And then there were... two? Two and a half?

The original pair that I bought from the Severn Valley are now finished; the all-third only required an interior and a repaint, and so was a quicker job than the brake third. The roof for it is a plastic moulding, I'm tempted to say it's from Coopercraft?- if so, that's a shame. I rather like it and would have bought some more to match the rest of the rake, but err.... well we know their reputation don't we, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter.

So, that pair done, and then off on my own to build a matching pair.

I did consider a cut and shut job on the brake end, but ultimately decided that I'd be hardpressed to get a decent finish, so I left it as it is. Most of the work with this carriage is going to be on the roof. I did buy a pair of aluminium roofs, but they're a bit too wide for these carriages. I've put them back into my spares box for use on another project (maybe I've found the roofs for my next pair of Barnums....)

So the roof for this one- and the composite that will follow it- I've reused the existing clerestory roof, but I bulked it out with some balsa wood. I then carved the balsa wood down into an arced profile, which was surprisingly much easier than I thought it would be, and to get a nice smooth surface I covered it with paper. So my next job now is to fit the rain strips and the ventilators.