© Raymond Walley. All Rights reserved. Transferred to wiki by Tommy Day

Originally manufactured by: WEP Models
The former WEP Models range is now sold by Walsall Model Industries SQL Server
DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=sql11.hostinguk.net;DATABASE=gaugegu1_gog2;UID=gaugegog1;PWD=g2Fr8*r6=yN-_4DUs$z!45;

Walsall Model Industries	LEZ ALLEN
UNIT 16/17 SHORT ACRE STREET	01922 633718
Walsall
West Midlands	Email: info@walsallmodelindustries.co.uk
WS2 8HW	Web: http://www.walsallmodelindustries.co.uk

Bill Parker's kit for the Macaw “A” is very similar to his kit for the Signal Post Wagon and so construction is both simple and relatively easy. As usual I did as much in the flat as possible and so you see here all the parts for the basic body ready to be assembled and then in assembled form. All the parts folded well and all fitted, as usual. The difference comes with the bolsters. These are a simple fold-up that neatly fits in slots in the floor of the body. I found it useful once they had been soldered in to run an abrasive disk in the mini-drill over the slightly protruding tabs so that they would not prevent the under frame from being a close fit.

The instructions suggest 0.9mm wire for the stanchions. For once I disagree with Bill and think they would be far too thin. Scaling from the only photo of a Macaw A (but checking it with other stanchions on other vehicles) suggests that they should be around 1.6mm and so used some suitable rod. I soldered some very thin sections of brass tube to prevent them going in too far. A small block of wood was fitted inside each bolster and drilled through the opened out holes at 1.6mm to ensure the stanchions stayed upright. Now I had removable stanchions al lá the Macaw B and the next thing to do was drill a hole through the stanchion just above the stop.

Into this was fitted a small brass ring linked to some fine chain, which was then fitted to a spit pin soldered into the side of the bolster. Every bolster wagon I have seen pictures of has the stanchions chained to the wagon. The stanchions were then cut to length to clear the floor. Please refer to the Macaw B review and Shackles & Chains for more detail of how these were fitted. Chains and shackles were then fitted and the bolsters soldered into the body. The under frame follows Bill's standard practice and presents no problems.

Once completed it was soldered to the underside of the floor and is now ready to go to Ian's paint shop.

These wagons came out in 1902 so I can get away with one or two for my period. The problem is finding out what colour they would have been. My understanding is that grey did not come in until the new 5 planks were built. It might therefore be possible that they were red. Any views on this will be welcome.

A well designed kit of a useful prototype I'd recommend it to anyone with a little experience of etched kit building

As you can see Ian has worked his magic. It is painted in almost “as new” condition since they did not see the light of day until 1902 and my period is 1900ish. A good excuse for an ex works wagon. There is some doubt about the colour but grey did not come in until the five plank wagons were built but, if anyone can produce hard evidence it should be grey I'll consider changing it