Entry posted by RobboPetes
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These have always been one of my favourite wagons and many years ago I bought a couple of the John Grey kits. I made the wagons up minus the bolsters: these were fabricated from the relevant thicknesses of plasticard.
The bolster pins were going to be made from Bambi mini-staples. I checked these against scale drawings and found they were spot-on. All I needed to do was to drill 0.3 mm holes through the width of the 40 thou plasticard I used for the middle bit of the 'H' of the bolster. Having done this I assembled one and the rest were left while I continued with other bits model-wise.
Enter Bachmann on to the scene and the release of their BDA. On studying the model against what I had I quickly realised the John Grey kit was severely lacking. I have since bought 3 railfrieght and one Loadhaul version. The loadhaul one had the holes drilled out to accept the Bambi bolster pins, as the bolsters on these are rectangular as opposed to 'H' section and easier to drill without damage to the outer wall of the bolster. To anyone else thinking of doing the same thing please be pleasantly warned! If you knock the pins, even slightly, the bolster tends to break from the model. I have abandoned this idea and will stick with the pins supplied by Bachmann having already broken off 2 of the bolsters.
The gripe I have with these wagons is the plastic brake disc wheels that are attached to each bogie on both sides. I saw some at an exhibition last year and was disappointed when viewing these from normal viewing hieght - above the wagon. I personally don't like the look of the disc wheel when looking along the length of the wagon from above either. I purchased the excellent brass brakewheels from TPM: item number 1824C Plain and blind spoke brakewheels. Another problem seems to be the fixture of the wheels to the bogie. I have found them to be at varying angles, probably due to the soft nature of the plastic. See the following pictures:
I did think about painting the backs of the plastic discs. The problem would be in getting a consistent depth to the black on the edge of the wheel. Doing one wagon might be OK, but doing more might show inconsistencies along the length of the train. I feel that when viewed from the side there isn't much to determine between the two versions. See the next photo for a comparison:
To do this I made a simple jig made out of two pieces of wood, making absolutely sure the right angles on these where definite. I made a score at right angles on the upright piece to hold the pin when soldering. The angles are vital in such a small scale as this, as any inaccuracies are greatly magnified! This worked well for the first two, but I soon realised the limitation of control on the next couple. Solution: use a smaller thickness of wood to be able to press the pin on to the brakewheel when soldering. I plan to do the other two wheels for the other side of the first wagon soon, and for the remaining two wagons in the not to distant.
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