57xx Part 2
With the weather pretty awful down here in Somerset (though nowhere near as bad as it is in some parts of the country I grant you), I've just had to retire to the modelling bench and make a bit of progress with the 57xx.
5757 has reached working chassis stage and it's always a relief when things work. I put it down to Chris' design but this is the third kit I've built and the third which has run straight away without the need for tweaking/swearing/reassembly etc. I did quarter this one by eye though so maybe I'm also getting better at it too!
After having pondered how I was going to do the pickups, I did what I usually do which is cut the springs off behind the wheels and use the gap to fit the 0.3mm brass wire pickups. That may offend some people but 1) it works and 2) you can't really see the springs anyway. If you can you just need to move further away. Once again I've fitted the brake gear convinced that something somewhere is going to short out and being pleasantly surprised when it doesn't. I should really know better by now...
Bodywork detailing is almost there. I was hoping I'd be able to send the loco to the paint shop but I see I have a few handrails to tweak and I now need to get some replacement water tank vents (which snapped off) as well as a backhead and a crew. Chris' clever gearbox design means there's space to fit these (didn't think of that at the time). Never mind. Gibson buffers, smokebox dart and sanding gear from RJ Models have all been used. I've used oversized Smiths coupling hooks since this model will almost certainly be used for passenger haulage/3 link shunting as opposed to AJ's. I do need to work out how I'm going to fit some form of bolt at the front to fix the body/chassis.
The body will be finished in unlined black with an early BR emblem. That'll have to wait until I've got the remaining bits fitted. Couldn't resist posing it in the yard for a photo though!
- 7
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