Phil Mortimers 7mm WorkBench - Mercian Vivian Style Garratt

[PhilMortimer]

OK, I've been lurking around here for a while now, Time to actually show some work. So, time for a new project. And the answer is (drum roll.......)

It's a Mercian Models "Vivian Style" Beyer peacock Industrial Garratt. In 7 mm scale.
 
WF_Garratt_002 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr
 
In fact I'm building two of them - one as a commission and one for me! So that's eight sets of valve gear to assemble! Along with my OO9 builds of a Backwoods miniatures NGG16, a Kitson Meyer and 2x Beyer Garratt K1, people must think I have a Walschaerts valve gear fetish!

Four locomotives of this type were constructed and the last one, William Francis, still exists at the Bressingham Steam museum. The first was built for and worked at the Vivian Copper works in Hafod, Swansea, with the second going to Cardiff Docks, the third to Sneyd Colliery in Staffordshire and the last (William Francis) to Baddesley Colliery in Warwickshire. I am building the Sneyd colliery Locomotive for my client and William Francis for me (though it will be in it's former livery of dark blue rather than the horrible mustard colour that currently adorns it.
 
I have a tenuous connection to these locomotives, which is why they interest me. I attended the University of Wales Swansea. The University is located on the former Vivian estate in Singleton Park, and the main House, Singleton Abbey, acts as the main administration block. Later, whilst working for my PhD, I ran an off-site student Halls of Residence located at Clyne Castle, another Vivian estate (I'm still recovering from the experience!). So the Vivian style locomotives interest me. (BTW, they are referred to as Vivian garratts due to the first going to the Vivian Copper works).

Although currently produced and released by Mercian models, this kit is very very old, having been hand drawn in pre CAD days for a consortium known as Avondale Models. The artwork was originally drawn by Jim Harris, but Avondale consisted of Jim Harris (Acorn Models), Trevor Cousins (Mercian Models) and Agenoria Models. By all accounts, the kit had a difficult gestation and the artwork was never completely finished or checked. As a result, there are a number of dimensional inaccuracies to the kit, which will have to be dealt with during the build. After a limited release, the consortium split and the members went their separate ways. Due to pressure from a number of modellers, Mercian eventually re-released the kit in it's original form, meaning that the inaccuracies remain. These include the firebox outer wrapper, cab front and side sheets, boiler barrel being too short, errors in the bufferbeams and cylinders. These will all require either scratch built replacements OR adjustment. So I consider this kit to be more of a "scratch-aid", but this should hone my loco building skills. In addition, the fit of the parts is not as good as I'm used to with the Backwoods Miniatures kits, and the instructions are far less detailed, basically consisting of hand drawn exploded diagrams. So it's going to be fun, if interesting build.

I'm fortunate that others have been before me and have documented their experiences, so I'm aware of some of the pitfalls before they arise. these include Phil Parker, who has built several of these kits, and Giles Flavell. Their experiences are documented below.

Phil Parker        http://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/search/label/Garratt
 
Giles Flavell.     http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81257-mercian-0-4-0-0-4-0-garratt-Heljan-37-kerr-stuart-wren
 
In addition, some background on the real William Francis locomotive and the Baddesley colliery can be found in the following 1966 article from the Industrial railway Society. I love the picture of the loco crossing the A6 with just a flagman! try doing that today!
 
http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/11/william_francis.htm
 
So here goes for an interesting build.

Edited January 29, 2018 by PhilMortimer

[PhilMortimer]

OK, the first part to be assembled is the central cradle for the boiler unit. This consists of a one piece footplate etch, and two strips that form the main longitudinal girders, which are soldered above and below the footplate. It is quite tricky to get everything lined up and square in all three axes, but otherwise no problems. Two thin pieces of NS strip form the side valancing and a couple of fold up brackets each side complete this basic assembly. The valancing was a pain to install and required a lot of work to get it all square and straight. Much use of the engineers square was required. On one occasion, I had to remove one valance and re-apply.

 

The central spacer has two V-shaped spacers on the real loco that are not present in the kit. They are fairly prominent and so I felt they needed to be present. These were fabricated in brass, starting with a rectangle of Brass, then with the V- shape cut into it and some rivits punched in. Once installed between the frames, it looks OK. Some detailing of the corners was carried out that involved installation of small brass strips to the girders to join to the end foootplate brackets. This hid some gaps in the etch, with the rest being filled in with solder. So here is the state of play.

 

WF_Garratt_007 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Frame from the top and front of the loco, showing the brass V-shaped spacer pieces. The rest of the assembly is nickel silver - a very nice medium to work with.

 

 

WF_Garratt_008 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

And with the frame flipped over on its side showing the underside and the footplate brackets along the side of the main frames.

 

 

WF_Garratt_004 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

As I'm building two loco's, I needed to build two sets of frames, as shown here.

 

 

WF_Garratt_003 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

And finally, I'm building up a kit of parts at the moment ready for assembly of the loco's. Show here are the two main frames, two firebox formers and two new firebox side sheets under construction (to be discussed later). Not shown are thr front, rear and side cab sheets (front and rear have had the spectacle plates added to them already, side sheets still need cab surround beading adding).

Edited July 1, 2017 by PhilMortimer

[PhilMortimer]

OK, on to the firebox.

 

The firebox as supplied consists of a fold up N/S former that forms the front and rear ends of the firebox, and a brass wrapper. A hefty W/M casting then solders to the front of all this.

 

The N/S former folds up easily enough, though I will add some re-reinforcements to the upper part of the N/S frame to ensure that the front and rear sheets remain parallel whilst soldering together, A hole in the rear sheet matches with a hole in the cab front, allowing the firebox to be bolted to the cab when assembling to ensure correct alignment. I will probably drill a similar hole in the front of the firebox as well, to allow a threaded rod to be passed through the whole loot to aid alignment and assembly of the barrel to the firebox. But this is yet to come.

 

The etched side wrappers as supplied have a couple of problems. 1) The firebox washout plug positions are incorrect on the LHS side of the firebox. The ones on the RHS are in the correct position, but the etch has the LHS ones in the same position (i.e. both ides of the of the firebox are mirror images. This is incorrect as photo's how that the positions of the LHS ones are interspersed with the positions of the RHS ones. So the etched holes are in the wrong place. 2) The witness marks for the rivets are etched on the outside of the etch, not the inside as they should be. As I use a GW models rivet press for my rivets, this would complicate forming the rivets on the outside of the etch.

 

Both of these issues can be resolved, with new washout plugs being drilled and the old ones filled with some brass discs and solder. the rivets could all be drilled out and brass wire soldered in, followed by soldering, etc. However, with both of these errors, it was felt that this would be a heck of a lot of work and that making new wrappers was easier and quicker.

 

In order to do this, a new rectangle of 15 thou brass was cut out to match the dimensions of the supplied etched wrapper. (Actually two were produced, as I have to make to loco's, so everything gets done twice). The rivets on the etched wrapper were punched out from the outside to the inside using the press. The raised bumps were then filed off the interior side, and the residual holes drilled out. The etched wrapper now has a bunch of pin holes in it corresponding to the rivet positions (in addition to the larger holes for the washout plugs, etc). This can now act as a template for marking out rivet witness marks on the INSIDE of the new wrapper. After carefully checking that the etched template was in the correct orientation, it was carefully aligned with and tack soldered to the rear (interior side) of the new rectangular firebox sides. The Rivet press was then used to press witness marks into the new brass sheet in the correct places, using the etched sheet as a template. After removing the template, the rivets were punched out again to full depth using the press (took about 10 mins in total - preparing the template took a lot longer).

 

After this was done on both new sheets, then the cladding joints were scribed into the brass using a steel rule, an olfa plasticard cutter and the original etched sheet as a template. The resultant work is shown below.

 

WF_Garratt_005 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

In the picture above, the LH brass part is the original etched firebox side with all the rivet holes punched and drilled out to form the template. The middle part is the first firebox side with the rivets punched into the brass (a bit difficult to see). The RH part is the firebox side with rivets punched out and joints scribed in.

 

The template was then used to drill the remaining holes in the wrapper, this time mounted on the top of the new sheets. Alignment was easy, as the punched rivets fitted into the drilled holes of the template. The manifold, safety valve and RHS washout plug holes were all then drilled out using the etched sheet as a template. The positions for the LHS washout plug holes (new positions) were marked out using the existing ones on the template as  a guide, but with the new holes offset and interspersed between them.

 

This gives the following

 

WF_Garratt_009 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Again, the etched template is on the left, the new parts in the middle and on the left. The new washout plug holes are the row of three in the upper part of the picture. These can be compared with the original position holes as seen in the etched sheet and the row of three holes in the lower part of the picture.

 

Next, I need to scribe relief lines on the rear (interior) side of the parts, and add the actual washout plugs. Then the whole lot can be bent up to shape and soldered to the formers.

Edited July 1, 2017 by PhilMortimer

[Giles]

TWO of them...... The man's mad..... ( meaning nothing but a compliment, of course!)

 

 

It's lovely to see these being taken seriously, as they're a lovely prototype - and with this extra effort, they'll be great to see!

[PhilMortimer]

Quick update, though no pictures.

Still been working on the firebox washout plugs. a whole heap of work, with not a great deal to show for it.

Basically, have added two layers of brass strip behind the etched holes in the wrapper. The first is drilled out to the full size of the etched holes and gives some depth behind the wrapper, to simulate the insulation. Behind this, is a second strip of brass, also drilled out, but slightly smaller. This will be tapped so that the washout plugs can be screwed into them. Heh, working washout plugs on a model! How cool is that? The work involved much tack soldering and then unsoldering of the various parts so that the various holes could be marked out accurately and then drilled and tapped. These have now been assembled and attached to the wrapper. Just the final tapping needs to be done, then the wrapper can be folded up and attached to the formers.

I received a copy of Narrow Gauge and Industrial Modelling review last night in the mail, which includes an article about building this kit by Giles Flavell. This points out the various issues and pitfalls, so that I can be aware of them. More importantly, there is a full line drawing of the loco, which will be very useful (though i do also have a copy of the original blueprints obtained from the Manchester museum of Science and Industry.

With the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday, I hope to make some progress on this and complete teh firebox, then moving onto the barrel.

[PhilMortimer]

TWO of them...... The man's mad..... ( meaning nothing but a compliment, of course!)

 

 

It's lovely to see these being taken seriously, as they're a lovely prototype - and with this extra effort, they'll be great to see!

 

Thanks Giles,

 

Your topic on the subject has been a BIG inspiration to me and i'm making many of the amendments that you pointed out in your own build. As for making two, well it's a challenge! One is actually for a collegue of my fathers who remembers the Sneyd colliery garratt from childhood and wanted one for his own layout. Short of completely scratchbuilding, this was the best kit I could find. And as I also wanted one, even though i don't have a 7 mm scale layout, he purchased me a second kit for me to build for myself. I'm building them up as a pair, which does make life easier in some ways, as once having worked things out once, duplication is so much faster.

[PhilMortimer]

So, you may have guessed from the rapid posts, that this build is not exactly in real time! Infact, I'm copying over a lot of work from an earelier build report on another forum, to get me up to date over here. I don't build that rapidly!

 

So, progress over the weekend was mixed. I attempted to attach the wrappers to the firebox formers. One went OK, one did not. This is basically due to me trying to be too clever and scoring relieving lines into the rear of the wrapper for the upper radius bend. This proved to be a weak spot and one of the wrappers split at this point as I folded the wrapper. The other creased. I said some very rude words and went off in a huff to watch Foyles War and calm down. After an hour or so, I set to making a new replacement wrapper for the one that had split, which only took about an hour or so, as all the templates for punching rivets and drilling holes were still present. The brass strips for the washout plugs were salvaged off the first wrapper, along with the internal re-inforcing brass strips, so these do not have to be remade. This time, I will NOT score relieving lines in the rear of the wrapper. Instead, I will heat the wrapper with a blow torch in the region required for the bend to anneal it, making the forming process easier. The new wrapper is ready and just needs the washout plug backing plates and re-inforcing strips adding to the interior, and then I will have another go at forming it up. If this goes well, I may well remove the wrapper from the box that was successfully formed up, as some creases are showing in the area of the bend. It may be possible to polish them out, but I'm not real happy with the way it stands and as I have already demonstrated, it isn't that difficult to make a replacement wrapper.

Photo's to follow.

Much better session last night. The new wrapper went on with little problem. The washout plugs were carefully lined up and soldered into position, along with the bracing strips across the firebox roof. The center marks for the wrapper and former were carefully determined and marked up and the wrapper tacked to the top of the formers, both front and rear. After careful checking, the top joints were seam soldered. The firebox was then placed on several sheets of paper (to protect the embossed rivet detail) and the curved radii at the top of the box formed by gradually rolling the fire box on it's side. Both sides were done gently and produced a nice radiused top with no creases. The firebox sides were then held together to the formers using miniature sash clamps and the sides seam soldered to the formers, as well as the bottom.

There is still a hefty whitemetal casting to be added to the front of the firebox, but this will probably be done when the barrel is added, to get the alignment correct.

Another wrapper has been cut out and marked up for embossing of rivets, to replace the creased version on the other firebox, which will be dismantled tonight. The new wrapper still needs embossing and the various holes drilled out, ready for re-assembly.

Much happier now.

[PhilMortimer]

New wrapper for second firebox completed and annealed in the areas to be bent, Just need to solder on the internal washout plug supports and the top bracing units. The old wrapper was removed from the former using a blow torch and the former cleaned up ready for re-installation. It was decided to delay this until tonight as it was getting late and i don't want to make a mistake again.

 

Not a lot of time to work last night, but all the internal fittings have been soldered to the wrapper ready for installation tonight.

 

Sorry, been a bit busy this week, so not a great deal of time to work on the loco. However, both fireboxes are now finished. It was a a bit of a saga to build these and make sure they came out square. Of course, much of this was to do with the fact that I didn't anneal the first two wrappers I made, and so there were problems bending them around the former. So two more wrappers were made, one of which fitted very well and one of which just wouldn't yield a squared up firebox. So eventually the wrapper was removed and another new one (#5!) made and installed. This one went on OK and now I'm happy with everything. By the time I had made wrapper #5, I had gotten it down pat and so could produce a wrapper, mark out the rivets, drill the relevant holes and scribe the cladding lines, all in just over an hour. But now I need a new blade for my Olfa cutter!

 

Anyhow, here are the photo's of the final build of the second box.

 

WF_Garratt_010 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Wrapper and former ready for installation,. The green marks on both are marker pen which i use like Engineers Blue to mark out the center points of each. It would have been nice if these had been marked on the former etching, but some careful measurement and clever geometry allowed correct determination.

 

 

WF_Garratt_011 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Wrapper soldered to the top of the former at the front and rear. The stainless steel roundhead screws are in the washout plug holes keeping everything together whilst the wrapper is soldered to the former. (It is quite difficult to solder to steel, so I generally use steel screws to hold brass components when soldering them into position. This generally prevents the screw becoming soldered into the hole).

 

 

WF_Garratt_012 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Wrapper folded around the top curves down to the sides. This is done by placing the firebox top down onto a sheet of paper and carefully and gradually rolling it onto its side. Do this for both sides. Using the paper protects rivet detail and allows the folding to proceed more squarely. Prior to assembly of internal components to the wrapper, the areas of the wrapper where the bends are located was annealed using a micro-blowtorch. This made bending a lot easier and reduced the liklihood of creasing the wrapper.

 

WF_Garratt_013 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Firebox sides clamped to the former for soldering. Care is needed at this stage (as at all stages) to ensure everything is square. The brass mini-sash clamps are a godsend for this. The sides were tack soldered and checked for squareness, before permanently seam soldering the wrapper sides. The soldering looks a bit messy at this point, but after seam soldering the joints cleaned up nicely as is shown below.

 

WF_Garratt_014 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Note that all soldering was done on a thick glass sheet (formerly a glass shelf from work) to assist in getting everything square.

 

WF_Garratt_015 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Finally, the completed fireboxes are checked in the frames of the cradle unit for fit. I've noted that they are actually back to front in the photo, but they do fit the correct way around. It should be noted that when building multiple loco's at the same time, I mark all the components for a particular loco to avoid mixing up components from each. This ensures that everything fits together easily when final assembly occurs. Although both loco's should be identical, due to the hand built nature, their can be some minor variations. This procedure prevents this. Also, in the above photo, the wrappers from previous attempts are visible.

 

So the firebox is almost complete. Just need to add the WM casting on the front and blend that in. I'm pleased that I was able to correct the errors in the kit and make the final loco a bit more representative of the real thing.

 

The next stage is to complete the smokebox saddles, and then cut and roll the boiler barrels. Due to the pressure of work at the moment, I'm not sure if I will be able to meet my (self-imposed) deadline of having the boilers finished before Christmas. At the moment, I'm still building a lot of sub-units, but once these are all done, everything will come together quite dramatically in the final build up.

Edited July 1, 2017 by PhilMortimer

[PhilMortimer]

Haven't had much time to work on this the past week. However, I have started attaching the front firebox casting to the firebox front. It's been a while since I've soldered large whitemetal castings (I try to avoid whitemetal where possible - horrible stuff), so I've had to practice my WM soldering techniques, as I'm a bit rusty. I'm OK on the hidden bits, but the join to the top and sides is in quite a prominent and visible place and so needs to be done with care. I hope to get it done this weekend - maybe. I have a whole pile of firewood to shift first as I can't get the car in the garage!

Finally managed to get a bit of time last night to work on this. The casting for the first firebox was soldered to the previously made etched former and wrapper assembly and blended in. Took a while, but looks OK. Need to look at it again in daylight to see if there are any blemishes. May need a touch of filler, but I'll have to see. Hope to get second one done tonight.

Both fire boxes completed in the lead up to Christmas. Front WM castings soldered on and blended in. They are now quite weighty.

Smokebox saddles constructed on Christmas Eve. Tricky but doable, comprising separate sides and ends. First went together nice and square, second was a PITA. It will probably have to be dismantled with the blow torch, cleaned up and re-assembled. Will have to wait for a few days as all work is stopped right now for the Holidays.

Edited May 18, 2016 by PhilMortimer

[PhilMortimer]

So the smokebox saddles have been completed and now it is time to make the bit between the saddles and the fireboxes, i.e. the barrel. There are problems with the supplies etch for this ( it is too short and badly rolled /creased), so I need to make a new one. There are two methods possible. Cut a new sheet of brass to the correct dimensions and roll it to shape. This requires accurate cutting and rolling to get the correct circular cross section. A challenge, but not impossible. One has to be careful to get a correct circle however. The other option is to find a piece of tube the correct diameter, which Wil result in a perfect circular cross section. The barell needs to be 38mm in diameter, which is also to spot on for 1 1/2 inch tube (38.1mm). The problem is finding some brass tube of this size that doesen't cost an arm and a leg. I will try the local plumbing dept-they may have some copper tube of the correct size. I shall investigate both methods and report back here.

Edited May 18, 2016 by PhilMortimer

[PhilMortimer]

So, I finally have the dimensions for the boiler barrel, and now it is time to start cutting and rolling metal. Tonights task I think.

[daifly]

The original in its Vivian & Sons habitat at the Hafod Copper Works.

Dave

[PhilMortimer]

No copper works (or much heavy industry) in Hafod any more. But there is a great traditional wood fired Pizzeria in the back streets.

 

Thanks for the pic, it all helps with the build.

Edited May 19, 2016 by PhilMortimer

[PhilMortimer]

So, to continue the story.

 

It took me a while to get the time to make the boiler barrels.

 

 

Wed Jan 13, 2016 11:27 am

Both boiler barrels have now been rolled, but are yet to be seamed up.

 

I'm thinking I need to make some new additional internal formers, as insufficient are supplied. However, I need to think this out a bit further first.

 

 

Fri Jan 15, 2016 4:00 pm

Both barrels have now been seemed up, re-rolled and cleaned up. I now need to make the smokebox outer wrappers, and then consider how to attatch them to the firebox fronts.

 

 

Mon Feb 01, 2016 2:20 pm

Time for an update on this slow moving project I think.

 

The main objective was to form the boiler barrel and attach to the firebox. I wasn't happy with the supplied etchings and so made my own.

 

First a rectangular piece of 15 thou brass was cut to the correct dimensions and then placed through rollers to roll it into a tube.

 

WF_Garratt_018 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Here we see one barrel already rolled and the flat brass sheet for the second one.

 

 

WF_Garratt_019 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

WF_Garratt_020 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Rolling the barrel with the GW models rollers - a fantastic piece of kit and well worth the cost.

 

 

WF_Garratt_021 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Barrel almost complete.

 

 

The rolled barrel was then held together with copper wire and the bottom seam soldered to make a strong joint. Circularity was maintained with formers during this task and the resulting tube run through the rollers again to get the barrel cross section as circular as possible.

 

The barrel was then carefully aligned to the front of the firebox and soldered onto the front using 70 degree low lowmelt solder. It was tricky to get the barrel in the correct orientation and position in all three axes and it took some time. The barrel was then tack soldered into position and left for a couple of days, periodically checking it to ensure that it was indeed in the correct position. Once this was confirmed, the joint was made good using low melt, with gaps being filled with solder by building up. The joint was then blended to make a smooth transition using sandpaper and files to give the following. (I still have to do the bottom of the barrel, but it was important to get the top (visible) area done first).

 

WF_Garratt_016 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

WF_Garratt_023 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

 

The boiler was then placed on the frame to check all was well.

 

WF_Garratt_017 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

 

The centre-lines of the two boilers were then checked

 

WF_Garratt_025 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

WF_Garratt_026 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

 

Yesterday, I added the smokebox wrappers. These are made up of sheets of brass sheet, cut to the correct dimensions, rolled into a tube and laminated to the front of the barrel. The sheet was added to the barrel, one sheet at a time, held with copper wire whilst soldering. Care had to be taken to ensure that the barrel did not become too hot and un-solder from the firebox front, so plenty of cooling time was allowed between soldering lamination's. The smokebox adds a hefty weight to the front of the boiler. The smokebox front plate can be seen in the photo's. This will not be added until after fitting the chimney and dome. However, it was useful to check that the smokebox was to the correct outer diameter.

 

WF_Garratt_027 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

WF_Garratt_028 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

WF_Garratt_029 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

An interesting thing to note is that apart from the firebox former and the firebox front casting, the entire boiler is scratch built!

 

Next steps - determine and mark out positions for dome, chimney and top feed, drill appropriate holes and solder in place, followed by smokebox front plate.

Edited July 1, 2017 by PhilMortimer

[daifly]

A little more inspiration, perhaps?

Dave

[PhilMortimer]

Wed Feb 03, 2016 12:17 pm

 

Pilot holes marked and drilled for chimney, dome and top feed.

Probably won't get much done tonight.

 

 

 

Tue Feb 09, 2016 3:31 pm

 

Mounting holes for chimney, dome and top-feed reamed out to the correct diameter. Boiler bands added. This doesn't sound like much but took several hours to deduce and mark out their positions, as well as solder them to the boiler perpendicular to the curvature of the barrel. Bands were formed from phosphor bronze strip tinned with 145 degree solder and soldered into place using the RSU.

Attempted to fit the smokebox joining ring last night, but made a miserable failure of it, due to barrel and smokebox acting like a giant heatsink. Will have another go tonight with lower melt (145 degree) solder.

 

 

 

Thu Feb 11, 2016 11:47 am

 

Still struggling to fit the front boiler / smokebox ring. This bit is supposed to be easy! The smokebox is acting too much like a heat sink and I think I need to dig out my big 75W iron to do the job.

 

 

 

Fri Feb 12, 2016 12:30 pm

 

So the ring on the first boiler was installed last night. The 75W iron was required, but was man enough for the job. The only problem was the need to keep cooling the boiler under running water to avoid the firebox becoming un -soldered from the barrel (it is only held with 70 degree low melt). There is still a bit of filling to do, but I will do this with 145 degree solder, which has better gap filling qualities, and for which the 60W iron will be sufficient.

It's a while since I last used the 75 W beast, and the pungent smell of burning dust was noticeable as it heated up.

Now to do the second one.

 

 

 

Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:55 pm

An unexpected day off work yesterday (snow and freezing rain - work was closed) meant that I could spend some time on the loco. The smokebox / boiler rings on both loco's are now finished. I also fitted the saddle to the smokebox (again using the 75W iron), which was a big step, as it is the first time two major sub-assembles have been joined together (if you discount fitting the barrel to the firebox). Some time was also spent cleaning up the WM fittings (Chimney / dome) in preparation for fitting, though before that is done, I still have some detail work to do such as re-instating the firebox rivits that were filed off whilst building the boiler and finishing the firebox / barrel seal on the underside. Whilst there is not a lot of visible progress, there is a fair amount of work being done. A lot of detail work like this has to be done now before the boiler can be fitted to the frames permanently. Things are complicated by the fact that most of the structure so far is largely scratchbuilt and I have to figure out how to do it before doing the two real loco's.

Photo's to follow

[PhilMortimer]

A little more inspiration, perhaps?

Swansea NCB Garratt at unknown loc.jpg

Dave

 

Dave,

 

Thanks for that. I've seen that one before - I think it is a blow up of a larger picture showing the loco climbing up from the valley and passing over the junction with the GWR main line.

 

It has been interesting to note some differences between loco #1 (the Vivian loco) and the Bressingham / Baddesley loco, upon which the kit is designed. These include different topfeed, different buffers (oval) and buffer shanks, and slightly different cradle frames. I'm sure there are more.

 

P

[PhilMortimer]

I don't do Facebook, but was pointed to the following movie clips taken at Baddesley colliery in the '60's and '80's. The first 5 mins show some of Ivo Peters footage taken of the Baddesley Garratt William Francis at work. traveling the stiff gradient from the WCML to the colliery. Latter parts are also interesting showing the mine and miners working in the 1980's, once common sights now no longer seen.

 

https://www.facebook...874151499318879

[PhilMortimer]

Mon Feb 22, 2016 11:48 am

First fittings added.

The underside of the boiler / firebox joint was finished yesterday, made good and tidied up. Another little task finished. It's mainly hidden once the boiler is lowered into the cradle, but I know it's good.

The chimney and dome were added to both boilers. These were added now, as I wanted to solder them into position from the inside of the boiler and need to do that before adding the smokebox front plate (tonight's task). The smokebox door will be added later, probably using epoxy). I noticed this morning that one of the chimneys had a slight lean - that will need correcting first.

 

[Kenton]

 

Photo's to follow

 

OK it is only an excuse for me to follow this topic (I only get emails of new posts after I post some sort of reply), but please stop teasing

[PhilMortimer]

Tue Feb 23, 2016 1:50 pm

Pictures of the latest boiler work.

 

WF_Garratt_031 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

WF_Garratt_030 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

WF_Garratt_033 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

WF_Garratt_034 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

The brass strips across the smokebox door aperture are to support the WM smokebox door casting when it is added (possibly after filling the boiler with lead shot, though it is now getting quite weighty all on it;'s own. I have to say that although they are whitemetal, which I usually detest, the castings are some of the crispest that I've ever seen. And in O scale, it takes much more effort to melt them than in the smaller scales, meaning you have longer working time.

 

Still to be added are handrail knobs and some firebox rivets need re-instating, where they were filed off by accident. The next big component to build is the ashpan, which should be built as intended from the kit components.

Edited July 1, 2017 by PhilMortimer

[PhilMortimer]

Sorry Kenton,

 

Still moving this across from the other forum. ALso, I'm not always good about posting or taking pictures.....

[PhilMortimer]

Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:19 pm

 

Cut out the ashpan components and embossed the rivets in them. Only 4 pieces in each, but some complex folding and fitting is required. I can see that this will be a PITA and take some time to get right. Nothing is simple with this loco!

 

 

 

 

Fri Feb 26, 2016 12:21 pm

 

Ashpan components bent up to shape. There is going to be some filing and tacking needed to get a good fit. Although formed of only 4 pieces, the complex shape means that I forsee this being tricky to get right.

 

 

 

 

Tue Mar 01, 2016 11:55 am

 

First ashpan assembled last night. Tricky and I still have to do some fettling. It also appears that i need a new tip for my soldering iron, which may make things easier.

 

 

 

 

Wed Mar 02, 2016 2:01 pm

 

Ashpan # 1 tidied up last night. Think it's getting there. Parts adjusted for the assembly of ash pan #2, but it probably won't happen tonight (Every US resident's favorite activity - annual tax return time - oh what fun!). New soldering iron bits on order and awaiting their arrival.

 

 

 

ri Mar 18, 2016 11:52 am

Sorry for the lack of updates. The day job has been taking up much of my time, and evenings have been taken up largely with teaching and writing documents and grant applications for the non-profit I volunteer with. (I know, never volunteer for anything!) Anyhow, here is an update.

 

Firstly the ashpans.

 

WF_Garratt_039 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Ashpan #2 under construction. Each is made of 4 seperate pieces and it looks simple, but there are subtle bends and curves that you have to get right so all the faces and edges match before soldering together. Then you have to get it jigged up into the correct orientation and solder the joint whilst not moving anything out of alignment. And it has to be square and flat. Frankly, it is a right PITA and has taken considerable time and effort to get right. Still, upon completion, you get the following.

 

WF_Garratt_035 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Ashpan from the top - this solders to the bottom of the boiler firebox.

 

WF_Garratt_036 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Ashpan from below showing chute and space for steam pipe.

 

 

Finally, on the boiler, the rivets have been re-instated on the front of the firebox. This was by drilling suitable sized holes in the brass sheet, soldering in brass rod, cutting off and filing the stumps to a rounded head. The following process shows the work in progress.

 

WF_Garratt_037 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Picture showing the rods being soldered into the front edge of the firebox on the boiler closest to the camera. Looking closely, you can see the remaining holes pre-drilled for installation of the rivets round the front edge of the firebox. The boiler at the rear has been completed and (again looking closely) you can see the rivets completed rivets around the front edge of the firebox after filing down and rounding off. The brass rod is first pre-tinned with solder, then the hole in the firebox is filled with a small amount of Carrs 188 degree solder paint before inserting the brass rod. The RSU is then used to heat the join whilst inserting the rod slightly further, rotating it 90 degrees and then withdrawing it a fraction before switching the RSU off and allowing everything to cool. Works every time and much easier than with a conventional soldering iron. I will admit to practicing first on some scrap! The RSU also does not heat up any of the adjacent joins, due to teh localis ed and rapid heating (It only takes a second or so to make the joint).

 

After inserting the rod, it is cut off and the remainder installed. You then end up with this, where the boiler looks a bit like a hedgehog.

 

WF_Garratt_038 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

The brass rods were then cut off nearly flush with the surface and then sanded down to round off the "heads". Job done. Sorry I don't have any close up pictures of the completed work, but it looks OK. The rivets along the boiler barrel top were installed in the same manner

 

Apart from making out and drilling the hand rail holes, this completes the work on the boiler ready for installation into the frame once the can is ready. The hand rail holes are not critical and can be drilled at any convenient time. I will grab a picture of the complete boiler shortly.

 

Work has now moved onto the cab. The etches have been re-worked slightly, due to the front and rear sheets not being symmetrical (!). This has meant shortening the side sheets slightly and installation of a new line of rivets at the base of the side sheets. The front and rear window frames have been soldered to the cab sheets, but the cabside entrance beading still awaits installation. Some gaps in the front sheet where it slots over the frames need to be filled. The basic cab consists of two side sheets, a front sheet and a rear sheet that all need to be soldered together squarely and accurately before fitting to the frame. It is essential that this is done correctly as it acts as the datum for installation of the boiler.

 

Work continues.

 

 

OK, I have to take the cat to the vet so more updates will follow a bit later

Edited July 1, 2017 by PhilMortimer

[Giles]

They're looking very good.....

I take it you will (or have) drill out the chimneys- it makes a lot of visual difference.

 

The Vivian Garratt has very different hand-brake arrangement to the later locos, and the tank capacity (therefore the riveting on the side) is different as well.

[PhilMortimer]

Yes, I will drill the chimneys. Just haven't done so yet.

 

PM