Wizard of the Moor
Active Member
Some regular Waterloo Street watchers will know that, like Spike's Sugar Momma, this post has been a long time comin'.
It's shocking just how long it's been. Back in 2000 I answered a call on the E4um mailing list for expressions of interest in a Covhop kit. Seemed like a good idea at the time...
13 years and about one hundred hours of effort later, just in time for Scalefour North, the first shipment of fertilizer ingredients to the Scottish Agricultural Industries plant on the Waterloo Quayside waits to be shunted into the yard.
As the kit only covers the unfitted version of the wagons, I decided to make one CHO and 3 CHPs with my usual mix of detail differences to keep the shunting inspectors happy. Following the sage advice from WaveyDavey, vacuum pipes are absent so as not to intefere with 3 link couplings.
The CHO, built basically straight from the kit. The excellent Cambridge Custom Transfers (Sheet BL35f) show up well, although I did struggle to get the black backgrounds cobbled together from other sheets, not having thought ahead far enough to order a sheet of plain black material. Live and learn...
The complex shape and construction shows up well in a three-quarter view. It's the little things like the lever guard being properly mounted to a bracket on the solebar that make me happy.
The roof is perhaps the weakest area of the kit. The hatch clamps are not supplied or even mentioned in the instructions, which is a bit naughty in my opinion. It would have been simple to provide the bars as etchings, even if the builder is expected to provide tube and wire to represent the screws.
No mention, either, of the 4 handles around the edge of each hatch. More excusable, as these don't appear on the drawings in Rolling Stock Worth Modelling. Given the usual angle of photos, it's difficult to see them at all. It was only when peering into the Bachmann display case at the recent York show that I became aware of them. After that, they jumped out of nearly every Covhop photo at me. Just goes to show that it's very difficult to see what you're not expecting. It would also have been much easier to fit them before the construction of the wagon was complete
This view also shows how the etched walkway supports don't come close to fitting in the holes moulded for them in the resin body. Shrinkage is the enemy of multimedia modelling.
A CHP with roller bearings and long 2 rib buffers. A light salt mask weathering with a mucky wask on top and a touch of pigment.
Another CHP with different bearings and Oleo buffers. UIC screw-link couplings from Ambis are fitted. The brakes look like they need adjustment!
These were not easy kits to build. Having said that, all of the etched components went together perfectly, and it would be nice to think that the underframe could be made available for upgrading the Bachmann models. The resin bodies were nothing but trouble. The halves didn't match up and some needed 0.5mm of packing to match the other half. Filling and sanding seemed to go on forever, and the scars still show. Trying to hide them with weathering just seems to highlight other problems. Ho hum.
So, was it worth it? Absolutely. Even though the forthcoming Bachmann model looks very nice, and will certainly be cheaper, the satisfaction of building unique models wins every time for me. Having said that, some of the fitted versions might be acquired if they are amenable to P4 conversion.
It's shocking just how long it's been. Back in 2000 I answered a call on the E4um mailing list for expressions of interest in a Covhop kit. Seemed like a good idea at the time...
13 years and about one hundred hours of effort later, just in time for Scalefour North, the first shipment of fertilizer ingredients to the Scottish Agricultural Industries plant on the Waterloo Quayside waits to be shunted into the yard.
As the kit only covers the unfitted version of the wagons, I decided to make one CHO and 3 CHPs with my usual mix of detail differences to keep the shunting inspectors happy. Following the sage advice from WaveyDavey, vacuum pipes are absent so as not to intefere with 3 link couplings.
The CHO, built basically straight from the kit. The excellent Cambridge Custom Transfers (Sheet BL35f) show up well, although I did struggle to get the black backgrounds cobbled together from other sheets, not having thought ahead far enough to order a sheet of plain black material. Live and learn...
The complex shape and construction shows up well in a three-quarter view. It's the little things like the lever guard being properly mounted to a bracket on the solebar that make me happy.
The roof is perhaps the weakest area of the kit. The hatch clamps are not supplied or even mentioned in the instructions, which is a bit naughty in my opinion. It would have been simple to provide the bars as etchings, even if the builder is expected to provide tube and wire to represent the screws.
No mention, either, of the 4 handles around the edge of each hatch. More excusable, as these don't appear on the drawings in Rolling Stock Worth Modelling. Given the usual angle of photos, it's difficult to see them at all. It was only when peering into the Bachmann display case at the recent York show that I became aware of them. After that, they jumped out of nearly every Covhop photo at me. Just goes to show that it's very difficult to see what you're not expecting. It would also have been much easier to fit them before the construction of the wagon was complete
This view also shows how the etched walkway supports don't come close to fitting in the holes moulded for them in the resin body. Shrinkage is the enemy of multimedia modelling.
A CHP with roller bearings and long 2 rib buffers. A light salt mask weathering with a mucky wask on top and a touch of pigment.
Another CHP with different bearings and Oleo buffers. UIC screw-link couplings from Ambis are fitted. The brakes look like they need adjustment!
These were not easy kits to build. Having said that, all of the etched components went together perfectly, and it would be nice to think that the underframe could be made available for upgrading the Bachmann models. The resin bodies were nothing but trouble. The halves didn't match up and some needed 0.5mm of packing to match the other half. Filling and sanding seemed to go on forever, and the scars still show. Trying to hide them with weathering just seems to highlight other problems. Ho hum.
So, was it worth it? Absolutely. Even though the forthcoming Bachmann model looks very nice, and will certainly be cheaper, the satisfaction of building unique models wins every time for me. Having said that, some of the fitted versions might be acquired if they are amenable to P4 conversion.
, nice weathering 
