Brian Madge Alice class Hunslet part 8 - handrails and couplings.

I wanted nice discreet Bemo style couplings for this model, large couplers would look wrong and spoil the lines of the loco. Mark fitted Greenwich etched couplers to his, which suit this size of loco well, but I wanted something even smaller especially as I intend fitting wooden side buffers as well.
I chose RT Models etched couplings, without loops, soldered to the bufferbeams by bending the tail of the coupling through 90 degrees to give a large surface area for the joint;

 Another thing that I wanted was fine handrails and stanchions (knobs), so I'm using Markits 'N' gauge stanchions and .33mm wire. These are straight rather than shaped but I feel that standard 4mm scale stanchions can look overlarge on such a small locomotive.
Before the boiler is fitted to the frames I decided to mark out and drill out the holes. The first job was to measure the height of the stanchions, where they seat on the saddletank, using the drawing from the Cliff Thomas book. Then the measurement could be transferred to the model using a scribing block;

The casting is sat on a parallel block for convenience.
Then the hole positions could be added, a scale 3" from the tank ends, and the holes drilled .4mm. To make sure that all of the stanchions sit at the same angle on the tank edge I sat the casting in a V block and used a pin vice held upright to drill 4 holes at 45 degrees;

Velinheli's handrail continues around the chimney, so a length of .33mm wire was bent to suit, threaded through the stanchions, and the whole assembly taped in place, using plasticard offcuts to space the handrail away from the boiler, like so;

Then I used a tiny amount of solder paint and a light touch with the iron to solder the wire into the stanchions (but not the stanchions into the casting!). After trimming the excess wire away from the firebox end the handrail can be sprung out and put away until after the model is painted.

Here's the boiler sat on the footplate, handrail in place;

Note that the rivet detail has been removed from the boiler sides, the rivet pattern on Velinheli differs from the casting and will be added after priming using Archers transfers.

Obviously I've used a few tools here that won't be in many modellers toolbox, the only reason that I own V blocks, parallels etc. is because I once worked in machine shops. Please remember that this blog is about how I do things, not about how you should work!

Paul