This view of the myriad parts in bags
will give you some idea of its complexity. There were also many sheets of
etch. The instructions are, naturally, quite complex but rely very
much on sketches and hand written reference notes. A picture is worth
a thousand words. Never-the-less, I feel sure that the kind of mind
that could produce a kit of this complexity could have added a few more
words about how it goes together.
The footplate and cab, (what there is of it, hardy lot those old engine crews) makes up fairly easily, I wish that could be said for all of it.
This
is the basis of the tank and requires specially riveted overlays fitting to
suit the particular variety of engine I seek to produce. In this case they
will have to be scratch built and fitted, since I want to model an earlier
version with a six rows of plates rather than the three or five provided for
in the kit since the picture I have for the engine I want, 1533, has them.
The
boiler/firebox, shewn upside down here, sits inside the tanks and leaves
plenty of room for motor, gearbox, DCC control equipment, speakers and
ballast etc.
The smoke box is not an easy part to make accurately, or fit, since there
are no locking tabs anywhere so, it is all trial and error, i.e., the errors
are a trial!Back to top
The
chassis has scale thickness frames, which makes them more than somewhat flimsy in my
view, even when the spacers are fitted. Also, it still uses old fashioned
turned brass spacers that take a lot of heat to fit. My advise to
others would be to scrap these and use some folded brass or nickel spacers
instead. There are more brackets to fit for the dummy inside motion.
All the parts for the motion were clearly based upon what looks like excellent masters;
problem is they are white metal and very fragile. Since I have elected
to go for the compensated option, fitting the dummy motion on an axle would
be very tricky I think. It may be possible to fit it so some
brass tube and let axle run inside that, we shall see. Unlike
Black Duncan
it is not possible to set up the dummy motion as a separate unit to be
fitted later so it will be a great fiddle I suspect.
The
wheels were turned up from Alan Harris castings (for details how this was
done please refer to
Wheel Turning) and the rods. from the etched part supplied, were
soldered together in a vice and cleaned up very early in the piece. I do
not like taper pins and so fit the telescopic axles with 10BA bolts into
threaded holes in the axle components. The brass turning that can be seen
in the front is the tool for removing the Carl Legg crank pin nuts. It
has a hole drilled into each end, one to fit the small crank pin and the
other end for the larger. Then a slot is sawn in with a piercing saw
to accommodate the cast gudgeon pin ends.TO BE CONTINUED - eventually! Never a truer work written, it is now February 2010 and this afternoon I disinterred the kit from it's niche in a cupboard full of similar half finished projects. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced the instructions and so, until I can get another set, work is still stalled. Bah!
Well I have E-mailed Scorpio about obtaining another set of instructions and we must wait and see what transpires..... There was no response to my E-mail but a telephone call got a response and a few days later a replacement copy of the instructions arrived in the post - gratis, full marks for service. Now I find that the pictures of the particular engine I want to build have also gone missing and must await replacements from Kidderminster Museum.
In the meantime, I discovered that I had fitted the valances to far out (must have been a bad day!) and the buffer planks would not fit so took the whole footplate apart again to fix it, thus:
TO BE CONTINUED
Back to top