TVT - More Open Trucks
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 4:59 am
Model Story
When modelling an Australian railway, you can't have too many open trucks. The VR ng lines were a typical example and on the four steam operated lines the total goods stock was 6 guards vans, 14 louvre vans, 15 cattle trucks and 218 open trucks.
The under frames for these five trucks had been sitting around taking up space on the workbench for several years, so they were completed during last winter, then sat around for several months waiting to be painted. Partly waiting for warmer weather and partly reluctance to paint anything, due to the problems I've had with paints over the last couple of years. I eventually bit the bullet and with my recent changes to paint brands, the painting proceeded with no real issues.
Construction is by my usual methods, wooden underframe with ply and polystyrene bodywork on the wooden prototypes and wooden underframe with polystyrene bodywork on the steel prototypes. The wagons are freelance, but based on Australian practice and with a family appearance to other models of TVT open trucks.
The first photo shows the two steel dropside trucks in the course of assembly. One with the basic body fitted to the underframe and the parts of the second laid out. I learnt from the steel bogie trucks built previously and this time the sides are one piece and overlap the underframe, as the previous models don't do this and there is a built in weakness where the sides meet the underframe.
The next photos show how the rivets were added to the polystyrene sides and ends using a modified NWSL rivet press. The press has been modified so both horizontal and vertical runs can be made on large scale parts. The first shows a horizontal row of rivets being punched into a wagon end.
The second photo shows a vertical row being punched into a wagon side.
The third photo is a closeup of the bogie steel open trucks built a while ago to show how the rivets turn out when painted.
The next photo demonstrates how difficult it is to take a photo of an unpainted model made from white polystyrene sheet. Not helped by the weather at the time, which was grey and miserable with low light levels and little contrast.
Much easier to see the detail when the photo is taken on a sunny day and the model has been painted and lettered.
The final photo shows one of the steel dropside trucks with an older model of the wooden version for comparison.
The other three models built were bogie wooden dropside trucks. No particular prototype, but they are the same construction as the wooden 4 wheel open trucks and similar to ones used on other Australian ng railways.
The first photo shows one with the bodywork parts being assembled onto the chassis. I use aliphatic PVA glue for wood (Titebond brand usually) and you can't use too many clamps when glueing up wooden models.
The next photo shows a model assembled and detailed. The stanchion between the two drop doors was fabricated in brass and riveted to the underframe to strengthen the sides. There is a joint between the doors and the underframe and also the doors had to be cut in two parts and joined.
The next photo shows one of the models painted lettered and varnished.
The last photo shows one of the new wooden open trucks with one of the previously built steel open trucks for comparison.
TVT Story
The original TVT rolling stock purchased for building the line were 4 wheel dropside open trucks with wooden bodies and underframes. When the line opened for traffic and timber traffic built up, these were joined by dropside bogie trucks that were effectively two 4 wheel bodies on a steel underframe.
The four wheel trucks had a hard life, especially in ballast traffic and by the '20s some were beyond economic repair. Some had also been lost to accidents, so it was decided to 'repair' them as all steel trucks, based on the design of the VR bogie open trucks. The new trucks were theoretically a rebuild for book keeping purposes, although little remained of the old wooden trucks, basically the old number was jacked up and a new truck built under it. To reinforce the fictional 'repairs', the new trucks were given the same class and the running numbers of the old ones.
A few years later the wooden bogie open trucks were also beginning to need expensive repairs and were rebuilt into all steel vehicles based on the design of the VR NQR trucks. In this case though the original steel underframe was retained and just the bodywork was replaced, so the concept of a 'repair' wasn't quite so nominal as the old 4 wheel trucks.
Regards,
Graeme
When modelling an Australian railway, you can't have too many open trucks. The VR ng lines were a typical example and on the four steam operated lines the total goods stock was 6 guards vans, 14 louvre vans, 15 cattle trucks and 218 open trucks.
The under frames for these five trucks had been sitting around taking up space on the workbench for several years, so they were completed during last winter, then sat around for several months waiting to be painted. Partly waiting for warmer weather and partly reluctance to paint anything, due to the problems I've had with paints over the last couple of years. I eventually bit the bullet and with my recent changes to paint brands, the painting proceeded with no real issues.
Construction is by my usual methods, wooden underframe with ply and polystyrene bodywork on the wooden prototypes and wooden underframe with polystyrene bodywork on the steel prototypes. The wagons are freelance, but based on Australian practice and with a family appearance to other models of TVT open trucks.
The first photo shows the two steel dropside trucks in the course of assembly. One with the basic body fitted to the underframe and the parts of the second laid out. I learnt from the steel bogie trucks built previously and this time the sides are one piece and overlap the underframe, as the previous models don't do this and there is a built in weakness where the sides meet the underframe.
The next photos show how the rivets were added to the polystyrene sides and ends using a modified NWSL rivet press. The press has been modified so both horizontal and vertical runs can be made on large scale parts. The first shows a horizontal row of rivets being punched into a wagon end.
The second photo shows a vertical row being punched into a wagon side.
The third photo is a closeup of the bogie steel open trucks built a while ago to show how the rivets turn out when painted.
The next photo demonstrates how difficult it is to take a photo of an unpainted model made from white polystyrene sheet. Not helped by the weather at the time, which was grey and miserable with low light levels and little contrast.
Much easier to see the detail when the photo is taken on a sunny day and the model has been painted and lettered.
The final photo shows one of the steel dropside trucks with an older model of the wooden version for comparison.
The other three models built were bogie wooden dropside trucks. No particular prototype, but they are the same construction as the wooden 4 wheel open trucks and similar to ones used on other Australian ng railways.
The first photo shows one with the bodywork parts being assembled onto the chassis. I use aliphatic PVA glue for wood (Titebond brand usually) and you can't use too many clamps when glueing up wooden models.
The next photo shows a model assembled and detailed. The stanchion between the two drop doors was fabricated in brass and riveted to the underframe to strengthen the sides. There is a joint between the doors and the underframe and also the doors had to be cut in two parts and joined.
The next photo shows one of the models painted lettered and varnished.
The last photo shows one of the new wooden open trucks with one of the previously built steel open trucks for comparison.
TVT Story
The original TVT rolling stock purchased for building the line were 4 wheel dropside open trucks with wooden bodies and underframes. When the line opened for traffic and timber traffic built up, these were joined by dropside bogie trucks that were effectively two 4 wheel bodies on a steel underframe.
The four wheel trucks had a hard life, especially in ballast traffic and by the '20s some were beyond economic repair. Some had also been lost to accidents, so it was decided to 'repair' them as all steel trucks, based on the design of the VR bogie open trucks. The new trucks were theoretically a rebuild for book keeping purposes, although little remained of the old wooden trucks, basically the old number was jacked up and a new truck built under it. To reinforce the fictional 'repairs', the new trucks were given the same class and the running numbers of the old ones.
A few years later the wooden bogie open trucks were also beginning to need expensive repairs and were rebuilt into all steel vehicles based on the design of the VR NQR trucks. In this case though the original steel underframe was retained and just the bodywork was replaced, so the concept of a 'repair' wasn't quite so nominal as the old 4 wheel trucks.
Regards,
Graeme