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Fyi Bulleid pacific frames are 3' 3" apart because of the oil bath. The rebuilds weren't altered.

I said in an earlier post that the coal hatches would be removable. In order to stop them rattling around and dropping off, I've fixed a retaining clip to each one. They're just lengths of brass strip about 5mm wide, folded to less than the width of the opening and then soldered in position with LM solder. There is a small bend on the end of each lug so that they push in easily and then its just a case of bending the lugs out so that they retain the hatches. I've now painted the floor a light grey and the seats red. This is a guess, as there doesn't seem to be any info on the interior colours.

The cream is precision and the green is railmatch doncaster green. Yes it was applied with a brush, I thin the paint and apply 2 or 3 coats depending on the base coat.

Painting almost done now, another coat of cream needed in places. It would probably have been better if I had used white primer. The bogies are fitted and wired temporarily. I had intended to run the wires under the floor, but I forgot 🤦‍♂️. So I'll have to work out a way of retaining them.

Would've made a big difference, but such is life.

The next job is the motor bogies. Having a built model to refurb, meant having a motor bogie ready to go, or so I thought. When I tried it in position it clearly was going to foul the steps, as pointed out above. Just in case I checked it against the isinglass drawing and found that the bogie should be 29mm over the axleboxes, whereas the example I had was 32.5mm. So, I had to strip it down and start again. To get the right width I cut some brass channel 23mm long and soldered it to one end of one of the bogie frames. I repeated this with the other side and then checked the width with the two held together. It came out as 29.5mm over the axles and 21mm between the bogie frames. Any less and The wheels would touch the sides. I still think something isn't quite right, if I was working in EM or P4 it would be an issue. The two sides are now attached and I've filed away the back of each side to take the tenshodo mountings. The mounting and bogie frame was lined up with the motor bogie in position and then tacked in place. Once sure that it was all level the mounting was soldered between the sides. I've also drilled and countersunk two holes for 12ba screws to attach the plastic base plate. The two screws are soldered in place and filed flush and the base plate can be secured and is removeable for painting etc.

The steps are an issue and I may have to attach them to the bogie as well. The tenshodo isn't the most powerful and two on each railcar may have been better. Its been a learning experience all the way!

I've applied the primer to the bodies, light rub down and a second coat. At this point I realised I hadn't drilled the holes for the window grills. These will be fitted after painting. First coat of cream brushed on. I thin my paint so its easier to brush. The underframes were given a coat of primer, then matt black and finally satin black, all Halfords Paint.

I didn't like the whitemetal bump stops for the bunker doors, so I used 1mm brass strip. First I drilled holes in the strip with a .6mm drill and then bent them to shape. Then I soldered .6mm wire into the holes (I forgot photograph this stage). The wire is filed flush and the bump stops cut to the right length and then glued in place. I also didn't like the chimney's very much, both were a bit oval as well as being solid, so I turned up a couple of new ones. Next up is painting everything.

I've removed the moulded on door handles and handrails and replaced them with .45mm brass wire. I've also replaced the lamp brackets. The body is ready for painting. Rather than use the torpedo vents in the kit I've obtained some nice turned brass ones from Markits. They have a .5mm hole drilled in them so I soldered in .45 wire. And then glued them in place.

I needed to put the handbrake, control column and seats into the trailing cab end. The only way to do this was to make up a false floor and fit all the parts to it. It will drop in place and then can be fixed with solder. I've obtained 36 whitemetal tram seats from KW Trams, 18 for each railcar. I marked the passenger area floor so that the seats are 10mm apart, and once I had cleaned up all the mould lines, they were soldered in place 1mm in from the edge of the floor. With the vac and steam pipes, buffers and rivetted patches at each end of the sole bars, its now time to paint the underframe.

As well as the control columns and handbrakes supplied in the kits, I decided to add the boilers and flues. The boilers are made from 12mm diameter tube cut to 15mm long. A piece of brass is soldered at one end and then cut and filed to shape. I then cut two pieces of 5mm diameter tube to 7mm long. These are then soldered to the top of the boilers near the edge. The motor end with all fittings in place.

Next up are the steps to the cab doors. The steps at the motor end are wider than those at the trailing end. Again I've used 1mm nickel strip which as you can see had to be twisted through 90 degrees as on the prototype. These are then soldered under the step. The solder joint is rather flimsy, so I've had to drill in to the sole bar either side of each strip and add a piece of wire across them. This is folded in behind the sole bar and then soldered. Strong joint achieved and hopefully won't notice once painted. The centre rungs are added using .7mm wire. Getting them the right length is a trial and error process. I used a 3mm square brass bar placed across the sole bars to get the spacing correct. And then the 5mm bar that I used earlier to space the lower rungs. The end are then clipped off and tidied with a needle file.

I think most of the superstructure is complete now so time to start adding some detail. I've started with the steps to the centre doors. I've used 1mm nickel silver strip for the vertical rails. First I set the rails at 6.5mm apart for the passenger doors and 7.5mm apart for the luggage doors and soldered cross members to hold them at the ends. I then soldered .45mm wire across using a piece of 5mm square brass to space them correctly. Rather than do each step individually I'm doing them in sets of four, making sure that they're all the same. I then soldered some 2mm nickel strips against each piece of wire to form the steps. The steps are then cut individually to length, again using the 5mm square brass as a guide. The four steps on the right are offset on the rails for some reason, but photos do seem to bear this out. Soldered in position, the L brackets you can see will be added to the back of each step to add strength.

So I thought I'd just have to repeat the above steps for the second model. Nope, the two halves of the roof weren't wide enough and the whole thing was 2.5mm too short. After cajoling it to the right width I joined the two halves together, using a lot of solder to fill the gap. The next issue was at the trailing end the roof curved in more than it should. So I had to cut two slots as below. Then gently tease them apart to get the right profile. They were then filled with solder and filed flush along with all the mould lines and other filling in. I decided to remove the rainstrips on this roof as the mould lines were quite pronounced and I couldn't avoid damaging them.

I needed to add an extra bulkhead in the motor end, one wasn't supplied in the kit, so I cut a paper template and glued it to a piece of brass. Once cut out I soldered it to another piece of brass and cut out the second one. Both fitted nicely in position. Now on to the roof. The lugs moulded on the roof were set too wide, so I filed them down, measured and drilled holes for brass wire. By adjusting the wire I got the roof sitting central. I've decided to make the roof removable. To do this I first soldered a piece of brass across the underside of the roof in line with the bunker opening. Next I soldered another piece of brass between the body sides and against the bulkhead just fitted. I then placed the roof on the body and drilled through the two bits of brass to take a 2mm screw. I then soldered a 2mm nut over the hole in the body mounting. The other end is a bit trickier. I soldered a 'tongue' to the front bulkhead and a piece of scrap nickel to the inside of the roof. Lining these up was fiddly, but it seems to have worked ok. The roof now slides and locks into place at one end and screws down at the other end. The coal bunker doors will be a push fit allowing access to the screw. You'll notice that I'll need to repair the rainstrip. It was impossible to keep intact when tidying the joint.

I've cut the steps that fit to the sole bar from 3mm strips of brass. The ones for the larger doors are the same length, but the ones for the driver compartment doors are different. They're soldered in place first and then I added some .45mm wire under each step to add strength to the joint.

It'll fit directly to the underframe.

I decided to fit a floor in the motor end, actually fitted to the body, unlike the passenger floor. It will also add to the strength of the body. I cut a piece of scrap brass for each model. I then soldered a couple of pieces of rectangular brass 'tube' to the underside of the floor. These keep the floor flat. With the underframe fitted into the body dropped the floor in and tacked it place with 145 degree solder. The brass rectangle tube also make the floor the right height. I've soldered the floor firmly in place and just need to clean it with a fibre glass pen.

I've soldered some .7mm brass wire into the vacuum cylinders. Setting them at the right angle was fiddly, but I got near enough that I tweak them a bit. Next I positioned them so that the brass wire is at the extent of the levers, which are soldered at a slight angle. The brass wire is soldered to the levers and the cylinders to the base. The cylinders sit at an angle. Incidentally I used the isinglass drawing I have to position all the parts. You can also see the dynamo, which I strengthened by drilling through its base and into the dynamo. I then inserted some .9mm wire through and added some solder. I left a bit of the wire out of the base and drilled a hole for it to fit in. I forgot to photograph that process, so apologies for that.

No problem, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

The V hangers are now all in position, I had to cut the ones behind the battery boxes to fit them. I've cut the levers arms from some scrap fret and filed the taper on them. And then used .6mm wire to attach them to the V hangers. They are hanging loose at the moment.

I had to trim the battery boxes by 3mm because of the difference in height of the brass underframe. I've also soldered some scrap brass to the battery boxes to fill the backs in. The positions of the battery boxes are marked and a couple of air holes drilled. The battery boxes are then soldered in place, along with the gearbox and some etched V hangers obtained from Wizard Models.

I've cut three lengths of rectangular brass 'tube' to just under the width of the base, these form the supports for the floor. The end ones are soldered just inside the lines of the partitions and the third centrally between the two. The floor is cut form .015" brass again, to the same width as the base, and then soldered in place. The cut out is required so that it fits around the doors. The two main partitions needed to be filed to the correct width, then soldered in place. I came close to disaster, nearly melting through one of them, but I got away with it. I've also soldered a stretcher between the two sides to hold them at the right width. It should fall between the seats assuming I've measured correctly. The next job will be detailing the underframe.

Now the two bodies are basically together I need to fashion a method of fixing them to the base and make them easy to disassemble. First I drilled two holes at each end of the base 7mm from the end and 20mm apart at one end and 16mm at the other end. The reason for setting the screws differently is so that I can't put the body on the wrong way round. I then cut some pieces of scrap brass to fit at either end of the bodies and soldered them so that they are flush with the bottom of the cab front. I then laid the bases in position so that could mark the screw holes. 2mm screws are soldered into the holes from the inside and trimmed to about 4mm long. As you can see, the body and the base fit together nicely. I now have to fashion a floor for the passenger area and fit the internal partitions. So far so good.