In odd moments when locos have been drying (and my recent experience of Humbrol is that it takes a lot of drying), I've been working on a Smallbrook Studios LSWR/ ROD road van.

A few weeks ago I put up an appeal for information as to whether any of these (which were apparently allocated to the GC) ever appeared in GCR livery, which led to a couple of interesting discussions and the conclusion that they *probably* retained WD markings throughout their time on the GC. So I have decided to build mine and eventually finish it up in WD livery.

There's not a lot to say about actually building the model; it's a simple enough kit which builds up easily enough if treated with care. I did find that a few castings were slightly warped on my example, which made things interesting. I am used to plastic kits, where a warped piece can be easily coerced back into shape. I tried this on the end verandahs of this kit to have them snap in two!

The ends having snapped thereby explains why I have used some L-section plastic strip; to strengthen the repaired joints.

Instead of using the supplied brass wire and drilling what felt like a million and one tiny holes, I used some 0.64mm plastic rod I had in my spares box for the handrails instead.

The roof proved a challenge; I couldn't get the supplied piece of plastic to ben uniformly. One end gave a nice curve, the other didn't. It also warped in the middle and threw the rest of the body out of square to suit itself. Whilst scoring it for the umpteenth time, to try to get a nice even curve, I accidentally went straight through it with the scalpel, which wrote it off completely. So I made a new roof out of a sheet of paper, folded back on itself to give a double thickness. Much easier to curve and fit!