
Anyway, the first job to consider was fitting my standard Accucraft chopper couplings at 28mm above rail level: unfortunately Charles's buffer beams are too low to fit these easily. I may make up some adaptors at a later date to allow this to happen, but in the meantime I will use chain to connect to the hook provided on the Accucraft chopper coupler pockets on the rest of my stock. I painted the buffer heads and coupling hooks satin black to tone down their shiny metallic appearance.
I picked out the lettering on the Hunslet worksplates in acrylic matt black paint and polished up the brass faces of the plates. The cab back was removed; the inside face above waist height was painted cream (3 coats) and a lamp iron was fitted to the cab back by drilling two 2mm holes and attaching the lamp iron with 10BA hex head bolts.
I fitted a Roundhouse brake handle gas valve control in place of the original brass knob - the gas valve can now be adjusted without having to lift the cab roof. A piece of black Plastikard was glued to the inside of the right hand frame, over the switch fixing holes - the switch is only fitted to radio controlled locos.
A small but very noticeable improvement was to paint the brass roof hinge screw heads with black self etch primer.
Finally, the loco was given the number 9 and a set of Roundhouse number plates were attached to the cab sides with a dab of silicone - these can be easily removed if the loco is sold on.