On the footplate

Armed with photos of 08801 I can select the etches to represent the various boxes on the footplate.

On the left side I want a vacuum exhauster, battery box then compressor box nearest the cab.


The battery box should be the short version (lower).

On the right side there's a vacuum exhauster and a battery box.


My loco has different-sized grilles on the vac exhauster (lower). I'm wondering why there's an extra panel with these grilles till I look back at my photos. Sure enough, this version of the vac exhauster sticks out beyond the footplate. Nice one.

At first I tried to solder the parts together, but couldn't work out how to keep the sloping tops in place. Found it easier to join the parts with "Tacky Wax" then add a drop of superglue to secure the joints. The facings were then stuck on with quick-setting Araldite.

The 5 caps on the vacuum exhauster look as though they fold over into place, but when I tried it was a bit tricky to get them all aligned at the same time. So I took the long road, cutting them off and filing to shape. Then starting from the centre I glued them on, separating each with 0.4mm rod. I had to wait for each to set, so I could clear the glue from the inside edges before fixing the next.


I did one flat (left) and the other already made up (right, not yet cleaned up). Not much difference either way, for me. It was very tedious, and on reflection I wish I'd persevered trying to align them on the etch.

Anyway at this point I was renewed by a picture of the finished article on the 2mm Association North East Area group blog

The last thing was to fold up the steps and glue onto the insides of the vacuum exhausters.





Eventually the boxes will be secured onto the footplate and firmly against the body side, but I think I may be better not fixing them until later. In particular I want to get the loco running so I'll know how much lead weight to put inside these boxes.