Moving back to the loco chassis, the motor was fitted to determine clearances and options for adding weight. The ashpan offers an ideal place to start.
Here lead sheet has been added to the ashpan and stepped at the rear to clear the gearbox. The pick up mount was made from laminated waste fret, then drilled and tapped 10BA.
With the motor in the running position the need for stepping the weights at the rear is clear. Ahead of the pick up mount I will add further lead and possibly some over the front axle where it won't be seen under the boiler.
And with the running plate on, minus the boiler, it shows there is plenty of clearance for wipers on the top of the flanges.
Here the pick ups have been added and the motor wired up. I decided not to shorten the quite long wires on the motor and just wrapped them around the casing and taped them up. This stops the motor from moving when running in reverse. The wipers are 0.4mm phosphor bronze wire.
Here's a view of the pick ups with the running plate on. I checked with the boiler on and the bottom edge of the firebox is clear of the pick ups.
I have added a small etched washer from the spares box to the hole at the end of the reversing shaft, to better match the appearance of the prototype.
After oiling up, I only had time for a quick test run on the rails, but I'm please to say the chassis ran OK from the off. I've opened up the half etched slot in the bogie stretcher to give it some lateral movements on the curves, but there is a little more to go so I'll file that off tomorrow.
My brother is giving the chassis a run on the rollers this evening, so it should be in fine fettle tomorrow when I get back to the bench. I will also add the draw bar and see how it goes on the curves with the tender on. The kit provides a short and long option and I will make it so that it pivots on the fixing screw on the loco, with a stud in the tender.
All being well it will be off to Warren's next week for painting.
Cheers,
Peter