Pull The Other One

In the absence of anything new to build for the layout - although I'm keeping an eye on the progress of Super-Barn 108 at Boston Lodge, ready to pounce when it's rolled out - I've taken on another super-sized commission.

A new client has asked me to make a 7mm version of WHR Pullman Observation Carr 'Glaslyn'.

Here's a pic of my 4mm one on Bron Hebog...



The challenge with this carriage, as I explained in this Model Of The Week post is the curved observation end.

But that's waiting a little further down the track. The first task is to do the main bodyside pieces.

They are also a little more complicated than your average carriage. On a normal vehicle I can use styrene strip for the window pillars, which are easily chopped to an equal height before the top rail is fixed in place. On this Pullman, though, the pillars at the rear are very wide and it isn't so simple to chop them off at the top, especially on a 7mm scale model when they are 0.75mm thick.

Instead I had to prepare them in advance, taking care to ensure they were all exactly the same dimension so there wouldn't be any gaps when I came to glue the top rail in place. This rail is also very wide on this carriage (6mm) and unlike a normal narrow top rail there is no lateral 'give' if one of the pillars is a fraction short.



The other side has also had the second layer of detail added.

The beading is limited, compared to the standard WHR design, but the challenge is the curved corners. I'm using a similar technique to the one I have for raised window frames I described here, curling thin styrene strip into the corner and using model filler to get rid of the gap.