RMweb Premium 31A Posted May 17, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 17, 2012 These seem to have arrived without much of a fanfare; a couple of weeks ago I enquired after them in Monk Bar Models, to be told they'd sold out! But they expected another supply and put my name in their book, and today I paid another visit to pick up a set. I was interested in these as I don't have any mineral wagons of any kind on my layout so far (no call for them around 'ere, sir!), and this set seemed to be a way of making a start to rectify this situation. Whilst I'm fine with weathering ordinary goods wagons, I don't think I'd have the patience to rise to the standards of rusting set by some of the masters of the art that we've seen over here: http://www.rmweb.co....1-16t-minerals/ So, first impressions are very good; the weathering seems to have been done thoughtfully and potentially with reference to real wagons, different on each side and avoiding the 'camouflage paint' effect sometimes seen - better than I could do! Also, subtle and realistic variations in insignia application. On the negative side, I believe Bachmann offer a variety of mineral wagon designs - a pity all three in this pack are of the same design? Although from what I can gather, one of the more common types. In terms of detail, it appears that there is either a surplus of brake shoes, or a superfluous cross shaft connnecting them, on these wagons? Either way, easily dealt with. I wondered whether anybody had had any thoughts on taking the weathering a stage further? Potentially, something could be done to make the insides less uniformly black. Also, the underframes would benefit from some rust and grease effects. Thoughts, anybody? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 I can't comment directly, but your post reminded me of an earlier thread that might be of interest. Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pennine MC Posted May 17, 2012 Share Posted May 17, 2012 On the negative side, I believe Bachmann offer a variety of mineral wagon designs - a pity all three in this pack are of the same design? Although from what I can gather, one of the more common types. In terms of detail, it appears that there is either a surplus of brake shoes, or a superfluous cross shaft connnecting them, on these wagons? Either way, easily dealt with. Well, yes and no. The good news is that the bodies are of overwhelmingly the most common pattern - welded, top flaps, welded end door - which was replicated in hundreds of thousands. On this release though, the factory has put on the 'double' or independent brake gear, rather than the single sided Morton gear which was put on almost all the BR built unfitted wagons, and certainly on the B15xxxx ones that they're numbered as. Unfortunately it's not as simple as just removing one set of pushrods because they slope the opposite way to the Morton ones, plus you'll have no reversing clutch. It's not an issue to me, I have a fair few spare chassis knocking around from making other permutations, but that doesnt help you. Another option would be to renumber some/all to wagons that did have the double brake, but you'd really then need a few pukka Morton braked ones to even things out. I wondered whether anybody had had any thoughts on taking the weathering a stage further? Potentially, something could be done to make the insides less uniformly black. Also, the underframes would benefit from some rust and grease effects. I worked on one of the earlier 'weathered' releases to form the introductory post on my Wordpress blog: http://windcutter.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/hello-world/ and there's also 'Page 108' on there which should help you get your head around the brakegear options As to the interior, a working over with powders will probably help. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Max Stafford Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Ian's covered the detail aspect of these models more than adequately. Finish-wise they are actually very good and for those of you not yet confident enough to create these effects yourself, you'll find them a very acceptable substitute. For experienced weatherers they form the perfect foundation for more in-depth work. All the Bachmann weathered sets have been top class with the exception of the cattle wagons which to my eyes at least look a bit odd and false. Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 31A Posted May 18, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted May 18, 2012 Thanks for the replies guys, and thanks to Ian for pointing out the shortcomings in the brake gear area. I hadn't realised quite what was wrong in that department! From a cursory glance, it looks as though it may be possible to extract the brake shoe mouldings, replace one the other way round and discard the other. However that'd still leave one brake lever to modify, but I'd like to avoid renumbering if possible as I quite like the 'individual' styles in which these wagons have been lettered. I'll have another look at your web site, with a renewed interest in the sections dealing with mineral wagons! Dave, I quite agree regarding the weathered wagons sets in general; this was the only one which really appealed to me as I've got plenty of vans and opens already. In the case of those ones in particular, I thought it a pity they didn't include wagons with physical variations in the packs; they might have been more attractive to me if they had. In the case of the cattle wagons, possibly the unpainted planks have been overdone a bit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 31A Posted June 10, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 10, 2012 Just dragged this one up again to say, I've sorted out the brake gear and all three now have representations of Morton brakes consistent with their running numbers, and have also made some subtle additions to the weathering - I've put a couple of pics on the '16t minerals' thread in 'Musings'; further info available if anyone's interested. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 The problem with them is that the weathered rust spots are printed, therefore if you buy a few packs, as I have done, it the rust patterns are repeated down the rake of wagons. Also, the wheels aren't very well weathered. I have airbrushed mine to add a bit more weathering and disguise the fact that the rust spots are the same. Also it hides the fact that the outside of the wagon is weathered and the inside is pristine and shiny. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 31A Posted June 18, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted June 18, 2012 Quite agree! Having 'corrected' the brake gear as per my post in the '16T minerals' thread, I neded to paint new underframe components to blend in and re-touch other bits that I'd chopped around, and found my usual mix of underframe grot (Humbrol 29 & 33 about 75%/25%) matched Bachmann's weathering colour pretty closely, so I repainted the wheels completely with that. The same problem with wheels seems to occur with just about everything that's factory-weathered and is much more obvious with locos where the rods motion mask bits of the wheels. I thought the rust patches might scratch off with a fibreglass pen to allow some variation to be easily created, but they're more tenacious than I at first thought! One way forward might be to regard this set of 3 as the 'core' of a raft of minerals, and augment it with other weathered minerals which are available seperately. Or I might even figure out ways of 'rusting' them myself! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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