Ballasted

I've reported a while ago about the new Yd kit from Trackgang. I've now had a chance to actually have a go with he bits. First up a reminder of how it all looked freshly unpacked.

The castings are crisp (as you would expect). There is a small amount of flash present. the only real problem is that the air cylinders are not quite square, due to an odd choice by the caster on how to put them in the mould. However its nothing that can't be solved by a bit of filing.

Assembly is by glue (I still can't master soldering anything that melts if i screw up. give me a brass etch any day). The only problem I encountered in the early stages was attaching the sides. They have a small pin that locates them under the floor. Unfortunately this means that they are about 1mm below the ends.

'I can read the paint label....'

I simply solved this problem by removing the pins and gluing the sides level with the top of the ends which is where they should sit. If I had taken clearer pictures at the time it would all make sense.

I altered the construction order slightly by attaching the 4 cylinders to the floor first. This then gave a reference point to fit the underframe spine. Due to some error along the way this piece has to be modified by removing some of the end platforms and adding 3mm into the center of the part. Its no big problem, just something to be aware of.

And so, what does it look like together?


The kit has captured the look of the prototype, which is all we really want at the end of the day. I've always had a soft spot for these wagons since Mr Bond built a couple 25 odd years ago in S ish scale. I may well acquire 2-3 more as they were never seen alone in the wild.