billbedford

Did you check that the carriage restorers used white lead or some more modern synthetic substance for bedding in the canvas on the roofs?

I don't think this was true in general. The buffet cars were fitted with a counter, while the restaurant cars had only serving hatches.

As I said in a previous post, this should have been branded 'Restaurant Car'. The buffet cars were quite different:

I can't help feeling that the world wide sales potential for SciFi kits is many many time greater than for old Kitmaster ones.

There was also one by Stelfox.

A prime example of NPCS filth....

If you are OK with filing off the detail on the sides and ends it should be a reasonable conversion. The Hornby truss will be be short, but it is easy enough to fabricate one from brass angle.

Stick etches onto doctored Hornby 'shortie' bodies?

It seems to me this is part of a long cottage industry tradition of people making what they can rather than what the customers would like.

Can we deal with a few GC myths here? The 30 & 40 ton bogie coal wagons were built in 1903/4, the Baldwin loco dates from 1914, so they were unlikely to be part of the same project. The bogie coal wagons could only be unloaded by hand, so they were very unlikely to have be used for export coal. Coal handling at Immingham docks was by wagon lifts and end door wagons, so these were likely to have been the wagon used in the 100 wagon trains. A 1200ton GWL train (i.e. a 100 wagon train) was beyond the capacity of most UK railways in 1914.

Which book?

I don't think the GCR had any of these vans. Certainly they are not in the 1923 diagram book. However both the MET and the GER did have some.

Ohh does thane Horby are thinking Bachmann will do it and Bachmann Hornby? So we can expect an announcement from Oxford?

Those that were converted to buffets, i.e. 61495, 61496 & 61457 were branded 'Buffet' otherwise they were branded 'Restaurant Car', except for those that were converted to cafeteria cars. The corridor widows beside the the kitchen were clear, at least just after nationalisation. As far as I can see all GE coaches were built with 8' plate bogies, though some acquired Fox's after the grouping.

But see this thread first

I don't think so. Roofs were constructed by placing longitudinal planks over ribs (roof hoops). What seems to have happened here is that the white lead painted over the canvas covering has worn to the point where water has go into and expanded the stopping between the planks.

Instead of vinegar you could use Vikal or other limescale remover. All are weak acids, some I've had from a pound shop have been dilute hydrochloric.

There are four that are designed for 3'7" wheels BBWK003, 017, 020 and 031 with BBWK517, 520 and 531 using w-iron from the frets with the same last two digits but in a different configuration of the fret. I've given up designing etches, especially these small frets, but there is nothing to stop anyone else drawing up a similar arrangement for prototypes that are not included in the present range.

There is a w-iron in the Bill Bedford range designed for 3'7" wheels - BBWF003-4 There are also 3 specifically designed for 6 wheeled coaches I suspect the MR one is as close as you need - BBWF517-4. Note that the graphic on this page shows the 7mm version. The correct version is: BWF517 MR Coach W-Irons.pdf

Any OLE is going to look heavy and cumbersome in photos taken at portal level.

...and remember that no two wagons in a train ended up being exactly the same colour.

The really important dimension of a wheelset is the back-to-back. If you are going to press wheels on with a vise make sure you have a b2b gauge between the wheels when they are pressed home.

Slaters are still supplying some moulding s to the likes of Powsides, so the problems are more likely to be contractural rather than physical.

Slater's wagon are available from Powsides, though only decorated ones.

Ask your friendly local barber?