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Chris Gwilliam gets to grips with Slaters’ 43ft coaches
From Gazette Vol. 21 No. 4 August 2020
https://slatersplastikard.com/

Photos by the author

THE EARLIEST OF THOMAS G CLAYTON’S 43ft suburban bogie coaches date from about 1880, with the last examples leaving Derby Works in 1888. Sturdy and reliable, many had long lives, with final withdrawals not long after the LMS renumbering of 1933. I worked on the assumption that those which were renumbered did not receive a repaint into simple livery so late in their lives. Faded fully lined livery was clearly the way to proceed, as the four coaches in the set are meant to represent vehicles kept in reserve for a workers’ train, with only third class accommodation — two Thirds and two Brake Thirds. These Slaters’ kits are, as usual, very well provisioned, with Mansell wheels, bearings, interiors, glazing and screw couplings all included, needing only paint and transfers to complete. The bodies and roofs are injection moulded plastic, with lost-wax detail parts (door handles, commode handles etc). The bogies have an etched frame with lostwax and plastic add-ons. Sturdy boxes will hold the finished models. The instructions are extensive, with plenty of exploded diagrams to help you.
The body panels are lined up ready for gluing. The third from the left is reversed to show where to re-drill holes for the handles 0.7mm.

A straight edge is used to ensure a level base to the sides, and door vents have been added

All that’s to the good, but I have one big issue with these coaches: the sides have to be built up from short panels, each representing one compartment. Use a sharp scalpel to remove the parts from their sprues to avoid damaging visible surfaces, and clear all the holes for T-handles and commode handles with a 0.7mm drill. The instructions advise placing the panels against a straight edge on a flat surface, running Mekpak into the joints and leaving the sides to set overnight. I disagree with this approach, as I found it easier (only a comparative term) to make slight adjustments while the glue was setting, in order to obtain as smooth a joint as possible between each part. I fail to understand why the joints are all mid-panel, as they would have been so much easier to disguise if they had been along door edges, as you find in Ian Kirk’s modular-build coach sides. I spent several hours per coach with fine sandpaper and a glass fibre pencil to level lots of slight ridges and dips, and making good with epoxy putty. The joint between the brake end and the adjacent compartment was particularly difficult to align as the two parts are slightly different thicknesses. It quickly became clear that this was going to be a slow, labour-intensive and painstaking build.

There’s no need for me to give you a blow-by-blow account of the build-sequence for the body as it’s well covered in the instructions, but there are a number of points to note. On the Brake Third the alarm gear and electrical switchgear is at the van end, which is not shown in the drawing as it depicts the vehicle in ex-works MR condition ie before alarms became compulsory and electric lighting was fitted. The gas piping on the end can be omitted for coaches in later life as the LMS fitted the survivors with electric lights. Marrying up the body sides and floor
Body, solebars and floor united on one of the Thirds

Don’t fit the brake cylinders until after the V-hangers are in place - it’s easier that way. The linkages for the brake cylinders need re-drilling 1mm, best done whilst the etched parts are still flat. The V-hanger/brake cylinder assemblies are on the far side of the Third if you are viewing the body with the electric switchgear at the left hand end. I cleared all the mounting holes on the solebars for the running board brackets with a 0.8mm drill, and the brackets themselves needed cropping to remove the extensions for lower running boards, which had largely been removed by LMS days. Gas cylinders, dials and filler pipes are of course omitted if you are building an electrically lit coach. The holes in the headstocks needed opening out slightly to accept the sprung buffers. The tiny hooked etch which clips to the inner end of the buffer shaft has a half-etched line, but don’t fold it — it will work better if kept flat.

The roof will also need to have a joint disguised, as it’s moulded in two halves. This is tedious. The interior partitions are a fraction too tall, so remove 2mm from all upper edges. Don’t forget to trim the seat squabs along the groove on the reverse for third class, which has narrower seats than first class.
One of the Brake Thirds taking shape. For unknown reasons the plastic for the guard’s end is grey, not red. The joint between the grey and the red was particularly troublesome.

Buffers have been sprung, the end steps have had pegs added for safety, and the jumper cables are cobbled up from bits.

The battery box is not supplied so it’s been scratch-built. The brass parts for the brake gear and running boards are in place.

Some tips to help you along: the etched holes in the brass frames need enlarging to accept the studs on the cast brass ends and the pegs on the rear of the spring hangers. This is best done while the etched frame is still flat. I did not punch out the rivet detail on the frames after the first attempt, as I found it introduced too much distortion. The centre beam needs drilling out to accept an 8mm screw, then folding into an inverted U and soldering in place between the side frames. Do this before attempting to add the two additional cross-bracing pieces, contrary to the instructions. The white metal cross-piece is glued on top of the centre beam. The transverse leaf springs are lost wax castings and need soldering to the bolster hangers before being placed in position. For the LMS period you can omit the running boards, except for those under the guard’s compartment on the Brake Third. Even after I had made the decision to simplify construction, and had got into my stride, I still found it took a whole morning (3 hours) to assemble just one bogie.

Painting and lining proceeded according to my time-honoured methods, with airbrushed topcoats of gloss lake, and satin black and desert sand lining with a bow pen. The quarterlights are in a mid-brown matt enamel, also applied with a bow pen. Roofs are airbrushed Humbrol olive drab and tank grey (66 and 67) in equal proportions. Don’t attempt to use a rattlecan for the undercoat or body colour, as even modern acrylic formulae can attack the surface of the plastic. Transfers are HMRS. Weathering is thinned matt varnish to which small quantities of earth-coloured enamels were added, drifted on with an airbrush. When dry the models were dusted with Greenscene powders applied with a No. 9 soft brush.

The passengers are a pack of 50 plastic figures from Haywood Railway, cheap as chips at £10, which come in garish modern colours, so they were repainted in fifty shades of grey, as befits the grim and grimy 1930s. The end result is satisfying, but not every body-joint is completely invisible despite my best endeavours, and I would have to think very hard before deciding to build any more.