Ken,

 

That's looking better all the time.  I hope you can bring it on Saturday.

 

Doc

I finally went and bacame a 1st class member.  My, these extra features sure are nice!

 

It's amazing what a coat of paint will do for a model.  Not much progress other than paint, but it's woth a couple pictures.

 

The blue isn't quite as bright as it loks in the photos.  It's actually a nice royal blue, just dark enough to look classy (in my humble opinion, anyway)

 

The boiler will not be black. I've got some Testor's Metalizer (stainless, I think) which I intend to put on over the black, for a russia iron look.  My hope is that the black base will darken the stainless a bit.

Here's a major milestone - a brand new cab!  I'd been using a Delton C-16 cab.  It worked, but it was not the style I wanted, and it was a bit warped, and it was a bit small for 1:20.3.  So I finally got the energy to make a new one.  With plenty of inspiration from the Porter Masterclass, here's the result:

 

There's still plenty of work to do on it.  Varios details need to be added, the sheet metal plate on the front to protect the wood from the heat of the boiler, and plenty of clean-up.  But overal, it looks like a cab, and really changes the style of the engine.

Here are a couple photos from the get-together this weekend.  She ran, although I have the motor wired backwards.  It was very satisfying to see her move under her own power for the first time ever.  It was also very useful to have something to compate to, size-wise.  I've been working in a vaccuum, with no other large scale equipment, or even track.  I don't have the "feel" for the scale, the way I do in HO, so I was a bit nervous how everything would scale out.  I think it looks good.  It's obvious just how small this engine is, once you get it around some other 1:20.3 equipment.  One of the photos shows it sitting beside an LGB porter with a custom cab.

 

 

That is looking good, the new cab will really set it off! There is some doubt IF the Porters had a metal sheet over the firebox & boiler assembly; when I did my blue (#7) Porter the decision was that they didn't.

 

The mineral brown color for the top of the running boards is a deep red oxide or brick red on mine; the paint was loaded with sand to provide a grip, and that sort of color is more durable (think deep barn red) that the fancy work on the rest of the loco. It also extends to the cab floor, and also the inside of the tender - all for the same reasons - durability.

 

The cab roof could be covered in paper (varnish/paint it down onto the surface, and wrap the edges and fix with glue), then you can mark the paper (it will/should make a dent in the paper) with a pencil to indicate the joins between the protective metal sheets fitted there. Finally add some rainstrips along the outer and back edges the paint it a several shades of 'mucky grey'. Finshit off with some streaks when the main color is dry.

When you have added the metallic paint over the black it may be an idea to varnish it when dry; to ad some protection. Boiler bands can be added from painted paper (and varnished).

 

No need to worry about the difference in the position of the valve chest; it will just mean that the steam passages are slightly longer!  Bachmann 4 4 0's have them inboard of the cylinder centerline.

It looks nice amongst the rest of the loco's.

 

Congratulations, and  welcome to the club of scratch builders 

Thanks for the extra photos, look forward to the tender, is it going to be 4 or 6 wheeled?