I have a couple of days off work to make sure I use up my holiday before year-end, this has resulted in 2 mid-week days, daylight and some relative peace (wife at work, son and daughter fully occupied) and a couple of hours working on wagons. I've been very impressed with Michael Clark's etches for brake gear and I'm particularly keen to address the brakes on an ex-LNER/BR fish van a Parksidekit in the guise of an Express Parcels van, the kit linkages, levers and vees look under-nourished. Trying to make up Michael's brake hangers and shoes was fiddly, so I cheated with MJT clasp brakes, now I'm onto the more satisfying bits of linking vee's and brakes together with rigging.

I also decided to improve the brakes on an ex-GWR 12 ton van in BR bauxite a Bachmann RTR model and found intially to my growing horror that I was cutting more and more bits off the underframe before I could start re-construction, but I'm sure now it was worthwhile. Fitting the P4 wheels needed the backs of the W-irons sanded down and the axle holes very carefully drilled a fraction deeper for the pinpoints.

The header picture here shows something of my goal, the van is the Parkside kit and has been fitted with sprung buffers, I know they're not the right pattern as they are Bachmann loco buffers from a spares pack, but they're good enough for me for now. The coupling is an etched instanter to HO scale very kindly given to me by a fellow modeller. Again, it's not right as it's too small for 4mm and looks fragile, in my view, instanters are large heavy bulky couplings and these just aren't big enough, I have a packet of Exactoscale to try, but even though they are from the pro's in the business they still don't portray the 'mass' of the real thing, I may tin them to 'bulk' them up and see if that makes a better representation. Anyway, the header image shows the fish/parcels van and an 08 on a tight curve with the coupling at full stretch and the inner buffers in compression which is something I want to see.

These pictures of the 12T RTR van show the extent of original detail that needed removing (brake hangers/brake blocks/brake rigging/cross-shaft Etc) and the new P4 wheels fitted together with new brake hangers/blocks cut down from the MJT clasp brakes and fitted into 1.6mm holes drilled in the floor to get the shoes to line-up with the axles. The brake blocks have been drilled for the brake arms.

The round white dot in the lower right quadrant of the underframe in this picture below is the tip of the cut-down brake hanger showing where the hole is drilled to fit the MJT brake hangers/blocks.

This next image shows how it is possible to get the brake blocks very close to the wheel.

I've made up brake arms and added Vee's to the underframe, now I'm adding brake levers and GWR pattern 'saw-tooth' brake guards, I had trouble knowing where to locate the top of the brake guard, but there is a tiny 'nib' on the right-hand end of the sole plate in just the right spot (just out-board of the shortened side stanchion) the stay to the w-iron was shortened by half and twisted half-a-turn to allow it to lie flat. Most awkward has been getting the profile of the long brake lever right, the sketch in the instructions is vague, so I've used Geoff Kent's excellent '4mm Wagons part 2', you can see that the initial angle from the vee is too large, I shall tweak it tomorrow, I'm pleased I could do the tiny 'return' on the handle end. A note on the brake arms; I've measured the RTR underframe and as far as I can tell it is a 40mm wheelbase, so spot-on, but I'm disappointed with the resulting angle of the cams on the cross-shaft, I expected them to be less acute, so on my next version I think I'll shorten the brake arms and re-drill the brake block end.

btw The white splodges are primer on the brass

Shaping brake levers

My worry over shaping the brake levers for the ex GWR 12T van are over, I tweaked the first one and then drew a plan view on squared paper with some dimensions and from that I found it straightforward to shape the next one. Here is my finished lever.

And the plan with dimensions

5-plank wagon conversion

So I got a bargain on an online auction

it was dark grey with 'loco wheels only' markings, but with a 'coal load' glued into it, I had originally (before I found the 'coal') thought it would go into store for a steam era idea, but now I've decided it needs a new identity.

First some bauxite paint, then a simple renumber, then a dummy load, then a tarpaulin sheet for the body

next a revamp for the underframe, wheels, brakes, vac cylinder, tie rods etc