Scratchbuilding.

What a game that is. I don’t think I am cut out for it.

I thought to myself, a while ago, I'd like to build some British style tippler wagons, so I looked on the Internet for some ideas. Surprisingly, I found quite a few. Some of them were quite ingenious, like the chap who used 500g margarine tubs on a wooden subframe.

Picture the scene then, a few weeks later, when 40 axleboxes and 20 wheelsets were delivered from a well-known retailer. I plopped a wheelset down on the test track and the sparks flew. I had ordered NON-insulated wheels.... what a chump; not much good for track power. I called the vendor to enquire about replacements and they said to send them in for swapping. A few days later I got them back with a curt note saying they were not able to swap them due to them being run. Nice. One wheelset had gone round about three times unloaded. Thanks Chaps. I'll use you again.

So, what should I to do with these useless wheelsets. I thought of Ebaying them, but hit on the idea of sawing through the axles, and then, using a piece of plastic tube as a thick axle, Aralditing the whole lot together. I tried one and IT WORKED! So I did the rest. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the gauge right in all cases, I'm not talking about a vast discrepancy, just enough to be irritating on a couple of wheelsets. One wagon kept derailing in one direction for example.

I then bought a load of doweling; about 10mm square and proceeded to saw it into various lengths to make the subframe. It was going well; I cut two longitudinal beams and screwed the axleboxes to them for each vehicle. I then assembled the cross members and the floors of the wagons. I held the headstocks of the wagons on with bicycle spokes, cut to length and threaded at either end, with nuts and washers.

On the first two wagons,

 I made them with Plastikard floors and coffee stirrer sides and ends. These looked so horrible, I nearly threw them out immediately. So then, with the next two

 I made them wholly out of plywood, these were so heavy and crude; they nearly went after the type 1s. The plywood ones were the first two to be scrapped, they have been outside for a year now and show no signs of deterioration. The final six,

 were made out of Plastikard, for the floors and the sides of the wagons. I trimmed them up with coffee stirrers to make them look less plain. I quite like the look of these, but they still were not up to outside use. Bits fell off regularly.

The corners of all the wagons were another mistake. I got a sheet of brass and cut out some rectangles (which were bent in half to make the corners) leaving a little tab for which to screw them to the floor for strength. I soldered handrails on to diagonal corners. I could not get the sides and ends to butt together with the screw in the way and the ones with the Plastikard floors would not support the heavy brass, so I just cut the tabs off and just glued the corners on. It rained and most fell off. Superglue? Yeah, righto.

 The final cock-up was building them with multi height couplings; they are totally USELESS. They took a week to couple up. It is impossible to propel a train for more than four feet without ending up with a big heap of wagons. I ripped the stupid things off and replaced them with LGB and Bachmann ones.

So, time to admit defeat. I enjoyed making them but they were just not rugged enough for outside. I still have one running in a P-way train, it’s the last one I built and the best runner (the only type 4). To replace them I went out and bought half a dozen Bachmann Ore cars. Out of the box, on the track, off we go. Oh, I slapped a bit of weathering on them to make them look a bit less like plastic.

While I was bodging the wagons, I also started a small diesel shunter.

 I bought a thirty quid HLW Mack from a show and disliked it the second I got it home. I thought I would make into something more presentable, so I set about making a shunter with it. I got it so far but could not figure out how to make the damn chassis slow down. So that got sidelined too. Since then of course, I’ve learnt the secret on GSM. But I bought a pair of LGB green JOKOs. So the HLW based machine became surplus.

Still, onwards and upwards, I thought I was not defeated completely. At the time of my next project, I was skint, (please refer to new house extension) so I thought that I would like to build myself a couple of diesel locomotives.

 I had seen Carl Hibbs' excellent centre cab beast and thought I would have a go. I bought four Aristocraft bogies and a tennis court sized piece of Plastikard. I made a card mock up of the locomotive I was going to build, a sort of class 15 with attitude. However, further research led me towards a loco of the American "Boxcab" configuration. I set to think about how to make it. I recalled the Class 25s in Derby works a million years ago and thought that it might work. I cut out the Plastikard floor pan and strengthened the edges with B&Q aluminium angle iron. I cut out the "engine room" bulkheads and the bodysides that go between them. If you can imagine a class 25 with both cabs off then that is as far as I got.

As I got a little more spare cash so I got into those nice LGB German centre cab locomotives…. How many hours do you have to work on a scratchbuild before a £300 locomotive becomes viable? 10…15? I’ve spent longer than that and got as far as the photo.

So, what now then? Well, I DO want to finish those diesels. I have no idea how to go about it though. I might revert to the class 15 ish as I think I could make the body stronger. The class 25 look-alike is not robust enough for outside use. According to members of the forum I have to finish the shunter…..I will to I think. I’ve been a bit preoccupied with a new railway, hopefully this winter, things will calm down on this activity.

Please peruse the photos below. I’d welcome any constructive comments via PM.

Cheers all

John (the shunter) 2007.