Drivers cab

April 23, 2006

I know the advance in building this kit isn't very impressive. But for me in building kits the road is more important than the goal. I don't hurry and simply enjoy the moment. I have no fixed time frames in which a kit should be finished. I don't have actual deadlines nor any psychological ones. When it ain't ready, it ain't ready.

This was somewhat different however in December and January. I had no less than four projects at hand (flat cars, E41, NS7005 and Shay) and I needed to get rid of the "starting everything, finishing nothing" syndrome. I noticed I stopped looking for and enjoying other projects, because I had too much at hand. So decided to take a sprint and I finished three projects in a very short period of time. Only the NS7005 remains. I need to buy some parts and I intend to finish this one before the summer. But if not then not.

Well, after this philosophic introduction back to work. Yesterday I filled holes in various small parts. Most of them fit on the drivers cab. So I decided to assemble the drivers cab first. This comes in handy when I start airbrushing the frame. I need to spray a layer of base coat on the frame first. And when working with base coat anyway I might just as well spray the drivers cab.

	The bell, one of the parts which had ugly casting holes, has a nice smooth surface after appropriate sanding. Working on parts like this is hard because they are so small. Take a look at the completed cab how tiny it is
	The kit was provided with a cast coal imitation. I have a piece of real coal which I will grind to scale size. So I cut a piece of styrene to size to form a floor in the coal bunker. Here the bunker is upside down to roughly indicate the desired size with a pencil.
	Next I cut the piece of styrene approximately to size. I tried fitting it, cut a strip off the length and the width and fitted it again. After several tries it sat beautifully. Of course I could have measured it exactly with a caliper, made an exact drawing and cut it to size very precisely. But this would have taken me far more time, with practically no better result. It won't be in sight after having glued coal on it anyway.
	After fitting all parts on the roof and after allowing the ACC to dry I cut away supfluous protuding parts to keep the cabs interior clean. I needed a straight cutter for that.

	The completely assembled drivers cab, view on right side and the back. The white styrene in the coal bunker can clearly be seen. Also clearly visible are the various fillings on the bell and the hatch as mentioned before
	And finally a view from the left back.