Nick Dunhill
Western Thunderer
'Not a lot left to do.' Famous last words eh? The week started with the addition of the smokebox door, and associated castings and then moving on to the handrails. The handrail round the boiler and over the smokebox front is always a tricky bit. They have to be spot on, they can easily make the loco look wonky if they are.......wonky! Much care was needed.
Sorry about the crap photos.
The CWM safety valves in the kit looked like they were from the 1980s, so went in the box of other fishing weights. Luckily the kit included some plinths for the later LMS Ross pops, and I made safety valves and a shroud to go on top of them. The balance levers were liberated from my stash of Laurie Griffin castings.
Next up was to solder the boiler and piano front to the rest of the body, to make one solid mass.
The wheels were cleaned and the decoder fitted. The loco was test run, then taken to Modelyard in Leeds for Rob to Optimise the chip and sync the chuffs.
Here's the result.
Today the postie delevered some JIT 3D prints of the chimneys, domes and centre bearing for the crank axle, all from Mick Davies. They were fitted up to complete the build.
The models are now stripped, washed and boxed up ready for paint. One to Warren Haywood, and the other to Conrad Cooper.
There's more pics here: nick dunhill
The Gladiator kit makes a decent 10 ft model that approximates well to the shape of a Precursor tank. I think we had a different view of what was acceptable as a kit in the 1980s, but the bar these days is much, much higher. It did, however, facilitate making a good model of the prototype, but it did need tons of modification which, of course, had a detrimental impact on the budget (sorry clients!)
And I will post again in a few weeks when they're painted.
Sorry about the crap photos.
The CWM safety valves in the kit looked like they were from the 1980s, so went in the box of other fishing weights. Luckily the kit included some plinths for the later LMS Ross pops, and I made safety valves and a shroud to go on top of them. The balance levers were liberated from my stash of Laurie Griffin castings.
Next up was to solder the boiler and piano front to the rest of the body, to make one solid mass.
The wheels were cleaned and the decoder fitted. The loco was test run, then taken to Modelyard in Leeds for Rob to Optimise the chip and sync the chuffs.
Here's the result.
Today the postie delevered some JIT 3D prints of the chimneys, domes and centre bearing for the crank axle, all from Mick Davies. They were fitted up to complete the build.
The models are now stripped, washed and boxed up ready for paint. One to Warren Haywood, and the other to Conrad Cooper.
There's more pics here: nick dunhill
The Gladiator kit makes a decent 10 ft model that approximates well to the shape of a Precursor tank. I think we had a different view of what was acceptable as a kit in the 1980s, but the bar these days is much, much higher. It did, however, facilitate making a good model of the prototype, but it did need tons of modification which, of course, had a detrimental impact on the budget (sorry clients!)
And I will post again in a few weeks when they're painted.