Here's a couple of shots of work in progress on the first CDA conversion. The donor body for this wagon was a Minitrix HAA. After making an approach to Peco, they kindly allowed me to purchase a small quantity of unpainted hopper roofs and end discharge covers, which is allowing me to convert a small fleet of HAAs I've built up over time. The roofs require some careful filing to fit snugly inside the hopper body but once that's done I think they look the part. The second photo shows the prominent plastic roof roller guard which I'll replace with brass as per the third photo. Most of the detailing parts added to this one have not yet been painted, leaving painting, transfers and weathering in order to complete:

As I've acquired a collection of different makes of MGR wagon over the last few years, I thought I'd give a quick run-down and visual comparison for those who may be interested. From left to right, the Peco CDA hopper (£13-16), which is based on their HAA hopper (£11-13). The hood is produced as a clip-in 2-part moulding and end housing is fitted as 4 simple press-in mouldings. Next, the Farish model from the China factory which can be picked up for about £9 in HAA and HFA variants. On the right is the older Minitrix version, now out of production but often to be found on ebay from £7-8. I've left the hoods off the Peco CDA in some of the photos and the Farish HFA in all of them.

Top - Minitrix

Middle - Farish

Bottom - Peco

There are mutliple small differences between all of them; the Farish model is the only one with correctly shaped curved hopper end lips and automatic discharge operating equipment but the end staunchions, although finely replicated, are a little flimsy; the Peco version sits slightly lower and also has closer coupling than the others but, I've just noticed, smaller buffers which could be enough to cause buffer-locking issues if mad enough to use 3-links ; and the older Minitrix is a little chunkier in the mouldings but can be had for the lowest price. My personal favourate at the moment is the Farish, but ask me again when I've converted a dozen or so...

Graham