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Milk Churns and Siphons


MikeOxon

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My small layout includes a building representing a creamery, so I have been considering the traffic needed to serve this facility. I remembered that I had an old K's plastic kit of a six-wheel low Siphon, which had been put on one side as it had no chance of negotiating my small-radius curves.

 

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Looking at this model again (30 years after building it!), I think it is an attractive vehicle, representing the earlier low-roof Siphon, with only two doors each side. I intend to change the roof to an earlier single-arc design and apply an earlier style of lettering but the main problem is how to get it to stay on the track!

 

I laid the vehicle and a section of curved track on my scanner, and the image shows the magnitude of the problem rather well.

 

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Looking at this image makes me realise how remarkable it was that manufacturers, like Hornby Dublo, made large Pacific locomotives negotiate such track reliably! It also increased my admiration for those fine-scale modellers who manage to make true-scale models stay on the track at all.

 

I remembered that I had tried both removing the centre wheel flanges and also using a 'floating' axle on a centre support, both without success. The Mansell wheels that I had fitted had rather fine flanges, so I replaced these wheels with coarser Bachmann coach wheels and found that, as a four-wheeler, it would now navigate my curves successfully.

 

I 'd be interested to hear from any one who has suggestions for any alternative ways of tackling this problem (apart from the obvious "use larger-radius curves" :)

 

I've also been exploring the 'GWR wagon red' subject and happened to have some Farrow & Ball 'Rectory Red' paint left over from house decorations. According to their catalogue "Vermilion red was often made cheaper by the addition of red lead which blackens with age, so changing the colour to Rectory Red". This sounded quite a likely description for the make-up of GWR wagon red, so I tried it on one of my 3-plankers:

 

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I think this matches the 'light red' given in several descriptions, rather well and also has the potential for being 'weathered' to a much darker colour.

 

Mike

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You could try setting up on the Clemenson principal. I think Phil Traxon of Port Wynstay models now has a product intended for O-16.5 but could probably be adapted for your use.

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