RMweb Premium J. S. Bach Posted October 10, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 10, 2018 Last night the wheels were fitted and i now have a rolling chassis, size comparison below with a RCH 12 ton peckett (7) by Sam, on Flickr A serious question from someone whose main interest is in trains that do not use buffers. I see what looks like a difference in buffer height between the two; is that just an artifact of the camera angle? But, if they really are of different heights, how would that affect operation? For example, the below photo shows that it does happen here; but I think that the car knockers would have been called to fix this one (the red one) before it could be sent on its way. The most that I have seen in service is about an inch or so. A note: In the US, the FRA forbids painting any part of the coupler assembly as paint could hide a defect such as a crack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 there are buffer height differences in prototypes, some are 3'4" high and some 3'6" but most are 3'5". on my model it wont matter as the loco buffers have large heads 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) the bushes arrived yesterday and Last night i fitted the crank pin bolts, while i had the wheels off, the balance weights were added Coupling rod cutting and filing this morning, i have previously cut the rods from 1mm brass but this time im trying 0.5mm nickel to help with the clearances. A trial fit was done first with the bushes put on wrong way round and then the proper fit after filoing down the length of the bushes, the slaters washers were used with the holes opened out both rods fitted with the bushes filed down Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 13, 2018 Author Share Posted October 13, 2018 (edited) Planning the cylinders and motion now that the connecting rods have been made and the excess thread on the front crankpin was cut back and filed down Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 (edited) the drawing now includes the motion bracket. the slide bars have been laminated from 2 strips of 0.5 x 1.5mm brass, the piston tubes are 2mm dia' and the brass blocks were 2 pieces soldered up from 1.5 x 5mm and about 1mm long, this 11 x 5 x 3mm block was then cut in half length wise and will be filed down into the slide bar bracket on the piston gland also, here are some surviving Peckett M5's on flickr P 1163 of 1908 "WhiteHead" at the midland centre https://www.flickr.com/photos/68729621@N03/36417281396/in/pool-peckett/ P 1903 of 1936 chatham dockyard https://www.flickr.com/photos/keith_burton/14093288393/in/pool-peckett/ P 1579 of 1921 "Pectin" in Yeovil https://www.flickr.com/photos/55223176@N03/14345007241/in/pool-peckett/ P 2039 of 1943 at the East Anglian railway museum https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtick47/45007828172/in/pool-peckett/ Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium J. S. Bach Posted October 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 14, 2018 (edited) P 2039 of 1943 at the East Anglian railway museum https://www.flickr.com/photos/mtick47/45007828172/in/pool-peckett/ Now I see what you meant by large buffers in answer to my previous comment. I had thought that they would have all been of a standard size. Edited October 14, 2018 by J. S. Bach Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
doilum Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 Now I see what you meant by large buffers in answer to my previous comment. I had thought that they would have all been of a standard size. The NCB often fitted large buffer heads. Question for the knowledgeable: presumably for tight radius curves, but possibly for sudden changes in gradient? I was thinking about ramps onto hoppers or steep inclines to a lower part of the yard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 15, 2018 Author Share Posted October 15, 2018 (edited) i'd say its a mixture of tight curves and rough track where the locos and wagons can see-saw about quite a bit and a large head prevents buffer lock Those 2 blocks were filed down to profile With the parts ready to solder together a jig was made on a piece of MDF with a piece of firework stick. The piston tube sits in the slot with the end up to a certain pencil line, the bracket goes on lined up to other pencil lines and then the slide bars slot under the bracket and sit against either side of the little wooden block the first set assembled And then both cylinder blocks made up out of black styrene each with 2 10BA bolts set into them for locating and fixing to the chassis Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 16, 2018 Author Share Posted October 16, 2018 (edited) Crossheads made out of channel section and a square of brass with a copper wire. i didnt have any brass wire the right size. of course i put a bit of paper inbetween the crosshead and con rod when soldering the brass pin a little fettling in the cylinder holes to line up the slide bars with the wheel centre and filing a a taper on the end of the slide bars, it rolls sweetly Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted October 16, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 16, 2018 Really neat job, Sam. Usually at a GOG show I go to the Slaters stand, rummage in the box with the building sheets, and get the packs of brass rods, .030, .040, .060, these are really useful for loco building. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 (edited) motion brackets soldered to the slide bars and screwed to the chassis, the cylinders is clad and has the front end plate, the buffer beams have rivet heads as before the bufferbeams are painted with the brick red as an undercoat before the flat read i was thinking of having the motor horizontal in the boiler but that would have meant a long gear train to the axle, the motor (an Escap the same as in Hestia) does how ever just fit vertically in the firebox Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 (edited) With a smooth rolling chassis now done it was all taken apart for painting. The rods, motion bracket and cylinder ends got a few coats of matt black and the wheels & cylinder sides got blue, the cylinders currently only have 1 coat though. the chosen colour is tamiya XF-18 medium blue which i think looks rather nice and industrial, the crankpins were masked off with wire insulation before painting. the buffer beams have now had at least 4 coats of red to get a solid colour, this is a Tamiya X-7 flat red the gear train for the motor has been decided out of my collection, i think these black gears were originally from the Lima chassis i hacked about 2 years ago, theres a diameter difference between the worm gear bore and the motor shaft so some sort of bush will have to be knocked up to fill that and drawn up Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 (edited) The name for this Peckett will be Nautilus of the captain Nemo fame, though i'm more familiar with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen interpretation, the idea i'd for a running theme of fictitious ships which i already have Thunderchild which Nautilus accompanies this nicely and the next loco whenever i get to it will be called Highwind named after the airship in the 1997 game Final Fantasy VII A second coat of blue on the cylinders and wheels making the bush for the worm gear on the motor shaft was easier than i thought it would be as i had just the right diameter brass tube to fit, a "D" was filed into the end of the shaft so when the tube was put on, solder was put into the end to fill the gap and lock the tube onto the shaft then the worm gear just needed the hole opening out a little bit to be a tight push fit over that. the chocolate block grub screw was again cut up and filed down with 2 brass wires either side to locate into the gear, the screw thread had to be cut down and the head diameter, filed back. the other gear also had to be worked on as the hole was a bit bigger than the 2mm rod which was sorted by curving a tiny strip of thin styrene (somewhere about 0.3mm thick) into a ring, inserting that into the hole and then pushing the rod through, this styrene bush was set with normal model plastic cement Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 (edited) The 2mm rod was cut down and a copper tube spacer went in but i took a bit too much off the spacer so a washer went in instead of cutting a new one. the motor mounting needed slots cut for the gears to sit in but on the axle gear, the plate had to be curved to avoid the screw head, the test run on croc clips was fine, i even put it under a bit of stress by squeezing the axle between my fingers and it still ran fine The chassis could be assembled with the motor in and again held in place by a wire through the frames and a bracket soldered to the gearbox, as the motor will be encased in the firebox, the wires were routed down the side and held by a bit of tape, another 2 pin plug was used from something like a broken and dismantled dvd player initial fit of the footplate and buffers & hooks have been properly fitted Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastdax Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Nautilus is looking good Sam! I'm interested in how the Tamiya blue finish turns out as I'm looking for a nice industrial colour for my Ixion Fowler. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turin 60 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Nautilus is looking good Sam! I'm interested in how the Tamiya blue finish turns out as I'm looking for a nice industrial colour for my Ixion Fowler. I used it on an Impetus Sentinel some years ago, looked good on an industrial. John. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 23, 2018 Author Share Posted October 23, 2018 (edited) the chassis can now run under power from crock clips and with some weight of a metal block, the frame stretcher to take the picks ups is being prepared with styrene blocks. With the chassis now not hidden by the motor it can be intentionally seen so the inside of there which will be visible is being painted and the footplate is cut out to show it. A start is also being made on the body with the cab Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 24, 2018 Author Share Posted October 24, 2018 (edited) The frame stretcher was glued and held in place by a big clip over night to set so this morning that and the copper clad strip could be drilled and screwed in then the motor wires and phosphor strip could be soldered on. the motor plug has been hidden under black tape, the chassis now runs, video further down cut out the spectacle holes, anybody else thats tried this will know that styrene under 1mm thick doesnt like being drilled by a bit over 5mm which just chews it up. i was going to drill out the holes by opening out one size at a time but the 5mm started ripping up the styrene so instead i roughly cut the holes almost to final size then opened them out and cleaned them up with the 8mm bit. there are 2 styles of cab i could choose with no mix of the 2 as what can be seen in photos The 2 styles of cab, have either open back or enclosed and the cab side has either a typical locomotive style transition curve or it is a circular curve and a vertical straight line, from many photos ive seen the straight line side only comes with the enclosed back and the circular curve only comes with the open back. The drawing im using is an option 1 but photos show that the M5's had both and since this is not a strict model of that particular loco i can do what i want, so im going with option 2, there are some that dont follow these options like "pectin" but most do option 1, open back and transition curve https://goo.gl/images/Tg2rh5 option 2, enclosed back with circular curve https://goo.gl/images/v6LoZy pectin https://goo.gl/images/xwj7SC cutting the profiles for the saddle tank test video Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 26, 2018 Author Share Posted October 26, 2018 (edited) While assembling the saddle tank, i thought that it would be easier to add the lead before cladding it, theres a cut out in the end for the motor lower half of the smokebox the curves on the smokebox front were marked out with a paper template to get them symmetrical, below the back of the tank is propped up with offcuts Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 27, 2018 Author Share Posted October 27, 2018 (edited) Ive now tried a load test with the peckett, as it is now at 230g it cant do the minimum load of 3 wagons and brakevan pushing them through the reverse curve through the points on my layout, an extra 130g of lead strip was hung over the saddle bringing it up to 360g but it can only just do it the mountings for the saddle wich i assume are for the saddle tank to sit on to keep the weight off the boiler, then added a cross piece to strengthen the mountings and becomes the firebox front The firebox being assembled, i'm going to make up the box and clad it and then cut into it instead of cutting it then assembling because the front piece will be stronger than cutting before hand corner strengthening cladding the tank water filling lid has been cut and filed down to shape (but forgot to photograph it) the lid handle it a s rounded knob, i was thinking using a handrail knob with the hole filled in but instead in going to try filing down with a bit of 1.5 styrene glued to the end of a styrene rod Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted October 30, 2018 Author Share Posted October 30, 2018 (edited) Using the hole in the end, the empty space inside the saddle tank was filled with lead shot, holes were cut in the under side of the smokebox to get a bit more lead in which brought the weight up to 330g making it a bit more able in the load test. i think once ive made the boiler and filled it up, the weight will be enough holes cut in the smokebox and parts cut for the boiler boiler framework going together boiler framework assembled, the smokebox filled with lead and starting the front sand pots ready to paint front sand pots on the right and half done rear pots (in the cab) Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted November 7, 2018 Author Share Posted November 7, 2018 (edited) the boiler was cladded and then then holes cut in the top to fill with lead, this was glued to the underside of the saddle, another load test was done which was more succesful but then i realised that actually most of the traction problems were not the locos weight but the resistance caused by buffer compression on the wagons and them being pushed against the outside rail as the loco can do fine pulling the wagons through the curve The safety valve housing had the top cut off and rounded off, i gave up on the water filler lid knob and glued in the head of a panel pin after having a second hand pillar drill jig for many months i couldnt use it, yes my mains drill does fit in it (just) i had the problem of needing 3 hands, ffirst to hold what im drilling, second to use the vertical control lever and third to hold the drill trigger but a few days ago i had the idea to power it through a sewing machine foot pedal, a family member has some spare so gave me one, the drill itself hasnt been changed or tampered with at all except for having the trigger tied down, i changed the 3-pin plug on the pedal for a mains plug socket which the drill plugs into and then the pedal plug into the mains, with the drill vertically i have a pillar drill or if i turn it, i have a lathe The first thing i did with my new lathe was turn the chimney cap for Nautilus out of styrene for our show this year were having a special diorama challenge, i decided to enter with one of the compeigne armistice memorials in 7mm, this is the current condition apart from ive now built up the cardboard over the ply, my next concern is somehow making styrene look like granite https://www.oisetourisme.com/pcupic1600000072/memorial-de-la-clairiere-de-larmistice/compiegne Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted November 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 7, 2018 Nautilus is looking good Sam. I like your idea with the drill - that's rather nifty! The diorama is coming along nicely too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted November 7, 2018 Share Posted November 7, 2018 Clever way to make a "lathe", Sam. Make sure the drill holding bolts are secure each time before you use it. Looking good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir douglas Posted November 8, 2018 Author Share Posted November 8, 2018 (edited) turned the smokebox door on my new lathe to the correct profile a little detail i noticed is that the door is about 1 1/2 inch lower than the boiler door glued on with the hinges Edited December 21, 2018 by sir douglas 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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