A SET OF THREE VENERABLE Chowbent coaches recently came my way. Introduced in the early 1990s, and long unavailable, these kits have stood the test of time very well, as the etches were very well drawn by Ian Tattersall and stand comparison with the latest stock on offer. The coaches are all 50ft arc roof non-corridor stock, a D112 First, a D289 Third and a D347 Brake Third, which enjoyed long and useful lives trundling round the towns and cities of the LNWR empire. They date from 1897 to about 1902. These are to be built and painted in end-of life condition, still in fully lined LMS livery but tatty and travel-stained. They will have mid-1930s sans-serif gold re-numbering, as there’s photo evidence that the Company did not bother to repaint all of its inherited stock into simple livery at the re-numbering, because many vehicles had by then been relegated to workmen’s services.

At the end of the article I have attached a bibliography of the books I consulted. I was very glad to have some photos and drawings to guide me as the instructions in the boxes are somewhat rudimentary. I also had some notes and dim memories from when I built the test etches for John Robinson of Chowbent all those years ago. All three kits share a common underframe etch, but I soon found that the battery boxes differed in size and disposition on all three.

I also used some additional or replacement Sidelines lost wax brass castings (e.g. regulator boxes and dynamos for electric lighting, some of the earlier examples of the coaches originally having been gas-lit), and wheelsets with Mansell brass inserts from Peartree Models. The kits all had sturdy cardboard boxes, and came with pre-rolled brass roofs of the correct dimensions, albeit a little banana-shaped and needing some tweaking. The working screw couplings are from Premier, and are ready assembled, which is a real boon. The floors supplied are pieces of MDF, extremely accurately cut to fit inside the bodies. They do however have the disadvantage that once the brass components are attached to them they cannot be washed under the tap to clean off any remaining flux, and I had some remedial work to do after painting as some hidden flux crept through.

The Third class was first under the knife, and the same construction methods and sequence were applied to all three so I will try not to repeat myself. When you are separating the parts from the mother-etch, do not discard the long strips between the solebar components as these are to be used later as roof gutters. I worked on the bodies first. The tumblehome needs shaping, not a difficult job as it’s half-etched and responds readily to finger pressure when placed at an acute angle on a flat surface. The designer drew clever little ladder-shaped etchings so all three hinges and a droplight could be attached to the slots in the body etch in one go, though on the First the slots were under-sized and I added the hinges as separate pieces using scrap etched brass strip as this was easier and safer than enlarging the slots.

The van end of the Brake Third showing the triple curve to the ogees

Some droplights are etched in the open position, a neat touch. Sides and ends are seamed up with a medium melting point solder, taking care that the top corners of sides and ends match up. The ends have a double folded rebate at their base, and each should be drilled out to take two screws to attach the floor making sure you leave clearance for the rear of the buffers.

Once you have a four-sided assembly you can add the end-steps, lamp brackets, and alarm gear, with grab handles from the 0.7mm brass wire provided. The kits provided plenty of plastic card for interior partitions, which I added after painting, but at the centre line I soldered in one partition from scrap brass to render the body more rigid and to stop the sides bowing in.

Allow a space at the base of this partition the same dimension as the thickness of the floor. I also added a couple of hand-holds between the cantrails from brass strip for further rigidity and to make painting easier. No vacuum pipes were in the kit so I made my own from fine brass wire and iron rod. The Brake Third differs from theother two vehicles in having an ogee/ducket/look-out(take your pick) which is a flat brass etch needing to have three curves rolled, one at the top, which is done first, then two in an ‘S’ at the base.

Not an easy task, but if you clamp the half etched panels in a smooth jaw vice you will avoid getting a kink as you roll the top curve. Check the profile you achieve against the end-etch as you go. I used the round handle of a Swiss file as a former. A brass rib is included to form the inner sides of the ogees, the outer sides being part of the end etching. The Brake Third also needs a second 0.9mm hole drilling in the centre of the luggage doors to take a second handle (not provided; I had some Acme spares at hand.) The door vents were glued on with cyanoacrylate adhesive. Check the fit of the floor inside the body. I always add door furniture after painting (Sideline lost wax commodes and T-handles), so the next step was a coat of Halford’s grey self-etching primer from an aerosol can.

The next day the bodies were top-coated in a gloss LMS lake enamel.

On to the underframe: The running boards come loosely attached to the sole-bars but for extra strength I cut them off and re-attached them with L-shaped brackets mounted on the rear of the solebars. The kits have one-piece headstock/buffer-body white metal castings, which were rejected in favour of Sidelines brass buffers and some etched brass headstocks I had in the spares drawer from some long-forgotten project.

The Sidelines lost-wax buffer shanks are too thick to slide into the buffer bodies and I had to turn them down to size. They are also barely long enough for the job. I used 0.9mm brass wire to spring the buffers, soldered to the rear of the buffer shanks, cranked and attached to the underside of the floor rebate on the far side. I drew a pencil line to mark the centre line of the floor, and from there measured out 21.5mm each side to position the queen posts and 124.25mm for the bogie bolster centres. Also make a mark on the floor for the end with the steps so when you marry up body and underframe later you get it the right way round. The white metal bogie bolsters have a hole for a 6BA screw, and this should be counter-sunk from beneath with a 6mm drill to clear enough space to take the head of the screw without it protruding. My photographs of the underside should show where the various pieces go, but I was working from photos in my reference books, so there is a degree of guestimation.

The etch lacks V-hangers, but I had spares in stock. The vacuum cylinders and cranks are more Sidelines castings. The solebar/rebate etches are attached to the floor with little grub-screws salvaged from expired audio cassettes (that gives you an idea of how very old I must be) and also with impact adhesive. The kits came with two sizes of battery boxes, a double pair in white metal, and smaller singles in etched brass. Check photos as the layout and sizes are different on all three coaches.

The underframes sprayed black. The layout of the battery boxes differs for each one. From top to bottom Brake Third, First and Third.

The bogies are splendid white-metal castings which come already loosely screwed together, though you need to disassemble them to add the wheels.

The holes at the rear of the axleboxes needed drilling out a very little to take the brass bearings. I added a single brass washer between each bolster and its bogie stretcher to give a bit more clearance between the bogie frames and the solebars. With minimum effort you will have a very free running underframe with a nice low centre of gravity.

The Third body and underframe united.

Bogies and wheels assembled. The end stretchers differ: there’s a slot in one end for the belt from the dynamo, and an underslung footstep on the other bogie beneath the end with the steps, hence the pencil marks to remind me which way round to assemble them.

One of the Peartree axles had not been turned sufficiently to fit inside the bearings provided, so I substituted two Slater’s bearings, which have a slightly wider diameter.

The roofs need scribing from beneath to mark the positions of the ventilators, one pair per compartment, and centre popping before drilling to accept the ventilators. Also drill 0.9mm for the small handles above the end rails. The kits had perfectly adequate white-metal torpedo vents, but Sidelines lost wax substitutes were used, and look even better, and are of course stronger.

The roof of the Third ready for painting.

There are cast brass roof lights above the van end of the Brake Third, on the same axis as the vents, with their centres 11mm each side of the longitudinal centre-line of the roof. These are solid, so the ‘glass’ needs painting gloss black after the roof has been sprayed grey, to give the illusion of a hollow interior. The gutters should be pre-tinned, then sweated onto the edges of the roofs, with equal amounts above and below the edge. The rainstrips are also added in the same fashion, using 0.45mm wire (not provided). Photo evidence shows that there was a lighting conduit running the whole length of the roof on the Brake Third, which I added from 1 x 1mm brass solid. I could find not evidence for such a fitting on the other two so they were left plain. Under the middle of each end I soldered a piece of scrap brass bent to an L-shape, and with the roof in place on the body I drilled through the end panels and the ‘L’ to take a small brass panel pin which holds the roof in place but allows easy access to the interior - a trick I learnt from the late great Peter Korrison. After a good scrub in Viakal, rinsing and drying, the roofs were sprayed.

I used Halfords grey zinc primer, then a coat of dirtied matt varnish, and finally some weathering powder around the areas which trap dirt. Transfers are HMRS Pressfix, and the lining followed the same sequence as on the LMS-liveried Slater’s MR stock I built the previous year.

A Riefler drawing set found for a few euros at a French flea market provided an excellent nearly-new bow pen.

Top: Using Humbrol black 85 enamel to line out the Brake third.

Above: Yellow lining applied to the Brake Third.

Below: Matt varnish has been airbrushed onto the bodies.

An airbrushed coat of Wickes interior matt varnish (the runny sort, not the gel) was allowed to dry before some final weathering using Greenscene powder – off-black, oxide and dark brown in varying quantities.

Very good quality Cobex glazing was provided, and I think the plastic seating strip came from Tower Models. Partitions were scumbled in a mid-buff matt enamel. As with the Slater’s MR set, I used Haywood Railway passengers, which I think may be USA 48th scale as they seem a tad small, but once in place the discrepancy is hardly noticeable. They were toned down with matt enamels.

Bibliography. LNWR Non-Corridor Carriages Philip A Millard and Ian Tattersall (L&NWR Society). Selected LNWR Carriages - A Detailed Commentary Philip A Millard (L&NWR Railway Society Portfolio No. 7). An Illustrated History of LNWR Coaches David Jenkinson (OPC). Historic Carriage Drawings in 4mm scale - David Jenkinson & Nick Campling (Ian Allan Publishing).