Here's my contribution to the Airfix GB, a trio of British Railways 16 ton mineral wagons. They are in their original Airfix boxes and subject to a few modifications, they will be used on my OO gauge railway. The real wagons were made in great numbers & used all over the British railway network for around 40 years, carrying mainly coal, but also scrap metal and ballast. Most had no brakes other than handbrakes, as the Airfix kit, but later ones had vacuum brakes. The old Airfix kits are still made by Dapol, I have a brake van & twin silo wagon kits in Dapol packaging.
-
-
Here's some I made earlier, over 40 years earlier! These were made when I was a teenager, they have had had a new set of wheels & coulpings to make them suitable for use on my OO gauge railway, the new ones will get the same treatment.
-
Here's a view of what's in the box, a few sprues, the decals are not looking great & will probably need replacing. There's a new pair of steel axles, as the original kit plastic wheels aren't much use on a wagon which has to move in a train. A pair of modern couplings & mounting blocks will allow the wagon to be used with modern locos & wagons.
Comment
-
I've made a start on the first wagon, the parts needed a bit of a clean up, the body had Airfix moulded on the base of the body where it can be seen when the wagon has no load in it, so I sanded it off. First thing was to drill out the axleboxes to take the new axles, they may need bearings fitting too. The chassis & brakes went together easily, the pictures show the first wagon, the body still to do, the original coupling mounts have been filed down ready for the new coupling mounts to be fitted.
Comment
-
Something different for the GB Graheme and a practical build for your OO layout. Great stuff.SteveComment
-
As Steve says - "something different". Interesting how the kit has to be modified to make it useable on a layout.Comment
-
These look good Graeme. Lots of scope for weatheringComment
-
Very cool.Comment
-
Cool, and summit different....Comment
-
It's a definite first for me. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product, in use of course.Comment
-
Thanks guys, they are a bit different to other builds, but it does reflect the variety in the Airfix range through the years. There will be a fair bit of weathering, rust & dirt given the wagons were used for coal & minerals. Not much progress to report, been a bit busy this week.Comment
-
Graeme, nice to see some rolling stock being built for this G.B.
i just might join in later with a loco......
Looking good.
Incidentally, the Dapol 'factory' is only a few miles away in Chirk (Nr.Wales) close by to where I live. I write factory, but it's really only a relatively small industrial unit.
RonComment
-
Thanks Ron, I'd like to see a loco built, didn't you do a couple of them in 'scrapyard' condition?Comment
-
I've managed to get a bit more done. The body is as simple as it gets, four sides & two doors, a bit of clean up needed, ejector pin marks to remove. They were glued to the chassis, remembering to put the doors in their loops in the sides, they are made to be workable. The buffers & dummy coupling hooks were put on, the dummy couplings being shortened to clear the working couplings. The working couplings are the NEM type by Bachmann, a mounting with a pocket to take them was slightly modified & glued to the underside of the wagon, ensuring they cleared the axles. A couple of weights added & it's almost ready for paint, well when I've done the other two.
Comment
Comment