Background
The build for Martin Evans' Royal Scot was serialised in the Model Engineer magazine starting in October 1974 running for 16 articles through to September 1975.
As I'm not really a steam buff, my selection method was quite simple - that being to browse through the Reeves Catalogue until something caught my eye. That something being the rather small outline diagram of the Royal Engineer, one of the Royal Scot class. So, a full set of drawings were purchased by my wife for my birthday, soon followed by a copy of the articles supplied by the Model Engineer magazine and off I started.
With 20+ years since I had used any form of metal working machine tool, I had some catching up to do. The first few years of the build were restricted to working mainly through the winter months and interspersed with other distractions - such that by about 2007 I had only managed to machine and assemble the various parts of the frames, but as least I had a chassis. At this point, I decided to take a slightly different direction and went on to start and significantly complete the front bogie. Although, effectively a mini chassis set up there were a few interesting features to keep me busy and interested, such as the wheels, axles and suspension.
Sadly, up until this point I had not kept any records of my work. However, in March of 2008, I started keeping a log book (now books), noting my progress and to capture the various scribbles and sketches as I progressed. Also, as I work in metric, I have been converting from the Imperial drawings as I go along. Often, this does mean a degree of rounding up or down to bring the dimensions to something more practical - my log books being where I record these differences.
At this time, I also started posting pictures of my progress to my Fotopic site. Fotopic appears to have folded in March 2011, which in turn inspired me to start this website.
Since then I have spent the best part of two years working away from home, firstly in Australia (Sydney) and then in Dublin. Clearly with the former, I was away for the duration which meant no progress on my model. For the year in Dublin , I commuted on a weekly basis so did get some time in the workshop. I am now back at home in the UK full time, so I am able to spend some serious time in the workshop.
For help, I find the forums on the Model Engineering Clearing House fantastic, both for advice when I run into problems (often!) and for inspiration when I see the great work being done by other model engineers out there. I also joined my local Model Engineering Club in 2010, the Reading Society of Model Engineers.
Do please browse and enjoy my pages - if you have any comments, questions or just want to strike up a conversation, I can be contacted on my email (Mark_F_Smith@Hotmail.com).
