Above The Footplate

This time of year brings many distractions from modelling - half term, family visits, a child's Birthday and party to organise, and of course the big day later in the month that seems to require so much preparation! So progress with the Skylark has been in stops and starts, but here's where I'm at anyway.

The Kato chassis I am using has quite a low profile, but the boiler casting is cut away to clear a motor, this was just visible as there is a gap between the tanks and the boiler. So I filled the gap with plasticard, then stuffed the boiler with lead. I've also cut out the opening on the inner tank side to match the outer, and spaced the sides with plasticard - there was about a 15-thou gap along the tank top. The sides were filled with lead too. As you can see the cap side openings have had the "door" removed (the prototype did not have a door) and the edges chamfered.

Preparation of the parts like this does take time, but once assembled on the chassis it is worth it. The cab rear has also been extended below the bunker with plastic. The cab is quite visible so I will have to make some representation of the firebox and backhead.

Side-on the arrangement of the side skirts, tiny inclined cylinder, and the "pony" wheel appearing under the rear frames, all seems to work quite well. The trailing wheel should be behind the cab step so it is a bit too far forward, but it looks OK.

The tank fillers require a rounded handle on top, however I thought they looked better upside-down with the locating peg filed to a rounded shape- see the one in the foreground, than on the left is unmodified. Another job was to drill out the chimney top.

The chimney was a pig to get vertical, even after a long time adjusting the fit with a small file. 5-minute epoxy does give time to check it from all angles as the glue sets, using a square, even so I think it might not be quite right!