Horsetan

The interior shots were filmed at the former Bushey School (which was already being developed for expensive private housing whilst all the filming was going on!) near Watford.

Now, some photos of what was done over the weekend.... The smokebox is the subject of our attention, and the kit provides a basic fold-up shell (Part P13) which we saw out of the fret: Stick it in the vice: ....and start folding: As can be seen, there are tabs underneath the smokebox sides which are intended to fit into slots in the footplate. The front and rear of the smokebox shell have tiny etch marks; these act as seats for the tops of the smokebox sides: ...and this is how they fit: A minimum of solder is now run into the inside corners, and eventually, we get this: ...which means we can test-fit it onto the footplate:

That is the poverty of Communism.

He looks like Lenin.

Brilliant!!!!

Right so, I'm just after completing the shell of the smokebox. Photos to follow as Windows Phone 8 will not work directly with the Forum upload software. The smokebox shell is easy, but mounting it on the footplate reveals some flaws in etch design which "Weshty" might want to have a look at if he gets time to revisit the original artwork that he inherited. These flaws also affect the mounting of the front frame plates, making the job a little harder than it should be. The real killer is forming the smokebox wrapper - you have to go slowly and carefully on this, and it helps to have the use of a rolling mill. The reverse curve where the smokebox sides become vertical must be marked out because if you get it in the wrong place, it will be the very devil to correct. I'll show yis how I did mine.....

Have they not resignalled Waterford yet?

The thing we should also remember is that the canopy survived several decades, and CIE/IE's parsimonious neglect. The cynic in me (and I'm a cynical man, Ted, as ye know) wonders if IE were hoping that this thing would fall down eventually, so that they could whip in a new glass-and-steel version.....or save money and leave the platform exposed.

...and remove the pair of irons on the smokebox door ring. The handwheel is only correct for the CIE standard door (which nobody makes....unless "Weshty" is offering?) not the Maunsell door (which should have the rectangular numberplate carved off as well). CIE smokeboxes were also plastered with rivets!!

During the oul East German days, Piko was known for being value-for-money. I was given a lend of a friend's Deutsche Reichsbahn "Reko" 03 Pacific back then, and was quite amazed to find that almost all of its valve gear (fully-working, by the way) was plastic, not metal. Even the coupling rods were plastic. It was still a fine model for the price.

Shoulda gone to SpecSavers.