An old Highway Miniatures Marion Steam Shovel kit tackled.

I started work on this model some years ago and put it back in the bin as it was too daunting. Absolute scale parts, few mounting guides and construction instructions written by someone who never finished the kit were enough to put me off.

I took it out the other day and determined to either build it or assemble some useful detail engineering parts.  The moulding work was classy but delicate, tiny and flimsy.

I persisted with the build, painting sub assemblies as I went and fixing tiny broken parts too. Here are some pictures of the process.

An old time piccy.

Crank's safety update

Named for a model making friend in Canada (alias Mr Eccentric Crank) another Trainlife denizen who is of an engineering bent, he quickly picked up on the lack of pressure relief valves on my tank farm.  So one upturned HO scale oilcan and a tiny piece cut from a brake part from an old Airfix Rocket kit later we comply with safety regs!

Petrol driven pumping gear shack installed

Oilcan safety valve

Airfix safety valve