So this is where I left it last time - the basics of the underframe, running gear and body complete, but a lot of detail to go:

 

 

Detailing on the sides and solebars came mainly from Ambis etches. The document box is an ABS casting, and the horse hook is a piece of wire for the loop, and plasticard for the base.

 

 

The bolt ends on the underframe are from plastic rod as before, including the strap bolts that pass through the headstock. I am not aware of a photo that shows the interior details clearly, so the only thing I have added is the side knees. There is a photo that gives a glimpse of the interior of what may be a GWR 1-plank open here, which gives a sense of the thickness of the knees:

 

https://lnwrs.zenfolio.com/p864799494

 

 

 

There are also two L-brackets each side, attached to the solebar and supporting the curb rail, which I made from an etched part for the vertical, and a piece of plasticard for the horizontal. I also attached the springs, and made the spring stop blocks from plasticard.

 

 

You can also see in this picture I have drilled out small holes where the rings go to tie the sheet ties to, on the solebar and end rail. I didn't add the rings at this stage, and I still haven't - I am planning to make a 'lift van' (container) as a load, and until I have worked out the roping arrangements I won't know if I need the rings to hang down or be pulled upwards under load.

 

I added the cap strips to the top of the sides and ends, with a strip of 10 thou plasticard. I cut my own strip for this rather than using ready-made, as the cap strips are just slightly narrower than the plank beneath it, and need to be just the right width to get the right effect. I only realise now I am writing up the build that I didn't add the domed bolt heads that hold the cap strips on as well as bolting the planks to the curb rails. Oh, well...

 

 

The two best pictures I have of these longer 1-plank wagons both show the unbraked side, unfortunately. It is possible to make out that they have a single wooden brake shoe, but no detail - in fact, I couldn't find any really clear picture of GWR single shoe brakes. There is a picture in Russell's GWR Wagon Appendix of a dumb buffered three plank wagon, where it is possible to see the brake gear, partly in silhouette, and I decided to follow that. I suspect the type I have modelled, with its push-rod mechanism, is more complex than most one-shoe brakes, where the lever is attached directly to the arm that suspends the brake block. So, it is probably a slightly whimsical choice, but I fancied it, and in the absence of more concrete information, I decided to go for it.

 

The push rod with its adjuster and the associated lever was made from wire and some spare etched parts. The adjusters, with all the holes, comes from the push rods of ordinary wagon brake gear, and I kept one side over-long while soldering it all together, so there was something to hold onto. The spare material was filed back later.

 

 

And here it is with the brake lever added and the whole thing cleaned up:

 

 

Here is the brake lever guard - this early type has a pin-and-hole locking mechanism, rather than the familiar ratchet. One the left is the strip that runs down the back of the brake shoe, with the attachment point for the push rod - again made from an odd bit of a brake gear etch.

 

 

I made the brake shoe from plasticard, starting by scribing the curve to the right radius with a pair of dividers, and then cutting the other sides in relation to it.

 

 

And here is the brake mechanism assembled. I kept this, the lever with its cross-shaft and the lever guard as separate parts, only assembling it all after painting, right at the end of the process. This helps avoid damaging these delicate components.

 

 

The buffers are 3D prints kindly made for me by Duncan @drduncan, adapted from his 4mm scale versions. We spent some time looking at photos, discovering there are at least two different types with subtly different details such as the thickness of the ribs and the root radius where the guide meets the base. We also noticed that the packing that sits between the cast buffer guide and the headstock again varies, so we decided not to include it as part of the 3D print.

 

The prints were designed to work with Peco GWR buffer heads and springing mechanism. I discovered I had drilled out the holes in the headstocks too large for the spigots on the buffer prints, as the prints hadn't been finished at that time. The length of the spigot is critical, as it determines how far the buffer heads protrude when held in position by the spring wire behind the headstock, and so the effective buffer length. I therefore made new spigots from plastic tube, to go over the printed ones.

 

Here we see the packing pieces (spare components from Slaters MR buffers), the plastic tube, the printed buffer guides, and an assembled buffer:

 

 

And fitted:

 

 

This next picture summarises the state of play, with springs and buffers in place, and the locating pieces for the wheel and axleguard assemblies. Also in this picture you can see the whitemetal part that holds the brake lever and its cross shaft - borrowed from an ABS set of LNWR single-shoe brake lever components.

 

 

Now on its wheels, physically complete apart from the brake gear and couplings:

 

 

Painting started with a coat of grey primer, and continued with painting the interior with a bare wood effect (I'm planning a separate post on my method for that at some point). I find it preferable to do the interior first, as it is easier to deal with any over-spill from this slightly messy process before doing the body colour.

 

 

The body colour was my usual mix of black and white Vallejo acrylics, brush painted. The lettering made use of Railtec's excellent bespoke service, as the G and W need to fit the side exactly, and are therefore a non-standard size.

 

Underneath, the brake gear was added, though I still haven't glued it in place as the brake lever covers where one of the sheet tie rings needs to go, so I need to finalise the load and roping first. I glued the wheel assemblies lightly with a couple of dabs of glue, in case I want to remove them in the future. By this point, I had decided to change to S7 standards, so a set of Slaters S7 wheels replaced the original ones:

 

 

I applied some light weathering with grey powders (mixed from black and white to get a bit of variation) and did some final paint touch-ups - and done!

 

 

 

 

 

Nick.