After looking at the last pictures I had posted I noticed that the engine housing was slightly off centre and also angling slightly upwards. It was difficult to spot but when I added the back storage box I noticed that there was a definite problem. So I got the scalpol and cut it off, scraped away a small bit of plasticard and reattached it:

With the front and back sections added the next thing to do was to add the buffer beams. These were the hardest pieces to cut out as there were plenty of fiddley angles to get right and I had to make a decision not to remove the gaps near the top centre of the buffer beam (see picture below):

Therefore I achieved the shape I needed but had to compromise slightly on the detail, at this stage I also painted one of the main bodysides to see how it would look. Here are some pictures of my model next to my future father in laws Jouef Draisine:

Following from this I added the buffers which were donated from a Fleischmann wagon that I had aquired on ebay. The buffers were originally round but I sanded them to look more rectangular. I also took the time to paint the body of the Draisine red. It needs another coat and some finer details but its not looking too bad:

Here is the Draisine next to my Del Prado X3800:

As this project gets nearer to being completed I am looking ahead to my next project. Having taken a liking for the Autorails and having another 2 spare Del Prado X3800's I thought that a good project might be something along the lines of the X5800 units. Some were based in Limoges so could have run along the line in this area and the X3800 could be sliced into pieces and made into the correct shape. In preparation I have ordered a Kato chassis and will be looking at the specifics of how to make the conversion in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading.

Stephen