This prototype should appeal to Southern Railway fans, but it also has the advantage of being suitable for use on BR layouts both steam era and modern image - indeed one example (DS 56283) was running around in SR brown livery (with red ends) in 1993 and based at Llandudno Junction of all places! Twenty five brake vans were built in 1936 (although one source quotes 1926). They still retain the original number series DS56282-56306. (The present day no. has the prefix ADS and the TOPS code is YTV).
1. Get yourself a few photos of the prototype. The usual remarks about variation of different examples of the prototype are of particular importance with these brake vans - more of which later.
2. I have provided diagrams, including the side and end elevations (which are reproduced to scale).
3. This model uses the Plastruct sections and Evergreen embossed styrene in a similar manner to the GW 'Macaw'. You will also need a spare set of Fleischmann bogies.
4. Cut two 127mm lengths of Plastruct section CFS-4 ('Mainly Trains' ref. code) to form the sole-bars. Then mark the points for the brake pipe brackets (shown as dots on the diagram). The brackets can be represented by 1mm wide by approx 2mm high pieces of 10/15 thou styrene glued into the sole-bar channel. It is easier to do this now before moving on.
5. Cut a piece of styrene 26mm x 128mm to form the top plating. Glue the solebars, one along each long side (channel outermost!) so that the edges are flush. You should leave a 0.5mm gap at each end to accommodate the buffer beam.
6. Cut a piece of 60 thou styrene approximately 22mm wide and 127mm long to fit between the solebars leaving 0.5mm gap at each end as before. This piece reinforces the structure and gives the solebars extra support. Draw a line at each end 21.5mm from the edge - this acts as a guide for fitting the bogie bolsters. This arrangement is designed for use with fine wheels (Gibson 12mm DMU disc). If you wish to use the original Fleischmann wheels, you may have to alter the thickness of the styrene or leave gaps to clear the flanges.
7. Cut two pieces approximately 22mm x 10mm of 80 thou styrene to form the bogie bolsters. Then draw a line from corner to corner to find the centre. You need to drill a hole here for the bogie pivot. As the Fleischmann bogies have a 4mm diameter hole, I used a bolt to fit. I drilled a 3mm hole (using wood drill) in the bolsters and then reamed it out to the right size allowing the bolt to form a thread. I shortened the bolts so that only 5.5mm of thread was left - they now fit perfectly. Make sure that you do all this BEFORE fitting the bolsters to the solebar assembly - you don't want large holes in the top plate!
8. Cut two pieces 4mm x 26mm x 20 thou styrene. These form the buffer beams. I used Alan Gibson #4903 LMS/BR 1611 buffers which fitted the ones shown on my drawing almost perfectly. However you have to drill large holes (3.5mm dia) in the buffer beam to accommodate these so care is needed. You can, of course fit different buffers - the prototype features several different kinds. I also fitted a 4mm x 3mm x 10 thou piece of styrene in the centre of each buffer beam flush with the lower edge to form a coupler mounting plate. Once you've prepared your buffer beams, you can glue them in place. Once in place, I glued a 2mm wide piece of 60 thou styrene behind each buffer beam to reinforce it. Be careful though - you don't want to obstruct the fitting of the buffers. As with all things modelling, trial and error is the best policy here. The buffers themselves can be fitted later.
9. I formed the sides of the superstructure from welding together two pieces of 20 thou Evergreen 2067 '0 car siding cut' to the shape shown in the diagram. Remember to apply solvent to the two plain sides.
10. The prototypes have plating over some sections of the planking on the outside of the superstructure. This varies from van to van. Some have nearly the whole sides plated over - check your photographs. The drawing and diagrams reflect the original arrangement. I cut the plating from 15 thou styrene. IMPORTANT - both sides should be plated identically so that they will end up as opposites when assembled.
11. You should now have two sides with plating added. You should now drill any holes needed for handrails. I used a 0.5mm drill for this. You can also add what I describe as sills at this point. The positions are marked on the drawing. I used Evergreen 8103, 10 thou, 1mm wide strips with Plastruct MS-20 square rod glued along one edge to form a small step. I then cut pieces to length for each sill and glued them to the sides as shown.
12. Cut two pieces 12.5mm high x 21.5mm wide x 40 thou to form the outer ends. Drill two holes in the positions shown for the lamp irons - I used a 0.8mm drill to accommodate lamp irons made from scrap brass etch. You now need to construct the two lockers that are attached to the outer ends. The diagram gives the details for these. You can add the pipe work if you wish. Before starting, you need to think through the construction of the lockers carefully, as the pipes have to be added before gluing some parts together, and some parts are better fitted after the outer ends have been cemented in place. For the larger pipe, I used 30 amp fuse wire - but anything of similar gauge will do. You will need to drill a 1mm hole 19.5mm from the buffer beam end and 10.5mm from the side edge at each end to allow the pipe to seat in properly. Note that these holes are diagonally opposite - again, check your photos! You should also fit any lamp irons required at this stage.
13. Cut two internal partitions as on the diagram. After cutting out, you should separate the door and turn it around to leave the plain side showing (this also gives you the option of modelling the doors in an open position if you so wish). You can also drill two 0.5mm holes and fit a door handle from brass wire at this point.
14. To make the arc sections for the roof supports, I cut a 48mm dia circle from 60 thou plasticard and then removed four 24mm sections to form the arcs - again, see diagram. Then put these to one side for later use.
15. Cut four 21.5mm long sections of Plastruct AFS-1 angle section to form the corner stanchions/roof supports. 4mm from from one end mark a line. This is the reference point for locating the lamp irons. I superglued a piece of 'L' shaped scrap brass etch to each piece to make these. IMPORTANT - make sure you 'hand' each piece otherwise your lamp irons will face the wrong way! Now put these safely to one side.
16. Now you need to cut a piece of 80 thou styrene. This is nominally 21.5mm wide by 33.5mm long and is designed to be glued to the top decking to serve as a former for the cabin part of the superstructure.
17. It's now time to start gluing together all the parts prepared so far (except the corner stanchions). You may find it helpful to draw some guidelines on the top decking, 21mm from each end, to help you locate the position of the outer ends. You can then use this as a datum line.
18. Hopefully, you now have the ends, end lockers, sides, and internal partitions in place. At this point, you may wish to secure some weight in the cabin space - I used a bar-type fishing weight. After everything has set hard, paint the interior of the cabin matt black. You can now add the handrails at this point. Depending on your intended method of glazing, you can fit a false roof to the cabin section made from 20 thou sheet of suitable dimensions. As I used 'Kristal Klear' I fitted this item at this stage.
19. The look-outs, one on each side, are next. These are positioned at opposite ends of the van. I have to confess that I found the construction of these parts rather tricky and tiresome. However, the finished result rewards persistence. I made the look-outs using a 15 thou skin glued around 10 and 20 thou formers, conforming to the shape in the diagram, separated by 60thou spacers 12.5mm long by 2mm wide chamfered at each end. The exact combination of pieces is determined by the exact space created by the fitting of the side plating around 8mm. Cut the 15 thou skin to size first and glue the parts in as you go. However, you do need to end up a 20 thou width at the extreme ends as these will be cut to form the cosmetic window apertures. The 20 thou space gives the apertures the required depth. After painting, the 'windows' can be created using 'Kristal Klear' liquid or similar. Once the basic part has been formed, any flaws can be corrected with filler and wet and dry paper. Of course, this is not the only way of constructing these parts - if you know a better way, I would use it! Once the lookout is glued in place, a 1mm strip of 10mm styrene should be glued above it as shown on the drawing.
20. Fit a brake pipe to each solebar as on the diagram. I used 0.45 brass wire for this. You can also fit the buffers at this stage.
21. The roof is formed from a piece of 40 thou styrene 87mm long and 27.5mm wide. Mark the positions of the rainstrips and the chimney. Then it's time to do some cooking with styrene. Find a former of a suitable diameter and bind the roof to it using masking tape. Make sure you get everything straight. Immerse the whole thing in boiling water for 30 seconds. Shove it under the cold tap, remove the tape and hopefully a nicely formed roof will emerge. Glue in the four roof-arcs in their respective positions. Glue the outer two roof-arcs 0.5mm in from the edge - this later forms the slight overhang to the roof. Add the rainstrips using styrene microstrip. The chimney was formed from a 2mm length of the plastic sleeving found on bell wire. I left a short length of the wire sticking out of the bottom to help locate the chimney in the roof. The base of the chimney is formed from a 3mm x 3mm square of 10 thou styrene with a hole in the centre. On top of this is placed a very thin washer of around 2.5mm in diameter.
22. Glue the four corner stanchions in place. Add the small corner plates as shown. Carefully drill holes and fit the remaining handrails. Cut four 1mm wide pieces of 20 thou styrene to fit into the space created between the plating at the bottom of the doors.
23. Cut four pieces of 20 thou styrene 2.5mm x 13mm. These should be glued to the underside of the sole-bars directly below the doors as shown. The rear of these pieces should be flush with the inside edge of the sole-bar so that 1.5mm width projects outwards.
24. The superstructure and roof-arcs should now be painted in the chosen colour. When the paint is dry, add glazing. I chose the SR brown livery because it offers the most alternatives for use. Surprisingly, I found that MicroScale 87-70-1 White RR Gothic Letters and Numbers are the same style as the ones used on SR wagons.
25. Paint the roof mid-grey.
26. Add brake cylinders. I used a redundant Playcraft set. Glue these in position as shown. Paint the underside matt black or similar.
27. Glue the roof in position.
28. The Fleischmann bogies require certain modifications. The two projections adjacent to the pivot hole should be removed. Carefully remove as much of the moulded footboards as possible without damaging the fine detail. Then add new footboards between the axle boxes. You will find that if you cut the pieces of 20 thou styrene in accordance with the diagram, they will slot neatly into position resting on the strut linking the two axle boxes. The footboards can be secured using a little superglue.
29. Add the couplings of your choice. I used Kadee #18s (an NEM 'swallow-tail' type) glued to a 5mm thick base of styrene built up from 8mm x 3mm pieces. To use this arrangement you have to remove the coupling box from the Fleischmann bogie.
30. Finally screw the bogies in place.