LSWR 48' Brake Lav. Tri-Comp. - Part 2

I'm using Kodak photo glossy paper for the body sides. It has some stiffness, is thin enough not to be obtrusive and takes clean knife cuts without snagging. On the other hand it is easily marked and the emulsion finish tends to turn to powder if scratched. This is a problem when trying to locate the wire grab handles in their locating holes because misalignment of the wire will scratch the printed surface.

To protect the surface (the ink is not waterproof) sticky backed clear plastic used for book covers is applied over the printed side. It gives a subtly shiny surface reminiscent of paint varnish that would have been used on the prototype.

Next, the windows are cut out. The scalpel point is pushed through at each corner in a slicing action rather than dragging the knife. This way there is no chance of cutting too far. Removing the blanks reveals the white edge of the paper. This was covered using a brown felt tip pen but, regrettably, the wet ink leeched between the paper and plastic covering in some places. Probably better to use a dry crayon or similar.

The grab handles are formed from 0.22mm brass-like wire used in jewelry making. This is stiffer than copper wire despite its small diameter. The locating holes are made with the point of a fine sewing needle and the wire tails pushed through and folded flat at the rear in a downward direction towards the bottom of the side.

Next the window glass is cut from clear plastic as one long strip about 1mm larger than the window apertures and stuck to the rear with strips of double sided tape.

Interior panelling (printed on A4 sticky label sheet) is laid over the rear. This fixes the tails of the grab handles and tidily hides the assembled parts.

The lower portion of the side needs to be slightly curved inwards. Placing the side over the edge of the table and gently pressing to form the curve works well and the tails of the grab handles, being stiff, help to fix the curvature.

Finally, the Guard lookout is formed up and stuck onto the side.

In the next part of this series all the bodywork is assembled.

To Part 3

To Part 1