Uc-something class bogie tanker wagon
This one's yellow and missing its ladders. . .
. . .but no problem, they would have been too chunky anyway. And I just wanted to check over its vital statistics to see if it was far off one of the NZR Uc tanker classes. This was a later issue of the model with plastic rather than metal bogies, and look more refined, still a bit chunky, but not bad looking.
These bogies are slightly too long in the wheel centres but you could get away with it, looking a bit like the earlier NZR types.
How does it measure up? For OO scale, overall sizes measured up 30mm too long for a class Uc-1 to -3 model, 10mm too long for a Uc-4 to -7, and 10mm too short for a Uc-15 or 16, or Uct. The tank and the main dome are both a couple of mm too fat for any Uc model as well, but just ok for a Uct. Without shortening or lengthening, modeling licence means we could possibly get away with doing a Uc-15-style model, as many different flavours were built by the oil companies in the 50s and 60s.
The frame is the typical US (mostly) open type, as seen on
our later Uca class tankers, with C channel facing out, so will
need some dealing to by filing the sides flat except for the
end 1mm or so, and fitting a very thin deck.
Ride height Basic things required to get most US or European pattern rolling stock models to look more NZR-like is to lower their ride. Most wagons it is easy enough just to reduce the bogie bolster depth/height to the bare minimum, allowing the wheels to just clear the bottom of the floor. Did this with my Ud class project. NZR coupler centre height is 2ft 6 ins or just under, and most wagon deck heights are around 3ft. That's 10mm and 12mm repectiveley above rail height in OO scale. Compare my Uc-1 and a couple of other NZR models under construction
lined up against the Transcontinental interloper. . .
  (That's 4mm, or 1 scale foot too high)
More to come. . .
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