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This loco is a Phil Sharples steam-outline battery electric loco>
This is from Phil's catalogue - I bought the tender to go with it, which will result in some alterations to the loco.
The first job was to make up the frames / boiler backhead / running plate assembly. The frames are cut from shiny acrylic so the matt black spray can was called for, with the result illustrated.
The next job was to make up the wheel inserts, with spacers for the crankpins.
Once that had all gone off and the inserts glued into the wheels, it was time to wheel the loco (not forgetting the obligatory washers on the axles - AND the gear), wire the motor, check it was rotating in the right direction (ie loco going forwards) and glueing it in position. Quartering was no great problem.
Adding the bodywork was a simple job, as was adding the lamp bracket at the front. I masked off the wheels and then hit it with some spray paint - this was after one coat of gloss black.
The rear end of the loco has received a pairly drastic modification. As it's going to be a tender loco, the cab back has been almost totally done away with: only the coupling (with it's backing of former cab back) has been retained, with a piece of wood across the back of the cab to help support the coupling. There's going to be another piece of wood at the front of the cab, and these will form the base for the slatted cab floor, to be made from coffee stirring sticks.
The tender was another very simple construction job............
........ and once the lamp bracket had been fitted, it was away to the paint shop with this, too.
My unsteady hand and eye means that the front coupling could never have been neatly painted in situ, so I assembled it, painted with white primer (2 coats) followed by acrylic red paint. This will be attached once the main body paintwork is complete.
5th February saw Sid the Driver arrive from Modeltown - he IS going to be tall enough to see over the boiler from the (rather low) cab floor level, but he'll get elevated once I've built the slatted floor.
I thought the loco looked odd without a safety valve, so I asked for suggestions on line. Somebody came up with this: take a crimp-on terminal, cut off the "terminal" bit and paint brass.
Adding the front coupling and the smokebox door suddenly made the front emd of the loco look much better - the chimney helped as well.
The tender's acquired its wheels (and the tank filler cover) but the rest awaits further parts. The cab looks much better with cream sides - floor next.
An hour or so's work saw the slatted cab floor added..................
...............so Sam can see over the boiler properly.
All the boiler backhead detail's been added - the regulator is placed so that it's in Sam's hand. I now await some fire irons and some detailing parts for the tender.
... and we ended up with this - seen at its first show at Solihull. |
Page Updated on 10th February, 2018
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