Wishing Well

In week when I've not managed to get any modelling done at all I find the In Tray for future projects is piling up.

Himself is now expressing a desire for a model of the FR's well wagon which was deployed this week to transport the painted cab of 130 to Dinas to be united with the rest of the locomotive.

Being part of the modern infrastructure fleet, with vacuum brakes, it's a really useful wagon which can be found all over the 40-mile railway, so its appearance on Bron Hebog could be well justified.

No sooner had he popped up with his wish list comment than other people were suggesting it should be the next Boston Largs Works kit - notwithstanding the fact I'm making very slow progress with the MOD flat wagons project.

On the plus side I would be able to make use of the Polish bogie castings which I developed for the Livingston Thompson project, but I'll have to do some clever thinking about how I could produce a wagon body in that shape using an open-back casting method.

Tank Waggon Test Run

A coat of varnish has completed the Maenofferen tank waggon and now its been taken for a test run with the rest of the vintage freight stock and Palmertston.

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.

It's a very distinctive shape and if I say so myself I seem to have captured it, when comparing this to a similar picture in the 2020 FR calendar.

The first batch of my kits for this waggon have sold out and there's a reservation list for the next batch.

Email Boston Largs Works to secure yours.

Three Doors On My Wagon

So, after success casting single DZ door units I have now moved on to trying to reproduce whole wagon sides.

And here is a mould full of resin...

...and here is one of the castings removed and given a quick clean up.

I've cast 8 of them now and I think I'm reasonably satisfied with the way these have come out.

It's quite tricky to get the rear surface - the bit that is on the top as you pour the liquid resin into the mould - as smooth and flat as I'd like it to be.

I have tried the trick of passing the edge or a sheet of clear plastic along the top, but perhaps I've not yet got the knack fully.

There are a few pinprick air bubble holes here and there, but mostly they'll be easily sorted with filler or something like that.

The other issue has been with the wee dangly bits below the frame. Not all of them cast perfectly every time - which is not surprising given how small and thin they are - but as the WHR wagons are more than a little battered and have quite a few of them missing hopefully we'll be able to get around it.

It may be possible to graft on some of the good ones which have to be sliced off in place of a couple of the ropey ones. The question is whether the bond will be robust enough for life on the exhibition circuit??

MOTW - V-16 Guard's Van

This week we're back to departmental stock, and another South African import.



This guard's van (an NG.V-16 to give it its full title) was given to the WHR as a gift from the Sandstone Heritage Trust & Railway in South Africa in 2003 to celebrate the twinning of the two organisations.

It was rebuilt by volunteers at Dinas and was used on the WHR for the first time in 2006.

This model was built from a Worsley Works scratch-aid kit, which provide a basic brass bodyshell (minus roof and any of the strapping or handrail details)and shows how, with care and time spent on them, they can be turned into really nice, detailed models.

The real vehicle's primary role has been as a tool van / brake vehicle on construction trains on the Phase 4 project to rebuild the line from Rhyd Ddu to Porthmadog.

The V-16 wagons included a primitive toilet. This was stripped out during the refurbishment and replaced with a cut down mobile chemical toilet, of the type see seen at music festivals and the like.

It has also been used in demonstration freight formations at the Superpower events.

Much to the relief of anyone who has to go anywhere near the van, the chemical bog has recently been removed.