Tender locker front details: Doors and Scuttle

There is a lot of detail on this model, much is covered in Don's drawings but there is also what I'd call 'super detail' which I have added. It's not possible to cover all of this in one section and thus this is just the first that will eventually cover the very detailed area around the front coal wall.

I'll begin with the counter bracket and it's flap, the flap hinges up and is held open by a lock pin, this will be seen later. The picture shows the flap in it's 'down' position.

Also of note is the steel plate just to the left as looked at of the flap, this is the base plate for the handbrake bearing housing, another part which will be covered later.

The coal chute is made from steel sheet, the ends are folded to match the prototype, the two supports are designed to slip into their brackets which are mounted to the front of the locker panel just below the scuttle.

You can see the coal scuttle support brackets fitted in this picture, they are held temporary in place with hex heads, these were later be changed to round heads as per prototype. other points to note are the brass right angled sections around the top of the locker shelf.

I then made a start on the wooden floor, here you can see the frame already assembled. these planks were cut from a solid oak kitchen worktop. This platform has been designed so that it can be easily removed.

I then cut some of the oak into planks and covered the platform. I need to point out here that i later changed these, when I first made this platform I was using NRM photo's for reference, this was before Riley and Son's took over the restoration of 4472/60103. The photo's that I had showed the tender while at York with the planks running side to side, this of course is wrong but i wasn't aware of it at the time, other than it didn't look right. So today she has the planks running fore to aft as they should be

Now for the two doors, this is the lower coal door, both this and it's bigger brother are rather nice looking little things which add greatly to the authentic look of the tender. they are both fully functional too, as will everything on this model be. It was certainly a fun thing to assemble, a bit like a Chinese puzzle.

And here we have the top coal door, still needs a clean up in this picture but otherwise it's ready to be fitted to the body. Next I needed to do the hinge blocks for both top and lower doors.
I have to say there's a lot of work involved in making these doors, must have been very costly to make the originals. Two slots still need to be machined in this picture.

I then made the latches for the lower door and the Gusset counter flap which both work nicely. The upper door latch at this stage had to wait until i could find a good image of it.

So it's beginning to look like a Gresley 8 wheeled tender but the fun had only just begun, lots more work to go from here.

This picture was taken after a general clean up removing any flux residue and fitting the lower door latch/clasp, all functioning as per the prototype. Well these things seem to vary a little but it's close to one of the designs. You can also get a better idea of the flap clasp from this angle.