Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Carriages in 7mm

You may have seen a photo in the latest Modellers Digest
http://lbscr.org/Models/Journal/LBSCR-Modellers-Digest-4.pdf
that I have a Dapol 7mm Terrier followed by some type 15 Craven carriages.
I have wanted a couple of sets of these so have drawn and had etched various types which I am slowly building the test etches of.
Type 15B, 1860 2nd class which with extra lamps and better upholstery also becomes the Type 15C 1st.
This shows as far as I have got with this, using some castings from SERKits  (https://serkits.com/) that look a good match. I was particularly pleased with the raised (bolection?) moulding around the windows. This was seen at the AGM and I have been asked by several people to make these available in 4mm as well. Chatting to Chris Cox of 5&9 Models, who has done this in 4mm in whitemetal, he had no objections, saying he had enough on with other projects, so I will be looking into this later.

Next to this is the Type 15J Brake 3rd of 1865 (?)
I have yet to complete the build of this test etch either!
I have also drawn the Type 15F 3rd as shown in the etch below, that also has a few brake parts so I can supply the 2nd with them for when these carriages were braked using the Westinghouse Air Brake. This will be built this week I hope.
I also thought of being able to supply the various other styles of brake 3rd luggage etc. as per this photo (below) of the sides of Type 15G Brake 3rd luggage with 1 full and 2 half compartments as in the top left; the Type 15H Brake 3rd luggage with 3 full compartments with the luggage compartment, top right; and also the Type 15I which gives a Brake 3rd with 3 and a half compartments (bottom right).
I will build these using the rest of the etch of the type 15J enabling me to offer 4 types of carriage from just two etches. 7mm seems to cost a bit more than 4mm so I am please to say that these are all working okay, just a minor misalignment of grab handle holes which are easily drilled through from the correctly sited front part of the carriage etch. Everything else has worked first time.

Then there is the Type 13F and Type 13A, left and right respectively in the photo below.
I have to do a bit more work on the 13F but the 13A is available already.
I have also gone even further back in time to the Type 8D, parts of the original are at the Bluebell, which has already been tried in 4mm, as shown in the blog earlier. Below shows this in 7mm alongside the Type 13A.
and in the following photo is the Type 9C Luggage Brake 2nd again alongside a Dapol Terrier and the 8D.

That is all for 7mm at the moment. I am aiming to get these ready for the Brighton Circle Windmill Meeting in March.












No comments: