As previously alluded to, I have acquired several Chivers Finelines O-16.5 wagons requiring repair as a job lot, and the 2-plank wagon was next for a bath in 'Superstrip', revealing a few interesting quirks such as what appear to be holes drilled in the headstocks for buffers, and that the ends were not vertical.
As the 2-plank did not feature in my future O-16.5 plans and fact that it would have to come apart anyway, I wondered what could be made from it. Some time ago I pondered if converting any of this series of kits to O9 was possible, so I compared the sides and ends with an Avalon Line O9 chassis adaptor and discovered that there was not really a lot of difference in length, but I would need to loose 10mm off the width!
After a bit of cutting, including a new floor and replacement of the centre section of the headstock, this was the result, although there is still a lot of fettling still to do:
After a little fettling and filling, I gave it a coat of primer and this is the result as it stands, temporarily on two halves of a Peco 10' chassis:
I'm pretty impressed with the result and I have been contemplating a similar conversion to the Chivers steel-bodied open wagon, but as a bogie wagon... watch this space...
Colin
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