2016 has been a busy year for me in the world of railway modelling, however on personal projects I have made little headway. Father Christmas brought me a Slater's LNER/BR brake van, I also have one to build for Love Lane, a nearly finished one of my own and a second hand rescue job so I thought this a good place to get going in 2017. 4 BV's on the bench at once, all with lots of detail differences.
First to assess the rescue, things looked out of square but I thought I could pull that around. So I made a start when I realised why in fact it was a total rescue job....the bloody bucket had been stuck on upside down
Beyond saving. So I ordered the replacement sides from Slater's and set about pulling off the old sides, which left me here;
Solebars were distorted so came off, which meant loosing the buffer beams as well. Spot the deliberate mistake on the sides. So to Square one. As you all probably know these vans were long lived and numerous and I wanted to use my 3 to represent the differences. The Love Lane van has to be of the LNER type (stipulated by PJH years ago).
1) Love Lane BV - E234998 - Darlington built in 1939, Diagram 61. No ballast weights, early rain strips, 3 end lamp irons, roof/body grab handle, single shoe brakes, 3 hole disc wheels, vacuum brake gear
2) NE260922 - Built 1944 -Early full concrete ballet weights, 3 hole disc wheels, NER side lamps, 3 end lamp irons, single shoe brakes, roof/body grab handle, vacuum brake gear
3) B951480 - Darlington Built 1951 to diagram 1/506 - Later type concrete ballast weight, double brake shoe, non vacuum brake, one end lamp iron, roof/body handle and plywood internal ends.
4) E178705 - Darlington built 1935 - Spoked wheels, NER side lamps, early rain strips, no ballast weights, single brake shoe, vacuum fitted, 3 end lamp irons, no windows in end doors (no picture at the moment).
The photo's above are of early construction and you'll see I've added panels to the inside ends. The kit supplies them with a large recess and looking at photos this is incorrect. So the ends were filled pre assembly;
Also I some how lost a floor, so made a new one for the BR van from plasticard. Other than that and prepping the two roofs for the early pattern rain strip so far they have been straight forward kit builds. More to follow soon,
Mick.R