Seek and you will find....... maybe

Creating a convincing looking model requires good references, lots of detail pictures and hopefully some good drawings.

A not so quick trawl through the net found a few sketches and the core dimensions plus a large selection of images, mostly of the UP heritage fleet's 3985.

Although some very good shots were available they were mostly general views and not close ups of the very many detail fittings that seem to adorn every inch of the beast.

Now if this was a still extanct UK prototype it would be a matter of grabbing the camera and shooting a thousand or so digipics, however only two Challengers (plus a tender) left in the world and they were four and a half thousand miles away.

Plan B --- Books

There are some absolutely amazing books available in the UK , I strongly recomend checking out such titles as the NRM produced series on LMS locomotives by Hunt, Jennison,James, and Essery....... fantastic resources packed full of detailed engineering drawings, exactly the kind of stuff I need.

In fact give me a couple of million or so and I reckon I could make a real one from these kind of details.

Back to the web search for books one title stood out...The Challenger Locomotives by Wm.Kratville.

Not available in the UK no secondhand copies floating around so its gonna be an expensive order to be shipped from the USA.

The weeks dragged on and on but can't sit idle, from the basic information I had ---wheelbase driver size etc, and some good square on shots I made a start with the motion, thinking that it can be tweaked and rescaled later in the day, Also roughing out the loco it gave an appreciation of how many small details would need to be added if this model was to finish up with the "Busy" externals of the prototype.

April turned to May and eventually the "Challenger Bible" landed through my door.

mmmm nice book not as thick as anticipated, no nitty gritty detail drawings.

All good information and important but still need to find out just how is the exhaust piped from the front cylinders to the smokebox ? and many other details.

Now where did they hide those remaining Challenger's -