In my very first post in this Blog , I referred to the need for plenty of horses and the facilities to support them. As part of "Turning Back the Clock", I decided that an essential railway vehicle would be a Horse Box, so I chose to build the Wizard Models/51L etched brass kit of the GWR diagram N6 box.

 

Inspired by @magmouse description of his 7mm scale model, I decided to restore my own early post about my 4mm scale model.

 

Although at that time (2013), I had not started writing detailed descriptions of my ‘builds’, I found that I had made a collection of photos, stage by stage throughout the build. So I am now able to add extra illustrations, which date back to 2012. I hope that my 10-year old ‘build’ may continue to be of interest to current modellers.

 

I felt that construction of the ‘Wizard models’ N6 kit was achievable for a beginner in etched-brass construction, since the prototypes, dating from 1890, were of a particularly simple, straight-sided construction, albeit with quite a lot of panelling on the sides and ends. The panelling is, of course, taken care of by the etching process but I liked the fact that this model did not need any 'tumble home' to be formed, so everything looked pretty straightforward.

 

Chassis Construction 

I decided to start with the chassis , carefully following the instructions to bend the buffer beams, vee-hangers and axleguard-brackets down. This was followed by adding the solebars, which fit through slots in the floor and were soldered in place.

 

Initial chassis construction

 

I then moved on to adding the brake blocks to the axleguard etches – the instructions advise to do this before bending the W-irons. The axle guard is then fitted at ‘the grooms end’ with the linkage hanger pointing to the end of the vehicle. I puzzled for some time over which was the ‘groom’s end’. I eventually realised that the fold-out steps on the solebars are the key to this, though not mentioned in the instructions. The ‘linkage hanger’ is the fold-up part that looks rather like a sub machine-gun on the etch!

 

Adding brake blocks to chassis etch

 

After folding up the W-irons and adding bearings to the etch, I carried out a test fit of the Mansell wheels, to check for free running

 

Complete axleguard assembly

 

The second axleguard is assembled in the same way but is designed to pivot on a shaft between raised tabs on the chassis etch.

 

I struggled for some time to understand how to bend the handbrake lever stirrup and then realised (too late) that it is necessary to fit this before fitting the pivoted axleguard assembly. Otherwise, it is impossible to solder the tab on the inside of the chassis, without removing the axleguard assembly again!

 

Folded handbrake ratchet etch

 

Next, I realised how little I knew about brake gear, so had to give myself a crash course on 'safety loops' and the like. The N6 underframe superseded the earlier outside rigged brake gear, by using the later standard pattern, with triangular tie-bars between the brake blocks on opposite sides of the vehicle. The basic method of operation of the clasp-type brake is shown below

 

Clasp brake operation

 

The triangular links between the brake blocks on each side were fitted next. There are several diagrams in the instructions to show how the various parts should be fitted together. Then the various ‘safety loops’ were bent and added to the axleguards as described in the instructions. These parts were fitted on the prototypes to catch any loose parts of the brake linkage that might otherwise drop and cause an accident. 

 

Next, I added the vacuum brake operating cylinder (white metal casting), followed by the linkage to the clasp brake assemblies, as shown below. To describe this as a fiddly process would be an understatement and I found it easier to attach several small parts by using drops of superglue rather than soldering, which tends to loosen adjacent parts.

 

Brake linkage and safety loops added to chassis

I summarised the steps in the construction of the chassis in the illustration below:

 

Stages in construction of the N6 chassis

 

Body Construction

 

Once the chassis was complete, I built the body as a separate item. This proved relatively straightforward, with just two etches that are each folded to form one side and end, then soldered together.

 

Inner body shell folded and soldered

 

The detailed overlays carrying all the planking details and framing then fitted easily over the tabs raised from the inner body shell (one tab ringed in above image). These tabs also serve to represent the hinges on the doors.

 

Etched overlay added to inner body

 

I had some difficulty in persuading the roof to sit flush to the ends, near the centreline of the body, so I soldered a pair of small right-angle brackets inside the body, to hold the centre of the roof in place – easy to do, if you assemble the body and chassis separately.

 

Finally, I added the various white metal fittings and found that the spring and axle box assemblies tended to foul the rocking compensation of one axle. A fair bit of filing down was needed to keep everything working! Eventually, however, I had an attractive model, to play its part in generating the 'feel' of the of the earlier period that I am trying to represent.

As in the case of the chassis, above, I made a collection of images to show the stages in the construction of the body and the final assembly of my complete model:

 

Stages in construction of N6 Body

 

At the time of writing (2023), I must confess that this model is still missing lettering and various handrails.

 

My model of N6 horse box after painting

 

Later on, I built several other vehicles, such as a carriage truck, so that this model could be included in a complete train , to carry the Wilcote family together with their carriage and its horse to London for ‘the season’

 

Mike