Next on the loose end to tidy list is this kit that I bought from an online auction and whilst it had very obviously been well travelled, it was all complete in it's box with instructions & transfers etc. Some people like the pictures on the old Airfix boxes, I think they're great too.



The first thing to attack was the Lowmac wagon and the thing that screamed out imediately to me were the wheels. They are a two piece plastic wheel that require gluing together at the axle and I wanted to go for metal wheels/axles for smoother running. I had some Hornby 3 hole ones that were slightly larger in diameter at 12.8mm, the original Airfix ones being 10.0mm. After a quick measure up of the parts, my solution was to insert a 1mm thick strip of plasticard the length of the wagon between the frame and the deck of the wagon. This gives the clearance needed to accomodate the larger wheels without fouling the underside of the deck and once painted doesn't stand out too much. I have marked the added strips with a yellow arrow in this picture.



I am slowly converting the rest of my stock to Kadee couplers, so this wagon was getting Kadees from the start. A rectangular hole was cut in the buffer beam and a plasticard plate was glued at the correct height on the underside of the wagon to take a No.5 coupler. The Kadee Height setting gauge is invaluable for doing this job quickly and easily.



With the Lowmac completed I moved onto the JCB. I really enjoyed this little model and I like the fact that you can assemble it so that the front & rear arms of the buckets can be manipulated. The rear arm can also be slide from either side on it's mounting and the seat rotates too depending on what your operator is doing. These nice touch's allows you to place the model around your layout doing different jobs and not have it stuck in one place doing the same old task. I deviated from the painting instructions a little and I didn't use the transfers as supplied, as looking at the age of them I didn't think the finished results would complement the model, but I may sort something else out in the future. I still need to get an opperator sorted and a bit more weathering, but here are a couple of pictures of progress to date.