The Derby Line, Four Track LNER J6

[vindictive]

Are you using the cast hornblock that came with the wd? What is the axle hole fit like? The ones that came with my 8750 where that baggy on the axles the could have been thrown in.

Dave

[dibateg]

I'm wishing that I had used the Slater's ones now Dave - the fit is not perfect that's for sure. They might have to be sleeved out in the future...we'll see how it goes.

 

Regards

Tony

[dibateg]

The County was re-assembled a few days ago and just needs some minor paint finishing and some weathering. I have to say that I rather like it, but I'm not going GW!

[dibateg]

I had a spare afternoon, so I thought I would tackle a few of the issues with the WD. To resolve the short slidebars, I found some scrap nickel silver sprue and was able to create some blocks to extend the slidebars. These were soldered on to the ends ( remembering to put the crossheads in first!) . With some careful filing and scribing they will have to do, they not quite long enough really. A layer of grime will hide any joins I hope. The original nuts holding the end block were filed off, and will be re-instated. The valve guide was also sitting too low, so that was taken off and the hole filed out, so that it could move up a mill or so. The hornblocks have enough slop to drive a bus through, but I've fitted the coupling rods and she seems to roll without any binding. The wheels are close to frames, brackets, brakes, well, in fact everything, so some filing has been required s well as further this washers behind the wheels...

[dibateg]

I'd dropped down to page 6! Time to wake up this thread!

 

I'm on some repairs between jobs and this poor old Resin 24 needed new bogies after the originals disintegrated! It will give it a new lease of life.. JLTRT are very helpful and I able to buy the bogie kits from them. That left step needs a tweak!

[dibateg]

I'm on a push now to get the WD finished. The original safety valves were too high. So I took them off, and took a big file to the housing to lower it. The problem with the very nice valves in kit are that they include the mounting flange, which actually is below the top of the cover onn the real thing. A rummage in the spares box turned up a pair of Severn model ones. They might do, I shall investigate the Ragstone ones. I had some spare Snow Hill drain pipes, which was very fortunate. I think there needs to be a few more pipes under the cab..

 

On to the tender now.

[dibateg]

The tender chassis throws up some interesting challenges. I doubt that the crossbars are WD ones, more like LMS or LNER perhaps, but they will only be seen from the side in any case. I decided to use the bearing flanges as the guides for the equalising beams, by using some till roll between the beam and the frames to give a little clearance. They are held in place by screws in the tapped frames. But that's not good practice to have a bearing surface on a thread, so I might change that. There was a rivet detail strip that goes on the underside of the outrigger etch. I didn't bother with that - it can only be seen from underneath and it was a fold up with the single rivet strip on the sideframe and I think the whole thing is neater without it. Likewise brake detail overlays. Nice - but you can't see the brakes at all when it's the right way up. The crosshaft is in one piece, so I cut it with a piercing saw where it passes through the bearings. The cut ends of the shaft are then drilled to fit a wire spigot to give some strength to the join. There was no where to mount the bearings so brass angle is soldered into that corner - you can just see the edge of it through those forward facing holes. The adjusters are scratched up, it would be nice to have the eye at the end of the adjuster rod, but it's just the wire end, but you didn't spot that! I also drilled out and used wire to represent the bolts in the outriggers. So unnecessary detail left off and some added on. I did put the brake cylinder in though...

[richard i]

Didn't understand most of what you said, but it did sound dead clever.

Always looks good.

Richard

[PAD]

Hi Tony,

The brake detail- you can't see it and you know it's not there. Makes sense to me.

 

And the bearing surface on the thread - not good practice as you say, but for this application does it matter if it works?

 

In any case it's a nice piece of work.

Cheers

Peter

Edited June 29, 2017 by PAD

[dibateg]

Thanks Peter - As is always the way, I was having a look for something and in the 'Brakes and Axleboxes' drawer I happened to come across a set of crossbars that are a lot more like WD ones - with a bit of modification. The trouble is, that once you know you can put something right, you have to. So the originals were taken out for use another time and here we are - that's better.

 

I could have filled the bunker right up with coal, but it's possible the tops of the ribs would still need to be there. The positions have to measured out, so rather than use the drawing, I copied the Snow Hill Tender so at least they look the same!

 

The black smudges are Loctite 480, my superglue of choice. I didn't like the water valves in the kit as the handles were sticking forward as this they are half open, so I scratched these ones up. Just the annoying detail stuff to add now as well as the cab doors, which were a BR era addition.

[dibateg]

On the home straight now and with luck I shall be spraying in a couple of days. I enjoy making up the back heads, there was some careful testing to ensure that it fitted the cab. There was some minor adjustments, like reducing the height of the casting slightly to allow the manifold to fit easily. The kit comes with the Westinghouse valve, but I left that off as that would have been long gone by the 1960s. The valve for the sanders didn't seem quite right for this engine, but I ran out of space anyway. It's absence will be difficult to detect in that gloomy cab. The flame scoop is missing - if that what it's called. Some Woodford drivers didn't like them apparently and used to dump them at a remote end of the turning triangle. The spring assemblies were made up and the linkages all drilled 0.7mm and the pins a force fit. Main pivots are 1mm.

 

A test fit - the reverser and cab seats will be fitted after painting. The cab doors are slightly droopy - like the prototype. There should be another section of plating inboard of the cab handrail panel. I might glue in a plasticard one later if it's absence is too noticeable.

 

With the good weather last week, I managed to get some primer on the Fruit D - after deciding with my client that the torpedo vents weren't right so I removed them and the simple job of using Sidelines shell vents to replace them wasn't. Looking at the photos, I noticed that they are mounted on disks of some sort - wood maybe? So a hunt through all the washer storage turned up some etched ones about the right size. I must have breathed on that left hand step, they are very fragile..

 

The Beetle also looks better with some primer on.

[dibateg]

Valve gear - where to begin with this. I usually divide it up onto lower and upper, i.e. either side of the expansion link. So I assemble a quarter at a time, make sure that works freely then on to the next. This set took twice a s long as normal. You get etched and cast gear in this kit. In actual fact the cast pieces were quite chunky, so they were discounted in the main, look at any photo and you'll see WD valve gear is actually quite slender. I use till roll wrapped round a rod to prevent solder travel when making up joints. Sometimes, if it's tight, no barrier and a tiny bit of flux and a quick dab with the iron. I thought it might be useful to document how I made up this gear, I usually find it relatively easy, lets work forward with each component.

 

Return crank

I didn't like the ones in the kit, etched or otherwise, these are possibly Griffin, soldered on to a tapped at 10BA brass top hat bearing. The position of the top hat can then be rotated on the crank - taking care not to let solder get into the thread, so that the crank can be wound on to the crank pin and tighten at just the right place.

 

Eccentric Rod

Two half etches soldered back to back. The bearing at the Return crank is 0.9mm wire force fitted into a 12BA nut and then soldered into a countersink on the rear of the return crank, which can then be filed flush for clearance. A little free movement is left, so that it can waggle. If its too tight and the crank is not exactly parallel with the frames, it will bind..

 

Expansion Link

A two part casting that is properly slotted, so in theory the loco can be changed from forward to back gear, and it can with a bit of effort. It also has to be parallel with the frames. I fancied having one of my WD's in back gear as they often worked tender first back from Stanton with empties.

 

Radius Rod

This was the only cast part that I used, but some heavy filing was required to slim it down and make the fork above the valve much finer. It still looks a bit heavy. It also conflicted with the motion bracket, so that had to be ground back.

 

Combination lever

The cast one was very heavy and had no detail at the top end, so I used the etched one in the kit which was a little short. I only used one thickness, the half etched overlay made the join positions far too thick. As the positions of the top two joints were very close, I had to grind away the inside tops of the valve guides to allow the radius rod to move freely. The lever is also cranked slightly to push the bottom end out in line with the drop link. I found at the forward most part of the travel it jammed against the edge of the slidebar bracket. The only solution to this I could think of was to grind it back and tidy up as best as possible and leave some indication of an edge.

 

Union link

I used the etched one in the kit, although it seemed a little long and was in danger of clouting the relief valve, the offset of the combination lever hopefully pushes it outboard.

 

Drop link

Looked nothing like a WD one and I felt slightly too long. Fortunately I never throw anything away and as the Snow Hill crosshead comes as a universal double sided casting, one drop link has to be cut off. I carefully kept those and was able to re-use them I this instance.

 

Crosshead

There were 3 nuts cast on the triangular plate for the gudgeon pin, I found no evidence for these on a WD and filed them off.

 

I'm glad I made the motion brackets removable, it would have been impossible otherwise, they've been off that many times.. There are various oilboxes still missing from this area. I need an injection of enthusiasm to tackle those..

[N15class]

Thanks for that. It is always nice to read how others do things. It gives one a change to add to or adapt your own methods.

[JeffP]

Incredible for a well-rated kit that costs what that one does.

 

Can you get milled valvegear for it?

[dibateg]

I'm not aware of any Jeff.

 

I found the receipt - this kit has been in my cupboard for 10 years!

[dibateg]

90437 is well on the way to being finished, I need to varnish the transfers, add the valve gear lifting links and do bits of painting. Then she will be ready for a track test. Most people probably test it all before painting, but that can involve several strip downs. For a loco that will be pretty shabby, I'm not too worried about an immaculate appearance.

[JeffP]

Premier do some:

 

http://www.premiercomponents.co.uk/motion_parts_br.html

 

Also the rods, available jointed:  http://www.premiercomponents.co.uk/coupling_rods_br.html

[jim.snowdon]

Premier do some:

 

http://www.premiercomponents.co.uk/motion_parts_br.html

 

Also the rods, available jointed:  http://www.premiercomponents.co.uk/coupling_rods_br.html

But, as a cautionary note, the Premier rods will not fit the Snowhill/Roxey WD 2-8-0, plus they lack the inward offset on the front section that North British designed in so as to address the clearances behind the crosshead. The JLTRT rods don't have that offset either, but the Snowhill ones do.

 

Jim

[dibateg]

I met the late Barry Rackstraw a few times and at some point he decided to go back to 4mm scale and I was lucky enough to obtain some kits from him that he was selling. Among them were some BR models GUV etchings. I don't think they were ever released as kits and these must be tests as there is a mistake in that the doors with windows are mirrored in the design. The window door should be on the left. There were no castings or bogies, so the rest was made up from a number of sources. Easy Build bogies and Peter Cowling underframe fittings for starters.So it's about 2 days work to get both vehicles to this stage, the body is almost ready for spraying, just a few minor details to finish off. It's another ' all nations', Sidleines vents and handles, 6941 hinges so far. Rainy days help.

 

Here's the predecessor, which I cannot find at the moment. It's in my completed stock cupboard.... somewhere... as new - not weathered!

[dibateg]

With the BR GUV bodies ready for painting, it is time to crank on with the MMP GUV, starting with the bogies. They are an enjoyable build - but there are about a million bits.

 

Everything fits nicely and we are well under way with the bolster assemblies and sideframes. A build of this had been well documented by David Butterworth on Building O gauge On Line.

[dibateg]

It doesn't take that long to get to this, and its going together well. I blackened and fitted the brake hangers before fixing the beams to the rest of the assembly, it's a lot easier. I leave the white metal parts 'till last, so that's next after some cleaning up..

[dg40014]

Nice neat work, the MMP bogies are a treat to build, so many parts!

I wonder when MMP will reintroduce thier loco kits? Such detail and accuracy is great to behold.

[dibateg]

I always end up taking the photos at the end of the session and I usually clean up at the start of the next session and I've already spotted a loose spring.. There is some finishing off work here before going on to the next stage.

 

The instruction suggest shortening the axles, but I don't like doing that if I can help it. So the axleboxes were drilled deeper and counterbored for the bearing flange. The drills are indexed with a marker pen, so that it doesn't got to deep - or all the way through...

 

I've got a lot going on the workbench at the moment, several repairs and weathering jobs. This rather poorly 0-6-0 came in, and after a detective trail worthy of Endeavour I managed to get replacement mouldings. It's an old Underhill kit - even featuring in an early MRJ:-

 

 

Also in was this chassis - actually mended by DLOS, but I scratched up the replacement brake. Does anyone recognise the motor?

 

I've been practicing spraying cellulose with advice from Warren and the Brackenborough article in MRJ 76. I'm using up my stock of test pieces - better get drinking... I'm getting there, but it's useful to play with the airbrush and see what it can do.

[dibateg]

Well, 3323 is looking a bit fitter now...

[dibateg]

The underframe is a work of art in itself, I'm wondering if it has more parts than the prototype, but it is an enjoyable build.

 

I have to admit to leaving out some of the tiniest parts that will never be seen. To my preference I replaced the brake shaft with brass rod and vac pipe with copper. The castings are pretty tidy. As usual cleaning up yet to do...