Hunslet Body Building

Time for an update on the Hunslet, though progress has been slow things are starting to take shape.

When we last left the story I was making up a bracket to mount the chassis to. Here it is firmly glued into the front of the footplate, with the buffer beam fitted. Of course I've had to make a square hole for the Microtrains coupling, the plasic just visible is the mounting point, though it is tight for space. You can also see the footplate has been filled inwards slightly with a strip of plastic, and new holes made to fit the springs in line with the wheels, and further inboard.

The front part of the body has been packed with lead sheet - the smokebox and front part of the saddle tank, forward of the rear wheels. The rear part hasn't as I'm trying to balance the loco rather than just make it heavy! However I have continued the boiler shape in plastic (this would be where the motor fitted with the originally designed for Ibertren chassis).

Up top the main components have been assembled, and the springs, safety valves and chimney fitted. The tank filler, sawn off early in the build, has been refitted to the front of the tank on a layer of epoxy to fit it to the curve. The buffer beams and footplate were fitted with a 45 degree chamfer, this not only looks better than sitting below the footplate as intended, but allow a more appropriate ride height. They still sit rather close to the track!

So some detailing to go: filling holes. handrails, pipework, cylinder covers, cab steps, and of course a cab roof. I'm inclined to ditch the cast one and make one from brass or plastic to save weight at the rear. The loco already weighs about 95g (most similar size 009 locos are around 60g), and of that over 60g is on the rear wheels. It does run very well and shows no sign of wheelies (unlike the undressed chassis!), but nonetheless it really doesn't need any weight at the rear.