B&Q clearout - build your own wagons?

[ebay mike]

Popped into B&Q today to see if there was anything worth using my wrinkly discount card on. Subsequently discovered you only get a discount on Garden Products now. I wasn't after any shelving or storage bits but these caught my eye as potential for wagon/coach chassis'. Reduced from £6 to £2.70. They measure 499x52mm with an overall thickness of 9mm if you include the flat cross braces. Before I retired I 'acquired' a box of obsolete plastic bus stop flags of 5mm thickness which cried out for modelling use. Put the two together and the possibilities are endless. Forgot to mention you get a free magnetic spirit level thrown in.

 

[playmofire]

Popped into B&Q today to see if there was anything worth using my wrinkly discount card on. Subsequently discovered you only get a discount on Garden Products now. I wasn't after any shelving or storage bits but these caught my eye as potential for wagon/coach chassis'. Reduced from £6 to £2.70. They measure 499x52mm with an overall thickness of 9mm if you include the flat cross braces. Before I retired I 'acquired' a box of obsolete plastic bus stop flags of 5mm thickness which cried out for modelling use. Put the two together and the possibilities are endless. Forgot to mention you get a free magnetic spirit level thrown in.
View attachment 243261View attachment 243262View attachment 243263

Ingenious.

 

[ebay mike]

Ingenious.

I had something fairly simple in mind - like this. Minimal number of parts, slab-sided with a bit of cutting out. I must have been hooked, 'cos I bought six!!! Since found this on German ebay - inspiration?

 

[PhilP]

Hmmm.....

Intermodal flats.. Hardly anything to do, but add a little detailing.. ...

 

[ebay mike]

Had another think - went back and got four more!

 

[ebay mike]

Went into B&Q for something else today and noted these are still available. Don't know if anyone else has taken the plunge but here's what I did as an experiment to produce a stable underframe.
Pics in order show: 1 as bought, 2 hole drilled out to 5mm, 3 hole tapped with M6 thread, 4 'D Line plastic conduit cut to fit between runners, 5 conduit cover separated from base with 6mm hole drilled, 6 20mm M6 bolt screwed in place, 7 curved conduit cover in place to permit some bogie compensation, 8 penny washer to spread the load, 9 Piko bogie in place, 10 secured with M6 self-locking nut, 11 side view of bogie showing clearances, 12 the conduit used to provide curved surface on the flat cross-members. Total cost for the chassis works out at well under £4 each (£10 including the bogies which came in a job lot at less than a £7 a pair). Just need to work out what's actually going on the top bodywise.