Duncan's 7mm Workbench - Connoisseur 4F Tender Cab

[Guest Isambarduk]

Great job, Fastdax. 

 

I fully approve of your spraying the buffer planks first and then masking them off for the remaining work (well, I would - it's what I always do!).  Red is such a feeble colour to over paint another colour and so often I see buffer planks that have had several coats of (gloss) red and the covering is still not even with paint migrating to the internal corners, such as around the rivet and bolt heads.

 

David

[Fastdax]

Great job, Fastdax. 

 

I fully approve of your spraying the buffer planks first and then masking them off for the remaining work (well, I would - it's what I always do!).  Red is such a feeble colour to over paint another colour and so often I see buffer planks that have had several coats of (gloss) red and the covering is still not even with paint migrating to the internal corners, such as around the rivet and bolt heads.

 

David

 

Thanks David. It's one of my pet hates to see thickly-daubed red on buffer beams, complete with brush strokes. Spraying gently over a light-coloured primer seems to be the best way to get that smooth finish.

 

Duncan

[Fastdax]

Here's the latest addition to Offerston Quay. It's a Lionheart Class B tank wagon.

 

 

I chucked some faded bauxite at my NE van, then got out the transfers for the van and for the ex-GWR 7-planker. The van transfers are in with the Parkside kit and HMRS Sheet No. 25 provided the open wagon's wording. The 7-plank running number is a bit of a guess since I didn't find any good reference photos but it's generally in line with the numbers suggested by the Cooper Craft instructions for this diag. O2 wagon. How it got so far into Midland territory, no-one knows.

 

 

 

The 7-planker needs the numbers toning down and the van needs its roof painting, then a good weathering session.

 

The tank wagon will get weathered (of course!) but for now it's just being very pretty in ex-works livery.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[Fastdax]

Jinty weathering.

 

I started weathering the chassis, with Martyn Welch's book in one hand and an old brush in the other.

 

The chassis frame exteriors and the wheels got a crusty mix of brown, black and bauxite acrylic. Some Polyfilla powder was daubed in, as per instructions, to achieve a textured effect on the frames.

 

 

The inside valve gear and behind the wheels got a brush-applied layer of Lifecolor Dirty Grease, as did the wheels to a lesser extent. This is a thin and shiny paint that simulates old oil to the point where it looks permanently wet.

 

The brake gear got a browner mix, although I'll use a more rusty mix later, probably using weathering powders.

 

 

The chassis reassembled, with its wiper contacts and wheels cleaned. The coupling rods will be greased up as part of the process, since these were rarely shiny.

 

 

Duncan

Edited December 30, 2023 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[Fastdax]

Jinty weathering.

 

With  away for the weekend, I made good progress toward finishing 47327.

 

First up was the Severn Mill set of smokebox number, 17A shed plate, maker's plates and water capacity plate. These all got a black background of Vallejo primer.

 

I made the raised lettering white by painting matt white acrylic onto a bit of card and then, quickly while the paint was still wet, pressing the painted card lightly onto the lettering. Repeat three or four times and I had a reasonable set of highlighted letters against the black background. After a bit of touching-in with a fine sable brush and a heavy coat of weathering, I hope they will look OK.

 

 

I wiped a few coats of Johnson's Klear (or Pledge Multi-Surface Wax as it's now called) onto the tank and bunker sides, to give a gloss surface for the transfers.

 

I applied the late BR logos and cabside numbers from Fox waterslide transfers, lining up the numbers on a strip of masking tape. Some Microsol helps them bed down onto the surface.

 

Once dry, a few passes with Humbrol matt acrylic varnish knocked the shine off.

 

 

The backhead was screwed in place and the cab interior given a wash of dirty cream / yellow.

 

 

 

The maker's plates and water capacity plates, fixed on with a tiny dot of impact adhesive. This is so that they could be changed in the future, if I get too bothered by the fact that the maker's plates are diamond-shaped, meaning "Queens Park Works" whereas they should really be round, for "Hyde Park Works" where 47327 was actually built. Given the other non-museum qualities of this loco, such as Dingham couplings, this doesn't bother me as much as a lack of any such plates would.

 

 

The interior was dirtied up with reference to a photo I have.

 

I've picked out a few brass items (window surrounds, whistle, safety valves and tank-front oilboxes) in Darkstar Brass acrylic paint. This is a bit metallic and garish when fresh but I hope it will tone down a lot, to give an impression of mucky brasswork.

 

 

The smokebox number and shedplate went on the front door.

 

 

This is probably the most "ex-works" that 47327 will get! The poor thing didn't even get a lap of honour on the layout before it met with the airbrush again and got its lived-in and down-at-heel look.

 

The first main coat of weathering is Lifecolor "Worn Black" with "Burned Black" on the smokebox as these got very hot and ended up a browner shade.

 

 

As you can see, a token attempt has been made by the crew to clean the buffer beams!

 

 

More weathering with "Dirty Black" and more "Burned Black". In all of this procedure, I'm following Tim Shackleton's words of wisdom in "Locomotive Weathering Projects", especially his finish of the Beyer-Garratt.

 

 

Some subtle streaking of the tanks and boiler sides in another "50 shades of grey" colour.

 

 

Finally, two handsome chaps to man the footplate! These are included in the Connoisseur kit. Many words have been spoken in this parish about their "characterful" faces.

 

 

I've yet to highlight some fittings and then garnish the Jinty with weathering powders, but we're getting there.

 

Duncan

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[Jintyman]

That's a great finish on the Jinty body, very subtley filthy and work stained without being over the top.

 

Excellent

 

Jinty

[Fastdax]

That's a great finish on the Jinty body, very subtley filthy and work stained without being over the top.

 

Excellent

 

Thanks Jinty! That's the effect I'm going for.

 

I can't take too much of the credit as I'm learning from one of the masters of the art, Tim Shackleton, via his books.

 

Duncan

[Fastdax]

Jinty has had a few highlights done with a dry brush, and her windows glazed with Micro Kristal Klear. I didn't do the rear windows as they are bleedin' tricky with the bars in the way. I plan to dump some coal up against the outsides of these windows anyway.

 

 

A bit of rusty weathering powder has been applied here and there, especially to the tank tops and brake gear.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[Fastdax]

Finishing the Jinty (for now).

 

I drilled into the feet of the footplate crew and glued in short lengths of 0.7mm brass rod. This will locate them in the cab floor.

 

 

The cab floor is a double layer of brass with the layers about 3mm apart. This means that the brass rod will hold the figures upright in a pair of 0.7mm holes drilled through the two thicknesses.

 

A tiny blob of impact adhesive on the crews' other foot stops them rotating round the rod.

 

 

One final touch is a real coal load in the bunker and a bit spilling out of the hatch onto the cab floor. This is from a bag of domestic coal, courtesy of my local Wickes. I'll keep some aside for wagon loads etc. and the rest can go on the fire!

 

I reduced the lumps to 7mm scale with a plastic bag and a 12"/foot lumphammer.

 

 

Some suitably-sized bits were piled onto a puddle of watery PVA glue, then more glue was dribbled over the mound.

 

 

The finishing touch is some well-rusted fire irons from Ixion's steam loco set. For once I could let rip with the yellow-orange weathering powders.

 

So here's Jinty, ready for duty!

 

 

 

Now I must get on with Offerston Quay ...

 

Duncan

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[N15class]

Now I know where the crew for my G6 come from. I had not known there manifacture.

[Fastdax]

JLTRT Midland 1-Plank Wagon.

 

OK, I got sidetracked by another wagon!

 

This is the JLTRT Midland 1-plank open wagon. It's 14'-7" wheelbase and 23'-6" over the buffers. The instructions call it a Diag. 336 and some places call it  a "long low" wagon. It was used for transporting machinery and vehicles. Whether any made it to the early 60's is a bit debatable, but they certainly carried BR numbers.

 

My main reference for this wagon is Bob Essery's "Midland Wagons", volume one, pages 103 - 105.

 

Here, I've started it by supergluing the W-irons to the one-piece resin body/chassis moulding. The axleboxes are separate castings which slide into the W-irons, after a bit of fettling with a file.

 

The wheels are Peco, IIRC.

 

 

This is my first JLTRT kit and, to be honest, I'm not too impressed.

 

To be clear, the resin body is a thing of beauty, with all manner of little details cast in, It's easy to drill and takes glue well.

 

Where I'm not impressed is some of the whitemetal castings. Drilling out the buffer stocks to take the 1.8mm brass buffer shanks caused break-through on 3 out of 4 castings. Indeed, one already had a hole in the side of the casting because the central hole wasn't central. I'll be replacing these buffers anyway, as they are too long according to photographs of the original.

 

I don't see how the supposedly sprung buffers can work though. There isn't enough resin removed to allow a springy wire to connect buffers to coupling hook and no easy way of getting such a wire in place, since the holes in the buffer shanks are, well, holes, so there's no way to thread such a wire in from the side (short of drilling an access hole in a solebar!). All this is fixable but it should either work out of the box or instruct you to glue the buffers and couplings solid.

 

 

There is no in-built compensation, although the instructions do tell you to leave the axleboxes to float in the W-irons. This is the Parkside Dundas method, which never seems to work well to me.

 

So I constructed a compensation pivot by soldering some 1.2mm brass rod to a bit of copper-clad, which gets glued to the underside of the floor. This bears on the top of one axle to provide true 3-point compensation.

 

 

I made sure there was about 1mm of movement in the axleboxes at that end.

 

(BTW, I know that the brake gear should not have a cross-shaft. Indeed, this would stop the brakes working at all! It's there just to line everything up and I'll crop it off later).

 

 

Careful bending of the rod makes the wagon ride level.

 

 

 

Another part of the kit which I dislike is the lack of any specific instructions for this type of wagon. The instructions cover all JLTRT open wooden wagons, it seems.

 

As an example, there are dimples in the cast solebars to be drilled for the horse-handles, but no mention in the instructions about this procedure. Unless you have separate reference material, it would be difficult to build this wagon accurately. A bit of nickel-silver wire is provided - I assumed for the buffer springing but probably to make the horse-handles from.

 

The whitemetal brake levers provided are quite generic and quite long and the provided pin-down brackets have an arm to attach them to a W-iron, as they should in most cases.

 

The trouble is that the Diag. 336 open had short levers, according to Essery, and the pin-down brackets dangle well away from the W-irons.

 

Not difficult to sort out, but I did have to whittle up new brake levers from brass strip.

 

 

Lest I sound too negative, let me say that I'm enjoying this build, as I do with all kits. The odd niggle to overcome often just adds interest to an otherwise "shake the box" build.

 

Duncan

 

Edited January 1 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[N15class]

Nice job.

 

One question, have the got the buffers the right distance apart as the seem to have trouble with this on some kits

[Fastdax]

On 26/05/2016 at 15:20, N15class said:

Nice job.

 

One question, have the got the buffers the right distance apart as the seem to have trouble with this on some kits

 

Thanks Peter.

 

It does look like the buffer spacing is OK. Here's the wagon compared to my Lionheart tanker:

 

Edited January 1 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[Fastdax]

Deeley 0-4-0 Dock Tank

 

I won one of these kits off ebay:

 

 

I always liked the look of outside Walshaerts valve gear and the 1528 class shunter is the only Midland loco to have it, apart from the 0-10-0 Lickey banker (which may be a tad out of place on Offerston Quay!).

 

Added to that, some were allocated to shed 41E Barrow Hill, so my Grandad would have known 41528 when he was allocated there, even if he didn't actually drive it.

 

It will be finished in 1962 mucky black, as my Jinty is.

 

I'll call this an ABS kit, although its nom-de-plumes include Zero Zephyrs and Eric Underhill.

 

In the box are some nice etches.

 

Brass (0.7mm for the chassis and 0.45 for everything else):

 

 

Nickel-silver for the outside valve gear and rods:

 

 

Brass again for the cab, boiler formers, floor and roof:

 

 

The boiler is pre-rolled and the main tank sides have radiused front corners, as do the cab sides:

 

 

The inner tank sides have half-etched rivets:

 

 

There are a number of colour-marked bags of castings and fittings:

 

 

Here's what I'm adding to the kit - Slaters wheels and a Markits 54:1 gearbox. Not shown is a Mashima 1833 can motor.

 

 

You also get some assorted brass wire, which I will substitute for straight stuff if I can't get the bends out of this:

 

 

The instructions are showing their age, with a few sheets of typed instructions:

 

 

But some nice, clear diagrams and parts identifiers:

 

 

 

My first impressions are that both etches and whitemetal castings are nice and crisp and I look forwards to putting this kit together.

 

I'm travelling a bit at the moment, so updates may not be frequent. But I'll be pressing on with the build as soon as I'm back home.

 

The first task will be to assess how to add some suspension to this rigidly-designed 0-4-0.

 

Edited January 1 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[peter220950]

I'm looking forward to this one, I have one, which was briefly hired by Cadbury's during loco shortages,

 

 

but there's also an Underhill kit in the roof to build another, so it's going to be useful to see how you get on.

 

My built one has rigid axles, with drive to the front pair, and there doesn't seem a lot of room for hornblocks, so it's going to be interesting seeing how you get on. Will you just compensate one axle or the whole chassis?

 

Building Walschaerts is also something I'm looking to follow, as that's probably the main reason this kit hasn't been started, so lots of photo's please!

 

Peter

[daifly]

Also have one to build in S7 which will be an extra challenge with all of that valve gear. Ron Pitts of the S7 Group has done it so it's definitely doable! Mine will be 41535 like this. Don't you just love the extra coal capacity bodge!

Watching closely! (edited to show Ron Pitts as the builder)

Dave

Edited June 24, 2016 by daifly

[Guest Isambarduk]

" ... a Markits 54:1 gearbox. Not shown is a Mashima 1833 can motor."

 

I expect that you are committed to the 54:1 now, Fastdax, but that really is very high for use with a Mashima 1833, in my opinion.  I know that you'll say that you want nice slow running but that 54:1 gearbox will be quite inefficient and the motor will be noisily buzzing away just, mostly, to overcome all the friction.  A modern motor, such as the Mashima 1833, would perform far happier with a lower ratio, say 30:1, and low friction gears (I recommend Ultrascale: www.ultrascale.uk/eshop/products/CAT015#WWGS4 Type 2) so that it is running slower and quieter.  The idea of having very high gear ratios for good slow running is rather misguided (much data and analysis appears in Gauge 0 Guild publications) and stems from 'classic' experience with older (often three-pole open-frame) motors of the 1960s and earlier, which did/do require higher ratios for slow running.

 

David

[Fastdax]

My built one has rigid axles, with drive to the front pair, and there doesn't seem a lot of room for hornblocks, so it's going to be interesting seeing how you get on. Will you just compensate one axle or the whole chassis?

 

I am intending to just compensate the front axle by extending the bearing holes upwards and downwards a little and providing a central pivot point on the axle. To stop the bearings rotating in the frames I may use the Jazz method of tethering them to a bit of nickel-silver wire (which is what I did to my Jinty's middle axle).

 

The rear axle will be rigid which should help stop the valve gear moving more than designed.

 

Building Walschaerts is also something I'm looking to follow, as that's probably the main reason this kit hasn't been started, so lots of photo's please!

 

Sure thing!

 

Duncan

[Fastdax]

" ... a Markits 54:1 gearbox. Not shown is a Mashima 1833 can motor."

 

I expect that you are committed to the 54:1 now, Fastdax, but that really is very high for use with a Mashima 1833, in my opinion.  I know that you'll say that you want nice slow running but that 54:1 gearbox will be quite inefficient and the motor will be noisily buzzing away just, mostly, to overcome all the friction.  A modern motor, such as the Mashima 1833, would perform far happier with a lower ratio, say 30:1, and low friction gears (I recommend Ultrascale: www.ultrascale.uk/eshop/products/CAT015#WWGS4 Type 2) so that it is running slower and quieter.  The idea of having very high gear ratios for good slow running is rather misguided (much data and analysis appears in Gauge 0 Guild publications) and stems from 'classic' experience with older (often three-pole open-frame) motors of the 1960s and earlier, which did/do require higher ratios for slow running.

 

David

 

Thanks for the information David.

 

Since I have the gearbox now, I'll build it like this and report on how it performs. If it's a bit revvy, I can always swap to a lower ratio.

 

Do you know if the 'CD' distance shown on the Ultrascale website is likely to be the same as in the Markits gearbox? I.e. could I just drop in new gears?

 

Duncan

[Guest Isambarduk]

Thanks for the information David.

 

Since I have the gearbox now, I'll build it like this and report on how it performs. If it's a bit revvy, I can always swap to a lower ratio.

 

Do you know if the 'CD' distance shown on the Ultrascale website is likely to be the same as in the Markits gearbox? I.e. could I just drop in new gears?

 

Duncan

 

Now that's always the question, Duncan.  Sadly, no, I don't know.  However, the centre-to-centre distance ('CD' on their webpage) for the Ultrascale 0.4 mod worm-to-wormwheel is 8.84mm; it's rather tricky to measure an existing gearbox but it's not so difficult when the gearbox is still 'in the flat' (as in your one from Markits). 

 

I have replaced a number of the worm and worm wheels 'as supplied' in kits* with those from Ultrascale and I have been able to reuse the gearbox; I cannot remember now but I may have had to drift over the mounting holes and the central locating hole, but this is not difficult.

 

*eg my Dean Goods www.davidlosmith.co.uk/GWR_Dean_Goods.htm 

 

David

[Fastdax]

I have replaced a number of the worm and worm wheels 'as supplied' in kits* with those from Ultrascale and I have been able to reuse the gearbox; I cannot remember now but I may have had to drift over the mounting holes and the central locating hole, but this is not difficult.

 

Thanks David. It sounds like there's scope to replace the gears if necessary.

 

I'd measure distance "CD" on my gearbox but, sadly, it's no longer "in the flat".

 

Duncan

[Fastdax]

Chassis

 

I folded up and soldered the Markits gearbox as per the instructions, being careful not to file off the two tabs which serve to locate the strengthening piece!

 

 

The bearings were soldered in and reamed to 3/16".

 

 

The chassis was built as per the instructions (i.e. fold the sides and spacers down and solder), except for the modifications detailed below..

 

 

I used the spare motor mounting plate (the instructions tell you to discard it) as a new frame spacer above the front axle. Under this was soldered an M3 nut to take an M3 bolt which will act as a pivot for the front compensated axle.

 

 

Since the front axle is compensated, I'll put the motor drive onto the rear, fixed axle.

 

When I bent down the rear spacer, I bent it through more than 90 degrees, so that it gave a little more clearance to the back axle. Some trial measurements had shown that the Markits gearbox wouldn't fit with the spacer vertical. Like this, the gearbox can swing to an upwards angle where it is clear of the frame cutouts but (hopefully) contained within the boiler.

 

 

Jumping ahead a step, here's what that looks like. The motor is just propped at a likely angle on the first thing that came to hand (a sanding stick).

 

 

With the chassis assembled, it was on to the Hobby Holidays jig.

 

 

I set the distance between the pins according to one of the coupling rods, opened up with a taper broach to just fit over the pin ends.

 

 

Now I could insert the M3 bolt (setscrew) and screw it in until it just contacted the top of the front axle. I used some Loctite 222 Threadlocker to keep the bolt in this position. If it needs adjusting for wear later, the 222 will break and allow the bolt to be tightened a bit more.

 

This set the ride height of the front axle without having to measure it.

 

 

Now I could open up the front two bearing holes. These only needed about 1/2mm travel upwards and downwards from the central position.

 

Step 1 was to file the sides of the holes outwards using a small flat needle file, but not wider than the original hole. I took this carefully and kept trying a bearing in place, to ensure there was no sideways movement.

 

It's not easy to see in this picture, but the flat I'm filing still has a bit of the original hole in the middle of the flat portion. I didn't go beyond the point where this just about disappeared.

 

 

With both sides filed to flat edges. At this point, the bearing should still have no movement in the hole.

 

 

Now I used a half-round file to take about 0.5mm off the top and bottom of the hole, being careful not to eat into the flat sides. The resulting shape isn't critical, just so long as it allows the bearing to move up and down a bit. With this compensated setup, there are no weight forces acting on the bearings - they just stop the axle moving fore and aft. The weight of the loco is taken on the brass M3 bolt bearing on the top of the axle.

 

 

So finally I could attach the (slightly rusty, as usual) Slaters' wheels and sit the chassis on the track. It scoots along quite nicely with little friction from the front bolt pivot, even without lubrication.

 

 

Duncan

 

Edited January 2 by Fastdax
Reinstating photos.

[John R Smith]

Nice work, Duncan. Did you see on the Tower Models site that the Mashima factory is to close?

 

John

[Fastdax]

Nice work, Duncan. Did you see on the Tower Models site that the Mashima factory is to close?

 

Thanks John.

 

Eek, no! Perhaps we'd better all stock up.

 

What's a decent alternative? Canon?

[Guest Isambarduk]

Yes, I think Canon are going to be a favoured alternative; they have certainly performed well for me and they do appear in RTR locos.

 

See also the thread at:

 

www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/111056-mashima-to-close-down/

 

David