N Brass colliery tubs

I saw these at an exhibition a year or so ago on N Brass Locos trade stand, its an etched brass kit for a pair of coal tubs of the type used underground. The waggons are designed to static items, we'll see about that...

Two etches are included, one for each waggon, and two sets of wheels;

The instructions are brief but adequate, and include some useful hints on working with etched brass.

Each body are made up from three parts, the main being a folded up floor and sides and two ends which locate inside the body. The fit is excellent, the ends having folded tabs which sit inside the body sides;

The etch includes lengths of rivetted strapping, and the instructions suggest fitting it in a U shape on the waggon sides. I ignored the sketch and copied an idea from Will (Little Giant on the NGRM-online forum) and instead soldered it around the upper edge of the bodies, to strengthen to top edge. On one waggon the end strapping is made up from two short pieces due to the way I cut the strapping down.

Underneath there are four separate 'axleboxes', which have tabs that locate in slots in the floor, and a U section chassis which sits between the axleboxes. I deviated from the instructions at this point, they show the chassis section forming a closed box under the floor, I fitted the chassis upside down to allow me to fill the U section with lead;

No couplings are included or even mentioned, hardly surprising as these are sold as static models, so I fitted RT Models etched couplings, bending the tail of the coupling over at 90 degrees and soldering them to the ends of the waggons.

The plain disc wheels are 5.1mm dia., running on 1.1mm dia. axles. I found the axles to be a sloppy fit in the axleboxes, so I turned up new shouldered axles from 1.5mm silver steel with the ends turned down to suit the wheels. An alternative would be to use Dundas 5.1mm curly spoked wheels, which would in fact better suit the waggons.

Before I started painting the waggons were chemically blacked with Birchwood Casey Brass Black, to reduce any 'silvering', where paint rubs off leaving the bare metal behind which can and does happen with brass kits. This was followed by a quick waft of Hycote red oxide car primer. I gave the outer body a coat of Phoenix Precision Dirty Black, and the inner my usual mix of Citadel Rhinox Hide and Humbrol Leather.

Coupling loops were fitted after painting. As these will run together one waggon has loops both ends but the other has a loop on one end only.

The axles are held in pace by gently squeezing the U shaped axlebox forks together, done carefully the axles should be free running.

Just to give an idea of size, here's one sitting on a penny;

The body is 19mm long and 17mm wide.

In my view this is a nicely designed little kit, and a good starting point for anyone contemplating building etched kits. I'll be building some more, a train of these snaking behind a suitable loco would look just fine;

The loco is an A1 Models kit and is described here.

Paul.