Here's a bit more progress on the Collett coach. The bogies didn't present any problems, being a simple fold-up design with white-metal cosmetic frames. I used Gibson bearings and Bachmann coach wheels which I've found to be reliable and free-running. If I was going to fit lights to this coach, I might have considered using the DCC Concepts pre-wired coach wheels, but since I didn't have any in stock I decided to go with the Bachmann ones rather than get involved with ordering stuff at this time of year.

Test-running - ie, giving a coach a good whizz around the layout - didn't show up any problems, either with tracking or clearance. I was a bit concerned about the latter, as at 70 foot in length it's quite a bit longer than anything else I normally operate and there was a risk it might clout some obstructions on curves. However, it turned out that there's enough of a gap that there shouldn't be any issues after I add door handles and so on, although my passengers would be well advised not to stick their heads out of the windows!

I've added the etched brake gear to one of the bogies. This promised to be a fiddly job, but it wasn't as bad as feared, and the brake gear does lift the appearance of the bogie quite a bit. One of the etches pinged off into hyperspace, so I had no choice but to file up a replacement using scrap etch - again, not as arduous a job as I was worried it might be. The tie-rods between the axle boxes were unacceptably distorted, so I replaced these with brass rod, and will do the same job on the other bogie, as well as adding brake gear.

One matter that's been kindly pointed out to me is that I hadn't attended to any treatment of the door hinges, and they really need to be tackled. At the moment I'm undecided about whether to drill and add metal representations, or to use small slivers of plastikard glued directly to the sides. Both promise to be equally tedious jobs, but it must be done!

On the whole I'm encouraged by progress, as - now that I've got the basic chassis and body built up - I'm largely on familiar territory, as the remaining jobs - detailing the roof, adding interiors, underframe detail, and so on - are things I've already done on previous coaches. Rightly or wrongly, therefore, I'm quietly confident that the hard stuff is behind me!