Another Narrow Planet/6point5 R.A.R. gunpowder van

There were two versions of this kit (it seems to be discontinued now), to both 9mm and a 6.5mm gauges. I've previously built the 009 version, and now it's the turn of the 6point5 variant.

Originally the body was built using a printed shell with etched nickel silver inserts, however this was I believe quite costly to produce so later kits had a cast resin body. Both versions use a printed chassis. This build uses the cast body.

The kit comprises of the cast body, printed chassis, 6,5mm gauge wheels and tiny neothingyum magnets for couplings. Here's the body and chassis cyano'd together;

Note the coupling pin, I'm using link and pin couplings again. I've also filled in the holes in the end of the frames provided for coupling magnets.

The 6.5mm gauge chassis is, as you'd expect, narrower than the 9mm gauge version;

As I'm using 6mm gauge I've turned my own wheels, to 5.6mm dia., seen below next to the supplied 4mm dia. wheels;

The supplied wheels are really too small for the prototype, but with them fitted the coupling height matches Busch Feldbahn stock. My 5.6mm wheels bring the coupling height up to my preferred 6mm, and are closer to the prototype's diameter.

Painting started with a coat of Hycote red oxide primer, decanted from the rattlecan and applied with my Badger 200NH. The main body colour is Vallejo 70.982 Cavalry Brown with Vallejo 70.862 Black Grey used for the roof and chassis, the body being sprayed and the chassis brushed. As usual the number was done with a mapping pen and white ink. Vallejo matt varnish finishes the job off.

Alongside my 009 version;

And all of my 006 stock so far;

Another enjoyable build, and I'll be looking out for another unbuilt kit.

Paul.

Meridian Models/Mosskito Narrow Gauge Billard T75D - part 5 basic paintwork.

I started with the bufferbeams, and for those I chose Humbrol 174 Signal Red diluted with ready mixed screenwash. Which I wasn't impressed with, I really don't get on with Humbrol acrylics which is a shame as Humbrol is pretty much a household name and the brand which I reckon most modellers start out with, I certainly did back in the day. So I let the paint dry, did a bit of tidying up and went over again with Vallejo 70.909 Vermillion which my paint charts tell me is a match. I then masked off the bufferbeams and footplate sides and sprayed the upper bodywork in Revel Aqua Color Ferrari Red, thinned with de-ionised water. Again I wasn't happy with the result, the red wasn't quite as dark as I would have liked and the coverage poor, possibly due to using paint that was quite a few years old. So the upper body was rubbed down ready for re-coating;

With everything below the footplate masked off I re-sprayed the body with Vallejo 70.926 Red, a nice rich colour;

After a few days I masked off the body 'beams and footplate sides and sprayed the frame sides using Tamiya's finest, Nato Black;

And here's how the loco stands now;

I now need to paint, by hand, the footplate top and cab interior, then I can think about glazing and fitting the exhaust.

Paul.

Meridian Models/Mosskito Narrow Gauge Billard T75D - part 4 primer and undercoat.

With the body now in one piece (apart from a few details to be added later) I can start thinking about paint. First though comes primer. After a good scrub with Cif and an old toothbrush I started with a very light coat of Hycote grey acrylic from a rattlecan. This gave me an idea of how much work the body would need to make it ready for the top coat, highlighting any gaps and blemishes that need sorting out. I find grey to be the best colour for showing up imperfections. After that first coat I could see a few areas which needed work, and set to with a little filler and rubbing sticks, as well as replacing a handrail that got dislodged during cleaning;

Note that the handrails have been blackened, with Birchwood Casey Brass Black, so that if the paint does rub off at any time it doesn't expose shiny brass.

Once I was happy with the finish I decanted some white Hycote primer into a bottle and, using my airbrush, gave the model a coat of white primer;

Now the loco was ready for undercoating, as I the loco will carry a red livery I used Tamiya X6 orange as red paint is translucent;

The next job will be to apply the main livery.

Paul.

Meridian Models/Mosskito Narrow Gauge Billard T75D - part 3 bodywork

I started with the rear bonnet, made up from 3 pieces, then added the cab rear;

I wasn't keen on the gaps in the cab floor and backsheet around the motor, so using .040" plasticard sheet for the backsheet and .040" square styrene strip for the floor I've filled in as much of the daylight as practical whilst still allowing the motor unit be be easily removed;

Doing that won't of course hide the fact that there's a big motor in the cab, but it made me happy.

The cab front needed to have a bit of material filed away to clear the motor when its being fitted;

The rest of the build was straightforward. After studying photos in t'web I fitted handles to the bonnet sides, front and rear, noting carefully how the two handles on the front bonnet panels are positioned, they differ on each end. These were made from .35mm brass wire, the cab door handles from .4mm wire.

I've also added cab steps, made from .010" styrene. These are made longer than prototypical, on the full sized loco the step runs from the cab front to the rear spring hanger, however the model has a 2mm longer wheelbase due to it being designed around Farish motor bogie. This means that the rear spring hanger sits further back than it should do, so I've made the footsteps longer to suit the new spring position.

There's a bit more filling to be done, inevitable with whitemetal kits (especially ones assembled by myself!), then I shall break out the primer. The rather prominent exhaust will be added at the end, along with whatever couplings I decide to fit.

Paul.

Meridian Models/Mosskito Narrow Gauge Billard T75D - part 2 frames.

The frames are made up from 5 parts, all cleanly cast;

Everything fits as it should, with minimal fettling. However, I needed to add a shim of .020" plasticard between the side frames and their locating lugs behind the bufferbeams at the right hand end of each side when viewed side-on.

The etched mounting plate for the MPD18 chassis was epoxied in place, but not before extending the footplate cut-out at the bonnet end.

A little extra clearance was needed mid-way along the cut-out as well, to clear the motor as its being fitted.

The MPD18 fits nicely;

Note that the drive pulleys are to the rear of the loco;

This puts the motor in the cab rather than in the bonnet, which is a shame but the bonnet is too narrow to accommodate the motor.

I've used Evo-Stick Rapid epoxy on this, some might question my choice but I have whitemetal locos built 30+ years ago with 5 minute Araldite that have stood the test of time.

Bodywork next.

Paul.

Meridian Models/Mosskito Narrow Gauge Billard T75D - part 1 intro.

Billard locotractors were built in France from 1939 onwards, initially for military and later for civil use. In military service they worked on the Maginot Line system of fortifications, later locos were built for industrial use.

This is a 4mm scale/009 whitemetal kit and was originally a collaboration between Meridian Models and the French company Duton Productions. Nowadays the kit is produced by Mosskito Narrow Gauge and is sold by Narrow Planet.

The fact that a kit for a French prototype, which never ran in the UK, is made to 4mm rather than 3,5mm scale is interesting, it seems that a number of French modellers use 4mm scale stock when modelling secondary and agricultural lines, 009 being a better scale/gauge combination than HOe which is more suited to metre gauge lines. This also means that our French cousins can take advantage of the range of ex-WW1 stock available in 009, which would have been used on such lines post WW1. Sometimes the 4mm scale stock runs alongside 3.5mm scale buildings and accessories, a combination which works surprisingly well.

The kit comprises of 26 good quality whitemetal castings;

Those pictured above are the main body and chassis castings, those below are for the smaller details and couplings;

The instructions are in French on my kit, these days they are in English, which Narrow Planet kindly supplied a copy of. Exploded diagrams work in any language though;

(Excuse the blue tint, the photo was taken in the garden on a very sunny day.)

Its designed to be used with a Farish motor bogie. These have been unavailable for a long time now, but the Mosskito MPD18 chassis is designed to fit using an etched mounting plate. I have one built up ready as described here.

The first job will be to assemble the footplate and  frames and fit the MPD18 mounting plate.

Paul.

Meridian Models/Mosskito Narrow Gauge MPD18 chassis

This is a nice little power unit with an 18mm wheelbase, designed to be used under a couple of Meridian Models loco kits, namely the Armoured Simplex and Billard T75D. These are now available under the Mosskito Narrow Gauge banner and are available from Narrow Planet (mine is an older Meridian kit, bought from a secondhand sales stand at an exhibition). I've wanted to build one of these for a while now as they look to be well designed and reliable, following the tried and tested band drive/layshaft/Tenshodo gears format.

The kit is etched in nickel silver, and includes everything that you need barring glue and solder;

The instructions cover 4 sides of A4, and can be seen here in pdf form.

The first job is to assemble the layshaft in its etched bracket;

To help position the worms and bearings there's some helpful markings on the etch;

The layshaft runs in roller bearings, I used my lathe to help push the bearings and worms onto the steel rod.

Next one side of the main body is folded up;

The layshaft assembly fitted into place;

And then trapped in position;

In the above photo can be seen the keeper plate, which clips in place under the chassis and allow the wheelsets to be removed. There are tabs etched onto the layshaft carrier which locate in the sides of the main body, once the unit is assembled these are bent over to hold the unit together without the need for solder.

One wheel on each axle needs to be removed, with a suitable puller to allow each wheelset to be built up using an etched washer, a sleeve for the worm gear to sit on, and two bearings. The sleeve needs to be glued in place, I used Loctite 603 but cyano or even a thin smear of epoxy would work if applied sparingly with care. One of the bearings in my kit was oversize, to save time I made up a new one on the lathe, which would have been much quicker than contacting the manufactorer for a replacement;

Wheels are by North West Short Line, and run on brass axles. Having brass axles running in brass bearings is considered to be bad practice, so it will be interesting to see how this chassis fares in the long term.

Here's the wheels and keeper plate test fitted;

On the etch there's a pair of T shaped parts. These aren't mentioned in the instructions, but fit into slots in the sides of the body;

They're not mentioned because you they're not needed. I found this out after fitting one thinking it would help when fitting the pick-ups, it doesn't so ignore them. I made this mistake so that you don't have to!

The motor is from Nigel Lawton's range, and as its rated at 10 volts a resistor is supplied to allow it to run on 12v. Its held in place with an etched strap on the top of the unit;

Pick-ups are made from phospher bronze wire soldered to a small piece of copperclad board which in turn is epoxied to the main unit, and are only fitted to one side as the wheelsets have one live and one insulated wheel.

Here's the other side of the unit, with the one end of the resistor soldered to the body and the other attached to the motor wire;

Note how on both sides I've trapped the wires under the motor strap.

The complete unit;

To attach the chassis two etched mounts are supplied to suit either the Simplex or the Billard. I'm building a Billard, here's the mount folded up;

There needs to be a 12BA (not 10BA as the instructions state, you'll need to know that when you lose one and have to find a replacement!) nut soldered to the top of the mount, if its fitted underneath it will foul the end of the layshaft. Guess how I know that...

The instructions don't cover making up the mount or fitting it to the chassis, however it is pretty straightforward, the pulley end of the chassis clips into the folded part that hangs down and a screw runs through the keeper plate and body and locates in the nut soldered to the mount;

I did have to take a file to the mounting plate, a little more clearance was needed at one end (left hand end in the above photo) to clear the motor when fitting the unit.

Another view;

Very few problems were encountered in this build. The holes for the screw needed broaching out, and I had to slightly modify the mounting plate. I spent a fair amount of time scratching my head about those little T shaped mounts that weren't in fact needed, and my I had to solder wires together, which I'm not very good at. Soldering brass I'm fine with, soldering electrical stuff makes me swear. Work that one out. Another problem was that one axle was out of alignment so the unit rocked when on a flat surface due to my leaving a little cusp behind when cleaning up the etch. A quick stroke of the file sorted that problem out. And I feel that the motor strap could be a touch longer, a little more strap poking through the buckle would be easier to grab with pliers when tightening.

It runs nicely. Very nicely in fact, even with no weight on the unit. With a body in place it will I'm sure be a superb runner. I've enjoyed building this, it has lived up to my expectations, and I will at some stage build another just because its so well thought out.

And finally, this is the mark 2 version of this chassis, see this post by Michael for a comparison between this and the earlier version.

Paul.

Narrow Planet/6point5 R.A.R. gunpowder van

Here's an odd but interesting little kit.
Its of a Royal Arsenal Railway gunpowder van, which were used on the 18" gauge railway at Woolwich. This kit, designed by Mark, comes from Narrow Planet, and is part of their 6point5 Minimum Gauge range. Two versions are available, one to 009 and the other closer to scale utilising 6.5mm gauge wheels. Both share the same body, but each version has a different chassis, something made easier by the use of 3D printing. Here's a poor photo of the prototype, which is sat the the Conwy Valley Railway Museum at Betwys-y-Coed;

Mine's an early version of the kit, and includes a nickel silver etch, a printed body shell, wheels, and, a printed 009 chassis. The current version has a body cast from resin.

The etched sides slot nicely into the body shell and are held in place with a spot of cyano, all clever stuff, but care is needed as the body shell is quite fragile until the sides are in place. There's a floor to be added as well, I epoxied some lead onto it before glueing it in place with the weight inside the van;

Then the chassis was cyano'd in place;

I like the way it fits together, viewed side on you can see daylight between the body and chassis as per the prototype.

I decided to finish mine in red, like the one preserved at Betwys-y-Coed. As red can be a pig to paint I first gave the body a coat of white Hycote primer;

The next step was to apply an undercoat of Tamiya X-6 orange using my airbrush, thinned with Tamiya thinners;

The top coat is Humbrol 174 Signal Red acrylic, thinned with Tesco ready mixed screenwash, and again applied with the trusty Badger 150. The result is a nice vibrant red, which is handy to know should I ever want to model a fire engine...

The instructions suggest gluing a single layer of toilet tissue to the roof, to suggest felt. I experimented using a spare bodyshell, however the tissue we use is embossed, which showed up after the glue had dried. I decided to just paint the roof as is, leaving the printed surface alone rather than trying to smooth it which left a slightly rough texture which looks a bit like felt. The kit includes thin etched lips to fit around the edges of the roof, I left them off. Sorry.

The roof and frames were painted by hand using Phoenix Precision Dirty Black acrylic;

A squirt of Dullcoat finishes it off nicely.

Curly spoked 5.5mm Dundas wheels are supplied, I've swapped these for 5.6mm Greenwich wheels. These have a finer profile which suit the tiny proportions of the van better, and being disc are closer to the prototype, also I wanted to have a closer look at these new wheelsets.

Here it is, sitting on a penny to give an idea of size;

There are slots in the frames to fit Greenwich couplings, so that's what I've used. Its quite a rare thing for a 009 kit to be designed with couplings in mind, most just leave the builder to sort out fitting which usually means cutting a slot in the buffer plank.

I've enjoyed this little kit, its quite unusual as most kits that use a mix of etched parts and prints have the etched panels fitting to the outside the print whereas this one has the panels fitted inside. The frame detail is good, but being an 18" gauge prototype running on scale 2'3" gauge track means that the wheelbase is less than the gauge, which should make running interesting!

A nice kit of a tiny and interesting little van.

Paul.

Rushby's Resins Deutz - part 5 finished.

The last few jobs have now been done to this one, and I can finally call it finished.

I've painted the edges of the frames and the buffer/coupler blocks dirty black, to tone the red down, as well as the spring and axlebox detail.

Body and footplate are epoxied together, and the motorised chassis is just held in place with friction.

I like the green, at first I thought that it might be a little too garish but coupled with the red frames it gives the loco a 'feldbahn' look. Testors Dullcoat tones the finish down and blends everything together.

The spectacle plates have also received a coat of black, and I've glazed them with thin acrylic sheet carefully filed to fit, that large front window would have looked quite empty otherwise. Glazing is one of those jobs that I need to be in a certain mood to do as it can be frustrating but the results are worth the effort.

The Narrow Planet etched nickel silver grill was chemically blackened then airbrushed with Tamiya Nato Black, to give a fine finish without obscuring the detail. I have however left the air filter and exhaust in bare but blackened metal.

I'm quite pleased with this loco, its not prototypical but it has character. When I started it I wanted a project that was involved enough to interest me but not too complex to take ages to finish, and this loco fitted the bill nicely.

Paul.