Bugger, bugger, bugger etc

It's been a mixed day. Up until this evening it had been most enjoyable, the rain lashed down and so I felt less guilt than usual for sitting on the sofa getting on with the new loco and half watching Time Team.

I changed the chimney for a double Fairlie one and added sand pots from the same. The coal bunker rails are, as usual, from Langley etched L&B seat etches. I added a layer of styrene around the cab top to give slightly more height as the new chimney was slightly taller than the original one. All nice and balanced, looking good so I gave it a test run. All was good.

So I'd made good progress and so this evening it was ready for a coat of primer. I took it out to the garage and set it up on my usual spray painting spigot and gave it a nice even coat of Mr Halford's grey primer. All was well, I turned round to check the coverage and dropped it onto the floor of the workshop.................................................. The cab smashed into numerous pieces and various other bits fell off. The floor of the workshop is covered in sawdust... wet paint... sawdust. I swore copiously and salvaged the bits I could find and tried to get as much of the paint/sawdust mixture off the bits worth saving, all the while swearing some more.

The sticky remains

The floor...

I gathered my self up and the bits of sticky mess and came back indoors. I didn't actually blub but I was tempted. Any old how I then spent a happy couple of hours of self flagellation whilst cleaning the mortal remains and evolving a strategy for restoration. 

The cab front was mostly missing and the rear was snapped in half just below the mid point. Apart from the woodchip wall paper effect I'd created this was the worst of the damage. One of the cab steps was missing and the coal rails were buggered but those can be replaced easily enough. I set about the cab by sawing the broken cab rear in half leaving the curved and broken bit with a straight edge. Plan A was to make a cabless version and so I cut the smashed bits off the front cab and stuck the rear bit back. 

I don't like the cabless option so plan B which is for tomorrow, will be to recreate the cab. The back sheet is salvageable and the roof wasn't involved in the accident. The glazing has also survived being nowhere near me to break.

I've had to file off some of the rivets so it will be an excuse to try out the archer transfers I bought at Warley last year.

What a twat.:(