I've found the easiest thing to do is to just lag the boiler. Solder or
screw everything to the lagging, then slip that over the boiler. You
don't have to endanger anything on the locomotive, and you get a lagged
boiler, which improves the looks dramatically, also. The trick is
rolling the lagging. If you have a slip roller, then it's pretty easy.
Otherwise, its time to use some yankee ingenuity. I had built a slip
roller at one point in time, but it was very poor construction, and I
was able to roll one semi-boiler jacket with it. (It was for a pot
boiler, and only covered the top of the boiler.) Needless to say, I'm
open to suggestions, myself. My current thinking is to saw a small slit
onto a piece of dowel, and bend a flange along the edge of the .015"
sheet. If I insert this flange in the slot, it would hold the sheet in
place while I rolled it around the dowel. I haven't tried this yet, but
that's what this weekend's for. (Okay, that and football.)
All this to say, the easiest way to avoid melting your boiler is to make
it so you never have to get heat anywhere near it. Personally, I hate
soldering. It's a black art. (As evidenced by the number of things I've
turned black.) Give me a _sharp_ drill and a box of 0-80 screws. (and
any other metal than the Ruby's boiler)
Later,
K
