t.s.meese Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 I'm looking for wooden solebars for 17' - 6" over headstocks body and a 9' wheelbase. I don't think the trade provide one, but thought I'd ask: perhaps there is one buried in a kit... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wainwright1 Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 Slaters used to do several PO wagon kits and I think that you could buy the chassis separately. I don't know if they did one with this specific configuration, or if they have recovered the tools for these kits from Coopercraft. An enquiry to Slaters might help, or can anyone advise ? All the best Ray 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Rixon Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 Alan Gibson Workshop sell an underframe kit for this length and wheelbase. It's etched, with lost-wax castings. "They are designed for wagons having a steel channel solebar but can be adapted for wooden solebar variants", which seems to mean that you would have to build the wooden solebars from scratch. A PO mineral wagon would be 16'6" over headstocks, so not really suitable. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.s.meese Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 1 hour ago, wainwright1 said: Slaters used to do several PO wagon kits and I think that you could buy the chassis separately. I don't know if they did one with this specific configuration, or if they have recovered the tools for these kits from Coopercraft. An enquiry to Slaters might help, or can anyone advise ? All the best Ray Slaters do a 9' wheelbase, but most of their PO bodies and Midland bodies are shorter than what I'm after. I'm wanting to convert Pasrkside LNER vans to unfitted. I have done a couple using a steel underframe with 9' wheelbase, you can do that with Cambrian underframe kit C35 (LNER Diagram 15 (wood ends) and 171 (steel ends)), but the more numerous Diagram 14 is a wooden underframe... There are parkside kits with wooden solebars at 17'6", but with 10' wheelbase. I'm thinking I might have to chamfer these... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 The old 3H underframe kit is the one you want, the running gear from their LNER 6 plank general merchandise open and van. Put up an appeal for any unused that might be available s/h. (Back in the day I was busy carving the W irons off these and glueing on ABS castings to produce 10' wb/17'6" over headstocks LNER timber underframes...) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWales Posted July 4, 2020 Share Posted July 4, 2020 Plenty out there! Just picked up some on this very Forum to finish some old 3H oddments I have had for some years. They did also supply it as an underframe only too 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.s.meese Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 I'm not sure how I put out a call on this site. Does it go under classified adds? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium corneliuslundie Posted July 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 4, 2020 There is a Wanted section in the Trade and Products Zone near the top of the home page. Jonathan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.s.meese Posted July 4, 2020 Author Share Posted July 4, 2020 I've just figured out how to do it: Cambrian C81 6 plank, 17-6 OHS, 9' WB wooden u/f. Parkside PC61 Van, 17-6 OHS, 10' WB wooden u/f. Swap the underframes and you can convert the van to unfitted, and the wagon to the later fitted or non-fitted versions. Perfect... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 57xx Posted July 4, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 4, 2020 2 hours ago, t.s.meese said: I've just figured out how to do it: Cambrian C81 6 plank, 17-6 OHS, 9' WB wooden u/f. Parkside PC61 Van, 17-6 OHS, 10' WB wooden u/f. Swap the underframes and you can convert the van to unfitted, and the wagon to the later fitted or non-fitted versions. Perfect... Exactly what I did here: 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.s.meese Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 Yep - just did it tonight. How?, you might think, given my post today! Well, like many of us I have 100+ unbuilt kits (shrinking with COVID; I think 'r' = 0.7, which means I'm building about 10 kits for every 7 I buy at present). Anyway, it all worked, as 57xx shows above, but I must say I found aligning the W irons across the 6 plank solebars to be a horrid experience (hmm, Cambrian components, or the claret... ?). I must have reworked that four times until I got the free running I require. The van, on the other hand, went together like a breeze... And, for what it's worth, the reason I'd forgotten about the Cambrian LNER 6 plank (just one unbuilt kit in my box) is because Oxford rail sated that appetite with their RTR. Leaving a (suppressed) desire for a 10' WB version of course. So a good day all in all. Now then, which supplier for a few more Cambrian 6-plankers to kill that 'r'... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.s.meese Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 (edited) ...additional to above. One might suppose that, given the u/f switch, if my doubt were with the Cambrian components then my problem would have been the other way around. Perhaps so, if I had built like 57xx in his/her post. But, by default, I tend to start with the floor, build body about that, then attend to the underframe. And, although the prototypes of both wagon and van are 17-6 OHS, the kits have very slightly different length solebars ... and the W irons in the parkside kit are not integral to the solebars, so you end up with more degrees of freedom than you would like... Edited July 5, 2020 by t.s.meese Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.s.meese Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 ...which is by way of saying, the 57xx method is the way to go... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 57xx Posted July 5, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 5, 2020 6 hours ago, t.s.meese said: although the prototypes of both wagon and van are 17-6 OHS, the kits have very slightly different length solebars You can see on the 2nd pic of the van there are some white strips at the ends of the sole bars to fill the gaps left by the shorter Cambrian solebars. You may find you need to trim the top of the spring hangers to make assembling the Cambrian solebars/W irons a bit more straight forward. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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