The sides drop over the ends as per the plastic originals. These were a little on the tight side so a bit of material needed to be removed from the leading edges of the ends. Because the new sides are less than half the thickness of the old there is a bit of 'bend'. The smart will have extended the floor with lengths of strip. Me, I just wacked a couple of blocks of scrap against the doors with some super glue and solvent. The top edge does need some support, here using a strip of Wills brick sheet. No I don't know what bond it is.
With buffers, hooks and brake lever on I waved some Halfords primer over it which nicely accentuates all the crooked bits and finger marks.
Top coat of 67 and we're nearly there. Just some tidying to do and the questionable lettering. Did the van ever carry large GW lettering, and where did the G & W go on the side?
This is coming together nicely, Chris. I'm looking through all my wagon books but can only find the same photo of 38101 which is reproduced in both the Iron Mink book and the History of GWR Wagons, which shows the early small GWR lettering.
ReplyDeleteI think however that it's highly likely the wagon would have carried the larger GW lettering later in its career.
All the photos of other GWR cattle trucks I can find have the G and W on the panels either side of the doorway, though this may well have been dictated by the position of the diagonal bracing as some wagons (eg: Iron Minks) which lacked it had the letters on the panels closest to the ends.
I suppose the closest conventional equivalent to the iron wagon is a small Mex; these had the G and W either side of the doorway, SMALL at the top left inset a little to clear the bracing, and the weight and number beneath that.
The only reason I can see NOT to position the G and W in the same place on the iron wagon is the thin horizontal rib or rod half way down the panel, though as this wouldn't affect the lettering too much I don't think it matters.
To be honest, the only way anyone will be able to contradict this is with a prototype photo; if one exists I would very much like to see it!
PS....I'd idly wondered what the circular hole at the bottom r/h corner of the upper l/h door on later Mexs was for; it turns out that it was needed to enable a person inside the truck to reach the pin in the new type of door latch and get out!
ReplyDeleteYou learn something every day....
PPS: you may find this of interest (assuming you haven't already seen it!): http://www.gwr.org.uk/procattle.html
ReplyDelete