Seeing promotional photos of the Dapol / Rails version of my loco helped me appreciate how wrong my base model was, mostly by omission but also how striking all the external “plumbing” work can be on these lovely locos. No two A1Xs appeared to have the same pipe configurations but fortunately excellent photos of the prototype No 4 gave me a suitable starting point.

The various missing parts were cut from Brass rod and as they were copper in the original, I set about some simple electro-chemistry to copper plate them. The pink of the fresh metal quickly oxidises to the normal brown of copper oxide once removed, natural weathering.

At this point the main additions are in place but the grossly oversized Salter Valves are still pending

Then added, being positioned correctly nearer the steam dome and downsized by more than 50%.

There are several minor extra additions required including Cab control pipes and Westinghouse fittings, of these more later.