How do you open the DAPOL Cattle Wagons to put weight in them.?
David.

Thin blade to separate top from bottom apparently. Sol has been through this. You're probably better off using liquid lead (and very high quality PVA, plastic compatible CA is better) or thin lead sheet underneath. Some nice white metal cows (or beer barrels) slid sideways through the gap would do the trick. After of course getting rid of what passes for an NEM 362 coupler pocket. If you buy the kit it looks to have working doors, which would solve the problem. Alternately, remove the doors and ramp very carefully with a fine saw (fret for example) and reattach. No lime unless you're modeling the 1920's.

Nigel

[user=1632]BCDR[/user] wrote:

Thin blade to separate top from bottom apparently. Sol has been through this. You're probably better off using liquid lead (and very high quality PVA, plastic compatible CA is better) or thin lead sheet underneath. Some nice white metal cows (or beer barrels) slid sideways through the gap would do the trick. After of course getting rid of what passes for an NEM 362 coupler pocket. If you buy the kit it looks to have working doors, which would solve the problem. Alternately, remove the doors and ramp very carefully with a fine saw (fret for example) and reattach. No lime unless you're modeling the 1920's.

Nigel

I used a small flat blade screwdriver, insert the screwdriver as close to the end as you can looking at the model from the side press it down on the floor but up against the body  not too hard and wait after two or three seconds it pops off, repeat on the other side and away you go.

Hi Nigel.   I have been considering either "Cattle Wagons". or "Horse Boxes" for one of my planks, mind you with me putting in so little effort? there is definitely no rush, we don't want to scare the horses? As for kits? They would have to join the queue. Is there a good online supplier of OO/HO RTR Cattle Wagons or Horse Boxes (preferably SR type) that you could recommend?   But on the subject of Dapol, I noticed today that they only have the brake on one side of the wagon.Annoyingly the Dapol coal loads are screwed in, and held in position by the Body mounting screw PITA, where Bachmann and Oxford do have empty wagons and it is a simple job to make a false load, it must be simple? because I have done it!.      All the best. Kevin

Hi Nigel.  Oxford have recently launched a new Cattle Wagon?  But it Sank, I have been talking to Rivet Counters again.  The Oxford ( current model) is best avoided? Could do better.  All the best. Kevin

Hornby do very good SR cattle wagons and an LMS horse box. All the rest available RTR offerings have their failings but it is up to the individual to decide what is acceptable to them. Briefly, the Dapol model is more or less the Sixties Hornby Dublo moulding that doesn't match current standards. The Bachmann LMS one is seventies Mainline, far too short with the body strapping very coarsely moulded while its better BR one is a scale foot too long, altering the overall look of the wagon very obviously. The Oxford one has been verbally taken apart on several forums, but is mostly a fair attempt at the LNER wagon. The most obvious problem is the supports for internal partitions on both ends of each side - it should only be at one end. This is a fairly simple thing to alter with a craft knife, or just ignore if you want. They also went for a 9' wheelbase version that was most likely extinct by the BR period instead of the more numerous 10' one, while the LNER wagon was the least numerous of all the companies builds and would have been a rare sight in cattle trains. However, apply Rule no.1 if necessary and make your own choice. The Oxford wagon range is relatively cheap and despite some shortcomings in research and design, offer some unique vehicles.

Good synopsis Ben.  Bachmann continue to release versions of that dreadful LMS cattle wagon.   :Red Card  Happily, Parkside released an accurate kit last year.  I bought 3 but then switched to 0 so these were sold.  I did build 3 LNER 9' WB Parkside kits which came out well.

I haven't seen the Oxford model but I always say with RTR you're 90% there as a rule as long as the fundamentals are correct.

John

Hi Ben.   Thank you for your reply. I will have to attend more Model Railway shows, I am currently looking for a new "Man Cave" built within a Two or Three Bed House, somewhere in Kent, and have on occasion been close to some shows. That is the thing about fewer model railway shops locally, you could look before you commit yourself.                        All the best.  Kevin

I'm always surprised when companies release new models that are simply "generic".

Assuming they're not using old presses, they have to get their details from somewhere - presumably a preserved example.  In this day and age, it's no more difficult to get it right than it is to get it wrong !!!

Maybe they are all buying obsolete tooling and squeezing the last few models out of them before they totally wear out.

It seems some of the kit manufacturers are almost there so why do the big boys so often get it so badly wrong ?

Hi Petermac.   40odd years ago I had an Airfix Loco Shed, that was " Re Packaged" with the Dapol brand?  Or if not the spitting image on it.   Kevin

Peter, I think that back in the 70s manufacturers (Hornby mostly) tended to do exactly what you say.  Wagon underframes, coaches, even locomotives were to a standard design and were made to suit various "models" of the prototype.  It shows what a lack of competition can do and perhaps the contempt that the Hornby of the time had for modellers.

Nowadays, newly produced models tend to be basically correct and if there are discrepancies these can usually be put right with a bit of determination on the part of the modeller.

There are still a few holdouts, such as the Bachmann cattle wagon I mentioned so a certain amount of caution is still required.

Dapol acquired a lot of the old Airfix railway kits many years ago.  Some of these are still in demand by modellers and, while dated, are essentially correct.

John

[user=565]Brossard[/user] wrote:

Peter, I think that back in the 70s manufacturers (Hornby mostly) tended to do exactly what you say.  Wagon underframes, coaches, even locomotives were to a standard design and were made to suit various "models" of the prototype.  It shows what a lack of competition can do and perhaps the contempt that the Hornby of the time had for modellers.



Nowadays, newly produced models tend to be basically correct and if there are discrepancies these can usually be put right with a bit of determination on the part of the modeller.



There are still a few holdouts, such as the Bachmann cattle wagon I mentioned so a certain amount of caution is still required.



Dapol acquired a lot of the old Airfix railway kits many years ago.  Some of these are still in demand by modellers and, while dated, are essentially correct.



John

Quite correct John, the Dapol GWR pattern turntable being a fine case in point for any GW modeller wanting to represent the Swindon style above deck bridge unit, without spending some £300 for a brass kit.

The humble plastic kit can for the good basis for a fine re-worked model.

Parkside however, deserve a special mention for giving us all the right elements at an excellent price. 

Bill

Bill

I agree about Parkside (who have just been acquired by Peco), they have a broad range of models and are very good value (in both 4 and 7mm).  I've done Cambrian, Ratio and others in the past too.  They all deserve credit for providing us modellers with accurate models of prototypes that the RTR gang don't do or do badly. 

I like to think of kits as aids to scratchbuilding.  It is in the area under the solebars where the kits tend to fall down and aftermarket products do fit the bill.

John

[user=565]Brossard[/user] wrote:

I agree about Parkside (who have just been acquired by Peco), they have a broad range of models and are very good value (in both 4 and 7mm).  I've done Cambrian, Ratio and others in the past too.  They all deserve credit for providing us modellers with accurate models of prototypes that the RTR gang don't do or do badly. 



I like to think of kits as aids to scratchbuilding.  It is in the area under the solebars where the kits tend to fall down and aftermarket products do fit the bill.



John

Your last sentence John is right on the money.

This year, I'm asking Father Christmas for a shrink wrap machine so I can build underframes in 7mm, then shrink them to 4mm. That'll work a treat!

Bill

Ha ha, Honey I shrank the kits!

John