Parkside 4mm NE Horsebox Dia.5

This weekend I was fortunate enough to have sent to me three of the latest Parkside kits for the NE horsebox Diagram No.5. The kit comes as standard with ‘Romford’ OO wheels and top hat bearings, however for my personal preference I ordered the EM gauge Alan Gibson replacements which were packaged in with the kit. No decals are included in the kit as is normal in the Parkside 4mm range, I sourced the decals seen on the above image from CCT transfers in Cambridge, sheet CC64. The kit is moulded in grey and black plastic, all the examples in my kits were clean of ‘flash’ and with no significant mould lines evident.

The body is a typical type of van construction, with the two sides and ends making a box on the floor of the vehicle. The floor, ends and sides are marked with letters to ensure that van body is built correctly. The instructions are simple and clear, identifying specific components well, and outlining areas where work is needed on the kit parts, drilling step mountings for example. The chassis is rigid, there is plenty of room for anyone who wants to make compensated or sprung variants, though this means working that process by yourself, the kit not unreasonably catering solely for a rigid chassis.

Build sequence is logical and there are rebates in the body side to fit the glazing. The most difficult part is the hopper window, and I’d suggest cutting those as the first task, but fit thjem last. If you build the body first it is quite difficult to test fit the hopper glazing with the hoppers in place. The only change I’ve made to the kit is to fit turned steel buffer heads. The kit comes with plastic heads supplied, which look a little coarse compared to the rest of the kit, this simple change makes a huge visual difference. The kit shown was painted with Halfords paints, Red Oxide primer, followed by Vauxhall Carmine Red, and then Matt Black for the chassis and ends. All masking was completed using Tamiya Masking tapes.

Parkside PC83 NE Horsebox Dia.5

http://www.parksidedundas.co.uk/index.html
http://www.cctrans.freeserve.co.uk/

NB: All reviews here are of products bought by myself, rather than supplied by manufacturers or suppliers.