nickd Posted October 4, 2018 Author Share Posted October 4, 2018 It's the On16.5 one. I'm a bit out of my comfort zone with (effectively) a 4 mm chassis but people on this forum have been helpful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Thanks Nick, it is always as well to ask. Better to look daft for a few minutes than ignorant for ever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 5, 2018 Author Share Posted October 5, 2018 .....cylinders. Much modified and with the top and bottom filled in. All finished apart from drain cocks. Drain cocks next..... 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 8, 2018 Author Share Posted October 8, 2018 .....well it wasn't the drain cocks, next the cylinders were attached to the chassis. It resulted in a nice little compact chassis. Some OO jury axles were purchased and the axleboxes were aligned in the chassis. Strips of brass were soldered in place to locate the axleboxes and prevent them rotating. It runs beautifully. As you may have seen I have also added a bracket to each axlebox to accept a 14 BA screw to act as a height adjuster and hold a spring to push the hornblocks down into undulations in the track. More soldering to follow.............. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) New ....I have a nice running chassis. I ditched the Faulhaber motors and Grandtline gearboxes supplied with the kit. They were very large and the modified bunker won't contain them, also they were chassis and not axle mounted so the suspension wouldn't have worked. Thanks to Mr AJC I now have some of the excellent High Level gearboxes with Mashima motors. Didn't realise that OO gauge gearboxes had come on in the decades since I last built one! Same again tomorrow...... Edited October 10, 2018 by nickd 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 .....well that worked out well, I have 2 basic running chassis. Next I looked at the outer ponies and discovered that the etchings supplied in the kit are a little scant. I thought that some improvements could be made to them and reached for my piercing saw and some brass sheet. I was able to modify the etchings for the pony sides and bearing covers but the rest of the parts are handmade, with dimensions taken from the drawings. I'm going to have a go at modifying the inner pony trucks next, then go back and add the cylinder drain cock mechanisms and detail up the cylinder head covers..... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 ...well I was scuppered again by the scantness of the inner pony trucks of this build so I fabricated some of them too. They were quite complicated and hard to get right. There are many failed pieces in the scrap bin. Really!? Sigh.... At last. Nearly a week to sort out something that ought to have been in the kit. Still a bit of detailing to do too. Why don't I just make Finney7 or MOK kits?....... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 ...finally two pairs of pony trucks fully detailed. back to the cylinders tomorrow.... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted October 18, 2018 Share Posted October 18, 2018 Dumb question time Nick. What are the large weights for on the chassis? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 Hi Geoff It's a block of aluminium I use as a square for building stuff round. I needed something to stop that unit tipping over. The motor hanging over the cylinders gives it the a centre of gravity a bit to far forward. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 .....bits and bobs done in the last few days. I put some much needed detail on the cylinder head covers. I offered up the suspension springs and equalising beams etch supplied in the kit. Not acceptable in my view, so an alternative was sought. I got some 4 mm scale BR brake van springs which were a very good substitute from Rumney Works. Thanks Justin you were very helpful. The equalising beams were cut off the supplied etches and drop links cut out. I hope this captures what I set out to achieve. The whole thing now has a prototypical look to it. Maybe the pic doesn't capture it as it's a bit scratchy and my photographic skills don't hide it! The chassis is so small its not easy to clean up with abrasive paper. More spring detail to come..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ngtrains.com Posted October 23, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 23, 2018 Nick These bits are waiting for you to contact me, I sent you a PM asking for e-mail contact details as the ones I had got left in Devon - well I can't find them now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 24, 2018 Author Share Posted October 24, 2018 (edited) ...and here it is. I've added the equalising beam and it's bracket to connect to the spring on the rear pony truck. A driver told me it's called the 'Zebedee' spring! The brackets are made of channel and the beam is sculpted from brass bar. Front pony equalising beam and spring, although I may have to fit the buffer beam first...... Edited October 24, 2018 by nickd 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 (edited) ...for those not watching on RMWeb I have acquired a set of castings for the valve gear for each unit from NGTrains in York. They are amazing and will save hours of scratchbuilding. In the meantime the equalising beams have also been constructed for the outer bogies. They will attach to the drop link from one end of the spring. The other end of the spring (leaf, sorry) is attached to a bracket on the buffer beam. So to complete the installation I will first have to attach the beam, and I need a coupling first. The centre of the spring is indeed attached to the bogie axlebox. Buffer beam next (or whatever they are called on NG locos with no buffers)............. Edited October 30, 2018 by nickd 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted November 7, 2018 Author Share Posted November 7, 2018 (edited) .....so the chassis have been embellished with some cylinder drain cocks. 138 has steam operated rather than mechanical ones, and the Maunsel ones that Laurie Griffin sells are perfect for the job, I'll add the rest of the supply pipes after paint. In order to complete the suspension system the buffer beams need to be attached. In the kit the beams are part of the footplates. A quick depressing look at the photos of 138 showed that both the beams and footplates in the kit are wrong, so I wasn't to bothered about adding the buffer beams separately. The buffer beams were modified to look like those on 138, and the bracketry added to the rear. The cow/sheep catchers were added and the Kadee couplers fitted up. I drilled out the end of the fixing screw for the couplers and glued in a light coil spring to press down on the outer pony trucks. And the whole lot will go round a 36'' curve (cheers for the Templot Tony!) Next more soldering and groaning..... Edited November 7, 2018 by nickd 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted November 11, 2018 Author Share Posted November 11, 2018 ....decorating postponed for a week, so a bonus post. As you can see from the attached photos I have finished the suspension systems at last. The outer pony trucks now have springs above the axleboxes. The springs are integrated into the rest of the system by beams under the cylinders. The linkages are all scratchbuilt and the springs are 4mm wagon springs from the Rumney Range. Does anyone know where I could get some suitable brake blocks? They need to be about 6mm high and about 2.5 mm wide (from front of curved shoe, through the pivot and to the rear?) 7 mm wagon or coach brake shoes would be fine. Thanks. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N15class Posted November 11, 2018 Share Posted November 11, 2018 Slater's do loco shoes in plastic, they might also sell the coach ones separately. Brilliant work as usual. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted November 13, 2018 Author Share Posted November 13, 2018 ...well while we're waiting for brake blocks I thought I'd assemble the valve gear. I fitted up the valve guides (the castings are excellent BTW,) and made some valve spindles. The motion bracket parts in the kit bear absolutely no resemblance to the real thing so a bit of fabrication was required....luckily! Here goes... More scratchbuilding fun tomorrow....... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted November 14, 2018 Author Share Posted November 14, 2018 ...bit more motion bracket progress. Had to cut out a lot of triangles but almost finished now. Tomorrow hacking up perfectly good expansion link castings...... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 ...the post where I hack up a perfectly good expansion link so the radius rod will pass the entire length of the slot. This isn't a criticism of Paul's (from EDM) excellent castings, I just wanted the radius rod to function properly although it'll probably not have to on the finished model. I think the pictures show what I've tried to achieve. The above picture shows a crude jig used to locate, centre and hold the eccentric brackets whilst soldered in place. Should be a bit easier from here on.........(ha!)..... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbowilts Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Nick, how much of the original set of parts is actually in those chassis now? Wonderful work. Tim T, who saw the originals in use in RSA over 40 years ago Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted November 16, 2018 Author Share Posted November 16, 2018 Tim I used the original frame rails. I sold the Romford wheels and Faulhaber motors supplied in the box and replaced them with some better wheels from Alan Gibson and some very nice High Level motor/gearbox combos. All the spacers or stretchers are hand made. I used some of the cylinder etches and all of the castings. All the pony trucks are hand made. I used some parts from the suspension etches, but it's mainly scratchbuilt. The fly cranks are from the kit but very modified and I used the coupling rods supplied but detailed. The buffer beam is the modified kit etch as is the cow catcher. The rest is handmade. Of course when you begin taking measurements off the drawings for the chassis they'll have knock on effects everywhere else. So I anticipate having to scratchbuild all the tanks and bunkers too. I'm hopeful the boiler and cab assemblies will be better..... The locos look pretty awesome on YouTube, where did 138 operate in RSA? Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 ....household chores now complete I realised that the motion brackets were too short so have started making taller ones! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 I have decided to start making models professionally, and I will begin taking commissions from Q1 2019. If you are interested in having a loco built come and see me at Reading (I'll be sharing Warren Haywood's stand TS6) on Saturday or contact me via Messenger, nickdunhill@talktalk.net or phone 07784837161. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper John Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Best wishes Nick looking at all your builds here and on WT you will be a busy man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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