For a while now I’ve been accumulating some of those nice Bachmann air braked wagons. At some point in the future I might even build a layout on which to run them, but for now they are gathering dust.
With my planned move to P4, I thought it would be a good idea to have a go at springing one of these just to get a feel for how the Bill Bedford spring units work and maybe add a few other detail improvements too. The Bachmann axleguard units are screwed in place, so are easily removed leaving a clear flat floor to mount the replacement units on. The spring units folded up easily, I changed the spring wire provided for some 0.3mm phoshor bronze wire. The Brassmasters axle spacing gauge came in handy for getting everything corrective aligned. The wheels (these are Gibson EM ones) were fitted with brake discs by S Kits (from Nairnshire Modelling Supplies). The bearings are left overs from Chivers MDV kits.
The buffers were also replaced using sprung 18″ Oleo buffers from 51L, which I fitted at our modelling night last week. 
After touching in the paint on the buffers, fitting some brake pipes and a light weathering, here is the end result:
Technically it’s slightly too modern to put in an appearance on Foundry Lane, but I think it will find its way into the stock box for the next exhibition.
Staffordshire Finescale 