'Borth' van in 006

 Back in '84 there appeared an article in Model Railways, in the January edition, describing modelling a 'quarry tramway van' in 009 by Mark Abbott which left an impression on me. The prototype was found at a location at Borth, near Aberystwth, along with another van and a pair of coaches used as holiday cottages. There's a description of the stock in the February 1969 Railway Modeller, described and drawn by Sidney Lelux. The stock was built to 2'6" gauge and worked at Chat Moss on a railway built by Manchester Corporation. 

Fast forward a few(!) years, and I've built my own. The prototype scales out at about 17mm wide, making it a suitable subject for a 006 model. In fact I've built 3 bodies, one finished to 6mm gauge and the other two spare (for now). I'm not very good with plasticard hence the spares.

The body is made from .030" styrene sheet, scribed with a scrawker;

I covered finding the roof radius here.

Hinge and hasp detail is from styrene strip, and the hasp features a staple (loop) made from a single strand of electrical wire fitted into .2mm holes (.2mm drills, how mad is that!). It has to be said that the staple is barely visible, but I still think worth fitting as the hasp is just a plain strip of styrene without it. The handles on the ends are .33 brass wire. The other side is plain, this van had a door on one side only.

The chassis is made from 4.7 x 1.7mm styrene C section, and follows the general layout of my flat waggon. A strip of styrene glued on top and a piece of brass below set the coupling height and give clearance for the 6mm dia. wheels. Wheels are soldered to a strip brass base, as described here.

This is how it looks placed on its wheels;

The roof is rolled from .010" brass sheet.

Cross bracing under the body is cut from .030" styrene and filed to shape after the glue has set hard;

Here it is finished;

I started with a light undercoat of Hycote red oxide primer, straight from the can, followed by a coat of Vallejo 70.982 Cavalry Brown squirted through my favourite Aerograph, which I think will be my 'go to' colour for regular (i.e. not mining) 006 waggons.

Chassis, roof and metalwork is, as ever, Vallejo 70.862 Black Grey applied by brush, which I use to help all of the stock blend together. I used masking tape when I painted the hasp and hinges to save any slippage with the brush. The number 11 was, as usual, done with a mapping pen and white ink, and I only numbered the door side as I think the plain side is best left plain. A waft of Testors finishes things off.

And finally, both of my 006 vans together along with the as yet unpainted diesel;

The gunpowder van build was covered here.

I've enjoyed this rather characterful build, yes it should have spoked wheels, but then it should be 10mm gauge as well. As the wheels are very much in shadow the lack of spokes isn't too noticable. I still have the other two bodies to play with, one will probably be 9mm gauge and the other maybe 6mm, but finished in grey.

Paul.