Question - where to get 7mm axl... A Brace of Shock Wagons

DougT

DougT

Western Thunderer
Not entirely sure where to post this but hoping for some assistance.

I'm building a Slaters BR 12t shock wagon with Slaters sprung w-irons. In my ham-fisted attempt to separate springs and axle boxes from the moulded w-irons I find my self 1 axle box short of a set and therefore need to buy some more.
image.jpeg


My hope was to be able to purchase the springs and axle boxes like this...
image.jpeg
...but Exactoscale don't/didn't supply BR split axles boxes in this fashion

Much searching on t'interweb has been in vain and I'm really struggling to find suitable components, and even beginning to wonder whether such things are available.

So, does anyone know where good quality white metal or plastic cast BR split axles boxes and springs in 7mm can be purchased.

Thanks in advance.
 
Overseer

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Why not email or phone Slaters? Explain what has happened, they will almost certainly have spares that they will sell or give you. There aren't too many alternatives and all the options have shortcomings in one way or another.
 
DougT

DougT

Western Thunderer
I have contacted Slaters and am waiting for a response. As much as anything else I'd like to know what other options there are.
 
richard_t

richard_t

Western Thunderer
ABS Models do/did a load of axle boxes and springs. I don't have a catalogue to hand, so I can't tell which specific ones they do.

I thought MMP did a few as alternatives for the cat/dog fish, but I can't find them now.
 
Dog Star

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
DougT said:
I'm building a Slaters BR 12t shock wagon with Slaters sprung w-irons. In my ham-fisted attempt to separate springs and axle boxes from the moulded w-irons I find my self 1 axle box short of a set...
Click to expand...
I have illustrated my method for doing what you have described above, see here .

Here is the relevant photo:-

Cut on black line.jpg

Follow the link to see before and after action.
 
DougT

DougT

Western Thunderer
Dog Star said:
I have illustrated my method for doing what you have described above, see here .

Here is the relevant photo:-

View attachment 59528

Follow the link to see before and after action.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the technique Graham, that's a pretty neat way of doing it. Definitely one for next time!

The issue I had with the moulded shock wagon w-iron was that the axlebox and leaf spring are both moulded as one (on the tar wagon the axle box itself appears to be a seperate component) and overlap, as per this image of the other (unsprung) shock wagon I recently built.
image.jpeg

It was in trying to separate the leaf Spring from the axle box that the damage was done. :rant:
 
Rob Pulham

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
Parkside will sell them - you just need to identify the sprue from the kit. They are very helpful with that if you give them a call and the last lot I had were only £1.30 per sprue

I also found it easier to call Slaters when I bought sprues from them - they are a bit more expensive with some sprues being around the £3.00 mark (Slaters pricing is based on how many items are on a sprue whereas Parkside charge a basic price per sprue irrespective of what it contains).
 
S

S7BcSR

Western Thunderer
Doug

It looks like I have got a whole load of spares on a couple of sprues from different wagons. I will bring them up on Friday and we can have a look to see if they are suitable. One I have got looks pretty like your photo.
R
 
DougT

DougT

Western Thunderer
S7BcSR said:
Doug

It looks like I have got a whole load of spares on a couple of sprues from different wagons. I will bring them up on Friday and we can have a look to see if they are suitable. One I have got looks pretty like your photo.
R
Click to expand...
Nice one Pops!
 
Overseer

Overseer

Western Thunderer
The other question this thread raises is Have you found a prototype for this wagon? I have put off buying this kit because I couldn't find a photo of a wagon with the arrangement of planks depicted by Slaters. The common arrangement seems to have a wide bottom plank. It should not be difficult to fill a joint line and scribe a new one but I was concerned that the sloping plank in the door might then not match and other bits might be out as well. If there was a batch of these wagons which match the kit it would be good to know to save modifying them.
 
DougT

DougT

Western Thunderer
Overseer said:
The other question this thread raises is Have you found a prototype for this wagon? I have put off buying this kit because I couldn't find a photo of a wagon with the arrangement of planks depicted by Slaters. The common arrangement seems to have a wide bottom plank. It should not be difficult to fill a joint line and scribe a new one but I was concerned that the sloping plank in the door might then not match and other bits might be out as well. If there was a batch of these wagons which match the kit it would be good to know to save modifying them.
Click to expand...

I've spent a while looking at the collection of photos on Paul Bartletts site and there seem to be plenty of diag 1/040 wagons with 4 shoe vac and corrugated ends that seem to be well represented by the model. The model has the three top planks slightly narrower than the bottom two. That said I may be looking but not seeing the problem.

TBH I take a fairly pragmatic view on this in that these types of BR wagons seem to have had modifications or have differences almost entirely at random, sometimes from build and sometimes in repair. As long as I have a model which fairly represents the prototype then I'm content, but I would be the first to recognise that this is a personal approach and is not universal.

On a different note a solution has presented itself (as was suggested by various wise members of this board!) in that Slaters do produce a sprue in the 13t High Goods kit that has axle boxes and springs as seperate units and that isn't in the 12t shock kit. I've asked to purchase a couple of sprues - hopefully that's problem sorted.:thumbs::thumbs:
 
Overseer

Overseer

Western Thunderer
DougT said:
I've spent a while looking at the collection of photos on Paul Bartletts site and there seem to be plenty of diag 1/040 wagons with 4 shoe vac and corrugated ends that seem to be well represented by the model. The model has the three top planks slightly narrower than the bottom two. That said I may be looking but not seeing the problem.

TBH I take a fairly pragmatic view on this in that these types of BR wagons seem to have had modifications or have differences almost entirely at random, sometimes from build and sometimes in repair. As long as I have a model which fairly represents the prototype then I'm content, but I would be the first to recognise that this is a personal approach and is not universal.

On a different note a solution has presented itself (as was suggested by various wise members of this board!) in that Slaters do produce a sprue in the 13t High Goods kit that has axle boxes and springs as seperate units and that isn't in the 12t shock kit. I've asked to purchase a couple of sprues - hopefully that's problem sorted.:thumbs::thumbs:
Click to expand...
I agree that overall the kit does seem to be a good representation of the diag 1/040 wagons, it is just that the BR diagram and the photos I have seen show a wide bottom plank and four matching narrower planks above. I am not an expert on these wagons and thought there might have been a batch built with the arrangement modelled by Slaters, considering how accurate the rest of the kit appears to be.

Looking at photos of the kit again I think it would be more involved than I first thought to completely alter the plank spacing to match the photos. I am building a collection of wagons to suit a gas works branch set between 1950 and 1956 so the shock open would be near new and therefore unlikely to have been altered. I like building well worn mineral wagons and the few new BR wagons are really to provide a contrast to the decrepitude of the rest of the stock. Shock opens were used to deliver refractory bricks to gasworks so that justifies having one, but it will probably only be one so I would like it to be as correct as possible. The trains will be short and slow or stationary and the layout is a means of displaying the wagons rather than wagons just being something for engines to pull so I realise I might be looking at things differently.

On the axleboxes, I think the Slaters BR standard vans also come with both separate axleboxes and combined w irons, mine certainly had lots of parts from the shock underframe included, so there should be plenty of spare parts out there somewhere.
 
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DougT

DougT

Western Thunderer
So, 4 small steps forward, I giant leap backwards...

Using the DogStar patent leaf spring removal technique (or at least a simplified version of it!) the wagon is now adorned with 4 leaf springs and also 4 split boxes taken from a vanwide kit. with correct weight on it the wagon sits at the right height and the gap twixt spring and axle box all but disappears.IMG_1497.JPG

So far so good, 4 small steps forward.

Now the giant leap backwards... On fitting the last axle box a slightly more generous blob of superglue than turned out to be necessary has resulted in the glue seeping around the side of the horn guide and I now have one completely fixed w-iron...:mad::headbang::rant:

Anyone have any great tips for releasing bostik superglue, is there an antidote?!
 
Steph Dale

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Acetone (some nail varnish removers) or superglue de-bonder.

Neither should harm any plastics in the long term, but may soften them temporarily.

Steph
 
DougT

DougT

Western Thunderer
S7BcSR said:
It was the fault of all that beer you bought earlier !!! ;)
Anyway looking OK
Click to expand...

It wasn't beer, it was failing to heed the old adage of 'less haste, more speed'!

Anyway, a few cotton buds of nail varnish remover and we have a free and clean w-iron and the error is eradicated!
 
S

S7BcSR

Western Thunderer
Good stuff nail varnish remover, I usually have a bottle to hand but had never thought of it for removing plastic from brass.
 
DougT

DougT

Western Thunderer
Overseer said:
I agree that overall the kit does seem to be a good representation of the diag 1/040 wagons, it is just that the BR diagram and the photos I have seen show a wide bottom plank and four matching narrower planks above. I am not an expert on these wagons and thought there might have been a batch built with the arrangement modelled by Slaters, considering how accurate the rest of the kit appears to be.

Looking at photos of the kit again I think it would be more involved than I first thought to completely alter the plank spacing to match the photos. I am building a collection of wagons to suit a gas works branch set between 1950 and 1956 so the shock open would be near new and therefore unlikely to have been altered. I like building well worn mineral wagons and the few new BR wagons are really to provide a contrast to the decrepitude of the rest of the stock. Shock opens were used to deliver refractory bricks to gasworks so that justifies having one, but it will probably only be one so I would like it to be as correct as possible. The trains will be short and slow or stationary and the layout is a means of displaying the wagons rather than wagons just being something for engines to pull so I realise I might be looking at things differently.

On the axleboxes, I think the Slaters BR standard vans also come with both separate axleboxes and combined w irons, mine certainly had lots of parts from the shock underframe included, so there should be plenty of spare parts out there somewhere.
Click to expand...

So this is the other Shock (non-sprung) that I've built. More a representation than proto-typical and destined (most probably) for the fitting of a taurpaulin.
IMG_1530.JPG

Quite pleased really.:thumbs:

The other shock wagon that was the cause of this thread is now much further forward with the underframe fully completed (with working springs!) and body being readied for primer.
 
Last edited:
S

S7BcSR

Western Thunderer
They will look good on Tinkers Green as that makes 3 shock wagons now. Just have to decide which period to run them. Next up will have to be a shock van.
 
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