Putting the rivetting tool away, I've now made a start on the body-work. The wagon is basically an 'Iron Mink' - rounded corners, and ribs down the outside of the body.

First step - roll the corners. This was easily achieved as the corners have a series of etched lines on the inside., so the corners were formed by rolling them round a 5mm dia length of 'Evergreen' styrene.

Next came the ribs. They are located using the 'tab & slot' technique - and the body sections provide a pretty massive heat-sink in 7mm! I therefore tried a new (to me) technique, using solder-cream and a chefs blowtorch.

The basic ingredients (I'll mention the 'bobby-clip in a minute!).

The ribs located very easily and the blow-torch made short work of the soldering!

Next in the instructions were the draw-plates on the buffer-beam. Same process, no sweat. Well, you know what I mean!

Next items were the plates that carry the load-clips, and the clips themselves. Somewhat concerned about holding the plates in place, I resorted to a ladies hairclip - a so-called 'bobby-clip'.

These are an intrinsic part of my tool-box and come in various shapes. Very useful - just don't let SWMBO catch you re-locating them!

Two hours later - the two 'side-end' units are basically complete -

I'm now toying with the problems of the buffers. The kit contains a whitemetal set of buffer-heads and shanks of the correct type. They can be sprung using thin wire which activates the draw-gear. Whitemetal?? Hmmm.... At the weekend at the REC show I did purchase a very nice set of turned brass shanks/steel bufferheads made by 'Markit'. Problem is, the shank bases are the wrong shape. So the issue is - correct but fragile whitemetal, or incorrect but sturdy buffing gear. Currently I'm leaning toward the latter as I always feel that rolling-stock on exhibition layouts should be built for maximum reliability and the rigours of show conditions.

What do you think?