Odsock Wagons - 422 Modelmaking Drop-Side

Next on the conveyor of wagons is the 422 Modelmaking 2-plank drop-side. As with the 1-plank wagon this had a little refinement during painting as I realised that if the axleboxes were retained by some sort of W-iron behind the wooden frames, there should be a representation of a method of securing them in place. After a few trials I found that square sections looked best, applied at a 45 degree angle.

For the load I created something I had been wanting to try for a while, a load of round fencing poles and wire. The poles are cocktail sticks and I soon discovered that my cunning plan to just cut them in half was doomed as the point of a cocktail stick is far, er, pointier, than that of a fencing pole. Cue some whittling down and sanding! The bottom layer were superglued to a thin cardboard base and the other layers added on top. a wash of black-grey toned down the colour a little. Thin wire was coiled to add another element and the tool box is a Black Dog Mining casting that I painted some time ago.

Underneath the extent of my narrowing of the 422 chassis casting can be seen. In fact I probably went a little too narrow as I had to remove the top flange of the Peco chassis solebar to get everything to fit. The extent of the chassis shortening can also be seen, removing a section equivalent to that marked 'Mk2' to bring the wheelbase down to 24mm. Incidentally this figure was arrived at after I stood the body on a Black Dog Mining 16.5mm gauge chassis with that dimension and it just "looked right". As with the coach, clearance has been created for Mathieson 7mm wheelsets, I don't begrudge replacing the wheels on Peco chassis acquired cheaply as an eBay haul.

And finally... this wagon could have turned out very differently. Initially I scratchbuilt a steel-channel chassis frame and then modified it when I realised it resembled this wagon at Lightwater Valley theme park. It didn't quite look right due to a few compromises I made, but I do have another body casting so who knows, I may have another go one day...

Coming soon, the final part of this saga will look at the two Black Dog Mining wagons.

Colin

The Colours of 2026

Just a quick post to welcome readers of O9 Modeller into 2026. Sorry for the lack of updates recently, there has been progress in the paintshop and my usual policy is no updates between primer and varnish...

Good job then that I took advantage of a dry (but cold) New Years Eve afternoon and gave this little lot  a coat of varnish!

The new year will see these weathered, couplings added and wheeled up. More soon...

Colin

Odsock's Odd Wagons

I have previously made reference to a plan to have a handful of 'wider' O9 stock to run on Odsock Corner with the FK3D 'Druid' and Avalon Line locomotives. The recent 4w coach was the first of these and I can now reveal the next three builds. I say builds, "assemblies" would be more too the point as they all have commercial kit origins...

First up is a Unit Models 1-plank wagon on a Peco 10ft chassis. The primer coat has highlighted a few blow-outs in the casting but these have been filled prior to further painting. As I have a "thing" about not seeing N gauge axleboxes on O9 wagons I have created a set of Black Dog look-alikes to hide them. The Peco N gauge buffer heads form the round section in the centre - sticking them in blu-tac whilst cutting the buffers off saves losing them to the carpet monster!

Next is a 2-plank drop side wagon built from 422 Modelmaking components. You may recall I built one of these before and then sold it on - this new example incorporates learning from that model, largely involving changes to the underframe. I had picked up an alternate underframe casting with no axleboxes and not restricted to using the Peco 10ft chassis (20mm wheelbase), The first action was to narrow it by 3mm in width to move the solebars further in. I then squeezed a 15ft chassis cut down to give a 24mm wheelbase, and I find that the extra 4mm actually makes a big difference to the visual balance of the wagon. Chivers 4mm scale roller bearing axleboxes have been added to hide the Peco originals and Grandt Line nut-bolt-washer mouldings add some extra detail to the bufferbeams.

The two wagons above will run with a Black Dog Mining mine tub as an estate maintenance train, I have a lawnmower kit that I must make up to go in the 1-plank wagon...  A second train will be formed from the open coach with a wagon for luggage (or daring riders). This is a Black Dog style 6 foot 2-plank with added handles on the ends to make it a 'Tops' wagon.

These three wagons are now making progress in the paint shop alongside the coach. It is a while since I've actually painted anything so I am taking it steady to get the best finish. I've also been making up a batch of Greenwich couplers for this micro-fleet which has actually been a lot easier than expected thanks to the new bending/assembly jig available from Light Railway Stores.

Colin

Saturday Snapshot - The 422 Tops

 I realise that I have completed a project and that I have failed to take any pictures of it until this point... oops!

You may remember that I had purchased a spare 422 Modelmaking wagon chassis frame at Narrow Gauge North and used it for various bits of experimentation with axle boxes and the like. With the release of the Heywood-style 'Tops' wagon bodies I picked up a two-plank version at Narrow Gauge Now in October. The spare chassis was quickly fettled to suit and the two Araldited together, with the only other detail work being the addition of office staples at either end to form the lifting handles. Painted in Humbrol red-brown with black-grey ironwork I think the result is very pleasing.

I had originally painted the number plate in red with a brass surround but realising this looked a little gaudy I repainted in black with a white surround, the number '3' is a dry-print transfer from a GWR wagon sheet.

You may notice a small cut-out in the lower edge of the headstock, the final experiment with this chassis was to test the feasibility of fitting MicroTrains couplers. With Mathieson 7mm wheels in the Peco chassis around 0.5-0.75mm needed to be removed in a strip 5mm wide. The jury is out on whether these wagons will ever get that style of couplers but I thought it worth the try and not noticeable enough to reverse the adaptation.

Colin

Back to the 422 Wagons

Whilst work progresses on the pizza layout, I have finally got the two 422 Modelmaking wagons painted and attached to their Peco chassis. 

Painting followed my usual path of a spray of grey primer followed by painting the interiors in a bare wood colour. A black-grey wash and brown wash followed to highlight the plank and grain lines. Dry-brushing then followed, lighter colours in the interior and a semblance of paint on the outside. Ironwork was picked out in black-grey and some some light dry-brushing highlighted edges and gunmetal was dry-brushed onto the bolt heads etc. Everything was sealed in place with a spray of  Humbrol acrylic matt varnish.

The one-plank wagon has a brown (ish) tinge outside and is weathered with weathering powders to look as if it has carried a sand load recently, including runs outside the body where the top has been lifted off Heywood-style.

The drop-side has a grey tinge to the exterior although one plank has no paint at all. The interior load weathering is more of a brown tinge and again this has been extended to the exterior where the load has spilled during unloading.

Jumping back a stage, prior to fitting the chassis I decided to add a little extra weight to the wagons alongside the Peco weight. I used self-adhesive lead window strip in the under-side voids that would surround the Peco weight to use the space effectively, as demonstrated below.

I then placed the Peco weights into the spaces, mixed up some epoxy and filled the two smaller holes, sitting the Peco chassis into the weight and securing chassis to weight and wagon all in one go. 

Couplings are still required, I need to find a spare evening to tackle some Greenwich assembly...

Colin

422 Variations

Work on the 422 Modelmaking wagons continues. Having proved the concept to modify the axleboxes on the spare chassis, I have now modified both of the other chassis castings. In this view one is lined  up with a modified Peco chassis, and the sad remains of it's old body! The Peco chassis has been modified to accept the Mathieson 7mm wheelsets which required removal of all brake gear, and opening out the holes above each wheel to be fully rectangular. 

 

The modified 422 chassis has the axleboxes modified and if you look carefully in the centre of the tubes you can see the dodge I have employed to mimic the end of the axle. This uses a moulding from the Dapol railbus kit, cutting the round mouldings off the parts on the left of the sprue, reducing some in size a little to match the others. By drilling out the back of the tubes I could insert this and give the impression of an axle in the bearing.

 

Once the axleboxes were sorted out I glued the chassis to the bodies using Araldite, clamping where necessary to bring everything together with minimal gaps. I then opted to add some extra details in further individualise the models, adding some basic hinge details to the drop-side wagon and handles either end of the one-plank to allow the body to be removed Heywood-style.

A closer view of the handles, formed from 0.7mm brass wire. With the 0.7mm drill bit out I also drilled the bufferbeams to accommodate Grandt Line 1 1/2" NBW mouldings to break up the plain surface. Not visible are the two holes drilled underneath the chassis on the centreline at each end, 1.5mm apart, ready to secure Greenwich couplers in due course.

Both wagons are now cleaned up and ready to paint. The third chassis with the experimental (and indeed removed) axleboxes is being brought into line detail wise and a body is planned using some recycled material... 

Colin

422 Wagonry in Resin

Having completed the Motor Rail/Simplex and with my mind telling me it was an 18" gauge loco rather than 15" gauge, I felt the need for the some suitable rolling stock for it to work with. Having followed the development of the 422 Modelmaking range of resin cast O9 wagons, Narrow Gauge North provided the first opportunity to see them in the resin, so to speak...  

I chose to sample one of the 1-plank fixed plank and a 2-plank dropside variations along with a few spare bits and pieces. The castings are relatively clean, requiring some fettling of flash around the bottom edge of the bodies and top of the chassis, and a quick sand on flat 400 grit wet and dry paper to level off these surfaces ready for assembly. After cleaning up the castings I posed them for the camera.

The chassis are designed to sit on Peco N gauge 10ft chassis with their buffers removed and weight still attached above, so a suitable example was purloined from the stores. Bearing in mind this is sat on the flanges and not on rails, the axleboxes are quite low to the ground and do seem a little large compared to the wheels (which admittedly you cannot really see!).

I appreciate the need to hide the Peco undergubbins but I decided that this area required a little further consideration. I did purchase a spare chassis and also a version without axleboxes. This has allowed me some room for experimentation, the earliest of which was to see if the axleboxes could be cut off an shortened in height, not a resounding success... On the opposite side of the chassis I squared off the bottom of the axleboxes with the idea a square cover could be added along the lines of the Heywood or Theakston axleboxes. This is the state of play on the right of the photo.

Some further thought produced the option on the left. By carefully drilling with a 3mm drill bit and some gentle opening out with a round file I could insert a length of Evergreen 3.2mm tube. The remains of the cast axlebox from the halfway point of the tube downwards was removed, co-incidentally lining up with the triangular support gusset either side. The hole needs filling with a slightly protruding length of rod to resemble the axle end.

I will probably opt for this option as the end result will not be too dissimilar to the Black Dog Mining style axleboxes on other O9 models. It also has a clear lineage to the originals in terms of shape etc.

Colin