LNER A6

[iak]

Happy to tell you, Iain. The mini roller, suitable for rolling boilers up to 6" long (and that's a scale 38feet) costs £52.50 with post and packing being another £5. Seems a lot for the post and packing but, this piece of kit is heavy and is absolutely superbly packed.

 

Just tell your missus that this is a 'high tech rolling pin'; might win her round. Mind you if you do tell her that you might find yourself doing the baking!

 

This piece of kit is so well engineered that it should last a lifetime (and some) so if you're going to be building any etched kits, then it's a great boon to their building.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

Hey I do enough cooking thanks mon...

 

Sláinte

[mikemeg]

Hey I do enough cooking thanks mon...

 

Sláinte

 

Well you might also be able to use it to roll out pasta (I've watched Jamie Oliver on the tele too!), though only up to six inches wide. Soldering it, later, might pose a problem though.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

Work is concentrated on the J73, at the moment, while I await some information on the boiler fitting locations for the A6. The smokebox wrappers have been added and the smokebox cleaned up. The smokebox/boiler assembly is still not fixed to the footplate or cab front but is simply stood in place. One thing I did have to do was to file a tiny amount, perhaps .010" - .015" off the tops of the splashers. When the smokebox assembly was positioned between the splashers, there was a very slight splaying of these splashers, where the reverse curves of the smokebox meet the tops of the splashers.

 

Those lamp irons, at the front of the loco, are prototypically 'all over the place' and will need just straightening up. So just time to set out the parts for tomorrow - oh yes, I do this at the end of every session now.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

I've just received a rivet tool and rollers from GW, yes it's still letter writing and cheques but I had both through within a couple of days. I bet you'll be boiler rolling by the middle of next week. Mike I wondered if possible if you could post some pictures of the J73 cab interior to help with my build. I have the drawings but a picture paints a thousand words and all that,

 

ATB Mick

 

Mick,

 

Well it was the start of the following week for boiler rolling but this piece of kit does the job very well. As to the cab interior and especially the backhead, on the J73, I can only install what is in the kit but past experience suggests that Arthur will have represented this as accurately as he represents everything else, so when I do this - probably early next week - I'll post photos. I'll also be tackling the chassis, next week, so will post photos of that as it progresses.

 

I have assembled and fitted the fire shield to the backhead casting, already, just to complete the assembly of all of the brass bits.

 

Time now to catch up on the A6.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

Hey I do enough cooking thanks mon...

 

Sláinte

 

Iain,

 

How did you type that accent on Slainte? Is there a function for doing this?

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[iak]

á = "ALT GR" + the letter on your keyboard; that being "a" in this case

[iak]

Well you might also be able to use it to roll out pasta (I've watched Jamie Oliver on the tele too!), though only up to six inches wide. Soldering it, later, might pose a problem though.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

Already have one Mike. Pasta roller that is...

Its drying the pasta which gets interesting

[oldrog73]

Hi Mike

I have just been catching-up on this thread and noticed that you have filled some side tanks with lead shot. I hope you have not fixed it using PVA glue because the two react together and expand and keep on expanding as I know to my cost !

Regards from oldrog73

[mikemeg]

Hi Mike

I have just been catching-up on this thread and noticed that you have filled some side tanks with lead shot. I hope you have not fixed it using PVA glue because the two react together and expand and keep on expanding as I know to my cost !

Regards from oldrog73

 

Oldrog73,

 

No I didn't use PVA; I used superglue. I lay a layer of shot into the tank, masking off any slots to prevent the glue/shot from clogging them, and then dribble fairly thick Superglue over the layer, laying another layer of shot on top of the still wet superglue. This is then left for a minute or two and another layer then done. I've read of too many instances of lead/PVA expanding and bursting out - not least on this site - to do that.

 

So before I leave the J73, for a day or two, to concentrate on the A6, I thought I'd do some of those fiddly little jobs which I don't much like; the sanding operating rods and the boiler bands. Both were no real problem, following Arthur's instructions and recommendations; can't think why I don't like doing these jobs!

 

I'm trying to resist the temptation to just drill the boiler & smokebox out for the chimney and dome castings, just to see how it looks!

 

Now I can move back to the A6.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

Couldn't resist just drilling out the smokebox for the chimney. I still have to seat the chimney, properly, so that the bottom flare sits tight against the smokebox - this is just resting on the smokebox - but it suddenly starts to look like a locomotive.

 

Now it really is back to the A6!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[7mm Mick]

Lovely work on the J73 so far Mike. Have you managed to track down any photographs of the cab interior's for the A6 of the J73 anywhere, they're rarer than rocking horse poo !! Also does the kit give the option of a riveted smokebox wrapper? I'm enjoying watching the swift progress and looking forward to seeing the frames come together,

 

ATB Mick

[mikemeg]

So after various 'diversions' on the J73, back to the A6. The next job to be done was rolling the boiler and this was an entirely different proposition from the J73; much longer and larger diameter. Now if I needed any reassurance that my purchase of the GW Mini roller was a justifiable expense (and I don't generally ever incur 'buyers remorse' on modelling stuff), then this A6 boiler provided it. In just fifteen minutes, the flat sheet from the etch was transformed into a circular cylinder. The seams met perfectly and could be soldered up and then the circular former went into the resulting cylinder with absolutely no problem; this after fitting the 8 BA nut to the rear of the former.

 

A quick check in the body for alignment with the tanks and with the smokebox and footplate and all seems well. So in about an hour, the loco is transformed by the addtion of the boiler. Next jobs will be the rolling and fitting of the smokebox wrapper and then the detailing of the boiler.

 

For a first set of etches the fit on these components is nothing short of remarkable. Testament to the skill of the kit designer. The photo, below, already shows just how clean and uncluttered the lines of these locos were - just lovely things!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

Lovely work on the J73 so far Mike. Have you managed to track down any photographs of the cab interior's for the A6 of the J73 anywhere, they're rarer than rocking horse poo !! Also does the kit give the option of a riveted smokebox wrapper? I'm enjoying watching the swift progress and looking forward to seeing the frames come together,

 

ATB Mick

 

Mick,

 

Thanks for the kind comments though these two locos are an absolute joy to build. No, I'm still searching for detailed drawings of photographs of the J73 and A6 cabs and boiler backhead. I do have the Isinglass 4mm drawing of the A6, which does give some indication of what went where. Arthur may have some more detailed information, I'll e-mail him or, Arthur, if you read this can you help 7mm Mick?

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[billbedford]

Have you managed to track down any photographs of the cab interior's for the A6 of the J73 anywhere,

 

The D69 boiler fitted to class J63 was common to classes D23, F8, G5, J22, J24, J73, & J74 so cab shots of any of these classes will give you the layout of the backhead and most of the controls. Likewise the D63 boiler and variants was fitted to classes H1, A8, A6, A7, & T1

[ArthurK]

The biggest unkown appears to be the style of firedoor used on the A6. These seem to have varied over the life of these locos probably with the fitting of new boiler diagrams. The pipe and rod GA for these locos shows a D63B boiler and has a drawing of the cab interior. This shows the fire door as a well rounded rectangle with hinged door. One useful thing about this drawing is that it gives references to other Darlington drawings including Drawing N-929 "Firebox (Oval Firedoor)" which may be available from NRM. These oval firedoors appear to have replaced the earlier ones on other locos. Also listed are the steam/delivery valves on the backhead. These are shown on the P&R GA as the side by side style rather than having the pipes one behind the other (as shown for example on the T3 cab photo in Ken Hoole's book NER locomotives. The GA of the original 4-6-0T shows the latter style so it is possible that this was the style used on the original D61 boiler and may have been carried through when they were rebuilt.

 

Reverting to the J73 etc. I have used whatever can be gleaned from the GAs which do not have rear views. However most show the usual fireshield surrounding the firedoor but this is not shown on the GA of the F8. The smaller two handled regulator is shown on the GAs that I have. These locos originally used water delivery via clack valves which required only a steam valve on the backhead. The actual injector itself was often attached to the sides of the ashpan.

 

Lastly if anyone knows of the existance of an accurate J77 drawing I would like to hear from them. I used a mix of the BTP drawings and the J77 weights diagram. Weights diagrams are notoriously inaccurate.

 

ArthurK

[7mm Mick]

The biggest unkown appears to be the style of firedoor used on the A6. These seem to have varied over the life of these locos probably with the fitting of new boiler diagrams. The pipe and rod GA for these locos shows a D63B boiler and has a drawing of the cab interior. This shows the fire door as a well rounded rectangle with hinged door. One useful thing about this drawing is that it gives references to other Darlington drawings including Drawing N-929 "Firebox (Oval Firedoor)" which may be available from NRM. These oval firedoors appear to have replaced the earlier ones on other locos. Also listed are the steam/delivery valves on the backhead. These are shown on the P&R GA as the side by side style rather than having the pipes one behind the other (as shown for example on the T3 cab photo in Ken Hoole's book NER locomotives. The GA of the original 4-6-0T shows the latter style so it is possible that this was the style used on the original D61 boiler and may have been carried through when they were rebuilt.

 

Reverting to the J73 etc. I have used whatever can be gleaned from the GAs which do not have rear views. However most show the usual fireshield surrounding the firedoor but this is not shown on the GA of the F8. The smaller two handled regulator is shown on the GAs that I have. These locos originally used water delivery via clack valves which required only a steam valve on the backhead. The actual injector itself was often attached to the sides of the ashpan.

 

Lastly if anyone knows of the existance of an accurate J77 drawing I would like to hear from them. I used a mix of the BTP drawings and the J77 weights diagram. Weights diagrams are notoriously inaccurate.

 

ArthurK

 

Thanks Arthur, as Mike is building 68363 in 4mm i'm building her in 7mm. The period modelled will be the same, early 1950's. From what I can gather by this time 8363 did not have this water delivery system. The RCTS green book and Yeadons state that later on water delivery was from backhead mounted injectors. Also I can't make out any pipework around the ashpan on 8363 around this time, although class mate 8360 did have this. Surely some overflow pipe from the injector where ever it may be would be seen? Would the backhead valve be the same valve as the G5 as I have a scanned copy of a scrapped G5 showing the cab interior. I'm not sure I can post it here due to copyright issues but it's the one from the LNER series you pointed out to me some time ago. Mike if you don't have it I can email it to you?

 

ATB Mick

[ArthurK]

Thanks Arthur, as Mike is building 68363 in 4mm i'm building her in 7mm. The period modelled will be the same, early 1950's. From what I can gather by this time 8363 did not have this water delivery system. The RCTS green book and Yeadons state that later on water delivery was from backhead mounted injectors. Also I can't make out any pipework around the ashpan on 8363 around this time, although class mate 8360 did have this. Surely some overflow pipe from the injector where ever it may be would be seen? Would the backhead valve be the same valve as the G5 as I have a scanned copy of a scrapped G5 showing the cab interior. I'm not sure I can post it here due to copyright issues but it's the one from the LNER series you pointed out to me some time ago. Mike if you don't have it I can email it to you?

 

ATB Mick

 

Mick

 

Yes the clack valves were removed from many NER locos in LNER days usually with a change of boiler diagram number adding a suffix A, B etc. This often involved a change from three rings butt jointed to two or a single plate. Instead of the clack valves water was delivered via a combined steam and water delivery valve on the backhead. These were not the injectors, they were placed elsewhere. This was often behind the cab steps on tender locos and may have been there on some tank locos as well. On the J73s I have no real evidence as to where they were. None of the photos in Yeadons gives any absolute proof except that 8359 retained the injectors on the firebox bottom when the clacks were removed. Some photos suggest that there may have been some pipework behind the cab steps. I am afraid that we need a good clear photo but unfortunately this area is invariably in deep shadow.

 

ArthurK

[mikemeg]

The smokebox wrapper has now been fitted and the boiler bands and boiler washout plugs added. When I fitted the smokebox wrapper, and just as I had completed it, I noticed that I had actually fitted the wrapper wrong way round. The holes for handrails, chimney, etc. are actually slightly forward of the centre line (around 0.5 mm) of this wrapper, or at least they should be! So, I filled the holes - except for the chimney hole which is undersize and can be filed to the correct location - with 0.5 mm wire and solder and then re-drilled them in their correct locations. All of this after I had constantly reminded myself to fit this wrapper the correct way round. Anyway, no problem and after a half hours work all is well. Not the kit, here, just the builder!

 

Some care is needed to get the rearmost boiler band exactly abutting the etched ring on the cab front and here I fitted the boiler/smokebox assembly and then marked the location of this boiler band; removing the boiler and smokebox to then solder up the rearmost boiler band.

 

The final job was to fashion and fit the brass ring which is fitted between the front boiler band and the smokebox. Here I used 0.9 mm wire, filed half round then rolled up to shape and soldered to the front of the boiler and filed up until it is a flush fit and just goes into the rear of the smokebox. This is one of those jobs which is quite fiddly but which does represent a real feature of North eastern locomotives, where their smokeboxes were of a larger diameter than their boilers.

 

A final check by bolting the smokebox to the boiler - all ok - and then the smokebox to the footplate - again, all ok - and I can now move on to the final detailing of the body.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

A bit more detailing done; the tank top handrail stanchions are fixed to the tanks, the blanking plates where the tank balancing pipe was removed and the footsteps on the smokebox. Next a check on the fit of the front mainframes. On these locomotives, the smokebox wrapper did not sit inside these frames but butted up to then. So that join needs to be tight with no unsightly gaps between the frames and the bottom of the smokebox wrapper. Seems ok, so now I can begin to fix some of these assemblies, before I do the footplate steps and more detailing.

 

Time for a few more operations on the J73 now, perhaps, prior to starting the A6 chassis.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

How about that for building the chassis; no time at all? No, this A6 body is sitting on a chassis borrowed from another A6, which is itself almost complete. The first one has just had a new gearbox fitted which runs much more quietly, so is now ready for final assembly and painting. This second one still has to have the chassis built.

 

Still, gives a rough impression of what the loco will look like.

 

Time for a rewarding glass of the old Shiraz, I think.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[7mm Mick]

Mick

 

Yes the clack valves were removed from many NER locos in LNER days usually with a change of boiler diagram number adding a suffix A, B etc. This often involved a change from three rings butt jointed to two or a single plate. Instead of the clack valves water was delivered via a combined steam and water delivery valve on the backhead. These were not the injectors, they were placed elsewhere. This was often behind the cab steps on tender locos and may have been there on some tank locos as well. On the J73s I have no real evidence as to where they were. None of the photos in Yeadons gives any absolute proof except that 8359 retained the injectors on the firebox bottom when the clacks were removed. Some photos suggest that there may have been some pipework behind the cab steps. I am afraid that we need a good clear photo but unfortunately this area is invariably in deep shadow.

 

ArthurK

 

Thanks Arthur, I too have come to the same conclusion and all the drawings I have, and have seen in the NRM are of the Class L when built so don't really help which as you say is a different arrangement. The only valve I can make out on 8363 by the ashpan doesn't look injector related, maybe a blow down valve? I think i'll post on the LNER website and see if I can locate an ex loco man or fitter who may be able to offer some hands on knowlege. I did track a bloke down a few months ago but by the time he was working at Botanic the Wilmington piolt was a J72 and he never worked on a J73. Failing all this I may represent the injectors behind the cab steps,

 

ATB Mick

[mikemeg]

A few more of those fiddly jobs on the J73 now. The valve chest covers and tail rods have been fitted to the lower front of the smokebox. I didn't have any 0.9 mm diameter wire, so filled some 1/16th tube with suitable wire, to make the thing solid, and then turned down around 10 mm to 0.9 mm diameter. This was then cut into 5 mm lengths and fitted into the valve chest covers.

 

The top lamp iron is a really lovely piece of etching and is present on all of Arthur's kits. It is a little fiddly to assemble and the actual lamp iron may need slight filing to go through the slot in the square piece but this is one of those jobs which is well worth the effort. The chimney is now a fixture and just needs a little filing where it seats on the smokebox.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

More detailing on the J73, with the addition of some of the white metal castings. Starting to look like a locomotive with the addition of these components; starting to look like a J73, I hope. This body now weighs in at around 5 ounces; target is eight ounces - there is still space in the boiler and the bunker for more lead - which should give it enough tractive effort, especially with a high level 108 : 1 gearbox.

 

Now back, once more, to the A6.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[mikemeg]

So just as I was about to return to the A6, the three layers of the J73 cab roof were still laid out on the chopping board, set out last night for assembly today. Now I can't contravene my own rule - whatever is set out, at the end of the previous session, should be assembled during the next session - so I therefore shaped and soldered up the cab roof. No real problems here though care must be taken to ensure that the positioning frame, which is the lower of the three layers, is centrally located on the intermediate layer. The top layer is then soldered onto this assembly.

 

By this means, the cab roof is then effectively self locating over the cab. I still have to add the hatch and the rainstrips to this roof but they're not set out for assembly, yet. The cab roof assembly is not yet fixed and probably won't be as it is a very good push fit.

 

Those lamp irons have now been straightened up.

 

Anyone tempted to build Arthur's J73 kit, yet (oh I shouldn't ask that - but I did)?

 

That's the last of the bits set out last night so now I really can start on the A6.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[Tim Lewis]

Anyone tempted to build Arthur's J73 kit, yet (oh I shouldn't ask that - but I did)?

Mike

 

Yes, most definitely, but not for a while yet (still got a large backlog of other stuff to complete). Coincidentally, mine will also be 68363, which was at Tweedmouth for a while (I believe to work the incline down to the docks, but it might have had the odd day out to Coldstream )