Iain.d

With the Roxey Moulding 3 coach LSWR set that I’m doing, I’ve got them to the point of painting. I have built the interiors from plastic card, other than for the floors I didn’t use the plastic card that came with the kits, I used a sheet of DCC Concepts card that has marked 1mm grid lines on, thinking that would be easier to measure and cut with. Well it was, but what I didn’t realise was that their card has a thin clear film stuck to the surface that doesn’t take to liquid poly glue. Even when I managed to pick the film off, the glue bond doesn’t seem as secure as ‘normal’ plastic card; I’m not sure how long these bonds will last. Time will tell. Here they are with all the partitions and seats placed in place, less a few seat backs. When the carriages are painted, I’ll glue them all in position, some painting will be done before fitting but most will be done after gluing them in. I added the vents to the roofs and the small grab handrails at the one end of each roof. I have rain strips to add from tape, but I’ll do that after the final clean. I had previously made up some couplings (similar to the Bill Bedford type) but I wasn’t happy with my workmanship or how far the vehicles were held apart. So I made some new ones, using the shortest screw coupling loops I had, which was my determining factor on the length of the coupling. I think they look better now, still not quite prototypical but the gap is less noticeable. And the 3 coaches together. I’ve also cut individual glass for the windows, a laborious and time-consuming process. I had so many breakages of the slip covers, I almost gave up and resorted to plastic, but persevered as I’m not in a rush to finish them; Christmas is my target. Next, I need to give them a final wash and then clear off my painting table in the garage so I can start spraying them, that’s a plan for this week. Kind regards, Iain

Hi Nick, Thanks for your kind comment, no they're all brush painted and then brush varnished. Kind regards, Iain

I’m not sure if my latest completions fit the ‘brought back to life’ brief (of a couple of weeks back) or the ‘modelling on a budget’ brief initiated a few pages back. Either way, I’ve refurbished another pair of 30 year old Parkside Dundas wagons – a PC25 13T LNER 5 Plank Open and a PC28 BR 12T Shock Open. When doing this type of modelling, I initially begin by trying to take them back to their individual pieces and then clean up the mouldings, remove any mouldings or detail that I intend to replace with better quality components, drill the required holes for additional detail and so forth. Sometimes I’m fortunate and they disassemble easily, other times the glue bonds remain strong. This was the case with the LNER 5 plank open, only the brake levers were easily removed (along with the wheels) so actions such as drilling out the brake hangers to take the cross rods was done with them still in place, a touch awkward but doable. I made up the brake safety loops from left over offcuts of .45mm nickel wire and door bangers from fret waste and vacuum pipes from left over .8mm brass rod and wrapped with a strand of stripped electrical wire. The Shock wagon came apart more easily, and as I wasn’t sure what I would ‘load’ it with, I decided to cut out the sub floor and replace it with about 35g of lead sheet. I replaced the tie bars with left over thin brass strip. On both wagons I was able to drill through the buffer shanks with a .5mm drill and then partway through (about 90%) with a .9mm drill so that Alan Gibson spring buffer heads could be fitted. And the right way up… They’re both finished in Railmatch Freight Stock Bauxite 2235, transfers by CCT and weathered with a light wash and some dry brushing. I have tried to represent the interiors as unpainted using a variety of Vallejo acrylic ‘wood colours’, a brown wash and some dry brushing. I decided to load the 5 plank open with a Bachmann container, with some lead glued inside it. Both will have instanter couplings fitted once they arrive from Rumney Models. A few hours of quite enjoyable modelling done over a number of weeks. Kind regards, Iain

I have made steady progress with the Roxey Mouldings LSWR 3 carriage set I’m doing over the last couple of weeks. All the major soldering is done. On the brakes there were a fair few horizontal handrails on the sides at the guards end that needed a reasonable level of care to fit as most of the holes for them were etched well over size. And I was quite pleased at how I managed to get the end handrails curved to match the roof profile, only to then look at a photo and see the curve on the brakes was far more gentle! The composite is correct though, I did this one first and just assumed the brakes would be the same… And the alarm gear end. I quite enjoy this sort of detailing work. The finesse of the Roxey etchings makes them such a pleasure to work with, well I think so. The chassis' are also completed less the lamp irons on the buffer beams. And a brake carriage body resting on its chassis. I’ve fitted the brake rigging as I believe it should be, I think the drawings in the instructions provided with my kits are for a different diagram brake. Those who really know their LSWR carriages will see that I have assembled the chassis the wrong way round; the other side should have the two battery boxes and this side just one, and the dynamo might be at the wrong end.... So sad, too bad, that is how they’re staying as, yes, I got both brakes wrong! Kind regards, Iain

I’m not quite sure if this quite fits the ‘brought back to life’ idea, but much of my coaching stock is made up of old rejuvenated RTR with the majority of the donors being cheap second-hand purchases acquired from the likes of eBay or the second-hand shelves of model shops on return trips to the UK. My ‘best buy’ was five heavily damaged 1980s era Hornby Stanier carriages all bought for about £7. I don’t have an image of the five coaches as I received them, they were literally only fit for landfill, but the below show a couple of them during rebuild… ….and then painted – I think it’s a far cry from the original, but its origins are still visible. And a couple more: An LMS D1903 Composite Open and an LMS D1999 Third Open An awful lot of effort has gone into upgrading them and there’s little of the original visible beyond the roof, those dreadful ‘slide in’ ends, the solebars and sometimes the bogie sides. But what it has done, is given me a range of diagrams that are unlikely to be seen as ready to run. And I enjoyed doing them. Kind regards, Iain

An update on a Roxey 3 Carriage Non-Corridor LSWR set has seen me add the buffers and truss rods to each chassis. For the brake carriages I decided to use .9mm wire for the queen posts rather than the provided whitemetal castings; they would have needed a fair amount of cleaning up, which would have compromised their strength and also, I thought, as they’re so fine, I’d melt them when soldering on the nickel silver wire. The lavatory composite carriage was provided with 1mm angle brass strip for its trusses. I also decided to make up the couplings for them. The main components are from scraps and leftovers. The platforms to secure them to the carriage are from Comet Models bogie mounted tension lock coupling plates, the brake pipes from 1mm brass rod and the screw couplings provided by Roxey with the kits. The platforms were trimmed and bent to shape. The holes for securing the tension locks were widened to fit the Roxey chassis to body fixing screws and the 1mm rod bent roughly to the shape of two hoses connected. A test check for the fixing platforms, and on the end of the carriage which they will be coupled to, a short section of tube is soldered inboard of the buffer beam. The floor of the carriage is then drilled, through the tube, to allow the hook end of the brake pipe to pass. The hole is 1.2mm, allowing reasonable freedom of movement but not excessive. Some detail added to the couplings: a few wraps of stripped electrical cable for the hose ribbing, the Roxey couplings soldered to each brake pipe upright (in line with the slot in the buffer beam). And how the coupling will sit when secured to the carriage. And then coupled up to its neighbouring vehicle. I inadvertently bent the pipe slightly when setting up the photo, which is why it’s not quite vertical. The gap between the buffers is somewhat larger than I’d hoped, well a lot actually; I may well end up making some more, using shorter screw coupling loops and tensioner. I’ll see what it looks like when its painted and when the carriage end detail and things like the steam heating pipes are added; they might fill the gap a bit. Lots of pictures I’m afraid, but so often with these types of activities, I find it very hard to be articulate in my description. Kind regards, Iain

Despite having many distractions, I have made some progress on the Roxey Mouldings LSWR 3 Carriage Non-Corridor set I’m currently doing. I have assembled the sides and ends. Their assembly was quite straightforward, before soldering, I ensured the sides and ends were square and level with the use of a few bits of squared wood and some lego blocks. Next it was time to cut the roofs to shape and work on their fixings. I always find this the least enjoyable part of making Roxey kits as there’s not much latitude to get it wrong. To cut the roofs I use both a pair of heavy duty kitchen scissors and a Stanley knife; scissors for the rough cut to shape and the Stanley for the ‘almost there’ shape. Final shaping and trimming is careful work with a scalpel and/or fine file. The nearest thing in our house with a shape close to that of an LSWR roof profile is the edge of our antique wooden dining table. So when I had the house to myself, each roof was measured (twice) and marked for the cut and was then securely taped to the edge of the table and scored almost all the way through with the Stanley knife and then snapped at the score….it worked, there were no slips and no one is any the wiser! Then to secure the roofs I made up some laminated plastic card blocks with a 12BA nut held captive between the pieces - three securings for the each brake and two for the composite. The bolts weren’t long enough to reach from the chassis to roof, so I lengthened the bolts by cutting them and then soldering a 20mm piece of tube between the two pieces. I filed about 1mm of thread off each end of the cut pieces, reducing their diameter and inserted them into the tube and soldered it together. Not exact or precision turning or engineering but they seem straight enough. As where I want each roof fixing to be did not line up with any of the existing chassis cross members, I soldered stretchers near to the bogie fixing points that line up with the partitions between the carriage compartments. I temporarily fixed the roofs in place with tape, passed an extended bolt through the hole in the stretcher and screwed on one of the captive nut fixings. I applied liquid poly to the roof and planted the fixing to roof, ensuring it was central and the bolt was vertical. The below image shows one done. And the three carriages done. The roofs are not quite trimmed or finished to shape at this point, the reason being as the fixing bolts are tightened, they have the potential to deform or twist the roof ever so slightly, creating gaps or bends at the cantrail. Also when the roof is loose they have a tendency to have a slight bow, experience has shown me if I cut and file the cantrail edge straight when it is not fixed to the coach, when its secured a gap appears at each end. To overcome this, with the roof fixed in position, I’ll draw a ruled line with permanent marker along the cantrail, let it dry, remove the roof and then file away any excess side below the line, this means the cantrail is straight when fixed in place and there’s less chance of a gap. Kind regards, Iain

This week I had time to complete a pair of Ratio vans: an 8T Banana Van and a former GWR Motor Car (Mogo) Van. Both are rebuilds of models originally put together about 30 years ago, finished in BR bauxite. They have been enhanced with Alan Gibson sprung buffers and Lanarkshire Models buffer housings, Bill Bedford brake safety loops, Roxey screw couplings and I replaced the original tie bars with very thin brass strip. The transfers on the banana van are the originals that came with the kit, that is I found the unused sheet in my collection of part-used transfer sheets! I was surprised that they went on without issue. Those on the Mogo are from a variety of offcuts and unused sheets. Both vehicles are lightly weathered. I believe banana trains usually ran in blocks so I’m not sure if a single banana van would have run to Midsomer Norton (my intended layout) but with Bristol being just up the road, I thought why not? I suspect they might have been quite an exotic fruit on the Somerset Coalfield in the 1950s – as an ex-resident I can suggest that with authority! I’m re-working / building a significant number of old wagons as background projects; the next two being a Parkside Dundas Eastern Region 5 Plank Open and a BR Shock wagon. I break them down as best I can – the plastic has been pretty good on all the ones I’ve done so far and it’s usually the glue that gives. Some damage does occur, such as one of the tie bars and a headstock breaking. For these two I was going to fit Lanarkshire Models buffers but I was able to drill out the plastic housings, so I’ll fit sprung Gibson heads to these. The sheet rail bar will be replaced with brass wire. The 5 plank open will have a container as a load, I’m undecided on the shock wagon. Kind regards, Iain

Thanks for that Ian. I had tried the cocktail stick test but had held it vertically to see if it dripped, not sure how much difference that might make to horizontal, but I’ll give it a go. Now that I know the pen is fine, it’ll be down to me or the paint. I’ll see if I can get a Revell 80 from the local shop. Kind regards, Iain

Thanks for the kind comment, Chas. I haven’t tried tidying up the carriage lines in that way, my hand is not quite steady enough. I am practicing white and red lines on an old Hornby Dublo 4MT body at the moment though, and where I’m brushing in the corners, I’m chivvying around the curve with white spirit and a small brush to tidy them up. That’s very much a learning curve too! Kind regards, Iain

Thank you for the kind comment. That A44 looks really good. My 'old' stock (more than about 8 years old) of HMRS is fine, but I have no lining sheets left. Kind regards, Iain

Thanks for the kind comment, David. Probably the best tip was not being afraid to thin the paint. Much of what I read suggested there was no need to thin the paint, although that advice didn’t necessarily state what sort of paint, be that enamel or acrylic. I recall one painter and liner saying (and I’m recalling from memory here) to let the tin settle for a few days and then draw off the surface oils and then mix what was left in the tin and use that. One of the problems I found with my pen was that I couldn’t get paint of thicker consistency to reliably flow out of the pen, unless the tips were quite wide. Also the suggestion to use enamel paint to line rather than acrylic, as acrylic may dry too fast, while it's still in the pen. I persevered with acrylic as supplies of enamel (at least in Perth) are hit and miss but acrylic, from a host of manufacturers is always in plentiful supply. I used Tamiya acrylic and can’t say I ever had a problem with the gloss black, but the yellow I struggled with. The below is of the BCK body with Tamiya gloss black acrylic, the yellow is Revell enamel Satin Yellow (the Revell Yellow gloss I did get was too ‘lemony’) with the tin stirred as it came and then with 4 drops of white spirit added. All three yellow lines were done with one fill of the pen. Kind regards, Iain

Back in April I completed the build of a Comet Models LMS D1932 Brake Composite Corridor kit, all I needed to do was the painting. Due to poor availability/quality of HMRS lining transfers I have been teaching myself to use a bow pen for lining, with the last eight or nine carriages I’ve built being completed this way. Despite reference to Ian Rathbone’s and Geoff Haynes’ books on painting and lining, there was obviously something I wasn’t getting, as while I could generally get one side of the carriage successfully lined invariably the other side was a disaster resulting in me stripping it back to the brass and respraying. I couldn’t see what I was getting wrong – it’s the same paint (but I tried others), same pen (a second hand Haff), same environment (but I tried others), same day (but obviously not always), same frame of mind (generally…) and after all it’s only a couple of straight lines on a flat surface; how hard should it be? Without wanting to be the bad workman who always blames his tools, I assessed the problem was with the pen, it was the only constant. But I had no idea what a ‘honed’ pen should really look like or whether mine was right, albeit the tips displayed some evidence of being modified/filed/smoothed. In conversation with a professional painter about the issues I was having, he offered to give my pen the once over and with that I duly dispatched it off to him. His verdict was that ‘it’s a bit rough, I’ll see what I can do’, anyway, it arrived back with me a couple of weeks ago, I had a try, oh my it was like going from a crayon to a fountain pen! A few tips and bit more advice from the painter and I was keen to try it out on the BCK. The corridor side is slightly better than the compartment side but I’m super pleased. The lines are slightly thicker (intentionally) than they should be, so as the carriage matches the vehicle it will be adjacent to in the rake – not that the thickness is overly noticeable. On my test pieces I was able to match the line thickness the professional provided to me as examples of what he was able to do with my pen. This has given me the confidence to look at doing a pre-grouping carriage in the near future which will come with a few complexities beyond BR maroon with straight black and yellow lines. This carriage will form the end vehicle of Manchester portion of a Pines Express formation I’ve now completed. I only realised the other day that these carriages were fitted with oval buffers, not round ones as provided in the kit, so I’ll look to change them out when the mood takes me. Kind regards, Iain

Progress on the Roxey Mouldings LSWR non corridor 3 carriage set I’m doing has been has steady over the last couple of weeks. I turned over the top and bottom edges of the sides and formed the tumblehomes. Forming the turn under is not something I’ve ever got the hang of; I’ve read about lots of different ways of doing it but I’ve not mastered one of them, my method usually sees me using all of those methods, or slight variations of, during the same bending session! Then I soldered on the door vents, the droplights and the bottom door hinges (which is only what the kits provide for) I did most of the droplight windows open to some degree or other – I know I’ll regret this when it comes cutting and fixing in the glazing, as all the pieces of glass will need to be cut a different size. I folded up the bogies and soldered the provided bogie fixing bolts to the bolsters, rather than the nut to the bolster as suggested by the instructions; my thought being that when in motion, if the nut comes loose the bogie will stay on the bolt where as if the bolt comes away from the nut the bogie will likely part company from the carriage, cause a derailment and /or damage the underframe detail. And I added all the major external bits to the two brake carriages; the duckets, the sliding doors and the ‘L’ shaped sliding rails for them near the cantrail. I also soldered the nuts to the end plates and folded up the ends. Next major task is to make up the bodies and get them to fit the chassis. Then I’ll do the buffers and look how I’m going to couple them together. I’m thinking some sort of ‘Bill Bedford’ coupling type of thing, made up from the provided screw link bits (soldering them rigid) and using the brake/heating pipes for strength. I did something a while go between a couple of other non-corridor carriages. Kind regards, Iain

Thanks Al.

I recently completed the rebuild of a couple of NE region brake vans – they are former Parkside Dundas PC14 LNER 20T Brake Vans, built to Diagram 034. They were initially built and painted in the early 90s (not very well) and last year I got around to stripping the paint off them and breaking them down, as best I could, into their original components. One came apart with minimal effort, the other less so; its plastic is softer than the one that came apart more easily and I as I tried to pull and lever the plastic, I could see stress lines forming, so in order not to destroy it I decided to leave it semi disassembled. I chucked the original stepboards, they’re over thick (understandably to provide strength) and replaced them with brass strip (fret waste) and .45mm nickel silver wire. When I originally built them, the only ‘detailing’ I did was to melt in some handrails made from staples (and only the long vertical ones on the verandas at that) so I filled the holes and drilled new holes for handrails made from .33mm brass wire, I also drilled holes for the small lower handrails. And I drilled holes for handrails on each side of the duckets and the roof. I added whitemetal roof vents (leftovers from the spares box), drilled out the chimneys, added buffer shanks from Lanarkshire Models (B051D) and sprung buffer heads by Gibson, although they don’t all spring too well as there’s not much room behind the headstocks. The duckets are glazed and on the one I got the roof off, the interior end windows are glazed. I made up the lamp irons from the thinnest brass strip I had. The three link couplings are Smith’s. Unlike some of the recently available, newly tooled model brake vans, there’s no interior modelled. They are finished in BR freight wagon grey and have been lightly weathered. I’ve added tail and side lamps from Lanarkshire Models. One van has the safety bars for the guard modelled; they are free moving and can represent closed or open. On the van I didn’t disassemble, I couldn’t get the drill into the pillars to make the necessary holes, I broke two bits in the process so decided to leave them off. Hornby have also released a model of this diagram van, but theirs represents the narrower vertical planked version with angle iron securing the van body to the underframe, not wood as on the Parkside. I bought a Hornby one a while back and think it’s a quality model, that said, I think my rebuilds compare reasonably favourably. The transfers are home produced, I’m not sure if they’re exactly right for these vans as I’ve depicted them – many were modified over their lives. Reference to David Larkin’s The Acquired Wagons of British Railways Volume 1 would suggest I’m in the right area though. My one day layout will be based in deep Somerset, Don Rowland’s Twilight of the Goods suggests these vans got to places far beyond their home ground, so maybe one did. But three?! Kind regards, Iain

I got up early this morning and headed out to take some photos (second hobby) but the light was reasonably poor and the wind had dropped, meaning the coast I was headed to had little in the way of waves and surf activity. I decided to drive down onto the North Mole at Fremantle port and watch the Conti Annipurna head in. She was turned before berthing. Kind regards Iain

Not sure if this is in the spirit of showing Midland Railway stock, what with the mind most likely conjuring up images of a beautifully finished rake of crimson carriages, exquisitely lined out in gold and black, well this is mine…. It is based on a Ratio MR suburban brake third plastic kit that I bought eons ago. I am building a departmental breakdown train and wanted something different for the crew coach, so decided upon a 6 wheeler conversion. This task was made much easier, when I think, Compound2632 shared a drawing of a MR 31ft Third Class Lavatory Carriage on another thread. The 4 compartments are the same dimensions as those in the Ratio kit so it was a simple case of cutting it down and fitting 3 wheelsets; I chose Bill Bedford ones: I added brake safety loops, vacuum cylinder and V hanger and the various pull rods between the wheels. The additional beading can be seen at the near end and a handrails added. Couplings are by Roxey Mouldings and bottom stepboards were knocked up from etch fret waste and .5mm wire, the top ones being Evergreen angle strip. Springs and axle boxes by Wizard. It has Wizard sprung buffers, glass for glazing and home produced transfers. It seems to run fine. I have since learned that the departmental number should be on the left hand end. And I don’t know if a 6 wheel carriage of Midland vintage was ever allocated to Bath MPD, there wasn’t during the period I’m intending, but I don’t mind. Apologies for the indulgent use of photographs. Kind regards, Iain

For the last four or five months I’ve struggled to find the enthusiasm to do much modelling for myself; I have done a few bits and pieces for other modellers as that comes with a commitment and their stuff is a little different to my ‘normal’ stuff; variety being the spice of life and all that. There’s been a lot of change at work and that’s been quite stressful too. But in the last couple of weeks I’ve found the time and the inclination to look at a few half started models taking up space on the bench, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to show some of the current modelling I’m doing. Over Christmas 2022 I started a Roxey Mouldings Non Corridor 3 carriage set of LSWR origin, comprising an SR Diagram 285 58ft Lavatory Composite with an SR Diagram 126 56ft Lavatory Brake Third on each side. They’ll be completed as Set 122 and finished in unlined BR unlined crimson. When originally built the brakes had their solebar stepboards level with the bottom of the solebar, when the sets were rearranged (in the 1930s I think) with different intermediate carriages the stepboards were raised to the middle of the solebar to match the other carriages. The kit of the brake provides half-etched slots that need opening out if this is what the modeller wants, and I did. There must be an easier way to do this, but I chose to drill about seven .5mm, almost touching, holes in each half-etched slot (9 slots per solebar, 7 holes per slot, 4 solebars…), then thought it would be a simple task to cut away the little bit of brass left between each hole. No such luck! I tried a variety of methods but each seemed to have the potential to damage the solebars too much. I settled on carefully using the cutting edge of .5mm drill shank as a file and then smoothing down the cusp this left with the finest file I possess. It took an inordinate amount of time and the slots were still more than a bit raggedy than I would have liked. A little tweaking was needed to get the stepboards to marry up with my slots but they soldered in okay and all will be fine when painted. The floors, headstocks and solebars before soldering, I have pressed in the rivet detail: And all folded and soldered (the nearest chassis is upside down): I also managed to prepare the bogies: The Lavatory Composite has standard SR steam stock bogies, the brakes are a simpler bogie with no tie bars or stepboards needed. I find Roxey bogies slightly wide when made up for the Hornby or Bachmann wheels/axles I use, so I solder in a thin washer on one side of the bogie as a spacer for the bearing; this reduces the amount of free play of the axle between the bearings. I’ll look to solder these this week. Kind regards, Iain

I think the Airfix LMS carriages make excellent donors for improvement. I've done a fair few, although I've not used the stick on types of sides as you have - they turn up quite frequently on eBay and I've often wondered about giving them ago. Like your donor, all of these donors were cheap, often damaged (other than the roofs) purchases from eBay or the second hand section of model shops when I've seen them. All the ones I have done have had Comet Models sides added and I've scratch built underframes from 1mm brass angle and so on. The fittings come from a variety of sources, mainly Comet. Not to everyone's liking, but I made a conscious decision to keep the roof ribs. The bogie frames are Comet and in most instances below you can see I used the plastic sides of the original Airfix bogie. Not much of the original remains visible. An LMS D2159 Corridor Composite (Porthole) An LMS 2117 Corridor Composite An LMS D1968 Brake Third Corridor An LMS D1913 Brake Third Open An LMS D1850 Brake Composite An LMS D1905 Brake Third Corridor Looking at my records, I've done about a dozen Airfix ones (a similar number of Bachmann, a similar number of Mainline and about 30 Hornby 1980 era Stanier's). I'm a bit over them now, I think it unlikely I'll do any more as compete kits are easier to do and overall there's not much difference in price between a Comet Models (standard sort of) carriage kit (VAT free for me) and buying all the bits to upgrade an old RTR one - but I did enjoy doing them. Kind regards, Iain

And to go with the LSWR 30ft van, I made up Tony’s Roxey Mouldings LBSCR 54ft 5 Compartment Brake Third; I’m assuming the van will be the tool van and this will be the crew vehicle for his breakdown train. A pretty straightforward build, I put some additional footboards on the van end bogie: Some of the end detail: And all together, the tape I used for the rain strips needs trimming back - it stretches when applied - I'll do that when I think its shrunk back all it will, and then wait some more! I rather like the brass and whitemetal colours, I think it’s almost a shame to paint it! As it's going to be a crew van I made up some benches, tables and a stove from offcuts and leftovers: Anyway, they’ll be in the post tomorrow. Kind regards, Iain

Back on Page 33 of this thread Tony made mention of part building a Roxey Mouldings LSWR 30ft Full Brake and having issues during its construction. Tony built the chassis of the kit as per the instructions, with the step board supports being on the inside of the solebars; unfortunately the instructions are wrong and building it this way restricts the movement of both the end and the centre the wheel/compensation units – in fact they don’t even fit between the step board supports. So disheartening. The step board supports need to be attached to the outside of the solebars – even then there’s not much room for the wheel units to move between the solebars! The first thing to do was unsolder the stepboards and remove the old supports and clean up the etches. A fair amount of solder had been used to solder the supports and stepboards up, so the excess was cleaned off and what remained spread as thinly as I could across the solebars. This ended up being a real bonus as I effectively tinned the brass chassis and it made subsequent soldering less tricky. I added new supports to the bottom step boards by using a short piece of squared wood with a sharp right angle and tape; taping the step and all the supports (from brass .45mm wire) to the wood and then soldering from the centre out. The end of each support was squeezed between some pliers to provide a ‘flat’ to lie on the solebar. This step was then soldered to the outside of the sole bars. And then the top step was added - an easy fit as it has tabs to help locate it. A enjoyable rectification. I tidied up the grooves Tony had filed in the whitemetal axlebox springs (Humbrol filler) and checked the wheel units for fit. It all fitted (I still needed to move one of the brake V hangers) but the centre wheel unit only has about 1mm of side play, which I didn’t think would be enough unless the curves on Tony’s layout were incredibly generous, so I made a new axle from a piece of 2mm OD copper tube with a 1mm ID hole and cut a length of 1mm brass rod, giving the centre axle about 4mm of side play. With one end ‘fixed’ laterally, the centre one being able to slide and the other end being able to rotate, it should be more than enough for tight curves. A springy wire runs between all three wheels to keep them in line until the chassis meets a curve where it flexes and then when back on the straight, they re-centre. I made up the brake yokes and pull rods and then added the J hangers. The yokes are just secured with paint. The wheels can be removed without needing any disassembly. The body is quite nicely made, I cut and made the roof removable. I think it looks okay, no idea how it’ll run…… Kind regards, Iain

Hi Frank, It was one specifically for glass marking. I bought it about 6 years ago, not sure what they cost today. Kind regards, Iain

Hi Frank, For the glass I use microscope slip covers, they come in a variety of sizes; I’ve seen 18mm x 18mm, 20mm x 20mm and 25mm x 25mm. I buy them on ebay and try to get the size nearest to the window size of the carriage I’m doing, if I can. As much of my current modelling is LMS Period III and BR Mk1 it’s normally the 18mm x 18mm as it means less cuts. The Chinese slip covers have a variable quality; sometimes the cheaper buys are better than the more expensive ones. I can’t recommend one brand over another. My current batch is quite poor and there’s a lot of wastage. Previously, some glass has been really good and cut beautifully. To cut I have a scriber, again from ebay, not sure on this one but I think it was about £4-£5. It does have a protective cap (removed for the photo). The tip on this one is not perfect and cuts better depending on where it sits in my hand; it scribes best when the bit that clips it into a pocket is resting on the web between thumb and first finger. I have an old piece of card with drawn lines for a variety of window sizes and I use a short steel ruler to scribe against. The main variable to success or otherwise is the pressure used on the scriber on the glass. Sometimes the lightest of touches will crack or fracture a slip cover, other times I can be quite heavy handed and still need to scribe twice. Don't apply the scriber to the glass right at the edge, do it about 1/2mm in and lift it off about 1/2mm before you come to the end of the glass - I've had more success this way. Once you’ve done one or two and ‘got your eye in’ (or hand as it were) it can be quite quick. Once scribed I will ‘crack’ the slip by resting on the ruler and pressing gently with my thumb nail. Sometimes the glass won’t crack along the line, sometimes it’ll break part way, sometimes it’ll just bend (yes, bend!). Its always worth doing a couple of extra pieces. I keep all the off cuts in little poly bags, as at some point in the future they’ll be needed for a particular size of carriage window. I glue the glass in with 5 minute epoxy, using two clean cocktail sticks / tooth picks. I rest the coach on its side, clean the glass and place it over the window opening. I usually just do four windows at a time. Mix up the epoxy and let it thicken for about one minute. It you apply it to the corner of the glass straight away, capillary action will draw it between the glass and the carriage side and will likely show on the outside of the carriage window. If it sets very slightly, it won’t flow so easily. I hold the glass in place with the tip of one of the cocktail sticks in my non master hand and apply a tiny dab of epoxy to each corner of the window with the other cocktail stick. I can normally get four windows done before the epoxy goes off. And then I do the next set of four windows. I sometimes use Micro Kristal Klear glue but I just seem to get on better with epoxy. I let one side lie for a while before I turn the carriage over and do the other side. I then glue on semi clear plastic for the toilet windows, guard’s area and so on. And then any window bars or handrails. You can see in the picture above that because of the curvature of the side of the BR Mk1, I also cut the glass along the line of the toplights(?)/quarterlights(?)/window vents(?), which results in slightly less gap between the glass and the side of the carriage on the lower part of the window. Sometimes I need to cut a corner off a pane to clear something like a soldered door hinge or door handle hole, as on the extreme left window. The Law of Sod decrees that this is the cut that shatters the whole piece! It can take a while to glaze a carriage – maybe 2 or 3 hours, but I think the windows look like glass, because it is! Sometimes when I’m doing the final build a window will crack, it’s just a case of sliding a scalpel between the glass and the carriage side and cutting off the epoxy and redoing. Hope that helps! Sorry for the chapter and verse... Kind regards, Iain

Over the last weekend I was able to finish off a Comet Models LMS D1932 Brake Composite Corridor carriage. In typical Comet manner, the parts went together really well. I needed to file away parts of the top of the nicely etched doors of the compartments, to clear the cross beams I’d soldered across the tops of the body sides. I spent a little time fashioning up some corridor gangway hangers (a short piece of 1mm x 1mm brass angle, some .45mm n/s wire and a wrap of wire filament to represent the spring) and the end toilet water filler pipes. And I added steps to the van end bogie. And all together I’ve also made up some curtains for the first class compartments, cut glass for the windows and bent up wire for the commode handles and the guards handrails. I’ve not made any internal window bars for the guards section as in the photo I have I can’t see any present. After I’ve washed the roof, I’ll add some roof ribs from thin tape. I’m not sure when it’ll get painted as I have no primer, nor did the model shop at the weekend and they didn’t know when they’ll get a resupply. I’m in no rush, I have had real issues with the paint lining I’ve done on the last few carriages so my bow pen is away at the doctors for a check-up; I don’t know when it’ll be back. That said, I’m not so sure it’s the pen, I think it’s something I’m not doing right. Kind regards, Iain