Really great stuff: just as we have come to expect from you.
Thank you, you're too kind
Anyway, onward, I should really be on the valve gear but didn't get to a decent closure point on the brake gear so pushed on a bit more.
The lower runs are all complete, everything fits and needs a bit of a clean up and tweak to square things up a bit.
I've left the front drivers off to expose the front brake shaft, trunnions and slack adjusters. The trunnion bearing plates are just sacrificial etches to place the brake shaft in the right position and to check alignments of the pull rods and linkages. They will be replaced by more detailed castings in due course. There is another brake shaft at the rear end near the cruciform stay, again a sacrificial test etch will be dropped in so that the upper layer of pull rods can all be set up.
The brake shaft is 3.0mm tapered to 2.3mm at the outer edges to fit the trunnion bearings, slack adjusters are simply some micro bore tube with 14BA nuts fitted...badly in the case of the lower one, it'll do for the show but it'll come off afterward and a new one made.
The slack adjusters look a little over sized for the pull rods, in reality it's the pull rods that are too small a diameter at 0.8mm, simply put, for speed and time on the test build to check the linkages etc; I've opted for a rod that fits into the gap between the clevis forks, eg 0.8mm, easier to drill and stick the wire in. The full blown rods need to be 1.0mm but the hole has to remain at 0.8mm, so each end of the rod needs turning down to fit inside the holes.
The whole assembly is easier seen outside the engine, at the moment the slack adjusters are only fixed to the front pull rods, the rear end free to slide in and out of the tube. The exact length will only be determined when the brake cylinder is in place and brake shoes fitted, only then will all the linkages be set in stone and measurements taken for production.
The ends of the brake beams need beefing up with a bush on the inside, leaving just a small spigot to pass through the brake hangers.
Enjoy.
MD