Sprat & Winkle line Components. An LSWR cattle van

Carrying on with the LSWR cattle van. Been a bit of a pain to build this one, slots being way to big for the tags, the fold line has been done with inividual tags, ending up with a massive gap. The etch sides are slightly longer than the white metal detail castings for the sides. Me, not being one to let these problems beat me, i think we have ended with a superbly detailed cattle van, something that i am very pleased with.

Yes, i have soldered the casting to the etch sides, firstly tinning around the etch with 140° solder then tinning the casting with 70° solder. Very carefully sweating the Two together.

I will say that this was one of those times when things could have gone horribly wrong. Deffinately a "seat of your pants" moment.

The next thing to look at was the roof as this was not included in the kit. I could have rolled one from brass sheet but decided to use Plastikard. 0.25mm plastikard , yes, thats thin,Two pieces the same size were cut, each with planking scored on one side, it tends to bend naturally but can be manipulated further. 

What you need are Two elastic bands, Two steel rules and a conveniently curved tin. A tin of your best plum tomatoes came in handy

Glue the Two pieces together and attach to tin, leave to dry. 

You should end up with something like this. Yes, it looks like a roof so, must be a roof.

Thats it for now, the whole thing is ready for paint.

The bar at the front is for the Sprat & Winkle couplings.

It even has tie down hooks as these wagons were not always used for livestock, a sheet was sometimes thrown over and tied down and used as a well ventalated van.