• Taff Vale Models (incorporating Dragon Models), 20 Slade Close, Sully,
• Vale of Glamorgan, CF64 5 UU
• Tel: 02920 026122
• Web: taffvalemodels@gmail.com
• Price: £55 excluding wheels, couplings and transfers

The prototype is a ventilated van, built under the order of the TVR during 1884 by Brown Marshall and Co. Although originally fitted with 3ft 11 /2 in spoked wheels, there is some history of them having been upgraded to Mansell disc wheels later in their careers. These could have been 3ft 7in diameter, but no evidence can be found. Six vans were built and all were absorbed into GWR stock. They were renumbered twice, before finally being withdrawn in 1935. My kit was bought from the estate of a deceased Guild member during the time it was in production by the former owner, Dragon Models, The kit was unopened. The kit comes as a flat pack mainly etched brass and is complete with roof rolled to suit, whitemetal castings and sprung buffers. The buffers in my kit required drilling out and assembling. However, Julian the new owner now provides this job already done, as a service included. Good instruction sheets are included, with blow by blow photographs of some of the most important procedures to be observed during building.

There is an excellent drawing of the prototype, by the late Mike Morton Lloyd, but if one is fussy this could be to be rescaled to 7mm/ft with a good photocopier or printer. No photograph is included, but I was lucky enough to have a copy of an ex works photo, which showed the original livery style and lettering. I shall make this available to the new owners of the kit.

Assembly was undertaken with 145º solder throughout and Powerflow flux, let down 20/80 with water. This is not corrosive but needs to be washed off after each building session, to avoid a build-up of Verdigris. I use a 60 watt temperature controlled iron. Squires solder paint was used for pre-tinning the strapping. Pre-tinning is vital, to minimise excess solder and at the same time, to obtain a good soldered joint.

The most important observation is to take time, before assembly, to deepen all of the fold lines which are half etched. They are quite narrow and a scrawker or triangular file needs to be employed, to achieve a crisp fold. There is a lot of rivets to punch out, all half etched, and these deserve a good rivet tool, particularly on the strapping. The sides are folded up from the floor. The ends need some careful tweaking to ensure that they sit inside the sides.

The half round beading was supplied in lengths which needed straightening before they could be cut to length and soldered into the half etched grooves where they are to be located. The best straightening method which I have found is to put one end of the wire into the vice end pull steadily on the other end with pliers.

The w-irons fold out of the floor and the van is not compensated. With a little ingenuity, some compensation could be incorporated. The recess in the tops of the axleboxes needed deepening and widening, to accommodate the spring casting. The top edges of the springs required filing flush, on the shoes, to allow both components to sit in their proper place between w-iron and underside of the sole bar.

Before fixing the ends in place, I used one of them as a template to make a pair of blanks from scrap material, the size of the top radius and above the ventilators, so that they could be soldered to the underside of the roof at each end, and snugly to the van body, to make a detachable roof. A heavy card floor can then be fixed down inside the body, after all the soldering is done. A folded spar made from scrap, exactly the width of the ends, was soldered inside the body, to avoid the sides being pressed inwards.

White metal end stanchions can be soldered in place top and bottom if the brass is pre-tinned. That, of course goes for any of the fittings. The tie rod between the w irons should be left until last, as it is prone to damage prior to that.

The model was given a coat of Halfords acrylic grey primer. I mixed a colour which was between red oxide and deep red, for the TVR livery. Some pre group modellers use a military colour named ‘red leather’

My photograph shows one plank lettering, probably in yellow, shaded to the left and below, probably red. This may have been for a builder’s photograph, as it is not the usual Taff finish. This lettering, one plank high, was carried on the seventh plank up from the bottom. The weight was indicated on the bottom right hand plank, obviously in white. Details of other liveries are given in the instructions.

Overall, a very interesting project, which would keep even the most ardent modeller well occupied for a few evenings.