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Moving to the tender base, make the new bolster for the bogie from plastic sheet, with a wooden centre for strength, before gluing it in add a couple of slots to allow wires to pass through. These are best cut into the upper surface so they are close against the tender floor. Use epoxy resin glue to hold the new bolster in position. I fitted a new on/off switch (for the headlight) to the tender floor.
I then made and fitted the tender water feed pipes that lead to the loco, these are from electrical wire tubing with a single piece of copper wire left in (there were 3) to provide some stiffness and shape (the dropping loop shape) fixing. They fit, at the tender end, into some pieces of wood just behind the front cross beam of the tender. This is fitted with steel wire pegs that the pipes are glued onto. The cab end of these connects under the cab to the continuing feed pipes. These pipes are located at the outer edges of the tender, one per side. The rear brake pipe is made the same way (I usually built a whole batch of them in one go then they are available for use easily). The rear one needs to be routed through the rear beam of the tender.
The tender drawbar is the same design as the Bachmann Spectrum loco’s and made from a piece of steel bar. With a small bend in it to lower it from the higher fixing on the loco, this drawbar fits onto a large pin (an old nail) fitted just behind the front beam of the tender. The drawbar itself is fitted to the loco, in the position of the original switches (below the cab), and the design follows the style seen on the older heavy goods I have drawn a quick sketch that show what the drawbar looks like, here it is.
The drawbar unit (that is fitted to the loco) is made as a unit to fit snugly inside the square plastruct beans that are under the rear end of the cab. Glue it in position with plenty of glue as it take all the weight of the (eventual) train the loco hauls.
The interior, and visible parts of the tender are painted a dark mineral red (very like Tamiya Hull Red), this is a protective paint due to the heavy use that this area has. All the bits inside the tender for the Bachmann sound system are retained, the circuit board needed to be moved a bit, and I have added a couple of 9volt battery holders for both the front headlight, and the sound system. These are immediately behind the front plate of the tender body. The lead for the front headlight goes via a new switch that projects down from the tender base on the opposite side from the sound on/off switch. Mounted on the rear deck is a small toolbox, made from plasticard; the water filler is a piece of polythene tube with plasticard for the detail, and as wire handle.
The planked base of the tender is painted the same colour as the stepboards; at the front of the tender and below the planks that hold the coal in there is a small rectangular hole that the fireman loads his shovel from – add here some lumps of coal and glue them in with PVA glue. The brake shaft for the tender is on the firemans side, I used the wheel from the original loco and the vertical shaft is a piece of 1.5mm steel wire. The rim of the brake wheel has been painted silver to indicate wear when being used. On the two front curved water legs are a couple of on/off valves, again these are from the original loco.
The tender was painted for me by a friend who is much better with an airbrush than I am; he made a very good job of it. It is fixed to the tender base by 4 screws that go into some pieces of square SHS tube fitted between the internal stiffeners and at the bottom edge of the tender, so that it can be removed if required.
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