Nile

The model was designed to use etched W irons. My use of plastic ones has resulted in the axleboxes being too close together to allow the use of normal wheelsets and bearings. I found some plastic Ratio wheels that fitted perfectly, without the need for bearings. They seem to run ok on my SMP track. Being all black they look ok next to RTR wheels. Checking the ride height, it seems correct.

The hook is plastic, the links are brass/iron from Ambis. I agree a metal hook would be a better choice for a wagon.

After fitting some glazing the body was re-united with the now painted roof and chassis. I've left the molded on tail lamp in place and painted it black. For the couplings I've fitted 3 links to each. To keep them in place a small piece of micro-strip was glued across the top. Finished!

Good news everyone! While looking for something (I do a lot of that) I found a box containing some models and bits that went missing earlier this year. One of those bits forms the next project. This is a 3D print from Shapeways, in white strong & flexible (Nylon), of a NSR ballast brake van. The surface is a bit rough and lacks the fine detail of the more expensive materials, but it was relatively cheap. The body and chassis are separate parts, but there are no W irons or brake gear. For W irons and axleboxes I used these parts from a Parkside kit (that I've had many years and don't plan to build). Glued in place with superglue gel. All four done. Now I need to find some wheels that will fit.

This is for another freelance railway, the West Midland Railway, which did exist in reality for a few years.

The rebuild is now complete, it's ready for painting. After the addition of paint and transfers. It's nearly there.

A final photo of this one. I've stuck a loco crew to the motor with some blu-tak to see if they can hide it. This shows up the high ride height of the Triang coach.

Here's how I modified the Parkside brake bits to form the brake gear. I cut it up to end up with two separate brake shoes. This shows how they will be used in relation to the wheel. Glued in position either side of a wheel. Repeat three times and this is the result.

Yes. Take a right angled beam and cut along one side length ways to make an L beam.

Onto the chassis. First, the couplings. I cut a small slot in the buffer beam and glued a hook into it, a leftover from a Slaters kit. I then filled the remaining gap in the buffer beam with some plastic strip. Next, the brakes will be made up from these leftovers from Parkside kits.

With a bit of bending the brake pipe is now at the correct level, more or less. Painted black and then glued in place. Same again at the back. There was a hole in the buffer beam, so I put a piece of wire into it. I assume it's the steam pipe. So that's all good then. Well not quite. The thing about research is that it's better to do it before you build the model. Something didn't look right, so I went looking for some photos. I discovered that the rear brake pipe should be on the other side of the hook, and the pipe goes through the beam, not under it. So here is the corrected version. I've just about managed to avoid obliterating the number.

Here are some pics of it posed on Wyndal. So far so good, but it's not quite finished yet. It needs some brake pipes, for which I'll be using some I picked up cheaply at a show. Here is a trial fit to get the idea. It needs to be lower to allow the smokebox door to open.

New handrails made from 0.4mm brass. And handles for the doors. Now stuck together. I'll be adding detail to the chassis next.

I found time to do a few things to this. I fitted a Bachmann whistle, can't remember where it came from. Then I fitted the body onto the chassis and tried it on the test track. Something wasn't right, it wasn't happy going backwards and the rear pony wheels weren't turning. They seemed to be rubbing on the body underside, darn. I thought I might have to fit smaller wheels, but then I compared the wheels to some new Romford ones I had, the newer ones have a much finer flange. The original wheel is to the left. With the new Romford wheels it ran ok I'll get some proper shots done later.

Next thing to do was deal with the raised details on the body sides. Before. After. Looking better. I didn't like the look of the cabin end pieces, they lacked plank detail and the windows were a weird shape. So using some odd bits of Slaters planking I did this. This is what it looks like in the body.

Having fitted brake gear, the original white metal guard irons didn't fit the front of the chassis. So I made some new ones from scrap pieces of brass. I've glued them to the insides of the frames. The rear pony truck had a broken guard iron, I replaced it with an odd piece of plastic rod. The end of the truck has two holes in it, here I've used the inner hole that gives the correct scale spacing for the wheels. I think it will still go round curves in this position, maybe not very tight ones. I've fitted a screw coupling to the front buffer beam. The split pin was modified to fit between the frames. For the rear coupling I wanted to leave the area behind the buffer beam clear to allow room for the rear wheel to swing, so I used a coupling that didn't have a tail (it must have broken off), gluing it into the hole.

Looks very nice, Andy. Is Halfords Rover Damask Red a good match for Crimson Lake? I think I've read it before on rmweb, but thought I'd ask.

Or sell it!

The flexible/rubbery nature of the chassis material makes it awkward to work with, and difficult to get a decent finish. I've added some detail to the chassis, footboards. I've used some 1.5mm angle strip, with one side cut down to make it a L shape, plus cut-outs for the axle boxes to which they were glued. Some extra bits added, vertical supports and steps under the doors. It's looking more like a proper brake van now.

Here is the result of my surgery on the chassis, mostly with a scalpel. I've also removed the brake cylinder and coupling supports. While not perfect, hopefully it will look ok when finished.

Thanks for your kind comments and likes. I hadn't noticed how visible the motor is until you mentioned it, Pete . I'll have to see if it looks any better with some figures around it. As I was happy with the performance of the original motor after cleaning it, I hadn't given any thought to replacing it. Now you've got me thinking. I see this as a refurbishing project and would like to re-use as much original material as possible. Livery wise I'm assuming that pre-war they were lined, and after that plain black, which is what I'm modelling.

I sprayed the body with humbrol satin black. After that I painted the buffer beams red, avoiding the buffers. Then followed my usual process, applying Klear to get a glossy finish before applying the transfers. I then sprayed a light coat of matt varnish, to remove the glossy finish. I masked off the smokebox and spayed the rest of it with satin varnish. Finally I painted the inside of the cab off-white.

That may be down to different designers. I've seen this chassis used under a container wagon. It seems much more continental in design with its underside detail. I suspect the body was designed to fit this (existing) chassis.

My next project is to modify and detail a Trix brakevan. Here is a picture you've seen before. Some comparison photos with other brakevans. A side-on view. The molded in brake gear will have to be carefully removed, as will the raised details on the body. The underframe. That vacuum cylinder will have to go, along with the coupling mounts. Broken down into its parts. Wheels and couplings removed, ready for action!

Or Schools, or Midland compound. They have the same chassis.