A new project...HR d.4 van

Lochgorm Kits' HR d.4 Goods Van, ends erected.

I'm not at my most fertile as a modeller in the summer as the seasonal distractions, not least of which is my role as a mountain guide in the Lake District, prove overwhelmingly diverting http://keswickrambles.blogspot.co.uk/. However, Andy Copp of Lochgorm Kits recently sent me one of the first production kits of his new Highland Railway d.4 Goods Van and despite the calls of fell walking, tennis, gardening and the like I found it irresistible and made an immediate start. I worked on the parts as time allowed adding as much detail as possible and cleaning them up as I went "in the flat" and I'm now ready to put the van together.

I made a few changes to the buffer beams as the etched parts supplied were at variance with the drawing in the instructions. I thought the buffer beam was too wide as well, the drawing shows it narrower than the body of the van, so I shortened it, which meant removing the end fold-overs that make the thickness of the beam. I replaced these with an inner buffer beam which fits up against the sole bars to form the back of the beam; the gap between the inner and outer buffer beam will be filled with Milliput later.

I soldered the coupling hook solid into the buffer beam draw-plate instead of using the usual sprung coupling hook method after reading what Raymond Walley had to say on the subject of sprung couplings. Springing doesn't add to the realistic effect when an engine starts its train if springs start springing and wagons rebound from one another in an undignified manner. It's a state of affairs that can easily be rectified by omitting the offending springs.