Here is the finished "rough draft." I ordered a test print on Monday, if all goes well it will be available early next month. I received the test print of the tender last month, it turned out very nicely - and is already available on Shapeways for your other Pennsy steam projects!
The left side of boiler still has that conical area where it meets the Belpaire firebox. From the photos I have seen this area of the firebox is not perpendicular but rather appears to bulge out in the area by the handrail. There is no taper to the bulge and it continues from the front of the firebox back to the cab. From the drawings it is hard to tell if this conical taper is present on the right side but probably is. Here is a photo of the right side that illustrates what I am talking about: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr-s313ajt.jpg Here is one pof the left side: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr-s3500.jpg Can you see how the firebox sides are not completely perpendicular but rather bulge out to meet the diameter of the boiler then continue that width straight down below the walkway?
When will the pilots be available for purchase? I'm about to order the tender - looks like it would only require adding the coal boards to convert it to a Lines West tender. Hmm... I wonder if the Bachmann 2-10-0 mechanism would be a good foundation for an I1s? (shameless hint...)
I feel pretty comfortable that the pilots won't need much work, although I'm curious to see if those flimsy little steps up to the running boards will come out AND survive shipping! I know everything else will line up in terms of mounting it on the Bachmann frame because I used the same drawing as my WM H9 pilot for a starting point. I could make them available today (I could even make a tender a pilot file to save you $5) but I can't garuntee them until I receive my test print. The whole reason I started this shapeways endeavor was because I wanted a WM I-2 2-10-0. My plan is to stretch a Bachman 2-8-0 (because the cylinders and drivers are pretty close) and put a 3-D printed shell on top! If I remember correctly, the Pennsy and WM decapods had similar deminsions regarding cylinders, wheel diameter, and wheel base length. Maybe this approach would work for the Pennsy units too.
