Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Jinty footplate


footplate
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
While the wheels dry I moved on to the gearbox and footplate.

The former went together as well as any High Level Models box ever does – i.e. very well as long as you follow the instructions. I left the final stage swinging until the body is built and I can work out how much to bend it so the mechanicals fit inside.

I’ve also made up the footplate. It makes sense to sort out the fixings between this and the chassis early. I’ve played the game of trying to enlarge chassis holes with all the gubbins in place. Never cleaver.

Before assembly the valances had to be bent to right angles. This took bending bars as the hold-n-fold wasn’t man enough. The brass is hard and took a bit of whacking with the little hammer to give a true right angle. Then it was turned in the vice so I could whack out the curve they had formed as the hammered metal had stretched.

Buffer beams needed loads of bolts embossing in the faces. Luckily I noticed that they were different and after checking the plans got the right one each end (I think) so as not to upset the purists.

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