The smokebox door, like the rest of the loco, needs a bit of work.
The first job was to carve away the numberplate, not really needed on an industrial loco..., and the moulded dart. The moulded hinge is huge and ugly so that came off as well, leaving a couple of small pads to mount a length of .025" Evergreen rod on, and for some reason there are rivets on the hinge straps which the prototype lacked so they came off as well.
The front handrail is set too high so I filled the moulded holes and fitted a new handrail set at a scale 5' from the footplate;
The side handrails are also too high and were also replaced. This was a bit of a headache as of course the holes in the tank sides will be lower than for the front due to the fact that the stanchions sit at an angle. After much trial and error (drill, fill, re-drill...) I've got them about right, although one stanchion is slightly out of place (I'm not saying which one though!). The moral - sort out the side handrails first and fit the front to suit!
Note the filled holes marking the old handrail positions.
Also seen in the photo above is a replacement tank step, included on the RT Models etch. The moulded step is far too high, it should sit slightly above the boiler centre line. The step is only temporarily in place for the photo, I'll fit it later on as its rather vulnerable. It has a tail which is fitted into a .5mm drilled hole.
Gibson short stanchions are used, medium are far too long for this job, and .45mm wire. I also replaced the two short handrails below the filler, again with .45mm wire.
I've been using a 7mm scale drawing whilst checking and setting the handrail heights etc. To save lots of complicated maths I use a 7mm/foot scale rule on the drawing then transfer the measurement to the model using a 4mm/foot scale rule.
On putting the model back together to see how it looks I've spotted a problem;
The handrail should line up with the middle of the curve of the spectacle plate, not the bottom as mine does, which means that I've fitted the spectacle plate too high. I glued it in place as low as I could whilst covering the existing opening.
I now have three options;
1. Ignore it and carry on,
2. Remove the spectacle plates, fill the top part of the hole with plasticard and filler, re-fit the plates at the correct height and file away the excess,
3. Put the model away for a few months and do something else until I decide which course of action is best.
However, before I make any decision I intend adding some extra detail to the firebox backplate.
Some minor detail differences to be aware of if modelling a particular loco:
A few locos had the tankside handrails set slightly higher up. I've noticed this on locos built by Andrew Barclay.
Two types of stanchion are used, the normal turned type and the straight shoulderless type.
Two diameters of smokebox door hinge.
Paul.
- 13
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