IP Eng L&B 3 Compartment Coach Kit

[JimmyB]

This my thread on building the IP Engineering "L & B 3 Compartment Coach Kit". The kit is relatively straight forward, so it will not be a "blow by blow" account.

The first question is why this model and this kit: I have a Bachmann "Lyn", fitted with Accucraft couplings, and 3 Accucraft IoM single coaches, I know the purists probably won't like it, but these coaches suit the loco (IMHO), and rule 8. But I enjoy model making and though I should build some coaches. The kit looks quite similar to the IoM singles, and the Lyn is an L & B loco.

Comments on the kit: The kit arrived in a polythene bag, and the 45mm gauge wheels in a separate bag, no box for protection



Inside the bag was seven frets of laser cut wood, a roof section, three bags of white metal components, wire, acrylic for the windows, wheel bearings, and four A4 sides of instructions. There was no parts list, and no identification for the frets, though as a simple kit, this should not present an issue.

The instructions recommend superglue for the main construction and epoxy for the smaller parts. I have always used "PVA" type glue on wooden kits, but though I would try superglue.

Construction: There are no "tab and slots" most parts just butting up to each other. Following the instructions, I assembled the sides and ends to the floor, the pros of superglue are mainly almost instant adhesion, no holding parts in position waiting for the glue to dry, the cons are almost instant adhesion, which means trying to line up the parts when they touch. This was managed but I did not find it easy, also the joints are brittle, and where the ends meet the sides is thin ply, and two joints cracked, my solution was to brush PVA into the joints.



The next stage is to add the raised wood work, I will be using PVA for this, which will give me working time to make adjustments.

More to follow......................

 

[Paul M]

Ive made a few of these kits. They are very good, but you do need to make sure the larger pieces aren't warped. I found that fixing the seats on one wall helped with the sticking of the rest of the sides, and sticking the raised panelling helped to line up the walls too.

 

[maxi-model]

I have built a few of Ivan's kits over the years. Mostly from his Darjeeling range. Nice simple projects with few frills. They go together with a good parts fit. If you want embelishments there are plenty of suppliers out there to provide them. IP are excellent with after sales service, at least on the one occaision I have needed them. One thing I have found handy is with their bogied stock you can buy spare, kit specific, bogie sets for both 32 mm & 45 mm gauge. Handy if you are visiting lines with gauges that do not match your own's.

I have found bonding with CA glues works fine for me, although I do use PVA's too. I learnt to use the thicker types, they seem to allow a little "wiggle" time, and then spray on an accelerator for final fix. Once the basic "boxes" are made up I haven't experienced problems with bond failures and cracking. One tip I would offer is to do any dye type wood staining effects, if needed, prior to application of any adhesives. Glues permeate the wood where applied stopping dyes penetrating in those areas. Max

Former house deity Izzy supervising IP Darjeeling kit production line. There is a Yatton baggage wagon in there too, right between Izzy's ears. About 15 years ago, Ivan was doing a 1/2 price deal on those kits at the time ! These feline blessings are essential to the build process

 

[JimmyB]

@Paul M and @maxi-model I have built a number of IP Engineering kits before, but not from this range and my experiences have been varied. I am just giving my experiences on this kit, and my thoughts on the build, as I go forward with it. However if you feel I am being too harsh, then I will desist with the review, and delete the thread.

 

[Rhinochugger]

@Paul M and @maxi-model I have built a number of IP Engineering kits before, but not from this range and my experiences have been varied. I am just giving my experiences on this kit, and my thoughts on the build, as I go forward with it. However if you feel I am being too harsh, then I will desist with the review, and delete the thread.

Tell it as you find it, Jimmy

It's interesting to know how people get on.

Personally, I would never use superglue on wood - that's just me, and as a result I am particularly inexperienced with modern superglues which are much improved. I was introduced to a waterproof wood glue, Titebond II which is excellent, except for the drying time. I found that on thin wooden sides, it caused warping while wet, but they went back when dry. However on an American Hartford kit, the solid timber warped, and stayed warped after drying (frustratingly) and I had to correct the overall shape with some appropriate, unseen screws

I'd go with what @maxi-model says about staining/dyeing before gluing though, but this would only apply to the inside of your model I suspect.

Let's see the rest of the build

 

[Paul M]

@Paul M and @maxi-model I have built a number of IP Engineering kits before, but not from this range and my experiences have been varied. I am just giving my experiences on this kit, and my thoughts on the build, as I go forward with it. However if you feel I am being too harsh, then I will desist with the review, and delete the thread.

No I don't think you're being harsh in any way whatsoever. I'm enjoying reading the thread, and looking for tips! Everyone has their own methods, which are usually far better than mine.

 

[JimmyB]

Everyone has their own methods, which are usually far better than mine.

Maybe, not better, but different

 

[JimmyB]

The paneling has now been added, PVA glue brushed on to the fret and aligned, though lots of places to use for alignment, I found using the holes (all six) for the door handles the best compromise, best fit for the etched lines and window frames. I did notice that once these dried the whole coach stiffened up.

 

[JimmyB]

The running boards went on without issue, and although I have assembled the seats, I have not fitted them, and will wait till after painting.
The next items are the sole bars, "W" irons and running gear. I found that trying to get the sole bars the correct distance apart, balancing the sole bar on its edge, was quite difficult, together with getting them equally spaced, almost impossible.

So using some of the "offcuts" from the frets, I used them as spacers, and a couple of pieces of square edged balsa to get the sole bars square to the frames seemed to work for me.

The photo shows the spacers, and balsa, and also the axels with very short stubs, making tolerances for the distance quite tight:



The purpose of building the coach is to fit with my Accucraft coaches, so when places next to each other, the similarities are well within what I was after. At this time the sole bars are just taped in place.


So would my Accucraft couplings fit in a suitable place, it would seem they will go exactly where the supplied coupling would fit:



So far, so good!!!

 

[JimmyB]

Finally managed to get the sole bars glued in position, with the correct spacing and square to the floor, before the glue set I noticed a slight "rock" on the wheels, so checked using a plate glass, and found that 4 X 80 gm paper under the axle boxes in the appropriate opposite corners was enough to cure it.



The Accucraft chopper coupling was fitted in the position that the supplied coupling should go, marginally low but would probably be okay, though I think I will look to raise it that 1 - 2mm. Point to notice the new couplings have a bob weight, where all my original coupling are without, is it worth changing the hook on my original couplings?



Decided that I will hand paint with acrylics, and bought some Coach and Wagon "Blood" and "Custard". Only used the blood so far, two coats but I am not impressed with the colour. I have some BR coaches in "blood and custard" and though I appreciate these colours do vary, it should be very similar to the Accucraft coach, and as you can see it is almost aubergine. Thinking of buying the RailMatch colours, at least this will make a good undercoat.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Finally managed to get the sole bars glued in position, with the correct spacing and square to the floor, before the glue set I noticed a slight "rock" on the wheels, so checked using a plate glass, and found that 4 X 80 gm paper under the axle boxes in the appropriate opposite corners was enough to cure it.

View attachment 352087

The Accucraft chopper coupling was fitted in the position that the supplied coupling should go, marginally low but would probably be okay, though I think I will look to raise it that 1 - 2mm. Point to notice the new couplings have a bob weight, where all my original coupling are without, is it worth changing the hook on my original couplings?

View attachment 352088

Decided that I will hand paint with acrylics, and bought some Coach and Wagon "Blood" and "Custard". Only used the blood so far, two coats but I am not impressed with the colour. I have some BR coaches in "blood and custard" and though I appreciate these colours do vary, it should be very similar to the Accucraft coach, and as you can see it is almost aubergine. Thinking of buying the RailMatch colours, at least this will make a good undercoat.

View attachment 352089

Very plummy - does it change with varnish?

 

[JimmyB]

Very plummy - does it change with varnish?

NO!!

 

[Rhinochugger]

NO!!

OK, settle for undercoat

 

[Fezwig]

The Accucraft chopper coupling was fitted in the position that the supplied coupling should go, marginally low but would probably be okay, though I think I will look to raise it that 1 - 2mm. Point to notice the new couplings have a bob weight, where all my original coupling are without, is it worth changing the hook on my original couplings?

You could just cut off the bob weight?

 

[JimmyB]

You could just cut off the bob weight?

Yes, but it does make uncoupling easier

 

[maxi-model]

Decided that I will hand paint with acrylics, and bought some Coach and Wagon "Blood" and "Custard". Only used the blood so far, two coats but I am not impressed with the colour. I have some BR coaches in "blood and custard" and though I appreciate these colours do vary, it should be very similar to the Accucraft coach, and as you can see it is almost aubergine. Thinking of buying the RailMatch colours, at least this will make a good undercoat.

View attachment 352089

What are you trying to match or get near Jimmy, is it the IoM colour on the Accucraft coaches ? If you want to match the Accucraft IoM coaches you could get the colour on them scanned and get a mix done to match, not cheap. Problem if you ask for IoM match from Railmatch is that they vary anything to what appears to be bright red nowadays. Depends on era. What did Accucraft use as a basis for their colour ? You could ask Accucraft UK what BS/RAL/Pantone # was specified for production. I bought mine IoM's about 20 years ago, when first released, but they might still have it on file for a rerun. Or just go down Halfords and eyball in daylight and find a stock auto colour that is near. Then just spray a satin or dull finish ovr the top if you don't want gloss. But above all else ask Coach and Wagon Works what paints theirs are compatible with if you are going to overpaint with a different product. Max

 

[JimmyB]

What are you trying to match or get near Jimmy, is it the IoM colour on the Accucraft coaches ? If you want to match the Accucraft IoM coaches you could get the colour on them scanned and get a mix done to match, not cheap. Problem if you ask for IoM match from Railmatch is that they vary anything to what appears to be bright red nowadays. Depends on era. What did Accucraft use as a basis for their colour ? You could ask Accucraft UK what BS/RAL/Pantone # was specified for production. I bought mine IoM's about 20 years ago, when first released, but they might still have it on file for a rerun. Or just go down Halfords and eyball in daylight and find a stock auto colour that is near. Then just spray a satin or dull finish ovr the top if you don't want gloss. But above all else ask Coach and Wagon Works what paints theirs are compatible with if you are going to overpaint with a different product. Max

Not after an exact match, but most of my home build stock is BR Crimson, and when sat next to the Accucraft coach it is a very similar colour, so that is why I decided on BR Crimson, but the Coach and Wagons paint is way off, so I have bought (awaiting delivery) some RailMatch BR Crimson.
I know in the real world paints fade and change, so an exact match is not neccassary (Rule 8)

 

[Paul M]

s it worth changing the hook on my original couplings

Yes, if funds allow, ascyou stated, uncoupling is a doodle with the bobweighted ones

 

[JimmyB]

Minor adjustment to coupling height, and chassis, sole bar, undercarriage, etc painted black. also in the process of covering the seats in fabric, photos to follow.

 

[JimmyB]

Work continues, the seats have now been covered in fabric, which I think looks better than painting, and temporally fitted. Though a nice fit, the top of the backrest is level with the windows, and will need a tweak to get the glazing in.



The chassis has a row of holes laser cut along its side, no mention of these in the build instructions, but now assembled I assume it is to fit rivets into - which is what I have done. A job that would have been easier before assembly.