I shall watch this with great curiosity... good luck

Hi, what did you start with ?

Kevin

This is an ingenious project, a bit like the ones that used to be published fairly frequently in RM in the '80s, e.g. Hayden Reed's Thompson Pacifics.

Next job is to make the correct firebox.

That will be a laugh and a half. You might want to try making a mock-up from card first to satisfy yourself that it will look and feel like a wide-based firebox. At least it will be cheap to correct any errors that you spot in the process.

Extended boiler looks a bit indistinct, but that's probably your camera not fully adjusting itself to the lighting conditions and distance. Don't forget the cab of the 2-10-0 is longer than the 2-8-0. You may already have the outline drawings of both 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 in Edward Talbot's second volume on the BR Standard locos.

A shame Bachmann's chassis design doesn't allow you to shift the position of the 4th axle further forward, so you've automatically been forced to accept a compromised measurement between 4th and the new 5th.....or have you been able to shift it? Not clear from your photo.

Funnily enough, I looked at the Bradwell "WD" etches recently and wondered what it would take to "extend" them to become a 2-10-0. I came to the conclusion that everything was identical up to the third axle. Everything behind this then became very interesting:

- 2-10-0 driving wheelbase is 5'3"x5'3"x5'3"x5'3" (I'd be having to stretch a Bradwell chassis, or at least replicate the front half of it and then try to do the back half "in the style of Bradwell". Not easy, though you can get the correct extra trailing rods from Alan Gibson, ref. 4M122.)

- boiler barrel about 4ft longer!

- wide-based firebox

- dome sits on third cladding section, rather than between second and third.

- boiler is pitched an inch higher on the 2-10-0, but who's gonna notice?

- longer cab (can't remember if it's 3 or 6 inches longer)

So near, yet so far!