New GWR iron mink

[David Stannard]

My two Minks arrived today and I am quite happy with how they look, they are the first pieces of 3D Printed  rolling stock that I have purchased as I was a bit apprehensive in doing so in the past due to the rough finish I had seen of earlier models. They certainly do look good up against my 30 year old Ratio kits and run quite smoothly, I was also surprised with the decent amount of weight they have.

[grogton]

To obtain a different perspective on the price of the rails minks, take a look at the price of this 3D printed kit on Shapeways: GWR Gunpowder Van (E28NDXGSY) by cybertron1912 (shapeways.com)  

 

Over £35 plus around £13 shipping, and add to that the cost of paints, transfers and wheels, not the mention the effort involved in soucing and applying them. And this is for a model printed in white natural versatile plastic, which has a very grainy finish is the of low resolution. This price is about average for similar 3D printed models on their site.

 

Judging from the photos that have been uploaded of the Rails minks, the quality of the printing is current state of the art for this method of production, and the price they are charging seems to me to be reasonable, at least in comparison with that of the Shapeways model.

 

Personally, I'm happy to stick with the Parkside/Ratio kits. I've just bought three of them, along with the Shire Scenes etched conversions for a gunpowder van conversion, wooden door version, and iron cattle wagon--all for less than  the cost of either the Shapeways or rails models. Paints and transfers I already have. But if they weren't available or if I was pushed for time I'd happily buy the Rails model.

 

John

Edited October 1, 2021 by grogton
Grammtical corrections

[Fredo]

Hi, did these vans survive into the 60’s? Thanks Fred 

[Compound2632]

22 minutes ago, Fredo said:

Hi, did these vans survive into the 60’s? Thanks Fred 

 

Discussed:

Remember two things: they were built 1886-1901 and were of 9 tons capacity, uprated to 10 tons. So by the 1960s - 1930s even - they were both old and small.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Compound2632

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, Fredo said:

Hi, did these vans survive into the 60’s? Thanks Fred 

Only as internal user or departmentals. I don't think any got far past nationalisation as revenue stock

[cctransuk]

12 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

Only as internal user or departmentals. I don't think any got far past nationalisation as revenue stock

 

Several had the running gear removed; were filled with concrete; had a bufferbeam mounted halfway up the end; and were used as bufferstops!

 

A practical use for an out-of-period / poor running Ratio kit?

 

John Isherwood.

[TheSignalEngineer]

11 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

Several had the running gear removed; were filled with concrete; had a bufferbeam mounted halfway up the end; and were used as bufferstops!

 

A practical use for an out-of-period / poor running Ratio kit?

 

John Isherwood.

Mine has been heavily weathered and languishes against the stop block in the Mileage Yard as a store for the C&W deparrment

[cessna152towser]

On 02/10/2021 at 11:55, cctransuk said:

Several had the running gear removed; were filled with concrete; had a bufferbeam mounted halfway up the end; and were used as bufferstops!

 

A practical use for an out-of-period / poor running Ratio kit?

 

Since my excellent Rails Iron Mink arrived to replace my Ratio one, the Ratio chassis has now been dismantled for spares and the Ratio Iron Mink body is now a grounded shed in the garden of one of the houses on my layout.

Edited October 3, 2021 by cessna152towser
typo

[Compound2632]

Well, well. Red ones and blue ones: https://railsofsheffield.com/blogs/news/gwr-v6-iron-mink-in-oo.

 

The red ones have grease axleboxes, nicely demonstrating the flexibility of the manufacturing method. 57604 was from Lot 2, built c. 1893/4 - so rather tactfully ducking the question of when red gave way to grey. 

[Michael Hodgson]

Is that blue "Salvage for victory" livery genuine ?   Although the slogan looks plausible, it looks fictitious to me, but perhaps that's just because I can't imagine an elderly goods wagon being repainted in bright blue during WW2. 

[Welchester]

31 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Is that blue "Salvage for victory" livery genuine ?   Although the slogan looks plausible, it looks fictitious to me, but perhaps that's just because I can't imagine an elderly goods wagon being repainted in bright blue during WW2. 

 

Steam Museum says yes.

[Coach bogie]

32 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Is that blue "Salvage for victory" livery genuine ?   Although the slogan looks plausible, it looks fictitious to me, but perhaps that's just because I can't imagine an elderly goods wagon being repainted in bright blue during WW2. 

Yes

 

Didcot's was restored in that livery at one time.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[Compound2632]

45 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Is that blue "Salvage for victory" livery genuine ?   Although the slogan looks plausible, it looks fictitious to me, but perhaps that's just because I can't imagine an elderly goods wagon being repainted in bright blue during WW2. 

 

I think the fact that it was elderly was the reason it got picked - it could be spared from regular service. Withdrawn in early 1945, according to All About Iron Minks. There was more than this one, as there's a photo of 47528 similarly done up. [Edit - @Welchester beat me to that.] The caption says they were used for the collection of scrap and fitted with bins for sorting the scrap by type. That might also explain why an iron-bodied van was preferred over a wooden one.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Compound2632

[The Stationmaster]

The livery is absolutely genuine and an official photo of it exists (I've an idea it might only have been applied to two wagons).   Keeping old wagons for salvage - usually of paperwork was common practice and one could often be found at larger goods depots well into the 1960s and sometimes the '70s but the ones that late never moved and were just cleared out to a firm dealing with paper salvage as they got full. 

[The Fatadder]

45 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

The livery is absolutely genuine and an official photo of it exists (I've an idea it might only have been applied to two wagons).   Keeping old wagons for salvage - usually of paperwork was common practice and one could often be found at larger goods depots well into the 1960s and sometimes the '70s but the ones that late never moved and were just cleared out to a firm dealing with paper salvage as they got full. 

I thought that on the real thing, the GWR logos were in gold (or yellow) not in white as per Rail's model?

 

[BenL]

19 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

I thought that on the real thing, the GWR logos were in gold (or yellow) not in white as per Rail's model?

 

I’m away from my books but I believe one of the two had the ‘shirt buttons’ in white while the other had them in gold or yellow, as correctly modelled on the 2 different Rails versions .

[Miss Prism]

https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/shopimages/articles/extra/11152_02.jpg

 

[Compound2632]

35 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

I thought that on the real thing, the GWR logos were in gold (or yellow) not in white as per Rail's model?

 

 

14 minutes ago, BenL said:

I’m away from my books but I believe one of the two had the ‘shirt buttons’ in white while the other had them in gold or yellow, as correctly modelled on the 2 different Rails versions .

 

Ah well, if you are to regard these as models of the 1940-45 vans, who can be sure? On the other hand, if they are models of the preserved vans painted in this livery, then there may be a problem. Didcot, actually No. 11152, with yellow:

 

 

 

South Devon, actually 59119, with white:

 

 

[Embedded links.]

 

EDIT: I've just realised that in my previous posts I had overlooked that Rails are doing both 47305 and 47528.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Compound2632

[Compound2632]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

The red ones have grease axleboxes, nicely demonstrating the flexibility of the manufacturing method. 57604 was from Lot 2, built c. 1893/4 - so rather tactfully ducking the question of when red gave way to grey. 

 

Likewise I had overlooked the second red mink, 58147, of Lot 33. This van has the number and G.W.R in the outer panels, per the photo in Atkins.

 

But in what world are these red vans in the same "eras" as the models as the post-1936 liveried and BR liveried examples?

Edited October 12, 2021 by Compound2632

[Michael Hodgson]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I think the fact that it was elderly was the reason it got picked - it could be spared from regular service. 

I was thinking more in terms of whether the manpower could be spared.  But I suppose if the main railway works was busy making shell casings that wouldn't be painted, the paint shop probably had less to do !

[Edwardian]

6 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

The red ones have grease axleboxes, nicely demonstrating the flexibility of the manufacturing method.

 

 

 

Other changes are that

 

(i) there are, correctly, double brakes to one-side only, as built, with no brakes to the other side.

 

(ii) the door retention catches and retainers are omitted

 

(iii) the little bracket that at some point was fixed between the W iron and the brake ratchet is, also correctly, omitted.   

 

6 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

57604 was from Lot 2, built c. 1893/4 - so rather tactfully ducking the question of when red gave way to grey. 

 

Regarded by Donald Rumsfeld as one of the two great Known Unknowns relating to GW good stock livery of the period. 

 

Both red wagons have, as been noted, been based on recorded examples and it is interesting that the order of the lettering is applied differently in each case. More variety in your trains!

 

Moving to the blue wagons, yes, as has been noted, the livery is genuine and, indeed, one had white roundels and the other had yellow.  This is quite obvious from the b&w photographs taken in 1940. 

 

There are some subtle physical differences between the two

 

(i) 47305 has the conventional braking arrangement for the period, ie. a single extra on the previously unbraked side. 47528, in contrast, has double brakes both sides.

 

(ii) 47305 has the standard V6 body, but 47528 has the early body, with fewer rivets (!) along the bottom of the body. 

 

 

 

 

[mozzer models]

My Scrap wagon arrived today

WW2 scrap train by brian mosby, on Flickr

WW2 scrap train by brian mosby, on Flickr

[Newfish]

Has anyone successfully fitted 3 link couplings yet? 

[mozzer models]

mine is no longer clean

IMG20211119194439 by brian mosby, on Flickr

[Compound2632]

2 minutes ago, mozzer models said:

mine is no longer clean

 

Where does the copious amount of brown dirt come from?