SHM 26

Detailing - The rear door


The rear of the cab has a sliding door which is at best only indicated in the etch of the model. As this sliding door is pretty much iconic for the rear, I went to work.
	The upper sliding rail is protected from the weather by a length of sheet metal that was formed with a double bend
	I cut a small strip of brass of 0.2 mm brass sheet. Length and width where guesstimated from photos
	With two wood clamps I positioned the strip of brass sheet between the ruler and a piece of aluminium so that it would sit absolutely parallel. No easy task as you need six hands.
	With a piece of steel rod I rolled the protruding end of the strip
	Well, this looked like a good result. With some bending I got it straight.
	I clamped it with two self-closing tweezers. On the corners I inserted two small scrap pieces of brass. I soldered the strip thereby avoiding soldering the scrap pieces as well.

	Next I cut and filed a new door from 0.3 mm brass sheet. The window was left slightly undersize.
	After soldering I filed the window to match the original window.
I depicted the door in closed position. Had I modeled it open, which admittedly would have been much nicer, I would have been forced to cut out the original door. This would have been difficult as I had already assembled the cab and I refused to take it apart. Secondly in an open postion it would have forced me into modelling the boiler backhead. The kit however does not contain a single part to that end, so I would have been forced to make it all myself. There are limits...