"No.103, Flying Scotsman"

You may remember this locomotive from a blog a few years back. It started out in life as a bog standard 2012 edition Railroad Flying Scotsman model.

It's now in grey primer and currently in storage. Modifications included changing the bogie and driving wheels, smokebox door, chimney, addition of superheater headers and resin washout plugs on the boiler. Oh, and a Great Northern coal rail tender to boot. More on that at a later date though…

It does link in with this evening's modelling session, however.

I've bought another of the Railroad Flying Scotsman models, and am finally getting around to building one of the locomotives that no respectable LNER based layout should be without. It is tradition, after all, to include a model of the world famous Flying Scotsman on a model railway layout, however my comes with a twist on the theme. She will be apple green, but she won't be numbered 4472...

Since my new layout is set between the years 1947 and 1949, I needed my model of 4472 (or as she was then, no.103) to reflect her true condition. So bits and bobs from the Great British Locomotives series of models have been used to bring this Railroad model up to standard, in addition to a few other details.

The basic model was correct in so much that it was right hand drive, with the correct 180lb boiler, but I was not satisfied with a number of other details and set to work converting the model accordingly.

(Incidentally, and perhaps proving the interchangeability point, the chassis pictured was the same chassis which had been previously fitted with maroon A4 wheel sets and originally intended for going under a Great British Locomotives Mallard model, as seen in these pages).

So to begin with: the corridor tender has been swapped with a GBL Mallard model (which will become another working A4 Pacific - again, watch this space) to give my model of no.103 the correct non corridor, streamlined tender it requires.

The boiler doesn't require any modification, as Flying Scotsman retained her original 180lb boiler until 1949 when she swapped it for the 220lb A3 boiler type. The only thing missing at the minute from this picture are the superheater headers on the smokebox, which will be fitted in due course. The moulded handrails on the boiler have to go though, and they will!

I removed the original cab from the Railroad model (through a combination of hacking it about with pliers, scalpels, files and sandpaper) and fitted a GBL 4472's cab instead.

This has the correct shorter cut outs at the back, to match the later tender types, and also includes glazing which is a real improvement on the model's original cab. Moulded handrails all round though, but these have been removed and handrails will be fitted next week when the next batch of handrail knobs arrives.

Lastly, at the front end, the correct (shorter) pattern chimney has replaced the original tall chimney, and a resin cast of Hornby's super detail A3 smokebox doors has replaced the more plain Railroad version.

The white metal buffers are standard with those on Wolf of Badenoch, seen alongside for comparison.

So I've a few projects on the go at the minute, but if I am honest I hope to get this one done, at least physically, before the end of next week so that it can come with 60506 and a few other Pacifics "oop north" to visit a very special model railway layout…more on that in due course.

Until next time!