That detail is fantastic! Really enjoying this build you two.
Thanks John, I’ll pass that on to Jarrod.
And now, another update…
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During the build up phase for some unknown reason Jarrod and I overlooked the two braces beneath the front of the locomotive, just behind the wheels. Luck for us we were able to get them cleaned up, painted, added, and weathered to match the rest of the kit.
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Since we missed those two braces, we decided to walk through the instructions to ensure we didn’t miss something else. Along the way Jarrod and I identified more parts that were molded poorly (incorrect detail and both mold halves were off register causing one side of the part to be off center with the other side (essentially worthless). The first parts were the steam/water drains that mount beneath the front lower cylinders.
Here is what was provided and our scratch build in progress. The one piece action lever and cross fittings were poorly molded, out of register, had lots of flash, seams, and ugly ejection pin marks. The long center bar connected the right and left sides beneath the locomotive body. That part was even in worse condition than the ones previously explained.
Here is the final interpretation of the part along with a correction to add the hinges on the service platform. The arm opposite the action levers will be the lever that is tied to a rod from the engine house (none of that was in the kit).
And the replacement fittings have been built and added to the cylinders then painted.
We are finally at a point to be able to add some of the assemblies that have been off to the side for some time. In a nutshell, Jarrod and I have been able to add the cow catcher front assembly, the front wheel assembly, some of the scratchbuilt brass work on the sides, and the pushrod and guide assembly to each side. Before you ask, “yes” the brass lines on the sides of the locomotive are suppose to be at that angle. Other items include the scratchbuilt lubrication points above the cylinder casing. I hope to have some of the terminology correct (or the build finished, smile). I think it may be better to show photos of the progress instead:
Well, that’s it for today. Jarrod and I, along with the fellas say farewell for now.
As always, thanks for looking, and build something! Comments encouraged, good, bad, or indifferent.
Ben and Jarrod
UPDATE: I was asked by a fellow modeler on another site about the push bar on the front of the cow catcher. I started looking specifically and found that originally it had a completely different style of cow catcher. I found a few photos that show it without one. BUT, I also found some pictures with a push bar as seen below.
With this information Jarrod and I created a new push bar with the flat end and hole in it for the old style connector. Here is the replacement push bar for the front of the cow catcher.
And here it is attached along with some scratches, chips and light oxidation (rust), looking at the photos I may tone it down just a bit (or not). I also corrected the black trim on the bottom edge of the catcher.
While posting that rework, here is some other stuff Jarrod and I accomplished yesterday.
- Most of the brass plumbing added. This is actual brass which replaced the majority of the plastic work where possible. We still need to weather and detail paint some of it.
- Finished assembly of the steam/water pressure relief valves and actuator bar. It will still need the action arm (wire) from the cab to the upper lever on the bar as well as detail paint too.
Once again, thanks for looking, and remember that Jarrod and I always encourage and appreciate your reviews and comments.
Till next update!
Ben and Jarrod
Our next update involves the drive wheels. The kits parts are molded in red and are a single piece for each wheel. After cleaning the flash, ejection pin marks, and sink holes, we sprayed them with Testor’s RED. I believe we already shown them previously with the white edge trim (below).
Next we used a permanent silver marker on the contact face of the wheel where it meets the track. To attempt to add more realism Jarrod and I then added some wear marks, dirt and grime in the recesses, and even some slight edge chipping and mild rust on the interior face of the wheel. It may sound like a lot, but we didn’t want to make it appear severely worn or abused, just used or “in service”.
The next step was to find a way to add the pin striping on each spoke and wheel weight as on the actual train.
After some searching we were able to find the appropriate pinstripe decals from a model train source. Several hours later of measuring, cutting, and placement, here is what we came up with to replicate them (up to 20 decals per wheel).
Jarrod managed to maintain his interest for one wheel, which is pretty good for him concerning the tedious work. After the first wheel he wanted to go into his favorite recliner to watch a music (concert) videos on his I-Pad. I suppose if I had the same choice of watching somebody do this or watching concerts I would’ve done the same. 
We’re letting them fully dry and will seal them before moving on. So thats about it for now, more updates tomorrow I believe. Thank you all for viewing and don’t be afraid to post your observations , critiques, and comments.
Ben and Jarrod
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Oh wow that’s nice! You and Jarrod are making some serious progress there- won’t be long till she’s done!
Thanks Gamera, and thanks for sticking with us through this build.
Those pin stripes became an issue when adding the drive wheels to the loco though. The decals were very old (around 10-13 years) and after setting and sealing them several of the stripes did not want to stay on the wheels. So we did a second attempt, actually fix those bad ones by adding a seal of thinned white glue to seal them on and replaced others that were not repairable.
When adding the drive wheels I accidentally fixed the wrong wheels to the wrong axles (think single versus dual wheel weights). Because of the keyed plastic axle, they did not want to come off, even with de-bonder. When trying the de-bonder we almost had a fatal error of it nearly spilling out to finished paint areas, but we just caught it in time. The solution was to cut and remove the plastic axles under the chassis which let us take the wheels and partial axle out the sides. Next we drilled out the axle tips from the wheels which was OK anyway as they had gaps and stuck out the end of the wheels inconsistently. Next we used hollow and solid brass rod to make better axles then what they provided anyway. This also allowed us to create a tight and near flush fit in the center of each wheel. Photos of the actual loco show very little tell of any center axle at all under the paint. So in this case, the error fixed the poor axle facing in the center of the wheels.
ACTUAL:
MODEL: (minor touch-ups still needed)
Next was adding the main and slide rods (bars) to each wheel and then to the crosshead / cylinder assembly. We immediately found that even after a light paint, the holes in the slide rods had such a tight tolerance with the retaining pin that they would no longer fit. So after some mild filing they fit fine, but the front end of the slide rod that snaps to the crosshead took a considerable amount of force to snap into place on each side. So much so that we thought we were going to break something. So now, finally after the drive wheels, fenders, and drive rods were added it was starting to look like a proper locomotive. Then we noticed that when fixing the drive rods holes for the pins, we accidentally put the front and rear drive bars on in the wrong sequence (the front slide rod was errantly attached in the outside position). We thought for a minute to just leave them that way because trying to remove them could easily destroy the pin and damage the rods. Then we noticed how off skew the slide rods were in relationship to the crosshead guides that we had not choice, they had to come loose and be placed in the proper sequence (the front bar on first then the rear bar on over it). To do this we had to sheer off the front retaining pin heads. Once the bars were corrected, Jarrod and I punched out two new pin heads from sheet plastic. Once they were added and painted it was impossible to tell anything was ever wrong to begin with. Still it was far more work than the wheels and drive bars should’ve been (all of the problems were self imposed by my errors in the build).
With most of the brass on and now the wheels, the steam locomotive will soon be coming to an end. But first we also had to correct the details on the right and left Valve Rods. The single kit part was molded to represent all the components of the valve rods; the arm, push bar, knuckle, and various brass mating parts that attach to the valve chest. The part as molded was missing numerous bolts, nuts, knuckle detail, etc.
Here is how is should’ve looked:
This was the kit part:
Taking a step backwards, before I could add the corrected valve rods, we had to finish the connections to the drain cock connecting rod, as its pull rod goes beneath the right valve rod and on to the cab. This if you recall was the bar shown below:
The actuating lever is tied to a pull bar in the cab by a thin rod. Considering the lever and rod were never a part of the kit we had to create them and drill holes in the cab and running board. To create the thin rod we used micro thin silver solder. Once painted it was fed from the cab, through the new hole in the running board, behind the reverse valve actuating bar and in front of the water supply line, then on to the lever itself.
With that now done we added the valve rods. Up next, Jarrod and I wanted to add additional detail to the water valves. In the photo below you can see the actuation rods from the cab to a valve pin. This is our next challenge.
To create this assembly we started by drilling the water valve and adding a small brass rod to replicate the valve pin. The fittings on the end are piece parts from old jewelry. Considering how well the solder worked last time and that the rods are the same diameter, we used the solder again. The same technique was used to drill the various holes. Once painted and glued to the valve pin we fed the solder (rod) through and into the cab. a small spot of glue was place on the solder where it connects through the cab and tension was held until cured then trimmed.
We are still looking for information on the following hose assembly which was not part of the kit. Specifically, where does it go from there?
Other items such as the sand box lever, sand pipes, hand rails, bell assembly, headlamp assembly including the flag staffs and hand rail, and steps were then added. We still need to finish the drive wheel axle faces, work on the tenders wood pile a little more, finish the sand and steam domes, pop-off valves and whistle, attach the tender and locomotive to each other and the base, add the step plate between the locomotive and tender, detail and add the water lines from the tender to the engine, add the figures and various tools, and finalize the weathering.
With that said, here is a sneak peek at how part of it looks at the moment:
This is most likely the last update before the final reveal (we hope). Suggestions, comments, all welcome.
Ben and Jarrod
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