Skytrex Vans

[rosspeacock]

Hi a few of us picked up some of these at Kettering GOG show last week taking advantage of their offer of 4 for £100.00
Overall the vans are great, the V hangers on the brake gear are a little on the thick side
(about a scale 1' )but if you can live with that then they are ok...
I've done one modification so far, the van sides are screwed to the van floor but not secured at the corners, this makes the roof loose to solve this problem I've MEK'd the corners and further secured them with 'plastruct' L section...



Ross

 

[Phill Dyson]

What else is planned for them Ross?

 

[rosspeacock]

What else is planned for them Ross?

Think I might replace the couplings with Premier Components ones, think the hooks on the ones fitted are a little on the thin side, not too happy with the chain either... Looked at cutting down the V hangers to make them a little thinner but don't think I'll bother.. Think ill just add some weight to them and weather them.. How much weight should I add?

Ross

 

[Phill Dyson]

I will weigh one of mine at the weekend ..........can't remember off the top of my head

Phill

 

[iploffy]

I got 12 of them over 2 shows (Telford and Warley) and have weighted mine to 150 grams, when added to all of the others I have a consist of 40+ wagons. They are really good value for money and the bloke from Skytrex told me to ring him If I wanted anymore as they aren't doing any more once the under frames run out

 

[Wagonman]

I see they have the usual ******** brake gear whereby putting the brakes 'on' on one side takes them 'off' on the other! My suggested modifications start with sawing off everything below the solebars...

How do they measure up, dimensionally?

 

[Phill Dyson]

"If they were whizzing around Phill's Garden Line......"

Phill's garden line did buy some ..... & I won't loose any sleep about the brake gear

 

[rosspeacock]

Phill's garden line did buy some ..... & I won't loose any sleep about the brake gear

Me neither, if they'd have been £50+ don't think any of us would have bought them either, but not bad @ £25....

Ross....

 

[iploffy]

Couldn't agree more personally I can't wait to get mine out on the main line and at a scale speed who's going to know

 

[rosspeacock]

Couldn't agree more personally I can't wait to get mine out on the main line and at a scale speed who's going to know

Yeah I've seen your scale speeds Ian!!! ha ha!!!

Ross...

 

[Wagonman]

At least the shoes are pretty close to the tyres - beat Dapol on that one, anyway ...but from the underside view it does look rather hideous.... however, I'd apply my standard test in these circumstances :-
"If they were whizzing around Phill's Garden Line......"

Don't they ever get parked in a siding? I guess I'll never understand how people can get seriously agitated about a slightly wrong degree of curvature on the bonnet of XYZ diesel loco yet blithely ignore the hideously inaccurate (but very colourful) rubbish being towed behind said loco. It has ever been so...


Richard

 

[Dog Star]

I guess I'll never understand how people can get seriously agitated about a slightly wrong degree of curvature on the bonnet of XYZ diesel loco yet blithely ignore the hideously inaccurate (but very colourful) rubbish being towed behind said loco.

Richard... are those who are concerned about sub-millimetre discrepancies in motive power also those who run the inaccurate wagons from Skytrek?

I am sympathetic to a view that the Skytrek wagon detailing is pretty poor in the underframe area and hence supportive broadly of your observations - I think that your comment might be taken as associating recent diesel commentators with those who run such wagons and that may not be the case..

regards, Graham

 

[Wagonman]

Richard... are those who are concerned about sub-millimetre discrepancies in motive power also those who run the inaccurate wagons from Skytrek?

I am sympathetic to a view that the Skytrek wagon detailing is pretty poor in the underframe area and hence supportive broadly of your observations - I think that your comment might be taken as associating recent diesel commentators with those who run such wagons and that may not be the case..

regards, Graham

No, I was speaking in general terms only, no specific persons in mind. It has long been the case that railway modellers have been fixated on their prime movers and care little for any other aspect.

Richard

 

[rosspeacock]

Don't they ever get parked in a siding? I guess I'll never understand how people can get seriously agitated about a slightly wrong degree of curvature on the bonnet of XYZ diesel loco yet blithely ignore the hideously inaccurate (but very colourful) rubbish being towed behind said loco. It has ever been so...


Richard

This thread was started not to discuss the pros and cons of Skytrex Vans, these are my models and my aim is to improve them where possible ie as in the photos at the beginning of the thread, I also intend to change the couplings on them, add some weight, weather and run them.. Myself and some other members on WT have bought plenty of these from Skytrex we know they aren't perfect but do we want to spend all our lives building wagons? No! I won't be getting my tape measure out either! I also don't want this thread to turn into another Dapol wagon or Heljan 31 saga... Lets play nice as Cynric used to say and remember we're just playing trains.... Wasn't this what WT was about in the 1st place.......

Ross....

 

[Neil]

Though I know that Richards observation isn't aimed at me, I do part recognise myself in it, in so much that I sometimes take a seemingly inconsistent line when it comes to matters of detail and accuracy. I've spent ages replacing the bodies on Bachmann 24s with converted Hornby 25s but have yet to pluck up courage and enthusiasm to do a proper Jim S-W job on the underframe. Likewise I have many hours in a tarted up Airfix brake van, even to the extent of flush glazed duckets, but I keep it company with a pair of Lima jobbies whose only refinement is new vents and extra Airfix footboards to bring them up to a full pair each side.

If there's any rationale behind this it's that some aspects for me will be very essence of the real thing and worth the effort. The others will not be so critical in capturing the spirit or soul, and as I know it's a model really, I'm less motivated to tackle, though once in a while (like the Airfix brake) I'll go the whole hog just to prove to myself I can.

 

[iploffy]

I agree with Ross it's up to us what we want so in the tradition of WT lets play nicely and get back to the plot, go for it my little loft dweller'/Bob the builder, oh and don't forget not to attach the lid on the last wagon as I will be getting some lit oil lamps and will need to stick the batteries somewhere , no suggestions needed!!! (remember play nicely)

 

[Osgood]

I got 12 of them over 2 shows (Telford and Warley) and have weighted mine to 150 grams, when added to all of the others I have a consist of 40+ wagons. They are really good value for money and the bloke from Skytrex told me to ring him If I wanted anymore as they aren't doing any more once the under frames run out

If the bodies re reasonably correct (they certainly look ok) they would be ideal for a little project I'm working on requiring 6 or so grounded bodies. Wonder if it would be worth while contacting Skytrex.......

 

[lancer1027]

I also agree with Ross. I was one of the WT members who bought some. I too will make a few changes but as yet not really had time to have a proper look to what i want to alter..I know im definately no rivet counter or never will be. My aim is to build a garden railway and play trains for as long as my body allows. My time is very limited to my hobby so if it means i can save some build time by buying (in my opinion) a reasonable looking item then so be it. I think i can with a few mods create a fairly decent looking wagon. I would also like to say that i have no issues with modellers who have both time and ability to build a fantastic all singing/all dancing version of whatever vehicle. I admire a lot of modellers for both those reasons. For me its about creating my idea of my railway, one that to me looks acceptable and two one i can enjoy


Rob

 

[marsa69]

And 3, one that the rest of the brigade can go round to to conduct field manouvers lol (when he pulls his finger out and gets a loop of track down)

 

[iploffy]

BLOODY BIG DISCLAIMER

CME absolutely fantastic it just shows you what can be done. This is not aimed at you or ANYONE else. the underlined word is as it says ANYONE so if you feel you need to feel victimised TOUGH


This debate has gone on far to long do lets finish it with this, I have 12 Skytrex box vans and I LIKE them I have 8 others from other manufacturers and I like them also. I cannot tell the difference when running around the layout as to which wagon has 5 leaf 1/2 an inch shorted than the next one, mores to the point I don't care, Ross does not care, Marsa does not care, Phill does not care and Rob when sober does not care. I don't relish the thought of having to spent thousands of pounds building and painting wagons only to have them derailed by pidgin or windfall and watching them disappear over the side of the boards. I am not going to put these in a glass cabinet to show off that they have 125 rivets in on end and 122 in the other, again we don't care we bought them to run and improve. ..Skytrex - openly - declared that with their 7mm RTR range they would put several companies out of business and were quite arrogant. I agree with everything you have said and some of the offerings have been pure but again come on this is becoming a farce!!!!!!! let Ross get back to his topic and his posting before he gets that P**d off that he won't share any more with us.


One further thing this forum is open to all modellers of all differing abilities and not just the elite so live and let live. If you have to post don't use bad language or disrespect anyone else because I for one am not impressed with the amount of back biting, is this really what we want.