No.34 Are you sitting comfortably – Is that seat free?
In between the showers there has been time to make up some of those excellent Cooper Craft GWR seats: Those of you familiar with the kits will know that Cooper Craft provide a choice of end frames, the original Edwardian frame with entwined GWR crest and the more modern roundel or target version of the crest from the 1930s. The notes provided with the kits suggest one ‘target’ seat to two ‘entwined crests’. The painting instructions that are provided suggest all over brown ‘although the crests were often seen picked out in cream'. I needed to research seat colours for the 1950/60s. As usual my starting point was that wonderful encyclopedia ‘A Pictorial History of Great Western Architecture’ by A Vaughan. Page 408 details the Platform Seat with Edwardian ‘monogram’ and polished pinewood backrests. Although only a black and white illustration it is clear that the cast iron end frames are all over dark (chocolate) brown. The wood grain is c...