Brakes are right this time!

Looks good, Dave. As Rich says, the brakes are fine, though there is some debate about when brake lever handles were painted white. The general view appears to be that it started during WW1 and became normal with the 1921 livery change.

I can't vouch for the number because the list in my copy of Atkins et al. (not the latest edition) is far from complete for the O4 type, though it is plausible as they list 31263-8. Indeed, they show a photo of an O4 with a number not included in their lists and I've seen others that are also not in their list. Have you put the number on the ends? It was usually in the centre of the bottom plank, though some photos show numbers on the left.

Those eyelets in the sheet look very good, and the worn paint work is very convincing. Just a couple of niggles, though. The door bangers were often closer together at this date and yours should really line up with metal striker plates that are just visible below the wagon sheet. The other is the sheet date (is it 2/29?) which is perhaps a bit late?

As you say, there was probably some variation in how sheets were tied down, though Russell shows a couple of photos of the official way in GW Wagons Appendix.

Nick

Hi Dave,

Yes, that article on gwr.org is a very good start though it could do with a few more drawings and photos. Now that you've got your head around DCI, II and III, are you ready for the various modified forms? Fortunately, they are comparatively rare...

The end view looks spot on.

Looking at your 4-plank door, the striker plate is correct for the brake side as it should line up with the pin where the handle meets the v-hanger. When this type of striker was fitted, there were no bangers on the solebar. The other side usually had no striker plate or banger. Another variation, presumably later, either on the non-brake side or on both was to have two very short bangers that extend below the solebar no further than the spring hangers. These are usually widely spaced (just inside the door hinges) and are often seen with a pair of square (sometimes round) striker plates from about 1/3 up the second to 1/3 up the third plank. Another variation uses short bangers with round striker plates at the same height but closer together, at about 1/3 of the door width. The final variation that I've seen is like on your 5-plank where ther are much longer bangers and strip striker plates. On the early 4-plankers almost anything seems possible.

Yes, it took me a while to realise that those numbers on the sheets were dates. I just happened to notice a picture caption that mentioned it.

Nick

Door strikers and bangers are a bit of a nightmare. For an early 04, I think they would have been fitted with round striker plates (on the 2nd plank) and the short 'stubbie' door bangers. Later 04s got the longer door bangers, still spaced the same as the short stubbies, but with the round striker plates moved up the 4th plank (plate 357 of the bible shows the modification very well, if that wagon can be assumed to be an 04), or with later long-strapping striker plates (as per the kit, which is for an 04 depicted at a much later date).

I think the only wagons with a single door banger were the old 4-plankers grouped together under diagram O21, but they probably got those bangers only when they were forced to incorporate double-sided brake gear, so I suspect your 4-planker would not have had a banger in 1907.

Dave, another lovely looking wagon.

On the subject of GWR wagon sheets, there was variety in them in the early 1900's (unfortunately the Smith's ones don't really look like any that I have seen of the period). I have produced some artwork to print my own which can be found http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/41875-gwr-tarpaulin/ (early c1900 type) and here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/42027-gwr-sheet-1903/ (c1903 type). An image of the result when printed onto a Rizla for a 2mm wagon here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/42584-2mmfs-fud-van-scratch-open-rizla-tarpaulin-and-3-link-couplings/.

Hopefully, if you are interested you could download these images and print them to 7mm scale (they should be 21'0" long if I remember correctly, so trial and error with the scaling when printing should produce an acceptable result)

Regards

Ian

Yes, that article on gwr.org is a very good start though it could do with a few more drawings and photos.

I've been concious of that for a while. Am awaiting several large round tuits.

To be fair though, it is supposed to be "A beginner's guide to....", and is not supposed to cater for esoteric issues that obsess us nerds. It is difficult to strike a balance between what is readily digestable to a web viewer and the kind of detail contained in the reference books. It is even more difficult to present inferences, often contentious ones (!), from the reference books, so one has to tread cautiously.

I've been concious of that for a while. Am awaiting several large round tuits.

 

To be fair though, it is supposed to be "A beginner's guide to....",

Sorry, perhaps my comment appeared more scathing than intended. It is a very good introduction and it is very useful to be able to point people at it. At present, I think all it really needs is a DCII diagram to complete the set. Photos would be nice but I'm sure we can wait for the fully animated working 3D models ;-)

Nick

Thanks Ian, the links are great, really useful stuff! I'm planing on making more sheeted wagons, but in the early red livery, so i'll definitely be having a go at printing some of these. I just need to find some 157mm long Rizla papers, we're talking serious king size here!

Dave,

Since you model in 7mm, it might be possible to print on something a little thicker than a Rizla. I don't know whether some plain writing paper might be somewhat lighter in weight than ordinary 80gsm printer paper.

Ian