Focalplane
Western Thunderer
This evening I have been applying Acid 8 etch primer to the three tender components. They are all in various stages of drying slowly (see above!) so I do not want to disturb them for a photo or two. Before priming I added the last few items to the tender body.
Just now I completed laminating the coupling rods for the locomotive. This is recommended for truing the fitting of the hornblocks. But I remembered reading Cliff Williams' thread which talks about the compensation design and its problems if fast running is to be envisioned. So rather than burgeoning ahead with the chassis I think I should do some serious reading! I bought the Finney7 hornblock kit but have always used Slaters' sprung hornblocks (except MOK's 14XX) which seem to work satisfactorily on my carefully laid track.
On Friday I ordered the recommended motor gearbox from abc Gears. Brian suggested the Canon motor with his VMS2 26:1 gearbox, the motor sloping back into the firebox from the rear axle. It should arrive later this week.
Just now I completed laminating the coupling rods for the locomotive. This is recommended for truing the fitting of the hornblocks. But I remembered reading Cliff Williams' thread which talks about the compensation design and its problems if fast running is to be envisioned. So rather than burgeoning ahead with the chassis I think I should do some serious reading! I bought the Finney7 hornblock kit but have always used Slaters' sprung hornblocks (except MOK's 14XX) which seem to work satisfactorily on my carefully laid track.
On Friday I ordered the recommended motor gearbox from abc Gears. Brian suggested the Canon motor with his VMS2 26:1 gearbox, the motor sloping back into the firebox from the rear axle. It should arrive later this week.