The trickiest bit of making the KMX tamper is the hydraulic gubbins in the middle.
While I am able to cheat by using resin castings for the tamper head, the lifting and lining bits from the Britannia Pacific kits don't look anything like the appendages hanging from the WHR's heavily rebuilt machine. So I have to make them myself.
This is rather complicated - although satisfying - process.
Various different thicknesses of Evergreen styrene rod are employed to make the hydraulic arms and to bodge up something to represent the horizontal guide wheels / grabbing things at the bottom.
This involves slicing such fine discs of plastic tube that would impress a prize winning salami maker!
There's also a frame that they're attached to which has to be fabricated and finally something to represent the shaft beneath. This should run all the way to a point near the bogie beneath the engine compartment, but I can't do that on the model because the Kato chassis has to be inserted / removed from beneath.
I'm starting to feel that I've really broken the back of this project now, but there's still a tremendous amount of fine detailing to be added all around the body, not to mention a lot of cosmetic surgery on the bogies.
Friday 3 August 2012
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