Parkside BR 21 Ton Coal Hopper

[mick]

It's been more years than I care to remember since I last tackled a plastic kit. Back in the late 1960s to early 70s I didn't have any interest in model railways but suspended from the ceiling of the bedroom I shared with my younger brother were a large number of model aeroplanes which we had constructed from the very popular Airfix plastic construction kits. Today my interest is solely in model railways and to get my workbench thread underway I am going to begin by documenting the construction of a Parkside PC77 'OO' 4mm Kit of a British Rail 21 Ton Coal Hopper.

As I've mentioned before, one of the attractions of model railways to me is the sight of a long train of coal wagons meandering around the garden layout and while I have a fair number of 16t mineral wagons, as well as more recent HEA, HAA & derivatives, and HTA coal hoppers, I've not yet obtained any of the other forms of coal wagons prevalent during the 1950-60's which I can use along with the 16t minerals behind some of my steam locomotives. According to the brief historical account supplied with the Parkside kit, the 21 ton hopper wagons featured here, were built between 1952 and 1958 at Shildon Works which came as something of a surprise to me. The 21 ton hoppers seem to have disappeared from the railway network ages ago and yet the last of the batch were constructed only 6 or 7 years before the construction of the first HAA merry-go-round wagons, trains of which can still be seen to this day. I suppose that just goes to show what a great success the innovative MGR wagons have been over the past 4 decades.

Anyway, back to the Parkside kit and for this first part of the thread, an introduction to the parts included.

The photograph above shows what's included in the kit - the only things not shown in the photograph are two short lengths of thin brass wire for making the handrails. The grey parts are for constructing the hopper body while the black parts are for the chassis/underframe (wheels are included in the kit).

The instructions accompanying the kit are very brief and I feel it is assumed that the modeller knows more or less what he is doing. From the number of parts included it doesn't look too complicated and I would imagine that it could be assembled from a source photograph and without any instructions at all but I've spent some time reading through the assembly instructions and trial fitting some of the parts in order to understand areas that aren't fully explained or immediately obvious. The first task will be to clean off any flash, although to be fair there isn't a great deal, and to clean off the round ejector pin marks of which there are just a few. Once that's completed I will begin assembling the hopper body and taking photographs along the way.

[mick]

I think the biggest single difference between building plastic models from kits today as opposed to building them some forty or so years ago is the fact that my eyesight has deteriorated drastically during that time. Since my return to the model railway hobby early last year my inability to clearly see objects at close range has been the one thing that has really annoyed me. Even with a new pair of glasses, obtained especially for close up work, it's a struggle for me to see what I'm doing when attempting to work on a model or part of a model at close range. I've managed in a fashion here by using a combination of my glasses and an old magnifying glass, however, the blurring in the images is my inability to photograph models at close range and nothing to do with my eyesight.

I've now made a start on my first 21 ton hopper wagon and although assembly isn't that difficult, learning how to hold things whilst glueing them together is something that can only come from experience. I've used some blu-tack for the work depicted in the following shots and remnants of that can still be seen waiting to be cleaned off along the top edges of the partly constructed hopper.

The first photo above shows just the two upper ends fastened to the upper sides using liquid polystyrene cement applied with a small brush along the inner join. It was assembled upside down using the blu-tack to hold the sections together in an upright position.

Once the sides were nice and secure the lower ends were fixed in place using the same method. The photo below shows the inverted hopper with the lower ends secured.

Finally the lower sides were added doing my best to ensure that they fitted flush with the rest of the hopper parts.

Just 8 pieces fastened together so far but already it looks like a coal hopper! The photographs suggest I haven't made a very good job of smoothing the ejector pin marks and there's also a stray bit of glue that has seeped through a join and onto my finger but this is only the first of several wagons I have to make so things will hopefully get better along the way.

[mick]

After a short break to take the dog for a walk I returned to the 21 ton hopper kit and cemented the four pieces which form the bottom doors of the hopper and affixed these to the sub chassis. So eager to get on with things I forgot all about taking a photograph of that assembly and before I realised what I had forgotten to do I had already glued it to the hopper body.

The photo above shows the hopper itself now cemented to the bottom sub chassis and hopper door assembly. I have also added the side brackets between the vertical stanchions of the side and the sub chassis.

[mick]

Continuing from where I left off yesterday evening, this afternoon I have added the solebars and bufferbeams (headstocks) after inserting the brass bearing cups and then I added the wheels which appear to turn nice and freely. The following two photographs show how the wagon looks now as it awaits the addition of axleboxes and underframe brake gear.

I notice that I have yet to remove one of the small 'V' hangers from one side as per the instructions so this will be done right away.

Above solebar level, there are still the end supports and handrails to fix in place which will add the finishing touches in that area.

I have yet to decide what type of couplings to fit and to work out how they have to be fitted. The kit includes coupling mounting blocks for either Bachmann or Hornby type couplers but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with them just yet! I'll have another read through the instructions later on.

I really do like these hopper wagons and I'm looking forward to making a number of them and to seeing them in train formation. I'm sure they will look the part with a coat of paint, added coal loads and suitable weathering.

[mick]

Whilst the hopper body and solebars have been not that difficult to assemble, adding the small detail parts to the underframe only serves to reaffirm my faltering vision. Some of the small parts are so tiny that I had thought of omitting them altogether but the hopper door handles, while extremely small and fiddly, are a prominent visual part of the whole wagon when highlighted in white as they normally were. I even managed to break one and had to resort to adding just the handle part on one side. I have a feeling that these handles might be better made from some other material, possibly a piece of wire or a bent staple. Likewise the buffers. I'm not sure they look right so they have been simply push-fitted for now - hence they are not that straight and level. The photo below shows the detail added to the underframes, including brake blocks and operating gear, door handles, and axle boxes.

I've still got the ends to complete and here I may have to resort to making holes for the handrail wires with another 'tool' as I don't own a 0.5mm drill and if I had one I wouldn't think it would last more than a minute or so before I had broken it in two. In fact at 0.5mm I doubt I would be able to see it at all.

Lessons learned? Well, not to use so much glue I suppose, although I'm hoping the bits that have seeped out or been splashed around will cover up okay with paint. It's almost impossible trying not to get some glue in areas where I don't want it - modellers of lesser years and with better eyesight may well have more success than me in that respect.

Has it been worth it so far? I've not got any RTR 21 ton Hopper wagons so I can't compare it to anything but I've enjoyed making this one and it does look reasonable enough. At £6 or so there isn't that much of a saving to be made and it requires a good few hours work if you're a beginner like me. I've got a couple more kits to tackle so I'll let you know if it's been worth it once they are completed.

[IanR]

Good work Mick. A large proportion of my freight stock are Parkside kits. By the time you have bought paint, transfers and couplings there isn't a money saving compared to RTR models but I find them enjoyable to construct.

All my 16t mineral wagons are kits.

[mick]

Good work Mick. A large proportion of my freight stock are Parkside kits. By the time you have bought paint, transfers and couplings there isn't a money saving compared to RTR models but I find them enjoyable to construct.

All my 16t mineral wagons are kits.

I've enjoyed making this one too Ian although I haven't progressed any since my last post but I'm looking forward to finishing this and then doing some more - maybe a variety of types.

Looking at the part completed hopper on my desk in front of me it doesn't seem to compare to modern day RTR wagons but strangely, when you place a current wagon alongside it there's very little difference other than the RTR one being somewhat heavier at the moment. I'm not happy with the buffers but perhaps there's something I can do about that later - perhaps they will grow on me...

Which couplings did you fit to your 16 tonners Ian? Getting hold of Bachmann couplings is easy, even the latest ones with NEM pockets, but the NEM bases which attach to the wagon for the pockets to fit into seem a bit thin on the ground. I'd like to fit 3-link couplings but feel they may be more trouble than it would be worth.

[IanR]

I agree with your comment about the buffers on these kits, you can get turned brass buffer heads from various sources but so far i've kept with the supplied plastic ones.

I've used Bachmann mini tension locks no. 36-025 on my sixteen tonners. I've also used NEM couplings on some of my other kit built wagons, Parkside supply packs of mounting blocks for these. I stuck strips of self adhesive window lead to the underside of my mineral wagons too. Box vans have nuts, bolts or anything else that's to hand stuck inside them!

[mick]

It's the amount of flash around the buffers which lets them down in appearance but trying to clean up such a small circular part without losing any of the roundness isn't easy. Under normal circumstances you don't pay that much attention to an item of rolling stock but when you spend a few hours cementing plastic parts together you notice every little imperfection. As for the weight, I intend to run these hopper wagons in a loaded state so there'll be plenty of room beneath the coal layer to add any necessary additional tonnage.

I've noticed the Parkside NEM mounting blocks and they appear to be what I need.