Oil lit carriage roof furniture

[Michael Waldron]

I have been building a number of early 4 wheel oil-lit carriages and, whilst the oil lamp tops came as castings with the respective the kits, the ‘hole bungs’ (used to fill the hole in the roof when the lamp was taken out) that should usually sit about 45 degrees to one side of the lamp top, mostly weren’t provided.
So I’m short of quite a number.

Does anyone know if these are supplied by any of our gallant traders?

Mike

[jon price]

Perhaps use a hole punch to make two sizes of disk in styrene, one the size of the hole, one slightly bigger. Wire for handle?

[Michael Waldron]

Thank for your thoughts, Jon.
I have to confess that having about 36 carriages to do - with either thee or four lamps on each carriage, I would love to find a casting in preference!
However, if there are genuinely none out there, maybe I can get someone to cast some for me…!
If not its a long slog and certainly worth making a couple of punches…. Preferably with some means of locating the one above the other.

Then there’s the matter of buffers, alluded to in another earlier post…!

Mike

[billbedford]

Oil lamps were removed during the day, so they could be refilled and the wicks trimmed. So unless your model depicts a winter or night scene (or maybe early morning or late evening) you should only need a disk over the lamp hole.

[Michael Waldron]

A logical thought Bill.
However, Every photo I have in my various books shows the lamps in place during the day, as night photography wasn’t an option in the 1880-90s. So whilst that may have been true on some lines, it certainly wasn’t the case on the LBSCR.

Mike