I don't know where the thread went, and couldnt find it, so figured i'd start a new one. Since I havent been able to get more flat coat spray from the hobby shop downtown, I have turned back to my auxiliary tender for the Tamaqua wreck train. I started thi sporject about 8 months ago, mostly delayed due to lack of proto pictures and references. John Capled was kind enough to send me info from a Bee Line magazine that gave me some views that I needed. This week I have been aggresively tackling this project and resurrected it from the dead pile.

I used two Bachmann tender frames (fortunately i got these on sale for 15 bucks each). I needed both frames because the tender only had one end with the brake levers and the proper style of block. So I cut both frames in half and trimmed down the side sills to just barely narrower than the shell inner width.I kept the blocks as they are for proto, and epoxied both frames together at the proper length. Let me tell you, this is where I really took for granted owning a dremel back in the states. I'm in a dorm room, so all I have are a coupke files and i ended up buying a cheap mini hacksaw to cut these metal frames down. My fingers are killing me right now!

Also, I shaped the water hatch out of styrene, sanded down the sides some more, and drilled all the holes I will need for the grab irons and ladders. finally I fabricated the side sills to match the proto, and this is why i trimmed the side sills down on the original frames. The tender side sills are made from I-beams that i cut in half and sanded down to the proper height. Also added the angle brackets.

I needed to do all of this at this stage, because I need to paint the shell and gloss it for the rivets before i add any parts and then paint it black. After the rivets are on, I will add the grabs, ladders and the roof walkway. More to come this week!

Made a lot of headway since the last update, little at a time. I'm going on vacation back home to York for the next 3 weeks, so this will stand as is until i return. Rivets are about 50% completed, and then I will add the roofwalk and handrails, then paint and decal, and done!

Work has been slow, as is always the story. Busy at work, lack of motivation, etc. Finally pulled up some old articles that had a decent shot of the tender's top without the roofwalk, but it was enough to figure out the details I needed to put before i place the roofwalk on.

I also had to order a brass roofwalk from ebay because I realized that you can't solder aluminum to brass. So the roofwalk will be on hold for a bit. The only thing I can do now is start adding the grab irons until the roofwalk comes in. I am going to solder the brass roofwalk to brass rod to give it structural strength, as this is going to be the most brittle part of the model and I would hate to trust CA or epoxy on something that small.

Wow, that is really starting to come along. I meant to ask, is there a whole bee line mag that has pictures and info on the Aux tenders or was it just a small bit of information that you got?

- Nick

Volume 9 Issue 1, spring 1987 has a feature about them. shoot me an e-mail and i can pass some info along to you.

Well I made tremendous strides today. I was really nervous about how I was going to accomplish the next step, but once I started, I couldn't put it down. It all went better than expected. The roofwalks i had were aluminum, and I realized that aluminum doesnt solder, so i had to resort to ebay and get a brass roofwalk. I don't think anyone even markets them, but i found one that someone had made in etched brass, and got it. It came in this past week, so I buckled down and got to work.

I had to cut the roofwalk down to size and solder it together for a solid connection. Then I formed brass wire for the mounts, extra long so i could solder them to the roofwalk and not melt the plastic. Once I got them all bent and formed, I tinned the tops slightly, and marked on the roofwalk where they would be, and tinned those parts as well.

Then I placed the roofwalk on the mounts and soldered away. When all the solder points were secure, I pushed the roofwalk down carefully to the height it should be. Then I glued the insides down.

After that was done, I finished all of the side ladders.

All that is left is to replace a few rivet decals that came off during handling, and then i'll be able to re-primer the model, and then paint and decal!