The Chief Engineer has started a new project, a Bagnall Wing Tank.

The body is by 2A-Rail and is designed to fit the Minitrains Stainz chassis. Removing the original body from the chassis is quite easy, unscrew the chimney stack and pull out the chassis. It’s a tight fit, I had to use a pair of pliers.

The body had been stored in my ‘To Do’ box for several months and it had become discoloured and yellow in places. Apparently, the 3D printing process uses a wax like support material and this could be the cause of the discolouration. The solution is quite easy, soak the item in white spirit for 24 hours, wash in soapy water and rinse well. As the body dries you can see it gradually change colour to a pure white. Much healthier.

The body fits easily onto the chassis and you can see it is going to be a nice looking loco.

There were a few things to do to make it a perfect fit.

• First, I removed a small amount from either side of the footplate to help the body slide over the contacts.
• I drilled a small hole so the body could be bolted to the chassis.
• Cut a slot in the footplate so that the wing tanks can be filled with lead. The 2A-Rail body is much lighter than the original. Packing the front of the loco and the boiler with lead increased the weight. As the motor is at the rear of the chassis, putting lead at the front of the loco helped balance the model.
• In the original, the vertical pieces of metal on the slide bars slot inside the body. Now, they prevent the Bagnall body sitting flat on the chassis. I bent them so they would sit underneath the new body. (They need to be bent a bit more that shown in the photo, it took a couple of attempts to get it right!)

Add some couplings… and she’s beginning to look good.