Jazz 7mm Workbench

[N15class]

Looks good Ken. I have an old Oakville jubilee to build soon, hopefully that will be straight forward too.

[jazz]

Thanks Peter.  It's a long time since I built one of their kits and never the Jubilee. I will watch with interest when you start it.

Edited August 12, 2017 by jazz

[jazz]

Hi. Another loco just finished on the roster at TRENRUTH.  I scratch built this from 7mm scale plans I found on eBay.  It is GWR Dean experimental loco No 1.  It had plain green livery, no GWR insignia and just a cab plate 1 on it.  Built in 1880 It was originally a 4-4-0 but apparently derailed, two years later it was rebuilt into a 2-4-0. The only one built, a unique loco to say the least.

 

It has been a while since this was started and finished only yesterday.  I doubt I will keep her though as it's not in keeping with a North Devon railway.

 

 

Now it's back to the Jubilee.

Edited August 4, 2017 by jazz

[jazz]

I've been beavering away at the jubilee and now ready for the off to it's owner.

 

I've not done a blow by blow post on it as there are plenty in my previous pages for this loco and similar Gladiator kits.

 

So here she is all done for my part.

 

 

 

[jazz]

Here we go again. This one is for myself, a Javelin GWR Bulldog class. I just love these elegant locos the way they slide along with the coupling rods swinging. Just magical.

 

Anyway enough drooling. Here is the start. The tender chassis. Very simple and has the usual centre axle suspension. This time I'm fitting plunger pickups to the tender, my personal preference, as this eliminates the braking effect on the loco. Plus it's only a four coupled and would have meant using the bogie for additional pickups. Not ideal in my view.

 

 

These are the pickups.  Similar to the Slater's offering but much, much larger. I have no idea where they came from, they were in my rather large oddments box.  I did change the springs for much softer ones.  (That also accounts for the large holes in the chassis to accommodate the  plungers.)

 

Edited August 12, 2017 by jazz

[jazz]

Had a pretty good day on the WB today. Got the basics build done on the tender, just the detailing to tackle tomorrow.

 

It looks a bit rough as I had to anneal the sides to get that flare along the top. I used the metalsmith bending bar with an over long steel rod clamped in it. Worked just fine. The corners were filled with solder and the filed to shape. As for the rest it almost fell together. The "barmans friend"  cleaner will scrub up the discolouration just fine prior to priming.

 

Edited August 12, 2017 by jazz

[jazz]

Well that did not take long at all. Javelin kits are rather good it has to be said.

 

Having already built a dukedog, this is the first bulldog on the bench. (I do have another dukedog on my todo shelf, that one will be for sale when built as I do not need two on my layout.) But that's for the future.

 

Here is the tender all ready for the paint shop, except for a good clean up.

 

 

 

 

[Miss Prism]

Ken - beware of 3000g tenders coupled to 4-4-0s. Most of them did not have full-width footplates all the way to the rear, particularly for late period. Most had 'outrigger plates', to accommodate the style of tender front handrails used with 4-4-0s:

 

 

 

[jazz]

Hi Miss Prism.  On the kit the tender's footplate is the same width as the loco (Javelin kit) I am going to order name & plates for 3353 PERSHORE PLUM.

 

As I understand it Bulldogs has various tender swops over time, so hope this will be correct.

Edited August 13, 2017 by jazz

[Miss Prism]

Ken, yes I am aware of the footplate in the generic 3000g tender kit, although I am not a 7mm dweller. Is your tender footplate 7'8" ?

 

I am going to order name & plates for 3353 PERSHORE PLUM

 

Oh, that's one of the oval-platers you should avoid!  It was originally named 'Plymouth', and renamed in May 1927 to 'Pershore Plum', but no longer with oval plates.
 
Your initial choice of Pendragon would be better if you want to stay with oval plates.
 

As I understand it Bulldogs has various tender swops over time, so hope this will be correct.

 

That is true, and the situation is complicated, but if you are doing Pershore Plum in its later years (it lasted until 1946, unlike Pendragon, which was a comparatively early withdrawal), then it had a 3500g tender. It is very unlikely, although not impossible, it went back to a 3000g.
 
http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrbsh1752.htm

Edited August 13, 2017 by Miss Prism

[jazz]

Hi Miss Prism. Many thanks for all your info, very useful. I did find it all confusing. However, I chose to do Pershore Plum in the end because it lasted until 1947 and had regular cab plates.  It's much easier to run it with the 3500 gal tender (eventually) rather than modify the cab sheets but will have to make do with the one supplied in the kit for now.

 

I'm already pushing the boundaries anyway, as my layout is supposedly early 1950's. But I'm not pedantic, especially when it comes to running a Bulldog on the layout.

 

Thanks again, Ken

Edited August 15, 2017 by jazz

[jazz]

OK, after a spell in the garden back on the WB and quickly assembled the chassis and made a start on the body. Everything fits so well make life very easy. I'm sure something will slow me down when I get to the cab/boiler etc.

 

Also fitted the tender rear steps I had missed off.  (I will have to think of getting myself a 3500 gall tender too after Miss Prism's advice.)

 

 

[EKR]

Love the build Ken.

Keep the photos coming.

 

Somehow my box is floating up the todo stack.

[jazz]

Slow progress today.  Time was spent on the axle box casting. These were originally designed for Slater's extended axles of the day. The kit used very nice etched cranks that will not fit the current extended axles as they are now square ends to fit the Slater's plastic cranks.

 

So a lot of filing of the axle boxes and will have to tackle filing down the cranks as they are very thick. (I have already built a Dukedog and had to do this)

 

Anyway, everything else has gone well. So hopefully much more progress tomorrow.

 

[jazz]

Does not seem much for most of the days work!  Had to clean the windows and a couple of other chores before getting to the WB.  So no predictions about tomorrows time on the bench.

 

Right the firebox/boiler/smokebox unit. Only a few tweaks required for this.  Shave a bit off the boiler and smoke box at the joints. The fire box requires a fair bit removed from the sides after soldering to the formers.  Then it was a case of getting it to fit between the rear splashers. A choice here - cut off some of the splasher tops or cut the firebox sides to fit over the splashers. Always looking for the easiest, I cut back the splaster stops. This has resulted in a very neat join.

 

The holes for the washout plugs will have to wait until the handrails are fitted so I can judge the right height. There is no indication on the wrapper where these go.

 

Other than that, no problems so far.

 

 

 

[N15class]

Looks good Ken. I look after our young lad during the day so am limited to a hour or so at night. Makes progress slow.

[jazz]

Good morning Peter.  I can sympathise with that. Those days are well past for me, now-a-days I get grumpy if pulled away from my modelling. Not for holidays though, my long suffering wife loves railways and they play a part in many of them in some way or other.

[N15class]

Well it's own fault my youngest 25 now, but my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to give someone without a great future a home. So we adopted a 2 day old little lad a year or so back. But I definitely got it wrong, he has given us far more than we have given him.

[jazz]

Today did not go as hoped, only able to get on the WB for a short time this afternoon.  At least got the firebox/boiler/smokebox bolted & soldered together. Added the bands and fitted the handrail knobs and w/out plugs. Also the smokebox step. The unit was then bolted and soldered to the footplate and cab.

 

So not a total loss. 

 

 

 

[jazz]

Well it's own fault my youngest 25 now, but my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to give someone without a great future a home. So we adopted a 2 day old little lad a year or so back. But I definitely got it wrong, he has given us far more than we have given him.

 

That's a wonderful thing to do Peter. Best wishes to your family. Ken

[Miss Prism]

It's much easier to run it with the 3500 gal tender (eventually) rather than modify the cab sheets but will have to make do with the one supplied in the kit for now.

 

All 4-4-0s running with 3500g tenders had their cab sheets flared out at the rear to match the wider body width of the 3500g.

[jazz]

Thanks Miss Prism. It's a fact that the bulldog has many pitfalls it seems. I will have to consider that about the wider 3500 tender. Although the cab side sheets on the kit are at 5' 5" wide and fairly close to the ends of the footplate (3mm). The tender body on the 3500 drawings are 5' and over the coal side sheets 5' 6".

 

Hopefully mine will end up like this Brassmaster model. (That's what I'm aiming for).

 

 

Anyway the model is now ready for the big cleanup and priming ready for the paint job. The four loco springs will be fitted after painting as that will aid the paint process.  Final painting will be after I return from the Telford bash.

 

The chassis will be completely finished though. It's the GWR green and varnish I will purchase at Telford.

 

No work on the bench tomorrow, sadly.

 

Edited August 20, 2017 by jazz

[Miss Prism]

I will have to consider that about the wider 3500 tender. Although the cab side sheets on the kit are at 5' 5" wide and fairly close to the ends of the footplate (3mm). The tender body on the 3500 drawings are 5' and over the coal side sheets 5' 6".

 

Body width of 3500g tenders was 8'. Cab sheets of Bulldogs were approx 7'6" wide. Hence the need for a 3" flare on each side of the cab when running with the 3500g tender.

 

The Brassmasters' pic is Greg Shaw's 3353 as running c 1927, with its original cabside shapes, cabfront portholes and flush-riveted front and rear smokebox rings.

Edited August 21, 2017 by Miss Prism

[jazz]

 

Body width of 3500g tenders was 8'. Cab sheets of Bulldogs were approx 7'6" wide. Hence the need for a 3" flare on each side of the cab when running with the 3500g tender.

 

The Brassmasters' pic is Martin Finney's 3353 as running c 1925, with its original cabside shapes, cabfront portholes and flush-riveted front and rear smokebox rings.

 

 

 Ha! The plot thickens. I did not realise what I was letting myself in for. Many thanks for sharing all your knowledge of these locomotives. I will continue with the Javelin kit as supplied for now and check out the 3500g tender kits at the Telford bash in a couple of weeks.

[jazz]

Bulldog build is now at the stage of priming. The chassis is done and running although not fully complete until the painting is all finished. I have the crank cover covering disks to fit as the very last job. I'm quite pleased with the outcome. The Slater's GB30R-3M power unit just fits nicely too.

 

Final painting will be post Telford show when I purchase the paints.