"Railroad Flying Scotsman Conversion"

I was given a challenge by the owner of this Railroad Flying Scotsman to turn it into "something authentic". I accepted the challenge, and went for it with gusto today, despite suffering what what my doctor has described as something "akin to the flu" for the last week.

The first thing to change were the cylinders, as I wanted to be able to fit a set of Hornby's cylinder drain cocks. This set of the super detail cylinders (complete with lining out) were left over after the conversion of an A3 chassis into the A1/1 Great Northern type. The rear portion of these cylinders (which the valve gear fits into) were used on a special set of resin cylinders for said Great Northern conversion.

Since this new Railroad model uses the same type of cylinder, I reasoned that the rear parts would be removable, and that they would fit this super detail cylinder block. I was right: the rear part of the cylinders came out, and fitted perfectly.

...as can be seen in this demonstration on my rolling road.

In addition to the cylinders, I also elected to use a spare bogie from a long broken up for spares second hand NRM edition Flying Scotsman model to replace the (completely inaccurate) Thompson B1 type bogie which had been used for this model.

The bogie wheels are a slightly darker apple green, and are lined out. I think I will have a go at lining the driving wheels (the model will be weathered quite extensively below the footplate so I am hoping the difference in the colour of the plastic won't be such an issue.

It's on the bodyshell that we find the biggest changes. The plastic buffers and the plastic hook are gone, to be replaced with more suitable items.

The smokebox door (which was a new tooling, surprisingly) has been replaced with one of my own resin casts, based on the super detail Hornby A3.

I've fitted a pair of Graeme King resin superheater headers (though you will need to move a handrail knob forward slightly on each side to put them in the correct position). This helps to both date the model and to confirm its intended type as A3.

The original chimney has been replaced with a shorter Margate made Hornby spare.

At the cab end, I've removed all of the moulded handrails, and extended the cab side sheet upwards (to take into account the fitting of the bucket seats), and given it a hint of turn in, as per the tender which it will be married to (a super detail Great Northern Railway eight wheel tender).

Which leads me neatly onto this mess:

How was I going to be able to couple up the existing tender to the locomotive? The solution was extremely simple and obvious with a bit of lateral thinking. Lateral thinking which I can't really take any credit for. My late grandfather was in the Royal Engineers, and I'd like to think it's this sort of simple solution to a problem he'd be proud of, but it is my father who always tells me that "there are no problems, only solutions".

So here it is: basically a round plastic plug, attached to the end of the attachment point on the locomotive, with the metal bar reused from the Railroad tender, but with the close coupling mechanism facing the opposite way to how it was originally fitted.

This allows me to use the close coupling bar as it was intended with the super detail tender. Result: the locomotive can now pull its own tender! The way I've manipulated the bar round also means that the tender can be put into either of the holes for close coupling or for dealing with train set curves.

So that's all for today's modelling. You'll note that I removed the washout plugs, these will be replaced by resin alternatives (giving the correct number and type for the 220lb boiler), and that I have not as yet touched the dome.

There's a reason for this: if I leave the model as is, I can turn it into 60110 Robert the Devil, but if I remove the dome and give it a banjo dome, I can turn it into e112 St.Simon thus presenting my good friend who owns this locomotive with a permanent reminder of the challenge he presented me with.

He did not expect me to get this far: needless to say, I intend to have the last laugh in this challenge!

Until next time, goodnight.