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Slaters ex Coopercraft 7mm scale opens


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3 plank and 4 plank versions:

 

My understanding - which could be wildly out - is that 3 plank were rebuilds of older stock and 4 planks were older stock that were gradually phased out in favour of 5 planks etc.

 

I would welcome being corrected on this and at the same time could I ask how long the two types would have remained in traffic - even in a backwater!

 

Help and guidance will be much appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Adrian

 

PS as an aside, I notice the top plank of a Minerva 5 plank open is rather wider than the other planks.  This accounts for the vehicle being that much taller than the equivalent Coopercraft 5 plank.  They are different diagrams I guess??

 

 

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If you are building these, take a look at this thread.  Good info and lots of pics:

 

 I built a Coopercraft 3 plank and there are brake discrepancies in the kit parts.  Slater's might have rectified these.

 

I think I made a decent job of it and pics are in the linked thread.  At least Slater's provide decent buffers and other details.

 

Another great reference is Barry Norman's article on Coopercraft wagons in MRJ 174 where he highlights the brake problems and shows how to fix.

 

John

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6 hours ago, Lissadell said:

PS as an aside, I notice the top plank of a Minerva 5 plank open is rather wider than the other planks.  This accounts for the vehicle being that much taller than the equivalent Coopercraft 5 plank.  They are different diagrams I guess??

 

 

Hi Adrian,

 

The earliest 5 plank wagons had equal planks.

 

Later diagrams had a wide 11" top plank. Later still, the wide plank migrated lower down (top plank more likely to be damaged?)

 

11" planks were hard to get in WW2 so new builds then had 5 x 7" planks and a narrow one.  Some 5 planks had the same when bodies needed repairing.

 

Opens are a minefield with so many variations and modifications like sheet bar removal, sack truck door and diagonal bracing types.

 

Good luck

 

Will

Edit.

Just checked - the Slaters open is an early O4 5 plank open. The Minerva is a later O11. Both were made in large numbers - the O11 has brakes compliant to the RH lever rules so no need to changes to brake gear later on. Both are 9' wheelbase 16' wagons so they wouldn't have lasted as long as later types with standard RCH underframes.

W

Edited by WillCav
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3 hours ago, Lissadell said:

PS as an aside, I notice the top plank of a Minerva 5 plank open is rather wider than the other planks.  This accounts for the vehicle being that much taller than the equivalent Coopercraft 5 plank.  They are different diagrams I guess??

 

See this thread:

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 07/06/2020 at 17:57, God's Wonderful Railway 1835 said:

I think the 3 plank should be 15'6" long and not the 16'0" as in the kit and most likely this will also apply to the 1 plank. Did the 4 plank wagons get built to 15'6" or 16'0" or were the early built ones shorter and the later ones longer does anyone know.

 

The standard length for GWR stock was 15' 6" until sometime in the '80s (I should look it up but not really relevant to this discussion) after which it became 16' 0". Later still – 1920s – they adopted the RCH standard underframe length of 17' 6". The 3-plank wagons were all to the old length, the four plankers all to the new 16' length as were most of the Iron Minks. The 3 plank wagons would have all gone from main line use by your time period I would think.

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