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Ha ha I've not got that far ahead yet.

It's a bit too small to actually make functional, and even if I did it would probably pop open when being driven due to poor spring strength.

So it will be some form of permanent fixing i guess.

Mick

Made the top and bottom brackets today.

Bottom one I'd just pressed galvanised steel sheet, but the top one is cast alloy in the original so I needed to mimic that. It was a case of milling a piece of aluminium block to start the profile then filing it to shape before separation from the parent block.

I mounted the parts to a piece of scrap aluminium just to see how they look.

Fiddly but a nice way to spend an afternoon lol.

Started to make a full set of catches, making four that will hopefully be pretty similar. Using the old shaping machine to make the top catches in batches.

Found some M1 and M1.4 slotted screws which I can see being useful in the build.

I've just ordered some new needle files as I haven't bought any in years. Making the detail parts involves a lot of filing so I will need them.

Got the catches done, bit of a production line going lol.

Sorry photos of the catches didn't come out too well so I'll take more tomorrow.

I bought a great book called How (not) to paint a locomotive by Chris Vine.

It was written after he spent 6 years making and building a working steam locomotive and then a further two years to strip and paint it.

The painting was much harder than the engineering and he made so many mistakes he just had to document them and pass on his hard learned lessons.

From paint selection to building a spray booth to gun type to what you should wear. It's full of practical tips and advice and well worth adding to your library even if you don't build live steam.

Mick

As someone who knows Chris Vine and his work,...... FULLY recommend the book, Huge amount of information on painting models.

Chris.

I've read the book through twice, so much good info and advice on all aspects of model painting.

Seeing how Chris learned how to paint and record his different approaches to different colours is really impressive. When you look at the level of gloss he achieved on his loco it's truly impressive.

Spent the day bug blinding or cleaning the workshop, I tend to let things get to a certain level of messy, then have a good old clean up.

And if I'm going to invest in another AT release I need to get the shop sorted for a bigger build.

Not much shop time for various reasons (a rash of broken Dyson vacuum cleaners came my way to repair).
But I managed to make the spare wheel mount for the bonnet this afternoon.

Hi Mike.

Would you mind sharing the dimensions?

I ask as I put my spare wheel on the bonnet to keep it out of the way while I think through the canopy replacement. It kinda looks good, so I would like to have the alternative option.

Take care.
Charles

Hi Charles.

Sure I can post the dimensions. I will take a snap tomorrow on the bonnet so you can judge if I got it something like.

The rivets are 2mm shank aluminium, the base is a steel washer and the dome machined from aluminium. The original prototype was made of two pieces welded together with an obvious weld line. Production versions were a one piece pressing.

Mick

The spare wheel mount has the following dimensions

58mm base diameter
45mm boss diameter
8mm height of boss

Many thanks for sharing Mick.

Cheers Charles

Spent the day building a paint tin tumbler as per the Chris Vine book.

I had a 12v motor with a gear box on it from a broken bath lift, lovely slow speed and plenty of torque.

A few bearings, some plastic plate scavenged from another job and some threaded rod came together into a pretty nifty little device.

The ideas is the paint never stays still long enough to form a skin. It's also ready to use without stirring.

Takes tin sizes from 50ml to 5 litre.

This is a short video of the basic machine. Just needs a base board and sides in case of any leaks.

Back to some bodywork detail.

The tailgate needs some attention to make it a bit more realistic.

I cut off the kit hinge pieces and made L shaped strap hinges with brass bar supports to mimic the top hat section door stretchers.

So far it looks good, the hinge pin and strengthening cheek pieces need making next.