I've realised that I don't have enough P4 box vans for Callow Lane, so I've diverted my attentions from buildings and crumbling platforms to building 8 - 10 box vans to bolster the wagon fleet.

I'm using a variety of recent Bachmann items, purchased over the last couple of years as semi-impulse buys, plus some Parkside Dundas kits.

Currently on the workbench are a Bachmann planked BR 12t box van, which is having to have a virtually complete chassis rebuild, once I found that there was no easy way to make the brake shoe assembly line up with the P4 wheel sets. Hopefully, though, it will look better for it.

The other item on the workbench is a Parkside Dundas BR 12t plywood van, which is being sprung with Bill Bedford springing units.

This will probably be followed by a Parkside LNER fruit van and a couple of Bachmann BR 12t plywood bodied vans, which will be built as 8-shoe clasp brake varieties, using Red Panda chassis as the basis (but probably Bill Bedforded as well)..

After that, a few more Bachmann vans beckon, including a couple of insulated vans. I think I will try to do something with the Bachmann chassis on one of them, to see how much of it I can retain.

There is also a recent Parkside LNER mineral lurking in the pile, which will probably be followed by a couple of Chivers 21t minerals.

After that, probably have to get back to the layout...

Update 03/4/10

Here are some photos of the first two vans, the Bachmann planked one and the Parkside ply-sided one:

Update 04/4/10

Here's the start of work on the next pair of vans - a couple of Bachmann BR 12t ply-sided vans. The complete Bachmann chassis have been removed and a Red Panda 8-shoe clasp braked chassis will be put under each van. The first van will have internal rocker compensation, the other one will have external rocker compensation or springing.

Lead weights have been epoxied to the insides of the van floors, ready for glueing the floors permanently to the bodies.

Update 08/4/10

More progress on the two ply-sided vans - now virtually complete, bar the painting and weathering:

Update 13/4/10

Here are the next two vans under construction - both Parkside kits - a BR 'Vanwide' and an LNER Fruit van. Both will be sprung using Bill Bedford springing units:

I was also informed the other day that I had put the wrong W irons on the BR ply-sided van that I build a couple of weeks ago. If you look at the photo further up the thread, you will see the RCH type W irons, which were wrong for this kind of van. I really didn't want to remove the brass W irons, because they are epoxied in good and proper, so I ended up making up 05 thou plasticard overlays, which now give the appearance of the later BR axleguard:

Update 01/5/10

Not done much over the last couple of weeks, unfortunately, partly due to work and being extremely knackered thereafter on most weekday evenings, and then last weekend there was the RMWeb Members Day at Taunton. Then another week of general exhaustion after work (catching up with the weekend!), and this weekend I am redecorating the bathroom... ho hum!...

I have, however, managed to glue the springs and axleboxes to both vans, and have made a start with the brake gear on the Vanwide.

Update 07/5/10

My thanks to everyone who responded to my request for information on the LNER van chassis configuration. I now have enough information to complete it, and in fact did more work on it last night. Photos will follow.

Update 09/5/10

I've now complete the construction of vans 5 & 6 - the LNER van and a Vanwide:

I've replaced the Parkside brake lever on the LNER van with a modified Ambis one, together with a Bill Bedford ratchet. The brake lever for the Vanwide was a slightly more unusual shape, so I chickened out and used the Parkside plastic one, albeit thinned down and attached to the solebar by means of a bit of 0.3mm brass rod glued through both the lever and the chassis.

The next two vans will probably be conversions of R-T-R Bachmann meat vans, one in white and one in blue livery. Both will get a lot of weathering when done...

Of course, at some stage, I'm going to have to paint and weather all these vans!...