With the last stroke of the brush I deem this build complete. All that remains is to take the official portraits.
The T34 Brake Third and U4 First/Third Composite in their shabby glory.
The third class compartments of the T34.
T34 portrait from the luggage end.
The brake third's compartment end from the other side.
The gas light control end of the V5 full brake.
The full brake side view.
The First and Third Class smoking compartments of the composite.
The composite general view.
To recap, these three coaches came to me as one partly built, one built and terribly painted, and one unbuilt. I've had to disassemble, strip paint, repair and rebuild the first two as best I can, and build up the last as Slater's intended.
Almost all the parts used were in the kits. I've had to supplement one or two of the door furniture castings where they had gone AWOL from the boxes, and some of the end details - which is why the corner lamp brackets a different on two of the coaches: they are CPL etches as the Slater's ones were simply gone. The lost wax brass couplings are from the Bits Box, origins now lost to history. The transfers used are CPL waterslide and spirit fix. The grilles in the luggage compartment doors are also from CPL. Microscope glass slide glazing completes the ensemble - much better than the hazy plastic sheet supplied.
What have I learned from this build? Quite a bit about pre-War GWR coach liveries! I've learned I need a better bow pen, and I also need to pay much more attention to the surface finish before painting begins. I have also learned that I desperately underestimate how long it takes for me to do things. I also need to clean a lot of stray fibres off the finished models, left over from the weathering process.
Valuable lessons learned. What's next? I think I'll be back on the broad gauge for a spell, although I do need to sort out a schedule that lets most of the builds progress steadily, rather than get bogged down on one at a time.
