Converting Slaters NER Hopper to S7

FiftyFourA

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
I have a Slaters 20T hopper wagon which I intend to convert to S7 (when I get the cast off my right hand in a few weeks) ans was wondering if anyone had done such a convert?

Swapping over the wheels is straight forward but do I need compensation/springing?

Remembering that the kit has a hopper floor in it (not a flat floor) so you cannot fit a compensating unit and the w irons etc are plastic.

Peter
 
richard carr

richard carr

Western Thunderer
I have about 20 of these and all I have done is swap the wheels over and make sure the wagon is square and add a bit of weight.

If its not square then they won't run.

It is possible to spring them using Exactoscale individual W irons as I have seen examples done by others, but I'm not sure that you can get the 100% correct original NE pattern you need to accept a bit of compromise.

Any truly square 4 wheel wagon will run well in S7 you do not need to spring them.

Richard
 
FiftyFourA

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
richard carr said:
I have about 20 of these and all I have done is swap the wheels over and make sure the wagon is square and add a bit of weight.

If its not square then they won't run.

It is possible to spring them using Exactoscale individual W irons as I have seen examples done by others, but I'm not sure that you can get the 100% correct original NE pattern you need to accept a bit of compromise.

Any truly square 4 wheel wagon will run well in S7 you do not need to spring them.

Richard
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Richard. I built several of these in O fine scale 20 years ago and it looks like its the same adage about square and weight. As this is my first in S7 I am glad of the advice re springing.

Peter
 
Rob Pulham

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
Hi Peter,
Not that I can add anything to Richard's comments on building in S7 but I just wanted to say that it was good to meet you and the guys on Sunday.
 
7mmMick

7mmMick

Western Thunderer
Rob Pulham said:
Hi Peter,
Not that I can add anything to Richard's comments on building in S7 but I just wanted to say that it was good to meet you and the guys on Sunday.
Click to expand...
+1 from me as well Peter, thank you for the warm welcome. I look forward to seeing some of your NE builds on a thread here, there's no where near enough NER modellers here :D:thumbs:

ATB Mick
 
FiftyFourA

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
Well Guys, a small improvement in the wrist and I have started the Slaters Hopper in S7. I am attaching a couple of photos to prove it. Oops, no I am not! The file will not attach so I am going to have to 'read the instructions' (not something we modellers do often!).

One thing has struct me about this Slaters kit since it is now about 15 years or more since I last built one of them - the lack of 'internal' detail compared to Parkside. Very obvious on an open wagon.

Anyway, I will attempt to post some piccies and will see some of you when we have the next NE Group meeting at the end of May at Locomotion.

Regards Peter
 
Rob Pulham

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
Hi Peter,
It's good to see one of these going together because I am collecting a few kit's for these from the Guild E&T stand at Cleckheaton. I note that you appear to have used some filler is this because the kit didn't fit that well? I am not sure of the age of the kits that I am collecting and in my experience the older Slaters kits are the better the plastic mouldings seem to be. That said the castings are so much better in the newer kits so a bit of a trade off.
 
FiftyFourA

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
The filler was mainly to fill the dimples in the sides/ends which I presume are something to do with the injection moulding process. The sides fitted pretty well considering the age of the kit, in fact pretty well full stop! The kit goes together well - in my view better than the new Parkside Toad. There was a pronouced bend in their van sides and I had to 'break' them to straighten them up - I know I should have returned the kit but I was so desperate to build again after months of inactivity with the damage to my hand/wrist. I also am concerned at the use of plastic/nylon for the brake gear and especially the footboards rather than being etched. Already I have broken one just in the painting!

To put your mind at rest, I am going to order another hopper from Mr White to test different springing methods so they can't be all THAT bad.

See you at the next meeting at Locomotion - if off to Epping & Ongar this weekend to baby sit the J72 in 12" to the foot stuff.

Regards - Peter
 
Rambler

Rambler

Active Member
I converted a couple of these wagons to S7 a few years ago, using Exactoscale parts. I started out with a 10' 6" underframe but then I found that the Slaters' kit isn't exactly that wheelbase so I split off the individual W-Iron units.
DSC_0775_extract.jpg
I had trimmed the remains of the floor of the units so that they were a tight fit in the space between the solebars and the inner frame members, and then fixed them using blocks of plastic card.
DSC_0778_extract.jpg
The rest of the suspension is standard Exactoscale.

I wanted different axleboxes from those provided in the kit so I had a go at making some from plastic card. The following photo shows the idea. DSC_0809_extract.jpg

I hope this helps, Eric Ramsay.

NB: The Exactoscale units are modelled on the RCH standard. These look much the same as NER ones but the spread of the side struts is less on NER W-Irons, so the bolts on the solebars don't line up exactly. When I next do one of these wagons I'll probably get some (more) accurate W-Irons etched.
 
Scale7JB

Scale7JB

Western Thunderer
A while ago I bought some GE Models 4 wheel coach kits which only had a cast whitemetal axlebox and spring, so I thought I would cut out my own w irons to use with the Slaters wagon square axleboxes..

It was actually quite a nice little project which really helped to improve cutting out with the fret saw. Didn't quite get round to finishing it, but one day I'll get them done and maybe have them as part of a works or breakdown train..

image.jpg

JB.
 
Overseer

Overseer

Western Thunderer
John, very nice. Could you tell us about the outside axleguards you have added? And do you have a scan or photo of the drawing you could post? I would like to see it, NER wagons are not something I know much about but I like the distinctive shapes of their hoppers and plan to make some models at some point.
 
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