A couple of coach builds coming up.

My order from Slaters, scheduled for Monday next delivery actually turned up yesterday afternoon to my surprise (and delight!).


As can be seen, an SR/BR 50' bogie guards van (etched bogies) and an SR/BR 4 wheeled Guards van. The two packs of wheelsets? Well, after building all the recent Slaters and Peco wagon kits, I had quite a lot of surplus bits left over as both lots of kits give a number of alternative builds, so I decided not to let much of these bits go to waste, so I knocked up a couple of 'might have been' wagons from these parts. I have still some work left to do on the brake gear of both wagons, and some parts still not in my spares box which I'll have to fabricate or otherwise get hold of will be sorted in time, but for now at least, they are rolling on their own wheels. These will go into the 'Pending' tray, coach kits will be started shortly.
Keith.

 

I chose the etched option for the bogies rather than the plastic version (which was cheaper) as I thought the detail would be better (and to be honest, I'd rather solder than stick!). 'Origami in brass' Eh Rob? Well, I'm always up for a challenge so we'll give it a go and see how it works out.
Keith.

 

"Too late" was the cry! I've already built and painted the chassis. I will be adding lead flashing to the floor of the coach though so that might go some way to 'stabilising' things through points, and hopefully keep it 'on track'.

Keith.

 

I finally finished the Southern 'BY' van after deciding it would be 'restored' to original finish as built, since it will be part of my intended 0 gauge 'Heritage' layout. I happened to have a bottle of 'Railmatch' SR dark olive green enamel paint in stock, not quite sure how I ended up with that as I normally avoid enamel paints anyway and certainly won't use them in the airbrush. Be that as it may, I applied it by brush, it needing 4 coats after the initial primer to cover nicely, but I'm happy with the 'semi-gloss' finish which was dulled by applying matt clear varnish after decal fitting. Oddly, although Slaters wagon kits come complete with 3 link couplings, these coach kits don't so extra expense is required. Anyway, here's the end result. The orange panels??? They signify that the van is stove fitted for the guard, used when the van is part of a goods or non-steam heated train. These were not allowed to work off Southern metals, though the non-stove fitted vans found their way all over the rail network some into Scotland.
Keith.

 

Now for the 50ft bogie guards van. The bogies themselves are, as Rob mentioned, "Origami in brass"! I'm part way through working on these, brake blocks and hangers are somewhat frustrating to say the least, but I'll get there.
Keith.

 

Finally got this build completed after much faffing about with blackening the bogies.



After receiving the Darstaed coaches from Ellis Clark, I discovered that there were included 2 'dummy' rear lamps. I drilled each 1 out and fitted a 3mm LED, and have added pickups to this coach together with an under chassis switch and my 'standard' PCB lighting supply to run a rear lamp. This will then be the 4th coach in the set with a rear lamp at this end, and the other at the MK1 BSO at t'other end of the train.
Keith.

 

Don't know about the bogie brake Rob, but the 4 wheeled version certainly got around, up as far as into Scotland.
Keith.