Friday, December 12, 2008

Bell rope


Bell rope
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
Attaching a rope to the bell on these model locomotives is harder than it looks. Sure you can superglue a bit of black thread to the operating arm and inside the cab but because the thread is slightly stiff it tends to twist rather than hang in mid air.

The solution I use, which may not be the best and I'd appreciate others, is to brush superglue along it and then tug the "rope" into position with tweezers. Loctite do a nice superglue in a plastic pot with a brush in the cap that's very handy for this. A second advantage is that the hairiness of the tread is reduced.

The other operating control is a handle for the sanding gear. This is bent up from wire and hooked into the sand dome. A support is required at the steam dome and I use another bit of wire for this. Once painted the effect is very nice and these spindly bits add a lot of character to the finished model.

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