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Here Duncan has his custom LEGO Power Functions chassis to stand together with Rusty and Rheneas for this shot. As the tallest member, he stands out from the others with his large cab and tall funnel. Ready to join the Skarloey Railway fleet, Duncan is ready to roll. Name and number place are printed designs from Adobe Illustrator, mounted on the cab and boiler, showing manufacturer and the name of his previous working home at a wartime airplane factory.Īs a well-tank engine, Duncan's water is stored in a container mounted between his chassis and driving wheels, so like his prototype, his filling cap extends from each of his sides for a water crane hose to be lowered at water stops! Here are his finished buffer details, with worn buffer caps, and sporting his working coupler and chain for pulling. Duncan's red cylinder supports and wrapped steam pipes from his dome are actually made from salvaged electric copper wire encased in plastic, which have been cut, primed and glued into place for painting. Nearing completion, Duncan and all the assembled parts have been weathered using acrylics from Plaid FolkArt, Apple Barrel, and Deco Art's Americana. Here are brass craft wire pipes, a sand pipe from the dome, and a brake crankshaft made from wire and balsa, mounted on his boiler housing and extending from his cab. Now begins another challenge, hand-making and mounting those extra details on the side. Sodor Island 3d TrainzDuncan has modified wooden buffer mounts here in addition to metal supports, and lamp irons made from balsa for replaceable headlamps! Door handles are also made from bent craft wire. Rivets are craft gems spray painted in primer to be glued in place, and here are naturally blended to the body shell with paint. More chipboard was used for the roof and smoothly painted black. The funnel is paper card rolled for his tall funnel and glued in place. I like this material a lot because it's thicker for some parts that require it's strength and thickness, but what I like most of all is its ability to bend easily for the curved edges of parts like this. This part was a fun challenge as it supports Duncan's smokebox. The running plate that extends to the front buffers, constructed from balsa. Next, I build the boiler and smoke box as a shell that covers snugly over the custom Lego Power Functions chassis, made from heavy weight card and glued as well as taped in place for the cylindar parts. With balsa controls like the throttle and brakes, I make the brass pipes with Darice Craft Designer's 16 gauge wire, with strips of thin paper to glue for facets, and covered with metallic sharpies that match with the pipe color.
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On the workbench, I always start with the cab when building steam locomotives, and get the cab interior and details done first.
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