Nampara for Hendrawna

[drduncan]

The first common crossing sub assembly fitted to the diamond crossing.

 

[drduncan]

I’ll be demonstrating wagon conversions and construction at the South Hants Area Group ‘Workshop wise’ on Saturday 14 July, Fort Widley, near Portsmouth. See https://www.shmrc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Workshop-Wise-South-2018.pdf for more details.

 

DrDuncan

[drduncan]

In order to persuade no1 son (aged 4) to get his hair cut he was promised that he could help daddy with building more track. So although I had to take him to the barbers and control a deteriorating situation, I was able to get a very productive session, ‘helped’ by my newly appointed deputy assistant platelaying apprentice.

 

First job was to fit one of the approaches to the standard gauge diamond.

 

 

 

 

Then, having already constructed the first v crossing for the other end of the diamond crossing, it was time to fit all the wing rails, and complete it as one drop in unit.

 

 

Then it was time for a test fit

 

 

Excess rail was trimmed away and the chairs added

 

 

After gauging, soldering to a few strategically placed rivers and flying the chairs it looked like this.

 

 

And the diamond crossing as a whole looks like this.

 

[drduncan]

More progress on the mixed gauge diamond crossing:

 

 

 

 

Just the really really fiddly bits left!

 

Duncan

[garethashenden]

At least it's not a double slip!

 

Has Teddy mastered soldering yet?

[drduncan]

Yes - although the diamond and the points on either side make it like a single slip.

 

Teddy has not yet mastered soldering - he is however very keen to use all of daddy’s tools. I’ve also had to promise that he will be able to drive daddy’s trains when they are finished as apparently trains that run on wooden track (ie his ones) aren’t good enough anymore.

 

D

[drduncan]

Another session on the diamond crossing, assisted by Teddy in his role as junior assistant apprentice platelayer.

 

This is Teddy’s idea of a suitable test train...

 

However, progress was made...

 

 

To the point where the diamond is finished, well except for some check rails, isolation gaps, electrical connections and cosmetic chairs!

 

Duncan

[kipford]

I introduced Arthur (5 week old grandson) to Brighton East, the 5" gauge Aspinal build and the workshop yesterday. He told me he could not wait to help build and drive Grandads trains

[drduncan]

Did he get to drive the Bullied Pacific on Brighton?

D

[kipford]

No. The Bullied is in disgrace at the moment, running like a pig. It is going down to the club for an extended session on Hope to try and sort it out.

[drduncan]

No. The Bullied is in disgrace at the moment, running like a pig. It is going down to the club for an extended session on Hope to try and sort it out.

Should have used something designed by Churchward or Collett....

D

Edited July 23, 2018 by drduncan

[drduncan]

Having (finally) made up some BG pin point axles buy cutting and shutting em ones, I’ve now got a BG test wagon.

 

It has meant that I can now test the BG parts of the track...

 

Much to my relief nothing either SG or BG fell off or got stuck in the crossings. I always to this test before adding check rails on the basis that if it works now check rails shouldn’t make things worse!

[drduncan]

So not much progress with the track - Teddy complains it’s finished (but it isn’t) and he wants to build steam engines. We have compromised on wagons...

 

So I’ve been working on the BG 4 plank carcass that I used to test the track and three 3 plank wagons.

 

 

Duncan

[drduncan]

Work has continued on the BG wagons. Strapping and bolts being added to the 4 plank.

 

 

The bolt head on the under frame are tiny bits of plastic rod. For the bolts on the strapping I thought I’d try something that would give bolt heads inside and out. I decided to drill 0.5mm holes and insert brass rod which was trimmed so it was just proud of the surface. I did the test holes on one of the end corner plates on the basis it would be easier to disguise if it didn’t work.

 

 

 

As I was happy with the result I moved on to the side.

 

 

 

I managed to get one of the corner plate bolts out of alignment though.

 

 

 

It is slightly less tedious than cutting tiny plastic bolt heads so I’ll continue with this and just use plastic rod in the c section under frames where it’s difficult to get cutters in.

Edited September 16, 2018 by drduncan

[garethashenden]

Somehow I’ve been roped into helping with this project. Since I’m on the “wrong” side of the Atlantic, it’s going to have to be rolling stock. I’ve been tasked with converting a narrow gauge (standard gauge) Alan Gibson Buffalo kit into a broad gauge locomotive. Above the footplate the two are pretty similar, but the footplate itself is a rather curvy affair with minimal clearances over the wheels. Prototype Buffalos had double frames, on the NG engines the wheels were in between the two frames, but on the BG engines the wheels are outside of both sets of frames. I started with the inner frames, fitting them with High Level hornblocks and CSB suspension. I used the P4 spacers to give the maximum space between the frames. I’m going to fit a Finney/Brassmasters Dean Goods inside motion kit once it arrives.

 

 

The curvy valences are an important feature of the engine and seemed like a good starting point for the body work. In the end I ended up making two sets as the first set didn’t come out too well. I haven’t been able to find a drawing of a BG Buffalo, so I used a good side on photograph as a guide. I sweated two pieces of 0.010” nickel silver together and glued a scaled copy of the photo on top. I’m not sure if it was my cutting or distortion in the photo, but this set of frames came out with a distinct bow. For the second set I did it properly, marking everything out on another pair of nickel silver sheets. I cut out the rough shape with a piercing saw, and then spent several days finishing the shape with a collection of files. Eventually I was happy with the look and shape of the valances, now on to the footplate.

I started with a sheet of 0.008” nickel silver. I cut this to a width of 34mm but left it the full length because I didn’t know how much material the curves would use up. I used the valances as a guide while forming the wheel splashers. The first one went fine, but something went wrong with the second one. I cut them off from the strip I was working with and tried again. The second attempt was better, but still not good enough. It was about this time that I remembered that brass is far easier to form than nickel silver, so attempt number three was made from 10 thou brass. This went much better. In fact it went so well that there was no need for a fourth attempt. The next tricky part was going to be attaching the valances to the footplate. The curves in the footplate gave it a springy quality that made final positioning a bit “adjustable”, this was both good and bad. To solve this, I found a rather sturdy bit of brass bar and soldered it to the underside on the footplate. I started at the front, checked the position of the first arch, soldered that to the bar, moved on to the second arch and so on. This worked well and I was able to attached both valances without much trouble. I was also able to remove the bar without losing the valances, so all good.

 

 

The next step will be to file the footplate to length, it’s currently overhanging at both the front and the rear. After that I think it will be time to cut a hole in the middle. I’ll need to work out soon whether I want to attach the outside frames to the footplate or to the inside frames. The footplate would be easier, but the brakes attach to them, so it should probably be the the frames.

[drduncan]

There’s no ‘somehow’ about it. You said you fancied building a BG loco! Can I be blamed for a) remembering when you make rash statements and b) helping you achieve your goal by nagging and pestering until you say yes?

 

On a point if pedantry surely you mean the outer inside frame (as opposed the inner inside frame)? These locos don’t have an ‘outside’ frame after all!!!

 

Anyway, this project would even harder to do in the time available with out Gareth’s help so sincerely thank you.

 

Now do you suppose I can persuade Gareth that he actually said locos not loco?

DrDuncan

Edited September 29, 2018 by drduncan

[Brassey]

A great project but quite a challenge.  Looking forward to seeing it progressing.  Is that a High Level gearbox too?

 

Can you post on how you fit the inside motion please as I have a few of these to do myself but NG in P4 not BG. Peter

[drduncan]

I don’t think so, it came from my box of useful things and I think is a branch lines 40:1 one.

 

I too want to see how he does the inside working motion. Especially when I was explaining why I wasn’t (lack of time and it’s too difficult to get the bits of axle in a line) Gareth very kindly asked if i had read the instructions as then I would have realised you cut the axle after setting up all the cranks etc making the whole thing easy (apparently). Well clearly as a finescale modeller reading the instructions is only something I do when I can’t think of s better way to build something! Doh!

 

Anyway I note he’s doing the experiment with my loco not his!!!!

DrDuncan

Edited September 29, 2018 by drduncan

[Brassey]

Brassmasters have some of these as "non-working, ‘dummy’ inside motion" by which I think the kit omits certain parts to make it working.  In that case I am hoping to avoid cutting the axle using just the basic etch non-working.

 

I do have a few Finney kits with his full working inside motion which will be tackled by me at a later stage.  First though I have a Comet Dean Goods chassis that I intend to build sprung with Finney dummy inside motion.

 

The challenge with the cut axle is getting the wheels on without wrecking the inside valve gear.  At least with this one you don't have to do the quartering at the same time too!

[drduncan]

On Dean Goods chassis the High Level Kits one is fantastic and includes a bespoke gearbox as well as dummy motion. I think the high level designs are the best on the market, easy to build and excellent value for money.

 

DrDuncan

[garethashenden]

Brassmasters have some of these as "non-working, ‘dummy’ inside motion" [/size]by which I think the kit omits certain parts to make it working.  In that case I am hoping to avoid cutting the axle using just the basic etch non-working.

 

I do have a few Finney kits with his full working inside motion which will be tackled by me at a later stage.  First though I have a Comet Dean Goods chassis that I intend to build sprung with Finney dummy inside motion.

 

The challenge with the cut axle is getting the wheels on without wrecking the inside valve gear.  At least with this one you don't have to do the quartering at the same time too!

The kits Martin Finney sold came without any form of inside motion. Separate kits were available for working motion. When Brassmasters took over the range they changed this a bit. They now include the etches with the locomotive kit, so that one can easily fit non-working inside motion. If there is a desire to make it work, they sell the cranks, turnings et cetera as a kit. The complete motion kit (MF style) is also still available.

[garethashenden]

Well that didn't go to plan. It didn't occur to me that behind the splashes needs to be a section of flat metal. Amount other things, the springs need to attach to this. Doing this from the footplate I had, would mean that I'd have to let in short sections behind the splashers. Another problematic area was the cab floor. My two options were either to flatten out the curve between the arches, or to cut it out and let in a new flat piece. These problems, coupled with a couple of dents/ripples in the footplate lead me to deciding that the best option would be to start over.

 

A fresh sheet of 0.010" brass was obtained and marked out. I marked out both the splashers and the space between the frames and went to town with the piercing saw. About two thirds of the way through cleaning up with a file I realised I'd messed up let again. I had cut out too much of the cab floor. But after thinking about it a bit I realised that it didn't actually matter, because the cab floor is slightly raised relative to the footplate, so I can fix the problem by adding a new layer on top.

 

The valances were salvaged from footplate number three and put onto footplate number four. Because of the differences between the way I made the two footplates, the valances needed to be modified very slightly. A few corners were squared up, and everything fit quite well. These were attached to the footplate followed by the splasher sides from the original kit. That's the progress to date, next up is to make and fit the splasher tops. The ones in the kit are too narrow, and one pair has a cutout for something, possibly the smokebox.

 

[drduncan]

Gareth, sorry to read of the difficulties you’ve been having on my behalf. Footplate number 4 looks very tidy and I’m sure it will be an excellent base for the body. Keep up the wonderful work! I bet the Sage of Fareham will be very impressed when I show him your photos.

 

Duncan

Edited October 3, 2018 by drduncan

[Brassey]

Just an observation but is it camera distortion or is there a mismatch between the splashers and the chassis wheelbase?  The rods should be centred in the splasher cutouts otherwise the wheels could foul on the running plate.

[drduncan]

Looking at the far side alignment I think it might be optical distortion.

D