Something of a departure for Legge Lane, as an old friend re-emerges from the past. In 1968 I built a Wills Finecast King Class 4-6-0 and then forgot about it as I carried on with life, graduated, got a job, traveled the world. The King traveled with me but got a bit of rough treatment along the way. Only now have I had the opportunity to redress the situation and a discussion on the Wright Writes forum persuaded me to drop other projects and have a go at stripping down the King and rebuilding it. Thank you, Tony W for your encouragement - I have a lot to live up to now!

So here is the state of King Henry VI, 6018 after 47 years:

Some comments. The kit was built out of the box while in some strange places - a tent in Westmorland, a flat in Southampton. Southampton would be where the white metal soldering would have been done after a lot of evening fettling in Ravenstonedale. The loco was hand painted in GWR livery and ran well. The driving wheels were Romford isolated and non-isolated pairs to save money. The drive was from a Triang XO4 three pole motor.

The damage includes several missing parts, broken steps, bent bits, etc. but the integrity of the white metal soldering was good (and has proven to be so after much paint stripping, fettling, washing, etc.) Some parts were added with glue and these have fallen off while paint stripping.

The restoration will include a new nickel silver chassis, new wheels, new motion and a new motor. In the process the locomotive will be re-numbered 6008, King James II, and will be in early BR green livery. This was a loco that was assigned to all three principle "King sheds", Old Oak Common, Wolverhampton Stafford Road and the other place somewhere in west Devon! It will have an 84A shed code (naturally!)

So far there has been a lot of paint stripping using B&Q's DIALL paint and varnish stripper. This seems to work well with no adverse effect on the white metal though just about all the glued on bits have come adrift. This is actually a good thing as it means I am able to get into the nooks and crannies to remove all that paint. I have almost finished the paint stripping and have done some white metal polishing of the boiler and tender sides using very fine steel wool. This burnishes the metal surface, revealing any and all the imperfections. There will be further sanding and filling to be done in the weeks ahead.

Pictures of the bare metal to follow.