Scanlon
Western Thunderer
Tony do you know how much sleep I have lost worrying about those washout plugs??? Seriously thanks for pricking my conscience and making me produce a better model for my customer. Like most of us I never throw away any spare castings so a rummage through the stores boxes was in order. Years ago I bought a job lot of Southern castings from Iain Young and discovered two sprues of appropriate sized Southern Railway style washout plugs. This was how they looked
and now
Now I am into the detailing stage and although this loco has a simple outline missing off detail or inaccurate detailing shows. The last few days have been deliberately slow on the progress front. The Westinghouse pump required a frame to make it stand clear of the firebox. A piece of U shaped angle proved ideal especially as when painted it cannot be seen. Varying sizes of copper wire was used for the smaller drain pipes and the main steam feed. The air delivery pipe was formed of 1mm brass wire. Photos of 32441 were used to get the layout correct. The final pipe to be added on this side of the loco was the single lubricating pipe from the cab to the cylinders.
The cab roof was a tricky build. As previously mentioned the build instructions include an excellent scale drawing of the locomotive and this has been used to form the roof and locate it in the correct position. There is a 2.5mm overhang at the front of the cab and I used the micrometer to accurately line everything up. The roof was then tacked in place and measurements taken to ensure alignment. It was a case of third time lucky! The strengthening ribs on the roof proved to be too short and had to be lengthened and now only the upright handrails have to be added.
Inside the cab the backhead has been tried in position and is a neat fit, detailing will start soon. A vacuum ejector and the reverser lever have been fitted, neither was in the kit. The safety valves, dome, chimney and smokebox door were prepared ready for installation. Like many of the class this loco had a flat top to the dome to make it fit the SR corporate gauge. The dome is still work in progress.
On the frames the sandboxes have been put in position and are ready for the sandpipes to be installed. So the loco looks like this today; as you can see there is a lot of cleaning up still to do.
Now that much of the work is complete above the running plate I can concentrate on fitting the various sets of steps and the injectors. Work will then stop until the motor and gearbox arrive as I know some alterations to the rear of the frames are required to accommodate the gearbox. Once this is done the valve gear assembly can be completed and eventually the loco can go to the paint shop.
and now Now I am into the detailing stage and although this loco has a simple outline missing off detail or inaccurate detailing shows. The last few days have been deliberately slow on the progress front. The Westinghouse pump required a frame to make it stand clear of the firebox. A piece of U shaped angle proved ideal especially as when painted it cannot be seen. Varying sizes of copper wire was used for the smaller drain pipes and the main steam feed. The air delivery pipe was formed of 1mm brass wire. Photos of 32441 were used to get the layout correct. The final pipe to be added on this side of the loco was the single lubricating pipe from the cab to the cylinders.
The cab roof was a tricky build. As previously mentioned the build instructions include an excellent scale drawing of the locomotive and this has been used to form the roof and locate it in the correct position. There is a 2.5mm overhang at the front of the cab and I used the micrometer to accurately line everything up. The roof was then tacked in place and measurements taken to ensure alignment. It was a case of third time lucky! The strengthening ribs on the roof proved to be too short and had to be lengthened and now only the upright handrails have to be added.
Inside the cab the backhead has been tried in position and is a neat fit, detailing will start soon. A vacuum ejector and the reverser lever have been fitted, neither was in the kit. The safety valves, dome, chimney and smokebox door were prepared ready for installation. Like many of the class this loco had a flat top to the dome to make it fit the SR corporate gauge. The dome is still work in progress.
On the frames the sandboxes have been put in position and are ready for the sandpipes to be installed. So the loco looks like this today; as you can see there is a lot of cleaning up still to do.
Now that much of the work is complete above the running plate I can concentrate on fitting the various sets of steps and the injectors. Work will then stop until the motor and gearbox arrive as I know some alterations to the rear of the frames are required to accommodate the gearbox. Once this is done the valve gear assembly can be completed and eventually the loco can go to the paint shop.
