Chris Cooper builds FR Carriage 15
FR Carriage No.15 is one of a pair (with No.16) built by Brown, Marshall for the Festiniog Railway in 1872. The carriage was restored to its Victorian splendour by the FR in 2001 and has just received a full repaint in August last year. For more info - https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/Carriage_15
I built this carriage from a kit by IP Engineering. Laser cut parts all fitted together extremely well and the design of the kit was very well thought out.
First the end sections are fabricated, with the wells created underneath that take the bogies.
The overlays were glued onto the sides. With this kit I experimented by doing this with superglue. The reason for this was to avoid any overspill of glue around the edges of the overlay, which really helps when coming to apply the lining later, giving crisp edges to work against.
The sides are glued to the end sections, floor and compartment partitions to give a really strong structure.
The end balconies were then made up and the seating fitted. I trial fitted the bogies at this stage. These were made by Andy Cooper (thanks Dad!) using IP small wheels, to an old David Hardy (Locomotion) design that works really well. They replace the wooden bogies provided in the kit.
Then the painting started. I use Phoenix Grey primer all over which really helps to fill any grain in the ply. The interior was stained. This was followed by masking the side in half, and painting the top Phoenix FR carriage cream and the lower half LNWR Plum, three coats of each. The ends are gloss black.
I then did my best effort at the lining with a Bob Moore pen, gold on the sides and cream on the ends, and fitted the roof, which I painted grey. The glazing was fitted and the lamp holders installed on top.
I also soldered up the brass balcony handrails using the useful jig provided in the kit.
I added Brandbright cast brass door handles and handrails, and even though they are the wrong shape, they are much stronger than the whitemetal versions supplied with the kit. I loathe spending all that time painting and fitting whitemetal versions only to bend, break and lose them whilst using the model in the garden!
Lamp holders were added to the roof and the bogies fitted.
Decals Endon Valley.
Here some pictures of the progress so far. A very well designed and enjoyable kit to build at a good price. Lots of additional interior and exterior detail could be added if desired.
Ivan also produces a kit for FR No16, which will be my next project, once I have recovered from this one!
April 2020