Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Tanked up


Tanked up
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
The side tanks are a nice origami exercise in brass. Most of the folds are square and easy to make. The curved area at the front was folded and the first flat area soldered Then the curve is made around a screwdriver and the rest fixed. Since the curve is hidden, absolute perfection isn't required - it's a pity those curves that do require it are often harder to get as good !

The beading along the top is supplied as etched lines with a half etched area to aid location. I found it a little fiddly as I'm not sure the location line is exactly right. Tack soldering and adjusting until you are happy is the key here. Then fix with lots of flux and very little solder, unless you enjoy cleaning off the excess that is.

Finally the tanks are fitted in place. Lots more tacking, measuring and adjusting here. The have to be upright and at 90 degrees to the footplate or the loco will look wrong. Getting this is harder than you'd expect as the eye is often deceived and only a square will do.

At this point the model looks a awful lot like a Jinty. I suppose they came out of the same design office for the same company so that isn't a surprise if you think about it. Standardisation was alive and well before BR discovered it !

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