DalaGStanator's Customs, Mods and Experiments

Rocket itself is now essentially done except for the coupling rods and cylinders, which I don't know how I'll install because the driving wheels are thicker than the real one and its replicas'. I won't add the support rods (ropes?) to the funnel until I could get a good design for the cylinders. My current plan is to use the 3D pen rods I traced from the TOMY/TrackMaster design, because the length happens to be correct. To make the spokes for the rear wheels, I initially cut up some toothpicks but found they were slightly too thick, so I used them for the funnel crown instead. I ended up going with small shards of [/url], which seemed to work better for me. Sadly, they got ruined on the other side when I pushed the wheel back onto the axle after painting and I didn't bother to fix them. Even though there are meant to be twelve spokes, I found having just eight (like on the original in its final state) was easier and less cluttered. After the photo was taken, I also made the tender frames out of long matchsticks and will try building the rest tomorrow. Despite the friction motor not working how I expected anymore (and the rear wheels getting stuck), I'm very pleased with the outcome and think it's definitely worth the extra effort.