Thank you Colin and Richard!
Today's efforts have been a little truncated due to other duties getting in the way. Having had my fill of battling sheet brass for a spell, I turned attention to the roof.
The Colletts of this period had a roof made of sheet steel, laid across the coach, with the joints covered by a capping strip. I studied photos and drawings for some time to decide where the strips ought to go. I marked things out a couple of times in pencil, then studied more photos and decided it wasn't right. I was making the mistake of assuming one 57-footer roof was much like another...
Armed with knowledge, gleaned from an email exchange with John Lewis (who was the author of the Wild Swan series of drawings books), that the centre board clip sat on a joint at the centre of the roof, I managed to work out that the JLTRT roof template was actually about right. I found a dimensioned drawing that matched up, and I set about marking out the capping strips. Once I had those, I could mark where the roof grab handrails went.
Here you can see the various marks made on the roof for the D94 brake third. I've also traced on the toilet water tank filler plate, from the etch in the kit. Again, study of the photos leads me to believe the filler cover is on the roof centreline.
The capping strips are 1mm Evergreen styrene strip. Each is 69mm long, apart from the one that coincides with the centre board clip, which was trimmed back to fit. I curved each strip by running it past my thumbnail, ensuring the ends curved in a little tighter.
To fix the strips to the roof, I used a thin superglue. It happens to be sold under the brand of Citadel, aimed at those who collect and model the fantasy figurines. It comes in a tiny container, with a brush to dispense the fluid. I could run the brush along two-thirds of the strip, then attach the end in the roof gutter. After a few seconds, a quick wipe with the brush at the other end of the strip finishes the attachment.
Once the glue has hardened - probably tomorrow, to be safe - I'll drill through the capping strips for the roof handrails to be fitted. Meanwhile, I have fitted the ventilators, and the toilet filler cover plate. For this, I curved it in time-honoured fashion using a piece of aluminium round bar and a copy of Yellow Pages. The plates are half-etched for riveting, and once it was rolled I tapped them out with my Graskop rivet tool. Finally, I cleaned the top surface and chemically blackened it to give a half-decent chance of it retaining paint later without showing brass if it gets knocked.
I then moved back to below the floor. I've been looking at the truss assembly, and wondering why I hadn't actually fitted it. It fits neatly into moulded recesses in the floor. I used my normal super glue - I am a fan of Hafixs: it's not cheap, but it has one hell of a shelf life. My current bottle must be close to a decade old now, and only just starting to lose potency - scoring the plastic and brass mating surfaces to help the glue grip. The ends of the truss angles were glued to the inside face of the solebars, clamped while the glue set.
While that was setting, I fitted the steam heat dribble valve. The casting had been fitted into some brass tube, but I found the truss cross bracing got in the way a bit. Although the valve is quite low when you see Swindon works profile shots, it would have to be a lot lower on the model. I compromised by tucking it up a little higher, and offset to the compartment side of the coach.
You can just see the valve in profile. You can also see I've added the direct admission valves to the vacuum cylinders.
A nicely cruel close-up shows the cylinder and cross shaft gubbins lurking in the gloom. I'm going to get some detail parts for the pull rods at Reading, so this is as far as the underframe goes for now.
Here's a profile shot to show the dribble valve is just visible. It really ought to sag a lot more, so I may revisit this to make it much more prominent.
The plan for tomorrow is to undercoat the coach interior and the roof (grey primer may almost be the right colour!), finish painting the underframe bare brass, and make a start on the bogies. Until I get all the useful bits and bobs at the weekend coming up, and hopefully some prototype information from a flying visit to the Didcot Railway Centre, things may stall a little on this build. Mind you, I've got two more I could get started on!
