Another report from Richard P on his industrious modelling activities.
As posted previously I’m working through my partly finished models and repairing casualties. The next on the workbench was the 2NOL southern electric unit, the driver and passengers were complaining of draughts and cold feet. Examination revealed a gap between the top of the sole bar and the body on the front end left side.
No obvious reason for this, all fixings tight, so I presume got a bash from careless handling.
Separated the frames from the body and realigned some distortion in the body. The floor is code 4 lead (4 lbs per sq foot – info for you youngsters) great for keeping the wheels on the rails, but perhaps contributed to the distortion on impact. I took the opportunity to remove the roof and re-fix one of the passengers.
The roof is secured by three bolts soldered to plates that are loosely retained by slots in the roof strengthening ribs. In the photo you can see one of the bolts, the centre one, is missing having become detached from the plate. The looseness of the slot allows the three bolts to be aligned with the holes in the floor making assembly much easier. The bolts are clamped to the underside of the floor by nuts and lock-nutted with my friend blue tac.
Reassembled body to frame, and yes it’s better, not perfect but it will do.
Ashamed of the appearance of the bottom of the floor, the lead got a bit hacked about when I tried to lighten it so it would get up the steep gradient of Walworth Road without taking a run at it.