I'm making some changes to the way the Y6 tram engine goes together compared to the way the manufacturer intends it to be assembled. On my model, the body and roof will be one part, the footplate and skits another. The chassis fits under all of this.As supplied, the kit makes it pretty easy to do this - there are two footplates so I can hack a bigger hole in one, arrange for it to bolt down and solder the sides and roof to it.
Inside there is a boiler, fire and smokebox. The hole will need to be big enough to fit over these so I've fitted them now. This has highlighted a problem - I think I've put the footplate in back to front.
You might think this doesn't matter but looking at the side view, there is a flap in the skirts that is off-centre. It's towards the front of the engine, presumably to allow access to the motion for oiling. On the footplate there are two holes for (I think) sandboxes and these should also be at the front.
They aren't on my model.
Since I refuse to take the skirts apart to fix this, I'll live with it. The smokebox has been placed at the correct front, where it should be under the chimney hole. Assuming this works OK, I'll carry on. Time to build the body next.
I should say that at this point only the brass bits have been fitted. There's a load of whitemetal to go in here and if I can find more information, some scratchbuilding too. That can all wait until the big bits are made and I'm happy all is well. If I have to unsolder anything, then the less the batter.
3 comments:
It's looking great. I always find it infuriating when some unknown crops up during a build...impossible to predict beforehand. It is difficult to write instructions, but it does sound like the instruction writer didn't assemble this first! Looking forward to the next stage in progress.
Don't think this is the problem with this kit - I'm confident test models will have been built.
Judging from the instructions, I have a very old edition. Also, writing instructions is surprisingly difficult and expensive. UK modellers would prefer to save money and not be able to assemble the model rather than pay an extra fiver for a decent set of words!
The diagrams are good though and the drawing (why don't all kits include one?) solves a lot of the potential problems.
Ah, glad to hear that. And yes, a drawing does speak volumes.
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