Saturday 16 January 2010

RCH 7 Plank Open Wagon (Pt.2)

Unfortunately, due to problems at work, I was not able to get to this month's Scalefour Area Group meeting (Sorry guys). When I eventually arrived home I thought I'd to try and make the best of a bad day.

The RCH open wagon was still out on my bench so I drilled out the buffers and glued then in place. While the glue was setting on the buffers I fixed the solebars in place (these had been prepared a previous evening). Finally, with a little filing off the ends of the floor and solebars, I glued the sides onto the wagon floor. I felt I made a bit of a meal putting the sides together as I was dry run testing different methods to get the sides true. Eventually I think they look OK.



I then started to prepare the axleboxes and springs for fitting onto the W irons but realised the ones I was using had 5 leaf springs and pressed shoes. The plastic moulding supplied with the kit are only 4 leaf springs with shoes that possibly represent cast shoes. Hmmm.......is the kit correct? Out came my wagon reference books only to realise I don't have a reference photo of a fixed end RCH wagon!!! D'oh....That should have been my first thought when starting this kit.........have I any references that I can base this kit on?

It was getting late so I stopped at that point. Only a small amount of progress but it was a bit of good therapy at the end of a bad day.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Flymo said...

Yan, you don't say if it's a 1923 or a 1907 standard wagon. But the reference material would be the same for either of them - Bill Hudson's superb Private Owner Wagons Volumes 1-4.

There are many examples I could choose from, but Plate 10 of Volume 3 has a clear picture of a 1923 eight plank fixed end wagon. It has five-leaf springs, but the bottom-most one is so short that it *does* look as though there are only four. It hardly pokes out of the sides of the axlebox.

The shoes do look cast, but it is very difficult to tell at any sort of distance.

Flymo

Ian said...

Thanks Flymo

It is a 1923 wagon and I've just been informed that one of the local S4 Group have a copy of Volume 3. Will be checking it out ASAP.

Thank you for taking the time to thumb though your books.

Yan