Sunday, March 01, 2009

Tanks, smokebox, cab front

Fitting the tank to the cab front is nice and easy - an etched line shows the location. Making sure the tank bottom and front are perpendicular is important but no too difficult. I didn't need to do any tweaking so this means the tank must be reasonably square.

The smokebox is harder. A lamination on the tank front ought to give an idea but if you try and use this to guide attachment, the tank slopes upwards to the front. Not much but enough to be annoying. I think the problem is the reduction from 7mm scale - that and I misread the instructions, the smokebox goes on first and then the lamination.

After a bit of fiddling around I managed to get things square and horizontal. Visual guides don't help what with the smokebox front sloping backward on the prototype so it's out with squares and even a small spirit level.

If you are a fan of unseen detail, this a kit for you. The back smokebox former is ecthed with holes representing the tubes in the boiler. Nice but completely invisible on a finished model.

No comments: