Major milestone today - the pilot assembly is now back attached to the frame. I cut off the original pilot below the beam, attached a new one, added some other details, and re-engineered it so it's both lower and shorter (from the cylinders). Those are the classic compromises for 3-rail operation, and it the engine will no longer work on O42 as advertised, but it does fine on my O64 and looks like it could do a little tighter. Here you can see how I attached things (JB Weld, what else):
Next I put the saddle in place, which was also lowered and a new collar installed to make up the difference on top:
A test to see how it all fits together. The changes make the look of the cylinder/pilot area a lot less toylike, and to my delight (and a bit of surprise) it all worked well on a test run.
Now things will go easily - it's all cosmetic. A pile of detail parts on my layout will gradually be attached to the locomotive.
