Following on from yesterday's look at some of the dire wagon offerings in the late, unlamented Lima range, it's probably only fair to mention the few that were actually that little bit better. The best to my mind was the bogie Palvan which, part from the bogies, is a reasonable if simple looker.
Many of the models photographed here were obtained secondhand (and not at eejit-Bay prices!) which accounts for the somewhat less than 'mint in box' appearance of some examples. The rather yellowed look to the Palvan comes from the previous owner's 'dirty turps' weathering - the livery is normally white. My get-it-running-quick policy normally targets just the most objectionable Lima features - I've replaced the crude wheelsets with Ultrascale examples, and binned Lima's dreadful tension locks in favour of Smith's instanter couplings. The latter is a cheap, short term dodge only as Kadees will be fitted when time allows and the model has a proper visit to the workshops. Although I've touched-in the buffers with two shades of steel paint, I seem to have inexplicably dipped my brush in gloss black for the buffer beams - yuk!
One of the later and better detailed wagons to emerge was the depressed centre tank, and who wouldn't be depressed rubbing shoulders with some of the dross in the Lima catalogue? A useful model indeed, but not one that'll be missed as a direct equivalent exists in the Hornby range.
Getting a little cruder is this bogie bolster E. It's more chunky than detailed, but can be pressed into service with a modicum of effort - as usual with Lima the bogies should be the first thing up for replacement after you've binned the couplers. Contrary to recurring rumours, this model is not underscale in the length department - it's a model of a genuinely short prototype.
Also of merit in the Lima range was the Seacow bogie ballast hopper, actual model not pictured as I haven't got any that aren't in a multitude of bits at the moment. These always looked a little chunky (that word, again) when placed next to my models built from the long-departed Cambrian kits, but that was a small price to pay in order to avoid many of the Cambrian model's other foibles, not least of which being the fact that it was a complete pig to build. Generally a nice body moulding that benefits from the obligatory replacment of bogies and details. The Lima chunkiness is particularly obvious in the ballast chutes beneath the body - fabricating replacements from plastikard brings a substantial improvement in this area.
Now, whilst I'm a great fan of engineer's wagons (and bogie ballasts in particular) the problem is that they're specialist vehicles. While not by any means rare, they're hardly what you need in order to recreate typical day-to-day running in most areas of the network, no matter how attractive the prototype is. Nice to have once you've attended to all of the run-of-the-mill revenue earning stock, but not something you want instead of the mundane. Unfortunately, that's the problem with the old Lima wagon range - most of it is poor, and the few better items aren't of common, everyday types. The average layout builder isn't going to get very far with just a Palvan and a Seacow...
Currently On My Stereo: Les Claypool - Highball With The Devil