Ullypug's tales from the tinking table

Nice work Andrew . We owe Oxford a lot: If they didn't supply us with such error-ridden models, there would be no pleasant modelling sessions to correct them ;-)

Interesting, I hadn’t realised quite how bad these were.  I

have an AA3 (Kingsbridge) and an AA1 (Bristol West) to do for which the new brandings arrived from Railtec last week.   I knew about the extra window but had completely missed the fact that they didn’t plate the ends!  A quick 5 min project for tonight is now taking a fair bit longer I think

There is an article by Gerry Beale in Model Railway Journal No. 268 (2019) detailing his corrections and improvements to the AA3. I think you've covered much the same ground. One thing he did that isn't on your list was to replace the handrails as, he says, the style with the L-shaped brackets came in in the 1940s on 20 ton vans. He also made replacement footboards with higher backboards, more correct, he says, for vans in later years. I'm no expert on Great Western brake vans but I do have an Oxford AA3 that I plan to put into c. 1902 condition, so I've found your post here and his article very helpful.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Compound2632

It’s kind of weird how this has cropped up as I posted it back in 2018! I remember discussing it with Gerry at Railwells and yes he took things a little further than I did for his article.

Good luck if you are attempting this. It is a bit of a faff but worth it in the end. 

@The Fatadder had bumped this blog post - I'm afraid I hadn't spotted that the original post was from a couple of years ago but then so is my purchase of the Oxford model! But while I'm here, may I just air my thoughts on the additional things I need to do / take into account for c. 1902 condition, having looked at gwr.org.uk, especially the photo of Crewe-allocated AA3 No. 17539?

• the windows at the non-verandah end should be the earlier type with a central horizontal transom
• the handrails should be the early type - pre-gas pipe - with the lower horizontal rails only at the ends
• the sandbox fillers should be out of sight underneath the transverse wooden bench? - i.e. no rectangular metal boxes? This is the bit I'm least clear on. The photo of No. 17539 doesn't show a transverse bench, just what I interpret as a seat in the corner.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Compound2632

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

air my thoughts on the additional things I need to do / take into account for c. 1902 condition

 

I am sure you know this but there would have been none of the plating and the handrails were not painted white pre WW1

thanks for the Feedback, very useful to see what others have done before starting.    One thing that’s puzzling me, once the 2screws are removed how do you remove the body?

9 hours ago, Brassey said:

I am sure you know this but there would have been none of the plating and the handrails were not painted white pre WW1

 

I've got the "early" version which is timbered all round. Having just looked at it again, it has the early style of handrails already (so much Oxford got right, so much wrong!) but white as it's in post-1925 livery. For pre-1904 livery, my understanding is that brake vans were a very dark grey, darker than the post-1904 (or what date you favour) wagon grey.

 

48 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

thanks for the Feedback, very useful to see what others have done before starting.    One thing that’s puzzling me, once the 2screws are removed how do you remove the body?

 

Gerry Beal says push the buffers out from behind the headstocks. I confess I've yet to try this myself.

12 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

the sandbox fillers should be out of sight underneath the transverse wooden bench?

 

Yes I think so. The seats are individual, in the corners, on the early AA3s, and only later became the standard 'cross-bench'.