This video popped up today on my ‘recommended’ suggestions. Fortuitously, I recently bought an auction lot of railway books which included an old exercise book. Its previous owner had used it as a scrapbook for storing the instructions for all the Airfix and other kits he’d built in the 1960s. So, the original Airfix instructions included a single exploded diagram which is clearer by far on where every part should fit. There’s also a later Airfix version of the instructions which accords with your Dapol sheet. Both Airfix instruction sheets start with a brief history of these wagons. According to these, the Type B wagons were explicitly commissioned by Esso from British Railways in 1956.
hi there.great video. i made these kits in the early 60s when airfix did them. the plastic that dapol use is not all that great. the same with the hornby/airfix made in china kits just ghastly, find a made in england airfix kit and you will notice the difference/ quality is superb,how times change. the Kitmaster kits in the 60s were great.weused to love making them as children
Hi, I notice you did not use metal tophat bearings on the inside of the solebars. The metal tips on the ends of the wheels will "round out" the plastic housing on the back of the solebar and cause lots of problems with the wheel alignment and tracking while in motion. I drilled out the back of the solebar behind the roller bearings (which are incorrect for this wagon, they should be SKF not Timkens) and added tophat bearings. Using an NMRA weight chart, this kit should weigh 2.9 ounces in total. I use strips of old freight car weights which easy to use. As mentioned, Microset and Microsol could/should have been used to fix the decals in place. I also spray the completed model with coat of Dullcote to seal the decals so the weathering does not lift the decals. So, you did an nice job with this kit. It is fine as is and is a good basis for a detail upgrade, especially those brake levers. One issue with tank cars is the fact the frame is open and not totally covered by the tank leaving a lot of open space to notice inconsistencies between the prototype and the model.
Hi, I didn't use bearings as the idea was to build the kit "as is". I would normally use them, because as you say it can allow the axles to team out the axle boxes. Not had any issues on my other Dapol/airfix kits so far!
@@MessingaboutwithModels Thanks for the reply. Of course I should have paid attention to that fact. I am too used to taking kits like this and doing upgrades. Keep up the good work.
Nice result. And impressive weathering ! Even if it's an old design, you can still have a good result with it. I agree with you, etched ladder would be better. I wonder which companies, besides Esso, used this type of wagon in the UK in the past. You can carry lots of liquid petroleum products by rail, from heavy oil for ships to aviation kerosene... Something to look at !
Looks fantastic. I’m definitely going to have a go at weathering the tanker kit that I’ve just bought! Nice to see the JK mineral wagon in the train too.
Airgun pellets make good weights (you can crush them with pliers to pack more in), Your comment about 'play value' hit a chord, since retiring I have been making up toys to give away and decent toys (as opposed to 'collectables' and 'merchandising') are damned hard to find. I watched this as I'm building a 1:72nd 'space port' and thought the tank could be useful, looks like there are a lot of 'greeblies' in there as well.
nice video, ive made a few of these have you had derailing problems? they say its the shallow flange on the wheels but im not so sure.. mine derail constantly
I had to straighten the frame by twisting quite hard (but ever so carefully and slowly) to get all four wheels to contact the rails. Twist > check, twist bit harder > check agian. Twist harder again > recheck ... This was despite carefully trimming all the 'plastic flash' off the top of the solebars. Once I install the tank, I recheck because plastic can have memory for the original twist and slowly re-twist. I use screws so I can remove and readjust the twist if necessary. I don't want gluing the tank on to reintroduce any twist to the frame. The longer the wheelbase the more a tiny frame twist will affect tracking.
Interesting that this should show up today as I was looking these up on google earlier because I was wondering if I could turn one into a reasonable (not for rivet counters) molasses tanker. Nice to see the build process and what I might need to do. A little perturbed at the end though when your class 27 started making the noises of a class 47... lol. Of to watch some more of your videos now. :-)
Thanks, I'm not a rivet counter either, hence why I've used a 47 tts decoder to provide sound for my Lima 27. Well, they've both got Sulzer engines is my excuse!
Looks nice. It's just a shame that it is almost impossible to buy in the Netherlands. It still wants to be at model railway fairs. But the price is higher than for a ready-made model
Built a few of these now, but it's nice to see someone else do one. The instructions do clearly say the brake cylinders go on the "shorter crossbeams", but overall the instructions that come with the kit are terrible.
It's a Class B tank... should be black. The longer Class A's (that Kitmaster/Airfix/Dapol didn't produce) are the grey ones. Just saying. Well done though, fella.
This video popped up today on my ‘recommended’ suggestions. Fortuitously, I recently bought an auction lot of railway books which included an old exercise book. Its previous owner had used it as a scrapbook for storing the instructions for all the Airfix and other kits he’d built in the 1960s.
So, the original Airfix instructions included a single exploded diagram which is clearer by far on where every part should fit. There’s also a later Airfix version of the instructions which accords with your Dapol sheet.
Both Airfix instruction sheets start with a brief history of these wagons. According to these, the Type B wagons were explicitly commissioned by Esso from British Railways in 1956.
I'm enjoying watch your wagon kit builds.
Thanks Frank Webb for the feedback, much appreciated!
hi there.great video. i made these kits in the early 60s when airfix did them. the plastic that dapol use is not all that great. the same with the hornby/airfix made in china kits just ghastly, find a made in england airfix kit and you will notice the difference/ quality is superb,how times change. the Kitmaster kits in the 60s were great.weused to love making them as children
Thanks for that! The plastic Dapol use is recycled, so thats probably why it's not as good.
Hi, I notice you did not use metal tophat bearings on the inside of the solebars. The metal tips on the ends of the wheels will "round out" the plastic housing on the back of the solebar and cause lots of problems with the wheel alignment and tracking while in motion. I drilled out the back of the solebar behind the roller bearings (which are incorrect for this wagon, they should be SKF not Timkens) and added tophat bearings. Using an NMRA weight chart, this kit should weigh 2.9 ounces in total. I use strips of old freight car weights which easy to use. As mentioned, Microset and Microsol could/should have been used to fix the decals in place. I also spray the completed model with coat of Dullcote to seal the decals so the weathering does not lift the decals.
So, you did an nice job with this kit. It is fine as is and is a good basis for a detail upgrade, especially those brake levers. One issue with tank cars is the fact the frame is open and not totally covered by the tank leaving a lot of open space to notice inconsistencies between the prototype and the model.
Hi, I didn't use bearings as the idea was to build the kit "as is". I would normally use them, because as you say it can allow the axles to team out the axle boxes. Not had any issues on my other Dapol/airfix kits so far!
@@MessingaboutwithModels Thanks for the reply. Of course I should have paid attention to that fact. I am too used to taking kits like this and doing upgrades. Keep up the good work.
Enjoyed watching the build. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it
Enjoying your videos.....that tanker looks very nice
Glad you like them!
Nice video. I like how you've weathered it too.
Thank you very much!
IIRC the then Airfix tank chassis were used as part of the model spacecraft used in the filming of the Space 1999 TV scifi series.
I didnt know that!
Okay, that was cool. Nice job.
Thanks for the feedback!
Nice result. And impressive weathering ! Even if it's an old design, you can still have a good result with it. I agree with you, etched ladder would be better.
I wonder which companies, besides Esso, used this type of wagon in the UK in the past. You can carry lots of liquid petroleum products by rail, from heavy oil for ships to aviation kerosene... Something to look at !
From looking at Paul Bartlett's wagon site, I think most major oil companies of the period used them. I know Dapol also do a BP one.
Looks fantastic. I’m definitely going to have a go at weathering the tanker kit that I’ve just bought! Nice to see the JK mineral wagon in the train too.
Thanks Ian. I've seen photos of these that are so dirty, I think any attempt at weathering would be realistic.
Looks good.👍
Thanks 👍
Airgun pellets make good weights (you can crush them with pliers to pack more in), Your comment about 'play value' hit a chord, since retiring I have been making up toys to give away and decent toys (as opposed to 'collectables' and 'merchandising') are damned hard to find. I watched this as I'm building a 1:72nd 'space port' and thought the tank could be useful, looks like there are a lot of 'greeblies' in there as well.
Did the Airfix version many years ago
nice video, ive made a few of these have you had derailing problems? they say its the shallow flange on the wheels but im not so sure.. mine derail constantly
Not had those problems, but then my layout is fairly small with no sharp curves.
I've just completed three of these, and they're derailing quite badly. Did you do anything to fix your issues?
I had to straighten the frame by twisting quite hard (but ever so carefully and slowly) to get all four wheels to contact the rails. Twist > check, twist bit harder > check agian. Twist harder again > recheck ... This was despite carefully trimming all the 'plastic flash' off the top of the solebars. Once I install the tank, I recheck because plastic can have memory for the original twist and slowly re-twist. I use screws so I can remove and readjust the twist if necessary. I don't want gluing the tank on to reintroduce any twist to the frame.
The longer the wheelbase the more a tiny frame twist will affect tracking.
Interesting that this should show up today as I was looking these up on google earlier because I was wondering if I could turn one into a reasonable (not for rivet counters) molasses tanker. Nice to see the build process and what I might need to do. A little perturbed at the end though when your class 27 started making the noises of a class 47... lol. Of to watch some more of your videos now. :-)
Thanks, I'm not a rivet counter either, hence why I've used a 47 tts decoder to provide sound for my Lima 27. Well, they've both got Sulzer engines is my excuse!
Looks nice. It's just a shame that it is almost impossible to buy in the Netherlands. It still wants to be at model railway fairs. But the price is higher than for a ready-made model
Built a few of these now, but it's nice to see someone else do one. The instructions do clearly say the brake cylinders go on the "shorter crossbeams", but overall the instructions that come with the kit are terrible.
The instructions really need to be re-written.
It's a Class B tank... should be black. The longer Class A's (that Kitmaster/Airfix/Dapol didn't produce) are the grey ones. Just saying. Well done though, fella.
Looks good, though, doesnt it?
Wanted to watch it but loud music keeps coming on! Sorry
talking is soft,. music is too loud,
Yes, not ideal, but lesson learned for future videos
Music totally disrupts the video, very annoying. Decal application hidden & no use of decal application liquids probably why decals became displaced.
Thanks for the feedback.