Boris

Well, after a full afternoon of surgical wrestling all the brake assemblies have been put together and fitted. This is quite a fiddly job, mainly because there are 24 seperate small parts to laminate, plus brake shoes to fit etc. I made a slight error when fitting the brakeshoes in that they were sat far too high, I find that brake shoes should be roughly aligned centre to centre with the axle journal. When I first fitted them, the brake shoes were barely visible below the bogie frame. Once the bow girders are fitted and the safety hangers are added, the bogie becomes quite a nice model in its own right. The only thing I do need to do is remove the safety hanger at the dynamo end of the bogie because this is a top linked bogie and this hanger is for the link on a bottom linked bogie. Dave Butterworths build suggests removing the wheels to fit the brake gear, which for the next bogie I will most certainly do as trying to work round the wheels is very tight indeed. On with the next one! (time now at 21 hours) Update - 2nd bogie now at the same stage as the post dated 4th January. (time now at 28 hours)

Okay, I've had a good couple of sessions now, and this actually looks like a bogie: The end frames and subframe assemblies have all been put together and fitted as have the main hangers for the 8 brake shoes. More obvious is the fact that the wheels have been added, along with the axleboxes, horn guides, leaf and bolster springs. The large pulley is the drive from the wheelset to the dynamo on the GUV (GUVs had a small battery box and dynamo to power the internal lights), one surprise was the line in the instructions telling me to leave the pulley loose to allow for alignment of the provided dynamo belt! Sure enough there is a nickel silver dynamo belt included to add later, along with the castings for the axlebox fronts letting folks know that they are looking at a BR1 bogie - these axlebox plates are next to be added then we're on to the brake rigging. (Time now invested 15 hours)

Me and this camera are going to have a major falling out soon, but never mind. I've had some spare time this afternoon to push on with the construction of the first bogie unit. It is now recognisable as a BR1 bogie and I'm feeling quite happy that it's beginning to take shape, I'm actually off the first page of instructions now - mind you several of those paragraphs relate to double bolster or heavy duty bogies and the addition of springing (compensation). The side frames are quite easy, each being 2 main pieces and then a couple of detailing etches in the corners, coil spring hangers have also been added on both sides as has the bogie mounting/pivot box and the main bolster assembly in the middle. Progress was extremely slow and careful when assembling the various layers for the pivot mount as it all has to line up for the mounting screw to be fitted, and to build something wonky at this stage would probably prevent the unit from running properly. Fixing the side frames to the bolster was a pig of a job because the whole thing is aligned by slots/tabs on either side of the bolster which allow for quite a lot of play when you want the whole unit to form an "H" with everything all sitting nice and square and level. Not helped by the fact that I think the bit in my iron is a little too large for what I am doing and was nigh on impossible to get anywhere near the join. However, the try squares tell me that everything is level and it's passed the sheet glass test without a wobble too. Next set of jobs is to fit the coil and leaf spring units, a choice is given whether you want castings and a solid bogie, or real springs and have a bogie that effectively reacts like the real thing. At this point I have had a bit of a crisis of confidence and gone down the route of solid construction for an easy life - I built the Glass MD with working springs, it looks fantastic but I don't fancy doing it at the moment on something a fair degree more complicated. However, I will keep all the bits for making the springs work and MMP only charge £38.50 for another pair of bogies, so I could quite happily buy another couple of bogies in the future, make the springing work and simply change the bogies on the GUV - but that's one for the future. (Time invested so far 5 hours - I think I'll keep a tally on what I've done just for interests sake)

When I first opened the box I thought there were an awful lot of bits for a pair or BR1 single bolster bogies as well, but when you get into it, there are various construction options (heavy duty, double bolster, single bolster etc.) and all the relevant parts, plus each bogie has 2 outer frames and 2 inner frames which have to be laminated together (number 1 attached), so it soon adds up. This side frame is awaiting excess solder removal however my fibreglass pencil is out of ammo so it will have to wait. (Yes it will go on WCLC because it's narrower it won't take the scenery with it!)

Hi John, I think interesting is an understatement, unless you mean as in "may you live in interesting times"! To be quite honest until maybe 4 years ago I didn't have much in the way of soldering experience, I still make plenty of mistakes, but the best way is to learn by making them! Soldering isn't an arcane art, it's just a skill that can be learned like any other, the only thing I would suggest is possibly start with something cheaper/easy, like a brass wagon kit, it's not the end of the world is you mess it up, but it's a very good way to learn. In all honesty I've only built a low-mac, a class 20 and a glass MD in 7mm brass, I think this may be the most challenging to date. Boris

Just before Christmas I treated myself to an MMP 58' GUV kit, I've always like these vehicles as I remember seeing them of an evening at Newcastle as part of a TPO set. I've built and/or modified/detailed several when I used to model 4mm, both the GUV and the CCT (does anyone remember the Lima CCT model with the dynamos mounted the wrong way round?) for various Newspaper/Parcel trains - something that is something of a favourite of mine. I have an Easybuild Cravens DPU and have built a few SPVs and a Slaters Southern Stove B, but have always fancied a shot at one of these coaches. Having just finished an MMP Glass MD and bought both wagon and diesel detailing packs from them I elected to go with one of their kits. The only other supplier I can think of being JLTRT and their GUV doesn't seem quite right for me somehow, besides, if I do have a problem, David Parkins has proven himself to be an approachable and helpful person. Initially when you open the box it does seem extremely daunting, there are several bags of castings, multiple brass frets, a preformed roof and a pre-folded body. There are also etches for full interior detailing (right down to door securing chains on the inside of the doors), bogies, roof detail etc. The castings are all clean and beautifully formed, not a piece of flash to be seem anywhere, and the etchings are clean, crisp and it seems criminal to cut bits off or solder them! The instructions have also obviously had a huge amount of time and thought invested in them, including 7 pages of descriptive text, large and clear prototype photographs and masses of isometric exploded CAD drawings showing exactly how everything goes together. Having spent 2 days reading and re-reading the instructions I've made a slight start in a spare 30 minutes - there is quite a lot of push through rivet detail on the bogies and the trusty gravity rivetter has once again proved its worth. Experience has shown that less is more when it comes to pushing rivets through its better to make two or three light taps with the rivetter than one almighty whack that distorts the casting (yes it took me ages to work that out!) Once the rivets are pressed through the results look superb - next job will be to start putting together a bogie, updates to follow.

You took the words right out of my mouth - Meatloaf

Should've Said No - Taylor Swift

I have a photograph in "British Railways - Nationalisation to Privatisation" by Brian Sharp on page 54 showing a train of 14 of these wagons passing Portobello East Junction hauled by a Clayton 1, the picture is dated August 1964.

For crying out loud - Meatloaf