This weeks has been
a fun ride, I assure you. No, I really do, rest assured that this week has
been most entertaining, mostly.
To find out I’m on
back on a 45 day consultation at my current employer is proving to be a plan
hindrance as I was hoping that we would at least keep this job till September.
I might do… but then again, I might not. Who knows… I sodding well don’t!
Also to top it all
off on a personal front, I am now the prison bitch to a terrifying dehumidifier
in my bedroom which I think is out to get. I don't know when, or even why… but
it will… one day.
It’s not the one
bought last Sunday. That one believed that it had a contractual obligation to
jam the fan and prevent itself from working. I called in the union who promptly
explained to the dehumidifier that the fan must be operating all times to
successful consider itself a dehumidifier, but it was having none of it. So out
it went, back on the dole, to find itself a new vocation of a professional
pisser offer. I returned from Argos with the new and improved bedroom bully of a
dehumidifier which is just as loud and pissed itself as soon as I got home. I
soon sorted that out, but I think I’ve hurt it’s pride, and now… well if you’ve
seen the HBO show Oz… you'll get what I mean.
It’s pretty much a
normal week by comparison.
Also this week, I
have been working on a Bachmann Thompson B1. One of the old split chassis ones
which I fully expect to fall apart at the very moment that would cause me the
greatest embarrassment. All the best ones do. I would give you a
full breakdown on what I’ve done, but instead I’ll just point out where I went
wrong and how I rectified it.
First off, the read
driving wheel’s spokes decided to try and make a run for it but I was on top of
it. Fixed into place with some superglue. But I have been told that this is a
brief respite and will happen again. Thank my lucky stars for a member of RMWeb
who has provided me with a B1 chassis for the spare wheels. So that exchange
will be happening before painting and weathering.
Next on my list of
bugger ups, the bogie truck. It had originally came with a set of guide irons
The blade things in front of the wheels) which looked presentable. So I did try
to keep those and add what I needed with plasticard. Only when I come to added
the wheels, the ruddy things snapped clean off. So in the end I braved it out
and made a go with some brass and solder to give the thing some
substance.
Thirdly, the smoke
box dart…. Something I should have realised from before with the J39 I built. The
flange on most LNER engines is different from others, smaller, much smaller and
I didn’t realise this. So off came the plastic dart and all ready to pin the
Comet Models one on until I realised that they were wrong. Obviously, a normal
human being who cares not for the intricate details of locomotives would just
fob this off. But not me, it would just fester and piss me off until someone or
something would end up through a window. So as a solution, I soldered together
some small brass rod and tube to create this little beauty which fit nicely onto
the smoke box door.
I think that was
most of the problems with it actually… oh no, I forget the steps. I didn’t take
many pictures other than the plastic cut outs but the finished bits are here.
The only real problem was that they stuck out quite a bit. I bit too much for
my liking some I had to snap them back off and cut them down again. They’re a
bit wonky up close but overall… the effort was worth it, especially when they’re
weathered I suspect.
The other bits were
pretty okay to do, things such as the plumbing under the left hand side of the
running plate and the lubricator rods, the coupling loop, draincocks, reach
rod for the draincocks and the fall plate and cab doors.
I also added some copper sanders and was aiming to replace the plastic reverse sander but the
copper was refusing to play ball and I ended up cursing the general dynamics of
life.
One thing I would
say too all budding modellers, the easy modelling day dreams you have bare
nothing, NOTHING, in the reality of modelling. Just keep telling yourself you’ll
laugh about it afterwards.
Another note for
those budding modellers, I never laugh at anything I’ve modelled, it’s largely
harrowing, but it’s the only thing I’ve got in life. I’ve got more things, in
my life to be frank, but I want the sympathy.
So the locomotive
is done now. Now the tender!
The Tender was
pretty okay in most respects. I did unnecessarily spend at hour trying to drill through
two layers of plastic and my thumb only to find the plastic coal would have
come out with a little effort. But I had committed by then… no pulling out! So
I filed away and filled in the slightly damaged bits and filed again. The false
floor was some spare brick sheet which will be hidden by coal once completed.
As I plan to only fill it so far I also created a tunnel for the fire irons and
ribbing for the coal space. I’m quite happy with the outcome to be honest.
All that was left
for the tender was to add a steam heat pipe (my chosen prototype only had one
on the tender… I know ‘cos I saw the photographs!) and finally the cab doors.
…BUT THEN! I
realised that I needed to close the gap between the loco and tender. Just enough
to go around 2nd radius curves. So with brass tube and a pipe vice I
went around drilling a lovely hole in the draw bar… only to find out it was too
close, then another, which was way off mark and then finally a third. Which was
okay, but not entirely Goldilocks. It works however and I’m happy with it. Unfortunately,
as I was cleaning the tender up with white spirit, the transfers decided to
wipe away as well… SIGH! Never mind. I have transfers to sort that out, but it’s
just another extra job on top of it all.
So here we are… the
structurally complete B1 which I think, looks okay.
Please do visit RMweb if
you are into model railways. It’s a good laugh.
I’m off to drink
tea from this great mug and expect a buggering from the dehumidifier cell mate,
though those who have no idea what I’m in for here are some clips from the HBO
series, Oz.
