New variant added to 21T mineral wagon batch

Accurascale is to produce a further batch of its 21T mineral wagons, as part of its 'Powering Britain' range, to be joined for the first time by an MDW 'through-pipe' variant. Delivery of models is expected in Q2, 2023.

The manufacturer says that it has also "taken time to further enhance and improve the wagons, following feedback from modellers." This includes working with its factory to make the first batch "as friendly as possible to convert to finescale standards, both EM and P4."

Accurascale said that: "Unfortunately, mistakes were made and instructions were literally lost in translation, so they became a bit more of a challenge to convert to finer scales than we intended. So, [we've] gone back to the drawing board and totally redesigned and retooled the chassis on both models. These improvements now see 26mm axles and redesigned brake gear to make the transformation more straightforward for modellers.

"While they will still require a small bit of fettling to upgrade to finescale, it will be a keyhole style operation rather than extensive open heart surgery required for the previous run. Secondly, the rather strange phenomenon of the coupling hooks being on the wrong side of the tension lock couplings has also been resolved. This caused issues with modellers using the wagons on tighter curvature when coupling/uncoupling."

Accurascale has revised the lamp irons, with the MDVs now having lamp irons on both ends, and MDOs having none, just like the real wagons. The manufacturer is now going for a dirtier, more weathered appearance to better reflect the interiors of these wagons rather than clean, fully painted and pristine.

New variant

Accurascale is to introduce the MDW, the through air pipe fitted MDVs adapted from 1985 to be used in air-braked speedlink trains, mainly on scrap flows, lasting in service until the early 1990s. With the last of the MDVs and MDWs bowing out of front line services in 1992 on coal and scrap trains respectively, this addition to the range is designed for speedlink-era modellers.

Two MDW packs of three wagons apiece will be included in this new production run. The manufacturer is offering three triple packs of MDO, three triple packs of MDV and two triple packs of MDW available to pre-order at £74.95 per pack, with both TOPS and pre-TOPS variants available (TOPS only for MDW as these wagons were converted in 1985).