A Better Roof for HR57

Milliput roof (above) and metal former (below).

The roof in this picture is made by filling the spaces between the ribs of a former similar to that pictured below it with Milliput and soldering an edging of 1 x 1mm angle strip onto the base plate. It looks good from the outside but has a flat roof inside the cab, hardly noticeable really. But...it was noticed at the CD0GG running day in Carlisle and commented on which prompted me to re-open the case!
The bottom illustration shows the start of the new sheet metal roof. I made a former from the drawing and bent four triangles of 0.3mm nickle silver sheet to fit the four sides very accurately, butting up against each other nicely. One segment is in place on the former in the photo. The former of course could have been made out of wood or of Milliput. I then cut a voided rectangle of 0.45mm metal as a base plate which slightly overhung the sides of the cab. Then, with a scrap wood support in the middle, I tack soldered the four plates together and onto the base. When all was accurately assembled I flooded solder onto the underside to ensure a robust structure. The 3" strip of metal that runs across the top helped strengthen the roof too. Finally I added an edging of 1 x 1mm brass angle strip and a lamp bracket.

The concave metal roof inside the cab

The roof is soldered to the rear of the cab to form a solid assembly which is held in place on the footplate by screws from below. The front of the roof locates against a tongue attached to the cab front plate by means of a slot formed under the base plate of the roof.

HR57's new sheet metal roof in place.

And... as a final flourish to the project, I'm sculpting a crew who'll do nicely for any of the Stroudley Tanks, they're well under way at this moment on my desk and will be featured on this Blog as soon as they're finished.