Dunrobin...More progress

Boiler backhead in place with modified fire hole door

I had help from Paul Jarman at Beamish museum who supplied some photos of Dunrobin which clarified most of the details of the cab interior. I'm still not sure about my positioning of the Dreadnought vacuum ejector, which you can see sitting on the right hand inner tank top, behind the reversing lever. The original ejector was removed in Canada when Westinghouse braking equipment was fitted; it languished on a shelf in a workshop there, where fortunately it remained until its repatriation along with the engine in 2011. Apart from the ejector, which is provisionally positioned at the moment, the inner tank tops are at this stage still bare of equipment, though I'm sure that evidence will emerge of detail which can be added to enliven this area. The cast brass backhead supplied in the kit has been modified so the firehole is now correct with horizontal sliding doors and operating lever at floor level.

Photos from Beamish and a GA drawing of the cab area from Sharp Stewart the builder, provided the details for the seating in the cab rear. There are duckboards for the passengers' feet and a padded seat, which are above the coal space, the coal door is central at floor level. On the rear wall of the cab, above the windows, can be seen a coat rail; between the windows there should be a set of framed autographs of distinguished passengers, details of which I have yet to clarify.

Cab rear with seating for four people with coal bunker below.

Dreadnought ejector sits on the tank top connected to the ejector pipe which can be seen through the window.

Some of the castings for the boiler backhead are taken from the 4mm scale version of the engine which were rather over scale. Other cab details including the reversing lever and brake standard were constructed by the author. On top of the backhead sits a handwheel, a detail which I hope to enlarge on as my understanding of the cab controls and gauges develops. The wooden floor is constructed from model ship planks and is in two parts, left and right, to allow for removal. The mechanism for operating the tablet catcher is fixed to the end of the left hand inner tank. Note the inner sliding cab windows which are single skinned and will eventually be glazed by simply affixing a sheet of glazing to the rear after painting; the handles for these windows will glue to the glazing.

Tank tops and ejector pipe are well seen in this view.

The original ejector pipe was removed in Canadian days so I have relied on photographs to restore it to its correct position. It kinks towards the boiler after leaving the smokebox and is supported from the boiler just after the bend.  After running along the boiler towards the cab, the evidence of a hole in the cab front plate suggests that the pipe crossed over the tank top towards the outside of the engine to enter the cab and connect with the Dreadnought vacuum ejector inside.
Narrow Planet provided the etched nameplates.
The tapered buffer housings, which have a square base, were modified from a set of Slaters' GWR buffers but are still a couple of scale inches longer than the prototype's miniscule 9 inches.

Brass castings for rear sandboxes and picnic hamper boxes are soldered to frames.

Roof in place emphasises the large space occupied by the cab.