I did a little more work on the B5 (after declaring it finished).

The tender; fitted a buckeye coupler and plated over the coal rails. The locomotive; added the reversing lever and picked out the smokebox door dart and hinges in silver.

Then I directed my energies toward the Ratio kits.

The first one I am looking at is an all-first. Most of the work involved consists of changing the bogies. I discarded the ones provided with the kit and settled on Coopercraft 8' Gresley bogies. I bought these a few years ago- and am glad that I did! I understand that presently mail-order from Coopercraft is suffering technical difficulties.

To get it to sit right, the lump moulded on the top of the bogie has to be sanded back. Then the bogie bolster and the carriage floor have to be drilled through. Finally the bogie is secured to the carriage via a screw.

This done, the rest of the carriage can be built as-per the instructions. I will of course be adding an interior.