Piece by piece the train is coming together. Today I knocked the edges off of the steam cylinders and fit the bottoms to the pipe that would go through the fittings. Then I set the large piece in place to check the fit. It looks pretty cool! Now I can add the details to the cylinders before the painting of this part begins.

With the bulk of the pieces now in place the little Shay locomotive is looking a lot more like the concept drawing.

This coming week we'll add the guages, steam dome top, the bell and the large smokestack along with a few other bits and pieces. Then it will be time to move onto the log car. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan