Just to show that I do occasionally build something

[Poggy1165]

 

This is a GCR diagram 17 covered goods built from a Connoisseur kit. Not a massively difficult kit to build, although maybe a bit much for an outright beginner. My main problem was that half way through building we had to clear the decks for some event or other. In consequence I mislaid some whitemetal parts which left the thing frustratingly incomplete. After many months I gave up and bought another kit from which I filched the missing parts. (The household gremlins will eventually yield up the missing parts and I'll have two vans instead of one.)

 

Oh, there was one sting in the tail. Just at the end, as you start congratulating yourself it's nearly finished, you find you have to file two chunks out of the roof to get it to fit over the doors. This was daunting (I hate filing!) but by following the instructions I got there. The resultant gaps were treated with filler, and the roof was (eventually) given a tissue covering to represent canvas.

 

I am not 100% happy with the transfers in the photo as they look out of line. Yet they were most carefully measured and the bottom of each is exactly the same distance from the bottom of the body.

 

Now needs weathering and a few other fine touches to complete. By the way, these vans were common user after 1917 and some survived until the 1950s, so this is a kit that many people could find useful. It can legitimately be finished in GC, CL, LNER or BR livery. What it does not build is the fitted version.

 

(Edit) Just remembered, they can be lettered for the LMS too! Because the LMS took a portion of the CL wagons in 1930 (ish).

[Poggy1165]

 

I have wanted a Birley PO wagon for quite a while. Eventually I found a picture of one that approximated to a Slater's Charles Roberts, and so put this one together. Please don't copy it if you want a 100% accurate model - I think of it as 'representative' until I can get around to scratching something more accurate. It is lettered using HMRS transfers. The 'BIRLEY' is made up of the biggest available, but they are still too small.

 

Main changes from the Slater's kit is that I have added Bill Bedford's etched brake gear (the best and simplest version on the market IMHO) and fitted an MMP etched interior. It is very much easier to use these when you are doing a new-build. Retrofitting is a pain, and not recommended.

 

Like the GC van, this wagon needs weathering. My usual practice is to leave wagons hanging about for a bit, and then weather them as the mood takes me.

 

Just noticed I haven't fitted the capping pieces to this one yet!  Also this is one of those where I got the brake gear wrong way round. A mental abberation on my part as I am well aware of how they should go. I mucked up four like this, and so far have only corrected two. Not including this one, obviously.

[Poggy1165]

 

I keeping promising to give up foreign wagons, but I find it hard. I'm just a sucker for all the different company initials. OK, a few are fine. But I have too many. Only full loads generally worked through. Part loads were transhipped en route and the empty foreign wagon returned home asap. So this one will have to have a full load of - well, something from GW territory.

 

This is an ABS white metal kit. I've had it hanging around for absolute yonks, but recently decided it was time to finish it. It has Slater's GW compensated w irons which I much prefer to the solid chassis the kit design envisaged. Much easier to put together for starters.

 

Not sure about the shade of grey. Earlier GW wagons built by me have been finished much darker, but a look around suggested to me that a lighter shade would be OK. It will eventually be darkened by weathering anyway.

 

As can be seen, buffers and couplings need adding. To say nothing of the running number.

[TheGhostofNigelGresley]

Excellent stuff Poggy.

 

Am interested to learn which transfers you used, you mention HMRS, did you use their Pressfix ? And if so, how did you get on with them - I have to say that so far, I have struggled to get them on the model dead straight since you only get one go at it, you can't move them about like waterslide transfers. I have also found that they and my Phoenix varnish don't get on particularly well, there has been a small amount of lifting.

 

Excellent variety and scope however, and am interested to hear that you have used them for your PO wagon. I have a plan to do some PO coal/coke wagons based on the Meteor hoppers and am in the process of looking around to see what custom transfer options are available, just off to the HMRS site now to have a look.....

 

Edit - Gladiator, not Meteor.....

[Poggy1165]

The HMRS ones are Methfix which I always use if possible. They can be adjusted, but the trick in using them - and I struggled for quite a while until I figured this - is to read and follow the instructions. This is not to say I don't still have the odd problem with them, especially the small lettering, but generally they are fine.

 

The GC wagon main letters are by Dragon. Sadly these are no longer to be had, and the ones I had deteriorated in storage and had to be touched up. They are rub-on, my least favourite type, but the only ones available. (There are a couple of new potential suppliers for the GC so I am crossing my fingers.) The GW transfers are waterslide from WEP. I am not as fond of waterslide as many here are, but they went on OK, and the transparent backing doesn't look as bad now a coat of varnish has gone on.

[TheGhostofNigelGresley]

Are the Methfix instructions lengthy or is it something you could post a scan of ?

 

I'm going to attempt a PO wagon, you see, and I don't fancy my chances using Pressfix.....

[Poggy1165]

I will try to find a copy and if I can I will PM them to you.

[Poggy1165]

 

 

This is a GW fruit van I have built up from a Parkside Dundas kit. This is of no long-term use to me (wrong period) but occasionally I build a kit just for the pleasure of it and then (eventually) sell it on. This falls into that category.

 

The PD kits vary in difficulty. This is one of the easier ones and was a joy to build, so much so that it almost makes me to build a GW branch set in fruit country, or maybe an urban jam factory. I have a shocking confession to make - I actually like pannier tanks. However, when one works in 7mm, it isn't really possible to go off on tangents as it works out really expensive. So the GW layout will remain a pipedream, unless I win the lottery and at the same time gain a certificate granting me an extra 10 years of active life!

 

But for anyone trembling on the brink of 7mm scale, and wondering whether he/she has the ability to build kits - do have a go at this one. All you really need is a craft knife, a bottle of Plastic Weld, a pin vice with a few small drills, and maybe a couple of small files. Even the transfers are simple waterslide - although having said that I did have one of them fold on me, and it was ten minutes work to get it right again. These were long-lived vans, and can be finished in any livery from late GWR to mid period BR. They would not even be out of place behind a green diesel, or maybe an early blue one.

[Rob Pulham]

 I have a shocking confession to make - I actually like pannier tanks. 

 

Hi Brian,

 

Mike Cole has a really nice Pannier for sale in the classifieds at the moment.......

[Poggy1165]

 

These GC bolster wagons have taken around ten years to build. In reality they spent most of that time sitting on a shelf gathering dust, and are not so much shelf queens as shelf mummies.

 

If anyone is interested, an improved version of this kit can be had from Dragon Models (Wales). I have a couple more to build, and hope they can be finished more quickly. The hard bit is actually the detailing. These will run in a train with three GC double bolsters and I hope to add another double bolster or two in time. (I like block trains of bolsters, at one time they were not uncommon.)