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After the photos everything was taken apart and it was time to starts dome detailing, from photos only as there is no drawings of this at all. Again the Chapter 6 of the Baldwin provided a great deal of information, and I spent quite a time working out what was, and equally 'was not' on these locomotive fireboxes when they were first delivered. David Fletcher was a great help with this.
When I had finally decided on what I thought was on the firebox it was time to start building. The firebox is made from a piece of the PVC drainpipe that the boiler (and its wrapper) are made from, with a couple of plastic card end pieces, a wrapper of paper added (so I can see what I am doing and it provides a 'writable ' surface, there were many revisions on this) then the detail is added. The pipes are from old electrical wire(I knew there had to be a use for it somewhere!), with bits of kids plastic tube 'lolly' sticks for the bits for the injectors and other small bits of plastic tube where required. The valve handles are as David Fletcher uses, made from the male part of the smallest press stud fasteners (6mm or 1/4") with a pin through the center hole to fix them in position. The bent one has been put right! The horizontal regulator (USA throttle) and its associated tube necessitated a new pair of gauges being made to allow the tube underneath them. After making them I decided that the gauge fronts were going to be brass color; they could equally be white with black markings, these are done with a technical (tubular) pen. Do not forget to add the little piece of the throttle tube at the back of the steam dome to complete the tube. All will now be painted matt black with the tubes and valves picked out in brass & copper.
 
The pony truck was next on the construction list, this is to David Fletcher's design, to which I have added some detail. The entire assembly is made from plastic. The springs show around the wheel which is an ex Bachmann freight large diameter freight car wheel - this will be changed to a metal one. There is a possible query about (vertical)clearance on steep gradient changing track, but that will come later.
 
The underside shows a couple of pieces of lead to give the truck some weight - these are separated by a plastic strip so that if current collection is needed from this truck it can be added later without a short being created. It is fixed to the chassis through a triple thickness set of (added) plastic card pieces at the front end of the chassis, the pivot hinge for this is between the cylinders (it can be seen in the photo of the underside of the pilot deck) of the Bachmann chassis. The fixing screw here goes through the extra pieces of plasticard that are part of the extra thickness underneath the pilot deck, 'trial and error' was used here to get the entire assembly level. There is a (not shown) cover plate of 1.5mm plastic, and this is held to the upper part with 4 brass bolts - these have the nuts made into 'captive' nuts by the pieces of blue plastic card that enclose (tightly) the nuts allowing quick removal if required of the cover plate. The green tube is to 'level off' the truck with the chassis.
Now for the extra's that are fitted underneath the cab; all of these are fixed to the chassis, and ensure that the cab/boiler/stepboard unit can be screwed on when the time comes. First there are 2 photos of the area
 
This feedpipe runs from the tender to the injector in the cab; to preserve the easy removal of the cab the feedpipe is split, and the undercab bit goes into the cantilevered support on top of the firebox edge, and the support projecting from the end of the chassis. There are feedpipes on both sides. They fit into small cutouts, and each has a thin triangular piece, plus a couple of tiny cubes to add some strength underneath. The pipe goes into a small housing, where it will be glued into position, and painted black. The lower end fits into a piece of plastic that is fixed to a couple of pieces of bicycle spoke, bent to shape, and cut in half to get it through the chassis - it is glued into a piece of tube to put it back together - with a couple of squares that replicate the fixings from the Bachmann donor chassis - the Bachmann piece incidentally is a zamak casting and does not bend - from experience! Under the cab the feedpipes are 75mm apart, at the bottom end they are 65mm apart; there will be a flexible tube from each to the tender.
Note all the extra work on the firebox sides - the silver bolt heads are from the original chassis sliced off with sharp knife (be careful), do it slowly with very little force otherwise they will 'go into orbit' as they are freed. The larger bolt heads on the extreme side are cut from 1/2mm plasticard using a small punch. Not also the white coloured frame shapes that I glued onto the sides of the Bachmann chassis. These locomotives had bar frames, and this is intended to replicate that. The vertical fixing strap is what holds the firebox to the frames: there are two on each side. The white (with blue trim!) frame projecting out from the chassis is the rear cab fixing plate in the real thing; here is acts as a support only, again there is one each side and they are made from plasticard. They sit on a beam running across the bottom of the rear of the chassis, with a couple of strengthening diagonal pieces underneath. The blue coloured casting on the end is where (if fitted) the steps would be located.
David Fletcher does not fit the steps under the cab. These would be below the end of the chassis end plate you can see in the photos - now it can be seen why - they would be and remain very vulnerable to getting knocked, and this will break these extensions. Needless to say the master knows best, and I will follow. I suspect that the DSP may have has the same sort of trouble, there are photos that do not show a step here at all. In the centre of the loco, between the ends of the chassis, and under the cabfloor is fitted the fixing point for the drawbar for the tender. I have described this in the 'tender' building piece, that is later in this article.
Another change of location, to between the front sets of driving wheels - a somewhat congested area, with the (non working)lifting links for the valve gear There is another (this time sloping upwards) cantilever here - for the upper end of the reversing rod, which is the first bit of the valve gear. I have put a photo here of the completed area with the reverse lever shown going through the stepboard, and it also shows the non moving crank tight against the piston gear yoke. The cylinder unit is complete and will fit onto the white part in the first photo. This is the blanking plate that closes off the 'hole' above the front axle. In front of these are the air brake cylinders. They and the brake hangers & shoes are made from plastic card and bits of tube from the 'scrap box'. The brake shoes themselves are glued to the removable baseplate; the brake cylinder assembly is on the chassis side. The blue (bending outwards ) piece is where the front end of the reversing lever will be fitted to, not seen is a reinforcing piece at the back of it for strength.
 
Then I painted the firebox unit; using a matt black over the 'intentionally rough' surface - to make it look like the insulation that covers the firebox sides - after some more additions to it. The results can be seen in the three photos below, in these photos it is virtually complete in this area; there is an additional pipe which goes from the engineers side 'non lifting' injector, and through the floor. This will be fitted when the firebox is finally fixed as it goes over the reversing rod as it leaves the quadrant. The firebox unit slides very close to the side here with very little clearance of the (ex Bachmann Annie) Johnson bar, thus the pipe cannot be fixed till later in the build.
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