Commission: Wisbech trio in OO…

The Class 04 shunter seems to be a glaring gap in ready to run offerings in OO gauge. Unless you fancy tackling a kit, you are left with Bachman’s 1990s era tooling…

The prototype were built in large quantities in the early days of dieselisation across British Railways. Small goods yards and wagon load traffic prevailed in those years before domination by road hauliers. The small diesel mechanical locomotives were relatively cheap to build, easy to operate and light enough to go anywhere. Over time the design evolved and the final evolution were built in house by British Railways at Swindon as the Class 03. 

This trio represent tramway fitted examples, used on docks, quaysides and famously the Wisbech and Upwell. The models are based upon a Bachman body shell, mated to the more modern Class 03 chassis fitted with a six pin DC socket allowing my customer to easily fit the models for digital control and the option to add sound later. The skirts and cow catchers are a 3-D print, minor rework of the bodies included fitting finer handrails and replacing the moulded plastic handrails along the bonnet tops. Turned brass horns finish off the cab front.

 

They have been numbered as my customer requested with no consideration of some of the finer design details that varied including the number of bonnet top doors, and the arrangement of the front steps. Ringing the changes we have all over BR black with steam era style numbering, black with wasp stripes and steam era style numbering and finally green with wasp stripes with later angled numbering.

 

 

These models have been built to a price. I’ve tried to add fine detail where it really lifts appearance and have left moulded detail where perhaps it is less of an improvement for the amount of effort required to replace it. Not every commission that crosses my bench is the most accurate it can be, the final result reflects the wants and needs of you, my customer, and your budget. If you have a project in mind that you’d like to undertake with me, and think I may be able to help them please get in touch. There is a contact form here on the menu or you can visit my Facebook page (link on Modelmaking Commissions) and message or email me there (you don’t need a Facebook account). In the meantime, back to layout building here, until next time, more soon…

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