What you are looking at is a Cooper Craft LNWR coal wagon that I must have built around 40 years ago. I carefully painted my name on the sides, and it's hovered around any 32mm gauge layout I've built since. At some point, I must have dropped it, reducing the model to the pile you see.
Sticking the main pieces together was quick enough using a mix of Contacta cement and MekPak solvent. Lashings of the latter, and I'd like this to stay in one piece for a while.
Annoyingly, one of the axleboxes had vanished, and while I know there are spares somewhere, I couldn't lay my hand on them. What I did find, was a nice whitemetal set. Really nice. It took a long talk with myself to decide this was their time, and I shouldn't keep them on the drawer for a more suitable project.
Does anyone else do this? Save things, clothes being a good example, for "best" and never actually using them?
Anyway, with a little detail removal on the solebar, and plenty of superglue, the new axleboxes fitted the model, and the plastic versions are in the drawer.
There was an issue - the extra depth of the axle holes meant the axles slopped from side to side by around 4mm. More talking to myself, that this wasn't acceptable, and I solved the problem with some slices of plastic tube.
Extra weight from the whitemetal parts made the wagon run really nicely too.
One end was missing its coupling, so I bent a replacement up out of brass, fitting a hook compatible with my bathplug chain couplings. You'll notice the axleboxes have gained an extra rivet - that's a track pin drilled through the box and solebar, as I don't trust superglue to do the job on its own. I also pinned the coupling for the same reason.
A bit of paint, and the job is done. I have a freewheeling wagon, and an old friend is out of the hospital pile.
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