Thank you for purchasing one of my many kits and I hope you get many hours of enjoyment from it.  Chris Pearce (Spirit Design)

Brass etch notes: when removing any item with an Exatco knife please take care.  Cutting should be done on a self-healing mat using a few score marks rather than the cut once method.  Make sure that the brass is clean before soldering by using a brass cleaner like Tarnoff, very fine wet and dry sandpaper or using a fine wire brush in a Dremel to lightly polish the surface front and rear.  Depending on your skills some soldering is required but you could use superglue or Selley's water based Kwik Grip to glue items on.  Really its up to you the modeller to decide your skill level.  It is assumed if you use solder you will also be fluxing the joints with Carr's Red label flux or equivalent.

 KC wagon Floor. 

1. Cut the floor base out from the brass etch.
2. Fold up the base ends to 90 degrees and solder.
3. Remove two 'L' shaped container lugs from the brass etch and fold up towards the etch lines so that the small sidepiece and large sidepiece touch each other.   You may want to solder these first before putting them into the floor.  These are soldered into the right hand corners of the unit when looking down from overhead.  The smallest lug is positioned towards the sill end.
4. Fold up the floor deck various support lugs and solder the etch lines or use glue.
5. Remove two 'L' shaped container lugs from the brass etch and remove the squarest (largest) piece from the brass etch so that you only have two parts to the container lug.  The small lug faces the sill end of the unit and is soldered into place. The interior of the deck should not be fouled by any lugs.  Repeat the same for the opposite end container lug.
6. Cut the base of the shunter step free from the brass etch but do not remove the piece securing the ladder part of the step to the brass etch yet.  Fold the base of the step 90 degrees and solder.  Now you can remove the other securing tab from the brass etch.  Repeat for the other shunter step.  The smaller stirrups steps on the etch sheet are not for this wagon but are a common feature on other VR wagons.  Feel free to use these on your other models.  These can be made the same way as in step 6.
7. Glue or solder the shunter steps to the right hand side of the deck when viewed from above.  You may need to use a small wooden block as an aid so that you don't bend any of the other items already secured to the deck.
8. Finally clean off all excess solder and glue from the wagon deck and set aside until the underframe is completed.

 The completed deck of the KC should look similar to this one. 

 Underframe construction.( Requires A Peco NR121 wagon underframe sold separately). 

1. Start by sawing through the centre of the underframe so that you have 2 equal halves.  Photo 1.
2. Remove the coupler pockets and trim off the buffers.  Photo 2.
3. Remove the brake rigging except the brake blocks and hangers.  Photo 3.
4. Trim down the brake drop lever and remove the support for it.  Also scribe a few lines in the spring section just shaved down.  Photo 4.
5. Rotate each end piece 180 degrees so that the section with the removed coupler pockets points to the centre of the wagon.  The saw cuts will now be the square ends at the end of the wagon proper butting up to the sill.  Glue the halves to the sheet making sure that they are square and straight.  Photo 5.
6. Using the plastistruct 'U' channel supplied, fill in the gaps between the two halves to make up the rest of the side frame sills.  Glue these in place.
7. Next fit the Peco wheels and shim or file if necessary the area where the coupler is mounted after checking clearances with a Microtrains height gauge. Photo 6.
8. The brake wheel mounting brackets are made the same way as the shunter steps.  These units are the rectangular sections with the triangular tab on top.  The triangular section is glued to the frame halfway between the shunter step and the brake shoe.  Both brake wheel hangers are at same end of the wagon.
9. Using small piece of rod supplied, glue the small brake wheel onto the rod and through the holes of the brake wheel hanger.  The brake wheels should stand proud of the bracket by about a millimetre or so.
10. Photos 7 & 8 show the completed wagon with and without LCL loads.

Brief History:  of the LCL's used in KC wagons.  The Victorian Railways in 1952 introduced a new steel container service for its customers, which attracted considerable attention.  These units were very similar in design to the steel ones SAR and NSWGR had introduced early on their Railways.  The units were probably based around overseas practice as NYC (New York Central) pioneered the use of these units in 1921 and by 1922 had standardised the box shape with side strapping and a door access at one end with the roof matching their steel box cars of that era.  The LCL (Less than Car Load) was made from rust resistant 16-gauge steel (probably Corten steel).  The unit was 7 foot wide x 8 foot long and 7 foot 9 15/16 inches tall.

 The main strength of each unit was 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch steel braces surrounded by the 1/16 inch corrugated sidings.  Internally they had provisions for hanging with hooks and tie off points and the floor was fashioned from steel framed supports upon which Oregon timber was bolted to.  Each unit weighed 19cwt and could carry 5 1/2 tons later being raised to 6 tons.

They were introduced to stop the risk of goods being pilfered and could be pad locked for extra safety.  Apart from the benefits of less pilfering there was also less handling of the consignment, which reduced the chances of goods being broken.  The service was such a success that demand soon exceeded supply and the Victorian Railways jointly with NSWGR would end up making a fleet of over 350 ordinary, insulated and grain carrying containers.

To cater for this new trade the Railways originally carried the units in HY wagons similar to GY's until a conversion program had built enough KC's (1954-55) and QC (1959) bogie wagons.  The KC's were made from cutdown IY 4 wheel wagons whose bodies had reached the end of their lives but whose underframes were still quite serviceable.  When first in service they carried the code of K but soon were recoded KC with an odd numbering group.  Numbers in the class were 87-106 and 112-121.

They could be seen around the Victorian Railways system carrying all manor of LCL containers be they the 7ft box or cylindrical type to the 14ft box or gas units.  They make a very interesting model as these units with the advertising U vans were the most colourful on the VR system.

By the mid 1970's all units were utilised solely in the Tallow traffic between Wodonga and Dynon.  Gradually their importance waned with the adoption of the more modern 20ft, 40ft and 48ft containers and heavier road traffic.  The need for dedicated 4 wheel wagons was at an end and by the mid 1980's all were withdrawn from service. 

Photo 1. KC wagons with various LCL loadings. DOI photo.  Photos 2,3 & 4 show how KC wagons are loaded from single LCL to multiple loadings.  Photos Rob O'Regan.  Photo 5 shows a 14ft Heatane Gas cylinder with an ordinary 7ft LCL.  Photo DOI.  Photo 8 Twin loaded Tallow containers waiting at Wodonga.  Photo Peter Vincent.

Paint and decals.

The KC wagon was painted with standard VR wagon red all over.  Steam Era models wagon red is the best match for this.  The brass deck of the wagon is best lightly sanded with 800-1200 grit sandpaper.  This not only enhances the appearance of the finished paint job but also acts as a key to holding the paint more firmly to the brass.

The code board for the unit is located in the left hand side of the underframe sill.  As a normal decal is extremely hard to see or place in this position, a coloured printed decal has been provided.  Cut around the class number and code and insert it into the underframe with a bit of PVA or Microscale clear acting as the glue behind the board.  Weather the whole wagon to your taste using paint, chalks or weathering powders.

Prototype photos courtesy of Peter Vincent , Rob O'Regan and DOI.  More photos of the class can be found on Peter's informative Rolling Stock CD available from the Buffer Stop.

Back