BenL

The prototype photo is of an S8, the model is of an S9 and so is correct in having self-contained buffers. The number of roof vents does appear to be an issue though - it looks like only 4 on the model when it should have 6, and the two gas lamp tops also appear to be missing. As far as I can find in all the main GWR book sources, inc the GWRJ journal article on these Bloaters, there’s no indication that these vans had their gas lighting removed, at least not in GWR service. I’m hoping the picture EFE released is just not very clear and that the actual model has the requisite number of roof vents and the gas lamp tops. I posted a prototype pic further up of the very van EFE are modelling in shirt button livery - it’s not so clear on the HMRS web copy I linked to, but it’s zoomed in and much clearer in the GWRJ article and the six vents and two gas lap tops are clearly visible.

Here’s the same pic of 2603 on the HMRS website if anyone is interested. https://hmrs.org.uk/-ael215--10t-bloater-gw-2603-diag-s8-in-yard-birmingham-snow-hill-arl-faded--gwsb--livery.html I’ve just noticed that in addition to not having the two gas light tops on the roof, the EFE model of this van appears to only have 4 rather than 6 shell ventilators on the roof. I’m pretty sure 6 was the standard number of shell ventilators to be fitted to these Bloaters so not quite sure what’s happened here.

In the same article there’s a pic of 2603 but it still has the gas lighting fitments on the roof. I wonder if EFE are working from a later picture by which time they were removed? Do we know if the gas lighting was indeed removed in GWR days? PS - in the aforementioned pic, a good number of the side vents have been filled in; probably too much to expect this to be incorporated into the tooling, but adventurous modellers may wish to fill them in!

I wonder if Dapol are working from this pic of 4870 for their proposed version? If so, I'd suggest she's in GWR black wartime livery rather than green as Dapol propose:

Thanks for the link, Tom. As a postwar modeller, I have the Sherwood one on order as I’m sure the original artwork had the post-39 white diagonal stripe at the end door end - doesn’t seem to have made it onto the production model unfortunately.

Following advice from @Derails Models, they can be straightened by tweaking the ends where they join the axelboxes.

What would really help would be to model the coupling on the Bachmann short straight example, which has a shorter ‘base’ behind the fitting for the coupling hook. Fitting the Bachmann version does help noticeably reduce the gap and I swap these in on all my Rapido wagons, but this isn’t cheap!

A nice little bit of period graffiti on the solebar 👌 Was this from a photo or a little bit of creative licence?!

Really happy with it personally. From the prototype pic you can see that the wagon has only been patch painted - the old 16inch ‘G’ and ‘W’ have been painted over and a patch painted for the post-42 lettering to go on. The rest is the old, slightly peeling/distressed paint, which I aim to add with some strategic dry brushing. The marks already provided on the model will really add to the overall effect as far as I’m concerned and I’m glad they were provided. I have also been very impressed by the brake gear undergubbins on these models, a really exceptional rendition of the DCIII brake arrangement as far as I’m concerned.

My reading of that thread is that while bauxite was adopted during the war, the small ‘S’ prefix would have been a post-nationalisation feature. I’ve found a 1946 pic with one still in stone so it seems not all got the bauxite treatment during or immediately after the war.

I need to check the books, but I think we actually need the 12 inch MJT heads and I’m reliably informed that these haven’t been available for sometime. Plus they don’t have the collar that the Rapido-fitted heads have. So I wonder if Rapido might be kind enough to add some 12 inch heads with collars to an upcoming mould, or turn to a renowned purveyor of 3D printing to generate some. I for one would be happy to pay for such a replacement part. (I apologise to anyone who is offended by my continued wondering about the most efficient and easiest solution to this issue)

The smoke box on the new one also appears to have lost its rivets on the front and rear edges, or is this a prototypical feature?

The buffers weren’t right for the original models…

You don’t need to worry, I’ve never limited myself to tasks I don’t consider a tedious faff, I just reserve the right to consider some tasks a tedious faff

I think we’re all allowed to decide what bits of modelling we find fulfilling, and I think we’re also allowed to find some aspects of modelling a tedious faff if we want to.

I’ll decide what I’m grateful for, thanks

Hmmm, good idea, I guess one of these two could do the job: https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/mjt/2375.php https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/mjt/2371.php Though a bit of a tedious faff when you’ve ordered quite a few of the wagons that need this mod!

Ideally it would be good to be able to replace just the bit of the head that is a separate part rather than the whole buffer - I wonder if there’s a 3D printing expert out there who could fashion a replacement head?

The fitting of the safety valve cover looks better, and no apparent chips, on the other examples on the Rails site, so looks like it’s just an issue with this particular individual.

The safety valve cover also doesn't look well fitted - rather proud of the boiler at the base? And is it chipped on the top edge or is that a photoshopped white background gone awry? Decent green though.

Oh my word, yes, there it is! Thank you @Pteremy, I really must book that eye test!

Very well found! P33 in my version of Andrews (original 1985 edition) doesn’t have this information - was a later updated version published? I still wonder if some pre-5390 locos were converted to the later cab style? In my version of Andrews, on p34 there’s a picture of 5380 with what to me looks like the later flatter roof, esp when compared to the picture of 4363 immediately below. Mind you, the difference in roof profile is sometimes harder to spot than one might think, and seems less pronounced as it looks on the two Dapol versions - as was pointed out earlier in the thread, one has to wonder if what appears to be a too great an angle from the front to the rear of the firebox exaggerates the cab height on the latest version.

Very much agree Mike though I’ve just had a relatively quick look through and can’t find any mention of the apparent switch from the higher more curved cab roof (as on the current Dapol release) to the lower less curved version (as on the previous Dapol release) at some point in the development of the moguls…

Good to see the prototype pic. Is that a flush riveted tender rather than one with the exposed rivet heads as on the model? The GWR appears central as one would expect on a flush sided tender, rather than off set as on a tender with exposed rivet heads. The pics of the model from Cheltenham Model Centre appear to show the GWR offset behind the rivets on one side and in front on the other, when the usual practice was the former.

Looking at the images in Mikkel’s post has made me realise I had never fully appreciated the extent of the difference between the earlier higher, more curved roofs and the later, lower flatter ones. Does anyone know when the change in style occurred, and were there any conversions from older to newer style?