My existing stock is somewhat light on L.M.S. stock, so I thought this would be a good oppertunity to have a go at building and few freight wagons.

A quick browse on e-bay identified a couple of potential models -

• Cambrian C57 5 Plank High Sided open wagon
  
• Cambrian C80 LMS 12 ton van
  
• Parkside Dundas PC83 LNER Horse Box (not LMS but I like the look of it)
  

I have a copy of "L.M.S. Wagons Vol. 1" by Bob Essry which I used as reference material along with a couple of pictures downloaded from the web.

First up was the LMS open wagon. The kit went together really easily with the aid of some MEKPAK, the only slight issue being that despite having reference materials to hand, I still managed to get the axel boxes on upside down!! I used Tamiya acrylics to paint and HMRS Presfix transfer to finish, wheels are Alan Jackson. The picture below shows the current build. It still needs a coat of matt varnish and some weathering, but I'm happy with how it has gone so far.

I've decided to try using Sprat & Winkle auto couplings. I think they have gone together OK, they will probably need final tweaks once I get the magnets laid in the track. I have found that the soft iron links I have made for them are a little long - I think I need to use a slightly smaller former when wrapping the wire.

Next was the 12 ton van again by Cambrian models. Again this was a really nice model to put together, the shots below show intermediate progress.

Again Tamiya acrylics and HMRS transfers to finish off.

Finally the Parkside LNER Horse box

I had a little issue here with the door closer (missing in image above). It was rather aggressively attacked by the MEKPAK and effectively dissintegrated. On the other side I swithched to Plastic Weld with out trouble. To remedy the other side, some evergreen strip was used to reproduce the door closer and attached to the wagon. The roof was painted matt white and the body sides LNER Teak (Railmatch). The plastioc roof vents were replaced by white metal versions. The transfers supplied with the kit were used as shwon below. Again final varnishing and weathering still needs done.

All wagins were weighed and extra ballast (stacks of 1p pieces) were added to bring the running weight up to around 25g per axel.

Overall I'm really chuffed with the way the kits have gone together, so much so I've bought a couple others to take on holiday !!

Peter