Given the next job on the Manning-Wardle kit is to file down 6 leaf spring castings I felt like doing something else...
So I dug out the "early years" axle boxes I bought from PME to go with their sprung W-irons and decided to make some progress on the D-wagon that has been sitting idle for about 8 months.
The axleboxes consist of a brass casting for the box itself, and a brass etch for what I think is a flap/lid to hold oil in.
First you cut the axlebox castings off the sprue and clean them up.
Then you increase the size of the blind hole already cast on the back of them using a #39 drill so the Slaters bearings used in the sprung W-iron assembly fits inside. You need to drill the hole as deep as possible, preferably without breaking through the casting. If you do break through it doesn't matter, especially if you only just go through and create a small hole. This will be covered up later.
When you put the bearing in you only want the gap between the back of the axlebox and the plate carrying the bearing big enough that it slides easily over the W-iron, with a little extra play to allow one wheel to move up or down independently of the other.
Now cut one of the little flaps off the etch and clean up the tiny tabs that were holding it onto the etch (not the 4 bigger tabs that are meant to be there).
The flap has a single central tab at the bottom and three at the top. The bottom tab should be bent out a bit using the smooth part of the jaws of some long-nose pliers.
Then slightly bend the flap so it can follow the curve on the top of the front of the axlebox. I bent mine around a needle file. I then used superglue to stick the flap onto the axlebox.
Finally, use Locktite or similar (I used Lock-Nut) to hold the Slaters axle bearings in the box (or the box on the bearings, however you want to look at it).
Now for the part I've really been putting off, the leaf springs and the brackets used to attach them to the underframe.
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