Garden Railway Forum

I felt in need of a Brake Van for my railway, its not based on any particular van as the railway is a freelance fictional railway. The design is based loosely on a number of different Brake Vans seen on some of the North Wales narrow gauge railways. It is laser cut from mostly 3mm laser ply with some 2mm acrylic details (yet to be cut) What do you reckon?
JJD-02836 by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr
JJD-02838 by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr
JJD-02840 by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr

I have made the windows much bigger than ones I have seen as I want to detail the inside and provide some lighting for night running.

Looks really good so far. Keep us posted, please.

Managed to get a few coats of primer filler on this evening, just been drawing some detail bits that I will cut from acrylic, also some ply flooring, steps, brackets, buffer mounts and clear acrylic glazing. My plan is to use 1.5 birch ply for the roof which will be removable. Not sure about colours, was going to spray it grey or a green colour, not sure yet - any ideas or opinions on colours?

JJD-02845 by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr

SVLR wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:27 am Not sure about colours, was going to spray it grey or a green colour, not sure yet - any ideas or opinions on colours?

Colour choice is really whatever floats your boat.
I have an Andel brake van which looks fairly similar to yours. Mine is in grey because thats my freight stock colour.

That van looks good, do Andel still produce kits? I have a few of their waggons they are very good. The consensus here is that green would be a good colour, similar to the GVT green. A few mistakes I have now realised, I have the planking going vertical on the ends whereas most seem to have to plank horizontally. Also, I have planned to glaze all windows, on the full size they are normally open?

Construction going on hold for a few days as I have a glider to build.

The van looks good and appears to be a strong looking structure. Glad to see adequate roof beams to hold the ply in camber throughout its length. Have you found it necessary to sand the charred edges of the ply, prior to glueing.
Grant.

LNR wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2017 9:03 am The van looks good and appears to be a strong looking structure. Glad to see adequate roof beams to hold the ply in camber throughout its length. Have you found it necessary to sand the charred edges of the ply, prior to glueing.
Grant.

No need to sand the charred edges, I use either Zapp medium with Kicker or Superphatic, I have been using laser cut ply and balsa in RC aeromodelling for years including up to 1/4 scale all wood laser cut sailplanes and never had issues. When it comes to painting, I usually give a couple of coats of primer, then sand off the fuzzies, a coat of sand sealer a bit more sanding then prime again and top coat seems to work fine. With the roof, a plan to cover the ply in Solartex before painting as I believe (new to this railway thing!) roofs are covered in fabric.

Jon

OK so I have had a bit of a brake, no I mean break building model aeroplanes and off on camping trips. Came back the other day, finished a few jobs needed in the garden then went in the workshop to have a play with the brake van. So I have glued the ply roof and frame together, no fancy jig other than a few pieces of wood and a bit of pressure from me. I used Zap and kicker again, this is great as you can hold it in place with one hand then kick it with the other.
20170813_215421 by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr
I then glued the buffer mounts in place, these consist a laser 3mm ply piece with a 1.5 mm laser cut acrylic piece on top, the acrylic has some laser engraving to simulate nuts and rivets etc. Note to self, next time if using clear double check they are the correct way up before glueing, yep glued one with the detail on the inside! I also glued in place the step brackets and step. Axle boxes are excellent ones in resin from swift sixteen, these were glued in place using Zap on the underside. I had some cheap green spray paint in the workshop and gave the whole thing minus the wheels and buffers two coats. Details will be picked out using model acrylics and airbrush.
20170813_215404 by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr
20170813_215446 by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr

sorry for slightly out of focus pics, I used my phone as my camera had a flat battery after taking pictures of Perseid the night before.

QUESTION - what do people use to put letters on stock, went to the local model shop but drew a blank. I do have access to a vinyl cutter but feel that would not look quite right.

I had vinyl lettering produced by a local print company and have used them on most of my stock. They are self adhesive and thin enough to follow any grain effect or panel joins on the models. They also stick onto canvas effect as shown in the picture below....
Unfortunately I can't view your work as photobucket have blocked access.

I use an ALPS printer which is old technology I know but you can print out colours you can't normally do as well like white,gold and silver. Then print out on decal sheet, the result are very sharp.
John

Cheers for the advice guys, I think I am going to have a go with the vinyl, I was worried it would look too crisp. I think finish coat then a tad weathering and satin coat last maybe. One thing I have decided (despite what the rest of the household think!) I am going to spray the van grey a bit like some of the GWR vans I have seen. I set the van on the track this morning to see what it looked like in its environment and I am not keen. Only given it two light dustings of green so far anyway.

Peter said,
Unfortunately I can't view your work as photobucket have blocked access.

Thanks Peter, thought it may have been my computer. It would be nice to see the pictures but I'm getting the Photobucket Third Party warning too.
Grant.

Try this way then, hopefully, you will see the van in its first coat of green paint, I have now decided to paint it grey.


by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr

Works fine, I like the van as well.

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2017 3:53 pm Works fine, I like the van as well.

Thanks for letting me know, I have edited all previous posts now with Flickr photos instead, fingers crossed that all works.

Did you produce the kit yourself or send it off to be laser cut?

Did it all myself, luckily I have access to a laser cutter. After doing a rough sketch to flesh out some dimensions I drew it using 2D Design. Mostly cut out of 3mm laser ply and 1.5mm birch ply. I am happier now that I have resprayed it grey. Its a 95p can of Battleship Grey from Buyology, the whole can allowed me to give it three coats. I have also now covered the roof in Solartex and sprayed it with white primer before the final coat of a slightly off white.
20170814_163439 by Jonathan Demery, on Flickr

Yes - can see your pics now - the green looks good but I'm a grey or bauxite red guards van man!

And your final pic proves that!

Very nice, and I much prefer it in grey, myself.