Highland Bodgery

[Castle]

Hi Andy,

 

If the mould is silicone and the casting is 2 part polyester resin, in THEORY it should never stick in place as the two materials are designed to be mutually exclusive as you would imagine! The other thing to do would be for you to get 5 or ten of each multiple part you want and then to make another mould that can cast many bits at once. At this size there should be no appreciable shrinkage problems and it will speed things up a whole lot.

 

I hope this helps!

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[ozzyo]

Andy as your going to require at least six axleboxs, why not make six individual moulds of all six axleboxs at one go. If you keep a wall between them you won't use as much silicone, then when you come to cast them you can do six at a time not just one. You also tend to get a better mix the more you mix as any error is made smaller, if you get what I mean.

 

OzzyO.

[uax6]

Yes the plan is to make a 6-boxer mould. Funnily enough it dawned on me that if I clean up the castings that I have already taken and then recast them I should have less work to do. It only took me about a week to realise that!

 

I'll do the same for the River boxes to, and possibly for the tool boxes as well. I'll need to get more RTV soon too!

 

Thanks again

 

Andy g

[PeterR]

Hi,

 

Andy G asked 247 developments to make an etch for his 4mm scale ex Highland Railway coaches, and possibly other railway coaches,  for the fiddly bits - this has been done and it is now available at £7.50 each + a post charge for any number of frets of £1.10

 

No connection with 247, I will be buying a couple.

 

Yours Peter.

Edited January 1, 2015 by PeterR

[uax6]

As its been some considerable time since I last updated things here, I thought I'd try and bring things upto date. These been some changes along the way, but things are still bodging along as normal.

I'll start by bringing the scrap tank upto date. When we last saw it, it had had a load of filler thrown at it. It also had a pair of plasticard cylinders. I put her away for a long time, because I just couldn't get her to run well. LondonTram of this parish offered to take a look (on the basis that another pair of eyes might be able to see something wrong). She returned with a lovely pair of brass cylinders and a new cab roof and front spectacle plate! She nows runs nicely (thanks Steve!) and I then got on and did some more body work:

 

Looking at the drawing, I wasn't quite happy with the cab cutouts, so it was hacked around some more and bits of plasticard added here and there:

 

I wasn't particularly happy with the splashers at the front either:

 

What really needed addressing was the smokebox length, so it was chopped and a section added to the boiler to lengthen that and reduce the smokebox down:

Before:

During:

After:

 

The splashers were then put back, and things looked more like the drawings and pictures I had. The cab side change was small, but again helped:

 

Front frames were then added:

 

A coat of black paint was added to see where the rough bits where so they could be sanded back:

 

The rear cab lockers were made. These have lead sheet inside to up the weight, I like my locos to be heavy!

 

Sandboxes and whitemetal details then started to appear (smokebox door is a Nucast by SEFinecast Small Ben):

 

The last thing I did to her was to add handrails:

 

She doesn't need much more to finish off, so when I get a rainy day....

 

Andy G

 

[uax6]

This was the next wee tankie that appeared on the desk, not a familiar member of the HR fleet, as shes Caley (spits into spittoon). A few Caley 782's visited Inverness in the late 20's and early 30's to take on carriage shunting work, and as I managed to find a SEF kit on ebay at dirt cheap money, I thought why not?

The body was assembled as normal:

 

This kit is designed to fit around the tri-ang 0-6-0 chassis, or SEF do an etched one. Being tight, I thought I would see what I could achieve with the tri-ang one, as I've got about another dozen locos that will end up on this chassis.....

 

Firstly I wanted to ditch the X04 and use a can, so that I could have a flywheel. I also wanted to raise the gearing so that there's a chance of having some slow speed control!

First experiments centered on using a slim Branchlines 60:1 two stage box mounted on the middle axle, the mashima motor mounted to the rear, with a flywheel outside the gearbox. This was ok, but the motor was in the cab. So I decided to try driving the rear axle instead. So the chassis block was drilled and opened out around the rear axle to allow the gearbox to fit in, the motor in the tank, and the flywheel forward of that.

 

Inside the cab:

 

I also decided to ditch the tri-ang rods and fit two pairs of Mainly Trains rods. These were split to give a joint on the middle crankpin:

 

Now the biggy. The tri-ang chassis is just a slab of mazak, nothing really says frames about it does it? Well I had to try something. The real thing looks a bit like this:

 

And with a bit of filing and some plasticard I got this:

 

The modern chassis is sprung at one end, and Peters spares sell the springs, so I thought I'd try springing the leading axle:

 

The springs go in these holes, and the axle hole has been opened up vertically to give about 0,5mm play above and below the centre-line. The spring holes will be covered with some suitable material later on.

 

The kit comes with no cab details, SEF do a M7 cab set:

 

But I decided to use the Hornby T9 one, I think because the M7 boiler is bigger and it looked wrong...

 

With the floor and brake pillar added (yes it should be on the wonk!), you can only just see the top of the worm:

 

With cast brake shoes, she looks much better:

 

A very iffy set of wiper pick-ups was devised, and at this stage need aralditing into position:

 

The body was then painted, again to see rough spots:

 

And particular attention was paid around the top of the tanks to get rid of the join marks:

 

It was then a case  of fittings. The vac and air pipes were made of suitable sides of brass rod, held to the valance with split pins, the vac exhauster pipe the same, and the rear cab window grills are Mainly Trains etches:

 

Again she is at the stage where she just needs handrails and painting and she is done.

 

Andy G

 

[Marly51]

Hi Andy, very impressed with your work. I am working on a layout based on the Far North Line in Sutherland during the late 1930s in N gauge for a project, but suitable RTR items from that period are a bit few and far between. I was considering the possibility of having some static locomotives for the display, but haven't sourced any so far.

[uax6]

You may be able to butcher the union mills 4-4-0 into a Ben (either small or big), and I've seen banking tanks in w/metal on eBay in 2mm before now....

 

Andy g

[Dickon]

Colin,

The 5 thou for the cab front ones I wasn't happy with, so will probably go back to 10 thou, and try Mikes tip. Sounds like a good one. The Bezels actually worked quite nicely, and i found 5 thou quite easy to work with for that, The thickness I was referring to was the in the circular instead of depth. They are a tad wide, maybe the next Castle will get thinner ones!

The dividers trick is one that didn't occur to me. I'll have to see if I can find my old Rotaring set.

Thanks

Andy

You could also try a compass cutter which works on a similar principle with a point  at one end and a blade at the other.  They cost about £3 on eBay and work remarkably well!

Edited January 9, 2018 by Dickon

[ChrisN]

Andy,

Do these need crew or have you already got them?

[uax6]

Chris, these will have some of the crews that you so kindly did for me, when I finally get round to finishing them....

 

Andy g

[ChrisN]

Chris, these will have some of the crews that you so kindly did for me, when I finally get round to finishing them....

 

Andy g

 

Andy,

Hope they are alright with them.  When our roster gets past eight(?), just let me know.  I can probably do a couple of crews at a time and add them to something else.

 

I forgot to say that I am impressed with the locos.  I have a couple that need doing, after the other projects.

Edited January 9, 2018 by ChrisN

[uax6]

Chris,

 

I think you are ok for the moment, although I have a lot more locos in building (gulp, I've just had a quick count, and those in the process of being built numbers about fifteen, with another thirteen in stock for when I finish those!) at the present rate of progress I might have the two above finished next year!

 

Andy g

[uax6]

In this update I'm bringing you a HR Barney from a BEC 700. The inspiration for this conversion came from the Railway Modeller back in the early 80's. The Black motor is actually very similar to both the Barney and the Caley 812 class, and I have been slowly converting my 6 700's to one of the other for a fair few years now. The Bec kits are designed to fit the triang 0-6-0 chassis again, so the wheelbase isn't correct, but, its a compromise I'm willing to live with. They do turn up on Ebay a fair bit (now with the Hornby one, people must be upgrading!) and 4 out of the 6 I have had been put together with glue, which helps when you want to dismantle them again.

 

When un-mantled the main body looks like this:

 

As the 700 is a superheated loco, the boiler sits higher than on a barney, so 3mm is taken out of the cabside and firebox. Firstly the bottom is cut off:

 

and then the remaining cut done to give this:

 

Again as the 700 is superheated the smokebox needs shortening:

 

The cab cut outs need shortening on the Barney, so 40thou was cut and fitted to the lower edge:

 

 

And then the two halves can be stuck together:

 

The cylinder/smokebox saddle needs filing down to take the lower boiler, and this shot shows an un-harmed 700 on the left and the Barney on the right, and the difference in height is noticeable

:

 

The cabside cuts need making shorter, so some 40 thou was added at the bottom:

 

The front footplate was also shortened down:

 

With dome and chimney temporarily plonked on, shes certainly begining to look like a Barney:

 

 

Andy G

Edited January 22, 2018 by uax6

[Robert Shrives]

Hi 

A good read - any progress? I was looking at some bits on ebay but way above my pay grade !

Robert 

[uax6]

There has been a bit of progress, but I've been fliting around for the last year and a bit (and suffering from a serious loss of mojo), so need to try and gather things together and see where I am now. It might be down to the fact that I still have no-where to run them.

 

I too have been watching ebay and am shocked at the prices things are fetching. I did splash out for a Loch, but the rest have gone way above what I could ever afford (or justify!).

 

Andy G

[Robert Shrives]

Hi More of the same a Skye bogie just hit the sky , £125 !! I hope it gets finished well as work done looks the part !

 

I have an unstarted  4-4-0 Yankee tank ! - at these prices I could retire ! and then have nothing to build. ...

 

The work to make a Barney is really good .

 

Robert   

[uax6]

A Yankee is on the list to be bodged at some point. I did make a start using a K's Adam radial chassis, but the wheelbase is out, but I discovered to day that it is correct for a Jones 4-4-0T, so it will head in that direction instead.

 

In the first bit of modelling in 5 months, I have had out a K's terrier, which I'm about 85% through converting into 15050, the Jones 0-4-4T used on the Strathpeffer branch. I've got a bit more to do to the chassis tomorrow, and I hope to get some paint on this week.....

 

Andy G

[uax6]

As I am doing the 0-4-4T at the minute, it might give me some impetus to finish it if I go for a write up her, and you lot encourage me a bit! As I say I've stalled in all my modelling for about 5 months this year and I'm finding it difficult to get going again, although I do find I now want this little loco done.

 

LMS 15050 is a small tank engine designed by David Jones in 1890 for the Strathpeffer branch. She was originally a saddle tank (https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com/RAILWAYS/LOCOMOTIVES-OF-THE-LMS-CONSTITUENT-COMPANIES/LOCOMOTIVES-OF-THE-HIGHLAND-RAILWAY/i-DNskFtc/A ) but was rebuilt by Drummond in 1901 to the format that I have modelled http://www.ambaile.org.uk/detail/en/24796/1/EN24796-hr-13-lms-15050.htm

 

The idea came to me while I was idleley flicking through the HR loco books I have, and I was suddenly stunned at noticing how very Terrier like she was. A quick look on Ebay found a cheap K's terrier at a reasonable price, so it was bought and the mind started to work. The terrier when it arrived was completely locked solid, and had those awful K's wheels, but that didn't matter as the frames needed modifiying to get what I wanted.

 

As she arrived

 

Chassis:

 

Laying the body on the drawing, showing how close she is to a terrier:

 

 

The first job was to hack the frames so that I had just the front four coupled wheels, and a space at the rear for a bogie. The exisiting frames where undone, and one was marked up and cut and filed to shape:

 

And then using the cut one as a guide the second one was modified:

 

This gave a set of frames that when a set of wheels (the only ones the right size available were for a WD 0-6-0T) gives us:

 

And with a bogie added, that will need shortening (its a Sutherland HR 0-6-4T one that I had spare):

 

Which I think you agree, shows that I'm heading in the right direction!

 

 

 

[BlueLightning]

Good to see this project again Andy!!

 

Can't wait to see it finished!

 

Gary

[uax6]

I'm looking forward to getting it done, although the LMS red lining I'm not looking forward to.

 

Then I might unleash two other ideas for torturing K's terriers.......

 

Andy G

[uax6]

The original K's coupling rods had still got the tabs on them from where they had been attached to the etch:

 

This was removed and then the (correct) end of the rod for the leading coupled wheels was filed into a more curvy shape:

 

The next thing was to form a bogie pivot and rear frame stretcher, as the original K's tubular one would need removing as the frames had to be thinned down to almost nothing. A bit of 1mm brass was cut and drilled:

 

And then soldered into place, with a bolt for the pivot:

 

Giving a chassis that looks like this:

 

I then made up some pick-ups on a small bit of breadboard using phosphor-bronze wire:

 

Now the bogie that I was using was too long, so it was shortened by cutting into parts and removing bits until I got the wheelbase I wanted. For some reason I didn't take any photos of this process, bit it did involve soldering the bits of w/metal back together. This was the first time i had tried doing this, and I was quite satisfied that I didn't turn the whole thing into a molten blob!

With the bogie the correct length I now had the challenge of making up the little splashers that the bogie wheels on this loco had. I've no real idea as to why these little mudguards were fitted kind. Sadly these things do accentuate that the wheels are not scale thickness (real ones being about 2" wide, so bout 2/3rds of a mm in 4mm scale, whereas romfords are about 1.5mm wide, or closer to 4" wide 1:1), so they look a bit chunky, even though I made them out of 10thou plasticard:

 

When I fitted them to the bogie, the side play in the axles was removed, which again helped to keep the splashers as narrow as possible:

 

And then in place on the chassis:

 

And with the terrier body sat on it:

 

Andy G

 

 

 

[uax6]

With a view to trying to get a bit more of my modelling on show, I'm going to try to update my threads with what I'm fiddling around with. I'm going to say right here that I have plenty on the go and in respect to Loco work, I find I get bored / overwhelmed with it after a while, so I go and do something else, coming back again when the mood takes me. Thats why you haven't seen many completed locos on here. I also hate the painting stage, so again there isn't much of that going on here either!

Anyway, lets go back through the pictures that are on my camera, to see progress on 15050 to start with.

 

I next started the build of the body, so the existing beading around the cab was filed flush:

 

 

You can see the added bits of square section plastic rod added to the footplate to give the valances some extension. The new cab /bunker sides were then cut out, and bits of platsic tube added to make the bunker flares:

 

Now 15050 had its cab and bunker flush with the side tanks, so I used two layers of 20 thou to get the right thickness. That gave me something that looked like this:

 

As the footplate needed to be created under the extension at the rear I messed about with finding the right thickness of plasticard to do the job. This was then inserted and checked with a side:

 

I then thinned the sides of the K's cab with files to get it to 'disappear' when the new sides went on.

 

The other side and rear was then added, and a bit of blending into the body was added:

 

Chemical metal was also added to the top of the side tanks (you can see it above) to build up the rounded corners to the require square tops, filling any other hole as I went. I also removed the bunker flares, as I wasn't happy with them:

 

New flares were made, and then offered up:

 

And then cut back and blended together:

 

As balance on a 4-4-0T is difficult and also that the tanks were shorter than they should be, some lead was added to the fronts:

 

And then plasticard boxes built around them:

 

The cab spectacles were then attacked with files to open them out to the correct square shape:

 

So with her sat back on her chassis she has really started to change:

 

The frames themselves were a little narrow (as often kit ones are) and most definitely lacing in the correct shape, so I spent a little time on the computer with a scan of the drawing, and created a set of 10thou dummy sides to try and get a bit more realism. The Silhouette as ever cut them out for me:

 

As you can see they give a bit more depth to the frames and also add in basic springs (laminated for the leading drivers and helical for the rears) and some guard irons were also added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BlueLightning]

Great work Andy!!

 

I must say I feel my compliments from yesterday are definitely much deserved with the quality on show here!

 

Can't wait to see more!

 

Gary

[ChrisN]

Andy,

Good to see you posting again.