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This is one of Parkside Dundas’s recent releases. The kit is of the LMS Diagram 2093 gunpowder van. Transfers are also included for the batch of 20 built for the LNER in 1944. A number of these vans were built under BR, but with Morton brakes instead of the independent type. For those not familiar with the terminology, using the brake lever with Morton brakes applies the brake on both sides. With the independent type the brake only works on the wheels on the side of the wagon you operate the brake lever.

Optional parts are included to build this version. Also included is an optional instanter link for the couplings, for models in the late LMS and BR period.

The basics of building these kits have been covered several times before, so I won’t repeat them. Construction was very straightforward, with commendably little flash to clean up. I do find with some earlier kits from this range that quite a bit of fettling is needed to get the solebars to fit their slots in the van floor. Not so with this kit, they fitted nicely straight out of the box. I used right angle clamps to keep the sides square, but the fit was good enough that I’m sure a good result could be achieved without them. On the body the only fiddly bit was marking out and fitting the roof joint cover strips, best done before fitting the roof. The axle bearings needed to be fixed slightly inboard in the axlebox backs to eliminate sideplay, something else I find to be quite normal with this manufacturer’s kits.

In my experience, if I fit the bearing to the plastic part with the backs of both flush, and then add a dab of thin cyano to fix the bearing in place, a free running chassis without wobble results. An alternative would be to use 10BA washers on the axle ends. As always the hardest bit of the chassis was attaching the brake lever guides. If kit makers generally could do something to make life easier, it would be to provide some form of positive location for these parts. Overall a quick and enjoyable build, and a kit that modellers with less experience might use to develop their skills.

The van is still making its way through the paintshop, so the picture shows it without buffers or couplings and with the roof and underframe still to be painted.