After all that I forgot to add that I also turned some replacement buffer stocks. Those familiar with Jim’s kits will know that to keep costs down Jim provides whitemetal buffers which can be sprung but it involves fitting a piece of spring wire through the back of the coupling hook and then to the rear of the buffers. Although I used this method on a few of my early builds having broke one of the cast heads of a buffer rather put me off the idea so now I add sprung buffers and I usually solder the coupling hook solid.

I had some spare buffer heads (kindly supplied by our very own Mr Moss as when received from NER Days they were unusable without further machining which Mossy isn’t equipped to do) which are fitted with 10ba nuts so the shank is a bit thicker than the 12 or 14ba that most comercial wagon buffers are fitted with. I did drill out one of the white metal buffer stocks and I did make it ft but the walls were very thin. I decided to turn replacements from some 14″ nickel rod. Although the finished dimensions were the same as the whitemetal examples the nickel replacements are much more substantial.

So now The van just needs these fitting, some sand pipes and coupling chains and a good clean up before painting.

On Bank Holiday Monday I took the one to be finished along to Harrogate show and again made excellent progress despite chatting to lots of people.

What I hadn’t realised at Redcar show is that although I had assembled parts 23,24, 25 and 26 into a sub unit and dry fitted fitted them I hadn’t actually soldered them in the second van. Sadly when I piked the van up to pack it away the sub assembly must have dropped off asI couldn’t find it at home when I discovered it’s was missing.

So I ended up scratch building a new sub assembly to replace the missing one.

I fitted a floor and then fitted the subassembly before fitting the rodding. Having prepared the parts before I went to Harrogate I did all the assembly during the show so didn’t get any photos of the subassembly after I put it together or without the rods in place. I replaced the two part etched crank with a piece of 10ba threaded rod (I have a number of short lengths from where I have shortened 1″ screws) with a wrap around that better represents the real thing.

Although there is a plan view of how the brake rods fit the small fitting that fits the upper rod to the bottom of the van isn’t provided so I knocked a couple up from scrap etch. Bending and soldering those last two short upper sections of rodding in place really challenged the patience and it’s a good job I was in public or I may have expanded my Anglo Saxon dictionary…

Wow, some time since I touched these. – 2020…

For the last couple of weekends I have been demonstrating brass wagon building at a couple of shows so I took these along to see if I could make some progress on them. Surprisingly I did manage to make quite a bit of progress with both of these now up on their wheels with brake gear fitted. They still need brake rodding added and then details such as buffers etc. – I will take some photos once they are properly dry.

The plan for these was always to sell them when complete to fund something else and now that they are nearing completion I am starting to think about what livery to finish them in.

The good news is that they are now both sold, one as is to be finished by it’s new owner and the second to be finished and painted in a yellow light railway livery.

Here’s where I had got to by the end of Redcar show.