting, and we are done

 

Finishing he Brandbright wagon took a bit of time, but I'm pleased with the results. 

Inside, there is a coat of Coach and Wagon Works light teak wood stain. I like the colour, and it matches my recenlty built brakevan, but I'm concious that it might not offer much protection from the rain. The firm make some matt varnish for outdoor use, so I'll pick up a bottle in the future. 

Outside, there is sanding sealer, followed by a spray of grey car primer. I masked the inside, and removed the wheels and axleboxes to avoid grey where I didn't want it. 

Then the fiddly bit. All the metalwork was hand painted with Revell No.9 (Anthracite). A large, pointy brush allowed me to do the sides of the metalwork without too much paint in the wrong place. A damp brush was enough to tidy up any mistakes. Mind you, there is best part of a coupe of hours work in all this, over two sessions. 

Job done - and I'm really pleased with this. OK, it's not an exciting piece of rolling stock. It IS nice and solid. Exactly what I want to put behind a steam locomotive in the future. 

Thanks again to those who helped me out of my modelling funk. I can't promise to always be full of joy, but this simple project has helped a lot, and got a box off the shelf!

You should have read the instructions

 

A few days ago, I mentioned a spacer that is fitted behind the bufferbeam to set the solebars in place, but the instructions specifically say not to glue in place. I didn't spot this, so by this stage, the offending part is very firmly fixed. 

The reason it shouldn't be there is that the bolt on the back of the coupling isn't long enought to reach through it, and allow a nut to be put on the end. In fact, the end of said bolt is flush with the face of the spacer. And the hole isn't big enough to get the nut in. 

I had a quick poke to see if I could persaude the glue to let go and release the spacer, but nothing doing. I had to make the hole bigger. 

The solution was a screwdriver fitted with a chuck, and 6.5mm diameter drill bit. This was just long enough to let me butcher out the hole so a nut could be fitted in, and the coupling screwed up tight. It's not idea, but it works, and that's all that matters. 

 

Bodgery, but satisfying bodgery. 

 

 

One door opens...

 

 

Some nifty design allows builders to enjoy opening side doors on the Brandbright wagon. The straps on the side are moulded around a brass wire, which you cut so about 2mm sticks out of the side of each. This then sits in whitmetal hinge bottoms. With a bit of tweaking, it all works OK. 

 

So, why have I, someone who loves a working gimmick, glued it all solid? 

 

Well, the idea is sound, but I'm not convinced the hinge bottoms will stay stuck under the floor for a start. Using superglue on them, it all seems a bit fragile. Mayne if they could be screwed in place, I'd be happer. 

 

Being practical though, the wagon is, as the instructions suggest, just more robust with the door firmly fixed with some PVA. I want a wagon that I can use without treating it like fine china. And having the ability to say "hey look, the door can open" isn't a compesation. 

 

So, it's firmly fixed in place, and I don't feel the slightest bit guilty.

Ends on, and another mistake

 

How hard can putting the ends on a four-plank wagon be? 

Allow for the sides, basically stick the ends in the middle of the floor, run PVA along the bottom, and then superglue the whitemetal stanchions in place to brace the whole lot. 

There are pitfalls for the unwary. The stanchions have extra boltheads at the bottom, so make sure they go on the right way up. Some pencil lines drawn with a square are a good idea so they are fitted accuratly, tricky if you are eyeballing it with superglue drying. FWIW, the middle two are 10mm either sides of the edges of the coupling hole, and the ends, 2mm in from the edges. 

 The sharp-eyed will notice that the floor wood changed colour as it emerges from the stanchion. There is a reason for this. 

 At one end, I managed to nudge the bufferbeam out a touch when filling the solebars. This left a gap about 1/2mm when the end was fitted to along with the bufferbeam. Nothing really to worry about, but I decided to sort it out by glueing a bit of leftover fret in the gap. Once dry overnight, I trimmed it with a saw and then sanded like mad until it was perfect. 

I'm quite pleased with myself. Of course, it shouldn't have been necessary, the other end is perfect, but I always say that the art of good modelling is learning to bodge...

4 wheels on my Brandbright wagon

 

The Brandbright wagon kit is back! 

Thanks to the very generous Steve from Bole Laser Craft, I have a set of wheels, which he dropped into my hand at Doncaster show. I should point out that Brandbright also offered me a set - both really appreciated, as were all the kind words about my missing modelling mojo. 

Anyway, work starts by glueing the bufferbeams in place, then laminating the solebars. I've also stuck the spacers behind the bufferbeams, and after this photo was taken, will PVA the other solebar in place. The instructions tell you not to do this with the spacers. We will return to this in a later post. 

The W-irons are screwed in place. A long, thin screwdriver is a good idea to poke around the sides of the wheels. 

Access is pretty good - I've known kits that try this, only for the screw heads to be blocked by the wheels! It's easier to put the whitemetal parts on the ends of the axles, then drop them between the solebars. Trying to wiggle the axles in with one end already screwed in place is next to impossible. 

Once done, the chassis rolls freely, so I know I will have a working piece of rolling stock. Love those heavy metal wheelsets too.