006 single plank waggon

I decided to try my hand at converting a 009 Society 1 plank wagon to 6mm gauge. I've built one before, seen here, and it is an excellent and affordable kit.

I started by chopping down the floor, cutting 4mm from the length (2 planks) and reducing the width to 16mm. Both ends could then be cut to suit, using a razor saw and cutting so the join was next to a stanchion;

With care and the tiniest amount of filler the join is invisible.

The sides had the same treatment;

I cut down along the corner plate on one side, glued the plate into place then once the glue had set reduced the length of the side to suit.

For the solebars I started by removing 1mm from each end, then removed a section from the middle so each solebar measured 24mm long. I added a strip of styrene behind each solebar for strengthening.

Here's one in place;

Note the .040" square styrene strip glued under the ends, this is to give larger surface to attach the couplings to.

As the solebars have been strengthened and shortened I decided to trap the wheelset in place now rather than spring it into place later, which I felt would be difficult as there's now less give in the axleboxes. So, I covered the treads in masking tape to protect them from paint;

Wheels are, as usual, home made. The diameter is 6mm, and they sit on 1.5mm dia. axles 12mm long with an approx. 54 degree taper turned on each end.

After giving the waggon a waft of grey Hycote primer I first painted the bare wood decking, using a Lifecolor Weathered Wood set (Warm Wood base, Warm Light Shade, followed by Warm Light Shade 2, then finished with Cold Light Shade). The rest of the body was brush painted with my go-to for non-mining 006 waggons, Vallejo 70.982 Cavalry Brown. Axleboxes are Vallejo 70.862 Black Grey. The number 12 (this is my 12th 006 waggon) was done with a mapping pen and white ink.

And forming part of a train on the as-yet-still-unfinished Drystone Moss;

On the left is my Borth van, detailed here, and on the right a R.A.R. gunpowder van, covered here.

To show how tiny this waggon is here's a couple of shots of it with a standard unmodified flat;

A successful conversion I'd say. The proportions suit the waggon well and I like the couplings and the extra material below the waggon ends.

Paul.

A couple more RNAD flat wagons.

Wanting a longer train, I recently built a couple more of these 009 Society wagon kits (the first two can be seen here).

Construction and finish are the same as before, but to add a bit of variety one wagon has had one of the end planks removed. Also as these will be used in a fixed rake the Greenwich couplings have loops on one end only.

However, I haven't made as good a job of these as I did the first time around. For a start some black paint has crept under the masking tape leaving marks on the yellow ends.

Worse, on the 3 end plank wagon I managed to assemble the two solebars out of alignment (on the left in the photo below);

On this kit the solebars need trimming down to fit between the bufferbeams, obviously I've taken more off one end than the other. I only noticed this after the solvent had set.

Mulling over these mistakes, I think that because I'd made a couple before and found them to be quite easy I got complacent when building these new ones, and didn't take the amount of care and double check the fit of everything at both the assembly and painting stages as I would on an unfamiliar kit. But, they both run, and the paint leak just looks like wear, so they can stay as they are.

An important lesson has been learnt!

Paul.

009 Society open and single plank wagons

These two kits are part of a series produced for and sold by the 009 Society. Both are freelance in design, one is of a typical open wagon and the other a single plank bolster wagon. I left off the bolster to make a simple flat.

The bodies were undercoated with Hycote red oxide car primer, then painted with Revel 37 Reddish Brown, which I think suits them well. Axleboxes and brakes are Phoenix Precision Dirty Black. I wanted a bare wood interior, so I started with Revel 378 Dark Grey. This was followed by drybrushing on Humrol 29 then Revel 75 Stone Grey. This I hope gives a reasonable representation of bare wood, painting has never been my strength. I tend to use the same combination of paints for wood on all my stock, hopefully this allows my wagons to blend together.

Couplings are Greenwich, and slots needed to be filed in the bufferbeams to accommodate them, easily done with a square needle file. A shelf of plasticard off-cuts sits behind each bufferbeam to provide a greater surface to glue the couplings to.

I modified the brake gear slightly, removing a shoe from each assembly. The open has brakes on both sides of the wagon, the single plank is braked on one side only.

A fine pair of wagons which are in my view nicely detailed and proportioned. The open is especially nice, the higher ends adding character. I think that they look quite splendid behind a Saltford Peckett.

There's also a steel open in the same series, which I will build at some stage, and I'd like to build another planked open but this time cut the high ends down to match the sides.

For some reason the deck of the flat wagon appears lighter in the photos than it actually is. The delights of photographing in the garden on a sunny day...

Paul.

On the cover!

A while ago I built a narrow gauge Ruston 48DS, based on the preserved example at Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum. I've always been rather pleased with it, in fact I'd say that its my best work to date. So, I wrote a short article on the build and sent it off to the editor of 009 News along with a few photographs. Yesterday the latest copy landed on my doorstep;

I have to say that I'm quite chuffed! Not only has my article appeared in print, but my loco made it onto the cover as well. Happy days!

Paul.

009 Society RNAD flat wagon.

One of the great things about the 009 Society is the steadily growing range of wagon kits produced by the Society for its members. Of course you do need to be a member to buy one, but anyone modelling in 009 should be anyway!

This particular kit, the fourth produced by the Society, is of a type that were used in Royal Naval Armaments Depots, but the kits usefullness to modellers is mostly due to these wagons being sold to preservation societies.

My own two were started last year, I built them up but didn't get much further because I a) wasn't sure of the paint scheme and b) I don't care much for painting anyway. I built them according to the instructions, apart from adding a little shelf behind the bufferbeams for the couplers to attach to. A strip of lead (aquarium plant weight) sits under the floors for a little added weight. They went together very well, but there's a slight twist in the floor which I haven't managed to get rid off. Whether this will be a problem or not only time will tell.

I found an article about Dean Hill (an ex-RNAD depot) online, which used some similar wagons, so I then had a paint scheme to copy, all over black with yellow ends.

First job was to give them a squirt of white Hycote auto primer, followed by another squirt of Humbrol 69 gloss yellow. After giving them a couple of days for the paint to harden I masked off the yellow panels and finished them in Hycote matt black primer, again from a rattlecan. I would usually use a dirty weathered black but the wagons in the photo look very clean, so I left mine alone and finished off with several coats of Testors Dullcoat (they needed more than one coat to tone down the gloss yellow). The clean finish does mean that they make an interesting contrast with my other stock.

Couplings are Greenwich, fitted after painting.

And here they are with my Rushby's Resins battery loco;

I might yet build a couple more, some had one or two plank ends which would add a bit of variety.

Paul.