Back in early December on the Radstock Sentinel thread, I had mentioned that I ordered one of the new CSP kits. However, Roger Slade told me that he had sold over forty kits in the first couple of weeks, so I had to wait until new etchings, castings, etc. had been made. Last Tuesday it arrived so, after a quick look in the box, I settled down to read the instructions. The instructions appear to descibe every stage of the build and are accompanied by many expoded isometric drawings and other diagrams, photographs of the model and of the prototypes. On first read, I found one diagram with missing part numbers, but a quick email to Roger soon sorted that out with a pdf copy of the original by return.
Despite having many other projects on my workbench, somehow I just could resist making a start on the kit. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos at the start, so the photos below of the brass and nickel silver etches and the castings show their state on Saturday morning.
In addition to the above, the kit includes assorted wire, hand rail knobs, screws, etc. and another bag contains a Mashima 1020 motor, a High Level RoadRunner gearbox, shaft material, bushes and a collection of spur gears. All of this is in a good quality card box.
First, I made a start on the chassis. I had decided to order the kit with chassis even though I intend to run it on a P4 layout and the chassis is really only designed for 00 or EM. Given how well my Model Rail/Dapol Sentinel runs on a rigid 4WD chassis, I decided to take the risk of trying something similar with this kit. If that plan doesnt come off, then I'll just have to put some form of sprung motor bogie underneath it. Note the wheels are just ones that were to hand. They will need replacing with a plainer disc form later.
To build the chassis for P4, I decided to use the supplied EM spacers and reverse almost all of the instructions about which way round the bushes should go and whether or not they should be filed down. The next photo should help to explain this.
The bushes in the gearbox were prepared as per High Level instructions with the flange on the inside and the outside filed down flush. The final shaft of the gearbox extends through the frames to drive the outside spur gears. Here, I fitted the bushes with their flanges to the outside and filed down the inner ends to take the gearbox, with about 0.5mm sideplay. All other bushes on the gear side of the frames were fitted with their flanges to the outside and, contrary to the instructions for 00/EM, the larger boss of the spur gears was not removed and was placed towards the frames. This ensures that the gears and their shafts will be kept in place by the wheels, as originally intended in the design. Note the spacing washers behind the small spur gear need reducing to improve alignment and a piece of tubing needs to be added at the opposite end of this shaft to prevent it coming out. The axle bushes on the non-gear side of the frames were reversed, with their flanges inside the frame. Fortuitously, this arrangement gives an equal extension of the wheels beyond the frames on both sides and minimal sideplay.
Next, the running plate, valances, cab floor and outer frames were built up. Getting the right shape for the curved section leading down from the higher running plate to the cab entrances is quite critical. For the first side, I followed the instructions and added this section after attaching the valances to the running plate. For the other side, I attached both the valance and the outer framebefore the curved section was added. This made it easier to ensure that the curve was correct before adding this short section.
Much of yesterday was spent embossing rivet detail on the cab and adding the 'coal hole' doors, beading, handrails etc. There were also a few details added inside the cab: coupling cover, buffer beam braces, and handbrake column. In the next couple of photos the cab is only loosely tacked in place to check that fits correctly, and the inside coal bunker and cab front are merely resting in place.
Well, that's the easy looking bits done. Still to come the curvy front bonnet over the tanks and cylinders, the incredibly detailed model of the boiler, and much more...
Nick
- 9
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