51t TUA Caustic Soda / China Clay Tankwagon

Background:
Standard Wagon built the 51t caustic soda tankwagons in 1977 for hire to chemical companies. Notable customers included ICI, for traffic in the North-west and from Tees-side. Modern suspensions and a small diameter lagged tank are characteristic of these wagons. As caustic soda traffic diminished, many found employment on china clay slurry traffic, being repainted in the familiar English China Clay International blue livery (ECCI, now Emerys). Now that china clay slurry is transported in large capacity bogie tankwagons, the distinctive TUAs of this and other designs are mostly redundant. Many were stored at Nanpean Wharf in the heart of china clay country awaiting their next assignments or disposal.

Kit construction:
The kit itself consists of a cast white metal underframe and plastic barrel with white metal fittings. Assembly with Araldite or Devcon adhesive is possible; however if you are using white metal soldering techniques for other kits, then those techniques will suit this project perfectly. Some tools are required, as are top hat bearings, a suitable flat surface such as a piece of plate glass and a fibreglass stick to clean all of the cast details before gluing or soldering. A 2mm-diameter twist drill fitted to a pinvice is a suitable tool to drill a blind hole from the rear of the axleboxes to accept the bearings.

When going to the trouble to build such a nice kit, ensure that you can obtain all of the finishing materials to achieve a good result. The correct paint is available form AME, transfers from Fox Transfers and Lineside Look and primer from Railmatch. Use 1000 grade wet and dry paper for finishing the tank barrel before fitting the walkway detail. And finally, try to obtain a few suitable photographs to help with finishing your model. They will show exactly were all of the transfers go and offer a taste of the in-service condition of the wagons so weathering can be done realistically.

The components as supplied in the kit.   Plastic tube is a great starting plavce for many a tankwagon project - look out for suitable material in your local DIY or plumbing merchant shop.

TUA - a different type and not from a kit.  This model is scratch built using waste pipe from a plumbers merchant as a basis.  Roof walk ways by A1 Models, conical ends by Mendip Models.

Stages of building:
AME's TRL707xx tankwagon kit is comprehensive; all of the parts are cast in white metal except the barrel. Note the quality and depth of the cast detail around the axle guards and particularly the tank discharge pipe. When the kit parts are taken out of the packet and examined like this, check that they are all present and cleaned of casting flash. Finally, gently rub down the major parts with a fibreglass stick to remove oxidation build-up which can prevent solder and glues from bonding correctly.

The kit may be constructed in two stages: the barrel and underframe. The barrel forms the first stage of construction for me, although you may wish to build the underframe first. Drill 1mm diameter holes for the roof filler hatches and valves, using the positions marked on the barrel by the manufacturer. Fit with Araldite type adhesive. Finally, check the fit of the end castings before plugging them in and securing with Araldite adhesive.

Once the Araldite has hardened, clean off any excess with wet and dry paper so a good finish is achieved around the join. The same action will remove the shine from the clear plastic barrel, thus providing a good key for primer and paint to adhere to. Fit the walkway sub-assembly with tiny quantities of superglue which usually bonds well to the barrel. The whole assembly may now be used to check your progress when assembling the underframe.

The second stage is assembly of the underframe, using the completed barrel to check the fit of the side skirts. Commence by drilling out the axle boxes and fitting top hat bearings. The underside view of the underframe shows that the solebars plug neatly into the headstocks. Wheels should be fitted at this stage so you can check if everything is straight and level using your flat surface.

Next are the barrel skirts that fit to the top of the solebars, one on each side. Care is needed to ensure that the barrel fits both level and in line with the solebars. This photograph shows the underframe complete with buffers, skirts and brake levers. All that remains is to fit the barrel with sparing amounts of superglue.

The barrel and underframe have come together very nicely in this case, so priming and painting in ECCI blue was completed in short order. The model shown is weathered with white primer rather than enamel paint. Both dusting and dry brushing techniques have given the model a hard worked appearance. One factor to be aware of is the position of some details in relation to each other. Ensure that you fit the ladders the right way round and the discharge pipe is fitted to the underframe off-centre.

Modellers may be interested to know that AME supply the correct shade of dark grey and orange for ICI livery. The Hazchem panels are available from AME and Howes under the Lineside Look label. ICI and TOPS transfers may be sourced from Fox Transfers.

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