More BHG

This evening I removed the handrails from each end, and also the sliding door handles from the goods compartment doors. The 0.2mm drill bit was too fine for my pin vice to grip, so I switched to 0.5mm ... which I promptly lost on the carpet. Thus the handrail holes ended up as 0.55mm.
All parts have been washed & scrubbed with an old toothbrush.

I checked the orientation of the ends, sides & floor based on photos from James McInerney and Howard Armstrong (via the SDS Models site). All mating edges were marked and the fit checked, before I commenced gluing the pairs of sides / ends into sub-assemblies.

There will likely be some judicious filling to be done. I've straightened the sides & ends as best I can, but the castings really are pretty crappy. Despite what the instructions say, the index keying of the floor to the sides doesn't actually work. A sink mark on the roof was filled, and will need sanding once cured.

Once the sides and ends are assembled to the floor, I'm planning on putting in compartment walls and very basic seats. I'm also thinking of trying interior lighting, with some surface mount LEDs I scored recently. They have built in resistors for 12V operation. The plan is to use some KD centring springs as pick-ups, and wire from them to a bridge rectifier and 16V 47,000uf cap installed in the luggage compartment. This will allow the lights to work in both directions, and also keep them on for a while when stopped. Not sure if I'm keen enough to do something about marker lights. If I do I'll use the constant brightness, directional scheme from Jonathan Hilliard so it won't matter which way the van is facing.

Time for bed, less caffeine consumed today so hopefully I'll sleep better.