1/32 Accucraft PO 7 plank Coal Wagon

Dave Bowden

Western Thunderer
Here is one of three wagons I'm added coal loads to whilst at the same time working on the Buffer End Stops.

I have three of these that I'm adding a 5 mm foam board fixed to blocks of Jelutong. I shall then add the coal and finally lightly weather them.

I shall also be doing the same to my three S.R. Opens and a NFS Primrose PO wagon, having firstly removed the resin coal load. I shall add photos of these as works progresses.
PO 7pl Wagon_1.jpg
Dave
 
Last edited:

Dave Bowden

Western Thunderer
Here's an update on the three Accucraft PO wagons, I've also included the NFS Primrose colliery wagon. I bought this from G1MRA show second hand because it was cheap and we live in Primrose House.

They now all have their removable coal loads and all have been slightly weathered just to take off the shine.
Whilst I was doing these four wagons I was also adding coal loads to four GWR Locos, I shall add photos later in an other post.
PO No.384.jpg
PO No.385.jpg
PO No.403.jpg
Primrose NFS.jpg
Private Owner Wagons.jpg
Dave
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Very nice Dave. Would it be difficult to take the brakes apart and put them on the other way around so that pushing the lever down puts them on instead of taking them off?

Mike
 

Dave Bowden

Western Thunderer
Very nice Dave. Would it be difficult to take the brakes apart and put them on the other way around so that pushing the lever down puts them on instead of taking them off?

Mike
Mike are you saying that Accucraft have assembled the brakes incorrectly?
Dave
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Very nice Dave. Would it be difficult to take the brakes apart and put them on the other way around so that pushing the lever down puts them on instead of taking them off?

Mike
And put the brake lever on the outside of the V?
 

Keith Phillips

Western Thunderer
They have and it is well reported. Unfortunately it is a great deal of trouble to put right. I'm in the same boat as Dave with this and so the wagons are used for weathering practice and hopefully the results will move the eye away from the brake rigging. That's the plan anyway.
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Sorry I mentioned it now. Difficult sometimes to point out an error in a nice way, especially if it's known and accepted by many. I feel like Adrian Swain commenting on Dapol with a long, long list of errors!

Mike
 

Dave Bowden

Western Thunderer
Having looked at wagon No.385 more closely this morning I found that through the brake knucle there is a brass rod threaded at each with 10BA nuts on each end.
Removing the outside nut and droping the brake lever out it was then moved to the outside of the V hanger and the nut put back on again.

This had a second benefit in that the handle end now rests on the ledge it is supposed to be on when the brake is off. Instead of falling down to the bottom looking like the brakes are on. The centre of the brake area is a solid moulding so nothing can be done in this area.
PO No.385_1.jpg
I've now got to do the same to the other two wagons.
Dave
 

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
Dave, I don't have an Accucraft example with me, here in Lockdown, but could you turn the 'solid moulding' over, so that the push-rods look as though they'll push the brakes On?
It looks from your photo above as though both sides of the moulding are detailed.

While talking about RCH coal wagons, the Gauge One 3D Circle forum has a fairly complete set of 1923 RCH mineral wagon drawings, of which this is the timber underframe.
[Note that it has Morton brake gear (i.e. different from Accucraft's Double brake gear) with only two brake blocks, on the far side of the wagon, where the reversing clutch is.]
rch1000.jpg
Second Angle Projection

Join the 3D Circle to get access to the high resolution versions, and to see the excellent progress people are making with printing RCH wagons.

A strange thing is happening among 3D print fans.
Early Adopters seemed satisfied with very crude results, because that's all there was. But as the printers and software have got smarter, the users have become more discerning, to the point where I've heard the wail, "I'm turning into a Rivet Counter!", simply because the technology makes it possible.

To look at it another way, this technology is approaching the point where Rivet Counters will seek it out.

https://groups.io/g/GaugeOne3DCircle

rch4.PNG
 

Dave Bowden

Western Thunderer
Dave, I don't have an Accucraft example with me, here in Lockdown, but could you turn the 'solid moulding' over, so that the push-rods look as though they'll push the brakes On?
It looks from your photo above as though both sides of the moulding are detailed.

While talking about RCH coal wagons, the Gauge One 3D Circle forum has a fairly complete set of 1923 RCH mineral wagon drawings, of which this is the timber underframe.
[Note that it has Morton brake gear (i.e. different from Accucraft's Double brake gear) with only two brake blocks, on the far side of the wagon, where the reversing clutch is.]
View attachment 124171
Second Angle Projection

Join the 3D Circle to get access to the high resolution versions, and to see the excellent progress people are making with printing RCH wagons.

A strange thing is happening among 3D print fans.
Early Adopters seemed satisfied with very crude results, because that's all there was. But as the printers and software have got smarter, the users have become more discerning, to the point where I've heard the wail, "I'm turning into a Rivet Counter!", simply because the technology makes it possible.

To look at it another way, this technology is approaching the point where Rivet Counters will seek it out.

https://groups.io/g/GaugeOne3DCircle

View attachment 124172
David
All the brake moulding, pushrods, hangers and brake shoe supports with the exception of the inner and outer V brackets are one piece. Glued and screwed to the floor of the chassis.
In my case I'm not prepared to start taking it apart!
I had previously downloaded the 1923 RCH PO wagon drawings from A.J. RHUL website.

Dave
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
I'm no expert on RCH standards, but I think the Accucraft wagon is a 1907 design, isn't it? Apart from those brakes I personally don't like the axleboxes, but otherwise it looks very nice indeed to my inexpert eye and I wish we had such a wagon in Gauge 3.

Mike
 

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
If it were larger, Mike, you'd notice more of the idiosyncrasies :)
I've been told it's a combination of 1907 and 1923 features.
Despite that, for quite a I've been pursuing Accucraft for a price for a batch of unpainted Body-Only mouldings.
These could be a good price deal for folk who want to replace the wheels and brake gear.
It would also be easier to replace inappropriate detail (such as huge hex nuts with scale square ones).​

I don't mind that Accucraft keep forgetting, because nobody here has chased me up on it.
I presume that people are either prepared to accept it in its r-t-r form, or not at all.
Besides, scratchbuilding is often quicker than kitbashing, as well as cheaper.​

David
 
If it were larger, Mike, you'd notice more of the idiosyncrasies :)
I've been told it's a combination of 1907 and 1923 features.
Despite that, for quite a I've been pursuing Accucraft for a price for a batch of unpainted Body-Only mouldings.
These could be a good price deal for folk who want to replace the wheels and brake gear.
It would also be easier to replace inappropriate detail (such as huge hex nuts with scale square ones).​

I don't mind that Accucraft keep forgetting, because nobody here has chased me up on it.
I presume that people are either prepared to accept it in its r-t-r form, or not at all.
Besides, scratchbuilding is often quicker than kitbashing, as well as cheaper.​

David
I ,too,tried to get some bodies from accucraft,but I'm glad I didn't.Instead Tony Riley made up 7 body kits which I'm going to match with
my chassis and Slaters brake gear.The big advantage is all 7 will be different ,eg ;bottom doors or not,end doors likewise,Morton or frieghter
brakes,different wheels and boxes etc. I have good photos of 7 wagons so each will be as running in the 50's.As you can see in the photos,I use brass bar for the u/frame and floor of 3mm steel,yes,ball bearings in the axleboxes!I've also got a casting for the bottom door catch,which can be seen on the floor in one of the pics.
 

Attachments

  • DSCN0078.JPG
    DSCN0078.JPG
    282 KB · Views: 49
  • DSCN0079.JPG
    DSCN0079.JPG
    212.6 KB · Views: 50

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
Very nice Dave. Would it be difficult to take the brakes apart and put them on the other way around so that pushing the lever down puts them on instead of taking them off? Mike

I've retrieved such a wagon from home, and fortunately it's not difficult to reverse the brakes so that pushing the lever puts them on.

However, because some of the parts are wrong it's not merely a matter of re-assembly.
Here's the picture story, starting with Wrong and Correct assemblies.

To recap the Problems:


The Problem 1.jpg

1) The lever has been accidentally assembled behind the outer V hanger.

2) The brake-block assembly is back to front (lowering the lever takes the brakes off).

3) The brake-block assembly has been inserted between the V hangers, instead of behind both.

and is therefore way out of line with the tyres.
Problem 2.jpg
The Solutions:

The Solution.jpg

1) The lever is now outside the V hangers.

2) The brake-block assembly is now the right way round (lowering the lever puts the brakes on).

3) The brake-block assembly is now beyond both V hangers, and now in line with the tyres.


Solution 2 .jpg

(However so far, I've neither cut any parts, nor fixed any permanently in place.)

David

'Tis now the witching hour, and upon a Strawberry Moon (partial eclipse) night, so More Tomorrow.
 
Last edited:

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
How to rearrange: first, here's the casting we need to free-up:

Brake-block casting.jpg


Remove the brass pin using some combination of spanners, nut-spinners and pliers: 1/8" or 3.5mm A/F.

Grip each safety hanger in turn with parallel pliers (or your next-best thing) and wriggle it gently like this, to break its glue joint:

Releasing Safety Hanger.jpg

and when you've done both, wiggle each one this way to break the glued locating pin on each brake hanger:

Releasing the Brake Hanger.jpg

Then you can pull out the assembly intact.

(If you do have parallel pliers, they won't mar the paint, though you might like to put a piece of paper round to protect any weathering.

If you don't have them, you should ! :)
Parallel Action Flat Nose Plier with Smooth Jaws and Return Spring
If you need a Lockdown Retail Treat, browse their whole range. )
Here's what's left behind on the wagon:

V Hangers as supplied.jpg

from which you can see the fundamental mistake: fitting the inner V hanger back to front.

A No.
0 Phillips screwdriver soon whips that off - take it gently and keep the screwdriver dead vertical: the screws are super-soft and coated with soft paint.

Here is how the V hanger should go, from which you can see that there's nothing wrong with the component in itself:

Solution 2  copy.jpg

The only manufacturing error is the brake-block casting, which has its boss on the wrong side:

Solution 2.jpg

which means that, when 'correctly' assembled with the brake-blocks inboard of both V hangers, they are still outboard of the tyres !

more later
 

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
In trying to put it all back together, I learned a bit more about what's gone wrong.

Here's an end view of an As Supplied wagon with one wheelset removed:

Angled Brake Blocks.jpg

One red line follows the plane of the axleguard, while the other follows the plane of the brake-block casting.

It turns out that Accucraft got the holes in the floor to take the pins on the casting in the right place after all!
When the casting is restored to the vertical, the brake blocks come in line with the tyres:
Vertical Brake Blocks.jpg

Which means:

(a) The designer did know what they were doing and, had it not been for the 'handedness' fault in the casting, Accucraft could have assembled all the parts correctly (albeit with differently placed screw-holes for the inner V hangers.).

(b) When we replace the brake-block castings, we will put them back exactly where they came from, - just the other way round.

(I'll come to a trick for locating them correctly without needing the broken pins.)

When reassembling, we have three main choices:

1. Instead of modifying any parts, use a longer threaded pin (or a bolt and nut).

2. Saw the offending boss off the brake-block casting.

(If the sawcut is fine enough, the boss can be swopped round to the other side of the casting to act as a spacer.)
3. Take the opportunity to bin the brake-block castings, which are the crudest parts of the whole wagon, and scratch-build more refined ones.
(It's probably only worth doing if one is replacing the wheelsets, which are the second-crudest parts.)

Bedtime again, more tomorrow, David
 

Attachments

  • Solution 2  copy.jpg
    Solution 2 copy.jpg
    70.1 KB · Views: 13
Last edited:
Top