A bit of ancient wagon kit history

At the Guild summer show I collected some kit’s that I had reserved with the E&T service.

In amongst them were some Colin Ashby PO wagon kits in between doing other builds I have slowly been putting them togther.

First a note from Colin that was included with the kits.

Colin Ashby note

This makes the kits quite ancient history but that said the detail is pretty good for the age of them.

Colin Ashby RCH PO Wagons

Colin Ashby RCH PO Wagons

I have included some of the missing internal washer plate detail but quite a bit was there to start with on the internal sides.

Colin Ashby RCH PO Wagons

Colin Ashby RCH PO Wagons

I did have to scribe the floor detail though – which is a reverse of some Slaters kits which have planks on the floor but no internal side detail.

Colin Ashby RCH PO Wagons

Colin Ashby RCH PO Wagons

I also had to raid the spares box for the brake safety loops indeed not having enough I had to cut some from styrene sheet.

Colin Ashby RCH PO Wagons

Colin Ashby RCH PO Wagons

The brake levers and guards were one piece mouldings which I will replace with a mixture of Slaters/Parkside and Bill Bedford etched spares.

Overall I am quite impressed with them, the only minor discrepancies are that they seem slightly longer than the equivalent Slaters 7 plank wagon and the moulded buffer bases. The size I can live with but I am undecided about the buffers at the minute – the heads were plastic so either way they will get replaced.