Roxey Mouldings ICI hopper part 9 - vacuum pipes and bracing struts.

Vacuum pipes, which are fitted to all ICI wagons as well as those Summers wagons which ended their lives with ICI, are covered in the instructions with the line 'Add the vacuum piping from .9mm wire (Not supplied).
I made the pipes in two halves from .7mm brass rod, bending them to shape whilst studying photos of the prototype. Of course both ends are different as the pipe runs along one side of the wagon;

For the flexible hose I used the time-honoured method of wrapping thin wire around the rod, in this case 38swg soft copper from Eileen's Emporium (5amp fuse wire would also work). A touch of solder at each end stops the wire from unravelling. I find this job to be highly satisfying for some reason.

Both halves are made overlength to be trimmed before fitting. I hid the join at a side rib, a little dab of solder in a couple of places secures the pipe in place. At this stage the coupling hooks (Smiths, I use 3 links) were added. To support the pipes at the ends tiny little uprights (2 per end) were made up from scrap etch and soldered in place with my RSU, again using prototype photographs to position them correctly;

The end bracing struts are soldered up from two parts. They are supposed to fit together using tabs and slots (5 of each), however fitting the tabs on the uprights into the slots on the backing plate means that the angled ends don't line up - the solution of course is to drastically shorten the 3 inner tabs with a file so the upright can be slid along the backing plate until the angled ends match the half-etched lines on the backing plate and then completely remove the end tabs. A little tweaking with pliers was found to be neccesary to make the angled ends sit properly. Also at the bufferbeam end the strut needs to be filed back at an angle, as supplied its square. Funny what you notice when you compare model to prototype...

Running crossways between the frames on the underside of the wagon is a channel section. This is made up from 3 pieces, slotting and tabbing together. Surely it would have been better to make the channel in one fold-up piece? Not only would it be easier to make (soldering the thing up as supplied is a tad fiddly) but it would have been easier to draw as well, only requiring a rectangle with two fold lines rather than 3 parts with the tabs and slots added. This is after all a wagon kit, not a 1000 piece jigsaw! Having said all that, I've used 3mm x 1.5mm brass channel from Eileen's, even easier;

Note the shaft for the brake handwheels.
The next job is to add the buffers and vacuum cylinders.

Paul.