Rectank WW1&2

This is the WW2 MOW / GWR version, not the BR version (which I hope to do as well). The model includes fixings to allow the use of either Graham Farish or N-Gauge Society diamond frame bogies. These have been changed from the first version of the model to make them smaller. Graham Farish bogies need the boss to be sawn off and the top filed down to get a nice low ride hight so that the buffers line up with other wagons. They also need most of the coupling box cut off unless you don't mind it jutting out under the bufferbeam. I suggest using Parkside Dundas 5.1 mm disc wheels as these are only a tiny bit less than scale 2'9" diameter, and I don't think they do spoke wheels this small. Apart from bogies you will need fine wire for the trussing under the frame, too thin for 3D printing, and you will need a pair of brake wheels (spares from an etch?) fixed to short lengths of wire to attach to the undersides of the solebars at the end with the small locating blocks. You may also want to add drawbar hooks, but this may depend on how you adapt (or replace) the couplers on your chosen bogies. The set does include the jacking equipment stowage boxes some of the wagons had, which rested on the trussing. If you want to model it without the four jacks between the queen posts (not all Rectanks had these) you should be able break those off carefully. Some rectanks had jacks under the bufferbeams as well and I may add those in a separate model. I think most but not all wagons had these jacks removed when the rail companies took them over after WW1! You could even have a go at making lashing rings from bits of thin wire wound round a small screwdriver (or a nail) and cut with a scalpel. The mounting points are all there on the solebar apart from the extra ones on the end of the buffer beams, which some wagons had in WW2 period photographs. Some wagons had bars between the outer pairs of lashing ring mountings, and fine wire should do for these too. Finally, you may wish to make some bolsters from oblong section styrene rod and glue them in place after painting, perhaps under the tracks at each end of your chosen tank!

Thanks are due to Paul Bartlett, whose photographs like these http://paulbartlett....lio.com/rectank I consult often while detailing pretty much all my models.