Thomas ( or Percy! ) needs a brake van for his trucks

[Brixham]

Running Percy with his troublesome trucks is fine....but there's something missing..a brake van. Probably, a matching G TTE brake van will be produced by Bachmann, but I can't wait...
Looking in my junk box, there's a tatty Bachmann 4 wheel caboose that came with a job lot....hmmmm....
Off with the cupola, chimney, ladders, end rails, some handrails and the brake wheels.
Fill in the side windows with strips of plasticard ( although if I did this again I would use a square of sheet card, then score in the grooved plank joints )

Fill the holes with filler ( Revell Plasto...I'm impressed with this )

And that's as far as I've got, pix to follow

 

[Rob s]

Running Percy with his troublesome trucks is fine....but there's something missing..a brake van. Probably, a matching G TTE brake van will be produced by Bachmann, but I can't wait...
Looking in my junk box, there's a tatty Bachmann 4 wheel caboose that came with a job lot....hmmmm....
Off with the cupola, chimney, ladders, end rails, some handrails and the brake wheels.
Fill in the side windows with strips of plasticard ( although if I did this again I would use a square of sheet card, then score in the grooved plank joints )
Fill the holes with filler ( Revell Plasto...I'm impressed with this )
And that's as far as I've got, pix to follow

Ooh yes please pix, have been thinking the same for a while now
P.S. if the chimney is going spare i could def use one. let me now

 

[vsmith]

I started an open platform brake van based on the same caboose. Sadly it sits incomplete

 

[Brixham]

For some reason, I can't post pix from home, so here I am at work on a Sunday to shift some desks and PC's, and do some pc updates...

Anyway, back to brake van. I did consider fitting duckets, but the van is fairly wide to start with. I'll probably add some diagonal strapping to the sides in a V form....a trip to the model shop later for some strip.

 

[Brixham]

A bit more progress....two new end panels.
The frames are 3mm square plastic box section, and the planking is plain 20 thou' plasticard with grooves. Thirty thou would have been better, but there wasn't any at the shop.

I think I'll add a central vertical strut on top of the planking panel. With the ends positioned, it's looking promising.

I need to work out how to fix the ends, and the current thought is to fit pins into the chassis, and the roof, which protrude into the 3mm box section, so once the body is secure to the chassis, the ends are retained.
The fixing will be a captive nut in the roof, with a long bolt through the chassis floor.
Also, a new roof. A sheet of 20/30 thou plasticard glued to the existing roof, but it needs some form of texture.

 

[playmofire]

Certainly looks impressive; can't wait to see the end result.

 

[Cliff George]

Great job,

Yes I agree Percy (or Thomas, or James) need a brake van. I dusted off my very limited modelling skills and made one out of a GRS kit based on a Lehmann toy train caboose.

My limited efforts can just about be seen in this photo:

I enjoyed making it so much I'm going to make another one this coming winter, but this time the single balcony version. I got a cheap wagon off of evilbay to base it on.

 

[vasim]

Your Bachmann conversion is looking very good. Just some running boards along the sideframes and a ducket lookout on each side and it will be more or less spot on.

 

[Brixham]

Thanks for your kind comments....hopefully the end result will be a reasonable representation of a generic 'British' brake van.

Duckets, I've decided to forego on this model, as it's already quite wide..maybe for the mark 11. Not all brakevans had them, so I'm happy with this.

Footboards, yes, I will be adding these, I think a strip of brass with some soldered on paper clip supports, fixed to the chassis. Plasticard will be just too vulnerable to damage

I'm also considering a lower level handrail running the length of the side.

And then livery...dark grey for unfitted, or brown for fitted?
And some lettering?

Malcolm

 

[PaulRhB]

Grey or you can't have the runaways with James, I keep meaning to use one of the 4 wheel wagon chassis to do one.

 

[Martino]

I needed brake vans too, although not to go with a Thomas!

One was made from a (I guess) Toy Trains box van. I used some GRS duckets, but otherwise everything was from plasticard, bits of wood or the junk box. That's the SR van.
The other was built around an LGB box van with bits of wood, coffee stirrers, bits of brass angle and a few bits from GRS (sandboxes and brake handle on the platform. The interior stove came of the internet (although as you can't see it, that'll probably come out and go into my station building).

Oops, must replace the support for the roof!

 

[Brixham]

End location pins now fitted....in the pic one looks a bit wonky, but it's not...

I melted the pins into the chassis to get the right position, then flooded the hole with epoxy glue. The pins in the roof were inserted into an undersized hole, and helped through with a soldering iron! They are flush with the existing roof surface, a new roof is the next item on the agenda, along with a through bolt for clamping the body to the chassis. Also running boards.

The van has had all it's holes filled with Revell Plasto..apart from the two I missed. Also diagonal bracing from thin plastic strip.
Just after this pic was taken, I added a low level handrail, made from brass rod, melted into pre drilled pilot holes, and re-inforced with epoxy.

Once the van is complete, I'll reconsider duckets, but the width will then be wider than most other stock.

 

[JonathanJ]

Somewhere - I think on this forum, not the old GSM one - somebody posted a couple of pics of a british style guards van converted from a bachmann caboose, complete with duckets. Black or very dark brown I think. Saved the link somewhere, but I can't find that either. anyone want to own up and repost the pics?

I was planning to shamelessly copy the van, but never got around to it after an ebay seller took my money but omitted to actually supply the second hand caboose..

J.

 

[yb281]

Somewhere - I think on this forum, not the old GSM one - somebody posted a couple of pics of a british style guards van converted from a bachmann caboose, complete with duckets. Black or very dark brown I think. Saved the link somewhere, but I can't find that either. anyone want to own up and repost the pics?

I was planning to shamelessly copy the van, but never got around to it after an ebay seller took my money but omitted to actually supply the second hand caboose..

J.

Might have been my per way brake?

Original idea came from Dave Hub's Shark conversion (he made the duckets for mine).

 

[JonathanJ]

That's the one. Suspect that the smaller duckets (compared to GRS ones) are what makes the difference.
J.

 

[yb281]

I think that GRS have stopped doing their LGB van conversion kits that several on this thread (and me) have used? Seems like a daft idea to me, but there again they recently informed me that they'd also stopped making their W&L wagon kits since Accucraft bought out their ready to run models ........ even though Accucraft don't make the one I'd ordered.

 

[Brixham]

Nearing completion!
As mentioned, low level handrail fitted, and footboards. Footboards are lengths of brass strip, glued to the bottom of the lower step, with a central bracing rod.
To fix the body to the chassis, I rummaged around and found a length of 6mm studding, which was cut to length, and the top nut glued to a stip of plastic glued to the wagon body. Underneath the chassis, a washer and another nut complete the assembly.

To do....prepare and spray paint the body, prime and paint the chassis footboards.
Find a suitable material for the roof...my current thought is a sheet of thin plasticard, and to give texture, covered with a sheet of tissue paper, and then painted.
And then final details, glazing, crew, lettering?...although the Bachmann TTE stock doesn't have any

optional work...
once the van is complete, I'll reconsider fitting duckets
and maybe fit pickups for internal lighting or a red tail lamp

 

[Brixham]

Cruel pix of the sprayed brake van. I used matt grey primer, which seems about right for BR colours, but doesn't match the TTE wagons.
The filled in windows are not that apparent in real life, and the gaps between the ends and roof are caused by the body not being fixed to the chassis.

Since the pix the footboards have had a topping of wooden coffee stirrers. I've also bought a sheet of Slaters plasticard, which is dimpled and mottled in the same way as the existing roof. But some re-inforcement needs adding where the cupola used to be.

Malcolm

 

[garrymartin]

An excellent conversion of a simple, cheap model into something all together more desirable

 

[Brixham]

Using some scrap wood, and coffee stirrers, I've made some supports for the new roof.