After gluing the cab floor and boiler backhead into one unit and adding styrene strips to the cab walls to hold it in place against the frame, I decided to do a fit check of the whole thing at this point. So, I reassembled the loco and took it for a quick spin. As I suspected, the longer Aristocraft boiler and cab closes the gap between engine and tender by approximately 1/8". Even with the closer spacing the engine will still successfully navigate my 15" to 16" radius curves. YES!! That means I don't have to make a new drawbar. I also decided I'm going to add a plug to the headlight wires so I can mount the light up through the boiler into the headlight housing and not have to fiddle with jamming it up in there each time I reassemble the engine.
Okay, enough blabbing. On with the video:
Like, Subscribe and all that jazz, because when this thing is done I'll be making a follow-up video for sure. I'm just tickled with how this project is coming along. After the struggles of the 2-6-0 project, this one is a breeze. On to the detailing.
Runs great!
ReplyDeleteSure does - I love that Athearn rebuilt mechanism. There is a tiny wobble in the rearmost driver but I can live with it. I suspect That may be an effect of the traction tire. Most steam tends to nose down the track anyway.
DeleteThe motor is quiet and strong. Later that night I put 10 cars plus a caboose behind it and it walked away with them.