When detailing the interior of a steam loco’s cab, how do you handle the “break” where the pipes and such pass through the front of the cab?
Ray it depends, what are you modeling?
For some control lines I usually just redirect them down the sides of the boilers at the cab wall or if it goes thru I dead-end it leaving a gap or if it doesnt bug you you can notch the cab wall and run the pipe thru that way, if you do so its best to hug the pipe against the boiler where it passes thru to minimize the notch.
I use a piece of the front wall that stays connected to the boiler all the time and run the pipes through it…you can sorta see it above the backhead in this picture…I’ve seen the real ones done like this too…so its prototypical…
Thanks guys. What about cords for the bell and whistle?
Ray Dunakin said:Thats a lot trickier, I have seen wires used for the cords, they just poke thru the hole on the outside of the cab, but they are very fragile and prone to frequent bending.
Thanks guys. What about cords for the bell and whistle?
Ray,
for bell and whistle ‘wires’, I strip the insulation from fine gauge dual core speaker wire. I then select a couple of strands of wire and place the ends of the wire into an electric drill chuck. The other end of the wires is held in a pair of pliers. It only takes a second or so of operation of the electric drill to twist the wires to my satisfaction. the twisted strand is then cut to length and shaped, attached to the bell or whistle and simply poked through a hole in the front wall of the cab. If needed the wire may be painted to represent rope.