My Winter Project - 2 Car Multiple Unit

[bazzer42]

Nice workmanship, I think that blue is going to work well.

[ge_rik]

........, I had imagined that the most pleasure would come from sitting in the garden on a sunny evening watching the trains run around... I never thought that so much pleasure could come from making my own stock

..... and of course, the added pleasure of knowing that the stock running gently round the garden on that sunny evening is quite unique to your railway and all your own work

Rik

[Todsmods]

Looks great
Here is a picture of the Australian railcar set i designed myself
NSWGR CPH and CTH railmotor

received_10212728860830403.jpeg (653.24 KiB) Viewed 6949 times

[James from Devon]

Looks great
Here is a picture of the Australian railcar set i designed myself
NSWGR CPH and CTH railmotor received_10212728860830403.jpeg

Thanks and I love your railcar....what gauge is it?

[James from Devon]

Nice workmanship, I think that blue is going to work well.

Cheers! it comes up a little bright in the camera flash. In case you want any, its Tamiya Flat Blue XF-8

[James from Devon]

Great idea for the bogie sides.... I hate multiples!

Yeah! multiples are the devils work!

[RylstonLight]

I like your solution for the springs to accomodate the moulding. Simple once you are clever enough to think of it!

[James from Devon]

I like your solution for the springs to accomodate the moulding. Simple once you are clever enough to think of it!

Cheers! I was less clever for the four or five methods I tried first which didn't work very well at all!

[James from Devon]

James, that's truly inspirational. Would you be so kind as to pass on details as to your moulding and casting techniques?

Hi, thanks for you comments and happy to talk through what I do. I must say I am not a moulding expert but have been dabbling for a couple of years. If you want expert advice, I would ask Ron at Swift Sixteen, he clearly has some Jedi-Level skill!

I use a condensation cure silicone for the mould. I make a master of the part I need and if both sides need to have specific dimensions then I make a 2 part mould but these bogie sides did not need details on the back so a single sided, or open mould would do.

I glue the master to a thick piece of plastic and make a lego box around it with around an inch all the way around the edge of the part. Mi and pour in the silicone (I use MB Fibreglass for mine) in a thin strand from one corner (this eliminates air bubbles and let the silicone flow around the part. Wait the full time the rubber needs to set and leave the mould somewhere flat and warm.

One the rubber is hard, remove the lego and carefully peel the mould away from the master.

I use Fast Cast resin for my parts. Mix is 1:! - my tip here is thoroughly mix it but quickly, you have about 2 mins before it starts to set.

Pour slowly into the mould and i use a cocktail stick to trace around the mould detail once the resin has been poured, this dislodges an air bubbles. also, tap the mould or hold a running drill against it, anything to vibrate the resin for about a minute - this further removes air bubbles.

Resin takes some practice but worth the effort. Like I say I am not an expert so the above may or may not be the "proper" method but it works for me!

There is a company in the USA called Smooth-On, they have a you tube channel with lots of great instructional videos. I use them regularly!

Hopes that's useful

Cheers

Jim

[James from Devon]

Ok, so here is my weekly update and I managed to have a quick test out on the track between showers to prove my bogie design an make sure i wasn't going to be hitting the tunnel sides...which thankfully, I didn't.

Nice to see it move under its own power but of course I have a load to do to finish this model off so it's back to the workshop.

Here is a short video of the test run. I need to add some weight under the back buffer beam to balance out the weight of the batteries but other than that, it ran quite well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fue-Ne5 ... e=youtu.be

This week was mainly painting and wiring.


Paintwork - the blue is not as bright outside, the camera flash makes it a little bright!


Signwriting...tedious, but fun!



Interior lighting with warm white LEDS:



Wiring for motor and batteries ready for RC gear to be fitted:


Battery packs:


Being charged for the first time:


Outside on the track for the first time:




That's it for this week - next job is to finish the interior of this one and then crack on with the trailer car.

Thanks for all the support people, much appreciated.

I will likely post another update this week but just in case I don't...I wish you all a lovely, happy and train-filled Christmas

[RylstonLight]

The livery is rather nice under natural light. I was wondering about what the battery compartments were for but now I know. Very elegent solution to hiding them. What is it about railcars/railbuses that are so appealing despite there not beeing a huge number of examples of prototypes?

[James from Devon]

The livery is rather nice under natural light. I was wondering about what the battery compartments were for but now I know. Very elegent solution to hiding them. What is it about railcars/railbuses that are so appealing despite there not beeing a huge number of examples of prototypes?

Yes, it's the endless problem of hiding dozens of batteries in our small locos! I'm waiting with hope for someone to invent a tiny battery with an enormous Ah capacity!

I think that if the bulk of narrow gauge lines had survived commercially into the 60s and 70s then they would almost certainly have employed multiple units. We are also used to seeing them on the mainline so maybe we all let our imaginations run away and we create quirky "might have been" models. Personally, I was thinking that my line would have built one for moving passengers if had existed for real!

Artistic licence! - I embrace it on my railway as much as possible!

[steamer68]

Hi James I love the colour of your railcar it looks great on your line and you have done a great job in the battery compartment, I'm sure through time small and more powerful batteries will be available.

[Todsmods]

Looks great
Here is a picture of the Australian railcar set i designed myself
NSWGR CPH and CTH railmotor received_10212728860830403.jpeg

Thanks and I love your railcar....what gauge is it?

10mm scale

[markoteal]

Great work as ever! Loving the bus - very 1970's BR - The neatness of your wiring puts mine to shame

[Big Jim]

Splendid.
I think you are right about the introduction of railcars on various ng lines. It never happened in the UK but it could have done.

[James from Devon]

Happy New Year Chaps!

I managed to fit in a couple of days in the workshop over the Xmas break so I have a little update.

Hope you like it. Loads more to finish but it is definitely getting there.

I have got the trailing car made up now, I haven't included lots of pictures of the construction as its essentially the same as the leading car!




The roof sections have been bothering me for a while, I was kind of dreading them. I don't like plasticard really, it seems to distort in heat and this roof needed to be removable. I did consider making one from resin but the amount of silicone needed would have been really expensive for just 2. I tried out a new method and I am quite happy with the results. I like the roof to have a little texture as they would have in the real world:

Masking tape, sticky side up:


I then stuck 24 sections of Mahogany stripwood (3mm x 5mm) to the tape using black lines on my bench to keep it square:



Next step is to cover the model with masking tape and drape the roof over the model, in the correct place:



Then I coat the wood strips in casting resin which gets sucked into the gaps in the wood strips which then hardens, keeping the roof in its shape:


Once left overnight to cure, the roof can be removed and the making tape peeled off and then I use a palm sander to remove the excess resin and make the ends square which leaves a smooth roof in the exact radius to match the model:





Another pair of bogies, one with lateral bolsters and one without:


Then came the best part.... a run in the garden between showers, first time with both cars together. Really happy that all worked well:




Back to the bench for the rest of the paintwork, wiring, lighting, detail work and interiors!

Thanks for all the lovely comments so far, very much appreciated.

Cheers

Jim

[bazzer42]

Have some more lovely comments - That really does look nice, love the colour.

[Soar Valley Light]

Hi Jim,

They look absolutely outstanding, the livery really sets them off. The view of them in the bay platform is really superb.

All the best,

Andrew

[IrishPeter]

I rather like those. Another cracking job!

Cheers,
Peter in VA