Bryan the Snail's workbench.

[gz3xzf]

Having last built a 00 gauge locomotive kit around 30 odd years ago, I have decided the time is right for the next one!

I have purchased a SE Finecast H class tank, chassis, wheels and motor, I have also added to it some detailing parts that seemed appropriate (see below). I still have to order the DCC loco decoder, when I have decided which would be best.

 

So before I start I want to ask a couple of really basic and possibly naive questions: -

How do folks separate the etched parts without causing little or no distortion?

What is the best way to ensure the chassis is true, the Finecast chassis has a couple of screw fitted spacers to use before soldering in the stretchers, but I would like to fix it to something to ensure it is square?

 

I am sure there are other questions that will come to me as time goes on, but that will do for now; thanks in advance to anybody who feels the urge to help out!

Below we have the kit on the day it arrived, a selection of Branchlines cast brass parts, some Kean Maygib sprung buffers and a selection of Markits parts.

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[Accurascale Fran]

Excellent! I would be very interested to see how you DCC a kit built loco before I get stuck into doing one myself!

[pete_mcfarlane]

I've built SE Finecast chassis as intended - using the turned spacers followed by soldering in the etched ones. It ended up perfectly square with no need for any kind of chassis jig. Since you're using Romford wheels you could always fit them after screwing the chassis together and check that it's all square (stand it on a mirror and check that all four wheels are in contact). Then take the wheels off and solder the remaining bits in place.

 

As for cutting etches - I just use a Stanley knife, with the etch resting on a hard surface like a piece of wood to avoid any distortion. Any remaining bits of the tab get filed off. 

 

What livery are you going to do it in?

[Graham_Muz]

I agree with Pete above about the Finecast chassis it's pretty good. I tend to use a couple of 12" lengths of 1/8" silver steel rod in the axle holes before soldering up the bearings as the length highlights any error and allows checking with a square.

 

As for the etches I either use the method as Pete or Xuron sprue cutters

[Michael Delamar]

Ive always used an ordinary pair of household scissors to cut etched parts out brass or nickel, easy to hold and you can be as gentle as you want and get in close and trim flush.

[mike morley]

Please post progress reports.

 

The Wainwright "H" has always been one of my favourite locos but the reputation of 0-4-4's as being difficult to balance has always made me a bit wary of taking the plunge, so I'd be interested in seeing how you fare.

[gz3xzf]

071, I am planning to fit pickups to both sides of the chassis (including the bogie), the wheels supplied are fully insulated (you can just see "All Ins" on the packet). I am going to install a NEM652 socket somewhere so that the decoder can be changed if required.

 

Pete, it is going to be in BR lined black with a early (cycling lion) crest, it will be numbered as one of the locomotives that was allocated to St. Leonard's in the mid fifties.

 

Mike, I guess the thing to do is keep the weight over the driving wheels so that the bogie is not carrying too much, but we will see how it goes.

 

Thanks guys, that has made me feel a lot better, the last kit I built was a Mallard Models GWR 517 and I couldn't remember how I did it! It was around 1973!

 

I will try and keep up with progress reports, as time allows.

Edited April 3, 2014 by gz3xzf

[Accurascale Fran]

071, I am planning to fit pickups to both sides of the chassis (including the bogie), the wheels supplied are fully insulated (you can just see "All Ins" on the packet). I am going to install a NEM652 socket somewhere so that the decoder can be changed if required.

 

 

 

Thanks Bryan, such things frighten the bejesus out of me, so I'd be interested to see this setup! 

[gz3xzf]

Postman has visited us again, two 12" pieces of 1/8" silver steel (using Grahams advice), a TCS T1 decoder and a NEM652 socket and harness. Don't know what I am going to do with all the wires though!

 

The 10mm piece of silver steel is to see if I can fix the broken base of the DayLight angle pose lamp that decided to fracture and bend in half!

 

Not started anything in anger on the building front, I am sad to say the Swanage Railway Spring Gala got in the way of that!!

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf

[gz3xzf]

OK, I have made a start! Every journey starts with the a single step.

 

I have parted the frame plates and the stretchers from the frets and screwed the two plates together, I have fettled the stretchers and trial fitted them (see pictures below).

 

Not sure what to do with the two screw in spacers as the front one is actually covering the slots where the cylinder back covers go, the instructions aren't clear on this point. I am tempted to solder the motion bracket and rear stretchers and then remove the front screw-in spacer before soldering the cylinder back and front in.

 

So one question for debate: Remove the screw-in spacers on not, anybody who has built this kit got any thoughts.

 

I chickened out on the straight or joggled frames for the bogie at the back, I went for the joggled frames on the basis that it may be running on Hornby 2nd radius curves. (Picture 3, not very good picture, but hopefully you can see the bends).

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[Ian J.]

I'll have to dig out the pics of my completed SEF H. No build pics as it was put together before digital cameras, but it could provide a reference on how not to do it

[coachmann]

I remove etchings from sheets with Xuron track cutters. My own parts don't distort because I design the holding tabs to be diagonally opposed so there is no stress during snipping out, but in general these slide cutters do the job well with whoever's etchings. I am watching this build with interest.

[Ian J.]

A few pics just to see what's possible. I believe the chassis is an older variant though, so I'm not sure whether the build I did would have much relevant to a current day one

 

 

 

 

 

 

The motor is a Portescap, an RG4 I think. I did originally fit a Lenz decoder, but that was sold off a while ago, leaving the harness behind.

[gz3xzf]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I am watching this build with interest.

Coachmann, there may not be regular posts as I am juggling the build around my day job, family and footplate turns, but I will try and document as much as I can.

[Bluebell Model Railway]

Look forward to seeing yours develop, again I have the older Will's kit but with a newer etched chassis, quite easy to put together.

[gz3xzf]

Well, I have been doing a bit and so far fairly happy with the results, one milestone is that I have finally managed to get all the right bits in the same room to successfully attempt some white-metal soldering and I am really pleased with the results.

 

First two photos show the frames, all soldered now, I have removed the front screw in spacer so that the piece representing the rear cylinder covers could be put in. I did have a chat to the nice man at SE Finecast about a number of things and his advice was it was up to me, either use the screw in spacers or the etched ones. I have also soldered the front axle bearings (brass top hats) into place, the rear coupled axle bearings will have to wait until the motor gear box is in place. I did use the 12" pieces of 1/8" steel to align the chassis and bearings whilst soldering, but the picture I took wasn't in focus I'm afraid.

 

 

The third photo just shows the chassis with the two driven wheel sets in place, I have found that the front axle is a bit stiff, the top hats seem to have shifted slightly, I will be looking at ways to rectify this later.

 

The remainder of the photos concentrate on the bogie, one of the topics in my conversation with the chap at SE Finecast was around building the bogie, sadly as the bogie wheel sets had arrived in one piece I thought you had to construct the bogie frames around the wheel sets, this was like juggling, every time you got one piece in place the others all moved!! I now realise that you have to take the wheel sets apart, I found the easiest way to do this was to punch the axle out of one of the wheels, shown in the fourth picture, I suggest you support the wheel as much as you can, I used a pair of pliers. You need a punch as close to the size of the axle as possible, I used a cross-head miniature screw driver and some sort of hitting device (I used another pair of pliers). It doesn't take too much force, but start hitting lightly and increase the force until it starts to move.

 

Next to construct the bogie frames, I started off by digging through the old boxes of model railway stuff in the loft until I found the Carrs low melt solder and flux I purchased many years ago, completely unused as I have not had a temperature controlled soldering iron until this year. I soldered together the EM version of the bogie to try out soldering white-metal. I am using Carrs Red 70 degree solder and Carrs Red liquid flux, I was very pleased with the results, so I moved onto the real thing. The picture I took of the frames on there own was out of focus (really must learn how to use the camera! ), so the fifth photo shows the frames with the wheels fitted.

 

As I said earlier, I wanted to have pickups on the bogie to give a better running quality over dead crossings etc. so I now set about fitting them. I used a piece of Veroboard super glued to the bottom of the bogie frames, it had a hole drilled in the middle to allow for the fixing screw and two pieces of tinned spring steel wire with some TCS 30 gauge connecting wires; these wires go up through two 0.9mm holes drilled in the bogie base plate. I have looked at the clearance under the bogie and I it looks OK, but it is close to the rail head over point work. (If you feel the clearance isn't enough another idea for these pickups would be to put the Veroboard on top of the frames (again with a hole for the bogie spring) and locate the pickup wire between the bogie framing to the inside edge of the wheels.) The last two photos show the bottom and top of the bogie with the pickups fitted. I realise I am going to have to take the wheels off again for painting, but that will be for another day.

 

That's all for now, hope my ramblings are useful.

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[gz3xzf]

Well, after saying there won't be many updates, here's another! I managed to spend five minutes yesterday parting the components for the brake gear from the etch and soldering together the two halves of the brake pull rod. Here they are laid out on the work bench: -

 

 

After spending the first part of this morning unblocking our drain pipe to the main sewer, most unpleasant task , I thought I would make a start on fitting the brake gear to the chassis, I may regret this as I have realised I haven't fitted the pickups for the driving wheels yet, so I'm now going to have to do this around the brake rigging!

 

I cleaned up all the bits and bent the hanger brackets, I decided that it made sense to make up a hanger bracket and hanger unit (with its piece of 0.5mm wire) and fit that to the chassis, that was a bit like rounding up cats, so in the end I went with soldering the piece of wire to the frames and then fitting the hanger and its bracket to that. The first two photos show the front hangers in place, I also found that the hanger brackets need to be on their sides rather than upright as shown on the drawing, so that the body will fit correctly: -

 

 

 

This photo shows the wires soldered in place for the rear set of hangers: -

 

 

I soldered the two weigh shaft brackets to the chassis at the rear of the ash pan and soldered the two cross beams to the pull rod. The pull rod  was then fitted to the chassis with the length of 0.7mm wire, the bottom end of the hangers were soldered to the cross beams and the whole assembly was checked for position. Up until now I had left the tops of the hangers to move freely, now I soldered them to the outside ends of the hanger brackets. These two photos show the finished article: -

 

 

 

I have also fitted the reverser weigh shaft (runs across the frames at the bottom of the motion bracket), this sticks out on the drivers side of the frames, between the driving wheels and will have the steam reverser operating lever and rod fitted; I am not going to fit this lever or the hand brake lever until I have the body in place for positioning. The hand brake lever will also need to be fitted in such a way so it doesn't foul the bogie wheels.

 

I think it has taken longer to describe than actually do, I hope it is of interest and that folks find it interesting.

 

I have tried to use names that describe the actual pieces, if it is total tosh then please feel free to comment, I won't be offended, I have found that the parts of locomotives seem to have different names in different areas of the country.

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[gz3xzf]

Matt/Ian

 

As two people that have a Finecast H would you mind if I ask you to describe or photograph the bogie pivot as I have looked at the way the kit is going together and cannot see how the bogie is going to get any side play?

[Ian J.]

Hi Bryan,

 

My H is currently packed away along with most of all my stuff waiting for my landlord to 'evict' me (the pics I posted above are from a few years ago), so I can't get access to it easily. If I can find my way to it I'll dig it out, but it could be quite a few days. From memory though, I think mine has a slot in the cast white metal bogie which the mounting pivots through.

 

Ian

Edited April 24, 2014 by Ian J.

[ianmaccormac]

http://www.lbscrmodels.co.uk/loco%20chassis%203.html

 

The above takes you to a blog about chassis building. This part is talking about 0-4-4T loco for the LB&SCR - a D3. Very similar to an H. I had no problem with my H without any thing other than this set up. Hornby M7 has approx. this with a sideways slot for the bogie pivot. That's probably all you need.

My first, whitemetal chassis H - there was a pivoting rear part to the chassis. It went round 9 inch curves!

Hope that's of use

Cheers

Ian in Blackpool

[gz3xzf]

Thanks for the answers from the two Ian's, I will have to see how the SE Finecast bogie works out, I may have to modify it to get more side play if required as the only movement side ways now is from the slack in the 1" long 8BA bolt.

 

Couple of little bits done towards the end of last week, weekend quite busy with an appointment with 109 year old lady at Swanage on Saturday and the RMWeb members day Sunday.

I have soldered the sides of the loco body together with the two cross members, one makes the front footplating & the rear one is just in front of the cab, with the bunker rear. I realised that it wasn't quite square, but with a wee bit of diagonal force and it seems to be good: -

 

I then put some of the bits together, the frames, wheels, loco body and boiler. There will be some fettling to do around the front wheels as they are shorting on the splashers, but mainly went well: -

 

Lastly here is the 109 year old lady at Swanage, not an H class but the LSWR equivalent: -

 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[gz3xzf]

OK, some more progress, only a small amount, but bits glued together at least.

First thing lets look at the driving wheel pick-ups, as mentioned earlier I am building this loco to be used with digital control so the wheel tyres of both sides of locomotive are insulated, therefore pickups are required both sides. I am using the SE Finecast suggestion of using Veroboard soldered between the frames with the tracks running along the long axis of the locomotive, due to the design of the chassis I have split this into two parts, one for the front axle and one for the rear axle. Here are some photos of two boards soldered in with the spring wire and connecting leads: -

 

The rear pickups have a dog leg in them to miss the pinion gear on the rear axle. The two pieces of Veroboard are a bit messy and slightly offset due to the pitch of the board; also (unlike the bogie) I have used the red and black wire colour coding for left and right rail wires (standard DCC practice).

 

Now I have started building the DCC NEM652 socket (rather than using the ready made socket with wires attached I bought), I thought making one myself would be better. So I have bought some modular connector socket from Maplin's (Cat No. DC17T), this will be soldered onto a piece of Veroboard and then soldered the top edge of the frames; here are a few photos of the parts and the socket coming together.

First the component parts, I will not be using the piece of Veroboard on the left and I haven't started fitting the NEM652 plug to the decoder yet. The right half of the photo shows the two pieces of connector, the Veroboard and a Hornby DCC blanking plug. I have drilled out eight of the Veroboard holes to 1.5mm so that the thicker part of the socket pin fits through.

 

 

Here is the completed socket, I have cut the tracks between the socket pins and will be cutting them between the holes at the outer edge.

 

 

I have also decided to ditch the TCS T1 decoder and use a TCS MC2 decoder, mainly as the MC2 is much smaller, I decided the T1 would be too big.

 

Onwards and upwards, hope it is interesting for peeps.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[gz3xzf]

BTW everybody, I didn't think the NEM socket idea up myself, it came from this page: -

Making DCC sockets

 

 

[Ian J.]

The very fact you're doing a custom socket is craftsmanship as far as I'm concerned. I'd have taken the short cut of either buying one already made up, or 'nicking' one from an existing PCB. As it was, I just decided to wire in the decoder's harness directly as I had a Lenz Gold with JST in my H.

[gz3xzf]

Sorry there haven't been any updates on this lately, there are two main reasons for this, one is life the universe and everything! The other is that I have discovered that the motor I have will not fit into the chassis/body without either modifying the motor or the body.

 

I have also discovered that the crank-pins supplied with the kit do not thread into the wheels, I have tried a 10BA screw in the wheels and that is fine, I found some crank-pins in a kit I was given sometime back which also screw in correctly; so I need to call SE Finecast and chat to them about it.