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The brake gear is a bit weird because of the hopper and perhaps because it's LNER, who seem to specialise in slightly weird brake gear. On the kit, the brake gear is located using wire through the V hangers and they're positioned by the slots in the etching.

The ends have a flap to fold up which fits in a half-etched rebate on the sides and makes putting the body together very straightforward. Once the basic box is complete the detailing can begin with top rails on ends and sides which fit neatly behind rebates in the stanchion. The solebars are folded up, after more rivets are formed and then fitted. It's a tight squeeze to get them in but you'll get there with care. The parts for the hopper are fitted into slots in the floor. The chassis is a little nore complicated for this vehicle because of the hopper operating mechanism, which can only be finished after the brakegear is in place. Two V-hangers are soldered on one side, one on the other. The brakes make up from three laminations and then located using a rod through the V-hangars that are in line with each other. Once the brakes are in place, the axleboxes and wheels can be fitted in place and the hopper operating gear soldered up. The roof is more complex as there are hatches, end stops etc. The roof itself is pre-formed. I found it was a touch too long but pretty accurate for width. Frank

Connoisseur kits have an excellent reputation and the grain wagon has shown that this is well deserved. You start with the ends and, as can be seen, there are slots to accomodate the stanchions and half-etched spaces for the steps and vent. There are a large number of dimples to form rivets (I didn't count them). Completing the ends is very straightforward The sides use a similar approach to the ends and are equally straightforward to make up. Frank

The rest of the construction was pretty straightforward. The chassis inner support beams (parts 30 and 31) lack positive locations to fit them. As they have to support the drop link (part 38) it would be a good idea to fold that to shape and use that to set the correct distance apart of 30 and 31.. So now everything is ready for a clean up and painting. Frank

Next step is the side stanchions. Folding these up proved no easy matter as they need to be bent to a right angle and then a Z bend put in. To make the 90 degree bend successfully required the fold lines to be deeply scored and a Hold and Fold came in useful. The same problem applied to the roof runners (part 7) when I came to them later and eventually I resorted to using some brass angle I had to hand. The side stanchions go on in a particular order and the instructions make this clear and this time I had paid attention to them beforehand. There is a half-etch section at the top of the stanchion to go over the slightly stepped section at the base of the roof but I didn't feel this was deep enough and it was difficult to fit the parts neatly and a lot of filling with solder was required on one side. For the second side I carefully removed the half-etch section and this gave a much better fit. As the photo shows, I've also fitted the handrails made a start on the roof detail and soldered the V hangers to the chassis. On reflection, I'd put these on the solebar before the chassis had been completed if I built another of these kits as it was difficult to bring the soldering iron to bear in the somewhat confined spaces It might help if etched lines were provided on the back of the solebar to help locate these parts (and the axleguards, too). I'm conscious there's a few moans in this post, but none of the problems was too taxing to solve and I'm pleased with progress to date.

With the basic body and chassis complete, now comes the job of joining the two together. The kit makes this really quite easy. There is an etching for the outer end supports with a foldover section for the outer end supports. The top part of the end supports are half-etched so conform easily to the contour of the roof. Holes for handrails are etched through. Attach this structure to the buffer beam and then solder up the body to it. Repeat at the other end and you have a surprisingly strong join..The additional supports can be added, each made of two etchings. There are half-etchings in place to ensure accuracy. There are further etchings to attach to support the lower end of the body. The instructions and their accompanying photographs make everything clear.

Another potentially tricky area for this prototype is getting the right curvature into the roof and soldering it into the right position. As you can hopefully see, the roof is half etched which makes matters easier. There are also slots on the ends and in the middle into which fit tabs on the body. I used a piece of wooden dowling to get the roof into shape and, when satisfied, soldered up the tabs first and then the joints on the side and end. The slots on the ends were cut off and filed smooth, but leave the tabs standing proud on the roof as they are needed later.

Putting hopper bodies together in etched brass can be a bit fraught in getting all the angles just right. With this kit M & M use slots and tabs to assist the process. Sides and ends are etched together and fold up well. More slots and tabs enable the two pairs to be joined together well. When all is soldered up the protruding tabs on the sides and ends need to be removed to provide a smooth surface. Part no 4 can be added to the middle of the body but do be careful to file off the tabs on the sides as they are etched in the wrong place. The instructions do mention this, just wish I'd read them first..... Frank

A couple of grain wagons have recently been released. Connoisseur have released a kit for the LNER wooden sided wagon and M & M have released one for the BR standard wagon. The Connoisseur instructions can be downloaded from the website http://www.jimmcgeown.com/Wagon%20Kit%20Pages/LNER%20Bulk%20Grain%20Hopper%20Wagon.html and these give a good indication of the etches and castings. Similarly for the M & M kit http://www.modelrailwaywagons.co.uk/Instructions%20for%20download/MKD%2009%20Grain%20Hopper%20Kit%20Instructions.pdf Construction for the M & M kit begins with the chassis. The components are provided with tabs and slots and the whole thing can be put together fairly solidly before any solder is applied

I believe the last 10 were built with Stanier hooters.

If we studied it more closely it would repeat itself less often.

Takes me back 50+ years instantly. Brilliant!

Was the line to Sandon a sort of twig off the branch to Huskisson?

Finished Transfers for the Prestwins from Cambridge Custom Transfers and for the van a mix of Old Time Workshop and Fox. Frank

The body of the Prestwin is so well engineered that it is almost impossible to get parts the wrong way round some of the white-metal castings fitted and the etched brass walkway The lost wax pipework was fitted. It comes in three parts. Although the body and chassis are kept separate for ease of painting, they were temporarily joined up to do this as the chassis has a useful datum point for the lowest piece of pipework and once that is glued to the body fitting the other two parts is straightforward. The ladder and handrail castings were soldered for strength. The chassis went together in the same way as that for the Shocvan. The same comments apply about fettling the axle boxes and filing down the axle ends a touch. Frank

Whilst waiting for paint to dry I made a start on building a couple of JLTRT Prestwin wagons. These are beloved of railway modellers with the old Airfix kit still going strong after 50 odd years and a Hornby Dublo/Wrenn rtr version also being produced. The real things were built ti much fewer numbers and seemed to be quite concentrated geographically but they don't appear to have run as block trains so a couple in a 7mm train seemed reasonable. The distinctive shape of the wagons earned them the nickname of 'Sabrinas' after a model/actress of the day whose figure can best be described as curvaceous. I can't say I'm too young to remember Sabrina but I was young enough for her to make no impression on my mind which was too busy puzzling out why 45698 was named after a chocolate bar. So, in the interests of research I checked out Google images which revealed all......well, nearly all but enough to suggest the wagons were well named. These wagons are the 10ft wb variety but JLTRT also produce a kit for the later 12ft wb variation. The kit is pretty similar in content to others in the range; some resin castings whitemetal castings brass castings and an etching for the tiebars and the walkway Frank

Further work followed on the underframe. The axleboxes needed some fettling to get them sliding freely on the W-irons. When it came to fitting the wheels it became apparent that the axleboxes would not fit into the w-irons. I tried drilling out the axleboxes so that the bearings would fit deeper but there is always the risk of drilling out the front of them so the best solution was to file down the ends of the axles until everything fitted nicely. The wheels continued to run freely after this treatment. With the wheels in place, the brakegear could be fitted. The holes for the buffer stocks were widened and the buffer stocks themselves were held in places temporarily with some tacky wax. The wheels were removed and the same method was used to keep the tieguards in place and then the underframe could be painted.

The basic chassis is just a matter of glueing the components in the places provided for them. I wanted the wagon body to look as if the paintwork was a little tired so I used a grey primer as opposed to a red oxide one and then gave it some coats of Lifecolor Bauxite from the Rail colours set which seems to come ready thinned for airbrushing. The result was certainly a very drab brown but gloss varnishing for the transfers gave it a better colour

JLTRT have developed a wide range of van kits for the 7mm modeller, with LMS and SR Vans following on from the initial range of BR Vans. Part of the BR range is the Shock Absorber van. Unfortunately, for those for whom wagon variety is the spice of life, it's the same plywood body as the Slaters kit. The kit consists of body and chassis resin castings and bags of whitemetal and brass castings. The transfers are NOT included and neither are wheels. The body is completed quickly with just door catches and lamp irons to fix One of the issues that arose from the use of plywood in body construction was that any damage had to be patched rather than planks being replaced so I tried to replicate this with a square of thin plasticard. Frank

I think the clue's in the caption! It's Bootle Junction on the Southport line and 45156 maybe heading on to the North Mersey branch up to Aintree. I think Atlantic dock junction is in the deep cutting that was next to Bank Hall shed.

Email from Hattons this morning suggesting September 2016 for the green with no wasp stripes version.

Look like Iron Ore tipplers in that last one.

Like Apollo, all I can remember is 12T Vans and mainly class 24s and 25s, but it's a long time ago and the odd long wheelbase van could have got there. Huskisson did once boast a passenger service so there's no reason why parcel stock couldn't have been seen there.

I think 41222 was a numerically significant product of Crewe works, the 7 thousandth loco made there, perhaps, and the plate signified that.

Have you seen the Lightmoor Press book on the first 25 years of BR in the North West? Quite a reasonable section on Liverpool with a couple of photos of Walton-on-the-Hill and a longer section on Grand National.