Building Brandbright coaches

[Dannypenguin]

So would you guys (or anyone else) reccomend the Brandbright coaches? I'm wanting some coaching stock but am not sure who to go with

[TonyW]

I certainly would, but you do need to remember that a lot of extra bits may be needed in addition to the kit. I'm thinking here of wheels, bogies and couplings, and you may also wish to add details such as door window vents, roof ventilators (which all mine are missing...!), brake pipes, safety chains, etc.

[ikcdab]

Thanks!

I've got a PS16 full brake to build over the winter, .

Tony, i think thts the one I sold you on here. I had bought it on ebay but was really wanting the more modern laser cut kit. I have now bought one of those and wil be (like you) building a PS16 over the coming months.

[ikcdab]

So would you guys (or anyone else) reccomend the Brandbright coaches? I'm wanting some coaching stock but am not sure who to go with  :?

Yes, i would definately recomend them, though they are not quick to build and take some care to get a good result - not because the kits arn't made well (which they are - they are excellent kits, made to sub-millimetre accuracy, and beutifully presented and with a great service from Brandbright) but just because there are so many bits which need individual painting and fitting to complete. You will need to buy bogies, wheels, couplings and roof vents.
Door vents i made myself from simple 5mm x 20mm bits of 80 thou plasticard, and I wil also be making roof vents from plastic tube when I get some.
Just now Im thinking how I can make brake pipes - perhaps with 2mm brass wire and I have seen some 2mm black tubing on ebay. Anyone else made their own brake pipes?

[Andrew]

Just now Im thinking how I can make brake pipes  - perhaps with 2mm brass wire and I have seen some 2mm black tubing on ebay. Anyone else made their own brake pipes?

I do:



Mine are made from Wilko garden wire stretched/rolled/bashed straight(ish) and then bent into shape. Before adding the final bend representing the pipe itself I add a lenth of springy curtain wire, can't remember where from but I fear the Wilko stuff is too narrow in diameter. I sometimes add little bits cut from the inside of biros to represent chunkier parts of the real thing and give a bit of extra bulk.

On the one in the picture the pipe is partly attached using the lower end of the pipe (where the wire continues beyond the "hose" and into the carriage end, and partly with a split pin.

It's not quite accurate, and it's not quite chunky enough, BUT, it looks more or less right, you can make prototypical pipe runs, and it's very, very cheap...

Hope that's useful.

Andrew.

PS Saw your name crop up on the WSRA thread on the National Preservation forum - you're a brave man to put your head over that parapet!!!

Nice carriages, by the way!

[ikcdab]

The curtain wire sounds a great idea - even PVC coated it will have more texture than the rubber tube i had spotted on ebay. So when I get home tonight I wil be looking closely at the bathroom curtains.....

Yes, I am also a WSRA Trustee - the garden railway provides a very welcome escape!

[ikcdab]

Heres the parts for a first class compartment laid out ready to be fixed. Note the antimacassars cut from paper and fixed to each seat back.