Friday, January 30, 2026

A simple conversion gone complicated

Last year I bought dozens of used and cheap LGB-wagons on online auctions in Norway. They were starting to pile up in my hobby room, so I decided to start converting them so they eventually would look like something that could belong to and be hauled behind my large scale Heeresfeldbahn and War Department Light Railway (WDLR) locomotives.

I decided to start with an already grey low board wagon with nice German markings and lettering on it (which I wanted to keep). It would probably just need a blackwash to be ready for service:
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
I immediately noticed that this car had several unsightly holes in it's floor:
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
Off course I could just cover them by making another false floor like I've done on similar wagons, but then they would still be visible if the loads or floor was removed. -So I decided to fill them with Miliput:
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
When turning this wagon around it was just like turning to the dark side of the moon. I've only seen one side of it on the online auction, but when I turned it and saw the backside, it was literally a 'backside' (!) I dont know what the previous owner had done to this wagon, but along the 'backside' both the buffer beams were cut off, and so was the bars on the side holding the planks together and the shunter's steps were missing. I got it really cheap though and I guess you get what you pay for:
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
This was not going to be the very simple conversion as I thought as this was going to need a little more than a simple blackwash. Firstly I needed to make new buffer beams for both ends. I found a free STL-file for a similar chassis on Thingiverse which I converted and 3D-printed 2 new buffer beams:
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
Then I decided to trim off the bars on the intact side, to match the cut-offs on the 'backside'. I have so many identical wagons of this type so it will simply just add some slight variation among them:
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
Then I painted the floor, weathered the chassis, reassembled the whole ting and finally gave it that coat of blackwash:
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.

I think it's ready for service now:
An easy conversion of a LGB wagon to a German Military Heeresfeldbahn or WDLR, War Department Light Railway, wagon for military loads.


I guess the next pull from the 'pile of project wagons' will need less remodelling than this one.

2 comments:

  1. Roger, very nicely done, and I know how you feel concerning eye glaring distractions. My problem is, I only notice them after I have painted and varnished them, and then put a photo up on my wide screen computer......... how did I miss that, lol.
    Michael

    ReplyDelete
  2. The truck certainly looks a lot better after all of your work Roger 👍

    ReplyDelete

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