Slaters LNER Brake Van

My order from Metalsmith arrived this week so I moved back onto the Slaters brake van build.
The order from Metalsmith was chiefly for 4mm x 2mm angle which I have used to make replacement stepboards in brass.

Replacement stepboards

The reasons for this are twofold, they will be more resilient to handling and I can solder them to the cast brass stepboard supports provided in the kit.
Conversely I have swapped the cast brass buffer stocks in the kit for some spare Parkside ones of the same style which I can glue more easily to the plastic headstocks.

I aslo cut out and cleaned up the axles boxes and springs ready for fitting and ran in to a little problem.

Slaters LNER Brake Van – Buffers and Springs

I had previously fitted some triangular (well almost) etched corner plates to the underside of the headstock/solebars. as you can see from the photos these now prevent the spring hangers from sitting flat under the sole bars. A look at the GA reveals that the spring hangers have been cut to allow the plates to be fitted but I feel that I may have fitted them in the wrong orientation and plan to remove one of them to check how it fits with the plate turned through 45 degrees.