Iain.d

Hi David, Thanks for your kind words. I did fit the D shape commode handles, they're from Roxey Mouldings Part No 4A120. Kind regards, Iain

A few pages back there were discussions on ‘budget’ modelling (well, I think so, but its been a long day, so who knows!) of which I’m a great fan. In my boxes of things to do are many relics and wrecks, some are from my childhood; others are things I’ve taken pity on and thought ‘I can do something with that’ and so purchased it. As I’m not in a rush to build anything for any particular reason, other than my enjoyment, I can then spend time getting the bits together so that come the time I want to rebuild it, I’ve pretty much everything to hand. In the early 90s I built, quite poorly, a fair few plastic carriage and wagon kits which I have since broken down as best I can to their component parts, cleaned up and rebuilt to a much higher standard. The cost of the bits to rebuild or upgrade the kits hasn’t been significant, so I consider this the ‘budget’ bit given the original outlay was so long ago. Below are a couple of Ian Kirk carriages – now running on MJT bogies, with new roof vents, underframe trussing from brass strip, Comet BR buffers and Comet T door handles and commode handles from .5mm wire or etched Roxey ones and a better paint job. And this week I completed the rebuild a couple of old Parkside Dundas vans – a LNER 12T Van (PC06A) and a BR 10T Meat Van (PC09). All I have upgraded are the buffer shanks (Lanarkshire Models), sprung buffer heads (Gibson), couplings (Smiths or Roxey), brake safety loops (Bill Bedford) and transfers (Cambridge Custom Transfers). I added a few details such as lamp irons, brake hoses and brake gear from staples and wire. The monetary cost would be about £5-6 per wagon. I'm not a 100% sure about the instanter couplings on the meat van, but I think that's what I can make out in the photo I used for reference. I made a conscious effort to ensure that I glued things square, minimised the gaps (or used filler if necessary) and attached things robustly. My weathering skills are improving but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Kind regards, Iain

Over the last few days, I’ve been able to do a little more on a couple of Comet Models coaches I’m doing. The sides were prepared with door hinges (T door handles) and door stops (.45mm wire) and I’ve made a start on the bogies and wheels, on which I check the back to backs and then paint the front and back faces prior to assembly. For the top windows on the sides of compartment side of the Period II CK, I’ve used Rumney Models etches for the Stones Ventilators. They’re very fine and required some careful soldering. I then soldered up the main body parts. These still need to have the lower halves of the sides soldered to the ends and I only like to do that once I’m happy the underframe fits neatly inside the body. If time allows, I’ll make a start on the chassis’ tomorrow. The discussion a few pages back about stresses and ripples showing on loco sides and tenders caused me to look back through some of my images. To be honest I’ve never been particularly attracted to eastern region locos, other than A4s…I know, dangerous and fighting talk on a thread like this…but I’ve always thought they looked old before their time! In 1993 I lived in Scotland and Union of South Africa operated quite a few times and I made all the effort I could to see her/it. The weather wasn’t always conducive to photography but I did manage a few half decent images. On 30 October, I caught the loco here at the bottom of Gleneagles bank on the way back to Perth with the last of the days sun catching the side. The body work has some subtle cockling and rippling but nothing untoward or eye-catching; I also liked the fact the loco wasn’t immaculate but more just clean and tidy. Kind regards, Iain

This morning I was able to take some images of a Comet Coaches LMS D1966 Articulated TO+TO pairing that I recently completed. I think they’ve gone together quite well and that the paint job is one of my better ones! Here are the main components before assembly; while I try quite hard to make the interiors as tidy as possible, they always seem quite scruffy – not that it really matters as no one really sees those bits when it’s altogether, but at least I know it’s okay. And the bodies and roofs: And altogether: Its built very much as the kit came, I connected the two vehicles together with an old 8BA(ish) sized bolt soldered to the top coupling plate but on tidying up the kit’s box and leftover fretwork, I found a rather nice shiny shouldered bolt and nut, I guess that was the one I was supposed to use! I used microscope slip cover glass for the windows rather than the supplied clear plastic sheet. It’s sprayed with Tamiya Maroon TS-11 and varnished with a couple of coats of Vallejo Mecha Satin. The roofs are Vallejo Model Air dark grey, varnished with MIG Ultra Matt Lucky Varnish. I'll paint up some passengers and drop them in at a later date. In the mean time I’ve done most of the preparation work on this Comet Coaches LMS D1720A Brake Corridor Composite: And this Comet Coaches LMS D1791 PII Corridor Composite: Both of these will be finished in BR maroon and will form the two vehicles for Liverpool section of a Pines Express set that I’m putting together. Kind regards, Iain

It seems an age since I last showed any progress on an LMS D1966 Articulated TO+TO, that I started in early May; I’m not sure really why, although at times I have struggled to find the enthusiasm after a long day at work. And of course, like everyone else, there’s ‘normal’ life to do also. The first photo is from the other day showing the main chassis and interior parts, it’ll be a slow plod painting the tables! And then the main body and roof parts. On this build, although there’s nothing any more complex on this set than other LMS coaches, the alarm gear and filler pipes shown here are the best of multiple goes at bending wire, drilling flattened pin heads and creating securing tags. At times it seemed like my fingers wouldn’t work and the amount of stuff I dropped on the carpet, only to be found by the vacuum, is nobody’s business! But all together it seems to look okay. I have to work out a method of coupling the two carriages together. I was going to simply solder a bolt from the top of the upper coupling tab, down. But the tab hits the whitemetal casting of the adjacent carriage, before the bolt can enter the hole in the lower tab and then through hole in the bogie. Maybe something from the bogie, coming up, will work. I never cease to be amazed at the number of little bits and pieces I make as sub-assemblies, particularly on the ends. I will attach the electrical cables next…I forgot until seeing the photo…and clean the roof and add roof ribs from thin tape. I will try and get at least the primer on this week. Not much else will done until August as I’m away with work for three weeks, from next weekend, driving up to the very north east of Western Australia (flying back), about as far away from modelling trains as is possible! Kind regards, Iain

I recently showed a few refurbished wagons and, in addition to those, I also completed this more recently purchased Peco Parkside former LNER 12 ton ‘Lowfit’. Like most things I make and model, I try to add something or improve them in such a way that individualises them – while I get that the success, accuracy or otherwise is often limited by my time, ability, mojo and access to information. Many moons ago there was an article in MRJ203 by Geoff Kent on ‘Little Boxes – The H-Type Container’ and I had always fancied trying to recreate something similar, so with the build of this wagon that’s what I have tried to do. The H-type container was generally used to carry bricks and such like (and was permitted to travel in Lowfits) – the MRJ article has some interesting background history to their service use – with up to four being carried in a wagon. For the wagon, first up I modified the deck fixing by replacing the moulded fasteners with chain loops, secured by fine brass wire; not really seen or needed but I thought it an easy improvement. And then I built five H-Type containers from 30 thou plastic sheet (if doing it again, I’d use thinner); I built five because I guessed no matter how carefully I measured, cut and glued the plastic card, if I’d have done four and put them together, they would have been either too long or too short, so five meant I could swap them around to get the best fit. The corners had angle plastic strip glued, which were further ‘thinned’ and I made the lifting rings from thin brass strip with a wire loop soldered to the end. I did try filing brass strip, as described by Geoff to make these, but I couldn’t get the consistency I wanted. Further reinforcing strip and the end opening metalwork was represented with 5 thou plastic strip. Rivet detail was added from Micro Crystal Klear applied with a cocktail stick; I tried Archers Rivet transfers but the ones I have are too big. Four of the five boxes were test fit and then added to a base/false floor to keep them all together. I also decided to make up some brick loads from scribed plastic card, which are removable. The containers were then painted grey and weathered inside and out. In reality they seem to have had a hard life and were perhaps more worn and damaged than I’m portraying them. Basic home-produced transfers and a bit of weathering was applied. While mine are not as precise or fine as those modelled in the MRJ article, I’m happy with them. The fifth ‘spare’ container will likely find a home somewhere on my ‘one-day’ layout. Upgrades for the wagon were brake safety loops (Bill Bedford and .45mm wire), sprung buffers (the plastic housings drilled out and Gibson heads and springs fitted), vacuum pipes and screw couplings (Roxey). Lead sheet was cut and fitted to the underside of the wagon to provide weight. Kind regards, Iain

I do find the tit for tat on here incredibly tiresome and so unnecessary. Kind regards, Iain

Sorry, I don’t have a Britannia to show, just this recently refurbished trio of Parkside Dundas LMS 3 Plank Medium Open wagons. Their first build was done in the early 90s, and although run on a layout back then they were never really finished, they had no loads or running numbers and one wasn’t even painted. Earlier in the year I dug about 20 similarly completed wagons out of deep storage, the ambition being to try and take them back to their component parts and rebuild them, as background projects, into something more approaching complete and accurate during 2022. The first is this LMS built unfitted one loaded with a Cambrian Models ‘A’ type container, which was a pretty poor quality moulding needing lots of fettling to get a fit to the parts. It has 3 link couplings, Gibson sprung buffers, improved brake safety loops (Bill Bedford) and cross linkages. Transfers are home produced – the font is perhaps a little too big. The container is ‘roped’ down with some brown thread – not sure if it’s quite right but I’ve seen other models (by well-respected modellers) done in similar manner. Completed with some light weathering. The second is finished as a BR built one, vacuum fitted and finished in BR bauxite (Railmatch 2235 Freight Stock Bauxite), again with some light weathering. I have loaded it with a BD container and added vacuum pipes, screw couplings (Roxey), brake safety loops and linkages. The buffer shanks are by LMS, I bought the drilled out ones (beautifully cast and finished, well worth the money IMO), and fitted Gibson heads and springs. Transfers, for the wagon, are from Cambridge Custom Transfers. And the third represents an LMS built diagram with vacuum brakes; I’ve secured a Dublo Diecast tractor as the load with cotton thread. I drilled fine wire loops to the deck as anchor points. I subdued the shine on the tractor with satin varnish. I’m not sure the wagon running number’s right (..too late…) although I thought it was at the time of application. A couple of the buffer shanks, from the first build, got lost somewhere along the way so these buffer shanks are from the ‘spares’ that so many Parkside kits used to have. They’ve been drilled out and fitted with Gibson sprung buffers. The drooping one has since been rectified. Brake gear improved as above and completed in Railmatch LMS Bauxite 612. It has Smith Instanter couplings. Some transfers by Cambridge Custom Transfers, other left over from I know not where. I’m quite pleased with the three of them; if they ever get into service they’ll be spread across a variety of goods services – if only to break up the rakes of opens or vans. Kind regards, Iain

Well, not much has happened here since the 'big crash'!! Anyway, I was out with the camera this morning and took this image. I know I've shown this location before (its an icon in Perth) but I got up purposely to take it, as this morning is one of the few weekend mornings of the year when the water was higher at dawn than it often is and there's less shadow under the boathouse. Kind regards, Iain

I have walked over that crossing by the box, many, many, many times! Kind regards, Iain

Thanks Adam, that was good to watch - and no sag! I have identified just three images of LMS articulated stock in my collection of Somerset and Dorset books, two are by RC Riley showing a BTO/TO set in an ECS train at Evercreech Junc in 1959. The third is a TO/TO pair, as the second and third vehicles, in an eight coach train Bournemouth to Bristol service in August 1961 (Gavin Morrison - The Somerset & Dorset Railway 1961-66, p.28) - the inspiration behind wanting to recreate my own set! Kind regards, Iain

Over the last few days, I’ve made some steady progress on an LMS articulated TO+TO pairing. Having made the carriage bodies first, I then did the underframe trussing and floor pan. The trussing etches are beautifully done and went together without issue. The design, and fit, of the chassis is different to all except one of the Comet Coaches kits I have put together previously. On those, the solebars fit neatly into holes etched in the floor pan whereas on this variant, the solebars fit onto tabs protruding from the floor pan. This seems to make the floor pan narrower than it needs to be and if you don’t get the chassis to sit ‘inside’ the carriage body at exactly the right height, the protruding tabs can be seen. It’s only a minor point and I’m not sure if it was designed intentionally this way (for a purpose I can’t fathom) or its just the way it was designed. Put together to check the height relationship between the two carriages. The connecting pieces are just bent/folded up brass tabs but lined up exactly. While ride height between adjacent individual coupled carriages varied, the real character (to me) of articulated stock is that they should be the same height and ‘look as one unit’. The coupling bolt needs trimming – I'll probably substitute something more appropriate. And with the bogie sides and bolsters fitted and the roofs cut to length and resting in place. The facing ends have bow shaped castings to be attached and next I’ll file the ends of the roof round/curved to try and match the bow, then solder cross beams between the eaves and drill holes in the roof for securing bolts. Then, I’ll knock up the interiors. Kind regards, Iain

I think some of the weathering shown on this page, and the previous, is outstanding - inspirational and truly worth emulating. Weathering is something I’m still learning, I did a few locos many years ago with powders and dry brushing that I think were okay, but they’re probably distinctly ‘average’. So, for some of my recent humble efforts - I have started practicing on some wagons I’ve built, firstly these couple of SR Box Vans in grey. I’ve just used a dark wash and some dry brushing of brown and rust around the underframes and some of wood supporting angle iron. On one I have attempted to replicate replacement of the roof resealing strips. And on this bauxite one, much the same. And on this Container BD I’ve spent time on the roof trying to show cracks in the lining/covering. And a pair of conflats with light weathering I never saw ‘working steam’ but I’m aware that it wasn’t pristine and towards its end in Britain, it was truly filthy, but that’s not what I want to represent. I will work to what I hope is a subtle level of light weathering so things don’t look new but at least cared for. I want to see much of the colour of the stock - I want to get pleasure looking at it. For me its very much work in progress, I have The Art of Weathering by Martyn Welch, which is really good; it’s only negative for me is that most of the photography (other than the colour supplement at the end) is in black and white. But I need to refer to it more. Kind regards, Iain

I saw this request over the weekend and meant to respond. I have a kit and was was going to dig it out, copy the instructions and pm you. Unfortunately everyone in my household is Covid +ve and I got distracted by them. If you want photos of the kit bags/pouches I can do that. kind regards, Iain

I recently started this Comet Coaches LMS D1966 TO+TO Articulated Set, over the weekend I did a couple of hours on fitting the side furniture (door bumps, hinges and window frames), prepared the ends and the bogies; I had a bit of a moment trying to work out why there was only three.... I also painted the faces and backs of the wheels, I’m not a fan of shiny wheels if it can be helped. And then today I managed to construct the bogies and assemble and solder the bodies as boxes. It would usually make sense to build the chassis first and then the body but as Comet chassis’ sit slightly inside the body, I’ve found it’s easier to fettle the chassis to fit the body rather than the other way around. The chassis will be built next. Everyone in the house is COVID +ve at the moment – except me – so I’ve been on carer’s leave today (hence some modelling time on a Monday). I’m 3 days RAT negative but suspect that run will end soon! Kind regards, Iain

Some nice looking model locos for sale on this and the previous page – I’m glad they’re selling. I was quite tempted by the S&D 7F but I have enough of my own to do…. I have just finished this Comet Coaches BR Mk1 D23 Restaurant Unclassified, there was a hiccup or two at the end but I think it has turned out ok. There’s nothing particularly special or noteworthy about it, I suspect if it ever gets to run in a rake, it’ll easily be ‘lost’. The original M1925 was built in late 1958 and would appear to never have received Gresley bogies as most of its lot/batch did. Images of these RU vehicles, in their early days seem few and far between and so I have nothing to work off for accuracy, I chose not to add ‘no smoking’ labels (not knowing which windows might have had them or not) or curtains to the windows. In one of Ivo Peters' Somerset & Dorset videos there is colour footage of a similar age/era BR MK1 Restaurant First with brown/deep dark maroon curtains (definitely not orange or blue); if I come across a 1959/1960 image that shows them, I can easily add them. As I have no lining transfers the lining has been done with a lining pen and Tamiya gloss yellow and black, it’s not perfect but everything is parallel and evenly spaced, if a bit thick. Thank you to Woodcock29 for the ‘Ms’! It was going to be part of a Pines Express formation I’m building, but looking again at CWNs, I can’t see references to RUs being formally allocated so it’ll be used in another service, perhaps paired up with the LMS D1966 Articulated TO set that I have just started. There have been a few articulated sets shown on this thread over the last few years and they’ve always interested me. From the books and videos I have about the Somerset & Dorset route, former eastern region pairs were not unusual in the 1950s and early 1960s, LMS ones less so, but I just wanted one! Kind regards, Iain (…happy to remain in the shadows of the hobby and the web…)

This week I was able to finish off a Comet Coaches LMS D1796 Stove R that has been on the go for a couple of months. There have been quite a few of these built and shown on RMWeb over the last 10 years or so and I used many of the pictures and words to help me with this one – so a big thank you to those modellers. It is built very much as per the kit, other than the underframe area and the window bars. I’m not sure how ‘correct’ the detail I’ve added on the underside is, it’s better than that offered by the kit and, I think, looks about right. Working gangways are not required for this vehicle as it will be marshalled between a 4-wheel van and SR BY in a Derby bound perishable goods service. It has Romford screw couplings – I’m not a fan of these as I think they’re over scale, too chunky and hard to ‘loosen up’ so don’t always fall at the right angle. But I have a few to use up and at least when coupled up they won’t be seen. The sides are also bereft of some wording these vehicles carried such as vehicle type name and weight distribution, but I didn’t have the transfers and couldn't get the printer to print a close enough shade of BR crimson. Anyway, it’s far too clean at the moment and a heavy dose of weathering will see to that. On looking at the posted photos, I think I have put the roof on the wrong way around as there is more overhang at one end that the other; fortunately an easy fix, as I can't 'un-see' it now! I am also close to finishing a BR Mk1 restaurant carriage; I had hoped to show this by now, but after its final wash I dropped the box I use to leave the models in while drying, onto a tiled floor! The carriage body suffered a few bends and a couple of solder joints failed (probably a good thing) and then after sorting that out, I did the same thing with the roof and bent both of the roof securing bolts beyond repair! Kind regards, Iain

Having had a busy day doing stuff around the house, I’ve now had chance to sit down, have a cup of tea and finish off a bag of small Easter eggs and show the progress on another current project: a Comet Coaches Stove R. The underside has lots of bits, it's not all correct or all in the right place but I think its close enough. The brake pull/push rod is just ‘placed’ for the photo, it’ll be soldered after the wheel sets are painted. I've yet to fix the brake pipes and the steam heating pipes. I don't think this had steam heating (hence the stove) but I imagine it had 'through' steam heat piping for use if marshalled between the loco and carriages. I’m quite pleased with how it looks so far, not having much of a test track, it will traverse facing points and go around a 3ft radius curve; if I ever build a layout, I hope it won’t need too much fettling or adjusting. Its ready for painting with everything pretty much done, I need to add roof ribs and I’ll also cut and fold up some card, from a cereal packet, to act as a former/holder/support/masking device thingy to sit in between the sides. All 12 windows needed bars to protect the glass; six fixed windows each with three vertical bars and six droplights each with four horizontal bars. I thought the easiest way to get these consistent would be to build a simple template. So I drew some lines on card where I wanted everything to go and then stuck some double sided tape over the lines. The bars are .45mm nickel silver wire and the supports are bits of brass off cut, 13mm apart for the vertical ones. The horizontal bars only need one side support. The ‘extra long’ brass offcuts are loose and just to stop my fingers bending (and moving/deforming) the bars when soldering. And then after cutting and tidying up. These have now been chemically blackened and the glass cut; for the vertical bars the glass is cut to 12mm to sit neatly between the top and bottom supports. I currently seem to be fascinated by 6-wheel carriages and NPCSS; last year I cut down a Ratio MR Clerestory Third and converted it into a 6-wheel departmental vehicle and I’ve just a bought a Thompson BZ kit from ‘macgeordie’ for no other reason than I wanted one! Also, last year I purchased a couple of Mousa Models S&DJR 6 wheel kits and I’m in the early stages of scratch building two S&DJR 6 wheel brake vans! Kind regards, Iain

Hi Richard, I’ve only ever known Roxey kits to come with a plastic moulded roof – some of their sides used to be moulded plastic too, hence the name Roxey Mouldings. I find Roxey plastic roofs quite tricky to cut and fit and did once consider using an extruded aluminium roof from Comet on a Roxey SR Maunsell carriage but the profile just didn’t look right, and it looked too heavy for the carriage. I’ve done eight Roxey coaches and used nuts and bolts to secure the roofs on all of them; magnets to secure might be an option but my thought would be only if the roof is a nice easy comfortable fit. None of the Roxey’s I’ve built had been easy fits and I doubt that a magnet would hold the roof place the same way a more secure fixing would - at least on my builds. It would be interesting to see how you go with aluminium roofs. Kind regards, Iain

Hi Martin, You're right but this vehicle is intended to sit in a rake between carriages that have prominent roof ribs (refurbished Hornby 1980s Stanier's) and to not put something on this Mk1 will, I think, draw attention to it. I will use thin and narrowly cut tape. Without wanting to re open the debate on roof ribs, its something I can live with. Kind regards, iain

Hi Al, Good point – kind of well spotted! I have taken some photos to try and better illustrate my method. First off, I drill a 1mm hole through the aluminium roof and then use a taper broach to open it out so the bolt passes through with the minimum of slop (a 1½mm bit is too big), then I partly drill a hole with a 2mm bit from the top of the roof, as deeply as I can, but not passing through the roof – just feeling the tip of the bit on the underside of the roof tells me it is generally deep enough. I only have cheesehead bolts so I reduce the diameter of the bolt head to fractionally <2mm and then lower the profile of the bolt head with a file so when in the hole, the head sits below the level of the roof. A tiny amount of glue (epoxy) is smeared under the head of the bolt and I then secure the bolt using a washer and bolt on the underside of the roof. The cross beam that I solder between the sides of the carriage is cut to within smidgen of the right width and a hole drilled through the centre. A bit of filing ensues to fit the cross beam squarely between the sides, keeping the bolt perpendicular to the roof and hole over the centre of the roof line. I put a spacer (3 layers of cheap masking tape) between the flange on the aluminium roof and the top of the cross beam – this ensures the roof is tight at the cantrail – and then solder the cross beam in place. A confirmatory check that all sits as it should. Once done I smear a bit more epoxy around the nut and bolt on the roof’s underside. On the top of the roof, I try and hide the bolt hole with roof furniture. I was able to do that at the kitchen end of this vehicle. At the seating end I filled the small recess with filler and smoothed it flat. And at a more normal viewing distance, it'll be lost under the paint. Sorry for the long explanation – and if you’ve had to suck lots of eggs…mind you it is Easter… Kind regards, Iain

A week or two back I showed my progress on a Comet Coaches BR Mk1 D23 Restaurant Unclassified, which is now ready for the paint shop. A few photos include, the rolling chassis with coupling. The coupling swivels on the additional soldered nut and bolt. With the interior fitted. The kit came with the seats (individual chairs) but there were no tables, glazing or other bits of plastic card, so I cut up some tables and partitions and painted them. I’m not sure how accurate it is; interior pictures seem quite rare and the recently acquired Longworth book didn’t show much. The chairs for the left hand end tables will be glued into the body after painting. The roof is removable. I solder substantial cross beams between the eaves with a hole drilled in them; this also helps provide significant strength to the body which reduces the likelihood of damage when being handled during the build. Makes it easier to paint with no roof too. There’s a 12BA bolt drilled through the roof to pass through the holes. And a final test fit prior to the final clean. One of the filler pipes at the far end needs adjusting. All the glass is cut for the windows, corridor gangways/connectors made up and the door handrails bent and cut. I’ll clean the roof tomorrow and add roof ribs from thin electrical tape. I should be able to get the primer onto this, this week, just need to clear some space in the garage – my painting area has become the main dumping area…! I’ve also got as far with a Comet Coaches Stove R I’m also doing. If time allows tomorrow, I’ll try and post some pictures of that. Happy Easter. Kind regards, Iain

Thanks very much Jim. I've done a few Roxey kits and have three in the pile to do. I think, on the whole, they're exquisite; some of the designs are genius, others less so. I only seem to struggle with the roofs and have to take them carefully. I did show my builds of them on this thread about 18 months to two years ago. The photos are now missing but who knows, they may reappear. Good luck with yours, it would be good to see them as you go. Kind regards, Iain

One of the other modelling projects underway is this Comet Coaches Stove R. The build is not too far off being done. A few people who read this thread have made mention of building these and mine is little different to others that have been shown on the forum. The underside of these vehicle is/was quite busy, I get the feeling the drawing shown with the Comet kit is more guess work than accurate, that said mine has a reasonable level of guesswork too. The W irons/axle assemblies look more complex than they are, I’m not sure I’ve got the brake pull/push mechanism right and there are vacuum cylinder, dynamo and electrical boxes to be added – these will be done closer to the painting stage. This vehicle will form part of a parcels train (8.25pm Templecombe – Derby (Perishables) service) and will sit between two non gangwayed NPCCS vans and so I soldered up the cast gangways that came with the kit rather than make my own. I will try and fabricate something that looks like a door on the vehicle end, not that it will be visible through the gangway aperture. And with the main bits placed together. I used the shell ventilators supplied in the kit. I did this blindly without any checking of appropriateness. I assume some did/may have had shell vents but I have yet to see a picture of a vehicle so fitted. Most seem to have torpedo vents and the one shown on the Wizard website has the later LMS type of vent. An easy fix though when I can find out more. I’ve yet to add a chimney. Many of these vehicles had beading added to the sides later in their lives, to cover the joins in the sheetwork; I’m undecided yet whether I’ll represent this on this one. It’s going to be finished in BR Crimson (circa early to mid 50s) so may not be required. I had hoped to have this, and the BR Restaurant Car I posted yesterday, ready to paint by the end of March but there is still some way to go on both of them. With RMWeb being unavailable I was also able to do lots of things, not just modelling, but other hobbies and interests too. I don’t think I do enough modelling to warrant a thread of my own and I’m not even sure if what I post here is of particular interest or I'm just filling space and time. I’m not sure if others like seeing models in the process of being made or prefer completed ones. For me anyway the offline time allowed a little food for thought on what I do and why I do it. Kind regards, Iain

Since RMWeb went down, I like many others was able to do other things, one of which was a bit more modelling. I didn’t think I’d done much, until I realised my workbench was a mess of lots and lots of little things, which when added together was a reasonable amount of progress. I’m partway through a Comet Coaches BR Restaurant Unclassified. The underframe is just about done, only a coupling to finalise and brake gear to solder on. I’m aiming to depict this carriage circa 1957-1958 and I’m assuming, as close to being new, it would still be running on the original BR bogie with brake pull rods easily visible (a la Maunsell and Bulleid). I have a copy of Hugh Longworth’s BR Mk 1 and Mk2 Carriages on its way here, so hopefully that will tell me more. And the body is not far off done either; some roof furniture to go although I have made up the water tank filler pipes. All the castings are cleaned and have been test fitted so it’ll be easy job gluing them in. It's being to look the part. Here’s an image of how I deal with the pipes. Lengths of .45mm nickel silver wire are bent as accurately to shape as I can and laid on the roof, some cut down Bill Bedford brake safety loops (one brake loop makes two fasteners) are crimped over the wire (bit like a split pin) and are inserted into some .7mm holes in the roof. A .5mm thick offcut of plastic card is used as a spacer and secured with a bit of tape. Then the crimped loops are soldered to the wire. They’re easily removed being friction fit. Roof ribs will be made from thin tape at the end of the build. Kind regards, Iain