Manning Wardle L Class 0-6-0 (Agenoria Kit)

[jdb82]

Added spectacle rims & bars this morning. May well remove the left hand set (done first) as I found that bending the bars first, and then soldering them in gave a more polished look. Though looking at prototype photos, the bars on the real locos were bent all over the place!!

 

 

[Simond]

There is an etch which comprises a rectangle of brass with a series of holes on a diagonal line, thus making a wide range of distances from the hole to the edge of the rectangle, simple effective way of making window bars and welded handrails of varying lengths.

 

The same effect can be achieved by drilling holes in a bit of hardwood, which is just as well, as I can't remember the etch supplier.

 

Best

Simon

[Jintyman]

There is an etch which comprises a rectangle of brass with a series of holes on a diagonal line, thus making a wide range of distances from the hole to the edge of the rectangle, simple effective way of making window bars and welded handrails of varying lengths.

 

The same effect can be achieved by drilling holes in a bit of hardwood, which is just as well, as I can't remember the etch supplier.

 

Best

Simon

 

 

The item you refer to is the Bill Bedford Handrail Bending Jig, available from Eileens Emporium

 

Jinty   

[jdb82]

There is an etch which comprises a rectangle of brass with a series of holes on a diagonal line, thus making a wide range of distances from the hole to the edge of the rectangle, simple effective way of making window bars and welded handrails of varying lengths.

 

The same effect can be achieved by drilling holes in a bit of hardwood, which is just as well, as I can't remember the etch supplier.

 

Best

Simon

 

 

The item you refer to is the Bill Bedford Handrail Bending Jig, available from Eileens Emporium

 

Jinty 

 

Grrr.....actually looked at one of those over the summer when I was back home for a few weeks, and decided against it! Can't remember why. I'll attempt to craft one myself when time permits and have another go.

Edited September 28, 2017 by jdb82

[N15class]

I bought them but find you waste wire trying to get the right size. I much prefer to do them free hand. The way I do them is to bend the end of the wire to a right angle. Put this in one hole, now put the pliers on the wire between the two holes then slide them towards the hole without the wire leg in it. Do this until you can just see the complete hole at the outside of the pliers, lift wire out while gripping tight. Fold the other leg down and trim. 19 out of 20 times you get a good fit.

[jdb82]

Starting to look like a bit of progress now. Soldered on the beading around the cab opening - I had thought this was going to be trickier than it turned out to be. Turns out a bamboo skewer is pretty good for pushing the beading round the corners, as well as using them to grip things without burning my fingers. I tacked the beading first, and then ran a seam of solder round the rest.

 

Next, I soldered the cab front between the two tanks. Think I'm finally refining my soldering technique, as there was very little cleaning up needed. Sitting this assembly on top of the running plate, and things are really starting to take shape. Next I need to bend the back to the bunker, and attach the cab back.

 

Was quite pleased with this! Simple things......

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2017 by jdb82

[N15class]

It is taking shape nicely. You are doing it right one bit at a time.

[jdb82]

Managed to grab an unexpected half day off work (courtesy of the Sultan's Golden Jubilee) yesterday, which gave me some time and an excuse to crack on with an all too rare, mid-week building session.

 

Having soldered the front of the cab between the tank sides, I attached the back to the cab, and the back bunker plate. I deviated from the instructions here a little bit, as I reckoned it would be much easier to fit the bunker plate first, as there would be more room for my unwieldy swinging of my soldering iron. This seemed to go OK - the back of the cab just needed a small amount filing off to make the perfect fit.

 

Next, the tank tops were folded to 90 degrees and soldered up, and worked with wet&dry paper to blend the seam. Not much needed to be done though - my soldering technique is developing   Just a little solder to take off where it joins the front of the cab, as one of the locating holes for a tab needed filling.

 

Got some small detailing on the tanks to do next, and then I'm waiting on a couple of replacement parts (the smokebox wrapper and firebox wrapper) before I can do much more on body itself. 

 

Back bunker plate was curved over some wood dowel and my leg

 

Back of the cab attached

 

Tank tops soldered on and cleaned up - just a bit more work where they join the front of the cab needed

 

placed on the running plate to give me a sense of progress!

Edited October 5, 2017 by jdb82

[jdb82]

Soldered the tank/cab assembly to the running plate now, and starting to attach some of the grab hand rails on the cab and tank front.

As I’m treating this build as a learning process, I’m constantly finding new ways of doing things. In our kitchen, we have a silicone pan mat so you don’t scorch the work top. Much to the dismay of my wife, I cut a couple of squares out of it, as they are very useful for gripping parts of the kit whilst soldering them together - high friction and low heat conduction - perfect!

Edited October 15, 2017 by jdb82

[jdb82]

Just a couple of pics after the cab/tank assembly has been soldered onto the running pate, along with grab rails, some brackets and a couple of steps on the front of the tanks.

 

 

[N15class]

Beginning to look the part now. I much prefer the short tank version to the long ones.

[jdb82]

Just a couple of pics after the cab/tank assembly has been soldered onto the running pate, along with grab rails, some brackets and a couple of steps on the front of the tanks.

 

IMG_5989.JPG

 

IMG_5994.jpg

 

 

Agreed....the long tank version just looks a bit out of proportion to me. My dad kindly nipped up the road to Leeds (Middleton Railway) as this is the closest prototype to where they live to take some photo's for me. They only had the long tank version, and it looks even odder in the flesh. Luckily, I only needed cab details, to this one sufficed. Interestingly, the long tank versions had a coupling rod which was articulated horizontally to help them get round tight radius curves (along with the flange-less centre driving wheels). Not sure if the short tank versions had the same? Even if they did, I have no intention of recreating that on my first attempt!

 

 

[vindictive]

There's a short tank one at Oxenhope on the kwvr, is that the same?

[jdb82]

There's a short tank one at Oxenhope on the kwvr, is that the same?

 

 

Same loco as I'm building :-) I shall smile nicely at my dad again sometime soon!

[Marshall5]

The other short-tank is at the East Lancs AFAIK.

Ray.

[jdb82]

Been jumping around in the instructions recently whilst patiently waiting for the smokebox and firebox wrappers (which we're missing from the kit) to arrive.

Soldered on the boiler bands - something I thought would be relatively simple, and then discovered was incredibly fiddly! In the end, I decided the best way to achieve this was  to run a thin layer of solder to almost fill the half-etched strip around the boiler, then lay the band over the top of this having pre-formed the curve, flux and heat with a clean iron tip to melt the solder underneath, whilst holding the band in place with the above-mentioned silicone squares to protect my fingers. After a bit of cleaning up and a polish, I was quite please with the results!

 

 

Deciding what to do next created an interesting dilemma: 3 options - the cab details (which needed the firebox wrapper), the front of the boiler (which needed the smokebox wrapper) or start work on the chassis (which I'm just scared of). Decided to give up waiting though and decided to attempt to make my own.

 

Started with the firebox wrapper. It was easy enough to work out how long it needs to be, but there is no info anywhere (including from the vendor) about how wide it should be. I plumped for measuring the gap in the internal cab floor as a guide, although this looks too wide when I compare it photos of the prototype. That being said, it doesn't look too out of place once in the cab itself. Either way, I rolled the curve round a piece of dowel without any issues, and then soldered it to the firebox face, before dimpling out the rivets. Firebox doors, regulator, gauge glasses and manifold details were all added. A steady hand was needed for this! Once again though, very happy with the outcome, even if that firebox wrapper is too wide.....

 

 

Now I need some advice from some wise heads.....the instructions say to solder the internal floor, firebox assembly and tank extensions into the cab at this point. I'm thinking that this would make painting extremely difficult. I reckon that I could solder the firebox to the internal floor, before soldering the floor onto the footplate. This could be lifted out as one unit for painting and weathering. However, I guess this would then have implications for soldering in finally if it was already painted up! Or should I keep everything separate, paint & weather them and find another way of attaching them all?

What to do??!!

 

Edited October 25, 2017 by jdb82

[Simond]

Leaving aside the school of thought that says that brass boiler bands are too thick (and I can see where they're coming from), a technique I have found useful for fitting them is to drill a hole under the boiler, hook the end of the band into the hole, stretch it round until it covers the hole and tack it in place, then cut off to fit.  You can then flux & solder bit by bit all the way round without it going all diagonal - though beware that it will expand more than the boiler, so you want to sort of work your way round and cut off the excess if any.  You can get the same effect without the hole if you can solder the end of it on at 90 degrees to the axis of the boiler, and then do the same.

 

The boiler backhead is lovely, good job!

 

best

Simon

[Regularity]

I just tack solder at about 90 degree points, and use copper shim (2 or 3 thou thick, and I tin it on one side) for the bands. Tack the start, then pull the band around the boiler, and all it needs is a light touch with the iron, and move on.

[jdb82]

Leaving aside the school of thought that says that brass boiler bands are too thick (and I can see where they're coming from), a technique I have found useful for fitting them is to drill a hole under the boiler, hook the end of the band into the hole, stretch it round until it covers the hole and tack it in place, then cut off to fit.  You can then flux & solder bit by bit all the way round without it going all diagonal - though beware that it will expand more than the boiler, so you want to sort of work your way round and cut off the excess if any.  You can get the same effect without the hole if you can solder the end of it on at 90 degrees to the axis of the boiler, and then do the same.

 

The boiler backhead is lovely, good job!

 

best

Simon

 

 

Thanks Simon,

Something to try for the next kit I have lined up :-) Mmmmm.....getting ahead of myself here.....still quite a way to go with this one first! 

I did enjoy putting that boiler backhead together - very satisfying!

[44690]

AFAIK there are four MSC Hudswell Clarke loco's preserved. The KWVR and ELR have short tank versions and the Middleton Railway and Avon Valley Railway have long tank versions.

 

Ian C

Edited October 25, 2017 by 44690

[Gordon A]

The one at the Avon Valley Railway has moved on to the Swindon and Cricklade.

 

Gordon A

[Michael Edge]

Many modellers seem mystified about firebox width but basically it has to go between the frames. These are most usually about 4'1 1/2" apart and the firebox usually more or less fills the gap, what it can't be is any wider.

[Simond]

Except where it’s on top, like many Atlantics, most Pacifics and the 9Fs

 

Sorry, being a smart@r53!

 

I think the issue was the length of the firebox, which translates as the width of the strip that forms the wrapper.

 

Best

Simon

[jdb82]

Except where it’s on top, like many Atlantics, most Pacifics and the 9Fs

 

Sorry, being a smart@r53!

 

I think the issue was the length of the firebox, which translates as the width of the strip that forms the wrapper.

 

Best

Simon

 

 

Yep, you're right....maybe I should have referred to it at the depth of the firebox. I can take a certain amount off this measurement, but if I take too much off, there will be  gap between the front of the firebox and the recess in the internal floor

[jdb82]

Onto the smokebox. 

I needed to make the wrapper from scratch, so the first task was to measure out, cut and roll the rectangle of brass needed to wrap around the front of the smokebox.

 

I dimpled out the rivets, and then soldered on the wrapper to the front of the smokebox.

 

The smokebox door and locking handles were one of the lost wax castings provided with the kit. These do not have the finest of finishes to them and required quite a lot of tidying up before use. The door needed quite a lot of polishing, and even then still has a very noticeable blemish (bottom left). I'm still undecided how to fix this....solder and file back, or maybe Milliput? It's not huge, but I need to do something with it, otherwise it's the only part of the loco I'll ever look at!

 

Soldered the door, seal and handle onto to smokebox and gave it a clean. Attached this to boiler and stood and admired it for a while. These stages of the kit start to make it look like a loco! Beyond the appearance, just the satisfying and increasing weight of what I've put together so far is a pleasing indicator of progress! Or maybe that's just the  large quantities of solder I've been using ;-)

 

 

Question for the day..... As can be seen from the photo below, when I attached the boiler support at the back of the smokebox, there was a gap between this and the boiler. This might have been a lack of accuracy when I made the smokebox wrapper, or it could have been something (unknown) else. Either way, everything looks OK when placed on the running plate, but I need to fill this gap with something. Should I solder some scrap brass behind the gap and fill the recess with solder, or should I just fill it with Milliput and sand it smooth? It's not really going to be very visible, unless you go looking for it.