RSS Fetcher Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 At last the Southern Pride Class 304 has been finished. The layout would have been incomplete without it, but building it has tried my patience and I'd think twice before having a go as such a large kit again. The instructions were clear and the kit itself is very well made, but you really need prior experience and I rather think I jumped into the deep end with this. The lead driving vehicle was the last car built and it has turned out much neater than the driving brake car (see below). I learnt an awful lot between each build! It's been a hard slog as these kits are not for the faint hearted. It arrived at the end of March, but progress has been interrupted by some house decorating - I was only supposed to paint one room, but ended up doing three plus the hallway! Then my boss had a bit of a windfall and some badly needed maintenance work was carried out at the holiday cottage complex where I work part time. All this took about 5 weeks so I couldn't devote the time I wanted to on the model. When the kit first arrived I was dumbfounded by the amount of stuff inside and was convinced that I wouldn't be able to complete it having never built a kit like this before. I decided to make the driving brake vehicle first - it was a near disaster and I ended up making rather a hash of it. However, I learnt a lot from those initial mistakes and the each car got a little easier thereafter. How not to do it! The first vehicle of the 4 car set was a right hash up and it was pulled back from absolute disaster several times. I really hate Humbrol warning yellow - it comes out lumpy even when spraying. The trouble is that I can't get quality paints over here and have to make do with what is available. On the other driving vehicle I used an acrylic car spray - it's not quite warning yellow, but it looks a hell of lot better than the Humbrol! The lead driving vehicle - much better work this time. Out of the box - the 4 car set at several stages of construction. The hinges being soldered onto the brass sides. There was a fret that contained the handles but I had no idea how you would go about soldering these on without making a real mess (seems like you need three pairs of hands or some sort of tool that I don't have). Therefore, I decided to make my own out of wire and solder these from the back. A finished side. It looks rather neat when first complete - that's when the real fun starts when you have to rebend it to shape afterward and glue it onto to base. You really have to go at the solder blobs at the back of the brass side with a sanding drum. This makes the brass flaten out and you have to really try and bring it back to the original shape afterwards. There was a load of fettling getting everything to fit correctly, but it has turned out fairly okay. The only modification I made was the full running board on each car. I distinctly remember these as a kid and they are a reminder of an earlier age regarding coaching stock. I also chose to use acetate for the windows which was glued on with some PVA to the inside face as, try as I might, I couldn't get the roof to fit using the clear resin window bars that came with the kit. The model isn't motorised yet. I might try and persuade Southern Pride to sell me the Driving Brake again - I'll make a better job of it next time around and also fit some Black Beetle units at the same time. Attached thumbnail(s) View the full article Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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