Chunky buffer beams required

 

Working on a model that's already built, rather than a kit, isn't always easy. I've come to fit the buffers to the Lewin, and on the prototype, these are chunky lumps of iron-faced wood. 

I always used Sprat & Winkle couplings, which require a bar between the buffers, and space behind this for a hook. 

If I were starting with a kit, the beam itself could be a lot thinner, allowing hook space with less bulky buffers. But I'm not. The best I could do is removed a millimetre of whitemetal by sawing the ends and carving the rest away with a sharp knife. The 3-link coupling hook prevents serious filing to achieve the same result. 

The faces are built up using plastic sheet, with rivets (bolts?) added from cubes of Microstrip and lashings of solvent. 

The end result is bulkier than I'd like, but at least it works. Industrial locos were known for chunky buffers anyway, and I'm not going to pretend this is a perfect model of the Seaham Harbour machine - not least because I can't face doing the lined green livery!

Sorry the model is so dusty. It's a trick of the camera, highlighting dust you can't see normally. For work, I'll spend time dusting, both physically and electronically, but on the blog, I keep it real (as da kidz say).