The AndIan Turret Tender - Now in Service

My AndIan Turret Tender has now entered service behind a freshly painted and renumbered 50 class.

My earlier post on the tender (http://philipscreek.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/the-andian-5000-gallon-turret-tender.html) showed the model when most of the basic construction had been completed. A more detailed construction sequence is being posted by Peter Hearsum at http://burrowa.wordpress.com/ as he undertakes a similar project.

Thanks also to AndIan Models for providing some spare ladder sides that allowed me to have a second attempt at the ladder.


Painting was fairly straight forward. Because the locomotive was a metal DJH kit, I was able to strip the existing paint using an acetone based nail polish remover. For plastic kits, I have found the non acetone products work well with less risk of damage to the plastic. It took a few attempts but most of the the surface was back to bare metal. The locomotive and tender were both sprayed with a Floquil weathered black and then a light coat of  Humbrol rust wash. Most of the weathering was completed with an airbrush but some rust powder was used in a few additional places.

All of the tender wheels were fitted with phosphor bronze wipers and a permanent electrical connection has been made to the locomotive. I had intended to fit additional pickups to the locomotive but the chassis configuration seemed to make this difficult with the materials I had to hand. A project for another day!

As an aside, I found it necessary to fit a long shank coupler to prevent buffer lock on some of my tighter curves.



Now, what to do with the old tender? In the short term, I'll probably de-coal it and leave it on a siding. However, if in the long term, I manage to purchase a C30T, it may again be pressed into service.