With the idea that Dan had put into my head, I corrected my mistake {without much trouble}, and assembled the cupola front wall they way they were meant to be. once it was dry enough to handle, I cemented a brace across the span of the box section. I also filled in the cracks with a little extra glue for added adhesion.
While this was drying, I noted that there was a slight gap between the cupola and the upper plow frame. I decided to make use of the extra "angle" wood, and make a sort of "box" for it to sit in. I also cemented the front braces in place as well.
As you can see in these pictures, I also painted the underside of the walkway. the headlight was the first piece of major hardware to be refined. it seems to be made from either a very light aluminum, or some type of solder material.......very easy to scrape and clean up. I decided to paint it gold and use the Testor's window maker to create the lens in it.
I then turned back to the upper plow frame and added the rest of the braces and the two pieces that support the headlight. since the front cupola walls were a bit longer than the plans suggest, I changed the braces around a bit, keeping in mind how these braces were supposed to support the upper frame.....it had to be done in a way , to make it look strong.
Then, a dry fit was in order. note that the braces are mated to each other. later, wood putty was used to do just that......to make them look as though they are welded together.
Yea.......I'm a little backwards here. these are the pictures that I wanted you to see........ as an extra bonus....the upper frame is painted as well as the cupola.
After a little more painting, window glass was installed. the walkway was cemented in place and painted by this time, making it impossible for the cupola to slide around on the roof {I should have done this sooner}.
Now, it was time to create the roof for the cupola. the two halves that comprise the roof, can be seen to the right in the picture above.
After the test fitting was done, it was painted and cemented into place. I noticed that I needed to do a little touch-up job on the headlight, which I did while the roof was drying.
Once the cupola was dry, it was cemented into place......done! I then started to work on the smoke jack and brake wheel. the window maker had dried all I thought it was going to.....it had sunk-in a little. I added more window maker to it in order to bring the lens outwards, and make it look rounded.
The coupler was the only part left to paint. I had some trouble adding the "smoky soot" in the smoke jack flue.....my flat black was dying. the trouble with some paints {in my case, it's the flat black}, having the bottle open so often {and for long periods of time}, it tends to get thick. My remedy for this is to simply add thinner to it. after a while, the "suspension" in the paint becomes diluted.....and you end up with paint that turns to jelly, or it gets to the point that it will not stick. you ultimately end up with a bottle of pigment and thinner!
I was running into the latter problem.....and it was getting clumpy. I do like it though, because this is when you get a "flat", flat black.....there is absolutely no shine at all. It is a bad idea to change paints in the middle of a build......the combination of two different hues, in the same paint color, takes away from the look of the build, especially if the change occurs in the middle of a step. I had to keep this paint alive.....but how? I was looking at my other paints......from sitting, they had separated, and the suspension fluid was at the top of each one. I took a bottle of light tan and added some of the fluid to the flat black, and mixed it. believe it of not, it brought the flat black back to life! I was able to add the smoky soot to the smoke jack, as well as a couple of places where the flat black would not stick.....the places where the cement was along the walkway! I hope to keep it alive until the end of this build, and get new paint later. while these aspects were drying, I thought a trip to the hobby store might be in order at this time, so that I can get the trucks. I can get the underside finished, so that it can finally rest on some sort of "wheels". this will also put the build about 3/4's of the way from the finish line. I'll end this build log with one more parting shot. I'm going window shopping......wish me luck!
