I have finally finished the first B set for Cheddar. Little did I know that this was going to be quite so involved when I started, what now seems a very long time ago.

The origin was a set of sides, roofs and ends from the Ks kit, kindly given to me by Tim Venton. These coaches were prevalent in the Bristol division after nationalisation so I was always going to have a set on Cheddar.

When it came to start, I’d lost one of the ends so ended up making a blank from plasticard. The sides were glued together and married up to a Comet under frame and Bill Bedford sprung bogies. Under frame detail is a mixture of Comet and MJT. The bogie sides were originally the incorrect 9ft pressed steel type before I swapped to the 9ft fishbelly bogies and added lots of extra step details.

I also made the mistake of painting carmine and cream before being corrected and advised that this wouldn’t have been applied to non gangway stock. Easily rectified and painted chocolate and cream to match the photos in Russell. Lining is HMRS. Numbering and end lettering is from Railtec.

Seating is Ratio, handles Comet and an unmarked bag of unknown origin.

Glazing… Hmm. This was individually flush glazed with perspex and yes it did take an age but I’m out of therapy now.

I’m never, ever doing this again. Thank goodness for Rapido’s E140/5. I’ve an E129 and E147 to do from Comet kits but at least they’re brass. Whether I’ll ever use the shawplan extreme etching flush glazing on the Airfix b sets remains to be seen. At least they’re pre-cut.

These coaches have taken over a year to complete and yes there are plenty of things I could have done better. Apart from some weathering they’ll have to do for now.