new estate wagons for Waterfield Hall

[jez kirkwood]

I've designed some wagons for Waterfield Hall using the WD axlebox castings from Freshwater models. They will be used for firewood and general goods, they are small enough to be hand shunted in the cellar tramway under the house and narrower than the rest of the stock in order to fit through the narrow doorways on the handworked section.....
Here are the rough plans

[jez kirkwood]

Spent a couple of hours on the bandsaw this morning cutting the timber for the 10 wagons, these will be gradually built as time allows. The frames are oak and the deck/end planks mahogony.

[MTA]

Very industrious way of working there, Jez.

I particularly like your sketches, wish I was that good at drawing...

[MDLR]

Looks very promising - MOTY entry at Peterborough, maybe?

[laalratty]

Looks like a nice design, and those drawings really are a work of art!

[jez kirkwood]

Thanks chaps,
These wagons are going to look seriously run down, here's a few pics of a forestry wagon that I'm building for the SE lounge car swap (secret santa) I plan to use the same techniques for ageing the wood on these new wagons.

[andysleigh]

wowwww. full of charector already!
16mm or 7/8?

[Keith S]

Where'd you get the miniature horseshoes? And how in the world did you make the wood look like that? Genius!

[jez kirkwood]

Guys, this are 7/8ths scale, the ones I'm building for myself are 1:12 scale. The horse shoes I forged from iron wire heated up with a gas torch.... The ageing of the wood is really simple, I'll post a step-by-step as I do the wagons
Cheers
jez

[jez kirkwood]

So having finished the Corris van I thought I'd make a start on these wagons. Here's how I age the wood -

First thing to do is make some 'soup', I use an old coffee jar into which I have placed a few rusty nails and a wodge of wire wool, this is then filled with white vinegar and left with it's lid on for a few days.....


Next cut all the wood to size, I have a small bandsaw and usually rip old timber to the sizes I need but basswood sections work just as well. For this model I'm using oak for the framing and mahogony for the planks (these are from old scrap bit of furniture), different woods will react differently to the 'soup' so experiment. take one piece at a time and mount in a vice.


Remember that you only need to treat the areas that will be seen. Next take a drill mounted wire brush and attack the wood - in the pic I'm using a small brush in a dremel but I often use a larger 'DIY shop bargain bin' one in a standard cordless drill.


Turn the piece over and do all visible sides, it's easy to vary the amount of decay you put in. You should end up with something like this.



Now it's time to brush on the 'soup'. Use a largish brush and paint on a generous amount - don't expect any instant results, although depending on the type of wood and the strength of your 'soup' you may see some quick changes. In this case the 'soup' has been maturing for a few months and reacted almost straightaway with the oak (which has very high levels of tanin) but the mahogony just looked wet.


Now the fun bit - leave the wet wood on a tray and go have a drink, check the forum and go to bed! Next morning the magic should have happened........


Easy as that, and cheap
Cheers
Jez

[MTA]

Jez,

Would you mind if I copied your post and put it as a separate thread in the reference board? Either that or you can do it.

[jez kirkwood]

Jez,

Would you mind if I copied your post and put it as a separate thread in the reference board? Either that or you can do it.

Just done it

[Keith S]

That is quite astonishing. It wouldn't have occurred to me to do that, but it's so simple and looks very authentic.

Thanks for posting that.

[jez kirkwood]

OK, over the last couple of days I've put the wagon together - nothing clever just woodglue, nuts and bolts.....




That's the first one done - only another nine , these will be built slowly between other projects.........

[MDLR]

That's the first one done - only another nine, these will be built slowly between other projects.........

............... and they Will be coming to Peterborough for the MOTY, won't they??