Mooching around at Guildex in 2009 I happened across Ivan's stand and stopped by to say hello.  He had some new (to me anyway) Great Western items, one of which was a pair of platform seats with the old intertwined GWR cast into the seat supports.  I have a Great Western platform seat on my terrace and I can attest to its comfort but, mine is the later pattern based upon the shirt button.  Actually much rarer that the intertwined one.  Since my, largely, freight railway is to have at least a token passenger service, it seemed right to have a couple of seats for hapless passengers to rest upon while awaiting the infrequent steam railmotor or autotrain.
So, what's in the bag?  Two small sheets of etch and some simple instructions.  The standard of draughtsmanship is, as usual, very high and the etching is excellent too.  I was surprised not to find etched dimples in the seat planks to represent the bolt heads but I doubt anyone will notice their lack.









The seat supports are two mirror image etches so soldering them together is simple.  They fit well together.  Once soldered together and the cusps all filed off I mounted it in the two parts that makeup the base and soldered it in place.  This was done for all the seat supports as the picture below shews.     Back to Top


One of the seat planks was lightly marked on the top for centre and 7mm from each end.  All the others were simply marked for centre at 81.5mm.



Then, using the trusty magnets to hold two supports, I carefully soldering the first seat plank in place across the outer supports and added the centre one afterwards.


Once the two seat plank were fixed it was a simple matter to turn the unit over and fix the top plank to the back of the seat supports, ensuring that each support protruded equally above the plank.
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This close-up shot gives a good idea of how beautifully etched the supports are.




Here is the completed seat awaiting a trip to the paint shop, but not until I have decided upon the station name.

I nice little item - two really since there is a pair in the bag - well up to the standard one has come to expect from Ivan.

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