In between etches for Diesel locomotive bogies and detailing work I thought I'd put something a bit different together to keep me sane! I've always loved wagons and they're probably my favourite thing to model. There's so much variety when you scratch below the surface especially I think in my chosen period of the mid sixties. Pre-Nationalisation types were still nocking around, particularly if they'd been vacuum braked, and then there were all those wagons built for BR. The most numbeous type of course was the humble 16T mineral but instead of building yet another unfitted one I thought I'd build one of the vacuum fitted variety and just to be different I'd tackle one of the very rare Dia 1/109 rivetted examples built by Cambrain Wagon Works as part of lot 2806 in the late fifties. The spec was standard for a 1950s built vacuum fitted 16T mineral: 8 shoe clasp brakes, lifting link brake levers, screw couplings and 2'0 1/2" buffers. The basis is the parkside kit for the 1/109 with Masokits W-Irons and brake gear. Much of the construction is pretty standard so I'll gloss over that so as not to bore people too much and concentrate on areas where I've wandered off in my own direction.
Firsty wheels which are Exactoscale. I'm not completely sold on the stainless steel tyres and ideally I'd like to use Ultrascales but price does come into it and the Exactoscale ones are nicely detailed and only a bit more than half the price. Assembly can be a bit of a three handed job and getting the axle central between the wheels can be difficult. In order to make things easier some time ago I made a couple of plates up from plasticard and brass sheet. When held over the wheels in an Exactoscale back to back gauge they centralise the wheels on the axles and make the job of assembly much easier.
I like to assemble the W-Irons and all the brakegear on a peice of brass sheet whch I cut to be the same size as the plastic floor in the kit. A simple jig is used to set the vee hangers in the correct position.
Adding enough weight to a wagon can be a problem especially with all that brakegear and two vacuum cylinders getting in the way. My solution is to put it in the floor. I cut a hole out of the plastic floor of the kit and then cut a peice of lead sheet to fit. The brass sheet sub-base onto which I've solderded everything helps with this arrangement. A piece of plasticard will be added to cover the lead. This does make the floor 0.5mm or so thicker but it isn't really noticeable unless you're modelling a Conflat of Lowfit. In these cases you need to find a different approach!
With the brakegear, safety loops and vee hangers soldered to the brass sheet the solebars can be added. The axleboxes on the two photos I've seen of the prototype are different from those supplied in the kit so I used some spare ones I had with the correct type. They were for a 10' wheelbase wagon so they needed shortening to fit the 9' wheelbase of the 16T rarity. This was done so that the join will be convieniently hidden by the door springs. There is method in this madness somewhere!
The completed chassis. The Masokits clasp brakes have been modified to better represent the BR type. They aren't perfect but they are better than they were. An proper etch for these would be good, lots of clasp braked wagons to build! The Masokits brake levers have also been modified. Vacuum cylinders are ABS with the missing bits filled in on the sides that show. They should really be different sizes but I got lazy at that point. Detail has been added to the solebars, wagon door springs fitted and the changeover levers for the two vacuum cylinders cobbled together. Incidently does anyone know why wagons were fitted with two different sizes of vacuum cylinders and changeover levers? I've seen mention of freight and passenger modes. It strikes me as odd that a 9' wheelbase 16T mineral needs a passenger mode!
Trying to get the characteristic bow in the top of the sides of mineral wagons can be tricky. The easiest way that I've come across is to bow the whole side. Unless you look along the track at near rail level it isn't too noticable that the bottom of the sides is also bowed. I find that a small strip of 0.010" plasticard added to the wagon floor in the middle of each side is sufficient to do the job. The floor also needed adding to as the lead was a bit thicker. A top made of sheet plasticard was fitted and filled to take into account the spacers added to each side. The result can be seen in the assembled wagon body.
I don't know if anyone else has issues putting sprung buffer heads in whitemetal Heavy Duty/Self Contained buffers but I find it a real challenge. It would probably be dead easy with a lathe but I haven't got one so have to do them by hand. I find getting the holes central in the buffer to be a right pain and they need to be dead centre with those 2.5mm shanks. Given that these buffers are basically just tubes my solution is to make some out of brass tubing. I used 3mm OD 2mm ID and 2mm OD 0.5mm ID brass tubing. The large tube was drilled out to accept the buffer shanks and a collar was added using 0.4mm brass wire. The tubes were then soldered together using a jig to set the correct distances. It did take longer than drilling out whitemaetal ones but once I got going not by much. They are also stronger and look pretty good with a bit of added detail.
The completed wagon. Coupling hooks and screw couplings are Masokits. The buffers have been put in for illustrative purposes and will be replaced with the correct 13" heads once the wagon has been painted and they have turned up in the post. Vacuum pipes were made out of old wound guitar wire and 0.035" plastic rod. I see that Lanarkshire Models & Supplies are going to be doing a casting for this type which will be gladly recieved.
The wagon has been primed and now awaits coats of bauxite and black. Time to get back to the Diesels.
A 16T Rarity
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A 16T Rarity
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Re: A 16T Rarity
The Masokits clasp brakes have been modified to better represent the BR type. They aren't perfect but they are better than they were. An proper etch for these would be good, lots of clasp braked wagons to build!
There is this one, purpose designed for the job, if that means anything
https://www.eileensemporium.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=eny_fly_default.tpl&product_id=5851&category_id=288&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=9
Incidently does anyone know why wagons were fitted with two different sizes of vacuum cylinders and changeover levers? I've seen mention of freight and passenger modes. It strikes me as odd that a 9' wheelbase 16T mineral needs a passenger mode!
This has nothing to do with passengers! Its an Empty/Loaded changeover, compare the tare and loaded weights and you will realise that the brake force needed when loaded is about 3 times that needed when empty.Use a loaded setting when empty and you will quickly have flatted wheels, vice versa and you are not going to stop.
Regards
Keith
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Re: A 16T Rarity
Hi Keith,
Thanks for the info. I'd completely missed that Bill Bedford had done a chassis kit. I'll have to get one and give it a whirl or maybe a tweak! I want to do a couple more clasp braked 16T minerals at some point, a vacuum fitted 1/108 with oleo buffers and one of the unfitted clasp braked examples.
Now everything is clear! Full and empty makes perfect sense. The fact that someone had used the terms passenger and freight threw me a bit. Thanks for enlightening me!
Thanks for the info. I'd completely missed that Bill Bedford had done a chassis kit. I'll have to get one and give it a whirl or maybe a tweak! I want to do a couple more clasp braked 16T minerals at some point, a vacuum fitted 1/108 with oleo buffers and one of the unfitted clasp braked examples.
Now everything is clear! Full and empty makes perfect sense. The fact that someone had used the terms passenger and freight threw me a bit. Thanks for enlightening me!
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Re: A 16T Rarity
Very nice Justin. All it needs now is a coat of rust/grot!
Mind you doing all that on a full train would take some time, but satisfying in the end.
Terry Bendall
Mind you doing all that on a full train would take some time, but satisfying in the end.
Terry Bendall
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Re: A 16T Rarity
Thanks Terry. It will definately need a good weathering. Given the state that some of these things got into I wonder if it would be easier to paint it rust and grot then strategically add a little bit of the grey or bauxite that it was when new here and there!
I've got 14 Chivers MDVs (which would be a full train for me) sat in a box that I want to tackle at some point. I might need to find a way to speed things up a bit for them! A cunning etch might be in order. At least they all had Oleo buffers and not self contained ones!
I've got 14 Chivers MDVs (which would be a full train for me) sat in a box that I want to tackle at some point. I might need to find a way to speed things up a bit for them! A cunning etch might be in order. At least they all had Oleo buffers and not self contained ones!
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Re: A 16T Rarity
jjnewitt wrote:Given the state that some of these things got into I wonder if it would be easier to paint it rust and grot then strategically add a little bit of the grey or bauxite that it was when new here and there!
I did just that with some Grampus ballast wagons that I did a while back. A coat of Precision Paints rust was sparyed over first, then a range of suitable colours applied by dry brushing and then a very light coat of Railmatch Sleeper Grime to tone things down.
Terry Bendall
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Re: A 16T Rarity
grovenor-2685 wrote:This has nothing to do with passengers! Its an Empty/Loaded changeover,
Keith
I knew I had the official word on this somewhere, it was lurking in the June 1962 supplement to the General Appendix.
Regards
Keith
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Re: A 16T Rarity
Excellent stuff Keith! Thanks for posting that. I wonder how many times train crews in a hurry forgot or neglected to change the levers over to the correct setting? That could have been scary in a class 37 with a rake of full 1/119s coming down fron Hafodyrynys!
It's interesting to note that the 1/108s that were fitted with Morton 4 shoe brakes as part of the 1966 vacuum braking conversion scheme appear (as far as I can tell from photograpic evidence) not to have been fitted with any form of changeover lever or self adjusting brake as fitted to the 1/120 21 ton wagons but still had two brake cylinders.
It's interesting to note that the 1/108s that were fitted with Morton 4 shoe brakes as part of the 1966 vacuum braking conversion scheme appear (as far as I can tell from photograpic evidence) not to have been fitted with any form of changeover lever or self adjusting brake as fitted to the 1/120 21 ton wagons but still had two brake cylinders.
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Re: A 16T Rarity
Lovely work, Justin, really very nice indeed.
The question of the heavy duty buffers may now have been solved by Dave Franks, who now offers drilled-out heavy duty buffer housings, drilled to 2.5mm, to take MJT sprung heads. They are exceptionally good.
The question of the heavy duty buffers may now have been solved by Dave Franks, who now offers drilled-out heavy duty buffer housings, drilled to 2.5mm, to take MJT sprung heads. They are exceptionally good.
Tim M
Member of the Devon Riviera Area Group.
Member of the Devon Riviera Area Group.
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Re: A 16T Rarity
Hi Tim,
I hadn't realsied that Dave Franks had introduced the pre drilled option for his heavy duty buffers. I'll definately be looking into them! His castings are lovely aren't they. The brass ones I did do look good but were quite time consuming to put together.
Your post has made me realise that I haven't included any pictures of the 16T rarity actually painted. I'll have to dig one out as it is in bauxite and black now. I've also got another clasp braked 16T mineral on my workbench at the moment with the correct underframe! I'll have to try and do a comparison shot.
Thanks,
Justin
I hadn't realsied that Dave Franks had introduced the pre drilled option for his heavy duty buffers. I'll definately be looking into them! His castings are lovely aren't they. The brass ones I did do look good but were quite time consuming to put together.
Your post has made me realise that I haven't included any pictures of the 16T rarity actually painted. I'll have to dig one out as it is in bauxite and black now. I've also got another clasp braked 16T mineral on my workbench at the moment with the correct underframe! I'll have to try and do a comparison shot.
Thanks,
Justin
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Re: A 16T Rarity
It did get painted! Still need to sort out transfers and varnishing. My excuse is that it's been cold and damp andI've been distracted by my CAD program.
Not quite as rare as the clasp braked 1/109s but still not as numerous the vacuum braked 108/117s were the unfitted but clasp braked 108/117s. According to David Larkin there were 2000 of these built. They got the clasp brakes, including all the brackets but didn't get pipes or vacumm cylinders. No idea why. It would seem like an expensive braking system for an unfitted 16T mineral.
This picture shows the difference between the Masokits clasp brake (which I think is LMS) and the BR version that I've done. I don't think there's anything that's the same. I'm not changing the underframe on the 1/109 now though!
I'll get around to doing a vacuum fitted, clasp braked 1/108 one day.
Justin
Not quite as rare as the clasp braked 1/109s but still not as numerous the vacuum braked 108/117s were the unfitted but clasp braked 108/117s. According to David Larkin there were 2000 of these built. They got the clasp brakes, including all the brackets but didn't get pipes or vacumm cylinders. No idea why. It would seem like an expensive braking system for an unfitted 16T mineral.
This picture shows the difference between the Masokits clasp brake (which I think is LMS) and the BR version that I've done. I don't think there's anything that's the same. I'm not changing the underframe on the 1/109 now though!
I'll get around to doing a vacuum fitted, clasp braked 1/108 one day.
Justin
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Re: A 16T Rarity
One could say one is filling a vacuum here...
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enemy of truth....
Albert Einstein
Perfection is impossible.
But I may choose to serve perfection....
Robert Fripp
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PadgateWorks/
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