4mm An EM Workbench - rescuing the herd: three second hand cattle wagons

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
When are we going to be shown a slope-side? Or a SNCF cupboard door? Or even a 13T mineral with no paint remaining on the wood sheeting?
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
When are we going to be shown a slope-side? Or a SNCF cupboard door? Or even a 13T mineral with no paint remaining on the wood sheeting?

Hang on! I've done a slope side (two, in fact, about 25 years apart). The more recent appeared in my MRJ piece in 246-7, not the focus of that article, and it's in this thread, somewhere. There's a pair of SNCF types, but they're in the holding pattern (shoe box of doom), and as it happens, there's a pile of ABS LMS minerals, one of which will be finished like that. Just don't ask when.

Adam

EDIT: Here it is.

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AJC

Western Thunderer
Another rescue, badly described and with loose bits on eBay, this is a D&S GCR cattle wagon. Just as well it wasn't adequately described or I'd never have bought it: the D&S premium in online sales - given how very common they seem to be - makes the things roughly worth their weight in something more precious than lead alloy. The GCR cattle wagon is not actually that common, apparently, so I'll regard that as a win.

So a W iron has been soldered back on, new roof, couplings and replacement brake levers made and fitted. The lettering applied was mostly a bit wonky so a partial repaint is on the cards.

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An hour's work, and one less thing in the shoebox of doom.

Adam
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
Another wagon has emerged from the shoebox. One of the ubiquitous Slater’s MR cattle wagons. Quite tricky to put the bars in: the securing nuts are represented on the ends so I used those to centre pop for holes before threading in 0.3mm nickel silver wire and melting them through the verticals using tweezers and a soldering iron.

Some minor making good needed.

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The GCR van has had a repaint and relettering: the roof can wait until I have several to do.

Adam
 
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AJC

Western Thunderer
The Midland van’s lineal descendant, in the form of the LMS dia. 1661 from Parkside. I have one of those to build, but that one lacks the running gear sprue and so I’ve pinched the wheels for something else.

The variations on the basic design attracted different diagram numbers but amount to two sizes of drop door, two types of angled strapping, short and long buffers, no pipes, through pipes, and full 8 shoe vacuum brake (with J hanger springs). When they got bored of that they started building the things on steel underframes, but those are rather different.

As you can tell, this one came pre-built and not that well, but well enough. So the brakes were the wrong way round and the roof had plank lines gouged on it, hence the mess of Miliput which was only marginally quicker and messier than making a new one. This is your straight, immediately post-Grouping variant. The Midland van is ready for paint, the LMS not so.

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More to do, but it’s holiday time now and so that’s where these two will stay for a couple of weeks.

Adam
 
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