OVER THE LAST YEAR or so there has been a debate between the detailed kit and the Bassett-Lowke /ACE Trains camps. I am not going into the whys and wherefores here, but my two pennyworth is that if enjoyment is to be had by an individual with a certain model regardless of price or detail, then surely that is what our wonderful hobby is all about? What follows is my compromise between these two camps. The ETS model of the Adams Radial tank is the subject of this article. I have other models powered by ETS mechanisms and know they are reliable and smooth runners. I must add here that I run on two rail 12V DC finescale. The model is a superb coarse scale starting point and I admit it will never be an 'all singing and dancing' model, but it fits in with the rest of my models. The aim was to add extra details for minimal cost and also to achieve running to near finescale standards.

The original loco before any modifications were made

With regard to running, the back-to-back wheel measurement was opened up from 27mm to 29mm by gently easing out the wheels as they are only pressure fitted to the axles. To permanently fix in place, a drop of superglue was added to the wheel centre. By opening out the check rails on the PECO points, the loco passes through smoothly, although as the flange width is broader than normal finescale, there is difficulty negotiating some of my hand built points. To reduce the flange width was a job too far at present but maybe one for the future. The coupling rods and slide bars were chemically blackened, taking away their shiny clean look.

The main visual alteration was the replacement of the Bassett-Lowke style couplings, which simply unscrew, and replacing them with the Dingham autocoupler.

Coupling rods, con rods and slide bars chemically blackened

These were attached and secured using two-part epoxy resin. The slot left by the original coupling on either side was filled, smoothed and painted. As these apertures were quite wide to accommodate the horizontal swing of the Basset-Lowke coupling the vacuum hoses are offset to one side so not in the correct prototypical positions but Ican live with that. At least they are there.

Brake gear added between the driving wheels

Looking into the cab, daylight can be seen above the rear drivers so internal splashes were formed of card, painted and fixed in place with Evo-Stick. Backhead details were also picked out at this time. The model has most of its lamp irons fitted, apart from those on the smokebox, which were fashioned from plastic card. So to the brakes. Spacers with 0.5mm wire protruding were glued onto the chassis in the relevant positions, with brake blocks added to the ends. Brake hangers were then glued behind these blocks with a length of 0.5mm wire passing under the loco to its opposite partner representing the brake pull rodding. The distinctive hexagonal brake rod bracket, made from plastic card, was glued onto the chassis between the driving wheels and a coat of rust/grime paint was applied to the added components.

The final details added were a loco crew and numbers from HMRS on the front buffer beam and the rear bunker, the rest of the loco being left in its bought state. The skate to enable the loco to run on three-rail, although not used in my case, also had its edges chemically blackened.

So there we have it. A good-looking model in my opinion, at a reasonable price with added details for minimal cost and comparable with others in my fleet. No doubt there will be consternation in some quarters to this project, so maybe it's a case of ‘horses for courses’?

The detailed Radial on my layout heading for Axminster