I have been doing more with the Scrap Tank, but I haven’t managed to take any pictures due to needing flippers outside yesterday.  So instead, lets see something else that was on the test etch that I have recently had returned.

This is the early style lookout for the dia 12 Highland Goods Brake.  As originally built these lookouts formed by a single slot to the centre of the roof and were fully glazed to the front and back.  In use guards complained that they caught their heads on the lip of the roof as they climbed in.  To overcome this, many of the vans were rebuilt to include ramped approaches to the centre of the lookout were incorporated, to become what was arguably the signature feature of the Highland’s rolling stock.

Microrail produced a kit for this van 30+ years ago and this included the latter style of lookout.  I had a pair of these kits and ended up acquiring a third one and I felt I really could not have another one just like the first two!  So I had an inspiration and thought it would be fun to make the early pattern lookout.  The old man’s book came out and a scan of the drawing loaded up into the CAD machine.  From here it was a relatively simple exercise to draw up the difficult bits, the glazed screens, and the more simple roof.

The components went together easily and do give a very different feel to the Microrail kit as intended.   I also made a number of other adjustments, to the footboards and also the panelling, to make the model both different and authentic.  The latter, the beaded panelling, is a right pain in the whatsit and took much longer than any other element of the assembly – so don’t to it unless really want to!  And this is what it looks like next to the kit as originally intended, with the later style lookout.

I will be making these available via the Miscellany Models site shortly, when I have done enough of the other elements I am working on to do a production run.  In the meantime, I do have a pair of very slight seconds (there is a tiny bit of over etching – almost impossible to see, the pictures of my vehicle have the same problem).  These are available for the price of the metal; say £2.50, plus postage (which won’t be much).  Ordering is via here:  http://miscellanymodels.com

And the real thing looks like this:

(C) Bill Steel