Bryan the Snail's workbench.

[DLT]

Cracking job Bryan,

Dave.

[gz3xzf]

Really long time without an update I'm afraid, but as the mowing season comes to an end soon and the evenings draw-in I may be able to spend more time at the modelling table. I have had another chat to Dave at SE Finecast and he has supplied a second set of crank pins that fit perfectly, he also gave me some ideas on how to remove the unwanted motor shaft so that it isn't so long.

Right back out to the garden today as there is always something to do and tomorrow off to Swanage, I am rostered fireman on the Lunch time dinning train currently there is no driver so that may be interesting!

[Dave Scott]

Bryan,

          I am new to this thread but I saw some way back you asked about bogie pivots on the old Wills kit. I had a look at mine and I used a plastic flat bar atached to th bogie with a pivot and pivoted off the chassis. A similar arrangement to most comercial locos. Compared to the pics of yours the Wills chassis is much cruder. good luck with the build.

 

Dave

[gz3xzf]

Another month gone by, soon be Christmas!!

Well the firing turn on 14th Sept ended up being a driving turn on the U-boat that has just arrived at Swanage (31806), very pleasant day other than running a bit late.

The grass still needs a final cut before too long so that it will look fairly tidy for the winter so hopefully we are going to get at least a couple of days of sunshine before the end of October.

 

Thanks Dave for looking, that is the method of attaching a bogie that I seem to remember was used by a lot of the manufacturers and kit makers.

 

Managed to spend a couple of hours working on the 'H', firstly I have plucked up the courage to cut the tail shaft off the motor so that it is easier to fit into the body shell, I was worrying about how to do this as I was aware that the swarf from the cutting might make its way into the motor (i.e. by being attracted by the magnet), the advice from Dave at SE Finecast is to put the motor into a plastic bag and push the shaft out the side of  the bag, any swarf attracted to the magnet sticks to the side of the bag.... simples! Here's a picture of the motor after, this is not the final position: -

 

 

I have soldered the smokebox front ring to the boiler/smokebox casting, I have also soldered the back-head to the cab front: -

 

 

I then started looking at the location for the decoder socket (and thus the position of the decoder), I decided that it is going in the bunker as there is an open space, first I attached the four main leads using the standard NMRA colours (Pin1 - Orange(motor left), Pin4 - Black(track left), Pin5 - Grey(motor right) & Pin8 - Red(track right) to the home made 8-pin socket (see 5th May 2014 post) and soldered this to the top of the frames so that it fits in the bunker: -

 

Note, the Vero board strips are cut between where the socket pins are soldered and then one hole towards the edges of the board, thus electrically separating the socket from the frames; hope that makes sense.

Here are a couple of pictures with the body (as far as it is built) with the frames under: -

 

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

[clarkeeboy56]

I purchased my 'H' class 7 or 8 years ago, and have just plucked up the courage to start the build. I'm not that confident at soldering, so the white metal parts have been superglued. I've also just recently purchased the Branchlines Chimney, dome and sprung buffers, once I've removed the SE finecast parts, and added the brass bits, I hope to get some paint on. I'm a way off building the chassis, as I will need to hone my soldering skills, but ....your build is very informative and I will be re-reading it a few times....at least. Notes will be taken!

[PenrithBeacon]

I'm just about to start building the SEF chassis for the GCR 0-6-2T (I want to finish two other projects first), so I've started to take an interest in this thread. The plot is to build the chassis in P4 but as the chassis kit comes without P4 spacers I'm going to use Comet P4 spacers and I'm also going to use the LRM radial truck at the rear end. AGW wheels, which unfortunately will require a bit of a compromise, will complete the ensemble.

I'm struck by the negative tone of the comments re SEF castings. I bought a set of castings for this engine at Scaleforum on the Saturday, they arrived in the post the following Wednesday and I think they're very good indeed. Now I'm looking forward to receiving the etched body kit from Judith Edge but that won't be until the end of the month or early November.

Like the thread, like it lots!

Regards

Edited October 16, 2014 by PenrithBeacon

[clarkeeboy56]

I'm just about to start building the SEF chassis for the GCR 0-6-2T (I want to finish two other projects first), so I've started to take an interest in this thread. The plot is to build the chassis in P4 but as the chassis kit comes without P4 spacers I'm going to use Comet P4 spacers and I'm also going to use the LRM radial truck at the rear end. AGW wheels, which unfortunately will require a bit of a compromise, will complete the ensemble.

 

I'm struck by the negative tone of the comments re SEF castings. I bought a set of castings for this engine at Scaleforum on the Saturday, they arrived in the post the following Wednesday and I think they're very good indeed. Now I'm looking forward to receiving the etched body kit from Judith Edge but that won't be until the end of the month or early November.

 

Like the thread, like it lots!

 

Regards

 

I've nothing against SEF castings myself, in fact I agree they are rather good. The only reason I'm replacing the Chimney and Dome is that I managed to damage them -beyond reasonable redemption!!

[gz3xzf]

Hello again, weather not good in Dorset this week, I have had to spend sometime at the local National Tyre depot today as a kerb stone jumped out and bit the nearside tyre during a downpour the other day, of course I had to change the other front wheel as well and have the tracking adjusted, so the bank balance is down tonight!!

 

Gents, I have found that the SEF castings are generally good, but some of the small parts are loosing definition, I found if you call SEF they are willing to replace any parts without question. My opinion is that white-metal is great for the big structural parts of a model, but brass castings, or turned parts, are better for the fine detail.

 

I have managed to spend some more time at both the computer and the modeling table today, so here goes with the description of what has happened.

 

A pet hate of mine is when you take a model apart (either RTR or kit built) is having parts that are "tied" to the chassis by wires, e.g. when you disconnect and try to remove the motor you find it is connected to the chassis with wires soldered at both ends. So with this in mind I started trawling the Internet for some miniature connectors, I found some on the DCC Supplies website, but they were £3.80 or £7.00 each for a two pin plug and socket; then I realised I had some thing to hand that would do the job. More of this later, first I have worked out that no matter how much I tried different positions for the motor, the only way to make it fit was to remove a small section of the boiler between the tanks, so the first photo shows the new hole that fits round the gearbox: -

 

I have also soldered in the cab floor, the water tank balance pipe and the cab front with the back-head detail: -

 

Now for the plug and sockets to allow removal of the motor and the bogie, I used the modular connector strip (Maplin part DC17T) that was used earlier to make the 8-pin NEM652 decoder socket, create four two pin sections of the strip and then solder wires to the pin on one side and the hole on the other, first picture is the four sections of strip with some bits of wire thrown in to set the mood: -

 

Second picture showing the wires soldered in the holes to make the plug: -

 

Then the socket part is made by soldering the wires to the pins the other side and placing some shrink sieving over the solder joint, here is the bogie connector in place, it will be located in the bunker with the decoder, I connected the socket wires to the underside of the 8-pin NEM socket. Also in this photo you can see the strip of nickle silver soldered across the top of the frames, this supports the motor and stops it falling into the cab: -

 

I then turned my attention to connecting the pickup wires from the driving wheels to the 8-pin NEM socket, once again using heat-shrink sieving to insulate the bare wires (you can see the wires hanging around in the photo above): -

 

Lastly a little test, I fitted the motor (you can see the motor plug/socket connector just below it) and a DCC blanking plug to the NEM socket and put a 9volt battery across the wheel pickup wires, to my relief the motor bust into life; I have yet to find if I have connected it up the right way, i.e. so that when the decoder is set for forward it goes forward, but it works: -

 

 

Anyway, time for bed now, as usual it has gone midnight, tomorrow I am off to Swanage to take some photographs of Met 1 and The Raging Bull (GWR 1501 pannier from the SVR) that are performing at the Gala.

 

Good night all, hope my ramblings are useful.

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

[gz3xzf]

I purchased my 'H' class 7 or 8 years ago, and have just plucked up the courage to start the build. I'm not that confident at soldering, so the white metal parts have been superglued. I've also just recently purchased the Branchlines Chimney, dome and sprung buffers, once I've removed the SE finecast parts, and added the brass bits, I hope to get some paint on. I'm a way off building the chassis, as I will need to hone my soldering skills, but ....your build is very informative and I will be re-reading it a few times....at least. Notes will be taken!

Hi Clarkeeboy, I have only been soldering white-metal since I started this kit, the turning point for me was a temperature controlled soldering iron, which I believe is the only way you are going to do it. So far on this kit I have been using Carrs Red Flux and Carrs Red 70 Solder (i.e. solder melts at 70 degrees C), this is a very low melting point. To give you an idea, this solder should melt in boiling water, so don't wash the completed kit in water hotter than your hand can bear (the same is true for super-glue).

 

I use a Maplins 50W Solder Station which so far has been really good, you have to work out where to set the control for each solder you are going to use by trial & error and make a note of it. I also purchased a pack of 50W Solder Station Additional Solder Tips so that I could have one tip to use on standard soldering and one for the low melt solder. So far this has worked really well and is actually easier than using glues.

 

Some tips on soldering, first you need to know is to make solder "flow" into a joint the two items you are soldering together must get to at or near the melting point of the solder, therefore soldering a wire to a terminal is a very different "kettle of fish" from soldering two lumps of brass together; you will need different quantities of heat to go into the job. To do this you either need to hold the iron on the job to get the heat into it or have a big heat sink (i.e. a big soldering iron) so that it has a store of heat, but again this depends what you're soldering. Wires, try and make a quick touch, long enough to get the wire and the terminal hot but not too long to melt the insulation, brass or nickle-silver frames long enough to get the whole job hot enough to flow the solder completely along the joint.

Second tip is that the two surfaces you are soldering must be clean, with wires it is fairly easy to get a clean bit, strip off some more insulation. With white-metal or brass, use some thing to clean the surface just before soldering, some wire wool, a wire brush, file, anything that is going to clean the little bit of surface oxide off the work piece.

Third use a etching agent, i.e. a flux, this can be a liquid flux (I have been using the Carrs fluid) or a paste (I have a tin of Opella Solder Flux that I have had for years, which is great for dipping the ends of wires into or pasting onto the job with a screw driver).

Tin the pieces before actually joining them (tinning is the process of getting a little bit of solder to adhere to each component before joining them), this does depends upon what you are soldering. I always tin electrical joints, strip the insulation off the wire, heat the end and melt some solder onto the wire making sure it covers the end. Sometimes when soldering larger items it is not always possible to tin them, maybe the accuracy of the joint will not allow the extra material. With electrical joints tinning makes it easier as you are not trying to hold the soldering iron, the job and the reel of solder.

 

If you are not confident at doing things, practice, practice, practice, in the SEF kit there were enough white-metal parts for the EM/P4 version of the bogie so I soldered them together as a trial piece. There were also extra nickle-silver parts of the frames so I used them too.

 

Hope this is useful and not too much "teaching grandmother to suck eggs"!!

[bigbadbadge]

Fantastic work so far.  I am just starting out and making my first kit getting my confidence up, this is very helpful and may have to put the variable Solder iron/station on my Christmas list for SWMBO to get me (fingers crossed).

 

Keep up the good work and can't wait to see the finished article.

 

All the best
Chris
 

[clarkeeboy56]

Fantastic work so far.  I am just starting out and making my first kit getting my confidence up, this is very helpful and may have to put the variable Solder iron/station on my Christmas list for SWMBO to get me (fingers crossed).

 

Keep up the good work and can't wait to see the finished article.

 

All the best

Chris

 

Watcha Chris, fancy bumping into you again on here....which kit are you building? Not in N gauge is it?

[gz3xzf]

Morning All, lovely autumnal morning in Dorset.

 

No pictures, but it was quite a milestone for the H class the day before yesterday as I fitted the wheels, motor, gears, bogie and a DCC blanking plug to the chassis and gave it a run (without coupling rods) on the rolling road; so far so good, runs OK on DC and seemed to be picking up on all wheels (although I still need to clean more of the paint off the back of the bogie wheels).

 

Next I swapped the DCC blanking plug for the TCS MC2 decoder and ran it for a bit longer on the rolling road, this was successful; the only little niggle was that the engine ran the wrong direction under DCC control, so I will have to swap the motor leads round.

 

Lastly I put the body (as it stands) onto the chassis (to make sure all the bits and pieces would fit OK) and gave it a run on the rolling road and on my sons layout, this too was successful.

 

Yesterday I did a bit more tinkering with the chassis, it needed a packing piece between the chassis and the body at the front to get the levels right. I have swapped the motor leads (Orange and Grey wires) round on the motor terminals which will sort out the directional issue. I had to clean the front axle with some emery paper as overnight it corroded in the brass bearing, which can only be due to some soldering flux being left behind. I have now stripped the chassis down again as I am planning to spray it next, I will also have to take the wheels off the bogie so that can be painted. I have some cans of Halfords spray paint (I don't own a spray gun yet) for undercoat, matt black and gloss.

 

I am now trying to work out the best way of painting the body as I have realised that the cab interior will have to be painted before the rest of the cab is built, but to spray the exterior the cab interior will have to be covered somehow, how do other folks approach the spray painting of a loco body?

Edited October 22, 2014 by gz3xzf

[pete_mcfarlane]

On my R1, which is pretty similar to the H (I think they share castings) I left the roof off for painting and fitting the crew, and then glued it on before the final coat of varnish. You just have to make sure that it's a good fit before you start painting.

[Ian J.]

I never even glued my roof on. That way I am able to show the interior more if others want to see it. I also left the bolier/tank top arrangement free, for easier access to the motor area. However, handling the locomotive has to be done with care so those parts don't get dropped on the floor.

[DLT]

Really nice job on the H.

 

I glue cab roofs on very lightly, just so that they don't fall off when handled, but can b pulled off easily and without damage when needed.

 

Cheers,

Dave.

[gz3xzf]

Thanks for the replies everybody.

 

It is interesting that you've suggested leaving the cab roof off until finished as it has made me go and look at the cab and I am wondering if making up the roof, with the side & back sheets would be possible and lightly gluing on the whole assembly after painting, I may have a go and see if it is possible. Wouldn't work on all models but the Wainwright locos with the cab stepped in gives the option.

[bigbadbadge]

Watcha Chris, fancy bumping into you again on here....which kit are you building? Not in N gauge is it?

Hi Bill

Still got the N Gauge but also in OO too now.  Hope you are well fella.

 

The suggestions re the roof are interesting, when I build my tank locos will have to remember that too as I would have just plunged straight in and glued it otherwise.

 

All the best

Chris

 

[Ian J.]

My H with unfixed roof is in this post on the previous page of this thread: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/84223-se-finecast-secr-h-class-0-4-4t/&do=findComment&comment=1416310

 

It sits comfortably on the cab and when I was running it I don't remember any issues with it looking or sounding loose. Same goes for the boiler and tank top section.

[clarkeeboy56]

Thanks for the replies everybody.

 

It is interesting that you've suggested leaving the cab roof off until finished as it has made me go and look at the cab and I am wondering if making up the roof, with the side & back sheets would be possible and lightly gluing on the whole assembly after painting, I may have a go and see if it is possible. Wouldn't work on all models but the Wainwright locos with the cab stepped in gives the option.

An interesting thought, the only concern I would have would be with paint scraping off of the side sheets and the body work, if being removed regularly.

[gz3xzf]

Variable day in Dorset today, rained first thing and then brightened up later. I spent some time at the modeling table today and ended up not going for a walk to enjoy the autumn sunshine which is a shame, but progress has been made which I am quite pleased about.

 

First off today I decided that I would try and get all the little bits and pieces attached to the frames so that they can be sprayed; still to be attached to the frames are the rear sand boxes, the hand brake lever, the front guard irons, the reverser operating rod & springs. Here is a sand box and the piece of 0.7mm brass rod that will make the sand pipe; I have already drilled a hole in the bottom of the sand box to receive the pipe: -

 

I attached the frames to the body work as the sand box fits around the rear fixing and needs the two parts together to locate it, I used the low melt solder to fix the box to the frames and then the pipe to the box, the pipe bends towards the rear wheel and then solders to the bracket attached to the bottom of the ash pan: -

 

Looking at the springs I realised that they will have to be left off the model as they fit just where I have fixed the electrical pick-ups, you can see the front pickup wire by the bearing where the centre of the leaf spring would fix, the rear coil springs have a similar problem: -

 

Here is a picture of the hand brake lever on the end of the brake weigh-shaft, hopefully this will not foul the bogie, else this may have to go as well: -

 

The reverser rod and lever, the H class have a Wainwright steam reverser, the cylinders are above the footplate fitted to the front of the drivers side tank, this also explains the "gubbins" on the drivers side of the cab on the tank top (see below), it is the drivers reverser control. The movement is transmitted from the cylinders via the vertical rod which turns the reverser weigh-shaft by way of the horizontal lever; also in the photo are shown the front guard irons: -

 

I then turned to the body, I soldered in the bunker front and the two parts of the tank that protrude into the cab, I also attached the regulator and firehole door operating handle with superglue. Circled in this picture is the reverser control mentioned above: -

 

Next I had a go at building the cab top (see conversation in previous posts), I soldered the cab sides to the cab back sheet and then soldered the roof to the assembly, the next two photos show the cab in place and then separate: -

 

Here is a view of the body as it stands now, the bunker top, the cab top and the boiler top aren't actually fix yet, but you can get the idea: -

 

 

As always, hope this is useful, any questions about the build please ask.

 

 

 

 

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

[gz3xzf]

OK, another couple of hours spent on the H, tonight trying to avoid The Apprentice!!

 

I had a sudden thought whilst mulling over some things and realised that the bunker top could be fitted to the cab back rather than the main body, so first thing was to solder the bunker: -

 

Then I fitted a couple of detail bits to the cab interior, the handbrake and cab seats: -

 

Then I turned to the chassis again, I had fitted the crank pins to the wheels, then I realised that the wheel centres that come on the chassis etch are designed to be held in place by the crank pins, this caused me to question whether they are used, here are two pictures, one with the centres in place and one without: -

 

I think as the centres do not really cover the Romford wheel centre boss and that they are slightly off-centre I will probably either go without or cut the centres about a bit and glue them next to the crank pins.

I also folded the coupling rods and slid them onto the crank pins: -

 

 

Other little jobs that have been started, I have drilled (where required) the buffer beams and filed off the cast buffer detail to take the Kean Maygib buffers, these will be Super-glued into place and the buffer heads & springs fitted after painting is finished.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

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

[gz3xzf]

Today I have put everything together and done something new for me, I have made a video  : -

 

 

As it says at the end, the coupling rods are only pushed onto the crank-pins, therefore only short runs in case they fall off.

 

Also a couple of photos of the loco as it stands: -

 

I have fitted the tank fillers, the front sandbox fillers and drilled the holes for the handrail knobs. I have also drilled the holes to take the Markits clack valves and some pilot holes for the chimney, dome and safety valves, I used the dimples in the casting as a guide and made sure that the drill was at right angles to the boiler. I have also fitted the Markits smokebox door handles to the door, I soldered (using low melt solder) the centre pin to the door and then superglued the handles to the pin; I did think of soldering it all, but realised that the solder on the handles would mask any detail.

 

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

[gz3xzf]

Morning from Dorset, been raining all night and very overcast this morning, happily the wind is not as strong as it was yesterday.

 

Not much happening on the modeling front, I don't think I have managed much more than going and looking at the kit for a few weeks now. I have a few days off over Christmas period so I will see if I can spend some more time on it.

 

One thing I did look at was the Markits boiler feed pipe and clack valves, there are lots of small fiddly bits and looking at the drawing I couldn't work out how they go together, does anybody have a picture of them built (i guess would be better unpainted, but I would be grateful for any help)?

 

I also have an suspicion that there may be an SEF SECR R1 0-6-0T under the tree from Mrs Hardwick.

 

Thanks for reading.

[bigbadbadge]

Looking great, I am holding off on mine for now and am watching with interest, you are a lucky man my missus won't buy me anything like that for chrimbo.  Keep up the good work

 

All the best
Chris

[gz3xzf]

Merry Christmas to everyone and hoping for a Happy New Year.

 

As suspected a new thread will be required for the wife's present: -

 

Just off to help finish the washing up after Christmas Lunch, an afternoon in front of the television beckons!!

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