Very good of you to say so :D Dave, I know our Turnout editor is looking for articles at the moment (hint to other members!). I have promised him one which will be on the smoke unit for the Toad brake van which the Colchester boys have been on at me to do for sometime now. I'll do an article on this...

Well, I am still not sure about which varnish to use. I have ordered the Vallejo - Acrylic gloss Varnish Aerosol and will test that out. I know one thing the Halford lacquer reacts to moisture. Unless the waterbase varnish is thouroughly dry it will craze. Sadly thats the one prefer as opposed to th...

Richard, Yes indeed there is a waterbased varnish avialable just Google this Vallejo - Acrylic gloss Varnish Aerosol 400ml . not cheap but it is 400ml. I found a write up on garden railway club website - Google - Converting an LGB van into an ÖBB Dienstwagen where it was used in a very simular appli...

The next bit of work involves applying the transfers to the tank. So i am just in the throws of mentally preparing myself for it! To say I hate this bit is because one false move here and the appearance of the model is ruined. Though on my other wagons I have applied Daves transfers with sucess I ha...

A few pictures of the track set up in the padock area.

Managed to find dry day that wasnt too cold and gave the tank its second coat of paint. That had a good few days over Christmas to go hard. Now i am making progress fitting the wooden blocks to the crossbars. Tricky little job to get the block nicely curved to the profile of the tank and fitting snu...

Made up the ladders the other day. Turned a piece of scrap to length 1.075inches which would act as a spacer. Clamped the sides to the spacer and set a run either side. Squared one run against the spacer and then set the assembly in the vice such that the sides were level. Applied silver solder. The...

Dave,

I have posted a photo of my Toad in a new thread for you. Hope it may help.

Cheers
KB

From LMS Milk Tank 2... Keith, Thanks for the rivet details, and yes...how else does one describe a rivet. It was the larger diameter head that foxed me, having seen similar on a couple of chassis at exhibitions last year. I have a 'Toad' brakevan chassis kit which im trying to sort out, its going v...

Dave thank you for your encouragment and likewise from Richard too. Re: Rivets. The rivets used on this wagon are 1/16th. There is also alot of 10BA and a few 12BA screws all of which I think is pretty much close to scale. I know on my GW Toad I used a rivet with a different head profile. It was a l...

As it wont be long before the tank is ready to be mounted I though I had better mount the splasher plates. As the end ones sit under the tank supports, the tank supports needed to have a rebate cut to acomodate the splashers. then with a little glue they can be held in place. http://farm5.static.fli...

I thought it best if I made up the straps and the ladder next before I paint the tank and risk scratching it. This afternoons job was the four straps. Threaded 8BA on 2.5mm rod for the fastenings. I worked the straps around a tin of P38 filler using a small soft hammer. Centred them across the tank ...

started work on the tank and its mounts sometime ago. the progress has been time consuming to say the least. Preparation of the tank has taken me ages trying to get a good finish for the gloss to go on to. I forgotten what a skillful job bodywork is. Havent done any since i had a Triumph Herald ! ht...

Richard, Thanks for posting the above pics and also the other info gratefully recieved. plus your method of making elbows for the vac pipe worked a real treat. Good stuff. Well, its still upside down ! A few more bits to do before I can turn it up the right way and start work on the tank. http://far...

Made a start on the crossbar assemblies.

I turned two spacers 700 thou long to ensure I kept the sides square to the main face.

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A lot of soldering. certaainly kept the garage warm !

Richard,

Any chance of a copy of your photo of the works drawing? Does it show the little hook below the draw hook for stowing the coupling?

I managed to find the ford colour in Halfords but i want to complete the chassis before getting to invovled with doing the tank.

Cheers
Keith

Yes my instinct was not to set the crank until i had all the other parts in place and then see where it 'wants' to be. What i have decided to do is pin the crank in place. So i have drilled a hole in the underside of the crank and hopefully I will be able to set it and then spot through with a drill...

Well these brakes are certainly a challenging build but it’s coming together nicely. The order of build has been... Make up the trusses, shoes on to trusses, then hanger on to the shoes and then mount each completed trusses on to the frame. link up the pairs of trusses. Adjust brakes, adjust to firs...

Richard wrote: I found I needed to extend the brake truss adjustment bars by about a quarter of an inch I think it was to get it to hook up, I'd be interested to see what you find on this. The prototype had a row of three holes in it (or at least the one at the NRM has). I managed to do the brake s...

I thought that might be the bit you were referring to. I have a good grasp of the brake concept as it is very similar to that on the Toad. (except for one bit pushes) I'll be cutting off those bits to turn them through 90degrees as per the instructions so I’ll wont solder them until i have checked t...