Heres a little more progress. As I mentioned I needed to figure out a different way to screw down the top half of the shell since I didn't want to used the original mount and move the steam dome. What I ended up doing is setting a screw in the smoke stack and making braces to screw into on the frame. I knew I wanted to change the shell a bit when I tore it apart, normally the backhead is part of the lower shell but I don't want to have a split in the fire box. The firebox will be on the top half with a split on the front facing wall at the width of the boiler. If that doesn't make sense I'll explain better when I do it and have pictures. At any rate the backhead is now glued to the top half of the shell it also has the cab floor and lower rear molding of the shell. I glued some styrene to the metal frame that the shell sits on and drilled for a screw on each side.



For the front screw I glued a piece of .040 over the stack opening inside the shell and drilled for a screw that grabs the metal motor mount frame that site inside. The stack molding has a bottom i simply cut it off and slipped it back on, I found I couldn't just leave the bottom on because it would not sit right.



With another looming question solved I went back to normal work and got the running gear all updated. The lower half of the shell was also striped of basically everything to be smooth.

I'll be following this post closelt as I have a Walthers Proto N I am saving for exactly the same project, and I know you won't dissapoint!

With a long weekend I got a good amount done. The boiler was stripped of everything else that was unneeded and sanded smooth.


The hip joints were made for the firebox. The one was made then traced for the second. The notches toward the bottom were cut off, they were not needed and hindered the removal of the shell.


The rear was made and a bar was put in to steady the pieces.


An over sized piece of .010 was then set.


Then was trimmed and repeated on the other side.


The bottom half of the boiler was then built out to match the made firebox split to allow the shell to come off.



Then I puttied it all up.


While the putty was drying I decided to work on the tender. I don't know the origin of the tender trucks, they were a show find, but they are build like Bethlehem Car Works trucks. I had to add some spacers to allow the trucks to turn and reused the pickups that touch a wiper that comes out of the bottom of the frame. I ended up using new screws too, come Manuta leftovers I had. Screws seem to strip easily on the model.


Leaving the tender frame as is because the length looked good the shell started like all others with the bottom ring. With the wire plug going under the frame I did not need to worry about a hole in the shell for wires which made it a little easier.


The top was placed and coal bunker set.


The upper coal bunker walls were made and placed.


Then the rest was filled in with the coal bunker inside walls, the rear of the bunker on top and doors were made on the front. I think the corners of the tender were sanded round at this point too but it's a little hard to tell from the picture.


This is the newly finished tender matched up with the engine.


After sitting over night I sanded and smoothed everything out and rounded the corner of the firebox.


I then added the ash pans which are .040 spacers top with .040 with the edges rounded up.


Then the smokebox front was started by making a .040, .010, .040 sandwich sanding the edges to a point fitting the .010 circle in the flat part of the bottom later and the top layer a little inside the .010 layer.


Together it looks like this, with door latches, number board and hinges in place. I thought I took a picture with just the layers together but I guess I didn't.


The head light in place always finally starts making it look like what I'm going for.


The cab floor was filled out to fit the cab sides made to T-1 dimensions which I use as the sizing for the really big cabs. I did the same for the K-1. The window is bigger though as it looks in pictures.



Then the front and back of the cab were placed.


And heres how it sits now, ready to start domes.

Nice build!

Grabbed his shot off from an eBay auction; maybe it will help with some of the detail placements.

Thanks, Mark

Cool picture, I am doing the later rebuilt version into a simple articulated engine with the large exposed steam delivery pipes. I actually intend to have them move with the engine. Its not going to be really prototypical since the rear set of drivers should not move like the front set, but I still want to try to have the pipes actually connected to the cylinders.

Side note, researching the project it seems that the Reading was slowly converting all the 2-8-8-0s to the style of the front compound air compressors and lower headlight. Some were seemingly converted only a couple years before retirement. It also seemed to be a slow process whenever they got around to it, and I'm not sure if they were all converted by the time they were retired.

I borrowed a heat gun from work to do the steam delivery pipes this weekend, but to so I wanted to have the boiler bands set first. To set the boiler bands I wanted to have the domes in place, so I started there.

Here is the dome bases sanded down and ready to be capped. Since the rear sets is not just round I did the base work in .040.


Then the open domes were capped loosely with 2 layers of .040 except the rear set which were capped with one layer bent a bit to fit the sloping shape.


The capes were then sanded to shape.


Then the dome bottoms got putty. I felt the rear domes were a little small so I added extra putty to them to fudge it in sanding.


After sanding the boiler bands were placed using .010x.030 strips. I went all the way around the boiler and the strips met at the bottom. Then I cut down the shell seam so the boiler can come back apart.


The steam delivery pipes were done from styrene rods which is why I needed the heat gun. I melted the rod a little and bent them to shape and let it cool. They are done in 3 sections, the base middle on the smoke box, the front short piece which is a smaller diameter and has 2 90 degree bends, and the rear the split being in the putty going to the cylinders. The rods were drilled in the center and I used .025 steel wire, for ridgidness, to connect the pipes and to be a pivot point. Wire ends were also placed going into the cylinders. Now since the engine does not turn like the prototype and the pivot points for the driver sets are different as well I had to leave rather large open holes in the cylinders so the pipes could move with the drivers.


Seen in the picture is the bent pieces for the other side.


I did get it to be able to turn tight enough for 22" radius but I don't really plan on running it that tight. Here is it sitting on 22" curve.



The fireman's side went a little easier, but I knew what I was doing at that point.


So heres where it sits now, I feel the hardest part is done at this point or at least the biggest unknown.