HR56 Dornoch, progress

A coal bunker was added in 1910 with a coal-hole in the cab.  

The original bunker of HR56, which was in front of the cab spectacle plate, was sheeted over and a hand rail added to match that on the other side when a rear bunker was added in 1910. The new coal bunker replaced the tool box behind the cab and photographs suggest that at this time the rectangular rear cab windows were remodelled rather smaller and square, similar to those at the front and a mesh screen was added to protect the glazing. In addition a coal-hole was added which I've given an elegant vertical sliding door similar to that seen in Stroudley's later Terriers, which he designed for the LB&SCR

There is a 2" gap between the front saddle tank and the original bunker which is not evident on the other two HR Stroudley tanks, only Dornoch displays this. A fairing, on which the dome is mounted, covers the boiler in front of the cab and partly covers the gap. There is an outer and an inner cab front between which the glazing will be sandwiched. The boiler backhead, which for want of information, takes as its model that of the related Stroudley Terriers, is mounted on the inner sheet and this assembly will be removable.

HR56 showing progress to date, chimney and dome from LGM.

My intention is to complete the sheet metal work first and then add the castings and fine detail. The cab is still joined to the bunker assembly by a structural device which ensures accuracy of construction, this will be removed when the structure is complete, before the cab stanchions are put in place. The buffer beam on these engines was a sandwich of metal plates with a wood filling which I hope to replicate. I intend to experiment with Milliput coloured with weathering pigment, to simulate the wooden part as I find real wood, box in this case, hard to work and rather toy-like in appearance.

The frames of the engine are 27mm wide and are cut short just beyond the front driving wheels. The frames are visible in the gap in the footplate between the smokebox and the buffer beam, so they are modelled full scale (actually 29.5mm) and attached to the footplate behind the buffer beam so they fit over the working frames. The join between the dummy front frames and the working frames will not be visible as the front brakes cover it. The smokebox front plate extends below the buffer beam to the cylinder covers so there's a lot of detail in this area and I intend to maximise its potential...

G&SWR Brake Van construction complete.

G & SWR 16T Drummond brake van, construction complete.

I still have a few details to add to the interior of the van and I'll post some photos soon of this and of the busy underside too. The solebar needs a number plate, which I'll draw myself and print on the ink-jet and the inner compartment or guard's house will be glazed at a later stage. The roof is held in place by a screw mounted in the chimney which locates into the threaded pipe of the stove below. In the doorways you can see evidence of yellow-grey Milliput which has been used to fill the uprights which inexplicably narrow above the safety bars. As I made the uprights from hollow section metal, filing them to shape removed one side and revealed the hollow inside, hence the filler. The lower footboard has been thickened to a more realistic thickness and the centre footboard support has been strengthened with a wire soldered behind it.

The buffers are from my spares box and are internally sprung which I prefer to the piano-wire system supplied with the kit. Couplings are made by myself from 1.25 mm n/s for the hook and 0.8 n/s wire for the links, making my own ensures that I can arrange a shank to match the slot in the buffer beam and sidestep any problem that may arise due to the incompatibility of the coupling hook casting and the buffer beam slot. I've arranged that the couplings are sprung with a stiff spring, though I'm no great believer in sprung couplings, the main benefit being that they can be easily removed at the painting stage. I've already blackened the couplings and buffer rams with Birchwood Casey brass black and intend to keep up the momentum and spray the van with Acid 8 etching primer in the shed as soon as the weather improves in the far NW.

You can just glimpse the guard in this picture leaning out of the van on the side of the brake wheel, he's from the "Heroes of the Footplate" range now produced by Invertrain though I've changed his cap to something suitable for a G & SWR guard. The tail lamps, of which you can see only one of the three in position, are from the same source.