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The JLTRT (Just Like the Real Thing) range is now sold by MM1 Models

JLTRT have recently released three versions of the classic elliptic roofed Southern Railway goods van, thereby filling something of a void in the market. Up to now, the only kits available have been the Parkside Dundas even planked example, and the now extinct kits in the Freightman range for the uneven planked examples. The later plywood bodied versions were conspicuously absent, as were options for the Southern’s distinct lifting link brakegear. The JLTRT PW22 series kits cover all three body styles, as well as options for the lifting link and Morton type brakes. The example I chose to build has the uneven planked body combined with the lifting link brake gear, SR Diagram 1458.

The lost wax brass cast buffers as supplied.

This is the first JLTRT wagon kit I have built and, at first sight it looks to be well thought out. The kit consists, essentially, of two resin mouldings, one the one piece body, the other a one piece floor and underframe, together with a bag of whitemetal castings for the running and brake gear, and a second bag of lost wax brass castings for the buffers and various fine body detail parts. The body and underframe mouldings fit together commendably well and are crisply moulded. The only down side is that the detailing of the various structural members is decidedly heavy, as a result of which there are some dimensional compromises. Chief amongst these are the solebars, which are roundly a scale 1.5in too deep, and moulded with flanges that scale to over an inch thick. Because the height of the body is correct when measured from the bottom of the underframe to the roof, the result is that the sides are correspondingly too shallow. On its own, this is not overly obvious, but it does show when the van is put next to a Parkside or Freightman example. The same heavy detailing is evident in the body ironwork.

A view of the underframe

Assembling the underframe was straightforward, with the separate axleguards and brake V hangers all slotting into recesses moulded in the back of the solebars. Although JLTRT advise using cyanoacrylate adhesives (super glue), I chose to use conventional 10-minute epoxy instead. The use of epoxy does slow down the build process considerably compared to cyano, but there are usually plenty other jobs that can be done whilst the adhesive cures. The various white-metal casings are, on the whole, clean and require little by way of fettling; the brake push rod and shoe castings required some gentle manipulation to straighten out the distortions, and the short lever and lifting link castings required careful cleaning up to open out the slot between the slotted links. Because the slots are modelled on both front and back links, these are extremely delicate castings, yet the intricacies of their shape are such that they are very difficult to mould cleanly. All of the four castings provided in the kit (JLTRT’s packers have excelled themselves by including copious numbers of extra castings) were solid between the two slotted links; I was able to open the slots out sufficiently using a thin file.

Setting the model to sit square on its wheels is tricky, as the only thing that sets the position of the axlebox casting in the axleguard is contact with the spring, which is itself a separate casting and liable to distortion. I decided to fit three of the four axleboxes, and when they had set, fit the fourth, pressing gently down on the corresponding wheel whilst ensuring the wagon was sitting firmly on the other three, then leaving it until the epoxy had completely set. These vans were fitted with tiebars between the axleguards, as is normal for 4-shoes vacuum brakes, and for this JLTRT have supplied whitemetal castings. These are cast with prominent bosses into which the wire tiebar is intended to be secured; in reality, this joint would have been welded and it is for this reason that I chose to substitute flat strip tiebars, which were fitted to some of these wagons.

The buffers are supplied as lost wax brass castings, including the heads. Once assembled, the buffer has to be retained by a ring soldered in place whilst the buffer is compressed. Not a particularly elegant piece of design compared to the retaining nuts used by many other suppliers. Given this and the fact that the buffer guide castings looked heavy in appearance and not entirely accurate as regards the ribbing, I chose to replace them with a set of 20.5in buffers from Parkside. Fitting these only requires the holes in the headstocks to be opened out a tad.

The verdict: overall, it is quite a good kit, perhaps more expensive than some by the time you take into account the need to purchase wheels and screw couplings, neither of which are supplied. Viewed from close to, the coarseness of the ironwork is apparent, but from more normal distances it does look the part. The cost is £40 for the kit, plus another £9.25 for the Slaters wheels I used and around £6-8 for a pair of screw couplings. This and its sister SR van kits are, however, the only way of modelling the uneven planked and plywood bodied versions and the SR lifting link brakes unless you build from scratch.

The completed van before painting