HARDWOOD LOCOMOTIVE DOMES FOR ALL SCALES
Manufacturer: Pat's Hobby Shop, R.R. #3, Chatham, Ontario, Canada N7M 5J7. Price: Tall or short steam dome, $6.75 Canadian each.
WHO SAYS METAL is always the best material for locomotive fittings? Plastic and urethane have proven themselves superior in some situations. So why not wood? It is easy to work and produces very good turnings. If you sand, seal, prime, and paint it, it can look exactly the same as painted metal.
The owner of Pat's Hobby Shop, Pat Rivard, already knows that. So, when his customers wanted variety in the domes available for detailing locomotives, he produced a couple from hard maple. Technically, each is a steam dome. But, because the domes are wood, it would be easy to cut the platform off the smaller one, round off the top, and use it for a sand dome.
A lathe had cut a ring around the center of the smaller dome. The grain through part of the dome was a little rough and it dulled the ring's otherwise crisp edge. Wood filler or even putty for plastic models could cure that; just apply it to the rough spot, sand it when it dries, and carefully run a sharp knife or razor blade around the edge of the ring.
Another nice aspect of working with wood: If your locomotive's boiler is larger in diameter than the curve in the base of the dome, put a piece of sandpaper on the boiler. Then rub the base of the dome over the sandpaper until the two mate. Try that with metal.
The tall dome is 1 1/2 inches tall, measuring from the highest point on the arch in the base. Its diameter is 15/16-inch through the upper part and 1 1/4 inches across the base. The height of the smaller dome is 1 1/8 inches. Its diameters are the same as the tall dome. The domes should be suitable for any scale from 1:32 to 1:20.3, depending on the size of the locomotive you are modeling.
The quality of the wood and the machining is good. Pat's products provide unique additions to the assortment of locomotive detailing parts.--RR
