Brake vans are a thing with me... I don't know why but there we are. I think it may go back to when I was a kid and on holiday in Cornwall and my Dad took my picture standing on the balcony of a standard issue brake van which we found at Hayle power station near where we were on holiday. I must try to find the picture. Anyway here is a line up of some of the IoSR vans, old and new. More later on.
I have three Colin Ashby 4 wheel opens which are not quite bug boxes as seen on the World Famous but close enough to be believable. Recently I found one of the closed variant on EvilBay and won it for a reasonable price. As with the others it was a pleasure to build.
I added Dundas vac pipes and a torpedo vent to the roof, also a brass handrail on the end; otherwise a pretty standard build.
Here it is with one of the open variants at Arnold Lane Wharf.
This week I had an idea and as you can see it resulted in me adding a clerestory roof to a PECO GVT 4 wheeler. I used a couple of lengths of I beam styrene for the uprights and then just glued a rectangle of styrene on top and on the ends. I didn't attempt to put windows in it as it is really just a way of seeing if it would look ok.
Here it is with 'Brigitte' the tram loco. I really like it and may have a go at doing one with windows in it.
I've been having a bit of a tidy up and reorganise in the garage which means my music toys now take up less space so I'm wondering if the fiddle yard can turn through 90 degrees and an extra section of railway inserted. It would only be about a yard but would be a bit more railway. I've two ideas, either a bridge over a ravine or a station with a passing loop. I suspect that the station idea is rather ambitious for the space available. A passing loop would make operating a bit more interesting, I toyed with idea of the siding at the lighthouse being a loop but I plumped for keeping it simple. I suspect that this may be the best plan here too.
So, back to brake vans. I had a Dundas Models DM35 van kit laying idly by and some other bits and bobs including a PECO LWB brake van chassis; what can a chap do?
What a chap can do is build another van. Basically my inspiration was the GVT van with a balcony, it isn't excactly right as the chassis is a bit long and rather than cut it down I just decided to make a slightly longer more GWR toad sort of thing. So I cut the DM35 floor to provide a balcony floor and a square end for the other end.
After a rummage I found a van 10 door and window end and a couple of left over doors from a TR van kit.
With the addition of a variety of bits styrene and a roof and a half from the bits box it was coming along nicely.
As the roof bits didn't quite fit I decided that some prototypical roof planking would be a good solution. In the final stage I'll add a bog roll roofing felt covering.
Ready for a squirt of Halfords finest grey primer.
After the primer. I haven't painted it yet as I'm not sure if it will be a green one or a red one.
Gaugemaster delivered another marvellous KATO 11-109 chassis which I ordered with idea of sorting out Lord Stoner's inspection saloon. Originally it had a little bogie sized electric mouse chassis and a coach bogie but it never really worked.
I dismantled the coach body and was delighted to find that with a bit of trimming to the chassis and a slight widening of the floor section they fitted together very neatly. Simple job.
Together at last.
On test at Underhill
Stopped for an ice cream at Rock Beach after a very successful test run. The paintwork need a little touching up here and there but otherwise; tick, VG.
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