Freight car kitbash

[marknewton]

I've been fiddling around with this project for a while, with a bit of luck I can finish it off in the next few days. It's a Komatsu Railway covered goods van, or if you prefer, freight car.  :)

It started out as a UK prototype kit I found at a swapmeet with no packaging or instructions. I think it may be a GWR wagon.

I've filled the holes in the headstocks for the buffer shanks, removed the buffer baseplate detail, added a centre sill and Kadees. The original wheels were large diameter discs, which I've replaced with 10.5mm dia spokes. I've added brass tophat bearings to the axleboxes for reliable, free running. The roof is new, made from 60 thou sheet styrene, as the original was damaged.

Still to come are a Westinghouse airbrake cylinder and brake rigging, and other details such as grab irons and brake hoses. The livery will be weathered black with white lettering and numbering.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Bernard]

Mark - I don't know how I missed your thread. So basically you modified and kitbashed the freight car?
It looks fantastic.

[Shashinka]

that's pretty neat looking.

[marknewton]

Sorry not to reply sooner chaps, but I missed this thread too!

Thanks for the compliments.

The main modification is the addition of the centre sill and new brake gear. Because freight cars in the UK used hook drawgear and buffers, their underframes differed from freight cars designed for automatic couplers. And the brake arrangements differed, as UK railways used vacuum brake -rather than air brake - until fairly recently.

Japanese four-wheel freight cars were an interesting hybrid of UK and US practice, which is what I want to demonstrate with this model. I managed to do a bit of work on it the other night at work. I'll post some more photos as it gets near completion.

Cheers,

Mark.