Highland Railway 13Ton Type C Goods Brake Van

 

In a recent article in the Highland Railway Journal I mentioned that despite modellers of the Highland Railway being well served by kit manufacturers, a gap existed in the case of the Type C van. Remarkably, within weeks of publication, the gap was plugged and a sample of the kit was on my work bench. The kit was designed by Mike Williams and commissioned by Chris Smith of Invertrain.

This is a difficult kit, or you could call it a basic kit or an aid to scratch building. Whatever you call it, the kit demands patience and effort, it’s a project for the experienced modeller.

The panels have been etched into the sides and ends of the bodywork which leaves them flimsy, it may have been a better idea to have designed the sides with a separate surround to the panels, designed to be soldered on, which would have made for a more robust
body. As it is, some reinforcement and bracing is needed to produce a satisfactory structure.

I made a floor for the van and built the body and chassis as two separate modules that screw together. The chassis has a simple rigid wheelbase, without compensation.

The chassis is a separate module. Note the cross members, which support the brake hangers.

The transverse veranda locker was not part of the kit so I made one myself, which improves the appearance of the model and strengthens the structure. I double skinned both the ends and the sides of the veranda interiors, which both thickens the van walls and simplifies glazing the ends, the clear acetate sheet simply slips between the inner and outer skin. The inner end walls of the verandas are faced with 2mm Plastikard planking overlays, the side walls are not planked. The interiors of the glazed verandas are dark when the roof is in place so really you can get away with much less detail than I included, though a minimum would be to make the transverse locker and to thicken the top of the door and the opening above.
 

The van body is a separate module. Plasticard planking is used for the inner end walls and for the veranda floors.

 

 

 

There are flaws in the design which need correcting. In particular the ends of the buffer beams require shortening and an insert needs to be made to seat the ducket sides correctly. The instruction sheet, which is useful without going into minute detail, makes it clear how these improvements can be made. I used Slaters’ cast lamp irons in place of the etched offerings in the kit and also discarded the roof which was half etched and far too thin; I made a replacement from 0.45 sheet and doubled the thickness of the edges. The roof is removable, to allow glazing of the van after painting and is held in place by a screw which fits neatly down the chimney and locates into a longitudinal member in the cabin. 

There is ample scope for ingenuity in making adjustments and additions to the kit and obviously the more input and effort you put into the model, the better will be the end result

 

HR Type C goods brake van complete and ready for painting.