Next I cut out and sanded the side trim pieces the way I did them for the cab.
On pages 5 and 6 of the plan we skipped the dowels. I set up a board with a V groove and guide marks on the drill press. With a centering bit I found the center and clamped it firmly.

I need eight boiler rail posts 3/16” dowel 3/4” long with a 3/32” hole drilled 1/8” from one end.

From past experience I know that these need to be a loose fit so I sanded them until they were loose.

I then glued them in place.

I took the clamps off the tender and glued and clamped the side rack assembly on to it and set it aside. When it is dried I’ll glue the side trim on.

I finished the day by gluing the rest of the pieces on the locomotive. After a day of cleanup I’ll spray the locomotive and tender using an air brush.

The finished Locomotive is here.

Then I cut the pieces for the side panels, back, side rack, back rack and the water tank. The side panels and back from 3/8” stock and the side and back rack from 1/4” stock. The water tank is a block 3 3/8” long X 2” wide and 2 1/4” high.

After laying out several lines I drilled two 7/8” by 1 1/4” deep.

I then cut and sanded the angles for the water tank.

I then drew layout lines for the corner cuts on the side panels and the side racks.

Glue and clamps; we are finished for today.

Looking at the 3/8” square cuts I thought that I would try not using the scroll saw. So I dug out my 3/8” hollow mortising chisel and took the auger out. Using a soft blow mallet I tried chopping out the squares.

It didn’t work. There was a lot of tear out on the back side. Four more photocopies, more drilling and on to the scroll saw.

I used diagonal cutters to shorten the 5/32” axle pins to a little over 1/8”.

Then they were glued into the wheel trim pieces and sanded flat on the back

Then the trim and trim spacer were glued on to the wheel assemblies using a 7/32” axle pin.

After cutting 5/16” axle pins to 1 1/2” long I glued the wheel assemblies to the tender base.

I cut 4 axles to length and glued one wheel on each axle. Now I need 4 trim spacers. They are 1 3/8” X 5/8” X 3/8” with a 7/32” hole and a 45° cut on one end.

Now I need to make four wheel trims. On the plan there are 9 dimensions and 2 diameters and I could do the layout.

But these are full size plans, so I just photocopied and glued.

We now move on to page 7 of the plan. We’re building the tender. I cut a 1/2” piece of black walnut to 8 1/4” X 4 1/2” and drilled two 5/16” by 7/16” deep holes as indicated by the plan.

I only have a short piece of 3/4“maple 2” wide and am hoping to get four parts out of it so I cut all the pieces for the engine coupler and car coupler assemblies.

I did the layout on these all at the same time. I had made a coupler template when I was doing the rolling stock. Though the overall dimensions are slightly different I traced the coupler on its piece.

I drilled all the holes needed before cutting out the couplers.

They were then ripped to 5/16” wide to create the connecting rod and wheel linkage.

I created a piece of stock 7/8” X 3/8”much longer than I actually needed to make 2 piston connectors.

I cut a 1/8” wide by 3/4” in each end.

Next I cut and sanded a 3/4” X 3/8” notch on both ends.

At this point I drilled a 5/32” hole before I cut it shorter.

I then cut each end off at 1 1/2” and set up to drill a 5/32” and 1/8” hole in the ends.

I marked the connecting rod and wheel linkage to drill their 3/16” holes.

The finished pieces.

Next I dry fit an end cap on each end of a long piece of 3/16” dowel and marked the dowel at the cap. I then cut the dowel in half. I chucked one piece in the drill press and with a file turned the 3/16” dowel to 5/32” leaving the cap end at 3/16”.
I then cut them to length and glued the end cap on. This pin is needed to connect the connecting rod and the wheel linkage to the wheel. They don’t manufacture a 5/32” axle pin long enough.

A dry fit to check that things don’t bind. I found that the dowel on the piston connector had to be shortened by about 3/16”. That would be the dowel that goes into the cylinder from the connector.

Glue the cylinders to the mount and both to the base.

After dinner I’ll take these clamps off. Then glue the boiler and cabin on the base and leave everything dry over night.

I glued the rest of the wheels on to the base using a spacer to allow them to ride on the rails. NOTE: The larger drive wheels are not glued at this time.

I glued the front and rear assemblies to the base. I used a piece of packaging plastic with a slot cut in it between the assembly and base. This allowed me to pound the axle pin into the hole. Sometimes they are very tight.

Here’s a tip: Use a pair of pliers and squeeze the end of the dowel to form grooves for the glue. If you force the axle in without doing this, you will push all the glue out.
I then glued and clamped the floor of the cab to the base. In the picture you may see the cylinder mount. It is not glued yet. The front wheel assembly dowel has to be shortened slightly to fit under the mount.

Next up is the pilot beam. A piece of walnut 1/2” X 5/8” X 4 1/2” with layout lines for a 2” X 1/8” dado, 4 holes 3/8” deep, and rounded ends.

The finished pilot beam without some dowelling that has to wait until near the end of the project.

These were then cut out the same way as the originals and glued to the cab.

Next I drilled a 1/4” hole through the centre of the re-made 1” cylinders and a 1/8” hole in 2 of the end caps as shown on the plan.

These were glued together. I’ll finish drilling the 1/8” hole once the glue has set.

I did the layout, drilling and cut the cylinder mount to size.

Drilled, cut to length and sanded.

I now need two 1 1/4” long pieces of 1” dowel. I cut the dowel and wasn’t happy with the colour. It was cheap dowel from the lumber yard. I checked again hoping I would have a piece of maple; not! I have a piece of 7/8” maple but decided I couldn’t get away with it. I guess I could turn a piece of maple. Wait! If I’m going to turn it, why not black walnut? In part 2 of this blog I mentioned a flub while turning one of the pieces. I took the over sized piece and chucked it up.

The picture has lightened the 2 pieces in the middle that are the cheap dowel.
And the finished black walnut pieces.

There was a lot of head scratching getting to this point and the day is gone.

I stuck the roof to the scrap piece that was prepared earlier using double sided tape. I want the end of the piece to sit on the top of my spindle sander at 45° and started sanding to the profile needed paying attention to layout lines as close as possible.

Once both ends were finished to my satisfaction I started the top curve on the belt sander; again watching my layout lines.

When the top was profiled I sanded it smooth starting with a palm sander then by hand. I then glued the top on to the rest of the cabin.

The little bits of glue showing will be sanded off quite easily. I then photocopied the side trim pieces and glued them to some 1/8” maple stock.