Warflat

Gramodels, 18 Lower Tail, Carpenders Park, Watford, Herts, WD19 5DD

Tel: 07833 364274

Email: alygra@btinternet com

Price: £60 excluding bogies and wheels (see note below from Gra Models)

Purchased and reviewed by Mark Horley.

A number of years ago I passed up the opportunity to buy an etched brass kit for a warflat wagon from a fellow Covgog member because there were no suitable scale tanks models for my chosen era, the 1930s. At the Telford show in 2009 there was a stand with military type models including a number of British armoured vehicles from different periods and a warflat wagon. The company was Gramodels.

As a package deal, I purchased the wagon and two Vickers Medium MkII tanks for £60. The tank kit is entirely in resin while the wagon is mainly resin with white metal castings for the buffer beam and rail jacks. In addition I purchased diamond bogie kits from Blackberry Way, now available from Lynx Models, and some old ABS Models wheels. The kits were handed over as a plastic bag for each tank and a bubble wrapped package for the wagon. There were no instructions. Unwrapping the kits at home I found the resin castings of reasonable quality with some air bubbles on the reverse but no flaws on the visible surfaces other than one tank track was missing three links. There was a certain amount of moulding flash around some of the smaller tank components but this was easily removed. I started assembly with the tanks and quickly realised I needed some pictures to guide me on the details. From the library I borrowed a book Tanks of the World 1915-1945 by Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis ISBN 0 304 36141-0 which contains half a dozen photos of various variants of the Vickers MkII. The body of the tank is a single casting to which the majority of the other components were attached with two part epoxy using the photos as guidance. I decided that the skirt at the base of the hull casting was a result of the production process as it was not in the photos so this was snipped off before starting assembly. Two turrets were supplied which represent the original plain design and a 1932 variation (MkII) with a rear extension to house radio equipment. Both require moulding pips to be cleaned off the inside in order to fit over the locating dais on the hull. A peaked commander’s cupola is supplied either with closed doors or an open version with, in my kits, no doors. The peak is longitudinal and on a common axis with the gun barrel. The gun barrel has the recoil mechanism moulded with it although this can be mistaken as a separate item on the casting sprue. The bulky headlight castings looked rather odd and only appeared on one variant in the book, a bridge carrier, so I left them off.

The white metal buffer beam castings were glued onto each end after drilling the buffer and coupling hook holes through the resin. I found some white metal buffers in my spares box which looked right against the picture. I added chain securing rings made up from brass wire and split pins to the mounting plates in the sides of the wagon. Photographs suggested that there should also be mounting plates and rings close to the wagon ends above the bogies. I also made up the distinctive hand wheels to operate the brakes from brass wire. After scrubbing with water, the wagon was hand painted in LMS grey as I had found a picture of the wagon painted in this livery carrying a Matilda tank. Lettering was applied using rub down letter transfers from the local stationers. The two tanks were sprayed with a dark green acrylic paint aerosol from the local Wilco. Overall I found this a fascinating project bringing in a little military modelling. All the parts went together well but there are no instructions and you need to additionally source the bogies as well as the usual wheels and buffers. The result is an unusual and eye catching loaded wagon although it should probably be run as part of a military train rather than a mixed goods.

Graham Baker, GRA Models, has added the following:

Thank you for letting me have the opportunity to look over your review and in fact I can't argue with any of it. The war flat is £19.95, the buffer beams are £5.95 and the Vickers tanks are £33.50. I am now able to supply diamond frame bogies that have the effect of compensation for £16.50 a pair. I am constantly updating kits, my next venture with the warflat is to produce tie down eyes for the sides. I have now drawn, ready for printing, a war well which will be priced around £20.00 and I hope it will be quite a useful addition to any wagon fleet.