Monday, November 09, 2009

Making space for the motor

After lots of deliberation and quite a lot of time digging through pictures in book on trains, I've fitted the Bulldog cab interior as it comes in the kit. The only picture I found of a cab showed boxes the same length as the ones in the kit but a lot shorter. However Just Like the Real Thing make a 3F kit with boxes that look very similar. Working on the basis that Pete Waterman has a bigger library than I do, and that I don't have any hard reason to disbelieve the original designer of this kit, I've assumed he was right or at least as right as makes no odds.

With the sides and floor fitted, I hit another problem - the motor and gearbox wouldn't go in. Although it fits fine without filling the cab, to actually insert the thing, the 'box does have to take up space that it subsequently relinquishes again.

So, on the basis that this is supposed to be a working model, I had to make space elsewhere. The obvious thing to do is trim away the back end of the boiler. Initially I used small files but quickly realised that I needed something bigger and moved on to the minidrill and slitting disk. The motor used is quite tubby the hole is wider than I'd like but once on the track you won't see it.

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