Murphy

Murphy's law says

If anything can go wrong it will at the worst possible moment

After all the construction work my loco body was at last ready for good scrub to get painted. Then Murphy struck. The model hooked in my pullover when I moved uncautiously over it, it toppled off the desk onto the floor. I spoke no word, honestly, just prevent me from saying the wrong things. I picked it up and inspected it.

It fell on the right rear corner. The cab was compressed, the right panel pressed outwards and the rear panel, less obvious on the photo, pressed inwards. Despite the strain the solder joint had not given way! Also visible is the sorry state of the buffer.

The strain caused by the cab moving forward cracked the epoxy glued seam between the smoke box and its saddle

Two more views on the rear right buffer

All in all the damage was limited. Nothing beyond repair. I took me a good two hours to restore everything to normal, but as always, things do not improve by such accidents. The best you can hope for is restore it without scars.