G&SW timber wagons painted.

G & SW 10ton swivel bolster wagon.

My attempts at printing a number for the wagon and a "To Carry..." plate to fit inside the raised edges of the etched plates that came in the kit just didn't work, the paper rectangles didn't fit properly and looked scrappy. So I removed the metal plates and replaced them with printed paper ones which I glued to thin Plastikard sheet to give them more body, the effect was much improved.

My artwork was for number 12783 which is the only register number known for these wagons, it didn't take long to substitute a "2" for a "3" to produce a different albeit speculative number plate for the second wagon which was then scanned, sized and printed to produce the plate. The smaller plates, "To Carry 10 Tons" were produced similarly ; the tare or weight of each wagon appears on the bottom plank under the "G".

Nos. 12782 and 12783 paired together.



The colour used to paint these wagons is my own interpretation of the G & SW's light grey goods livery. All below the solebar is spray painted, all above is painted by hand, in both cases with enamel paint ; transfers are HMRS Pressfix. A light weathering mix has been airbrushed from below which unifies the colour scheme and helps to tone down the bright white of the transfers and number plates.

Sketchbook page with hand-drawn artwork for number and load plates

A pair of GSWR timber trucks

G & SW 10 ton timber trucks.

These timber wagons ran in pairs so really I had no option other than to build a second to make a pair with the one I made and featured on my blog in April this year. The kits are from the Celtic Connection range from Taff Vale & Dragon Models and were built from the etches for their pig iron wagon, as the timber truck etches are currently unavailable, so some considerable modification was required to correct the brake gear. I thickened the sides of both these wagons by inserting wires between the inner and outer skins to make them a scale 3" thick, the resultant gap between the sides is neatly disguised by the metal coping strip soldered along the top edge.

The stanchions on the ends of the bolsters are attached to the bolster sides by chains so they can be removed enabling the outer loops for attaching chains to be positioned either inside or outside the stanchions. Each of these loops has a hook attached and a chain with a turnbuckle is linked to one of the loops on each truck.

I removed the cast lettering on the weight and number plates leaving them blank as I intend to print suitable paper plates for these which will have the advantage of legibility and correct colouring.