It's been a while, but here, ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure is the result of my latest tinplate project I was rabbiting on about, at the beginning of the month.
It is the building of an "extended" version Buco "Bell Khulwagen".
Here is the 1952 Buco catalogue showcasing the various two axle freight cars manufactured by Bucherer of Switzerland. It is the only catalogue they produced with an English translation.....they were mainly in German and French. (sorry about the stickers at the top of the catalogue....they were from two Buco tee shirts I bought from the new Buco company last year) This is my workshop catalogue, and not my pristine 1952 collectors catalogue!!!!
Below is the page illustrating all of the two axle freight cars they made in 1952, and then a close-up of the actual "Bell" refrigerated wagon, with its catalogue number.
And now, the two doner wagons that agreed to be cannibalized. They are well worn members of my collection, and have "patina" (I call it surface rust and poor paintwork), but I wasn't about to repaint them and lose their lithographed signage. Before you purists want to burn me at the stake for cannibalizing rare tinplate wagons, they are still readily available second-hand, and even brand new from Buco SpurO in Switzerland.
I did purchase a new long petrol tanker chassis, and a matching long freight car roof from Buco SpurO to mount the project on. The chassis came with the buffers already attached, and threaded mounts for the drop-link couplers, and the attachment for the bogie wheel frames. I had all of the other components (drop-link couplers, trucks, side frames, wheels, axles) in my spare parts bin.
I then proceeded to remove the bodies of the Bell wagons from their respective chassis', and then accurately measure and cut the tinplate walls of the bodies to get the two halves to match the existing stamped rib format, ensuring both sliding doors and tracks on each side were preserved and operational.
I carefully cut and then re-joined them on the diagonal so as to increase the structural integrity of the tinplate shell, and increase the rigidity of the walls when remounted on the chassis platform. You can see where the join is at the very edge of the door opening, on the R/H sliding door, in the photo below.
I then cut the roof to match the length of the wagon, with access ladders at both ends of the car now, and re-painted the standard silver roof in an off white color to match the car body. See photos below.
You can see the chassis' of the doner wagons on a siding in the photo above. This will form the basis for yet another "Buco project". Watch this space.
Peter.....Buco Australia.
! What a great picture of you opening the box at Christmas and that set with the box is really neat. Here is a set I recently acquired, clockwork but a "Whistling" Engine. It is set #965W with a clockwork Mercury.
The earlier Paya were truly hit and miss , my 837 set from the early 50's is perfect with not a hint of pest , it truly was luck of the draw ( or the casting plant )
