Have just spent a few hours knocking up the LMS 12T van kit I got the other week. I will not say that it is the best kit I have ever built. Following the instructions to the letter I find that there is an excess of side-play in the wheels and the brake rigging is not the easiest to get right. I don't know if the kit I had was the subject to some heat distortion but nothing on the brakes seem to line up correctly. However, with a lot of swearing it has gone together, at least it will be when I fit the buffers. The idea of using the horn-block method to give some sort of suspension, in my mind anyway, was bound to fail so it is built using a rigid chassis. I did stray from the instructions slightly by adding a piece of lead sheeting to the inside of the floor to give it a bit more weight. Will post a pic once it's painted.
Looking forward to it Bittern. The brakes were one of the hardest bits I found with the Parkside Dundas Fruit van as well. I did not think there was any possible way to have the shoe aligning correctly ........ But that might be down to my inexperience with these kits. I have a few more to do so I'll see if it is inherent of the kits or part of my own learning curve yet to be mastered. Apart from that, the kits look really good. Looking forward to the photo's.
Looking forward to it Bittern. The brakes were one of the hardest bits I found with the Parkside Dundas Fruit van as well. I did not think there was any possible way to have the shoe aligning correctly ........ But that might be down to my inexperience with these kits. I have a few more to do so I'll see if it is inherent of the kits or part of my own learning curve yet to be mastered. Apart from that, the kits look really good. Looking forward to the photo's.
Yes, I agree it looks alright, but after building Slater's wagons there is no real comparison. The only ones I found a bit more basic were the older Coopercraft ones, but when they are done they too look alright. It's not as though they need to be perfect anyway, if I wanted perfect I would have gone for brass ones.
