Some castings have been missed off this 3D model but will be present on the kit/RtR supplied. There will be a dummy coal load added to hide the batteries and the R/C Rx. The copper water pipe shown heading off to the side should actually be coming out of the front – one of SolidWorks little quirks that should be corrected when I redesign the model (almost from scratch) in FreeCAD.
I have just noticed that the rebuild of this tender now has a curved plate in front the filler to protect it from the coal. This plate does not appear on the original works drawings. An etch will be included for it, but the decision to add it is yours.
Note some pipes are missing from both backheads, but present on the cab shot above. The model will have working etched nickel silver fire doors. The flat part of the backhead will be painted with etch black, then the whole thing will be copper electroplated, the bits to remain copper will then be protected with varnish and the whole thing again electroplated (this time in brass) then protected with varnish.
The “glass” part of the gauge glasses will be replaced with 3D printed clear resin versions after plating. The interior face of the backhead will be covered with a 3D printed resin layer and ceramic cloth insulation to reduce heat transmission. All the above will be standard practice for all my model loco backheads
As you can see from the 3D images above, the design of this model is pretty much complete. It is largely derived from two of my current LSWR locos – the T9 and the O415 (Adams radial tank). It is basically a T9 with shorter boiler/smokebox using the outside cylinders and inside Stephenson’s valvegear of the O415. The tender is a bit shorter than the T9 being a 6-wheeler rather than twin bogies but that should have little impact on the design (see the GWR tenders here for a similar design). There will, of course, be cosmetic differences to keep the loco model to a true 1/32 scale.
So overall it is all proven technology and should go together quickly.
I hope to have this model in production later this year (2025).