In Cliff’s defense, if you scroll down in Steve’s link, at leasy one of them is called a heat sink insert. Personally, I use Rivnuts, but they aren’t as pretty.
Well, obviously I never heard of anything like this (although I have used Rivnuts) - but it makes a LOT of sense. Neat how they come in metric sizes as well and that you can also get specialty tips for your iron. Pretty impressive and a great idea.
The stack went thru final fitting up with its threaded insert & sanding. Then came adding weight, which this thing really needs ever since taking out the hunk of LGB lead (which was in the over-the-boiler tank that got removed).
Basically I epoxied in fish weights and BB’s where I could, as far forward as possible. The longer tender-tank added weight in the rear.
Here’s the stack with its screen & cap.
More filling and some flat black paint is called for on those weight balls.
Next is fitting in all the LGB parts and getting this thing test-running. And testing the smoke unit on a spare 3DP stack (yes, I’ve messed up several), to see if I can get some 2nd hand toxic off-gassing of some sort.
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Thanks Jon!
For larger joints I use rivnuts also. And for joints that need some give, well nuts are great.
Looks like the LGB smoke unit for this Porter is 5v, and stays reasonably cool. So no hobby-related ER drama today. 
[A half hour later…]
Dang, I broke the smoke unit. Oh well, it’s gonna be Smokeless Joe.
The headlight went better, with the 3 LGB parts fitting quite well with only minor sanding. I was surprised.
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That is really coming together nicely. Very cool one of a kind loco.
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Thanks Devon, glad you like it so far.
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Dress rehearsal.
Needed to make sure I could get it back together properly, and that it would still run. And amazingly enough, it does.
A number of detail parts are TBD (like a fixture to mount the cab lamp, which is just hanging there), and misc. tweaking of fits.
But I think the next main phase will be painting. Which I’m pretty crappy at. But at least it’s almost all satin black, with a cab-green cab interior. And red pilot.
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On second thought, it isn’t that sea mist green that’s often used, but more like leaf or forest green.
Is that a stove on the backhead? Or maybe just a place to keep an oil can (or coffee mug) warm?
yep whatever you want to sit there and I understand it will provide a bit of heat.
Looking great Cliff
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Such a cool little loco. Nice job! When do you start making mine?
In my case, I need room for batteries and electronics. Santa. I’ve been a good boy all year, I promise.
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Will you tear it apart and put it back together properly again?
NOT the same loco only showing standard colors to play with back in the day in the hood.
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Excellent work as always Cliff but I believe you know I have a fetish for off color posts so I thought I would share the above as a comparison.
Cliff,
In the off chance you don’t like your results, we’re happy to accept this and hide it on your behalf! Beautiful work to date!
Eric
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Very well done, Cliff. Can’t wait to see it with the final paint job.
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Beautiful work. Just masterful!
That resin sure produces a nice finish.
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Cliff,
For that cab interior you might take a look at Rust-Oleums Leafy Green spray
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I almost read that you were tweaking WITH fits. That can come with the frustration of “tweaking of fits” that are not fitting.
As for painting. I have become very fond of using chalkboard paint. It has some tooth and takes to weathering very well and has a great matte black finish. If you want it to be a bit more satin then a light coat of gloss clear could bring in a little shine. Do that after any weathering and it will seal the weather medium (say chalks) as well as add back a bit of shine.
That little shelf is there for oil cans. hence the little ridges to keep them from sliding off. Before the days of hydrostatic oilers that use steam pressure to drive oil out to all points needing oil, the one of the jobs was to stop the train every so often, grab the can, and run around and oil things. Even after the days of hydrostatic oilers some things still need to be oiled that were not stationary such as the bearing surfaces on the side rods and could not have oil lines run to them. Since the places this oil was used reached some pretty intense heat, think steam chests, it had to be a pretty thick oil so it wouldn’t thin out to much and burn up under heat. So in a cold state is was very thick and wouldn’t flow. So they put that little shelf on the back of the backhead to set the oil cans and it would preheat the oil and allow it to flow. And if you notice your little loco has no hydrostatic oilers.
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Since you are a detail orientated guy I also noticed another peculiar thing on the back head. For one there is no sight glass that I can see for checking the water level in the boiler. Now that in itself is not uncommon on an early locomotive. They also used tri-cocks and drip funnels. And even in the days of sight glasses the tri-cock was still used. You set each valve so it had a steady drip which dripped into the funnel and out the bottom of the cab. When a sight glass is used the three valves line up with full, half, and oh crap!!! Absent of the sight glass it is still doing the same thing, if the top one is dripping then the boiler is full. If the middle one is not dripping then its time to add some water. If the bottom one stops dripping then a boiler explosion is imminent.
Your loco not only does not have a sight glass that I can se but it does not have a tri-cock but a bi-cock(?). So its either what, full or empty, or is it set to full and needs water? I hope the latter and not the former or that could be a bit scary. But since you are a details guy don’t use a tri-cock.
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Devon do you have a try-cock on that whole . 
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No its more like a pressure pop off valve on the top of my steam dome. . .or my spinal juice dome. I tried to get them to install a tri-cock and a manually operated drain valve but that was a no go.