Ruston Proctor in 006.5: etches fitted...

So an enjoyable weekend at Narrow Gauge South West (more on that later), I picked up the test etch from Steve at Narrow Planet for the Ruston Proctor...

You might also notice a Decauville (yes oooops) that is destined for a future Brian Clarke inspired 0-4-0ST, but it gives an idea of size of this 006.5 vs a H0f engine... note also the track in the picture is a loop of 009, I've been running things in... So it didn't take long to cut them out, clean up the tabs and get them fitted to the print. I'm very pleased, there was a tiny amount that needed to be removed from the print to fit the front of the cab, the rest of it was perfect.

It really is a tiny prototype. I have also shown it here with the Andrew Barclay...

So to finish it off I added the buffer beams, these are a mix of fold up parts and half etched overlays. Now I've borrowed a little track and a wagon from Tim, I can measure up and design some couplings to work with the standard Busch examples (magnet and link/pin).

You can see inside the cab here, the very simple controls represented - the wheel and lever give enough of an impression of the controls. The open cab is a great feature despite the miniature size.

So there are one or two small compromises to fit the chassis but I'm happy I've captured the prototype - and hopefully there are a few people interested in it - so I'll look to progress it to a kit in the coming months. More soon...