Beyond the Kato 11-109 - the 11-108!

Back in February I completed number 6, a Simplex from FK3D styled on the Abbey Light Railway's 'Druid'. This ran on a Kato 11-109 as intended by the maker, although I had revealed a little more of it by removing the false 'skirt' under the underframe to make the end result more realistic. However, I always thought that it looked a little too 'perched' on the chassis, in particular too much clearance under the re-railing bars was a bit off-putting.

The inspiration for what follows was actually my yet to be built FK3D Lister locomotive, which takes advantage of a feature of the new-generation Kato chassis being built around a 'core' of weights holding the motor, flywheel, drivetrain etc to the point that the upper cover really only stops things falling out of place. I had also discovered the version of the Kato chassis (11-108) that had very little detail and was in fact noticeably narrower than the fake locomotive sideframes of the 11-109. My initial thoughts to somehow use a chassis without a cover and wondering how to fix it in place, turned to using a further-reduced 11-108 to lose 1mm in ride height.

The starting point, number 6 on a 11-109, with a frame height of 14.5mm and the 11-109 sideframes filling the space underneath.

The alterations required the the 11-108 chassis (stock Kato image used). The aim was the leave a raised area in the centre to match the opening in the body of the 3D print. In particular I will draw your attention to the cut at the right hand end of the top - do not cut to the right of the raised area as this will remove the clip that stops the motor moving backwards, I started this but soon realised my error! Cut along the opening about 1.5mm in from the edge instead and then file down the area to the right. All cuts were made with the top cover removed from the motorising unit.

The resultant conversion is seen with the original 11-109, we can see how much narrower it is and how the end platforms are lower than the 11-109 frame. The areas over the axleboxes were at about the same height as the 11-109 frame but I have chamfered them away to fit into the cut-away area under the body. I have painted the axleboxes matt black to better hide them and switched the baseplates over to give the new chassis the sprayed matt black one from the original chassis. 

In order to secure the new chassis in place I have used two screws which pass through the endplates into holes drilled in the underside of the body, centre at the rear and to one side at the front. As the motor protrudes out of the top of the cut-down chassis I had to remove an area under the bonnet of the print and reposition the weight that counterbalances the whitemetal driver figure. This view shows the slightly angled areas that will form the main interface between the new chassis and the body, inboard of the strips that sat on the 11-109.

The end result is a 13.5mm measurement to the top of the frame, bringing the rerailing bars closer to the rails and looking a lot less perched with the bonus of fresh air between the axleboxes and the ends of the loco.

So, was it worth it? I think so! Now you might be wondering why I didn't just cut away the old frame and carry out the same modifications, well I find the Kato plastic a little awkward to work and the less I had to remove the better, especially along the length. I also have memories of taking too much away from a 11-103 in the past and actually rendering it useless... but at least I have a spare motor for my older locos...

Colin

Carry on Again...

A midweek "extra", things must be moving along!

With the basic box assembled I added a few features to allow 'odsock corner to be securely stored within or displayed on top. A peculiarity of this build is that usually I would drill holes in the front and rear of the box as these are usually the longest elevations, but this one is square, and there is also the issue of the front of the layout being drop-framed and having less space underneath...

As well as drilling the holes for the bolts, on top of the box I added two plywood triangles which suffice to engage in the front corners of the baseboard to secure it when displayed. 

Although the bolt holes in the box are in the front and rear... the corresponding holes in the layout are in the sides of the board and a 90 degree turn is required on un-boxing, hardly arduous! Under the board captive bolts are held in place with small blocks of timber, drilled through and then opened out to hold the bolt. These were clamped and bolted into place whilst the PVA glue dried, with WD40 on the bolt threads to try and avoid any unwanted fixing.

After a mask up of the edges of the hardboard panels with low-tac decorators tape all the timberwork then had two coats of yacht varnish applied. Disaster then struck when the low-tac tape lifted the surface of the hardboard in places making a bit of a mess. Varnish also ended up where it wasn't really meant to leaving me to say this isn't my best work... The surface of the hardboard had some wax furniture polish applied which hides the worst of the damaged surface.

The layout board also had a coat of yacht varnish on the underside to protect the woodwork and then a couple of coats of grey primer on the outside edges, another coat of this may be the final colour in due course, applied after scenic work is completed. It is all looking very grey at this stage, the other day someone mentioned that they actually thought it was going to be a winter scene, but another season will soon roll around.

More soon...

Colin

Carry on Clamping

The storage box for 'odsock Corner is now complete, it has been something of a saga for what should be a simple job! Firstly, I didn't have the hardboard and timber strip in stock as I had used most of the supply last year when I enclosed part of my new shelving in the workshop (which of course I have done nothing with...), so a trip to B&Q ensued and a shock at the price of these supplies (my old hardboard was free from an old wardrobe!). The new timber strip, despite being the same size as the old stuff, was actually slightly bigger too but I've ignored that. 

After careful measurement of the baseboard and material thicknesses, I calculated the sizes of the hardboard panels (with a +1mm allowance) and cut them accordingly. The timber, 25x11mm section (which B&Q retail as 25x10.5mm) was cut, again slightly over-length, and panels then assembled one-by-one, to get as many clamps on each as possible. Allowing for drying time this took place over a couple of days, after which I sanded all the edges of the hardboard back to the edges of the timber to allow for neat and square corner joins.

From my home made kit of parts I could then assemble the box. Being a square layout my sides are not equal lengths, the two shorter ones sitting inside the two longer ones to make the square. I paired up one of each on a flat surface, glued and clamped them together, checking for squareness and then repeated for the second pair. My 18" clamps came into their own with this along the top edges (at the bottom) supported by the smaller clamps along the corners.

The two pairs of sides were then brought together, again on a flat surface, into one assembly. Again, plenty of clamping!

The final piece of hardboard to add was the top, this was slightly oversize and would be adjusted at a later stage. The timber lengths under the clamps are to spread the force along the edges of the board and keep pressure along the edge as the glue dries.

Once set the edges of the top were sanded smooth and then the saga took a new turn. The vertical timber sections protruded slightly below the hardboard sides and I decided to sand these down. My power sander had other ideas and when I wasn't looking took a chunk out of the hardboard in one corner. Words were said, tea was brewed and I went off and cut the grass... on my return I had cooked up an audacious plan to remove a strip from the entire base of the box, hardboard and timber. This was carefully measured out and the timber corners cut first with a fine saw, and the hardboard with a combination of Stanley knife and saw. It worked, and (gently) sanded to finish the result was actually better than it would have been originally. 

By co-incidence the height of the box was now actually identical to that of my 009 layout 'The Old Quarry Line's box, which it probably should have been all along! However, the saga (or given this post's title, the farce) would continue to throw a few curveballs at the subsequent stages...

Colin 

O9 Archeology

The 7mm Narrow Gauge Association has recently restarted it's second-hand sales service, as mail-order, members-only service with items listed and illustrated on a dedicated website page. Mention in 'Narrow News' that a quantity of O9 items were selling well led me to log in and take a look. Amongst the interesting items was an Owen Ryder R&ER coach kit, unopened... emails were exchanged. Paypal paid and the Royal Mail delivered.

It really is unopened, look at that tape! This really is a time capsule from one of the earliest manufacturers of O9 models. The range was later taken on by the late Howard Martin at Avalon Line from whom I bought a version of this kit a good few years ago. It's build was described in Building the Avalon Line 'Ratty' Coach Kit.

So, did I keep it wrapped up for posterity or break it open and build it? I gave in to temptation, opening the tape and removing everything from the bag, it was a very tight fit! Inside all the parts are still carefully wrapped up in tissue paper, secured with more tape. My temptation was only partial as I haven't opened that, yet...

Colin

The Road to Nowhere

With the rockfaces on 'odsock Corner coloured to an initial satisfactory finish my attention turned to the road surface. My aim is to achieve both of these finishes prior to general ground surfacing, in order to allow the latter to overlap in a realistic fashion. The basis of the roadway had been laid some time ago in the form of mounting card and treated with button polish to harden the surface. I had intended to then follow a similar principle to that used on 'Shifting Sands', only to find, much to my surprise, that the Green Scene product I had used 18 years ago, had dried up...

The first step I took was to weather the planking on the first crossing, using various washes of acrylic followed by dry brushing in weathered wood shades. The centre planks are not yet stuck in place and are out of line in the picture.

The roadway itself is a concoction of grey tester pot paint (with a spot of brown), PVA glue, grey tile grout powder, very fine sand and the finest material sieved from my ballast mix. This was applied liberally over the roadway, adding in extra loose ballast material on the surface where required, in particular around the second crossing and to the right hand side in the areas that I had previously excavated in the road surface. The surface was stippled whilst wet to add some extra texture to the surface.

Once left overnight to dry I revisited the surface and despite my texturing I actually went over it with 400 grit wet and dry to smooth it a little. This had the added bonus of removing the mixture from some of the ballast in the mix and adding some further variation of colour. I then spent some time with watercolour paints and weathering powders to further vary the surface colours and add impressions of tyre tracks and wear.

Despite looking complete, this is really a base for further work once the surrounding scenery is in place, I can foresee adding some further "loose" material and some cracking to really get the impression of a broken-up surface.

More soon.

Colin

Saturday Snapshot III - Rocks

As anticipated I have applied some colouring to the rocks around the pizza layout using various shades of acrylic paints in the beige/grey spectrum. Dry-brushing has brought the rocks to natural shades including green at the base of the rocks to represent a damper area and staining from vegetation growth.

I've also added water stains running down the faces of the rocks, maybe a bit too obvious at the moment... There will be another round of dry-brushing in due course to add a more sandy/yellow tint and as scenic work progresses there will be moss/lichen effects to add using ground foam etc.

Colin

 

Low Cost at 'odsock Corner

I spend a few idle moments a week watching videos on YouTube, as I suspect many of us do. Railway modelling is only one of several topics I follow but I have noticed that there is an increasing number of commentators talking about the cost of new products. Yes, railway Modelling can be an expensive hobby, if you want it to be...

I'm time, space and cash limited, buying new RTR products is not on the agenda, notwithstanding the fact I mostly model in a scale where RTR does not exist, the temptations of a Quarry Hunslet in 009 or NG7/O-16.5 have (so far) been avoided. Even many of the newer, closer to home temptations of quality 3D printed O9 models have not yet drawn me in. I actually find at the moment I'm happier in the workshop with recycled card and polystyrene, PVA and DAS modelling clay creating the foundations for a miniature world.

I realise that I am out of step with most of the (railway) modelling world by appearing to spend so much time on my groundwork, but in reality there aren't that many hours in what you see here, just spread out over many weeks! For instance this last week more clay work was the initial focus of work, with Isla assisting around the side and back of the office building. This included the last vast expanse of  exposed corrugated cardboard, in reality a double-corrugated sheet with the top layer carefully peeled off when I realised it was too thick, leaving a rather weak exposed inner layer. Getting it all covered up will make life a lot easier in the long run. 

In between the clay sessions with Isla I had added clay to the two outer areas to blend in the different levels and hide the joins with the outer timber strips. My attention then turned to how to initially cover the polystyrene areas ad in particular it's join along the timber strips. I really didn't want to use tiny bits or mod-roc and the mess that brings. The quick and easy alternative was to recycle the brown paper that you sometimes find in Amazon packaging, torn into strips and applied in two layers with lashings of PVA (hence the sheen catching the light). Again I had some assistance with this task... On the edges of the board the strips were laid oversize and cut back once the glue had dried. 

The eagle-eyed may spot that during the clay work I filled in the extra holes that I had made whilst finding the optimum position for the tree, allowing for accurate location in due course. The basic  foundation of my groundwork is now complete and attention can turn to the next stages, which will be colouring in the rock formations and surfacing the roadway, before moving on to the next stages of surface coating. Whilst good quality scenic material does have a cost, by working on a small project I don't need the vast quantities that some of the YouTubers must require, and I have enough in hand not to need to buy anything at this stage...

Colin

Steady Pace at 'odsock Corner

It always seems to be a bit of a struggle to get back into the swing of things after the summer holidays and this year has been no exception. Things are now slowly moving and the ballasting of 'odsock Corner is now completed. Now you might think that is an easy one-hit job, but it was actually spread over several sessions taking it nice and steady. Unfortunately it's not the easiest thing to get a decent picture of in the evening gloom of the workshop.

I have to admit to being as gloomy as the light in the workshop after taking that photo, suddenly going into negative mode about the whole project. I'd like to say the next day dawned bright and I was refreshed, but the weather had other ideas. So did I...

I hired in a keen sub-contractor to assist with the modelling clay work that could now be completed around the roadway, walls and office building. The walls and building were carefully wrapped as tightly as we could in cling film before placing them in location. The usual PVA base was applied before using DAS 'stone' clay to infill and shape the landscape, finishing off by stippling with a stiff brush to add texture.

 

My assistant had to go out to a friends house leaving me to complete the area in the front of the office, covering the quite poor quality corrugated card in this area. Having used up all the clay that I had taken out of the packet I stopped at this point, as I think that I may have assistance for the next session, where we can continue around the side and back of the building.

After leaving the clay to set for a few hours I carefully removed the walls and office (before the PVA got too stuck the cling film!) and by large the desired effect has been achieved. I did have to poke a few bits back down so maybe I could have left it a little longer before removing the items. We'll see next time! 

Colin

Dereliction and the Light

The workbench is slowly coming back into use after the summer break. Although the majority of 'odsock Corner's scenic needs can be met from the existing pile of pre-painted scenic bits I've accumulated, there are a couple of specific items that I wanted to create.

Firstly there is a semi-derelict wagon, in the form of a surplus Black Dog Mining chassis frame and coupler blocks, with planking from a styrene piece marked up for another project but not actually long enough here, hence the missing and wonky planks! As the wheelsets will be visible through the gaps old Parkside Dundas wheels are used, I find these easy to blacken the axle and weather up accordingly.

The lamp post is a combination of S&D Models parts, picked up cheaply on my last trip to the now-closed Goods Yard at Tuxford. It may not actually be an accurate combination of pillar and lamp but it should look the part. Despite passive provision for lighting in the office building I am not fussed about having a working outdoor lamp as it will always be a daytime scene... 

Colin

 

Back to the Drawing Board

Don't worry, I'm not about to scrap another layout project! 'Back to the Drawing Board' was the theme of the 2024 Friends of the Kirklees Light Railway gala, themed around comics and cartoons.

I arrived at Clayton West station on the Sunday in time for the 11.00 departure, with visiting locomotive 'Muffin' from the Lappa Valley Railway preparing to pilot KLR-based 'Sian'. 'Muffin' was designed by David Curwen and built by Berwyn Engineering in 1967 for Longleat, transferring to the LVR in 1976. Along with 'Dougal' she was briefly associated with Les Anderson's Axe and Lym Valley railway in 1974.

Returning on the same train from Shelley was another double-header of LVR 'Zebedee' and home loco 'Fox', two contrasting red tank locomotives. 'Zebedee' then paired up with 'Muffin' to work a shuttle to Skelmanthorpe so I couldn't resist the opportunity to travel behind the pair of them. 'Zebedee' was built by Severn Lamb to David Curwen's design in 1974, following the same outline as the aforementioned 'Dougal' as an 0-6-2T. In 1991 the cab was extended during an overhaul and she became a 0-6-4T with a very plain looking rear bogie.

There were a few issues getting the brakes set up for the shuttle service and on arrival at Cuckoo's Nest halt it was announced the train would terminate short there. Several passengers, including a contingent from Cleethorpes, jumped over to the passing train back to Clayton West, those who waited were rewarded with a change of plan and a spirited run to Skelmanthorpe after all. The Lappa Valley have a slightly smaller stone arched bridge over their line, also built on a standard gauge trackbed.

Back at Clayton West my next run was a full return trip with a locomotive that needed no further introduction, 'Bonnie Dundee' from the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway. In case you are wondering, she was representing the publishers of the several popular comics! For this trip we were honoured with a genuine Scottish driver in the form of John Kerr, who seemed very happy with her performance. Given that the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway were inspired by 'Katie' and 'Sian' during the conversion of 'Bonnie Dundee', even in tank locomotive form, it is no real surprise that she performed so well.

To finish, a view of the 7 1/4" gauge line at Clayton West, where 'Ivor' was visiting from the Pugney's Light Railway. I thought this view was quite modelable, possibly using the station canopy in the form of a half-station and hidden exit to the fiddle yard... 

Colin
 

An Oasis of Calm...*

As you may have guessed from the lack of real updates over the last few weeks, the summer period has far too many distractions to allow any modelling to take place. The latest is some 1:1 gardening/minor civil engineering occupying a fair chunk of the bank holiday weekend. If only I could get the grass to be as efficient as hanging basket liner!

The next task in line should be ballasting 'odsock Hall and I must not put it off too much longer as September will probably provide the ideal conditions in the workshop. In the meantime, here's a delve into the archives to a gloomy morning in Somerthorpe as the locomotives are prepared for the day...

Colin

*not affiliated to any 90's indie-rock group

North Bay - A Poseidon Adventure

A weeks holiday in the Scarborough area inevitably ended up at the North Bay Railway on the Friday morning, after a very pleasant hour or so exploring Peasholme Park for the first time. Being a 'changeover' day at many of the areas holiday parks Friday is the quietest day for the railway with a single train in service. On this occasion 1933 'Poseidon' was on duty in pseudo-British Railways express passenger blue, a far cry from the tatty LNER green I first saw her in at Cleethorpes many years ago.

The area around Peasholme station has benefitted from removal of many of the trees that have grown up over the last 90 years and had in some cases become dangerous. There is space to develop but it is awkwardly located within the locomotive turning loop. As the NBR cannot extend in length all expansion is sideward, adding attractions to increase visitor stay. The latest example of this is a 7 1/4" gauge coin-in-the-slot tram running alongside the main line for about 40m (you can just see the buffer stop at the far end).

At Scalby Mills a new station building is under construction under the canopy occupying space that is under-utilised with the second platform now closed. It is based around a portable building and you may wonder how this got there, I had visions of a giant crane swinging it in... the more mundane answer is that is was brought to site in sections by rail, being loaded from a lorry about halfway along the line to avoid the tunnel. Cladding work is ongoing and it provides a much better space for retail and catering than the previous kiosk by the turntable.

Turning the locomotive at Scalby Mills always draws a crowd but my favourite shot is to wait for the loco to leave the turntable and take a portrait as the driver leaves to reset it to the incoming line. The sky in this shot may look photoshopped but it is the real thing!

After a walk around the rocks under the Scalby Mills pub, we returned to Peasholme for lunch, admiring what may be one of the best views on any miniature or heritage railway...

Colin
 

Saturday Snapshot II - Gateway

Whilst posing the newly completed wall on 'odsock Corner the other day, I decided to pose the railcar in the gateway to see how it would look once the layout made a little more progress.

Drivers will have to be ultra cautious here with restricted clearances and sight lines... it's a good job it will only be crossing a trackway at this point!

Colin

A Weathered Old Wall

I have now completed painting the wall and gates. I had envisaged doing a step-by-step set of photos for this but in reality I didn't get a chance to take the photos as I got carried away and just kept going... I'll do my best to explain the process I adopted for the brickwork but as an artistic process, I may have forgotten some of the stages!

Firstly, the finished result:

In essence, the process involved:

• Grey Primer,
• A wash of black-grey to darken the base colour,
• Mortar colours - sand/beige mixes applied diluted and in different layers to create variety of colour and density over the surface,
• Brick colours - Army Painter 'tanned flesh' and Vallejo 'flat earth' plus some other shades, mixed and applied in a dry-brushed fashion to pick out the brick faces
• Additional colouring to the bricks using pencil crayons
• Washes of brown and black-grey to tone down the colours, the darker colour being applied more heavily in the mortar lines at the base of the wall.

The stages using the brick colours and pencil crayons were repeated a few times as the washes tended to dull the additional colours from the crayons and a few corrections had to be made. Despite sanding down the brick faces prior to painting the mortar lines were still quite deep (and wide) and the pencil crayons actually helped pick out the edges of the bricks in places. The final dry-brush was a light green-grey on the lower brick courses to represent where greenery/grass had stained the brickwork. It rises on the rear of the wall as the landform of the layout rises behind the wall. 

The gates were painted in the same olive brown as the office building with similar weathering. The hinges were masked up and picked out in black-grey on both the gates and the walls. 

In place on the layout there is now some infill between the road and the walls, to raise the land a little and give a slightly deeper slot to site the wall in. Around the rear can be seen the slight correction that I had to make - I had over-estimated the height and extent of the raised landform and created a much too large expanse of darkened brickwork and mortar. I re-dry-brushed the bricks in this area and the effect of the darkened mortar is quite pleasing. There will be a lot of vegetation hiding all this in due course, I probably could have left it as it was...

The capping stones were painted in the same sand/beige colours as the mortar, having carefully masked off the brickwork first. The usual washes of brown and black-grey followed, then dry-brushing with the original colours. Everything was matt varnished to complete, which knocked back any shine from the pencil crayons. 

The picture above shows the various attempts at tree location - the one bottom right is the one that works best, bringing the tree closer to the wall and office but not overhanging too far.

Whilst I hadn't planned to complete these items before doing any more actual scenic work, having them available will allow for progress to now focus on the fun, messy bits...

Colin

Saturday Snapshot

 A very brief post this week, and a glimpse toward the future. When taking the pictures of the walls and gates last week I posed them, the office and tree in place on 'odsock Corner to see how it all looked... 

When the time comes the tree's position will be adjusted slightly and other smaller pieces of greenery will join it hanging over and around the wall. 

More soon...

Colin

The Saga of the Wall

We last saw the wall about 5 weeks ago in it's basic plywood form, with the stated intention to loosely follow the Belton House example. Once the donated garden wall bond brick had arrived I set-to with that aim, brick for the walls and stone gate posts. But it didn't look right, far too grand for a smaller estate, a fact compounded by a drive past a few local properties and a glance at their walling. I now faced a dilemma - was there enough brick material to replace my home-scribed styrene gatepost material?

The answer... just! I actually opted to remove the extra layer of the gatepost on the front (roadside) edge and that led to the fun of splicing in the new sections by carefully cutting around the edges of the bricks. This is actually reasonably easy on 7mm scale bricks and any gaps were filled in with Milliput during the tidying up stages.

The Milliput was also used to change some of the bricks where the corner joins created some tine slithers of brick, extending them back into the adjacent brick. Combined with the subtle re-carving of vertical joins most of the joins now look credible if not 100% accurate.  Also of note is the slightly tumble-down finish to the left hand end, where the office building will sit. We have to imagine that the wall was shortened at some stage. The capping stones are made from mounting board, cut as individual pieces and treated with button polish (shellac). This produces a softer finish than making them out of styrene.

In contrast, the gates are styrene. These are actually the Mk3 versions, the originals used two layers of embossed sheet back-to-back with 60 x 125 thou framing, but in the light of the following morning were too chunky. Mk2 used one layer of embossed styrene with the plank lines additionally scribed on the rear, with 40 x 100 thou framing. Once the hinges (Grandt Line mouldings) were in place I realised it all now looked too thin so rather than start again, I fretted out the planking, cleaned up the frame and added a new layer on the outside. 

When I first placed the walls and gates on the layout (before making the gates) I realised that I had actually made the gateway a little too narrow and there was a likelihood that some items of stock may hit something. The shorter wall was shortened some more and the longer wall moved back a few millimetres. This then dictated the gate size. With the gates made I placed everything in location to check the clearances again. The gates hang on small hinges made from 0.5mm brass wire and whilst in theory they could be made poseable, I think they will be firmly fixed in the open position.

From the rear the detail on the gates can be seen, although there is a high chance that most of this will not be visible once there is some vegetation in place. Also visible in this view is the custom join made where the wall changes angle, again something that may well vanish into the undergrowth!

Painting has already started with a coat of primer applied - I have had a little practice on the base of the office building but this will be the first large area of brickwork I have painted in a while...

 Colin

A Cozy Office - Completed

I'm not sure how a month has gone by since anything was reported from the world of 'odsock Corner, things are progressing quite slowly due to a combination of factors but are at least progressing... we'll return to what has become the saga of the wall and gates in due course, but for now the little office is complete.

Wanting to totally contrast with the example on Shifting Sands this one is painted in a dark colour with red brick base. The base and the main part of the building were painted as separate units and only brought together at the varnishing stage. Even with this split I had to carry out a fair bit of masking of the wooden cross-pieces under the floor and brickwork to achieve a neat finish.

The main part of the structure saw masking to allow the window frames to be sprayed with white primer, after which the masking was reversed and the walls painted in Vallejo Dark Olive Drab. A wash-over in a darker shade enhanced the plank lines, then dry brushed with lighter shades to enhance the plank edges. Window frames were treated to a top coat of off-white and a lot of weathering to reduce their brightness. In contrast the roof is largely washes of greys over the original primer.

The interior details were painted up and added into the hut, the desk squeezing in along one end wall. The chair was located in place into two pre-drilled holes with two short pieces of 0.5mm brass wire in the rear legs, cut down from their longer length as used to hold the object whilst painting. The stove was positioned as closely as possible under the chimney on the roof using a length of brass wire as a guide.

The Titfield Thunderbolt poster was added to the wall as a little extra detail, coming from a sheet free with a magazine years ago. It covers a couple of air holes in the casting and a mark I made on the wall fitting the seat... 
 

At this stage I realised that there was perhaps a little too much detail painting on the interior as you cannot really see them with the roof in place! I have made passive provision for lighting via a hole in the base and floor around the door frame area to thread a wire through, although I have no plans to add this at this stage.

Colin