I got into dutch era II modelling about a year back after seeing pictures of some really nice locomotives. however, next to nothing is available ready to run. that leaves only 2 options: scratchbuilding or brass kits.
so I ordered some models from MK Modelbouwstudio's and bought some tools to assemble them. I will post progress on building them here.
My first kit is a small sandwagon, the first one was built in 1882. in the 1930's 25 were assigned for the ways & works department. in this guise they lasted into the 1950's

the kit consists of 12 pages of information and instructions, one etched brasss sheet, some wire, some brass "channel" and a bag of small parts including the wheels, axles, buffers and axleboxes.

to begin with, the chassis was removed from the etch and bent into shape. this was made easy by a partially etched line on the inside of the fold.

next up was the ends, where 4 bits of channel had to be cut, soldered and filed into shape. my brandnew 80W sodering iron chars wood very quickly, I noticed. I think it will do the same to fingers

next up was soldering the ends to the chassis and after that soldering some very fiddly small bits to the ends.
the frame plates were also asembled and soldered to the chassis.

the instructions were a bit vague about the next bit, and only after I had bent the parts I realised that they had to be bent the other way. the ersult was that one bit broke off. it took a lot of patience to solder that bit back into place.
to finish off the day's work, I soldered rivet strips to the body. it makes life a lot easier because I was constantly worrying about them breaking off.
here's today's work. I will continue with it tomorrow.

Not seen a brass kit built before. Quite fascinating! Thanks!


Bill

I admire your patience. I can't wait to see it finished.

Darren

Thanks, Darren and Juhan,
the kit is'nt really hard to put together, that's why I started with it. on another forum, someone had posted a picture of the same wagon with a sign on it saying a 10 year old girl had built it. the beauty of brass kits are that if it all turns to custard, simply pop it in the oven, and you can start from scratch

to finish off, I added the brake hoses, which I forgot to solder on, and the resin parts(axleboxes and buffer shafts). after you add the resin parts, you can't touch the wagon with a soldering iron anymore, as the resin parts will melt. the kit is now ready to be painted, which will have to wait until I finish the other kits. the paint i bought for the kit is only able to be thinned with "thinner" this is not turps or water, but some kind of petrochemical. does anyone know where to find it in NZ? a ticket to Holland is a bit too pricey to get just one bottle
here's the finished result posing with ROCO's NS 633

thanks for watching, I will now have to decide wether to build a refrigerator wagon or a stake car...

Rick, you should be able to find automotive paint thinners from Supercheap Autos.

My son & his mother found a box of "throwaways" with a lot of Märklin parts, 4 old Märklin semaphore signals, a Trix "Pfalz" loco chassi and a partly assembled brass body kit for it. By the look of the brass body kit assembly - I knew it was probably not my cup of tea, the guy who had thrown it away must have been very frustrated with it in the end... So many parts, so much that can go wrong...

So for the moment, I'm only RTR... But some day I will try, I mean - if a 10-year old girl can do it, why not at least try...

I've also heard from "local brassbuilders" that they sometimes use acrylic "superglue" instead of soldering for some areas. What's your opinion about that, Rick?

I couldn't wait for long before my hands started itching again...
so I started my second kit. this it a stake car, built in 1892,the last example didn't get scrapped until the 1960's, a life span of about 70 years!
the kit is of the same construction of the sandwagon, being etched brass with resin axlboxes and buffer surrounds. here's all the parts laid out.

first up was folding the sides of the chassis, followed by adding strips to the deck of the wagon. these strips in real life were intended to make loading and unloading easier in the time before such things as forklifts and pallets.
on the foreground is the deck with one srip to go, and in the background is the folded-up chassis

that's all I got done that day, but the following day I pressed on

after a good day's patrolling on the beach, it was time to solder the relief detail on the side of the body, giving the impression of an I beam. next up was the assembly of the bogies, which took some time as I had to solder each spring 2 times, four to a bogie. to finish off the day, I added the end strips and bearings to the bogies. of course I couldn't help but pitting in some wheels and going for a test drive

here's one bogie complete and the other with springs in various stages of assembly. in the foreground are the body and deck.
thanks for watching,
Rick

We saw Rick's artistry last night at out AMMRC meeting.
Fantastic.

And ladies and gentlemen,
wait to see what his next baby is
(oops sorry buddy, cat's out the bag)

Awwww.
Unfair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry to be a killjoy Macca. to give you a hint, it's the resin one...
Thanks Mike, I may be going into town this weekend, so I will have a look. It's in Holland under the name 'thinner' to make life hard I may have found it while looking for some paints at work though.
here's the description from wikipedia anyway, translated.

Thinner, "thinner", is an organic solvent for oil based paints.

Thinner is a mixture of volatile organic compounds, toluene or xylene which is usually the main (> 50%), together with such methyl, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, isobutyl alcohol and butanone. The exact composition varies by manufacturer
thanks anyway, I will let you fnow if I need your help

Still no guesses? Anyone?
I'll allow AMMRC members to take a guess now.
Hint: it falls under the general description of "closed wagons"
Thanks Nev, I'll be careful.

Thanks Mike, I will ask Steve next monday. I had a look at Supercheap auto the other day, but I couldn't find the right thinner.

a refrigeration van is next up, this one's a little diffrent to the others, as the main parts are made of resin, with brass details. the the 'cast' below featurs; brakehouse, instructions body, frame, roof, brakeblocks, handrails and an etch full of parts

first off is straightening the frame, done by throwing it in boiling water. this softens the resin enough so that you can bend it straight. when I test fitted the body, I discovered that it has a nasty warp

so, in the hot water it goes, where it's bent back into shape.
next up is cleaning up the brakehouse, and fitting it's roof. then the body is de-burred to make the roof fit nice and snug. here's a pic of the components test-fitted


thanks for watching,

Rick

Thanks Oxbill, I find resin a bit harder to work with because it is a lot less accurate. but as you say, it's the only way to get something unique because of the sheer cost to make te tooling of a plastic model.

Time for another update.
first I had to make the etched windows fit into the resin brakehouse. this meant a lot of fitting, filing and fitting again. it took some time but here it is;


the steps and brake were next up to be made. the steps are cleverly etched so they fold up perfectly. the instructions call for mounting the brake rod next. the problem is: there is no brake rod on either etch so, I made my own. below is the finished result together with brakehouse and steps.

before mounting, the interior of the brakehouse has to be painted. not an easy job because of the smallness of the interior. here's the result, attached, after some more filing.


this wagon can be fitted with "compensation" which allows one axle to swivel a bit, making sure that all the wheels stay on the track all the time, which looks brilliant It is based on the saying "right as a trivet(three legged stool)"
Imagine a three legged stool. All three legs will be in contact with the floor, no matter what the terrain. On the wagon it can be translated this way: The waggon should have only three points of suspension. 2 bearings at the ends of one axle and one on the other, in the middle, turning the 2 contact points on the rails into one on the wagon body.
This is the mechanism. Dead simple, the axles rest in the U-shaped holes, and the whole axle can swivel thanks to the wire that forms a hinge



Because the wagon has a brakehouse, I chose to fit it wtha close coupler mechanism there, so it can be used to couple it to M* and other wagons without all fitting them with screw couplers


The running boards are next up, together with gluing the body together. Now it's starting to look finished, but there's still about two dozen handrails to go, which will complete the waggon.


I will hopefully post pictures of the finished product tomorrow.
In the meantime, thanks for watching.
Rick

The black box has been opened, and inside was this:

The kit contains all the parts to build a locomotive of the 3900 series. This class was built in 1930 to haul the crack expresses, which had gotten too heavy for the 3700 class because of the introduction of steel coaches. these 2'C (4-6-0) locomotives(top), along with their 2'D'2 cousins destined for coal trains(bottom) had very distinctive Wagner smoke deflectors. The locomotives were painted in a handsome olive green livery with copper chimmney caps and brass domes, which were kept spotless by the driver and fireman.

The kit is built from whitemetal, which has a lower melting point than ordinary solder. Only 70C solder can be used.
To start with, I folded and soldered the cab together with this result


Next up was attaching the boiler and footplate to the cab. As the 70C solder won't stick to brass, I coated the cab with a thin layer of normal solder before turning down the temperature to something that won't melt whitemetal. the boiler is a horror to solder to as it acts like a giant heatsink. it took me two evenings before I was happy with the result.


thanks for watching,
Kariosls

nice work, when I get my layout running, I will have time to start with some brass models.

must be a learning curve

John

Awesome work with the brass models, definitely something I could get into later on down the track.

Judging by the picture, it looks like there's no chassis in the box that the loco came in. what are you intending to use as the donor chassis? I hope its no the old class 23 in the back ground (I have one that's about 55 years old). Did the instructions recommend a chassis? and have the tried fitting it yet? I've worked with white metal before with my war gameing figures and while it holds detail very well its notorious for being miscast.

Happy easter everyone!
The cylinders were built up next, with each outside cylinder consisting of 2 halves, 2 brass guidebars and four covers. the loco is a four cylinder one, with the centre pair between the frames. these only need to have the covers soldered onto the appropriate place. some careful soldering resulted in this:

the inside motion is simulated by 2 nickel silver etches. they look great. However,the whole thing is just a little too long to fit where it should. this was solved by cutting a piece out of one of the rods, making sure to cut out the same amount for both sets.

then a thin strip of brass was soldered to the back of the cut, problem solved.
the last part of the inside motion, the valverod, was then attached by means of a tiny rivet to the rest of the motion, and the whole assembly was soldered in position.

Meanwhile, I also assembled the bogie, a simple task after the cylinders. the valve rockers for the outside cylinders wera also made and fitted, and the result is something that looks very much like a locomotive


Thanks for watching,
Kariosls

great work!

Big news, The locomotive is completely assembled!
As mentioned above, adding details is a slow process of checking, double checking and modifying parts. Below I will outline some of the changes made.
First, the frame. there have been few changes here, but the exhaust steam pipe to the injector(for throwing water into the boiler) was soldered half onto the frame(big pipe in the middle) and partially on the running boards. the central cylinder covers were also turned upside down relative to the instructions as they were picking a fight with the bogie

The trainee-drivers(firemans) side
lanterns were drilled out, tinned on the inside and left loose for adding microbulbs to them after painting. Smoke deflectors have been modified and placed 1mm outwards to conform with the prototype. a replacement bit was fashioned for the exhaust steam pipe including a mounting bracket to disguise the seam where the part from the frame meets the footplate. handrails been left loose for painting and will be glued on later

On the drivers side, the brass wires for the steam lines on the compressor were replaced with copper to mimic the unpainted copper pipes on the prototype. the reverser(boxy thing on firebox) recieved extra detail, walls were added to the rear of the cab, signal brackets were also made up and put on the smokebox. these were for holding the lantarns or boards indicating the end of a train ot an extra train. they are drilled to accept 1:87 versions

the loco is not done yet, with filling, smoothing, primering and painting to go.
to finish off this report, here's a view from preiser height

Thanks for watching,
Kariosls

Thanks Ray, It is a labour of love indeed(or beast of burden)
With the loco done, It's tender time!
The wheels are held in place by a nickel-silver plate, which screws onto the one-piece chassis. To my amazement, a pickup shoe will fit without any major rebuild under the tender! even the screw is the rght size

The body consists of 4 walls, which are very thick and sturdy, which solder together with some filing. On top of this sits the tender deck, which I will leave loose for the addition and maintenance of all the vital electronic bits. The deck is fitted with coal retainers and a scattering of toolboxes, quick n' easy(after the obligatory filing)
here's two shots of the tender so far


tomorrow I will take care of the details, which should be a lot more straightforward than the loco.
Thanks for watching.
Kariosls

Nice work Rick, can't wait to see the paintwork.

The big day has arrived, after months of hard work, the sandwagon is ready to be hauled out of the workshops for it's official photograph
Driver klaas slowly enters the shops, where the wagon is standing. Jan, his shunter hangs the coupling over 633's hook and connects the hoses. "we're good to go!" he shouts to Klaas, who opens the throttle a little bit. The WW2 vintage diesel slowly rolls out the doors of the shops

After running through the points, Jan changes the points so that the tiny wagon, still smelling like fresh paint can be parked beside the shed, where the cameraman is waiting. "He's all yours" says Jan, before climbing on the loco, off to another job while the cameraman takes his picture

Later that day, the wagon was spotted in a short train rolling past the workshops and off to some distant siding


Something diffrent, I hope you like it

Unfortunately, dare I say it, 2 rail
I got it from a good friend who stopped training some time back. The loco is responsible for the purchase of all subsequent Dutch mrr stuff

It's been a while. other commitments have prevented me from doing much on the loco. However, I managed to get everything primed and painted black and green. the lining was masked after the first coat of black, during which my old(cheap) airbrush died. I'm glad it did, because I now have a really good one in it's place, that gives a better finish. However, The green is not quite perfect, and I may do it over again.

the loco now looks like it during and after the war. the dome, safetey valve and other bits will still have to be painted brass and copper, and the buffer beams will get a coat of red
This picture shows how large she really is compared to a diesel shunter(ex british austerity shunter)

I also have found someone who is willing to make some decals that were not provided(Thanks Steve )

Hi Rick,
Very impressive modelling - I am limited at the moment to r-t-r models.
regards
kimball

Thanks Steven, Kimball and Bob.
I've run it twice, once on battery powerand once with a bit of electronics to make it run on AC. She runs smoothly, because I took extra care with it, knowing that british kits are notorious bad runners. However, I really can't say any more until it has been finished and run in.
The internal motion doesn't work but the first edition of the freight variant of the loco does have fully workling internal motion(2 sets of walschearts motion and 2 additional cylinders with their associated motion)

I've decided that I will do the tender and loco body over again because I am not satisfied with the coat of green. I will do it over again as soon as my next brass project has been cleaned up

Rick,

What a fantastic job you've done.
I've just gone all the way through your process and progress and can't wait for the end result.

You are an inspiration.

John

Excellent.

Thanks Steven and Nev

The last unbuilt kit in my inventory is an interesting one. this kit represents one of 1100 general purpose wagons built between 1881 and 1902. these wagons carried 10 tons and were built almost completely of wood. The last ones survived into the 1960's, which is a lifespan of almost 80 years!

The kit consists of 4 sides, an underframe and a roof, plus some other bits to make it look nice.
The obligatory "box of parts" photo:

to the right there's a bunch of styrene bits. these will form the other 4 wagons, which I'll scratshbuild.

I haven't done much on the resin kit yet, apart from removing the casting sprue and cleaning up the castings.
Instead, I made a start with the scratchbuilt copies. The basic walls were first cut out of V groove styrene. The basic structure of the wagon is a wooden frame on the outside of the wagon. I cut the corner posts from 2x1.5mm styrene strip, and the rest from 1mm sqquare bar using a basic cutting jig that is made of 2 bits of styrene that guide the knife, and one bit that is glued to set the length of the bit of styrene to be cut. this bit has to be taken off and re-glued evey time I need a new length.
Below are all the frame members cut.

By this time I realised that I did'nt have enough 1x1mm bar to make four copies, so I'll build the fourth later.
This is where I finished for the day: above is the resin model, below is the Mk I trial, which passed the test with flying colours Below that is one that is partly assembled, the two frame members on the left and the corner posts have not been glued on yet. Finally, to the right are the ends.

Thanks for watching, I hope you like it

Looking good Rick, keep it up

Cheers....

Mike.