Technically they are a bit oversize for 15mm scale and I don't think Hudson sold many of these in Oz. All the photos I've seen of side tippers in use in Victoria have been locally manufactured copies of the O&K design.
Anyway, these are fairly standard Binnie kits, put together as per the instructions. The only changes made were to substitute my own steel wheels for the plastic ones and modify the coupling arrangements. Firstly to put some weight in them low down and secondly to improve the way they run. Plastic wheels have never been my choice if at all possible, both in small scale and large scale. I also wanted semi-permanent couplings, as they will always run as a rake.
This pic shows an assembled under frame, with the new wheels and couplings. The couplings were simple drawbars at first, but I found during trials that the skips tended to skew off line when pushed, not helped by the wheelbase being less than the gauge in this case. The drawbars were replaced with a single oval link as used by Hudson. When pushed, the links allow the buffing pads to touch and don't steer the skip skew to the rails.
I decided to leave the buckets loose, as they were usually left in the tipped position when not being used, to stop rainwater accumulating. This pic is a completed skip waiting to be painted (and that's how they sat for 6 months).
This is how they look now after a trip through the paint shop. This is a pic of half the rake taken today while the sun was out. A coat of Revell #37 red oxide colour and a bit of light weathering. The interior is painted with Humbrol #53 gunmetal metallic to simulate sand scoured steel with a bit of sand colour sprayed into the corners to look like dust buildup.
Given the period I model, they would still be new, so no rust visible yet. They are used for carrying fine materials like sand and gravel for civil engineering works, so they aren't dinged around as they would be in heavy quarry work.
This pic shows a few sitting in the late afternoon sun with the Krauss while the crew take smoko......
TVT story......
Technically there isn't one.
The Krauss is owned by the Mt. Delusion Timber Co. and runs on the timber tram that feeds the TVT. The State Rivers & Water Supply Commission (SR&WSC) are building a dam in the area and have contracted the timber tram to carry aggregate to the worksite from a gravel deposit beside the timber tram route.
Regards,
Graeme