What to do with some Dublo crane trucks....

I was wanting to get my hands on one of those short wheelbase wagons used in the Hornby Dublo Breakdown Crane set for a future project. The trouble is that, because they were part of a set, they don’t often appear for sale by themselves, and I didn’t want to buy another crane, as it’s the sort of thing you only need one of. What did turn up on eBay after a while was one short wheelbase wagon together with three match trucks (a decidedly odd number, as the set contains two short wheelbase wagons and one match truck). The starting bid was only £10.00 and, although the postage to Australia was quoted as £14.95, I put in a bid at the starting price only. Being a rather odd sort of lot, it didn’t attract any further bids so, a few days later, it was mine.

They were rather grubby things that looked like they had a rough time of it. Someone in the dim distant past had fitted some plastic wheels that were on too short an axle to all of them, and two of the couplings were broken. I had enough spare Dublo wheels to remedy the first defect and, as for the second, I do have spare couplings, but I’m not going to need them for what I’m planning to do.

Oh, and a warning: if you’re one of those modellers who thinks that a model is not worth bothering about unless it is 100% accurate, you may not want to follow this thread……