As promised last post, work has continued on the final three cars of my RUB set, two Second Class and one First. Of the two SFS type, one has been modified to an OFS per Allan Brown's AMRM article of some years ago. It and the other have In-Front Models replacement underframes, while the SBS retains the Silvermaz one. Two of the cars have received modified ex-Powerline S cars 2AN bogies ... and Roy H reckons he has another spare pair he can donate to the cause.
Below are pictures over the last few months, with the RUB set on tour from Miranda to Blackalls Park, Campbelltown, Miranda, Darwin, Campbelltown, Adelaide, and back to Miranda.
Starting work at the Miranda Car & Waggon Works, 9th August 2016.
A return visit the following evening (Alison & children on a cruise to Cairns) sees the main components of the three cars laid out.
The roofs were scribed with scale 3' spacing for the joints, then drilled for the vents, which were glued in, and also drilled for the roof hatch lifting points.
By 4th October (family now on a cruise in the Med!) I was ready to start on the cut-&-shut job for the SFS to OFS conversion. The first step was to remove the belt rail and matching rail above the window with a chisel blade. These will be replaced later with strip styrene (after the sides are re-assembled).
The sides were scored and snapped per the AMRM article to yield the necessary sections for the 'Ostess compartment area.
Then the pieces were swapped over to change the window spacing.
Edges were cleaned up, then everything was flipped over, butted up and glued, with reinforcing pieces of 0.020" styrene.
Flipped back the right way.
The joints were better than I expected. A bit of filler was applied, before the "tour train" moved on to Blackalls Park.
On October 8th, during the sojurn on the former Toronto line, the moulded window gasket on the SBS was carefully removed. It remains a mystery why the Silvermaz kits had this (modern) feature on the First Class cars, but not the Second Class!
All traces of the offending window gasket moulding removed.
By October 10th, with the family due home any day, I discovered that the original Silvermaz floor for the SBS was a bit long. By this stage the work was being done at home for a change...
It was too long at both ends ;-) thankfully!
A judicious cut with the razor saw removed enough material at each end (i.e. the thickness of the saw blade).
The offcut was then glued back on,
and the floor replaced in position.
Attention then moved to assembling the SFS. My trusty piece of melamine-clad chipboard (salvaged from a piece of furniture being junked) served as a framing square.
SFS sides & ends assembled.
The SBS floor was affixed. Due to warping, I started in the middle, glued & clamped, and allowed to set, then moved to each end in turn.
On 11th October, the cars returned to the workshops at Miranda. Another bead of glue was run on the inside & left.
Trial fit of the IFM floor to the SFS.
OFS belt rail and top rail replaced with strip styrene carefully cut to width from 0.010" sheet.
Powerline 2AN bogies with NEM couplers chopped off.
SFS with IFM floor fitted.
OFS with IFM floor fitted.
The bolster / retaining clips were scraped off the 2ANs, and replaced with 0.020" styrene. This was a mistake, as it was later discovered that the cars sat too high. However, the styrene is necessary to serve as a centring point for the mounting screw, so it was snapped off and put back on the under side.
Trial fitting of the 2AN bogies to the SBS in Darwin on October 25th. Drilling out the styrene in a pin vice was ineffective, so work was suspended to go and chase trains in the Top End https://flic.kr/s/aHskMrwPKi
Back home, drilling the styrene for the mounting screw ... still on the wrong side.
Here you see why the styrene is required ... the two holes either side of centre are as they come from the Powerline FS / BS cars. The middle hole is the actual pivot, re-drilled to 3mm diameter, but broken through into the side holes in the process. By now it is November 4th.
A trip to Adelaide on 8th November for a Standards meeting saw some damage in transit, with one of the IFM floors coming adrift, and requiring re-gluing into the OFS.
Happy New Year! Back at Miranda, the height mis-match caused by the styrene has been discovered and corrected on the SBS. The OFS still has the rubbish bogies. Brass steps have been added to all three cars. Much fettling of these was required for use with the two with IFM floors, as the brass parts are intended for the standard Silvermaz floor.
Ready for the paint shops on January 18th, 2017.
A week or so later, Roy had done the undercoat, then sent through the pics of the Indian Red applied, and the silver roofs, on January 29th:
Shortly thereafter, disaster struck. Roy happened across OFS2259 at Eveleigh Carriage Works, and discovered that one window needed to be blanked out in the compartment area! If only we'd realised this / studied the plan in Coaching Stock Vol 2 more closely prior to painting... The plan is to make a styrene plug to fit, with minimal filling, hopefully...
That's all for now, from Albury!
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