Skinnylinny

Having built the Peco Wonderful Wagon chassis (and yes, I will be building one of the tank wagon kits on the same design of chassis!) I was left with a spare pair of Peco Anita couplings, as they come in packs of four and I'd only used two. I recently obtained a second-hand Mainline coke wagon, and noticed that the locating pegs for the Mainline and the Peco coupling were the same distance apart. Curious, I unscrewed the Mainline coupling and fitted the Peco one (using a spot of glue as there's no screw-hole in the Anita couplings. The result? Buffers (just) touching when the wagons are being propelled, and about 1.5mm apart when being pulled. When passing over Peco medium-radius points, the buffers on the inside of the curve touch (being pushed or pulled) but the coupling takes the brunt of the push. The width of the couplings means that coupling is very reliable, but they're short enough that they don't stick out like the huge tension-locks on Hornby's older models. However, the Peco ones are still compatible with standard tension-locks, so I think I have the best of both worlds: compatibility with (relative) discreetness. I now have this: As opposed to this: And end-on they don't look too bad either. Looks like I'll be firing off an order for a couple more packs of those then!-

In fairness, the kit didn't have that many flaws with it, most of the problems were due to my bashing to get it to fit under that Dapol body...

Dukedog: the tension-locks are actually short enough that on sharp curves it's possible for the buffers to touch... also I'm thinking of trying again with Peco wheels, given that they seem to have been the cause of many of my problems. halfwit: Can you confirm whether the axles in the tank wagon kit are plain-ended or pinpoint? If the latter, I might try again with a full kit, see if it comes out any better - this being a bodge job, I wonder if the fact my w-irons and buffers clashed is because of the material I took off the ends of the solebars...

Having posted a while back in Modelling Questions, Hints and Tips about Peco's Wonderful Wagon kits, I received a whole ream of replies saying that I would do better not to bother wasting my time with the kit. Were they right? Was I about to waste time and money (both scarce resources to a student!) on something that would vaguely resemble a wagon if viewed short-sightedly through frosted glass on a foggy morning? Would the sprung buffers work? Would I melt the axleboxes? Read on, if you dare... So, the first thing to arrive through the post was the Wonderful Wagon chassis kit and a set of Peco tension-lock couplings. The tension-locks are quite nice, actually, especially given their age, and when pulling, there is about 1-2mm of gap between the buffers of the wagons (using the WW chassis kit) which is impressive. The chassis kit was put to one side until the wagon bodyshell (a Dapol unpainted 4-plank open) arrived through the post, having been ordered at the same time as the chassis. The only thing I did note with the chassis kit was that no wheels were provided, nor bearings, the instructions recommending Peco's own wheels; I used Bachmann 8-spoke wheels, which would prove to be my downfall later on. About 3 weeks later, my wagon body arrived, (due to a misunderstanding about billing and delivery addresses) and a quick dry-run showed that with minimal filing off of locating pegs (the Peco and Dapol ones, needless to say, not matching at all), the chassis kit would fit almost perfectly under the body. I started by assembling the bufferbeams, with the very neat buffer springing mechanism, and attaching these to the end of the wagon. The couplings were attached (a nice, simple but secure snap-fit). Now came the fun - the axleboxes in the Peco kit are for use with brass bearings, so a pack of top-hat bearings was acquired, and fitted into the axleboxes. Then, slotting them into the w-irons and testing for smoothness of travel (the importance of this being laboured in my advice thread). Now, just to spring the w-irons apart slightly and insert the axles-Oh dear. The Bachmann axles are about 1mm too long to fit. So, out with the soldering iron and a bit of bodging to melt the bearings into the axleboxes - not for the faint-hearted! Eventually, various bits of persuasion with a scalpel, a soldering iron, various files and some model oil resulted in something that fitted and moved relatively smoothly. Rinse, lather, repeat on the other axle. Glue to base of wagon between solebars. After leaving to dry for a while, I discovered that the metal w-irons actually got in the way of the buffer springing mechanism, leaving the buffers rigid. *sigh* Dismantle, hack, file, melt, test fit, melt some more. At this point I was starting to question my sanity, but kept on going, being fairly close to the end. Eventually, I had a sprung, buffered chassis and body, needing only to fit the brake gear. *SURELY* nothing could go wrong with the brake gear? As supplied, the Peco chassis kit comes with two sets of solebars, for 9' and 10' wheelbase wagons. The brake gear has two sets of brake shoes moulded, one for each wheelbase. The instructions say to cut off the appropriate brake shoes for the wheelbase of chassis being constructed, so I did, only to find that the shoes overlapped my Bachmann wheels again, so I cut up the brake gear and re-assembled it so it would fit. You have now reached where I am currently. I *think* all I need to do now is paint it. Time will tell if the wagon will survive long enough to get painted before being smashed out of frustration. In fairness, despite the pain of actually assembling it, the chassis kit comes out quite nicely... At least in appearance. I still need to acquire some track and test-run it, but that's another story...

...wait, those markings on the ruler are millimeters, not inches... Missy, you astound me...

Morning indeed... Being up early, ready (or not, but that's not the point!) for a university exam, and the temperature's a positively balmy -13°C (9°F) here in Edinburgh... Admittedly, the exams scheduled for Monday were postponed, simply because the university was unable to get the vans with chairs, tables and answer booklets to the exam venues through the snow over the weekend - there's a good foot of snow just lying around where the ploughs haven't been able to get. Getting around is fun, although at least the buses have started running (mostly) again...

Many thanks, Michael. Hmmmmm, so not very correct for a fruit wagon. THat's a pity; I quite like the design. I might have to hack it about a bit into a "freelance" fruit wagon - I'm in need of a van to deliver apples to the brewery on my layout. Time to start plotting... James

With the news that some of university exams at the end of the semester are being postponed (due to the 1 foot plus of snow we've had in Edinburgh preventing the delivery of exam scripts, chairs, tables and invigilators), it seemed like a perfect time to kick back with a bit of modelling. The purchase of four Peco 15-foot wheelbase chassis kits enabled me to make a start on the chassis of my hacked-about Tomix Clarabel. Some careful measuring and two cuts with a hacksaw later (the cut locations happened to line up perfectly with handy raised detail to keep the blade in the right place) and I was able to glue together a rudimentary chassis, which will hopefully have the cut marks (and the bit where the saw slipped!) hidden by footboards if I decide that they're too obvious and can't be hidden by filling... Anyway, some photos: Bottom of chassis Side view, showing saw gap Left-hand-side view of coach Right-hand-side view of coach, showing saw mark on solebar. Also this month, I picked up a curious van off a certain well-known auction site. The chassis markings claim to be a Farish product, but what does it represent? The top half being ventilated makes me think it ought to carry perishables, maybe fruit, milk or fish? I'd like to use it to portray a fruit wagon, but if that's not possible I'm sure with some plasticard it can be pressed into service as something else... What is it? Thanks for reading.

kiwinewt: Do you not find that they clout your platforms? I had this issue, quite apart from the appearance. Would have been nice to have a Thomas set to run around, but I figured that I'd rather not have a scale 2-foot gap between the train and the platform, so decided to reduce them to a scale-ish size. Also, I suppose it reduces the liability of visitors to make the usual "Oh, you play with Thomas the Tank Engine toys?" comments - the layout is in my room, and my flatmates have permission to let people into my room if they show visitors around the flat, on the strict proviso that *nothing* on the model shelf or workbench is touched.

The coaches do actually come with moulded "semi-flush" glazing, which I'm trying to keep (although I managed to crack one of the pieces cutting it off the roof). However, glazing fluid is something that sounds interesting, as it would allow me to build the interior before glazing without having to leave space for thick clear plastic sheet... Also, the "White Putty" I used was a one-part filler, but stinks and apparently contains toluene. Actually using it wasn't difficult, just completely different from anything else I've done before in modelling...