Post Xmas Loco

Christmas is done with and so I can get back to doing some modelling. I've bottled out of the lining on Eigiau for now so a different project was needed. One of the locos I was going to finish before I started Eigiau seemed a good idea so the Minitrix project came out.

Eigiau with PQR coaches on an outing to Underhill

I'd started work on the body before Christmas but had run out of steam as the cab had ended up not square so I knew I had to rip it apart before continuing.

Cab Mk1

 

Having got stuck in to sorting it out I realised that the problem was the cab front sheet for which I had used a redundant etch from a Brian Madge Hunslet as it was nicely done and about the right size... only it was only about the right size and therefore not the right size. I prised it off the loco and tried filing the edges down to correct the discrepancy but this made the windows too near the edges and it looked wrong. It had to go.

 

Cab Mk 2

Anyhow, a new front plate was made from styrene sheet with spectacle plates from RT models as are the rear ones. The rest of the bibs and bobs come a variety of places. The couplings are also from Mr T, the whistle and smokebox door darts are from Markits.

 

 

It's a funny looking thing but it is quite successful in looking like a reproduction of my very first proper 009 loco which was made in a very similar way, 35 years plus ago. This one is better put together with the benefit of hindsight and a bit of practice.

A little bit of filling and filing and she will be ready for some paint. My original was SR olive green so I may continue with this scheme. I have name plates standing by so it will be called Lady, the original was called Princess Astra after an obscure Dr Who character that I took a fancy to.

Princess Astra - Lalla Ward