After a week away in Gloucestershire, a couple of steps forward or a review of the state of play with various things. First, the horsebox:
It's been a bit of a struggle to find enough light today so this view from underneath shows up what I've done, including new wheels (Gibsons - like
@Geoff I found the path of least resistance was to pop these onto the original Hornby axles: less hassle than fiddling with deepening axle holes or fitting brass bearings/compensation). The brake shoes are next on the agenda along with steam heat pipes, just about the only thing Hornby haven't included. I'm of a bit of a loss for things to do to it! I can also show that I've completed my copperclad crossover, and the plastic one for that matter, and amused myself this morning by pushing stock through it. Testing?
One victim is this newly converted Warwell (the Oxford Rail version).
Another with short axles and bogies which are consequently too narrow (the Hattons one has the same feature). Why the Oxford version? Well , while the Hattons one is more accurately liveried, has better detail below the frames (where you can't really see it), and a greater range of options for the subsequent conversions into bogie bolsters, flats, etc. As it happens, it's a Bogie Bolster B conversion that I'm after which Oxford don't do. Why the Oxford one? Well, partly it's the buffers of the Liverpudlian product are naff, and partly it's because the bolsters aren't very well-defined and aren't correctly mounted - they were riveted to the frames on the real thing rather than bolted on top of the deck planks (so yes, I reckon I can do better) and also that there's a reasonable price differential, increased by not having to buy replacement buffers... For a straight Warwell, the Hattons product is probably the better model, however.
So here's the basic conversion. The wheels are the originals reduced on the minidrill and placed on spare 26mm pinpoint axles because the real wagons have 'lowmac'-size wheels an I had none in stock. The frames have been re-spaced by an ugly but effective method which on epoxy rather too much for my liking. It'll be fine, but it's not reliable enough to use as an example to anyone! Brass subframes from Masokits or similar would almost certainly be a better, more reliable option and give you springing if you wanted it. The livery on this example is utterly bizarre and may - charitably - be replicating something seen in preservation. The white buffer heads are especially interesting but since I'm going to repaint the thing completely, no matter.
Adam