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Caledonian Railway pre-diagram open wagons.


Dave John

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These are made from the latest True Line Models resin body produced by the CRA. Many thanks to all involved.

 

The description pre-diagram means that they were built bfeore the introduction of the official diagram book and therefore don’t have a diagram number. More details here;

 

https://www.crassoc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1479

 

I have built them in my usual way, copperclad sub chassis, rocking W irons, internal sprung buffers, all the bits from 51L.

 

Resin bodied wagons are very light, so the large crate and the load under the sheet are weighted.

 

Anyway a couple of pics. slightly faded livery, getting on a bit by the Edwardian era.

 

1195327390_pdo2.JPG.120e7b250e55225557b1fa2a977747da.JPG

 

A harsh close up showing the roping cleats.

 

834876666_pdo4.JPG.d5e96821db1afa13b42ac6a3b2511e89.JPG

 

 

A more general shot putting them in context.

 

80271993_pdo8.JPG.5807133525374ffad905608b0430aec2.JPG

 

 

Anyway, good luck everyone. 

Edited by Dave John

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Yes nicely done, Dave. 

 

I really like that  faded livery, that in itself is almost enough to make me build one. As the ignoramus I am, can I ask what is the official name for that period's CR wagon colour?

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Hi Mikkel. The Caley always called it red oxide. Looking at photos I think it was a fairly rich solid colour when new, I like the plasticote for that. However I'm sure it faded to a pinkish hue over time. I base that on looking at photos where I can see wagons which are clearly newer and older and by observation of the way in which similar red/brown paints from the same era have faded in historic buildings, particularly churches. 

 

I accept that I am observing similar paints in buildings after 130 or so years rather than 20, but they are internal and therefore not subject to strong sunlight or industrial rain with its acid content. My conclusion is that the fading to pinkish would happen much more quickly outside. ( a modern comparison might be with EWS locos, looking at photos of them on here many have faded a lot over a relatively short time) 

 

Anyway those wagons were given a primer of Halfords grey. I then mixed Humbrol 100 and 61 , diluted a bit and applied by brush. The black ironwork is not quite black, I always mix it with a few drops of white just to fade it a bit. When dry and transfers added I gently brushed the lot with a fibreglass brush , just breaking through in places to age the lettering. Finally a coat of Lidl hairspray .

 

Once dry a few washes of grey and brown acrylics just to get a bit of dirt into the corners. 

 

All very subjective, but it looks how I imagine it should look. 

 

 

 

 

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As Mikkel says, the faded livery is very effective.  I'm having the same trouble about the light weight of plastic wagons and plan to load my cattle trucks with white metal cows.  I enjoy seeing plenty of pre-grouping stuff appearing now.

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1 hour ago, MikeOxon said:

As Mikkel says, the faded livery is very effective.  I'm having the same trouble about the light weight of plastic wagons and plan to load my cattle trucks with white metal cows.  I enjoy seeing plenty of pre-grouping stuff appearing now.

Make sure they’re not girl cows. Cattle trucks were much more likely to be filled with beef cattle (mostly boys). You might need to file off some udders!

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Thank you, although inside the wagons the 'bits' shouldn't be too obvious.  I shall see what I can find.  Hornby used to do sets but no longer available.

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17 hours ago, Dave John said:

When dry and transfers added I gently brushed the lot with a fibreglass brush

 

Top tip!

 

Thanks for that, and for the info on CR red oxide. Having posted the question, I remembered that the CR also features in the October 1904 Railway Magazine article that is one of the sources in the debate about GWR red wagon liveries (by J.B.B.Collins, titled The Colour Schemes of our Railways). Here's a crop of how the author saw the CR scheme. It's my experience that the livery articles of the day should be taken with a grain of salt! 

 

cr.jpg.6ad075f6c4dda2ca4be72a6bdd0b2766.jpg

   

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Lovely ropes. So often overdone or fuzzy. What did you use?  

 

Another general question (Mikkel's image got me thinking again): why is a deep red/brown colour so often referred to as lake?

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Hi Rich, it is some of that ezline elastic. I think its the smaller size but I lost the bag with the label on. 

 

It is a green colour, but the Caley used rope with a blue ident thread woven in so its vaguely right. 

 

Fair thought about Lake, though I always felt that Lake tended towards the red. Mikkels post above with the coach described as chocolate might indicate a much browner colour than that depicted in paintings and on early models. Much has been written about it, of course the reference work is "Caledonian Railway Livery" by Jim MacIntosh. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, richbrummitt said:

Lovely ropes. So often overdone or fuzzy. What did you use?  

 

Another general question (Mikkel's image got me thinking again): why is a deep red/brown colour so often referred to as lake?

It's not the colour, it's the nature of the paint. 'Lake' pigments are dyestuffs made insoluble by chemical processing and suspended in a transparent medium.  They can make a wide variety of colours that build up 'depth' by being applied in layers.

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