0 Gauge 16T Mineral Wagon

This time I opted for a Peco chassis R0-8 since it is designed for the 16T mineral wagon. The body is 3D designed and printed by me. The framing around the doors came out a bit ragged compared to crisp injection moulded parts. Nevertheless it adds to the worn weathered finish.

I am very pleased with the Peco chassis because it has sprung buffers and compensation. Both utilising innovative and simple mechanics with compensation provided by working leaf springs no less! Very impressive. It went together quickly but thought needed to be given to assembly of a couple of parts as the instructions were unclear to me and a referenced diagram was missing from them.

There are many variants of the prototype wagon. I opted for that built to diagram 1/108 - a welded body with double brake arrangement. This avoided the need to show rivets!

It may be of interest to elaborate on the paint finishes that I applied.

Chassis

Referring to prototype photographs of weathered wagons the underlying colour appears greyish, arguably with a touch of blue. I sprayed the entire chassis (not wheels) with Humbrol matte enamel 144 followed by sponge painting dabs of Humbrol matte 62 for rust here and there.

Body

The weathered look was achieved using the salt chipping technique. Here is a video tutorial. People use rock or table salt. I found table salt worked best for larger areas in particular.

The body was first sprayed overall using Halfords grey primer followed by brush painting Humbrol matte 100 with a splash of matte 160 to give an aged rust look. When dry, masking tape cut to the size of the white diagonal lines was applied. Each body side was then painted with clean water and salt sprinkled on in key areas where rust is to show, with reference to prototype photographs. Quite a deep patch of salt was applied to the large areas of rust. The body was then set aside to dry thoroughly overnight.

I am undecided what payload to fill the wagon with so, left the inside empty and a rust colour. When  I design the model railway layout the most likely mineral payload needed for the scene will be realised.

The wagon (and salt overlay) was sprayed with Humbrol 128 mixed with a large amount of matte white to lighten ('cos that's the only grey I had). When nearly dry the salt was brushed away with a toothbrush except it was hard to remove in places so, scraping gently with a small flat blade screw driver worked well. To my dismay the process had lightened  the dark rust colour,  either due to salt erosion of the paint or, leeching of the thinned grey spray paint. Thinking it was leeching grey paint I used thinners and gently rubbed the rust patches with cotton bud to no avail. Maybe it is not so bad considering it would appear lighter from normal viewing distance. Some miniscule salt particles are embedded in the grey paint here and there giving a nice textured finish.

The masking tape was removed and new tape laid either side of the white lines to be. The white lines were added by lightly sponge painting matte white.

Finally, wagon numbering was designed, printed and placed.

Cost 

Peco chassis: £16.56 (discounted RRP incl postage)
Peco wheel set: £8.03 (discounted RRP incl postage)
Plastic body: £0.3
Extras: pennies

Total: Less than £25

RTR from the trade then probably around £45 or in kit form £35.

References

Mineral Wagon Variety: The Model Railway Journal #54
Mineral Wagons: Railway Modeller November 1980.


Next up is a brake van.