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Six-wheel Milk Tank Wagons Mike Harries

The basis of the model is the Peco tank wagon with an extended chassis and new struts to support the restraining beams on the tank ends. This makes a fair representation of a wagon built to Diagram 0.44 as shown by the following table:-

To make two wagons you need two Peco milk tank wagons and one Peco 10 foot steel solebar chassis kit.

First dismantle the wagons by springing the ladders out from the chassis and the restraining beams out from the ends of the tanks: when all is clear the tank will separate into two halves leaving the cradle and diagonal ties bolted to the chassis. Having removed the wheel sets, undo the retaining nuts, lift the cradle off and file of the bosses and any moulding pips to leave a smooth surface to the top of the chassis (watch the buffer heads which project above the top of the chassis).

Then cut the new struts from the cradle as shown below and carefully preserve all remaining pieces, including the couplings and the delicate stirrups which form the ties.

Now comes the difficult bit. You have to cut the middle out of the original chassis and make the centre axle unit out of one end of the chassis kit, making all mating surfaces square and the dimensions correct as shown below. You will find that the buffer beams and the brake gear make it difficult to use a square against the sole bars: I used the wheel cut-outs to establish datum lines across the units, checking progress with a square as best as I could. (It is useful to note that the rib behind the buffer beam is 1mm wide, which gives a guide to both the length and the squareness of the centre units).

Take this slowly: make the centre units first, ensuring that they are symmetrical about the axle, so that if they do come out slightly short you can adjust the end units accordingly.

Now remove:-

• the coupling pockets on the centre units
• all the ribs on the under side of all the chassis units
• the brake shoes and hangers from the brake units
• the brake handles which you will find on one side of the centre units: a very sharp scalpel helps here

You will find that the brake handles on the end units come to an end in mid-air: protect them.

Next, cut strips of 1mm(0.040") Plasticard 6mm wide and 32mm long. Trim them to fit snugly between the wheel cut-outs under the chassis. Adjust the length as required to form a spine locating each set of units into straight, flat units with the transverse joints almost invisible. Do not glue them yet: take out the spine and drill three 1.5mm holes 11.5mm apart down the centre, and then use it as a jig to drill the chassis, the cradle and the bottom half of the tank.

Now you can glue the units together, bolting the assemblies to the cradles (don't glue these) to make a nice rigid sandwich. Leave them to set.

You should now have two basic straight and true six-wheel chassis. Remove the cradles and complete the chassis as follows:-

First make retaining blocks for the couplings from two pieces of 1mm Plasticard. They should be rather longer than the finished length so that there is something to hold when adjusting the coupling height. Glue them in place (without gluing the couplings) and file off to a smooth surface.

Next, make four `V' hangers from 1mm x 0.5mm (0.040" x 0.020") Microstrip as shown below. These are not very visible and I didn't find extreme precision justified.

Lastly, fit tie bars of 0.033" straight brass wire between the axle units: these ties sit very conveniently on the little steps below the axle boxes.

Check that the chassis run sweetly: then paint them matt black all over except for the face and tops of the buffer beams where the new struts will fit.

Now you are on the home straight! Glue and bolt the cradles and the bottom halves of the tank to the chassis. DO NOT FORGET TO PUT THE DIAGONAL TIES IN THEIR LOCATING GROVES; it is exceedingly tedious fitting replacements later. You must also ensure that the bolt heads do not foul the moulding pips on the axle; file the heads down if necessary.

Next prepare the top half of the tank; glue the ladders into their slots, having removed the locating lugs at the bottom, and glue the restraining beams to the ends of the tanks. There are at least four things to watch out for in this position:-

• the beam must be right way up, so that the ties run into their guides
• the beams must sit at the proper level in the little cut-outs in the ends of the tanks
• the beams must be horizontal
• If you are making the white United Dairies variant, do not let the solvent wash the black dye out of the beam onto the end of the tank. I worked from underneath and used as little solvent as possible

Then glue the two halves of the tanks together, and spring the ties into their guides on the restraining beams.

All that remains is to make the new 'T' section struts; these are fiddly. For each one, cut and fix a length of 0.75mm x 0.25mm (0.030" x 0.010") Microstrip to fit exactly between the buffer beam and the restraining beam. This is the flange of the 'T' and its centre line should be 2.5mm from the centre line of the wagon. Form the web by laying a second strip of Microstrip on edge down the centre of the flange, nicking the ends as shown in Figure 5 so that the webs continue over both beams.

Paint the struts and the buffer beams and, voilá, you are the proud owner of two attractive and somewhat out-of-the-ordinary wagons

Now for the next project: a pair of six-wheel Siphons?

This article first appeared in N Gauge Journal 2/96.