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Thompson BZ 6 wheel brake van


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Thankyou John Isherwood for the information on the BZ ends and I apologise for not using your correct handle. I don't really know how these 'Forums' work as I am quite unfamiliar with them other than as a casual 'lurker' but at least I will be able to get the correct finish on the completed models. To be quite honest I can't really remember what colour the ends were other than brake rust brown and other varieties of 'muck' thrown up from the track! It was such a long time ago and Ian's picture of the painted BZ body threw me. I can't seem to find any clear colour photographs of the early BR period other than those of the vans in the blue era. So, I take it that the BZ vans should resemble the LMS 6 wheeled fish shown here but in BR coach red? If that's so I am a happy Bunny! Many thanks for the correct info. Regards. HL.

IMG_3943 (2018_10_24 10_38_18 UTC).JPG

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56 minutes ago, harry lamb said:

.. I take it that the BZ vans should resemble the LMS 6 wheeled fish shown here but in BR coach red?

 

In most cases, yes - but there were the odd exceptions; (aren't there always)?

 

Coach Crimson is the usual description of the 'blood' colour associated with the early BR period.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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What a superb model, sadly I just don't have the skills to put together anything like that. Pity as I would love a BZ as they appeared occsionally on the S&D milk trains. I note the Comet kit appears to have been dropped.

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7 hours ago, w124bob said:

What a superb model, sadly I just don't have the skills to put together anything like that. Pity as I would love a BZ as they appeared occsionally on the S&D milk trains. I note the Comet kit appears to have been dropped.

 

BZs were used on most M&GN local passenger trains, instead of brake coaches. It was apparently something to do with higher capacity for parcels / agricultural produce. Any RTR product might have unusually high sales in East Anglia!

 

Paul

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In Volume 1 of 'BR Parcels and Passenger-Rated Stock', by David Larkin, there is a solitary photo of a lined Crimson BZ. The photo was taken at Stewart's Lane on the 09/06/1951, so the vehicle would have been pretty new. The solitary yellow line is very slightly below the door handles. Whilst it is difficult to decide whether ends are crimson or black, what is very evident is the matt finish on them, whilst the sides are gloss.

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Hi Gents

 

Here is a photo of a couple of the test builds running on the layout at the Great Central show a couple of weeks ago. The second test build has the black ends as suggested by John a few posts back.

 

IMG_0879b.jpg.68801af4fb7bb7420d7702e50cc24c01.jpg

 

I had the pair running all three days of the show and they didn't fall off once, which was rather pleasing.

 

Ian

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I'm well on the way towards finishing mine, but haven't had as much time for modelling recently as I'd like.  What I've done so far has gone very well, and it seems to be a well thought out and straightforward kit.  I'll put some pictures on when I've finished.

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10 hours ago, Marshall5 said:

I don't think there is any doubt that the B.R. paint scheme at the time called for black ends.  Body coloured ends only came in with spray painting c. 1965/6 as noted in Parkin.

Ray.

To me that date seems a little late? I left school in June 1965, and have vivid memories of seeing maroon ends on coaches whilst trainspotting at lunchtime at Cambridge Cattle Market. Also around the same time the GE prefix was added to GE Section coaches. So much so that I modified at least 1 Kitmaster coach at home. I memember a posting, almost certainly in Trains Illustrated or Modern Railways, at the time of these changes.

 

Stewart

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On the subject of liveries, I'm thinking ahead to the eventual painting of mine and not looking forward to doing the grey chalking panels.

 

From photos, it seems that they were often at both ends, but one of the pictures in Paul's collection shows one at the left hand end only.

 

I also note that Ian's completed models don't carry them and if I can't think of a neat way of doing them, neither will mine.

 

I wondered:

 

a) Whether anyone knows of any transfers for these panels?

b) In the absence of transfers, has anybody got any advice regarding how to paint these neatly?

c) Is there evidence that sometimes (in either BR "red" livery) they weren't applied at all?

 

Thanks in advance!

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1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

The ones I’ve done have just been shaped with Tamiya tape pressed well home then brush painted.

 

Thanks Jonathan, I'll get some and give it a go.

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Interesting to see this being done. I have the Kings Cross drawing for the BZ when they produced the kit in wood in the 1960s. I had one but discarded the wooden sides but kept the roof and made a plasticard underframe. Brass channel just wasn't available in those days. ISTR the kit had square ended upper windows.

 

I tried to resuscitate the model recently but the inside spring W irons defeated me. I'll look out the KX drawing if anyone is interested. 

 

Are there any etches left as I'd like to get one or two.

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On 29/06/2019 at 19:48, 31A said:

On the subject of liveries, I'm thinking ahead to the eventual painting of mine and not looking forward to doing the grey chalking panels.

 

From photos, it seems that they were often at both ends, but one of the pictures in Paul's collection shows one at the left hand end only.

 

I also note that Ian's completed models don't carry them and if I can't think of a neat way of doing them, neither will mine.

 

I wondered:

 

a) Whether anyone knows of any transfers for these panels?

b) In the absence of transfers, has anybody got any advice regarding how to paint these neatly?

c) Is there evidence that sometimes (in either BR "red" livery) they weren't applied at all?

 

Thanks in advance!

Fox transfers do grey chalk panels

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4 minutes ago, Roger Sunderland said:

Fox transfers do grey chalk panels

 

Thank you, I didn't know that and will bear that in mind for next time I do a van with the grey panels.  Thanks also for reminding me that I said I would put a picture up of my finished van, but it seems I never did!  So here it is.

 

P1020994.jpeg.0d82e24cb85e7590195d744b7f712e84.jpeg

 

 As you can see, I did chicken out of painting the grey panels on that one, but have since done so on various vans.  Luckily they were of Gresley LNER design, so three sides of the panels can be defined by the panelling, as per the four wheeler below.

 

IMG_4303.jpeg.bfe3d1aef5ec4828abc29b2851400395.jpeg

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