Thornycroft J Class Lorry - Part 3

It worked! What was a ball of brown FIMO clay is now an 'n' gauge J class in WW1 livery.

You can see why FIMO was used, it lends itself to modelling curvature. I am particularly pleased with the canvas cover. It has a very fine mesh texture like canvas, formed by pressing a close plastic mesh into the soft clay to leave the marks. It also has that flexible feel of cloth as it wraps over the inner framework.

There is room for improvement in the assembly method that will be applied as I set about making a batch of these lorries (5 altogether). I have started with the wheels, shown in progress below alongside the improvised cutters.

Here is a photo of the lorry at Cliddesden on a trial drive shortly after its manufacture at the Tornycroft factory a few miles up the line..

To Part 5.

To Part 1.

David

Thornycroft J Class Lorry - Part 2

Progress is being made. The pre-hardened clay components are quite flimsy and easily distorted with handling so I have to make and bake sub assemblies, which are then glued together with Superglue. It is taking longer than I had hoped.

In this picture the chassis frame and its under parts is one sub assembly. The engine compartment another and the flatbed a third. Oh, and the wheels are separate sub assemblies, as shown in Part 1.

What you see here is about 1.5cm tall and 4.5cm long.

To Part 3.

To Part 1.

David

Colour video of passenger and goods train

Now you can see Cliddesden Station in full Colour and in HD.
Passenger train, and Goods train at Cliddesden Station

Ed

Thornycroft J Class Lorry - Part 1

I mentioned elsewhere about a desire to create a train of Thornycroft J Class lorries in wartime livery  (photo below).

To my knowledge this vehicle is not available from the trade in 2mm scale. The closest kit is the Gem Fleetline Daimler flatbed lorry from 1911. I dare say this could be bashed to get a bit closer to the J style. If  I only wanted one that would be my choice but at £6 a hit a train of them becomes expensive.

I have some success in modelling in FIMO clay, not vehicles but people. So, this is the medium I'll try. At this stage I have no idea if it is achievable. This may be the first or last posting on this subject.

The above photo was taken at Milestones museum of Basingstoke, which has a display of Thornycroft vehicles and more importantly a workshop manual that shows a dimensioned drawing of the J class chassis assembly.

Firstly, I modelled the distinctive wheels, which have some challenging profiles to create in parts that are only 6-7mm diameter!

Here are the finished items for one side of the vehicle awaiting firing in the domestic cooker. (FIMO clay is a man made material that is manipulated like plasticine and then made hard by heating in an oven). On the left is the smaller front wheel and on the right dual rear wheels. The dress making pins serve as wheel hub and axle. Whilst I was able to mimic the bulge and vent holes on the larger rear wheel for the front wheel it proved a step too far.

Believe it or not the rear wheel is made from 5 parts and 3 for the front. Below is a photo of items from around the home that were brought into service as tools to make the parts. I'll not go into detail on how and what parts they made, unless you want to know. I just thought it would be of interest to see the extent of objects used to make what might be considered a simple component.

To Part 2.


David

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LSWR Box Van - Part 4

To protect the door guide slot from glue ingress when the roof is fixed and to restrain the door from lifting above the slot a very thin paper strip was glued over it. Superglue instead of my usual PVA was used here (and elsewhere to join components). Easily controlled on the end of a cocktail stick it has less bulk and mess than PVA but does leave a shiny finish if allowed to spread beyond the area of applicaton.

The roof curvature was formed by pressing it around an AA battery. The spring back when taken off matches that required.

Here is the van on a mixed train, typical of the line. The roof is grey but shows white in the photo.

And at the loading dock with the sliding door open.

To Part 1

David

LSWR Box Van - Part 3

The ends were glued to the sides off chassis and a dummy ceiling inserted to keep it all square.

A paper floor covers the metal weight, which is seen through the opening.

Shown here without the doors fitted.

To Part 4

To Part 1

David

LSWR Box Van - Part 2

Scale drawing and information about this waggon appears in Railway Modeller Nov. 1970.

Making a box van body could be quite simple - it's a box. I needed a bigger challenge so I designed the side with an operating sliding door. (What! - in 2mm scale - you must be mad.) Looking closely at photographs of the real thing was necessary to understand how the door operates.

The scale drawing from the mag. was scanned and this  used as the base onto which the decorative layers were created using photo editing software.

The van side is made from a rectangle of planks (postcard). Onto this goes the cross bracing (copier paper) then the sliding door frame (postcard) and this is stood off on vertical spacers (postcard) leaving a gap between the top and the van side into which the door is slid.

The door component comprises a sandwich of three layers being backing (paper), planks (postcard) and cross bracing (paper) with wire for the long grab rail. The door bottom runner rail is wire fixed to the side and the door middle layer runs along this, which you may deduce from the photos.

Quite fragile and only operated in practice for staging photos of the van in a train on route (door closed) or at the loading dock (door open).

To Part 3.

To Part 1.

David

LSWR Box Van - Part 1

Time to build another 'n' gauge waggon. This time it's the ubiquitous LSWR 10T Box Van.

The chassis is the Peco NR-121 10' wheelbase with steel solebar. To be accurate to prototype it should be 10'6", but we will not worry about 1mm difference. The underframe detail is excellent and closely resembles the LSWR arrangement of leaf springs, V hanger and brake levers.

Quickly assembled from 8 parts. Care to be taken with glueing down the coupler retainer to avoid gumming up the coupler. I assemble the parts and then wipe liquid glue around the join of retainer to chassis. It leeches between the retainer and chassis but keeps clear of the coupler. The only other care needed is to ensure the weight is fixed square to the chassis.

To Part 2.

David