Open For Business

I've got more action to report from the paint shop.

Himself has been busy with the multi-coloured Hudson semi-open carriages - one the replica for the FR and the other for the WHHR fleet, which have different origins.

The red (WHHR) one is from the very neat 009 Society injection moulded kit, and has had a few enhancements such as brake pipes and the safety chains across the passenger access openings.

The green (FR) version is one I cast in resin from a scratch built master I made in styrene, and has a number of differences, including the positions of the right angle uprights and the number of slats on the end panels.

The mesh doors - a mid-life upgrade which offer significantly more protection than the chains on number 42 - are 3D prints which were kindly donated to the project.

For a few minutes Himself thought he had caught me out by noticing that number 39 currently has fewer, and thicker, planks on the ends, but he forgot the golden rule of FR modelling, which is that things change so frequently you have to choose the day you are modelling your locomotive, carriage or waggon and stick to it.

Thus, this 39 shows the carriage before its most recently, and thorough, overhaul.

Non-Identical Twins

I suppose in a way my naivety is quite touching, but I really shouldn't have been surprised when my plan to make one master for the sides of the FR and WHHR Hudson toast rack carriages hit a snag.

A correspondent informed me that there is a clear difference in the pair in the orientation of the upright L girders on the sides.

While the WHHR rebuild has them as per the original carriages the FR replica - built by Winson Engineering in the 1990s - has most of them facing in the opposite direction.

I am also informed that this is not what was designed, however, that is what was delivered!

Armed with this unfortunate information my options were:

a) build separate masters for the two carriages

or

b) try to slice off the uprights to make a generic master to which I could use to cast incomplete sides and add the uprights separately for each carriage.

I've decided to go for the second option.

This now looks a lot more basic, although I have been able to add on the footboard and some resin rivet head transfers along the frame.

Hopefully cutting and sticking on the girders will be much less hassle than having to make a whole second side from scratch.

Hot Toast

It's been an ambition for a while to get a second model of Hudson 'toast rack' carriage 39 in the fleet, wearing its Col. Stephens green to match many of the other vintage carriages.

Our existing model is one I scratch built in styrene probably the best part of 25 years ago in its original red and ivory colour scheme.

As well as the FR one we could do with a third model to represent carriage 42 on the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway.

So when I heard the 009 Society had produced a run of their exclusive, members-only, kits for the first time in many years I thought that would be the ideal opportunity to get these models built.

Alas, it appears they have sold like hot cakes - or more like hot toast? - and by the time Himself obtained a login for the members' section of the shop they'd all gone!

So rather than wait for an announcement about if or when there might be another production run, I've decided the best thing to do is to make a pair myself.

I've done it before so it won't be difficult.

I'm going to make up masters for the sides and ends and cast copies in resin.

A friend, who got in ahead of us and bought a handful of the Society kits, kindly helped me out with a few measurements and after a couple of hours work last night I've got this far.

Just like the Society kit the semi-circle hoops which are such a feature of these carriages will be added on by hand, and I've still got the footboard and the triangular underframe to add - plus bolt heads / rivets - before it is ready to make a mould from.

The ends will be slightly more involved as the FR and WHHR examples are different - or at least they were in the period I'm going to model them - 39 had many more horizontal slats before it was taken in for a heavy overhaul ahead of the 2021 season.