GWR Minx D Goods Van

Whilst at the South Devon Railway yesterday I acquired a kit of the GWR Mink D by Parkside Dundas. Over the next few weeks or so I will be building it and going through the stages as they happen. Hope it all goes well.

 

Here we go then

Stage 1. Unpacking the kit.



As can be seen there are not a lot of parts in the kit. The poly bags contain a set of 4 brass buffers and the other a set of Romford wheels with bearings. The thin strip of white plastic is a rod from which to make the underframe trussing. This will be replaced with 0.8mm brass wire as the plastic would be vulnerable with handling.

The instructions recommend building the body first. This I shall do but not fit the roof until later. A short piece of lead flashing will be cut to add some ballast to the model. It will be built with the ventilators on the ends in the open position.

Stage 2 coming soon.

 

Here's Stage 2.

The parts for the bascic body shell prepped and laid out.



The basic shell built (top view)



The basic shell side view



The construction of the basic body shell is quite simple.

Take the floor and cement it to one end. The floor rests on top of the buffer beam on the end. Make sure that it is central and leave to dry a few minutes before doing the same to the other end.

Take a side moulding and cement it to the ends and along the floor. It should be flush with the underside of the floor and the mitred corners need to fit well. When dry do the same to the other side.

To give extra strength to the corners I used four of the corner pieces from a Wills building kit (in red in the pic). This really makes a difference. Once evrything is lined up correctly leave to dry preferably overnight.

Cut an odd piece of lead flashing or brass strip to act as a balance weight and cement with loctite onto the centre of the floor making sure it is central in both length and width.

I haven't fitted the vent doors yet. These will be fitted later along with the roof. This is the time, if you feel you need to, to add some cross members between the doors to stop the body curving inwards. Some pieces of scrap thick plasticard could be used for this.

Be careful, like most kits that come in a bag rather than a box there might be a small amount of bowing of the components. In most cases this can be got back into shape by warming the plastic in hot water and manipulating it with the fingers.

Next stage tomorow with be preparing and attaching the sole bars and bearings.

 

Part 3 will be posted sometime tomorrow when I have the light to take the pics. 20 years ago was frightening Matt! 58 years ago on the 10th of this month I joined the Army, albeit as a 15 year old. That was over half a century ago.

 

Here is Part 3. A look at the photos will explain a lot.

1) Remove the sole bar and two axle guard mouldings from the sprues. The axle guards needed are the two that are the correct way up in relation to the sole bars. The other pair should be used if you are using 14mm wheels. Clean up the mouldings to remove any flash and feed pips.

2) Fit the axle bearings into the solebars then cement on the axle guards. Test fit one solebar at a time (a little may need to be removed from each end to get a neat fit). Once happy glue in place then leave for a while to set. Remember the sole bars are handed so the brake rigger on the end of the solebars should be placed so that on the side of the floor showing the position of the vacuum cylinder the brake rigger shold be on the right. When everything has set test fit the wheels and see that everything is even and the wheels rotate freely.

3) Remove the brake mouldings from the sprues and making sure that the detail side is outwards fit the brakes in line with the wheels but are not stopping the wheels from rotating.

4) Fit the vacuum cylinder and once it is in place cut the brake rod from the sprue and glue betwwen the two triangular brake hangers and onto the top of the cylinder making sure that the rod is not bowed. Also fit the two brake operating levers onto the hangers at the end of each solebar. The handle should be pointing upwards if the brakes are modelled in the off position.

5) Leave everything to set, preferably over night.

6) Cut the vent covers from the sprue and after trimming cement them onto the ends of the body either in the open or closed position or anywhere in between. You can also fit the buffers and the roof making sure the later overhangs equally in all directions.

7) Using the rod supplied for making the truss rods in the kit cut it into 2 x 60mm lengths and shape as per the kit instructions and prepare the solebars for fitting of them. This will mean you have to remove two of the four posts on each solebar. The two nearest the brake hanger are the ones you have to keep (one on either side of the hanger). The shaped rod now glues onto the inside of the hanger and onto the rear of the solebars. This is fiddly so take your time.

8) Once everything is set decide on your couplings. If using Hornby Tension Locks remove the two holders from the sprue and glue onto the underside of the floor butting up against the back of the buffer beam and central to the width of the wagon. Leave to dry.

9) I used the metal 3 hole Hornby couplings I loctitied them onto the spigots on each coupling mount and after the glue had set I drilled a hole through the central hole on the coupling, the mount and the floor (10ba size tapping) and then screwed the coupling on with a long 10ba screw into the floor.

The underside of the wagon



The ends showing the vent blanking plates in the midway open position



Side view showing position of brake operating lever



General side view



The next stage is to prime and paint the model. This will be done over the next day or so.

This is a simple kit to build and by taking your time a good model can be produced. Read the kit instructions carefully to prevent any real problems. Generally the kit is very good but there is a fair amount of flash to clean off, especially on some detail parts. The instructions show a typical positioning of the lettering etc. but bear in mind that most of these wagons had gone by about midway through the 2nd World War. Basic colour scheme was GWR wagon grey overall with a white (but not for long) roof.

I was looking for some transfers for this to finish it off and fould a tray with about 10 part built wagons on it so I will add the finishing off of them onto this thread as they are done. Amongst them are a Bloated, Fruit D, Prize Cattle Van, 2 x SR 4-wh Parcels Vans and a load of opens/engineers wagons etc. so there will be plenty going on. I don't see any sense in having them hanging around unfinished for much longer.

 

If you could see the state of my work room you would understand. You know how it goes, you start something then you get interrupted and it gets pushed to one side. The tray gets in with the general mix of things on hold and soon gets forgotten. Then after a few months (years) you are looking for something that you knew you had somewhere and low and behold the tray is found again. That's my story and I'm sticking by it.