This is Parkside Kit No PC13, and I was feeling lucky. Its an interesting prototype and a visually appealing wagon being a covered hopper. Its taken quite a while to get the kits I’m building together, partly because the layout (Bawdsey) they are destined for hasn’t been out for about a year, and partly because the kits were old. The age didn’t have much to do with it apart from they are some of the earlier kits made by Parkside and are of a standard which Parkside and a good few other manufacturers have long since passed. The same could be said of some Ratio and Cambrian kits too. That doesn’t mean you should discard or disregard them, it just means you’ll be doing more of that ‘modelling’ stuff.

Parkside PC13 LNER Grain Wagon

Having said that yesterday was a day when I thought, bollox, I’m going to finish something today. There are a few wagon kits lying about and these were the most challenging available as I was in that sort of mindset. Some of the more interesting elements are a two piece floor, solebars that don’t line up opposite each other to give a square setting of the axle. The picture above shows some of the work I’ve done around the chassis, a good deal of it is made up and uses scraps of phosphor bronze and bits of plasticard. It does capture the flavour of what should be underneath the wagon, this aided significantly by the book below.

The 4mm Wagon Pt1
ISBN 1874103038

This is Geoffs first wagon book published by Wild Swan Publications and is part of a trilogy. All three of them are well illustrated and have plenty of hints and tips that work not just for wagons but across other modelling applications too. The chassis solebar fault was one of those indicated in Geoffs text with a timely warning for me about the ‘V’ hangers too. All three of the books are worth getting hold of and they cover a good range of types of wagons. Also worth including in the mix is John Hayes’ The 4mm Coal Wagon.

I am really pleased I’ve built these three vans. They’d been sitting as just the shells for a couple of years, and all it needed was just getting on with it, nothing more complicated. There are still a few bits to do to them, the buffers are too thin and some of LMS Models replacements will sort that out. They’ve been weighted I use car wheel balance weights. They’re self adhesive and you get a standard weight for all your wagons, I use 20oz per wagon plus whatever the kit and components weighs. Couplings may be Dinghams or three links, I’ve not yet finally decided, and Modelmasters or Cambridge Custom Transfers will provide the decals. Theres a few more older kits sitting in the drawers in the workshop, having broken the back of these three I think a few others may well be seeing the light of day again!

http://www.lanarkshiremodels.com/

Wild Swan Wagon Modelling Books

Geoff Kent
The 4mm Wagon Pt 1
Opens, Minerals & Hoppers ISBN 1874103038

The 4mm Wagon Pt 2
General Merchandise Vans, Special Purpose Vans & Tank Wagons ISBN 1874103240

The 4mm Wagon Pt 3
Conflats/Containers, Long Loads,Steel, Brake Vans, Finishing Touches ISBN 1874103976

John Hayes
The 4mm Coal Wagon ISBN 1874103488

Not Everyone
Works For Peanuts …