The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The proof of any of my locos is when they appear in front of the public at a show. The Barclay has now been well and truly covered in custard.
I had the “opportunity” to help Chris Mead with Overlord at the Abingdon show on Saturday. Since this kit was designed for this layout – the loco was the first hauled up the beach on D-Day so what better for a layout depicting the build up to D-Day – it seemed appropriate that it gets the dubious honour of hosting the first proper run. Of course it was the first chance I’d had to run it on any layout since I’d finished painting which influenced my decision.
Happily it worked OK. It certainly looks the part running around with the rods whirring. A bit more weight would be a good idea as some of the Overlord trains are a bit heavy. I had to remove the last guard iron as it hit the plasterwork that inlays all of the track.
One of the coupling bars fell off but superglue sorted this. Blowing on it made it dry faster (superglue dries by reacting with moisture so breathing on it make it work quicker) but blew a spot onto the body. Wiping this gave me a shinny section on the back of the cab. A bit more weathering will fix this.
Apart from this, even running the model in front of a few thousand people didn’t make it break, so, it can go into the stock box. Most importantly the leftover bits can go in the bin or parts store –something I’m not very good at as boxes full of leftover bits testify.
Finally, the workbench can now be brushed down and a new project broken out.
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