Max Stafford's Kennel

Things have been quieter in terms of modelling activity lately than I anticipated this last week while I’ve been off work. Partly this is due to having a day of not doing much at all last Monday as I hit my half century!
I also had a couple of days where I carried on with some outstanding domestic tasks and a couple of social visits.
I also had a couple of day trips out at the end of last week including a trip to the rather wonderful St Mary’s Loch and the Moffat Valley, some of Scotland’s less publicised gems.

And now, what of modelling?
Well, the aforementioned age-related event produced new and useful tools for the workshop in the form of the Proxxon Micromot 50EF drill/mill and associated accessories.
These allowed me to properly mill out the axleboxes for the BR plate wagon as shown here.

Also in later stages of construction is this BR Sturgeon wagon. A fiddly but rather impressive kit. Not a difficult kit to build if you have a bit of wagon experience but time consuming when it comes to handling the multitude of door springs. I still have the deep joy of folding a multitude of grab rails for the dropsides too. Not my favourite task if the truth be known!

I’ve not been ignoring the 2P either and the boiler mountings, backhead and Wakefield lubricators have been attached. A start has also been made on the chassis as I have opened out the axle housings to accommodate sprung hornblocks. This is new territory for me so I’m going about it gingerly!