Platform wagon

Nice little kit this. Instructions are are provided but essentially you insert the bearings into the sideframes, stick these to the sides of the "hoop" and tut the wheels in. Then glue the wooden top in place and fit a couple of parts for the loop couplings.

The wheels are very nice but the design, a Hudson 4 hole apparently, reminds me of a rather ugly set of hubcaps available for Ford Escorts in the early 1990's. If the Dagenham designers were influenced by the good people working in Leeds design studios then it's a pity for them that the results look better under a narrow gauge wagon than on an XR3i. In model form the quality is excellent with nice consistent back to back measurements.

To be honest there are so few parts there isn't much to say. The bearings go in well and need no glue to retain them. The only niggle was that the axles seemed a touch too long to me and I had to use the same technique employed building Backwoods Miniatures wagons, putting the axles in place and grabbing them between both sides simultaneously. That way if there is any need to splay the sides slightly then it will be the same on both sides. Mind you, with the parts in place I can't see anything not vertical so perhaps it's just me. At the very least the chassis trundled up and down the track nicely enough.

The top simply glues into place with care being taken to make sure it is central. There aren't any obvious guides but it's not a problem to do this by eye. Throughout the job, I've used Revell Contacta cement followed by Mek Pak.

Finally some nice little mouldings are put on at the coupling end followed by a bit of wire and at one end, a flat metal loop.

The finished model needs weight as it is very light, but there's room under the platform for this. Painting will be fun, presumably these things were once new but I've not seen many photos of this state !