Nether Madder and Green Soudley Rly

[Martin S-C]

But it is in the house where the company's Carriage and Wagon Works are set up...
 

... with its impressive array of modern machine tools and our famed storage system based on the well known principal of Take Away Chinese (whatever that is, sounds like it might be one of those new-fangled broad gauge ideas).

And our Mechanics Institute with it's magnificent library of technical documents...

Edited November 27, 2021 by Martin S-C

[brylonscamel]

Firefox as browser-of-choice? You'll be modelling radio-controlled finescale narrow gauge next!

[Martin S-C]

Some scratch building/kit bashing advice would be gratefully received here. I have a 3D printed brake van that I want to press into service as a passenger brake van. I have removed the goods vehicle handrails and added a few passenger-styled features such as lighting and will add vac brake hoses. The vehicle is plain vertical planked with inside frames so I have a nice space at one end for pairs of luggage doors and I've plenty of brass fittings like hinges and handles to pretty these up. My questions are what sort of dimensions would a pair of luggage doors be and what form might they take if such a conversion were carried out? Can I get away with having them windowless as the 3D print on this vehicle is very fragile and I can't see cutting holes in the model being anything but a route to disaster. I want to get away from a road van look if possible, but things like toplight vents are possible as I have a couple of these in my bits box.

I assume doors on such a vehicle would be centrally placed over the axle box as my sketch suggests - plus footsteps to be added.

 

EDIT: I should probably fully close the guards door as well, though this vehicle will only work on the branch line at 25 mph max speed.

Edited November 27, 2021 by Martin S-C

[MrWolf]

Double doors only seem to be the width of a carriage door each. It might be worth looking at GWR Road vans. There were a few converted with similar doors to Mink vans but of a passenger luggage van width.

[Martin S-C]

Thanks for the pointer. It looks like two were built based on the AA3 diagram.
 

But the doors have a distinct goods brake look. My concern is I'm using a vertical planked vehicle as the basis and anything other than goods van style doors would look wrong. I can very easily bodge up windowless panelled doors but I just wonder if they'd look strange. Of course the AA3 based road vans used doors from different goods vehicles so in my fictional case I might justify doors re-used from an extinct passenger van. I may just mock something up and tack it on with black tack and see how it looks.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

By sheer chance I have been investigating the mess and tool vans that accompany breakdown cranes. These tended to be planked wagons with planked doors.

 

Is this any help? Could especially be made as double doors?

 

[Martin S-C]

It may well help. I'll consider anything. Have you links to images of any particular examples?

[Bluemonkey presents....]

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/wrdeptcoach

 

His pictures are always a good source for things. The van I mean are near the very bottom but there are a number of other stock items that may also interest you on this page.

Google GWR Mess van can back with plenty of examples but the pictures are more of the end rather than the middle doors unfortunately.

[Martin S-C]

Great link thank you. I always forget Paul's archive.

This one is interesting, a basic fruit van converted to engineers use but with the sliding doors deleted and two ex-passenger vehicle doors added and the glass panels in those appear to have been blanked off.

DW150319_Fruit_D_2910

EDIT: It seems I can't link to an individual image

Edited November 28, 2021 by Martin S-C

[Nick C]

If you don't want to cut the material, how about an external sliding door - some LSWR brake thirds had them, as did the SECR 'grand vitesse' luggage vans.

[Martin S-C]

As it happens I've decided to use another vehicle for the passenger guards van I need so this one will be a goods road van, which means I can scratch together some planked braced doors for it. I was coming around to thinking it had too much of a goods vehicle character anyway. I appreciate all the help.

[Martin S-C]

Road van woes.

I made progress yesterday by scribing planks onto small rectangles of 5 thou plastic and glueing these direct to the van sides, then adding door frames for the hinges.

So, this resulted.





This morning I looked at it and decided it wouldn't do so ripped it all off. The things were not square and the planks were too deep and.. all sorts of things felt not right about it.

I then found this image of the S&DJR 6-wheel brake which I have a model of already and so worked up sections of plastic to represent the posts, sill and upper ventilator panel. I'm now at this stage which feels a lot more like its going mostly in the right direction.

[Martin S-C]

A small update. It looks crude by most people's standards but I think its headed the right way now. I have done almost no scratch building in my life so I'm quite pleased with the bodge factor on this one. I'm confident I can patch up any gaps with a skim of filler.

 

I also found out today by wasting an hour on Google that my 3D print is of a North British brake van. I honestly do not remember buying it, which is worrying in itself!


 

Edited November 29, 2021 by Martin S-C
EDIT: spolling

[Corbs]

Liking this a lot so far.

[MrWolf]

This is not good. I'm getting tempted away from layout building and feeling the need to dig my outside framed Toad brake van kit out from the Box Of Doom. 

[Martin S-C]

I warn you, this brake van malarky is a slippery slope. I have too many already and still keep finding little quaint old style ones I want to model. I've got three of the Slaters NER birdcage ones to build which will be the NMGS standard design. And two more open veranda MR ones for the NMR... resistance is futile.

[MrWolf]

I'm currently working my way through two banana boxes which contained some hundred and thirty odd wagon kits.

 

I'm looking at slippery slope in the rear view mirror....

[Martin S-C]

7 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

...two banana boxes which contained some hundred and thirty odd wagon kits...

 

They must have been huge bananas.

... only then did I realise what you meant. Derp.

[Compound2632]

All sounds good to me.

[Martin S-C]

I'm selling off a bunch of wagon kits if anyone would like to increase their stash? All sorts - Ratio, Slaters, Powsides, Coopercraft, Cambrian, Parkside and a couple from D&S, Fourmost, 51L and Nu-Cast. Mostly pre-grouping stuff but most lasted into the 1950s. Shout by PM if you'd like a list. I'm doing discounts for bulk

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

I warn you, this brake van malarky is a slippery slope. I have too many already and still keep finding little quaint old style ones I want to model. I've got three of the Slaters NER birdcage ones to build which will be the NMGS standard design. And two more open veranda MR ones for the NMR... resistance is futile.

You can never have too many brake vans.

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I'm currently working my way through two banana boxes which contained some hundred and thirty odd wagon kits.

 

I'm looking at slippery slope in the rear view mirror....

You can never have too many wagons.

[Barry O]

5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

You can never have too many wagons.

Will 500+ do???

 

Baz

[Bluemonkey presents....]

14 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

I'm selling off a bunch of wagon kits if anyone would like to increase their stash? All sorts - Ratio, Slaters, Powsides, Coopercraft, Cambrian, Parkside and a couple from D&S, Fourmost, 51L and Nu-Cast. Mostly pre-grouping stuff but most lasted into the 1950s. Shout by PM if you'd like a list. I'm doing discounts for bulk

Temptation for sure!!

[Martin S-C]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Will 500+ do???

 

Baz

Olympic standard wagon collecting!

I dare not count mine. Don't think its 500 though.