Quintus in 009: basic body finished...

When you work in plastic things can come together very quickly. Last night I showed a smokebox and the base of the tank, well here is how I put together the rest of it...

First up I cut four profiles for the tank shape from 30thou plasticard. This was stepped to be inset into the tank base, and all four were glued in with liquid polystyrene cement, before being shaped as a whole to get some consistency to the profile. The voids were then filled with fluid lead and secured with superglue before a 10thou plasticard wrapper was cut to size and glued to the whole thing. Once dry this was gently sanded to smooth it out.

I then raced ahead and forgot to take photos - but the cab is formed from 30thou plasticard. The front and back spectacle plates have spectacles of brass from a Worsley Works Kerr Stuart diesel kit which are the perfect size. The holes were make up and then opened out first with a 0.9mm twist drill, then 1-2mm broaches before using a triangular file to approximate a broach and opening up to about 4.5mm diameter.

The roof is another section of Meridian 'Talyllyn' coach that Pete Wilson kindly let me have from his reject pile a year or so ago. You can also see the smokebox door has been added by using a drawing pin.

Finally a few shots to show how the new girl compares to existing stock. It's clearly taller and longer then the tiny Bagnall IST, but the height is comparable to the O&K - albeit longer. More soon...