I had a look through my bits box today and found that I have enough spare van ends (mostly from N Gauge Society kits) to make about 20 vans !

Are there any "cottage industry" suppliers out there who would be willing to produce some etched/3-printed/laser cut van sides so that I could use up my stock of ends and add variety to my goods trains ?

Best regards,


Joe

May be possible, depending on what you have in mind.

The majority of my collection of van ends come from the N Gauge Society kit no.18, LMS box vans, so I would be looking for LMS van sides.

Unfortunately I don't have any books about LMS vans so I can't give any diagram numbers.

Outside framed sides would be nice, or how about special sides for a meat van or a beer van ?

Best regards,

Joe

Joe I'll look into it for you but I am very busy on other projects at the moment, so please PM me and remind me occasionally.

Thanks Richard.

There was an article by Chris Tungate in issue number 3 of the N Gauge Society journal in 1998 listing vans that could be kitbashed from the NGS kit.

I would be interested in sides for the following diagrams (all with wooden ends) :

Midland 633
Midland 634
LMS 1670
LMS 2070

There's no rush - plenty of other stuff on my workbench !

Best regards,


Joe

It is quite easy to make your own sides with Evergreen V-groove sheets; reference 2050 for 1.3mm planks, and the sheet is 0.5mm thick. They also do a 1mm thick sheet with same plank spacing, but I can't find the reference number; the 1mm thick is better for sides.
Doors are made with an overlay of sheet 2050; strapping is made from various strip plastic, and L-or U section. Rod can be used for hinges. The result may not be 100% accurate, but it takes a very close look to prove it! It is also surprisingly quick and easy. It also uses up spare roofs, and I use Peco or Parkside underframes, and Peco coupling sets (can't find the reference number-it is a kit of coupling hook, U-shaped mount, and a lockingbar for the coupling, and the whole lot glues to the floor). The end result looks very convincing in a rake of other wagons.
If the wagon has ply sides, you could even use plain Plasticard..........
HTH
Martyn

Hi Martyn.

Sounds good.

Do you know of any on-line source of LMS van drawings ?

Best regards,


Joe

To answer my own question there is this :

http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/BRBDocuments/Book320Part1Issue.pdf

Will look for some ex-LMS van drawings this evening.

Best regards,


Joe

Unfortunately the BR wagon diagrams don't indicate the pre-nationalisation origins of the wagons so you need to be an expert to find any ex-LMS vans amongst them, which I'm not.

Best regards,


Joe

Quote from: martyn on July 01, 2014, 08:55:51 PM
It is quite easy to make your own sides with Evergreen V-groove sheets; reference 2050 for 1.3mm planks, and the sheet is 0.5mm thick. They also do a 1mm thick sheet with same plank spacing, but I can't find the reference number; the 1mm thick is better for sides.

That definitely helps, Martyn. Would the 1mm sheet be the right one for making custom open wagon planked sides, from 1-plank to 8-plank open wagons? I'd love to put together some 1-plank and 3-plank open wagons on spare Peco chassis.

Peter

I have built open wagons on Peco chassis using the very thin wood used for strawberry punnets etc. for the sides/ends.

It's easy to scribe the planks on this soft wood and you can vary the plank width as desired.

Of course you need a drawing to follow.

Best regards,


Joe

I would make sure you have some internal bracing as plasticard is a pita for warping and distorting. Also drill a hole in the bottom so glue fumes can't build up and wreck it later.

For a lot of vans quite honestly if you know the length (varies by age) you can work the rest out by common sense and guestimating the door size given a couple of photos.