Dave Holt
Western Thunderer
Although I haven't finished the cab/footplate unit, I've been drawn to doing some preliminary work on the boiler assembly. In the Brassmaster kits, the boiler and firebox are cast in a cream coloured resin and very nicely detailed and finished they are, too. In this kit, the boiler and firebox castings are separate, with the front of the firebox having a cylindrical extension which located the rear end of the boiler. Unfortunately, the fit was rather loose, to the extent that the two items were not effectively aligned. The gap was taken up by superglueing two layers of writing paper on the locating part which resulted in a nice push fit.
The instructions suggest assembling the two parts in situ on the running plate to ensure correct orientation. However, I decided to use a simple jig, consisting of three lengths of square plastic to allow assembly on the bench. Prior to fixing the two parts with a thick grade superglue, I drilled a series of closely spaced holes to enable sections of the solid firebox front and bottom of the boiler to be broken out to clear the gearbox. Just hope I've judged this right or there's going to be an awful lot of extra cutting and gouging, later!
Boiler (upside down) and firebox showing the paper layers and rows of holes, together with pencil cutting lines.
Two parts plugged together (loose) on the simple jig.
They've been glued now.
Dave.
The instructions suggest assembling the two parts in situ on the running plate to ensure correct orientation. However, I decided to use a simple jig, consisting of three lengths of square plastic to allow assembly on the bench. Prior to fixing the two parts with a thick grade superglue, I drilled a series of closely spaced holes to enable sections of the solid firebox front and bottom of the boiler to be broken out to clear the gearbox. Just hope I've judged this right or there's going to be an awful lot of extra cutting and gouging, later!
Boiler (upside down) and firebox showing the paper layers and rows of holes, together with pencil cutting lines.
Two parts plugged together (loose) on the simple jig.
They've been glued now.
Dave.