Odsock Wagons - Unit Models 1-Plank Open

Perhaps the most distinctive of the new wagons is the Unit Models 1-plank painted in green and lettered for the 'Estates Dept'. Green might not be the most obvious wagon colour but I think this works well and is a good contrast to the similar grey wagon in the 'Shifting Sands' fleet. The estates department obviously have had issues in the past with their wagon being "borrowed" for other uses so have neatly lettered it up. In reality this uses Modelmaster decals, the word 'ESTATES' being made up largely from letter groups in the words 'WEST' and 'EASTERN', the 'Dept.' is a pre-made word on the sheet.

The load is based around an whitemetal kit for a lawnmower that I picked up from an exhibition junk box, I think it was of US-origin. There is a little irony here as the last model of a lawn mower that I owned was a 4mm scale one from... Unit Models! The tools are S&D castings and the oil can Duncan Models. All were carefully painted an weathered before fixing in place. I really need to add some more muck and odd bits of grass cuttings next time the scenic materials are out.

Underneath the modified Peco 10ft N gauge chassis can be seen, all brake gear is removed and the axlebox and spring detail pared back. The axleboxes are overlaid with Black Dog -style ones fixed to the Peco chassis, these had previously been fixed to the resin chassis frame but were refined during painting as I was not happy with their original appearance. Bachmann spoked wheelsets are fitted, which were a little tight at first but after a little fettling now roll smoothly. Greenwich couplers are again fitted with two tiny screws.

That's all for this one, the next wagon will be along soon!

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

Caravan and Cake

I recently had one of those annual occurrences that involves cake and a few beers, and in amongst the presents were a couple of O9 models to build. On the left is a FK3D print of the Motor Rail/Simplex 'Caravan' which is designed to fit the Kato "core" in the same way as their Lister model, which will go a long way to overcome the issues I resolved on the 'Druid' print.

On the right is a self-directed present, a Unit Models 1-plank wagon cast resin kit. Years ago I built a Unit models 2-plank wagon kit but it didn't lead to any more purchases, this one was prompted by seeing Stephen Clulow's 'Apadobe Mine' at the 7mm NGA even to Mickleover in February (or January 32nd if you prefer...) It was a pleasure to meet Stephen for the first time and see the layout in operation, you can read more about his models on his blog Steve's Narrow Gauge Railway Adventure.

Stephen operated using a mixture of Black Dog Mining and Unit Models wagons and this prompted me to have a look again at the kits at the Doncaster exhibition the following week. Having purchased a 3D print Heywood-style wagon at Mickleover I now have a few "out of the box" projects to be getting on with in the coming months.

As for the special day, we had a trip on the Sherwood Forest Railway and Bob Colley treated me to the birthday headboard for the run!

In the next couple of weeks there should be developments to report on both 'odsock Corner and a project that I have been keeping under wraps...

Colin
 

Building a Unit Models wagon kit - 3

As predicted, various levels of weathering have appeared on the Unit Models wagon.  The whole wagon received a thin coat of brown translucent paint, an old product from the sadly missed Penhaven range.  This was followed by a wash of black over the more naturally coloured planks inside.  I then used dry brushing exclusively, some warm rust tones on the strapping, then highlights in two shades, darker followed by a lighter shade.

I've fitted MicroTrains couplings - I do need to touch in the screw head with some black paint, but this may have to wait until I decide whether to give the whole wagon a coat of Citadel 'Purity Seal' varnish once the workshop is warm enough.

Colin

Building a Unit Models wagon kit - 2

Just a quick update really.  The weather last weekend was warm enough to venture to the workshop and waft some primer (sounds so much more refined than blast...) over the Unit Models wagon and also the Romney style coach roofs, acknowledging that for them it was a first coat to find any defects in the filling (which I did...).

I was surprised to find that the Unit Models wagon had a lot more surface texture than was apparent in bare resin form, and not all of it looked too convincing, so I soothed out the sides a little where required, back to resin in places.  At this stage the wagon looked a mess and I seriously considered not going any further with it.  Common sense prevailed and using Games Workshop Foundation series 'Charadon Granite' paint, lightened a little, coverage was no problem, although a second coat is always worthwhile.  Metalwork was picked out in a off-black mixture and the inside in a natural wood colour.  The whole lot now has a coat of Vallejo matt varnish to protect it ready for the inevitable assault of weathering.

Meanwhile, the soldering iron has been in use again lately, but Ill leave that for another day, got to scoot...!

Colin

Building a Unit Models wagon kit - 1

The chance discovery of a very cheap Peco N gauge wagon (for the cost of a chassis kit) at the Pontefract show last weekend led me to buy one of the relatively recent Unit Models O9 wagon kits to see what they are like.  I chose the wooden open wagon with a drop-side door.

On opening the box the kit is in two parts, a chassis frame and body, both cast in resin.

Both parts are relatively flash-free although there are some blow-outs in the casting of the various bolt heads.  I opted to replace these with plastic rod slices as it seemed to be the quickest way of resolving the problem. At 29mm wide this is definitely a 'minimum gauge' wagon and although I had thoughts of trying to narrow it to c.25mm to match my other stock I decided to build it as it came as a 'quick' project to fill the odd spare minute or two.

It was at this stage that I realised that the chassis I had was a 10ft wheelbase one rather than the 9ft version required for the kit.  Ooops.... This was easily resolved by cutting away the centre section of the chassis completely (having stripped away all the N gauge brake gear), which will also allow space for a little more weight between the sections.  The Unit Models frame includes a nifty cut out for the Peco weight to sit in:

As can be seen above, I've removed a 1mm x 5mm slice from the centre of the headstock and added a piece of 1mm styrene behind it in order to accommodate a MicroTrains coupler.  With the body assembled to the frame the wagon is actually complete and ready for painting (which will have to wait for warmer weather to spray the primer).  I've added some wire handles/catches for the drop down door.:

More once painting is underway....

Colin