Overseer
Western Thunderer
I haven't noticed any mention on WT of the recent introduction of the Richard Webster designed steel ended open wagons by Dapol so not sure what others think of them. As it is a model of a fairly common wagon for which no kit is available and the photographs looked quite good I ordered one of the unpainted ones. Can't complain about the service from Hattons and the postal services - ordered Friday evening and on the doorstep in Melbourne the following Friday morning at a lower cost than it would have been if I had walked into the shop thanks to the huge UK VAT.
The unpainted one is numbered as M 424330, portraying one of the predecessors to the Diag 1/039 and 1/044, the LMS diagram D2150. The LMS also had the very similar D2110. It seems from Essery that there was a mix of suspension types and brake systems covered by the two LMS diagrams and a similar thing happened with the BR versions covered by the two BR diagrams. Many of the hand braked wagons were later fitted with vacuum brakes.
As received -
Note the Kadee mounting plates, a feature I have not seen on the Lionheart wagons. It probably mounts Kadees at their standard height, you would need to use a medium shank length coupling if you plan to use Kadees. The long shank version I tried looked too long but might help with tight curves. There are a couple of issues, one is that the fixing screw in the mounting plate is domed and prevents a coupling being mounted on the plate (needs a countersunk screw). The other is the height is way lower than UK standard for knuckle couplings due to the scale difference and different mounting heights of UK and US prototypes.
I converted the wheels to S7 in the same way as the Lionheart tank was done. Press the die cast centre to the back face of the wheel then reduce the width of the tyre to scale width. I have left the flanges as supplied, deeper than they should be but not too bad. No alteration required to the brake gear for clearance.
I plan to repaint the wagon, but I expected to do that before buying it. The unpainted wood colour supplied is a odd flesh colour which is probably OK as a base for weathering. Overall, the wagon looks very good and I particularly like the end corrugations (ironically they are a bit thinner than they should be so the internal length is a millimetre or so longer than scale). There are a few issues with wagons in this particular paint scheme, mainly because the LMS wagons were not identical with the BR version. The floor edge should be painted black, as should the steel support below the doors, and the steel capping to the door top should also be painted black. The steel door capping is represented on the model is correct for the LMS wagons but was on few of the BR wagons. The diagonal straps are correct for the BR diagram wagons but the LMS wagons had the strap at a slightly shallower angle, finishing level with the floor. The LMS wagons also had an outward facing angle along the top of each end which is not present on the BR wagons modelled by Dapol. A minor point but the capping support clips on the model are correct for wagons in later service but as built the LMS ones only had a clip at each end of the planks - easy to slice off if required. I will probably modify this one to more closely match the LMS diagram 2150 wagons.
Overall, I think Dapol have produced a good model of a useful early BR period wagon which had long service lives.
From the photographs, I am not so sure about the BR standard vans also recently introduced by Dapol so haven't purchased any yet. The end corrugations on the vans do not look quite right and the roof looks odd around the door. They have done the plank widths well, with the slightly narrower plank at mid height, something Slaters didn't get right with their kit.
The unpainted one is numbered as M 424330, portraying one of the predecessors to the Diag 1/039 and 1/044, the LMS diagram D2150. The LMS also had the very similar D2110. It seems from Essery that there was a mix of suspension types and brake systems covered by the two LMS diagrams and a similar thing happened with the BR versions covered by the two BR diagrams. Many of the hand braked wagons were later fitted with vacuum brakes.
As received -
Note the Kadee mounting plates, a feature I have not seen on the Lionheart wagons. It probably mounts Kadees at their standard height, you would need to use a medium shank length coupling if you plan to use Kadees. The long shank version I tried looked too long but might help with tight curves. There are a couple of issues, one is that the fixing screw in the mounting plate is domed and prevents a coupling being mounted on the plate (needs a countersunk screw). The other is the height is way lower than UK standard for knuckle couplings due to the scale difference and different mounting heights of UK and US prototypes.
I converted the wheels to S7 in the same way as the Lionheart tank was done. Press the die cast centre to the back face of the wheel then reduce the width of the tyre to scale width. I have left the flanges as supplied, deeper than they should be but not too bad. No alteration required to the brake gear for clearance.
I plan to repaint the wagon, but I expected to do that before buying it. The unpainted wood colour supplied is a odd flesh colour which is probably OK as a base for weathering. Overall, the wagon looks very good and I particularly like the end corrugations (ironically they are a bit thinner than they should be so the internal length is a millimetre or so longer than scale). There are a few issues with wagons in this particular paint scheme, mainly because the LMS wagons were not identical with the BR version. The floor edge should be painted black, as should the steel support below the doors, and the steel capping to the door top should also be painted black. The steel door capping is represented on the model is correct for the LMS wagons but was on few of the BR wagons. The diagonal straps are correct for the BR diagram wagons but the LMS wagons had the strap at a slightly shallower angle, finishing level with the floor. The LMS wagons also had an outward facing angle along the top of each end which is not present on the BR wagons modelled by Dapol. A minor point but the capping support clips on the model are correct for wagons in later service but as built the LMS ones only had a clip at each end of the planks - easy to slice off if required. I will probably modify this one to more closely match the LMS diagram 2150 wagons.
Overall, I think Dapol have produced a good model of a useful early BR period wagon which had long service lives.
From the photographs, I am not so sure about the BR standard vans also recently introduced by Dapol so haven't purchased any yet. The end corrugations on the vans do not look quite right and the roof looks odd around the door. They have done the plank widths well, with the slightly narrower plank at mid height, something Slaters didn't get right with their kit.
