Woodleigh flat wagon

 

Now I have a stock box for the 16mm, 45mm gauge goods wagons, there is space for another one - as long as it's a flat wagon. Now, I very nearly bought one at the Llanfair show, but held back for fear of needing another box. 

Problem solved, so at Barrow Hill show, I availed myself of Woodleigh Engineering's bargain show deal for one of their 3D printed wagon kits. £20 for all you need to build a wagon? How can anyone go wrong? 

As is usual with Woodleigh, all the parts are FDM printed in the correct colours. When I first saw this, it blew me away!

Work starts by pulling away a little flash. You can see some around the solebars in the top photo - it comes away cleanly with hardly any use of a craft knife. The main area I needed one was at the ends of the brake lever, but we're still talking minimum skill levels. 

Bearings are "pressed" into the back of the axleboxes with a few taps of a tiny hammer. The rest of the construction relies on superglue, and the excellent part fit. 

One upgrade I've made to my other two Woodleigh wagons, is replacing the 3D printed wheels with Accucraft metal ones. It's not essential, the current wheels aren't bad, but these are such excellent wagons, metal wheels are a worthwhile upgrade. Icing on the cake. 

Build time was a little over half an hour. OK, this isn't my first model from this manufacturer, but I didn't bother downloading the instructions either.