EWS60065's Modern-ish Wagon Projects (Weathering, Modifying, Scratchbuilds)

[EWS60065]

Hi all, I've spent a bit of time this weekend working on a quick project in the form of a Bachmann OCA wagon. 

It started out like this - factory weathered EWS as new. The usual mods took place to tighten up the wheel units and add brake discs. I didn't fancy taking a file to thin down the body sides so I compromised by painting half of the top edge of the body in yellow, the other half in the interior colour. 

I feel like I've talked quite a bit about bass weathering in the past so I'll get straight to the results. 

Quite happy with how the effect turned out - weathered, faded, and worn, but not overly rusty. Hopefully this will contrast against my previous one nicely which was quite the opposite! 

 

The OCAs now stand at four and hopefully more to come in the future. I will be focusing on non EWS liveries from now, in particular the faded Railfreight red a lot of them seem to carry. 

 

Thanks for reading as always 

[WCML100]

4 hours ago, EWS60065 said:

Hi all, I've spent a bit of time this weekend working on a quick project in the form of a Bachmann OCA wagon. 

It started out like this - factory weathered EWS as new. The usual mods took place to tighten up the wheel units and add brake discs. I didn't fancy taking a file to thin down the body sides so I compromised by painting half of the top edge of the body in yellow, the other half in the interior colour. 

I feel like I've talked quite a bit about bass weathering in the past so I'll get straight to the results. 

Quite happy with how the effect turned out - weathered, faded, and worn, but not overly rusty. Hopefully this will contrast against my previous one nicely which was quite the opposite! 

 

The OCAs now stand at four and hopefully more to come in the future. I will be focusing on non EWS liveries from now, in particular the faded Railfreight red a lot of them seem to carry. 

 

Thanks for reading as always 

these look excellent. Need to get the OCA’s ive got sorted in sole sort of weathered condition! 

[EWS60065]

28 minutes ago, WCML100 said:

these look excellent. Need to get the OCA’s ive got sorted in sole sort of weathered condition! 

Thanks, I'm really happy with my small rake of these (plus the OBAs). Let me know if you want any advice, although saying that you can't go far wrong with these as most mistakes are easily masked with rust! 

[EWS60065]

Hi, a small update on what's on the workbench. 

I haven't had a lot of inspiration recently but I'm doing a few smaller, easier projects to keep me motivated. 

First is this Cambrian OCA. Built pretty much as standard so that I can just get on with it, only extra mods are the coupling hooks and air pipes, plus I glued the solebars a bit further inwards to give more depth to the construction. 

I normally choose to go for Bachmann OCAs these days but a pair of 'vintage' Cambrian ones were secured for a good price. The instruction sheets refer to the OBAs as only being 10 years old! 

I plan to do this one in sun bleached Railfreight red with lots of rust spots. 

 

Also on the go are 3 Cambrian OBAs of the same age. As you can see, I've cut the wooden doors off, leaving just the bottom half of the sides that cover the solebars. 

This is because I'm going to do these as mesh sided OBAs, which are more common than the wooden ones nowadays. Long term followers of this thread may remember a mesh sided OBA I did a while ago, but I hope to do these do a higher standard. 

 

I've also been doing some engineering loads for my collection of bass, representing the various supplies taken to and from possessions. 

Timber dunnage

 

Assorted piping and ballast bags

 

Cable trunking, old sleepers, and bundles of sheets (not sure what they are but seen photos of them) 

 

New sleepers 

 

And finally a single layer of new sleepers for the salmon

 

A lot of these are modular and are mounted on black card bases so can be swapped and combined for a large variety of loads. 

 

Thanks for reading 

[EWS60065]

Swiftly follwing on from my previous update where the Cambrian OCA was in grey primer, I'm able to now show the finished thing. 

Hand painted using acrylic paints and washes into a weather worn ex Railfreight red livery, typical of those seen in civil engineering trains today. 

 

I find it a bit too laborious to base wagons exactly on real life examples now, so this one is inspired by several images I've seen and is numbered 112362 which looked quite similar. 

[WCML100]

That's looking great mate - very realistic finish to it! 

[EWS60065]

6 minutes ago, WCML100 said:

That's looking great mate - very realistic finish to it! 

Thank you! 

[The Fatadder]

It has come out very nicely,

I think the ex Railfreight Red OCA are amongst the most interesting.  Mine is next in my todo list.

[EWS60065]

7 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

It has come out very nicely,

I think the ex Railfreight Red OCA are amongst the most interesting.  Mine is next in my todo list.

Cheers, definitely agree there and still quite a few of them carry the livery considering it is the oldest. 

[EWS60065]

Over 3 months since any activity here! I took a break from modelling for various reasons so unfortunately I don't have an awful lot to show. Here is a quick update on what's on the workbench. Hopefully progress should be a bit quicker in the future. 

 

Mesh OBAs

I showed these in one of my previous posts (they are based off the Cambrian model). 

As it stands, the axle units are all glued up and bodies assembled with the wooden doors removed. 

These are the new doors, made from a steel grid modelling product with styrene sections for the framework. Measuring and cutting all the sections was a pain! I'm currently in the process of glueing them on to the mesh. 

 

Sea Urchins 

These have been complete for quite a while now and they are finally going to receive some attention. These Cambrian models have been improved with Lanarkshire 'Oleo' buffers and other details. I plan to add new suspension too. They will be finished in Ex Transrail livery and added to the small Sea Urchin rake. 

 

YWA Salmon

I can almost call this complete now, just need to add numbering and data panels.

Edit: done that now!

 

Surprisingly this wagon sat too low when built (did I do something wrong?). I have therefore added plasticard spacers above the bogies to bring it up to the correct height. 

I need some more salmon type wagons and I've been eyeing up the Resin Printed Railways track carrying modules for with the intention of putting them on a KFA. Has anyone tried this? 

 

Other future projects will include picking up the Super Tench again as well as expanding the JNA Falcon rake which currently stands at 1! This will allow me to put together some proper engineering consists together which one day may be able to run on a layout 😉

Edited June 20, 2023 by EWS60065

[The Fatadder]

45 minutes ago, EWS60065 said:

Resin Printed Railways track carrying modules for with the intention of putting them on a KFA. Has anyone tried this

Based on what I’ve seen of their range it will be horrendously inaccurate.   Probably better off saving the money and scratch building based on the quality of your previous work 

 

Salmon and urchins are looking good 

[Bearwood West Yard]

Sea Urchins and OBAs coming on nicely! That YWA looks dapper, who’s transfers did you use? 
 

As mentioned above, I’d avoid RPR and scratchbuild the KFA modules. I’ve had my share of disagreements with him, being a long term member his blocked list for constructive criticism. I believe RPR are back trading on EBay after a year or so of inactivity in small runs only.

 

I have it on good authority that HMRC busted him as RPR was trading without a licence and not as a limited company. So all revenues gained from the volume of orders would have been recorded and flagged as suspicious. I am led to believe this is why RPR operations ceased back in 2021 and his eBay was deactivated. If true, certainly a way to make a quick quid! 

[EWS60065]

26 minutes ago, Bearwood West Yard said:

Sea Urchins and OBAs coming on nicely! That YWA looks dapper, who’s transfers did you use? 
 

As mentioned above, I’d avoid RPR and scratchbuild the KFA modules. I’ve had my share of disagreements with him, being a long term member his blocked list for constructive criticism. I believe RPR are back trading on EBay after a year or so of inactivity in small runs only.

 

I have it on good authority that HMRC busted him as RPR was trading without a licence and not as a limited company. So all revenues gained from the volume of orders would have been recorded and flagged as suspicious. I am led to believe this is why RPR operations ceased back in 2021 and his eBay was deactivated. If true, certainly a way to make a quick quid! 

Thanks for commenting. They're actually designed on a computer and printed on thin paper, then cut to size and glued using PVA. They work particularly well here as the edges of the paper are disguised however things like EWS logos on a red background work better using transfers. This way certainly saves money though! 

 

Shame about RPR as there are some useful ideas with good potential. I'm still tempted by the track carriers though as I can't think of an efficient way to scratchbuild them unless I went down the 3D printing route myself. 

Edited June 21, 2023 by EWS60065

[EWS60065]

A quick update on my current projects:

The mesh side OBAs are mostly assembled now. The side pieces have been glued on at either end and then the three pillars on the inside have been added, giving extra support. The rest of the kit is built pretty much as standard with the usual additions. 

I've added car tyre balancing weights in thes positions to the bottom of the OBAs. This is now my standard procedure for all Cambrian bass wagons as it helps running quality. 

 

Not much to see on the Sea Urchins - they've had the new springs added and are primed ready for painting and weathering. 

For extra realism, I've scored in some scratches which will hopefully collect paint in the weathering process. See you on the other side! 

 

 

[EWS60065]

Ex Transrail ZCA Sea Urchins

 

Happy to say these are officially complete now! I'm really pleased with the final outcome. Photos nicely improved by the evening lighting at this time of year.

 

After priming, the main colours (light grey, faded red, faded yellow, track dirt) were applied. To add more depth, these areas were drybrushed once dry, each section in a lighter version of the base colour. This helps acheive a slightly faded appearance.

 

The scrape marks have come out very well, helped by the relatively plain grey colour underneath.

 

A low down "wagon spotter's view". I felt like I was trying to take a photo of a real one here!

This one shows the old logo painted over whilst the other one shows no signs of it ever being there. The real Transrail ZCAs seem to be like this.

 

Interestingly, these particular wagons had the top of the end section painted in red. I've tried to hint at this whilst still giving a dirty appearance from a distance. Data panels were tackled in the usual manner, however my warning flashes are now transfers - I find it economical to buy transfers for common items like this but custom data panels would add too much to the wagon cost for me.

 

Yes, i've actually bothered with ballast leftovers this time!

 

The OBAs are due out of the works next and then I might bring the FJA Super Tench out to have a look at 😉

 

Thanks for reading!

[WCML100]

Wow they are up there with some of the best departmental scratch builds I have seen! Well done 👍🏻 

[EWS60065]

14 hours ago, WCML100 said:

Wow they are up there with some of the best departmental scratch builds I have seen! Well done 👍🏻 

Thank you very much, looking foward to assembling a short rake of them with my other ones.

Edit: Not sure if you knew but these are Cambrian kits not fully scratchbuilt 

Edited June 25, 2023 by EWS60065

[sb67]

Love those Sea Urchins, they look fantastic. Looking forward to seeing the OBA's. 👍

[EWS60065]

1 hour ago, sb67 said:

Love those Sea Urchins, they look fantastic. Looking forward to seeing the OBA's. 👍

Thank you! I'm looking foward to seeing how they turn out too

[Mark Saunders]

T110591 one of the Harry Needle fleet.
 

[EWS60065]

While the OBAs are in the stages of painting now, I decided to rustle up an MLA Falcon body out of plastic. This is the start of an exciting new project to create a short rake of Falcons - I already have 3 Dapol JNAs so the addition of the MLA will bring the rake to 4.  

I've used John L Fox's plans for the IEA wagon to base my build off as both types are dimensionally similar. Still a lot of work to do on this though. 

The unweathered ones are Dapol's latest release of the JNA and the finish is considerably less plastic-like than previous releases. This should mean I can get away with a slightly lighter weathering on these two!

 

The plan is to have 2 ballast trains: the Coalfish (which currently stand at around 25) and the Falcons (currently at 4). I hope to be able to put these to use in the not to distant future. 

 

[WCML100]

Nice work you really have caught the MLA shape well. I am in desperate need of some MLA’s for my falcon rake go go along side my JNA‘s - just hoping someone decides to manufacture some! 

[EWS60065]

3 minutes ago, WCML100 said:

Nice work you really have caught the MLA shape well. I am in desperate need of some MLA’s for my falcon rake go go along side my JNA‘s - just hoping someone decides to manufacture some! 

Cheers, I never planned to do one but it's a nice way of expanding the fleet at a lower cost! It would be great if they were manufactured, I think Dapol had them planned a long while ago but it never happened. 

On a seperate note, I'm considering ordering some of the revolution mullets, will you be getting any of those or are they not suitable? 

[WCML100]

On 27/06/2023 at 22:24, EWS60065 said:

Cheers, I never planned to do one but it's a nice way of expanding the fleet at a lower cost! It would be great if they were manufactured, I think Dapol had them planned a long while ago but it never happened. 

On a seperate note, I'm considering ordering some of the revolution mullets, will you be getting any of those or are they not suitable? 

 

Yes they did - shortly after the falcons originally hit the shelves (2010 ish?) Dapol did announce the MLA's and then they were quietly dropped unfortunately! Shame really because over the last 10 years or so, 9/10 a rake of falcons had both JNA's and MLA's in the consists.

 

The mullets look very nice, as do the Parr and super tench. I ma tempted to get some but need to find a prototype rake to model first! 😄

[Bearwood West Yard]

Nice take on the MLA’s! Dapol underwent a new ownership circa 2009 which is why their MLA and 1st generation RDT projects got shelved, with work focusing on the JNA and MRA wagons. 
 

I have rough CAD’s of the MLA’s and they are very dimensionally similar to the IEA’s, which are essentially cut down versions of the IOA boxes that Dapol produce. LTSV Wagons has a good slice of info on them despite technical information/drawings being unavailable.