I had to refer back to my opening post recently to remind myself what and why I'm doing this due to an 'issue' with the kit.

If any of you reading this have bought an ABS kit you will be aware that they come with drawing pins for buffers. No, I'm not kidding. You bang them into a brass tube sleeve and then through some frustrating trickery with spring wire, secure them at the back behind the headstock. I now understand why everybody that I know who has built ABS kits replace the buffers and coupling hooks with something else.

However, this is not an exercise in accuracy or to avoid frustration; this is to test the durability of glue as a building medium. So I used them. I can say without hesitation that if I were building these as layout or display models I would also have been one of those people who replace their buffers and couplings.