Coupling Questions

Having now built three OO9 gauge items (a workman's open coach, a Baguely-Drewry diesel locomotive, and most recently the Quarry Hunslet) it is time to think about couplings; it's no point having a waggon that a locomotive can't pull.

In OO9 gauge the consensus seems to be to use couplings designed by The Greenwich and District Narrow Gauge Railway Society and, unsurprisingly, referred to as Greenwich Couplings. Unlike all the couplings I've used in the past, in both OO and N gauge, Greenwich couplings arrive as a kit of parts and need assembling. I have to say that the instructions aren't the easiest to follow, but this video makes assembly nice and straightforward. So far I've made up just a single coupling and before I make up any more, or attach any to the things I've built so far I have a couple of questions. Hopefully someone reading this will have used these couplings before and have some suggestions.

Firstly, the fret of parts has been chemically blackened which seemed like a great idea until I started to make one up, whereupon the black coating just flaked off wherever I bent the part. Am I doing something stupid or am I going to have to prime/paint/varnish the coupling?

Secondly, I'm unsure if I always need to add the loop to the coupling. I've noticed that in quite a few pictures of OO9 layouts the locomotives often don't have the loop on either end, and the rolling stock often only has it at one end. I'm assuming using a loop at only one end means that the waggons etc. always have to be run in the same orientation to one another, which I suppose is okay, and that one loop is enough to form a reliable coupling. I'm certainly tempted to forgo the loop on the locomotives as just the hook looks much better, but I'm tempted to keep the loops on both ends of the rolling stock to give me more flexibility. Can anyone see any problems with that arrangement?

Quarry Hunslet: The Backstory

Not very long ago, in the bottom left-hand corner of Yorkshire, there was a factory. It wasn't a very big factory or a very important factory but it's owner was very proud of it. While you could easily walk from one side of the factory to the other its owner decided that it would be improved by the addition of a railway. Not a very long railway or a very important railway, but something that would help move things around and, if he was being honest, that he could ride at the weekends for fun.

There were quite a few companies making steam engines in the local area, but one specific company caught the factory owner's eye. The Hunslet Engine Company were making little engines for working in the Welsh slate quarries, and if they could handle that then surely they could move a few crates around his factory. The factory owners wife wasn't really sure he needed a railway at all, but she was supportive of the idea and even helped to choose the colour for the new locomotive.

So the day finally dawned when the new locomotive would arrive, and the factory owner insisted his wife join him for the delivery as he had a surprise in store. The engine arrived on the back of a wagon under a large tarpaulin to keep it clean. The factory owner climbed up on to the back of the wagon and pulled aside the tarpaulin to reveal the locomotive in all it's crimson glory. He then looked at his wife who was smiling, even though she still wasn't sure he really needed a railway, as there on the side of the locomotive was her name, and no one had ever named a steam locomotive after her before.

Firstly, my apologies to Oliver Postgate for the origins of the backstory, especially as I couldn't quite manage to maintain the same style throughout. As the final post on the building of this kit we have the fitting of the final detailing components; the name and work plates.

As I discussed in the previous post the plates were ordered from Narrow Planet and are a customized set of these plates. As well as customizing the name I also had the work plates read as "No 1. 2014" given this is the first steam loco I've built and it was completed in 2014, not that you can read the numbers at this scale. Given that I hadn't known what colour I was going to paint the plates when I ordered them they arrived as unpainted etched brass. Painting with acrylic black was easy and then I brushed on some acrylic satin varnish to protect the paint during handling, and so it would match the rest of the locomotive.

The plates were then carefully removed from the fret (the brass is very fine and so easy to distort) and with the help of some paper templates glued into place. I actually don't use glue for this, after a previous renumbering disaster, instead I brush a small amount of Humbrol enamel satin varnish on to the back of the plate (I find the enamel works better than the acrylic). This gives plenty of time to position the plate before it dries, and doesn't tend to mark the already varnished paint.

So there we have it the locomotive is now complete. At some point I'll probably glue the driver into position (a moving train without a driver looks wrong), but for now I quite like being able to look into the cab and see all the controls I spent ages painting.

Quarry Hunslet: Preparing to Name

Given that when I've completely finished the Quarry Hunslet it might be a while before I have any more progress to report and as I think there is enough in the naming process to warrant at least a couple of posts I thought I'd drag things out a little longer.

As I've mentioned many times the kit is specifically designed to build into Dorothea, Hunslet Engine Company works number 763, and it contains appropriate name plates on the etched brass fret of parts. These, like the rest of the etchings, are exceptionally well done, and I thought it a shame for them to just disappear into the bits box without showing them to you. I also decided to use them to decide which colour the actual name plates should be painted; most are either black or red and as I had two plates to experiment with I painted one black and one red. If you don't know how to paint the name plates then Narrow Planet have produced a useful video. Once the paint had dried, holding the fret up against the locomotive and the decision to paint them black was fairly quickly arrived at, as it looks much better against the crimson body colour.

As I mentioned in a previous post as well as replacement nameplates I'd ordered matching Hunslet Engine Company workplates as well from Narrow Planet. Specifically I'd ordered a customized set of these plates intended for Brian's other Quarry Hunslet kit of Velinheli. I'm not going to give away the name yet, so I've just borrowed the artwork from the Narrow Planet website so you get a feel of what I'll be adding.

The final step before adding the plates is to produce paper templates to aid in positioning them on the model. Remember these things are going to be tiny, and will be difficult to accurately position, especially once the back is sticky with glue or varnish to hold it in place.

On a related note, when browsing through the Narrow Planet website I spotted that the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway number plates (the standard size not the smaller pug plates) that I discussed in detail back in 2012 are now available as a standard item, which will be great for anyone wanting to renumber the recent Bachmann model of the Aspinal 2-4-2T, especially anyone who wants an L&YR version but missed out on the limited number available in that livery.

Quarry Hunslet: The Nameless Wonder

So having completed the main body in the last post, I set about painting the elements of the motion that needed it. Unfortunately while masking up the slidebars I managed to re-break one of them. Given that the glue I used last time obviously hadn't held the joint past a light handling, I decided to to strengthen the repair this time. Fortunately it was the top slidebar that had broken where it joins the cylinder, which meant I could add a small piece of scrap brass (from the fret of parts) running across the join between the cylinder and slidebar without it being overly visible or affecting the motion. Once painted it's almost invisible, and the join is nice and strong.

Once the cylinders etc. were painted it was time to reassemble the entire model, put it on the track, apply power, cross my fingers and hope I hadn't screwed anything up...

Yay! It still runs. The sigh of relief could probably be heard for miles around. So there we have it, a completed Quarry Hunslet that just needs a name and makers plates.

Quarry Hunslet: Glazed and Confused

I've only got a short update today, but I thought it worth posting to try and lessen Iain's withdrawal symptoms (see here and here).

While the locomotive probably doesn't look much different from the last photo I showed you, I've added two small details today. The first job this morning was to glaze the cab windows. I did this using Micro Kristal Klear in the same way as I did the cab windows of the lorry I built for Jerusalem and more recently the Baguley-Drewry. Given how small the windows are this was the job of just a few moments -- much easier than trying to cut plastic to size!

The second detailing step was to re-varnish the smokebox and chimney. I'd previously sealed the paint using an aerosol of Humbrol satin varnish. I think the satin effect is glossy enough to represent the paint you usually find on a steam locomotive as gloss paints/varnish looks, at least to my eyes, too shiny in this scale. The one area where satin varnish doesn't work though is the smokebox and chimney. If you look at any photo of any steam engine you'll notice the this area of the loco is quite matt in appearance. I'm assuming this is to do with the heat either requiring a different paint, or altering the paint to make it appear matt. Either way, I gently brush painted on a little Humbrol matt acrylic varnish to add this extra detail.

And finally ... I'm giving advance notice to all those Quarry Hunslet addicts out there that I think there will only be two more posts before this build is complete!

RNAD Crew Van

Today's post saw the arrival of a parcel from Narrow Planet containing the name and workplates for the Quarry Hunslet locomotive (more on those in a later post), but it also contained one of their new kits for a RNAD crew van.

As you can see the kit looks fantastic and is just as well packed/presented as the Baguley-Drewry kit I built recently. Looks like there will be plenty of opportunity to use the Hold-and-Fold as well.

Thank Goodness for German Efficiency

There has, unfortunately, been no time for modelling over the past few days as I've been away at a project meeting in Kaiserslautern in Germany. To get there I flew to Frankfurt and then took the train to Kaiserslautern changing in Mannheim. Given my inability to usefully converse in German I'd bought my ticket in advance over the Internet, so all I had to do was get on the train.

Unfortunately having arrived in Frankfurt I went to get the print out of the ticket from my bag only to find that the page contained an error message from the printer and not my ticket. I'd printed it in amongst a whole pile of other paper work (boarding pass, hotel reservation etc.) and clearly hadn't checked it. Fortunately the staff in the Deutsche Bahn travel centre were really helpful. I just showed them the electronic copy on my laptop and they printed me off a replacement, all without any extra cost or inconvenience. I hate to imagine how much hassle the same problem would have been in the UK. I'd probably have ended up having to buy a new ticket, so thank goodness for German efficiency.