Uc-something class bogie tanker wagon
This one's yellow and missing its ladders. . .
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. . .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.
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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.
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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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