He's actually building something!

The subject of this entry is the start of a GWR Diagram V5 Mink, to be completed in as-built condition. 325 of these vans were were constructed between 1902 and 1904, so they fit perfectly with my "early period" project.

The kit is of course CooperCraft's offering, and it is a nice, finely-detailed kit that goes together fairly well straight from the packet. However, I want to add a few refinements by way of etched brass axleguards, improvements to the brake gear, sprung buffers and the like.

Like the majority of CooperCraft's kits, this one has High Floor Syndrome. This Syndrome is all too apparent if you have an unladen open wagon, but being a van, its' not so much of an issue, and I chose to assemble the floor in its' intended location. However, I did turn it over in order that the flat surface faces downward to make fitting the etched axleguards a bit easier. One thing that I don't remember being an issue when I last assembled one of these kits is that the floor was too narrow - you can see the light coming through the gap in the photograph - so to prevent the sides bowing inward, I inserted fillets of plastikard. To provide some weight to the finished van, three large nuts were superglued to the inside floor. If anyone is interested in which thread, let me know  The weigh of the van body is now about 95 grammes. I've also added a couple of braces across the van at the tops of the sides, again to prevent bowing inward.

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The etched axleguards were folded up as rigid units, and as my soldering is messy, small dobs of Roket Gel Cyano were used to fix their corners. The pinpoint bearings were also superglued into the axleguards for the same reason, one side at a time to ensure the axles turn freely but without sloppiness. The solebars were stripped of their moulded axleguards and brake hangers, sanded smooth on their backs and, after ensuring that the etched axleguards would fit between them without  futher thinning, were assembled to the floor. A small amount of Squadron Green filler was needed at the ends of the solebars where they meet the headstocks. The holes in the floor are to make sure any solvent fumes can escape!

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The axleguards will obviously need to be packed to provide the correct height, and to that end, I've cobbled up a buffer height gauge that I can use to set this and all my subsequent builds. Unfortunately, I'm a bit disappointed with the sprung buffers I've got. The whitemetal housings are quite badly flashed, not at all like the lovely clean cast housing of the unsprung units I've got from the same munufacturer. I've ordered some Gibson lost wax brass ones, so I'm hoping they'll be rather nicer. But until they arrive, I can't do much more as the running gear all depends on the wheels being correctly located.

Cheers for now!

Mark