Ex ABS wagon kits

[Nigel BurbidgeParticipant]

Stuart’s energies in posting have prompted me to follow suit in the hope we can breathe some more life into this forum!

Whilst I have been modelling model railways for over half a century, until early this year I had always shied away from soldering in whitemetal, regarding it very much as a dark art (although I have made a number of etched brass locos and carriages up with my trusty soldering iron).  The reintroduction of the ABS wagon kits late last year prompted me to buy some of the rather lovely ex LNER 6 plank opens.

Crunch moment! I was either going to chicken out and glue them together or risk losing a kit by trying soldering and messing it up.  I decided to take the plunge and watched a couple of videos on whitemetal (and whitemetal to brass) soldering.  Buying some low melt solder and cranking my iron down to a suitably low temperature, I started.  At first the temperature was too low, so I inched it up by degrees until I could make the solder flow freely and off I went.

Actually, it all went remarkably well, so long as I followed all the basic soldering rules about cleanliness, plenty of flux and so on.  The first kit (an unfitted six plank) went together in less than an evening and I moved on from there to fitted wagons (the first one, again ABS, turned into a bit of a project, as the brake rodding was partly represented by some castings, but they were too short for EM, so I scratchbuilt some out of brass angle, then carried on until I had a full representation of the brake rigging…).

After that, I attempted a couple of ‘mixed media’ D&S kits; mostly whitemetal but with brass underpinnings and components and now I’m progressing to an old Millholme Models Ivatt 4MT…

Nigel

• This topic was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by Nigel Burbidge.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by Nigel Burbidge.

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[Stuart FirthParticipant]

Great stuff – I’m pleased ABS are back because I always liked their brake gear for upgrading plastic wagon kits. I think I only ever built one wagon kit though – a PO coal wagon just as I was starting out in EM.

[Nigel BurbidgeParticipant]

Three ABS wagons have now been through the paint shop.  All ex LNER six plank but each different (some subtly).  One is fitted, the unfitted ones consist of a 9’ wb and a 10’ wb wagon.

Nigel

 

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by Nigel Burbidge.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by Nigel Burbidge.

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[Stuart FirthParticipant]

Very nice. I, too, only ‘got’ white metal soldering a year or so back. I don’t know what I had been doing wrong before but it suddenly clicked and I’m very pleased it did!

[Keith MackieParticipant]

Very nice and a great paint job, soldering white metal is still on my too do list….!!!

[Nigel BurbidgeParticipant]

Thanks both for your kind comments. Keith, if you can solder brass or nickel silver I would try whitemetal.  As Stuart says, once it has clicked it makes for very satisfying kit making.  What prompted me to finally take the plunge was watching a Gauge 0 Guild video on precisely the subject of whitemetal soldering and he made it look so simple I thought even I could do it!  I am sure the video is up on YouTube.

Nigel

[Keith MackieParticipant]

Hi Nigel, yes at some point I will give it a go, but my soldering skills at the moment are confined to soldering some wire to the side of rail…!!

Keith

[Nigel BurbidgeParticipant]

Hi Keith,

To be honest, if you can satisfactorily solder a piece of wire to a piece of rail, you could quite happily try a straightforward wagon kit.  They are relatively cheap and many are not complicated so the worst that can happen is you throw £10 away in the unlikely event you mess it up…. On the other hand, if it goes well, you have opened the door to a whole new world of modelling!

Nigel

[Keith MackieParticipant]

Thanks Nigel, I never knew they were only £ 10, I cant find anywhere online that sells them, when I do i will certainly give them a go.

Keith

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