Here is a challenge.

I came across a book with some details of a Buttterwagen designed and built for the DRG in 1927 and 1930.
There were about 30 or so of these wagons and as you can guess they carried butter.
Specifically they were used out of Schleswig-Holstein (the area in northern Germany near the Danish border).
That was famous for its dairy industry which supplied many parts of Germany.
Apparently these wagons were part of the Deutsche Post fleet, and could carry ice and butter from Flensburg to Leipzig in under 12 hours to best preserve the contents.

The wagon seemed to be based on the Gl type of Dresden wagon modelled by Märklin extensively in Z, HO and 1 gauges.
I would like to have a go at modifying a Gl wagon in the HO scale.
The major requirement is the insertion of recessed side doors (with window) at one end, much like one end of the typical Gepackwagen Pwi used in Donnerbuchsen consists.
There is a small window above a brake-wheel bulge at this end of the wagon.
Then add steps for the doors.
There are also 4 roof vents similar to those on Donnerbuchsen cars between the side door and the recessed door only.

The Gl wagon example in HO #00794:



The Pwi wagon example in HO showing the recessed end doors #4103.
With acknowledgment to Michelstaedter Modellbahntreff:



Maybe I will get around to it one day and run it with my excellent #4329 Post set for era II.
With acknowledgment to Michas-Bahnhof:



Kimball

Edited by user 25 December 2022 05:56:19(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thank you Eric,
I am very inclined to do this but a project for another time, because I am busy at work.
Mind you Märklin could save me the trouble by releasing a newly tooled Butterwagen.

I would start with this wagon which comes from a Märklin set 48812. Sometimes they come up on eBay.

1. Put dummy hinges on the 2 doors, so that each side has two hinged doors with a latch in the middle,
2. get rid of the sliding door channels,
3. cut out the small end window,
4. add the brake wheel bulge and
5. fashion the recessed door from styrene.
That means the only real bashing is cutting out 2 corners of the wagon with a razor saw.
6. Then add clear material to doors and windows, steps below the door, and that would do me.

With acknowledgment to benontspoord.nl.



regards
Kimball

Apparently Dingler produced a HO model exactly according to the book.
..... Except for the lettering panels along the side.
But they are as rare as rocking horse sh...

This photo is of the Dingler. It was also produced with the lettering on the panels - REICHSPOST KÜHLWAGEN.



here is the book description of this wagon.
The Bavarian group administration of the DRG for use by the Deutsche Reichpost has ten Post refrigerated wagons for transporting butter as Post-cl/10.8 type


regards
Kimball

Hi Toosmall,
Thanks for the tips on scoring.
I found double sided tape immeasurably useful in doing or holding all sorts of jigs or for repetitive work or adhering piece by piece articles.
Have you ever noted when buying cheap $2 steel rulers that the graduations do not start perfectly from the end of the rule?




The photos above show the relevant information in the book.
The book was published in 1986.
The smell of the book (which came brand new in plastic wrapper) takes me back 40 or more years when I ran a bookshop.
Sublime!!!

I am putting some thought into how best to build this.
Obtaining the Dingler wagon is the priority, because it is perfect.
Bashing a Märklin or Roco wagon is the plan B option.

Kimball

Can't recall buying a non Toledo ruler!

An update on my project to build a DRG Butterwagen early November 2022.

From the description of the real wagon shown in the book, you will see that this was the 1930 version.
There was also a 1927 version - but more on that later.

(Plan B option from Post #11 above)
Not having any real hope of finding the Dingler model anytime soon, I decided to build one from parts available.
I rather relished the idea of some modelling and keeping myself from idleness.

First I sourced (from one eBay seller in Germany) 4 of the Roco 4217 wagons, all equipped with KKK couplers.
From these 4 I will be able to build 1 of the 1930 Butterwagen with plenty of left-overs for other projects.
These wagons were painted green for running in passenger trains, so there will be minimal preparation required for painting.
The wheel base, frame, end doorways, brake compartment and roof are perfectly in accordance with the plans.
The roof is a clip-in piece and that and the window glazing material are removed first.
Here is the Roco model.


Firstly I chose one model to put aside as the BASIS for adding new sides and finishing the new model.
The complete sides (apart from the brake compartment end) were removed, retaining the integral under-roof body frame to preserve the integrity of the build.
And the chassis with wheels, weight and coupler mechanism was put aside.
Here is the separated body showing the under-roof cross members as manufactured.


This next picture is rather important, because it shows the metalplate jig I used to accurately slice off the sides.
This is done to preserve the clip-in receptors for the roof and the frame integrity.
Gluing on the new side sections as they are assembled will be more precise with the clean separation.
(Tin snips for making the jig and screwdriver for prising off the roof)


I will update this topic as I progress.
(Postscript: The Roco model 4217 is also available under model #44255 - I am unsure if it is any different).
Kimball

Edited by user 07 November 2022 06:13:41(UTC)  | Reason: added extra photos

Further progress.
These next few photos should whet your appetite if you faintly desire to do something similar.
But let me tell you from the outset, it is quite time consuming, and fiddly.
And honesty bids me tell you that there have been some re-runs, un-gluing, re-packing, re-gluing, scraping, measuring and re-measuring.

So to recapitulate.
1. Choose one wagon on which to completely remove the sides (except for the brake end and the under-roof frame and ends). This becomes the BASIS for everything.
2. The other three wagons are used for more replacements by cutting and rejoining sections and NOT the complete sides.

I will describe how the cutting and rejoining can be done. I won't say should be done because there are probably other ways just as good.
Here is a complete new side set up on the chassis and with the door remaining to be done.
(See post #11 for plans and prototype photo)
Notice the glass sheet - it was used both for gluing the parts together and to keep the body aligned under weight while the glue dried



Here we have the BASIS body shell, set up as one complete unit with under-roof frame and body ends all intact and as moulded by ROCO.
Both sides of the BASIS will be set up this way leaving the door to be manufactured from other planked side material.
The beautiful thing about this is the the width of the door is not a critical measurement.
It will be the space as shown here.
Whether that is the prototype width is a detail with which I shall not concern myself.

You might notice a misalignment at the top of the door space.
This will be aligned at final gluing with the door in place.

Now we can get to some detail about how these sections were cut.
Remember this new side took material removed from BASIS, and material from ONE other wagon.
Both complete sides were already removed from the BASIS wagon, but the cuts are the same (or similar).
Here is some detail from both sides of that ONE wagon as cut.

SIDE ONE - The sense is the "under-roof frame" is a word - do not read it as though I am saying from under the roof frame.

The red lines are cuts. I used a scalpel/hobby knife following the natural barrier of the strapping as modelled by ROCO.
So a ruler was not required.
A final cut on the inside as exact as you can makes the snap-off fairly easy.

On the right hand section you can see how I cut around part of the door frame.
This is important because it supplies the detail of the frame and door hinges etc. for the right side of the door.
The left hand section becomes the adjacent right hand piece to the right hand section.


SIDE TWO -
On the LEFT hand section, like Side One I cut around part of the door frame.
That supplies detail of the frame and door hinges etc. this time for the left side of the door.
The right hand section need not be cut out because you already own one from the cuts on SIDE 1.
(Because you now have the frame and hinges for the door, the same will not be required from the BASIS sides).

I can probably slice off one or both of the destination/loading label holders?
And I can probably re-glue one in a better place if they slice off cleanly using a chisel blade or a wood chisel.
I guess there should be only one on each side.
And I will remove the excess door-bumpers for the opened doors.

That will suffice for now.
I expect I will not do much more for a week or so because other chores beckon.
Thank you.
Kimball

I wish to bring this project to a close, so here is the final result which I am mightily pleased with.

The doors were fabricated from other siding parts available on the sacrificial wagons.
The width of the doors is not critical.
They simply fill the space that is available after assembly and gluing the six-part sides.
Remember I left the actual door framing on part of the cut-out side sections. This really adds to the door authenticity.
With judicious additions of small plastic strips to represent door bottom, and handles the job is done.

After assembly and gluing all the side components, the vents in the top middle of the roof and the chimney were removed. The roof was sanded back smooth and repainted using a Tamiya spray can Luftwaffe Violet Gray (sic) AS4.
The steps were fabricated from left-over Trix Express HO metal wagon parts.
The body was painted with Tamiya spray can Luftwaffe Green AS24. I have used similar colour Humbrol 66 for brushing, but over such a large body expanse the spray gives a smoother result.
I think it looks a bit like a DRG faded brown/green.



That pretty much finished the wagon except for touch-up black on solebar and door hardware, and decaling.
The door windows should be framed and coloured buff. I have 0.5x0.38mm Evergreen strip which should do that.
I have noted a gap in the left corner at opposite end from the brake compartment and that can be filled from the inside.
Maybe there should be a horizontal bar at mid-height on the right hand door, and I will fix that if further research suggests it.



The numbers and genus for this wagon were 14 675 to 14 679 c/10,8 Augsburg as built in 1930.
I have my suspicions that the available decals will be for the 1927 build but I will let you know when I get them.


In summary I think the wagon looks rather austere and perhaps uninteresting when compared to the original Roco 4217 with windows and doors.
But in my head, as a model of a wagon built for a very particular purpose it will certainly make a passenger train one little bit more realistic.


Kimball

I have finished decorating the 1927 Butterwagen and fitted it with Märklin wheels, so now it can run in an era II train up to about 1947.
It will probably look OK behind the BR06 39662 with another clerestory postal car and the Hecht coaches set from Märklin 42265.

A magnifying glass reveals that the roundal Prussion Eagle lettering spells DEUTSCHREICHSPOST instead of the usual DEUTSCHREICHSBAHN.
These wagons were painted to run in passenger trains and were owned by DEUTSCHREICHSPOST.





Kimball