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Gunpowder vans


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Currently building a couple Parkside-Dundas Z-2 GWR gunpowder vans & am using the Fox decals (transfers) [4235/3].  Quite nice and I recommend.  However, to the untrained eye (me), I'm not sure what the difference is among this kit, the Ratio "Iron Mink" and the r-t-r Dapol gunpowder vans. By-the-way, although I have read that the Ratio "Iron Mink" roof is the wrong size, it is identical in size with the Parkside-Dundas Z-2 roof!  So, help sort out these wagons. Can, for example, the Z-2 or the Dapol be painted as a GWR "Iron Mink," etc  Is the Dapol wagon  "generic?" etc

 

And, while I've got your attention, the Modelmaster (GW 303) decals for the Pk-D Insulated van kit are really nice and a generous selection of options.  The Fox decals are, oddly, not appropriate for the Pk-D kit..

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Currently building a couple Parkside-Dundas Z-2 GWR gunpowder vans & am using the Fox decals (transfers) [4235/3].  Quite nice and I recommend.  However, to the untrained eye (me), I'm not sure what the difference is among this kit, the Ratio "Iron Mink" and the r-t-r Dapol gunpowder vans...

 

...Can, for example, the Z-2 or the Dapol be painted as a GWR "Iron Mink," etc ...

 

 

The Z1 gunpowder van which is a can of worms is best made by using the ABS kit, as this will have the correct doors for it as well, and is correct in other ways, but most likely will have no details on the roof. ..

 

Yes, the ABS kit is the best way to a V6 or a Z1 (with added microstrip for the roof bands), but you forgot to mention why the Z2 cannot be converted to a V6 iron mink. The Z1 GPV externally was essentially an iron mink with different doors and no end vents, they both had rounded corners. The Z2/3/4 GPVs all had square corners as on the Parkside and Dapol offerings.

 

Nick

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It is quite easy to cut down the Hornby Dublo/Wrenn/Dapol gunpowder van to be more correct. Basically it needs 4mm cutting out of the length and 2mm from the width by making vertical cuts alongside the doors and side bracing. Getting it all back nice and square is helped by part of the floor being moulded so that you end up with a load of L shaped body pieces to glue back together. I did an article a few years ago on this very conversion that appeared in Rail Express Modeller.

 

Cheers

 

David

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I'm never ceased to be amazed by the results of major manufacturers, regarding basic measurements.

 

If you have a decent plan and create a 'box' of the right dimensions it will look right.

 

Moaning over.....

 

Well - in the case of the Dapol model, it was originally a 1960s Hornby Dublo wagon.

 

At that time, the Hornby Dublo Super Detail wagons, with plastic bodies, were state-of-the-art.

 

No-one bothered that a standard chassis was used with a stretched body - very few model train customers would have known the correct length, anyway.

 

We tend to forget that, fifty years ago, the available information on BR wagon stock was pretty much nothing!

 

That was probably the reason for inaccuracies in the Ratio model - published magazine drawings were suspect, too.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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