Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 10 - in primer.

The first of the two wagons as now had a couple of coats of primer (Phoenix Precision etch followed by Hycote car acrylic) and is ready to be posted off to its owner;

Brake wheels are Cambrian, not exactly right but a huge improvement on the flat etched disc supplied.
My own wagon still needs a bit more work before I squirt paint at it.

Paul.

Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 9 - vacuum pipes and bracing struts.

Vacuum pipes, which are fitted to all ICI wagons as well as those Summers wagons which ended their lives with ICI, are covered in the instructions with the line 'Add the vacuum piping from .9mm wire (Not supplied).
I made the pipes in two halves from .7mm brass rod, bending them to shape whilst studying photos of the prototype. Of course both ends are different as the pipe runs along one side of the wagon;

For the flexible hose I used the time-honoured method of wrapping thin wire around the rod, in this case 38swg soft copper from Eileen's Emporium (5amp fuse wire would also work). A touch of solder at each end stops the wire from unravelling. I find this job to be highly satisfying for some reason.

Both halves are made overlength to be trimmed before fitting. I hid the join at a side rib, a little dab of solder in a couple of places secures the pipe in place. At this stage the coupling hooks (Smiths, I use 3 links) were added. To support the pipes at the ends tiny little uprights (2 per end) were made up from scrap etch and soldered in place with my RSU, again using prototype photographs to position them correctly;

The end bracing struts are soldered up from two parts. They are supposed to fit together using tabs and slots (5 of each), however fitting the tabs on the uprights into the slots on the backing plate means that the angled ends don't line up - the solution of course is to drastically shorten the 3 inner tabs with a file so the upright can be slid along the backing plate until the angled ends match the half-etched lines on the backing plate and then completely remove the end tabs. A little tweaking with pliers was found to be neccesary to make the angled ends sit properly. Also at the bufferbeam end the strut needs to be filed back at an angle, as supplied its square. Funny what you notice when you compare model to prototype...

Running crossways between the frames on the underside of the wagon is a channel section. This is made up from 3 pieces, slotting and tabbing together. Surely it would have been better to make the channel in one fold-up piece? Not only would it be easier to make (soldering the thing up as supplied is a tad fiddly) but it would have been easier to draw as well, only requiring a rectangle with two fold lines rather than 3 parts with the tabs and slots added. This is after all a wagon kit, not a 1000 piece jigsaw! Having said all that, I've used 3mm x 1.5mm brass channel from Eileen's, even easier;

Note the shaft for the brake handwheels.
The next job is to add the buffers and vacuum cylinders.

Paul.

Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 8 - brace plates.

First up are two small end brace plates. These are each made up from 6 pieces, the angle plate and 5 little ribs. After bending the angle plate to suit the hopper end the ribs, 3 small inner and 2 smaller outer, can in theory be attached. However, they are much too big and need cutting down to size, I used a pair of Zuron track cutters to snip a section off the lower edge, then finished off with a file before soldering in place using 188 degree solder and my RSU.

In the photo above the upper brace plate has the 3 inner ribs only soldered in place. The etched holes are to locate the ribs in position, but are a tad too wide. The job is every bit as awkward as can be imagined...
This style of plate was used on the later wagons, the earlier wagons had deeper plates which lacked the 5 gussets.

Once the small brace plates were soldered onto the body (145 degree solder and my 25W Antex)  I turned my attention to the side brace plates. These just needed the rivets punching out, the outer edge folding over and soldering in place, again using 145 degree solder and my 25W iron;

Note the word 'pipe' written on the side, all of the ICI wagons, including those that ICI bought from John Summers, were vacuum braked, the brake pipe running through the brace plates on one side (the side with the brake wheel off-set to the right). Half of the plates on the kit have holes etched for this pipe, which obviously need  to be fitted on the same side (hence the writing), further confirming that the kit is for an ICI wagon not a Summers one as the Summers wagons were originally unfitted.

The next job is to fold up the trays that form the large end brace plates, and solder in two strengthening ribs (188 degree solder). These need holes drilling for the vacuum pipe, I used a pair of dividers to transfer the position of the holes from the plates already in place and drilled the trays first to .5mm, to check that the holes lined up with the trays placed on the wagon, then .8mm. I fail to understand why the side ribs and small end plates have holes etched for the vacuum pipe but not the end tray... I cut an offcut of plasticard to the required angle then used it to check that each tray sat at the correct angle;

The state of play so far;

This is now a very strong structure!

Paul.

ICI hopper wagons - some prototype photos.

At the recent Midland Railex I took the opportunity to photograph the two preserved hopper wagons there;

Paul.

Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 7 - hopper 3.

Once all of the ribs are in place the half-etched rivet strips can be soldered on. I started with the vertical strips which butt against the ribs, ignoring the usual practice of tinning and sweating and just running a bead of solder along the edges. Note that the end strips need trimming to suit the hopper end angle, as do the angled strips that follow the outer side edges of the body;

Now the body is ready to be attached to the chassis. I used two pairs of neodynium magnets to hold the hopper and chassis together, which held them securely but still allowed me to make adjustments. I used a selection of rules, parallels and squares on a glass surface to check that the body sits squarely on the chassis;

Then once I was satisfied that all was square the two parts were soldered together, flowing solder into the 4mm dia. holes previously drilled into the chassis bottom plate (the instructions suggest drilling holes and using 8BA screws to clamp the body and chassis together ready for soldering, which seems like a lot of faff to me). At first I tried a 40W iron (my new Antex HP40), but that simply wasn't up to the job so I used my RSU, set at 3 volts.

Here's the joints prior to cleaning up, not a pretty sight but nice and sound;

So far so good;

All soldering done with my 25W Antex and 188 degree solder except where stated.

Paul.

Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 6 - hopper 2.

The internal divider for the hopper body comprises of two parts, neither of which fit very well...
The lower section needs to be bent to shape, but first a fold line needs scoring along the centre in line with the two slots, easy work with a scrawker. Below can be seen one lower part still flat, one folded to shape and, on the right, an upper divider;

It is quite a poor fit, so its a case of fitting it with minimal gaps then soldering it in place. To try and remove more metal to achieve a tighter fit would only make the part too small, and its undersized as it is.
The upper part is also undersized, hence the gaps;

The next job is to attach the side ribs, 6 per side. However, these need modifying as the angle of the ribs as etched don't match the hopper sides (click on pic. for a larger image);

I filed the cusp of off the ribs then gently bent them to suit, a fiddly job, before soldering them in place;

The outermost ribs need trimming down at the bottom to suit the hopper ends.

They're getting there;

All soldering done with my trusty Antex XS25 and Eileen's Emporium 188 degree solder wire.

The next job is to attach the rivet strips to the hopper sides and ends, then solder the body to the chassis.

Paul.

Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 5 - hopper 1.

Attention now turns to the hopper body. This is drawn as a single piece and should fold up as is. However, the floor has been drawn too wide, which means that there are gaps at the bottom of the body where the sides meet the ends. The solution, which is covered in the instructions, is to cut the body into 4 sections as below;

Easy work with a piercing saw with a fresh blade fitted. There are a series of half-etched rivet holes in the sides which need punching out, which are a bit vague in places so a bit of remedial work with a .4mm drill was required. Punching out was left until later.
Once cut into sections the floor can be narrowed. I scribed a line 1mm from the edge then set to work with tin snips;

My 'snips are Draper Expert Jewelry Snips which are well suited to this type of work.

The next job is to fold over the top lip to 90 degrees, I used a 5.5" Hold & Fold. As this is a very thin lip the fold lines were deepened with a square file until a slight witness line apeared on the opposite side to make folding easier. Then the body sides and ends can be folded, checking the ends against the sides until everything fits together with minimal gaps (some slight gaps are inevitable). Now the rivets can be punched out, to do so any earlier would risk flattening them in the Hold & Fold. Also rivetting tends to distort panels, folding strengthens the sides helping keep them flat.

Then with the body upside down on my surface table held together with Blu-Tack and tiny strips of masking tape it can be finally checked for squareness and tacked together.

More checking follows before final soldering. I work opposite corner to opposite corner to hopefully prevent any distortion and keep the heat down.

Here they are soldered together but not yet cleaned up properly, placed on the chassis;

All soldering done with my trusty 25W Antex and 188 degree solder.

Paul.

Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 4 - frames 2.

There are 3 stiffening plates to be added to the ends. These need to have rivet detail punched out (note to self - 38mm drop) before they are soldered in place. Here's one end with the plates soldered on;

There's a half-etched overlay to be soldered onto the fishbelly part of the frame below the solebars. This was held in place using hairclips (sold by Eileen's Emporium as Aluminium Mini Clips) as I was working;

 

And soldered in place (but not yet cleaned up);

Under the fish belly is a flange strip, which locates with tabs and slots;

All quite straightforward. 145 degree solder and my 25w Antex used throughout.

Here's the frames on their bogies;

Bogie spacers were turned up on the Unimat (I like having a lathe!), 1.2mm wide on my EM wagon and 1.6mm on Jon's OO wagon. There needs to be more clearence for the OO wheelset to swing, hence the fact that I've set it slightly high. My own wagon is unlikely to see a layout so clearence is not an issue.

Now its time to start on the hopper body.

Paul.

Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 3 - frames 1.

The first job is to cut out the frame top plate and fold down the bufferbeams and stiffening ribs, running a filet of solder along the inside of the bends for strength. The inner-most rib sits directly above the inner-most wheelset, to provide clearence for the flanges I filed 1mm from the bottom of the ribs, leaving the centre section at full depth. To make sure that the filed section lines up with the cut-outs in the bottom plate this needs to be done at the same time as the bottom plate is modified, described further down. In the photo below the right hand side of the inner rib has been filed down;

The bottom plate also has bufferbeams etched onto it. These need removing. My method is to hold the etch in a Hold & Fold (a 5.5" one in this case) and gently cut along the fold line with a piercing saw, the frame is easily distorted!

In the photo below the nearest plate has had its bufferbeams cut off. I've drilled 8 extra holes in the etch, the inner 4 holes are drilled 4mm dia. and will be used when I attach the hopper body in place. When the frames are assembled a closed box is created above the bogie stretcher, the outer 4 holes (2.5mm dia.), which are located either side of the bogie pivots, will be used to fill this box with liquid lead.

To give extra swing for the bogies the cut-outs have been enlarged inwards by 1mm, a simple filing job. The black marks show where material has been removed;

The attention now turns to the solebars. There's two rivets to punch out in the centre of the fishbelly section (ignore the others, they'll be covered by overlays) then a half etched overlay can be soldered along the length (RSU (resistance soldering unit) set at 4.5v, Carrs 179 degree solder cream). Soldering is done whilst the main plate is still on the etch. Returning to top plate there's another pair of stiffening ribs to add, these have the ends bent over to 90 degrees before soldering in place. Then the solebars can be added;

 

Once they're soldered up the dragboxes and angle girders can be soldered in place, under the framework at the ends. The dragboxes are simple U shapes and the angle girders sit behind and to either side of the dragbox;

 

The angle girders needed modifying for wheel clearence, a simple filing job. On the left in the photo above can be seen two girders before bending, the upper one is unmodified, the lower has an angle filed into it.
On my kit a section of etch was missing, the section containing the dragboxes, angle girders and strengthening ribs. All easy to re-make (I couldn't be bothered to contact Roxey) but it did of course take time.
Once the dragbox and angle girders are in place thought can now turn to the bottom plate. A pair of 10BA screws are cut down to 7mm long and soldered in place for the bogie mountings.
The bottom edge of the solebar is a thin strip of brass which sits outside of the fishbelly frame. Being thin it conducts heat easily, put an iron near it and it will readily expand and buckle, the inner part of the frame staying the same length. The solution is to cut the thinner part with a piercing saw, hiding the cut behind the brake wheels. This allows the solebar edge to expand when heated without buckling, think rails in hot weather;

Another modification is to cut back the etched bottoms of the angle girders, to allow the wheels to swing, modified etch on the left;

Now the bottom plate can be soldered in place on the frames using 145 degree solder. Here's the two chassis prior to cleaning up;

There's a few more parts to be added to the frames, then I can turn my attention to the hopper body.

All soldering done with my 25w Antex and 188 degree solder except where stated.

Paul.