GWR Full Brake :: finished

Posted byTrevorPosted in7mm GWR equipment, Great Western Railway in 7mm scale, GWR Bydemill (Highworth), Layouts I have designed or built
The Early Morning Milk Train arrives at Bydemil. With the addition of a full brake (behind the locomotive), the consist is complete.
At the far end, a brake-3rd provides tail-end braking power plus accommodation for a few early morning travellers.

It snowed this week, out here on the Canadian Prairies. Mother Nature teased us with a taste of Spring, only to throw 6″ (15cm) of the white stuff at us. That made it a good week to hide in the basement workshop – so, after a long break in which I did other things – I returned to the Slater’s Plastikard kit for a GWR Full Brake I started in December.

It turns out I didn’t have that much to do, really. I’d finished the frame, which requires the most bending and filing to assemble. Building the body only took a morning session. I started by fitting the duckets (the bump out windows for the guard) and adding door handles and hand holds. I then glued together the sides and ends to form a box, and added a floor.

The body is assembled and the roof tested. At this point, the coachwork is sitting on the frame, but is not yet attached.

I was determined to only work on this in the mornings, so I returned to the project the next day. I glued the body to the frame, then fabricated and installed the various end details – including brake fittings and buffers. I also added the wooden steps on their supports.

Details applied at the brake end. I’ll brush paint the details and touch up the body paint when everything is finished.

Inside, I added peel-and-stick tire balancing weights to give the vehicle a bit of heft. (On my other passenger cars, the white metal castings for passengers perform that task.)

Four strips of tire balancing weights secured to the floor. This adds 4 oz, which makes the model feel much more substantial and aids with tracking. The strip across the top of the vehicle supports the roof: the gas vents on the roof screw into the holes shown here to secure it in place.

During my next morning work session, I brush painted primer and paint onto the details I’d added. I also touched up the body paint around the duckets and corners (which aren’t completely painted by the manufacturer). I then sprayed clear finish coats on the model. While it dried, I assembled the beautiful screw-link couplings.

It’s only taken me a couple-dozen couplings to figure out that holding the parts in pin vises makes assembly much, much easier. You’re welcome.

I installed couplings and buffers, glazed the windows with microscope slide covers cut to size, and airbrushed the model with some weathering. A quick clean of the windows (using a cotton bud dipped in paint thinner) and it was ready for service.

The full brake looks right at home sandwiched between the locomotive and a rake of Siphon milk transporters. The luggage compartments may haul morning newspapers for communities along the Bydemill branch.

I’ve built five of these Slater’s passenger cars now, and have enjoyed every one. They’re venerable kits – a few decades old – but still stand up against modern offerings. I’d love to add a greater variety of passenger equipment to Bydemill – my 7mm scale interpretation of a Great Western Railway branch line in the Edwardian Era – but that multi-colour, elaborately-lined paint scheme defeats me, so I’m grateful that Slaters offers these kits with prepainted sides and ends.

I love to see a manufacturer step up with more such accessible kits based on other early GWR prototypes.

Published by Trevor

Lifelong model railway enthusiast and retired amateur shepherd who trained a border collie to work sheep. Professional writer and editor, with some podcasting and Internet TV presenting work thrown in for good measure.