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I added some flared sides and back and also refitted the rear facing headlight into the flares. Remove the bunker by first prying out carefully the two water control valves in the top of the bunker and near to the front edge; put them away safely for a while. Now lift off the bunker and give it a rearwards push at the same time to free off the two pegs that hold it in position; mine were very tight, and I gave them a quick filing to reduce the cause of this &--8211; it is the &--8216;draft&--8217; (slopes on the pegs) that need removing very slightly - do not remove too much! You will find the bunker to be surprisingly heavy &--8211; this is mainly the weight that is disguised as the coal &--8211; remove it by undoing the two screws visible from inside the bunker.
First the wiring for the headlight &--8211; put the bunker on one side for a short while and return to the loco &--8211;The pair for the headlight are, after the shrink wrapped joins have been fed down into the slot at the front of the firebox; and were temporarily stored at that location, these are routed down the fireman&--8217;s side, through a hole in the floor and then backwards to another hole in the bunker floor. They can be fixed to the floor with a couple of dabs of glue and are hidden by the under floor beams. They can be cut to length allowing enough for a small plug to be soldered on the end.
The flared sides and rear are made from two layers of 1/2mm plasticard the corners having a smaller piece inside (they are a segment of a circle) and a larger piece outside. This will give you a ledge to fit the layers onto; the smaller one being outside. Along the upper edge add an edging of half round plastic rod, pre curved the front edge well, otherwise when the glue is applied it will split at the start of the curve! When they are fixed and the glue is dry at each join at the corner add 3 small (.030 rod) pieces to represent the rivets that would have held the pieces together. When the glue has dried smooth off the edges and if necessary fill any low points &--8211; these can occur on the joins on the top.
The leads from the headlight, before it has been glued in place can also be fed through a hole at the back of the water filler. I fitted to each side of the headlight bracket and underneath a vertical fixing piece to ensure the headlight is securely glued in position. These are fitted about 2mm in from the edge of the water filler &--8211; painted black they will virtually disappear, finally add the mainly cosmetic external struts from plasticard strips, and don&--8217;t forget the two fixing bolts. To the ends of the headlight wires add the other half of the plug that you fitted to the extension wires.
At the front of the tender are the two water control valves that you removed to get at the two fixing screws for the bunker; I was making my Loco a wood burner so I added around each vale a protecting wall to stop the logs falling down over the valve, they are made from .030 plasticard and glued (with &--8216;Evo stick&--8217;; I think the bunker is made from ABS plastic as my usual glue did not work). For the same reason I extended the water filler tube a short distance as well.
I decided to retain the weight (that looks like a heap of coal); it needed some alterations to fit as I had added the bits above; I found the best way to remove the bits that needed removing was a grinding wheel outside in my drill &--8211; use some eye protection an be careful with the drill when doing this &--8211; try it regularly to ensure that you do not remove too much. When complete put it back into position, and you can paint the inside of the bunker if required.
I made mine a &--8216;mineral red&--8217;, and this is the same colour as the stepboards on the side of the boiler. For both I used a Gunze Sanyo color, called brown oxide.
With a change to the fuel a new front was needed to the bunker &--8211; make it from plasticard and score and paint it to look like wooden planks. The lowest plank needs a small semicircle cut out on the lower edge &--8211; this is to let the (originally fitted) wires come up through the floor, and into the bunker. Originally it was covered by a small heap of coal. Later when all the parts come together a couple or so of your supply of wood quartered logs can cover the wires; one will need the underside hollowed out to allow clearance.
Here is a &--8216;rail level&--8217; photo of the fireman&--8217;s side of the completed loco
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