Entry posted by Focalplane
2,398 views
Officially, summer is over. In the South of France the school holidays are over and most French holiday makers have gone back to work As is often the case in northwestern Europe, the following week can have excellent weather and our thermometer revealed 36ºC at 8 p.m. This is hardly perfect conditions to restart kit building, but I was ready to open a new box.
The kit is my first from Modern Outline Kits, a.k.a. David Sharp. The 14XX is a departure from my LMS focus at Legge Lane but it represents good memories of the Gobowen Rattler autotrain that shuttled back and forth from Oswestry. Typically, when I was using it, the autotrain consisted of 1458 plus two auto trailers. The locomotive was always at the Gobowen end of the train. No. 1458 is therefore the prototype and it will be painted in plain lined black as I think that was its general condition (to be checked one of the days when passing by the Cambrian Railway Centre at Oswestry. The coaches will be maroon.
The Collett designed replacement for the Wolverhampton designed 517 Class was in keeping with its ancestor, an 0-4-2T with a high steam dome that gave it it a period look at the time when Collett was improving (?) Churchward's designs at the high speed end of the locomotive stable.
It proved to be a very capable locomotive with good acceleration, a top speed said to be 70 mph, and excellent fuel economy. Much liked by railwaymen and travelers, four have been preserved.
The kit uses Dave Sharp's excellent CAD skills and consists of nickel silver etches (2) and bags of cast brass details. There is not one white metal casting in the box. Slaters' wheels and a Maxon motor/gearbox from ABC Gears are required to complete. These have been sourced while I am still debating on which sound decoder to use.
I have started the chassis first. This is fully compensated with rocking beams between the two driver axles and a lateral rocking axle box for the trailing axle. Full compensation should give good electrical pickup continuity. It will also mean that the locomotive could be used on not so even outdoor track.
Dave Sharp has pioneered a "tab and slot" method of joining etched components. This allows for a dry run to be made and then, after any adjustments, the assemblies (the design could be described as modular) are soldered up and the tabs filed smooth. I like this approach and will miss it when starting other non-MOK kits.
Here are the first photos:
The rocking trailing axle box. This is a small module that is bolted to the chassis
Rear step module, showing detailed instructions included in the kit
Two views of the basic chassis
Two views of a temporary dry run attaching wheels and motor.
2 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now