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It is time for a total change – building the tender.
Right at the start of this article I said that the Bachmann tender base was to be used; after checking the dimensions on the drawing I found that after the upper part of the tender had been removed (there are only 4 screws that hold it on) the tender bottom plate when reversed could be used. The bogie at the (new) front end was slightly out of position, but that is an easy job with a slitting saw to remove the bolster and build a new one at the needed location. The new tender tank & coal space was built as the ‘Masterclass’ on the Baldwin, that is there is an internal set of 2mm thick walls, with pieces of tube at the corners, and then this ‘box’ is clad with a pre-riveted wrapper of 1/2mm thick, in sections around the shell
The tender wrapper in my case was made from 3 pieces, a couple for the sides that wrap around at the front, and a rear piece that is fitted after the sides are glued on, and the epoxy resin glue has set. The glue used is two part epoxy resin, I used the sort that ‘sets in 1 hour’ version and have not had any trouble – get plenty of small clamps and slide the wrappers into a pre marked position and then clamp the wrapper in position, and check that it is correct. This is the method that David Fletcher has devised and it is good, again the ‘Masterclass’ articles describe and fully illustrate this method. I have included a photo of the Mason Bogie tender when it was being built, this tender uses the same techniques throughout, and it is just a bit smaller in size.
The tender rivets are impressed from the back of the wrapper sheet, I used a drop riveter, having carefully measured and marked out the rivet locations it is then just a boring trudge through the number required, BUT do not forget to be accurate! Rivet the pieces in stages to alleviate as much of the boredom as possible. The tender flares at the top are also as the ‘Masterclass’ and then it is down to the detail work on the tender. These locos were the first to be fitted with the then new Westinghouse Air Brake system; this needed an air reservoir, which is fitted in what became the usual place for them at the back of the tender. This is also made on the inner core & wrapper system with the wrapper having the rivets impressed before fixing. Get the join in the outer at the right location by ‘trail and error’ and glue just the start of the wrapper in position and leave it to dry, temporarily fix it with tape. When that is dry you can glue the rest in position without the whole thing slipping and sliding about. Work out the locations of the (pipe) holes and drill those when the wrapper is fixed. The small secondary tank, above the large one, is made the same way.
The rest of the detail is taken from the drawing and made in plasticard; with the exception of the handrails which are 1.5mm wire, this is also used for the air pipes, do not forget the long one from the back to the font of the tender underneath the offside tender frame, keep it up with some small plasticard strip loops. The bogie trucks are the Bachmann ones which I modified to conform to the photograph, this is quite easy to do, and adds a lot to the look of the tender, I also added the brake beams and shoes to these bogies as is my normal practice. There is an article on my website about converting the Bachmann bogies to other designs; this is yet another design that I have done. I added a small tap on the fireman’s side, and a bucket is looped over a hook that fits over the coal rails. To keep these rails stiff add at the rear of them another piece of strip, glued on at 90 degrees to the outside one; this will stiffen them.
The coal load which is removable – there is a small steel wire loop towards the back of the load to hook it out. It is built onto a base of 1.5mm plasticard, which has some triangular pieces of wood to give it a forward slope underneath, when in position it sits on the inside top of the tender. This has an extension forward at a slightly greater slope that fits between the two toolboxes. Load it up with crushed coal using PVA glue and some foam underneath to give it a ‘lumpy’ or ‘non-regular’ look.
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