Brake!

At the National Garden Railway show a couple of weeks ago, and item of rolling stock caught my eye. It wasn't a kit or ready to run model, but Mark Thatcher's little brake van. The model did many circuits of the track, its squeaky wheels annoying people, and by the end of the day, I wanted one of my own. 

The model is a nice mix of cartoony and "home brewed" rolling stock. It runs on a skip chassis, which I'm told would make it a nightmare for any occupant in real life. 

Skip chassis equals Binnie Engineering and 9 quid later, I had a couple. The most expensive purchase of the day...

Assembly is a few moments work. A little superglue holds the axleboxes in place and that's the job done. Cheap and easy to assemble, no wonder these things are everywhere in 16mm scale.