Yet another steel train for Cradley Bridge, this time consisting of the very nice Bachmann BZA/BAA steel coil model with load. Typical of this type of train, they seem to take on an allover hue of rust and dirt so ideal for the type of stock I want to run. Also typical is that the rake of wagons is made up of a variety of liveries, new and old. I decided to model the majority of the stock in EWS house colours, but to add a bit of variety there are also a couple of old rail freight liveried examples and a unique trainload metals sector liveried one in there too.
The model straight out of the box is a great representation of the real thing - in fact the only things missing are lamp brackets at each end and a footstep at each end (which has probably been omitted to enable it to travel on small radius curves and point work). It even comes with air pipes too, which you have the option to add yourself. So the plan is to recreate a typical steel coil train the like of which I see traversing the network everyday and with that in mind I decided that between 12 - 14 wagons would be a good length to do so.
As it stands at the moment I have more than enough to work on with the 12 that I have - the additional ones will be picked up as and when. First thing I did was to remove all the bogies and wheels from the wagons to enable me to check the back to back measurements of the axles and then to paint and detail the wheels and bogies. The wheels are painted with frame dirt (Phoenix) and are then further detailed with etched brake discs (Colin Craig) which really makes a difference.
I normally use CC07W 10mm brake discs for all my Bachmann rolling stock (where fitted) but the profile on the BZA's seems to be different and so I had to use the CC02W's instead which were a perfect fit. Once these were done the bogies were also painted in frame dirt and also had their axle boxes picked out where necessary.
Next up the wagons themselves had the plastic air pipes supplied fitted and painted, buffer shanks painted chrome and instanter 3 link couplings fitted. I also fitted new overhead warning stickers to all the wagons(Fox) to bring them up to date. Once these had all dried the weathering began on the sides and ends of the wagons using my tried and trusted method of paint on - then remove with thinners soaked cotton buds dragged in a vertical motion. I also did this with the cradles that support the coils too, this time overpainting with light rust (Phoenix) to give their characteristic look.
Slowly it was now coming together giving it the look of a real careworn steel wagon. The next thing to tackle was the actual steel coil load. Bachmann supply each wagon with 3 coils, moulded in a very shiney silver plastic. In reality they tend to look a rather dark grey so after trying a few shades of paint, I decided to go with metalcoat (Humbrol) which can be buffed up later to give it a metallic sheen. To finish off the load a small strap was wrapped around the coil made from insulation tape.
So thats where we are at the moment - all in all I'm really happy with how it turned out. Just got another 11 to do!!! To finish the whole thing off a little brake dust weathering powder (MIG) was dusted around the base of the bogies, the buffers were given a dab or NATO black (Tamiya) to simulate grease and as this was the end wagon a jewel lamp (Springside) was mounted on a lamp bracket made from a piece of brass strip.
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