Monday, May 04, 2009

Finished chassis

No great problems finishing off the chassis for the coal tank locomotive. With the wheels out, a coat of primer and then a brush painted covering of Humbrol matt black. This is an excellent brushing paint and application by hand gives a slightly thicker, and therefore more robust, coat than spraying. Besides, it's easier to get paint into all the nooks and crannies this way.

With the paint dry AND hard the wheels, motor and gears went back in. With all well the pickups were fitted and tested. I love watching a chassis I've built run up and down the test track and probably do this a bit more than absolutely necessary. Of course it is important to get things run in properly of course...

The brakes are soldered to the support wires next. Using Cars Red flux is important as it's non-corrosive. I can't stick the chassis under a tap at this point to clean it up, hence the specialist but less effective flux. The same stuff is used for the pull rods which on this steam loco, go on the outside of the wheels. The curved hangers and outside rods are part of making this early prototype as elegant as it is.

After another quick(ish) test the chassis is now on the shelf waiting for me to finished the body. And yes, I have checked that this still fits,

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