Ab II

I managed to spend a little bit of time in the Man-sion today despite being roped in to chopping down several trees outside. will this cursed fine weather never end? Maybe I should start building an outdoor railway?
Anyway, its was a chance to do some more on the Ab. Primarily to get the wheels fitted. A hunt through a collection of boxes (and under at least one wagon) turned up 4 spoked peco wheelsets for the tender and a couple of Parkside Dundas wheelsets for the loco bogie. The tender bogie had immediate problems.

'Oh, and I broke the printed bogie pin too'

Printing a model designed for 1:120 up to 1:105 and still want it to sit on N gauge track is a bit short sighted. I drilled some holes in some plastic sheet and cut them out to use as spacers. Fortunately the loco isn't required to move. This makes things much easier.

'Oh, and I broke the other printed bogie pin too'

The wheels for the loco bogie were a bit easier. I removed the wheels and then filed the pinpoints back to flat to suit the inside frames. the photo shows that I will probably have to fabricate a new front bogie with a wheelbase that's a tad longer. Oh and larger cylinders as well.

Then I put it all together to see how it looks.

One end is the correct height, and the other isn't. I'll have to do some plan checking to determine which one is the odd man out. My gut is telling me that the tender looks too high all round, especially the trailing headstock. Other than that, Its a good place to start. I like that its square, something normally beyond me.