Entry posted by Matloughe
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Good Afternoon,
Before you read any further I must issue a warning, this kit was assembled by myself. 
An amateur at kit assembly and very much fumbling my way through into the new territory of 7mm Scale. The following blog post contains examples of poor technique, possible rushed assembly and some extremely close up photography that may make the professional wince - viewer discretion is advised.
A bit of history first - as is standard for one of my blog posts. I bought this kit off of ebay on a whim and I have to say it has been very enjoyable to build it seemed like a slightly older kit and didn't contain much in the way of instructions unlike the Peco Wagon kit I attempted a few months back. This is a bad thing as the kit has provided me with much needed experience and figuring out what actually goes where - plus I have experienced what a Slaters kit is like to put together. This kit arrived from the postie yesterday afternoon:
And looked something like this
What I have noticed during the build is the wagon illustrated on the box - is not the wagon in the kit; what was inside was infact a Midland Railway 8 Ton van instead of the 10 Ton variant shown on the box the next photo will illustrate the differences note the left hand side framing.
Sides & end assembled - roof merely resting as a test fit.
Compared to the Peco kit there was a lot of flash to remove from the mouldings and the plastic itself felt much tougher to cut through. As the glue was curing off I manipulated the four sides and held them together whilst watching an episode of Blackadder on DVD to get a much more 'square' fit. The next job I decided on was to fit the couplings and buffers and then to leave the wagon to harden off overnight. During this time I found the portal through which small objects seem to vanish through (every modeller has one somewhere) so this resulted in the buffers at one end being 'set' in a position and glued there - none of the buffers are sprung in this kit I should add at this point. Furthermore I discovered that it is much easier to fit the buffers and coupling arrangements to the ends before assembling the floor - I spent some time struggling after the floor unit was installed late last night.
This is the state of play as of this morning.
Incidentally the glue I have assembled this and the previous Peco wagon kit with is UHU multipurpose adhesive - I found it useful to be able to 'adjust' aspects as the glue was curing off - however as a much later & cringeworthy photo will show it can provide some entertainment later on when it comes to scraping it off but this is easily done provided the joint has set correctly the excess simply scrapes off with little effort.
Todays work involved fitting the solebars and axles to produce a rolling chassis.
It can just be seen in this photo and more noticeable in the next that overnight I assume the end nearest the camera must have moved or rested in an odd position as it was curing off - as it has moved away from the vertical and as a result the solebar doesn't quite reach to the van end producing a slight gap. In the normal viewing position however it is not that noticeable and I imagine it will be less visible once it has been painted.
Van End
When the van is buffered up to the Peco Wagon - and also to the Lima shunter it is plainly visible that it rides too high - I am not sure if this is my assembly method (I suspect it is) or a mis-alignment in the kit as I assembled it as carefully as I could without instructions - Perhaps I've missed a step somewhere and that is the cause of the ride height - however the wheel sets have cured off now and it'll prove nearly impossible to alter the height without major demolition of the kit. I am happy with the outcome especially without instructions I feel like I have achieved something.
The 'cringe shot'
I've included this because its a perfect example of how the kit went together and has been latterly cleaned up - I feel too many people are afraid to start building kits for fear of making a mistake or like this over 'egg the cake' as it were. I know I certainly was - but I also know from experience that most of this will come off with a little care & patience its all part of the learning process. Plus I love the "MR" initials on the axlebox cover - its a detail that couldn't be seen in OO Gauge and that is what tempted me to the 'Senior Scale'. A very enjoyable build and has shown me some pointers for assembling a kit in the future.
I leave you with a few over views with the Lima Shunter and the Peco kit I made a few months ago. The width of the Lima shunter is astounding - I am looking forwards to Ixion's Hudswell Clarke locomotive which I have on order. With this box van I still need to add underframe details such as brakes - however for today I am content to shuffle it backwards and forwards observing the couplings taking up the slack.
The next question is of detailing - the kit included vent louvres to make the van a specialised 'Fruit Van' or I can omit them and keep it as a general purpose 8 Ton Van. Decisions, Decisions.
Cheers,
~ Gary
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