Over the last couple of days I've spend a bit of time preparing some of the main etched parts of the kit - removing the tags, cleaning up the etch cusp, pressing out the rivets using my rivet press, and doing some of the main folds on solebars, headstocks and sides:
Now, if I were committed to building the kit as designed, I'd be pretty happy. With a bit of fettling the main parts look like they'll fit together, and everything is neat and tidy.
However... as I've worked through the various parts and examined the GA drawing further, a number of issues have emerged. Firstly, the holes along the side rail are quite a bit too small, so I drilled them out to a scale 3 1/2 inches. I did this with a drill in a pin chuck, as I was concerned using the pillar drill might shift the holes off centre. Doing it by hand meant I could make sure the drill was centring itself in the existing hole. I drilled in from both sides to avoid tear-out as the drill came through. You can see the size difference here - half the top holes are done in this picture:
As you can see, it makes a significant difference.
The next issue relates to the floor. The prototype has iron plates at the sides of the wagon, and a wooden floor in the middle. Both ramp up slightly at the ends to get over the buffer heads. The drawing shows that the plates sit on the under frame, and the wooden boards sit on top of that. The kit uses a single piece of brass for the floor, so you don't get the height difference. My initial plan was to make the planks from plasticard and attached that on top - nice and simple.
Further study showed other inaccuracies. The etched outlines of the planks are too wide, so new correct-width planks wouldn't cover the etched lines. Also, the length of the projections over the buffers and the ramped section are incorrect. On the prototype, the flat section of plate work goes all the way to the end, with the ramp a separate piece on top, so there should be a visible edge (but not fasteners - the drawing shows countersunk rivets).
The upshot of all this is that I will use the floor component upside down to make a flat floor, and built up the ramps on top, so I can get the sizes correct and a visible edge where the ramp meets the flat part of the floor. The planking will be done in plasticard. The drawing shows an interesting feature with the planking - it has a small gap (about 1/2 inch) between planks, through which daylight should be visible, as there is no metal plate down the centre of the wagon. I've decided to draw the line at achieving the daylight...
Along the top of the side rails are a series of holes, used to locate the bars that go across the wagon to chock the wheels of the load. The kit has etched holes, which need drilling out to clear them properly - easy enough. However, the kit has holes almost the full length of the wagon, whereas the drawing has not holes in the centre, only at either end. However, the holes don't go far enough to the ends of the wagon.
I have added three holes at either end, and only drilled out a total of 16 holes at either end of the wagon. The undrilled holes will need filling with solder and making good when this part is assembled - see the parts on the right of the first picture in this post. Even with this change, the holes will be wrong, as the kit has them too far apart (2.5mm, when it should be 2mm).
Finally (for now!), The headstocks have a horizontal etched line. I assume the kit designer believed the prototype had a 9 inch deep headstock (the same as the solebars) and then another component on top to make the 12 inch height needed. The drawing shows this is a single C-section part, 12 inches deep, providing the 3" projection above the top of the solebars, so there should be no line there. I plan to fill this etched grove with filler after assembly.
This has all been a bit frustrating, because what is a good kit in terms of the accuracy of the parts and a logical way of building up the wagon from etches has turned out to be inaccurate in various ways. It seems like every time I look at the drawing, I find something else that will add to the total amount of work to be done. I can only assume the designer didn't have the GA drawing I am looking at.
Anyway - onwards and upwards!
Nick.
PS - there won't be much progress next week as I am away for a few days. It'll give time for Richard to ponder whether he wants to make the very rational decision to build the kit as designed and get a model that captures the prototype overall, or follow me down my rabbit hole of lunacy...
