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Thanks for the varnish advice everyone, I'll do some more experiments with Ronseal Hard Glaze mixes, I found the Satin coat to be very good too! Here's the finished beast, on her own, with my previous Tilbury tank and at home on Michael's beautiful N-Gauge empire... Next N gauge project may be a Johnson 1400 class 2-4-0 to double-head a few expresses with the Spinner... Cheers Simon

Ah, thanks very much for the advice Sandy and Warren...earlier this morning, heart in mouth (if that's the right phrase) I sprayed everything with a half and half mix of Ronseal Matt and Satin varnish with 50% white spirit, and so far nothing un-toward has happened...fingers crossed that tomorrow morning it will be properly dry with no blooming or other horrors! Cheers Simon

Thanks Lyonesse, it's an interesting question isn't it, that of relative shininess! The paint is Precision Crimson Lake and classed as "dull"; I think I might have used gloss if it were available, if only to help with the lining out. In fact I very rarely use gloss and particularly in 2mm scale there is the concept of viewing distances and so on.. Having said that, all my reference photos of the Spinner in the NRM, show it to have a very fine shine. So what to do? It's a minefield! I'm going to experiment with some Ronseal satin varnish and see what that does (on an old Airfix kit first)! Or perhaps a bit of polishing with nylon brush in the mini-drill? Cheers Simon

Hi Nick, this one's got a cut-down Dapol Terrier in the tender. I hope to build another to 2mm/FS with a tender mounted motor powering the driving wheels. Cheers Simon

Getting there... Here's the back-head: And the crew: Some touching up and transfers next and then possibly varnishing with Ronseal polyurethane satin (although I will be doing some experiments first!). Cheers Simon

Thankyou very much indeed everyone; I think Steve sums it up really nicely in that you can make whatever you want and enjoy the challenges and skills gained in persuing a brilliant hobby. Whilst I'm busy being challenged by the job of painting it, here are a few more pictures... Cheers Simon

That's lovely Ken, what do you use for varnishing? Cheers Simon

A gorgeous bit of work Neil, love the flappy cover thing! Cheers Simon

Thankyou both, I find high magnification and a hang-over, to steady the soldering hand, can be very helpful! Cheers Simon

Hi, bit of an update, the main work is done, bar the painting and final details and it's the painting that's taking the time at the moment...blimey it's tricky in 2 mm! Cheers Simon

Thanks Jerry, the single wheelers are really beautiful locomotives, I think the GW Dean Singles just beat the Spinners into 2nd place, but only just! Here's some more 2mm progress: I built up some details using various bits and pieces to produce the smokebox door. The driving wheel axlebox and springs... And the whistle... And here she is with the NBrass boiler fittings in place. Cheers Simon

Hi Sandy, I'm looking forward to seeing how your rebuild goes. I've been tempted in the past by the Ace kit for this loco and will watch with interest! Cheers Simon

Further Spinner details: Various handrails on and off... And some arc-welding for these beautiful NBrass castings... Cheers Simon

Thankyou everyone: Here I'm just adding the little covers at the bottom of the firebox and then trying things out for a fit on the N gauge chassis (2mm versions are also in the pipeline!). Cheers Simon

Next, the frame extensions and piano lid, (cover?) (front?); anyway it's very descriptive of the wiggly bit at the front... Cheers Simon

Thanks Peter, very kind of you to say so! More spinning: I mark any "tight" spots where the boiler pushes the splashers outwards. Then use a cylindrical oil stone to shape the splashers for a good fit. I marked out a little fold-up smoke-box saddle. Checked the level with the boiler/smokebox in place. Soldered on the wrapper. For a final check. The small gap at the bottom of the firebox is filled later by some little covers. Cheers Simon

Hi Warren, is that the livery with all the little curlicue fiddly bits? I would need my single badger-bristle brush and the ability to slow my heart rate to prevent unnecessary seismic movements, so sadly no. LMS livery is good for me I think. However, when I get round to a 7mm version...perhaps you might be interested? Here's some 2mm progress. I sanded a slight bevel into the edges of the splashers to help seat the tops... Which were formed from rolled strips of thin nickel-silver. These were soldered from inside... With the curves smoothed to join the footplate. Cheers Simon

Having fitted the cab, I sorted out a piece of brass tubing. Slit it with the piercing saw. Folded out the fire-box. And it fits, hurrah! Cheers Simon

A little bit more Spinner: I soldered up the tiny cab and fitted it so that I could check the boiler against it before attempting the large splasher tops. Cheers Simon

Hi; Spinner progress I've marked and cut out the footplate: Checked the clearance of the driving wheels: And made a dinky little wooden base for support while I work on the rest of the structure: Cheers Simon

Continuing with the N gauge Spinner, I've cut the side frames and built up the drag and buffer beams. Then soldered them together using a temporary spacer to keep everything square and in-line. The central spacer is then replaced by some stiffening pieces. Which stop the frames flexing out of shape while the curved footplate is soldered on from inside and underneath. To produce this, once the extra length has been carefully trimmed off and the stiffeners removed. Which is very similar to how I made the curved footplate on my 7mm "Earl Cawdor"- except very very much smaller! Cheers Simon

I contacted Mike the other day, via his Facebook page, about some 7mm boiler fittings I needed. He replied quickly and helpfully; so if there's anything you might want, try getting in touch with him that way.

I've had a go at making the drivers a little more visually pleasing, so with lots of slithers of plasticard, super-glue, sanding, sanding and more sanding and then a quick blast of black primer, I'm beginning to get there...another one to go. If anyone out there is interested in producing some finescale N-Gauge driving wheels I'll be first in the queue! Cheers Simon

A little more progress on the N-Gauge Spinner...I want to try out beam compensation in 2mm scale so the frames are held apart with spacers and the drivers are seated in lovely little London Road 2mm horn-blocks and bearings. Cheers Simon

Thankyou everyone, and yes, the RSU and I are still battling it out and occasionally I win. I'm busily engaged in some more N-Gauge scratch-building with a rather experimental looking lash-up so far... (The RSU may be pressed into service again very soon.) Oh, and Pugs! I'm building some white-metal Pugs! Cheers Simon