The first job was to clear the flash out of all the windows which was quite a boring task but an inevitable consequence of making them in an open mould.
Once that was done I wasn't sure whether to begin by making up the end vestibule sections as and them joining them up with the 2 side pieces or to do what I've always done with my scratch built styrene models of these carriages and attach the doors to the sides first and then add on the ends.
Eventually I settled on the latter option, as you can see below.
Before gluing the ends into place I turned the sides over and added these blocks of styrene.
Just like with my scratch built carriages I am planning to have the floor / chassis as a removable unit. So as it's not glued into place these blocks - and gravity - will keep the floor in the right place and maintain the carriage's ride height.
As I have learnt to my cost previously it is much easier to position these on a flat piece rather than attempting to fix them in place inside a built-up bodyshell.
This is where I got to at the end of the evening session - the sides and ends all glued up and the basic outline of the chassis hacked out of a sheet of 60 thou styrene to keep it all square.
One of the disadvantage of using resin parts is that it is a lot more difficult to glue the carriage together. You have a choice of instant bond super glue or epoxy resin - which can take anything up to 10 minutes to set, even with the supposedly rapid stuff - and neither are as user-friendly and adjustable as liquid solvent on styrene.
On the other hand once a resin carriage gets to this stage it is much more robust than a styrene fabrication and you don't have to handle it like a fragile relic for fear of bits breaking off.
Also - and this is the big plus with resin castings - once they are fully cured they more inclined to stay straight rather than bend like bananas as the styrene sides too.
So far so satisfied....
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