Westykits cattle 2

 I tend to start with underframes. This means ignoring the instructions for a while. This isn't usually a problem as once you've put a few wagon kits together the process is fairly similar. 

I had issues straight away. The axle boxes are separate as are the solebars. The latter is OK and the former was presumably for the finescalers to add rocking units more easily. The springs were unequal in length and the holes in the axle boxes matched badly with the W irons. I lined them up as best I could cosmetically and redrilled from the back though the W iron holes. This wasn't looking bad, but then it wasn't looking good either.  Plus the floor had a slight wind in it. 

Solebar units assembled and one fitted (left). The moment of truth is that in order to get the axles close to parallel some solebar (right) shuffling was required. This isn't the end of the world as a wipe with a file one end and a small plug the other will sort it. I thinned the brake shoes a touch and fitted the units. Hopefully I can pull the slight twist back with the body. The unit as it stands is happy to be propelled through the pointwork on Dury's Gap without falling off so fingers crossed.