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| HR 46 Superstructure practically complete. |
The superstructure is almost complete and detail work is well under way. Castings for the tank top water fillers need a little modification and the dome needs rather more drastic surgery as I had to remodel the (wonky) safety valves which are mounted on top of them.
The smokebox door is made from 0.45mm nickle silver sheet cut to shape and persuaded into a convex shape in a doming block after which much filing produced the result above.
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| Cab interior partially finished |
Some of the cab and backhead fittings are in place in this view, most of the castings have been sourced from LGM and need modifying for best effect. On the left cab side wall is the driver's brake valve that I cut down to size and at the same time moved the handle to the nearside, this apparatus will have a pipe that connects with the left hand injector which has yet to arrive though I've ordered what looks like an appropriate pair from 62C Models. Fastened to the the right of the spectacle plate is a lubricator again cut down from an LGM casting to a more reasonable size. The backhead water gauges look too big and need reducing in length, I may cut them down and add a small tap to the bottom which might leave room for me to fit a firebox door handle. The handle for the tablet catcher can be seen protruding into the cab between the stanchion and the inner side tank.
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| Opening door with cut-out to accommodate the tablet catcher mechanism. |
The hinged door has a sneck which fastens behind the front cab stanchion to keep the door closed. Inside the cab can be seen the coal hole door which opens by sliding upwards : beyond is the brake stanchion.
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| HR 46 Crew in action poses. |
The driver is from the "Heroes of the Footplate" range which is now available from Chris Smith at "Invertrain". The fireman is my first essay in producing a shovelling figure, moulds for this are currently under development. Adding figures to the cab points up the very restricted space in which crews worked in these little engines.
