The "blinders" are called smoke deflectors. The purpose was to make the smoke rise instead of covering the engine cab. They were used on American roads as well. Two I can think of off hand were the Union Pacific and the New York Central.
I just looked at the George Klass Remembers site and it's great. Hundreds of pictures on there and he includes a summary description of the classes. Thanks for mentioning it.
I used to build 1/72 aircraft a long time ago. Your Zero looks real good. Are the panel lines raised or incised? I don't remember how the Airfix kits came.