Scratchbuilding a NSWGR VHO Passenger Brake Van: Part 3
The first article in this series, ‘Scratchbuilding a NSWGR VHO Passenger Brake Van: Part 1’ appeared in AMRM Issue 334 (February 2019). The second, ‘Scratchbuilding a NSWGR VHO Passenger Brake Van: Part 2’ appeared in AMRM Issue 335 (April 2019).
Construction – The Roof
The first step of the roof construction is to reduce the roof’s length from a scale 72'6" down to 64'6". Therefore, when we convert these measurements into HO scale equivalents, we will need to reduce the overall length of the roof from 253.7mm to 225.7mm – a reduction of approximately 28mm. I use the word ‘approximately’ due to the slight discrepancies in scale with the commercially available roofs currently on offer. The Sydney Hobbies cast urethane roof is approximately 253mm and the Lima roof is approximately 254mm. Therefore, double-check the overall length of the roof you will be using before you start to measure and cut anything, so you can compensate in your measurements if needed and achieve the correct length. For reference purposes, I used the Sydney Hobbies roof, which is 253mm in length.
Clean the roof so it is free of flash and casting burrs; in particular, pay very close attention to the undersides of the roof edges, as these have to eventually mate to the tops of the sides. If you are using a Lima roof, you will need to prepare it in three steps. First, if it still has the moulded-on clear sides which constitute the windows in a normal Lima carriage, these will need to be removed by measuring 2mm below the bottom of the roof edge, scribing a line and cutting off everything below this line. The two thin moulded-on glass sections at the ends of the roof will also need to be removed by repeating the above step. Finally, you need to remove the moulded-on roof vents before sanding the top of the roof perfectly smooth.
I have found the best way to achieve this step is to keep the reduction measurement in mind (for example, let’s say it is 28mm), before finding the centre of the roof and marking it at several points across the roof’s arch. When you have this centre line, you can then use it as a ‘halfway’ mark and measure 14mm at several points on both sides of this line to create the 28mm section to be removed. These two lines are to be your cutting lines (see Photo 12).
Use a razor saw and mitre box to cut the roof into three sections (the two halves and the excess centre section). To ensure you don’t accidentally remove too much material from each half of the roof, position the cuts towards the excess centre section instead of cutting right on the line.
Clean off any flash from the cutting process before positioning the two halves together and checking the overall measurement. If you are still above the overall measurement required, you need to evenly and equally file and sand the cut sides of both halves until you finally reach the 225.7mm needed. Before gluing the two halves together, check the alignment of both halves on a flat glass surface by sitting the halves both upside down and on their sides; you need to ensure both halves can be positioned perfectly level without any gaps or discrepancies.
When satisfied, superglue the halves back together, checking the edges of the roof lines on the sides, and the overall roof plane, making sure everything is perfectly positioned, level and correct before the glue sets. When the glue has dried, I would recommend lightly sanding the inner side of the roof’s glue joint, before gluing a 10mm wide strip of Evergreen 0.005" sheet styrene over this joint to ‘lap’ it (see Photo 13). Leave everything to dry overnight.
In order to join the roof to the carriage body, we need to cut away some of the locating sections which protrude from underneath the roof. Evenly position the roof above the body and use a fine tipped permanent marker to mark each side of each
