Brassmasters 4mm Great Central Railway Dia 1X14 Horsebox kit

[Gordieb01]

I hadn't made up a Brass Kit for a few years despite several sitting in my cupboard.     Thought I needed to get back into it so decided to have a go at this GCR Horsebox.  For some

reason I always like Horsebox wagons they have a lot of character and there were so many different versions in the UK at least in the Pre Grouping era.

Starting off with the etched sheet, I separated the two sides and floor.

Punched out a number of half etched bolt heads on the sides first.  Then it was to solder in 20 small pieces of wire on the half etched lines under the Grooms compartment doors.

This I must say was some of the fiddliest bit of soldering I've ever had to do as each bit of wire was only about 6 to 8mm long!  One or two slight cock ups with needed unsoldering. Not perfect 

but once cleaned and painted I think they'll be alright.

Then it was fold up the sides and bend the roof supports at the top.  Finally where I have got to at the moment separate the two ends and tack solder to the sides.

 

[Gordieb01]

A wee bit more progress on the horsebox.  The Grooms compartment wall soldered in and the recessed planking sheets behind the 4 side openings were glued in on the suggestion of the Kit makers.

[jwealleans]

I have a couple of these to build, one from Robin Peover and the other Brassmasters.   Is this the suggested assembly sequence?   I'd have been tempted to put those sliding shutters in while the sides were in the flat (and a droplight for the groom's compartment?) then fold and solder the body up.

 

The beading can be a PITA when done like that: the last one I did (a D & S something or other) I did it last, with low melt and then touched the top of the bead with a normal iron. That had the effect of making the low melt flow and settle round all the beading while not getting any on the hot iron.  It made for less cleaning up than I've had to do in the past.

[t-b-g]

I tin the wire with as little solder as possible (60/40 type), then put plenty of flux in the half etched groove and apply a hot iron to the back of the vehicle side. The solder tends to go towards the heat, and the wire is usually firmly fixed with very little cleaning up needed at all.