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Kitbuilt - SECR L class from the DJH kit


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Nice work Pete. I've got (had for some time) an D1/E1 kit so your insight into the build will be quite informative.

I know what you mean about the flash changing colour, it does if with full size locos too!

I'll have to check out narrow planet too.

Regards Brian

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  • 4 weeks later...

Some more of my very slow progress. The tender is pretty much done - bar the rear coupling. The loco is painted, and I just need to paint and assemble the loco chassis (once I've added the balance weights, which I managed to forget, possibly due to hating having to make them....). 

post-1187-0-66599400-1446935824_thumb.jpgpost-1187-0-95823800-1446935826_thumb.jpg

The paint finish never looks as good in photos, especially if (like me) it's not your strong point and you've picked a complex livery.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

It's pretty much done. There's a spot of mechanical tweaking to be done to make the mechanism run more smoothly, and the fallplate has somehow come unattached and needs fixing, but cosmetically the loco is complete. I could have done better at the painting - this is only my second attempt at the SR lined green livery, but overall I'm quite pleased with the result. 

post-1187-0-12625200-1451428674_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Hello Pete, I am looking at buying one of these as DJH have discontinued them, I have a couple of questions.

Why did you use the Branchlines motor and gearbox rather than the DJH one?

How did you arrange the pickups on the locomotive and tender?

 

Thanks for sharing the build, I will find it useful when mine arrives.

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Bryan,

 

Motors and gearboxes tend to be down to personal preference. I tend to use Branchlines gearboxes and the Mashima motors as they're what I'm familiar with. 

 

The pickups are on the driving wheels, and the rear set of tender wheels. You can see the loco pickups (just) in this picture. There's a bit of PCB stuck behind the motor, and the actual pickups are nickel silver wire attached to this. 

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This is a slightly odd arrangement - normally you'd have the pickups on the underside of the chassis, but the plastic ashpan I fitted was in the way. 

Edited by pete_mcfarlane
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  • 1 year later...

Hi Pete

 

I have started building the first of these, I am a bit confused about the chassis fixing to the body, the way the instructions read, DJH expect you to make a thread in the white-metal for the rear fixing screw under the cab, is that your understanding? (I see on yours you put the screws coming down from the body rather than going up.)

Edited by gz3xzf
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I'm not sure how much help I can be, as I've no longer got the instructions, so I'm not entirely sure what the official DJH approach is. Tapping whitemetal doesn't seem to be a very good approach - you'd only be able to screw in to it a few times before the thread started to disintegrate. 

 

Sometimes these kits use a captive nut glued/soldered in to a hole in the footplate, but as you've already noticed I tend to prefer to have the bolts coming down and then thread the nuts on to them. I'm found that easier to do on previous kit builds. 

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I'm not sure how much help I can be, as I've no longer got the instructions, so I'm not entirely sure what the official DJH approach is. Tapping whitemetal doesn't seem to be a very good approach - you'd only be able to screw in to it a few times before the thread started to disintegrate. 

 

Sometimes these kits use a captive nut glued/soldered in to a hole in the footplate, but as you've already noticed I tend to prefer to have the bolts coming down and then thread the nuts on to them. I'm found that easier to do on previous kit builds. 

;Yep, I didn't think it was too good tapping the W/M, I decided to use one of the nuts and "make room for it" under the footplate.

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  • 2 years later...
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I know this dates from a year or two back but I have just found it and since I have a DJH "L" kit its all very useful, many thanks for all your useful research and info.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

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  • 11 months later...

Almost a year since Richard bumped the thread. I've just managed to acquire an L too. I think I might "Cheat" and make mine 1768 too, as i've got a spare Bachmann C tender floating around!

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On 01/05/2015 at 23:13, pete_mcfarlane said:

I've now detailed the chassis, and it's ready for a coat of etch primer.

 

The brake gear is from a Mainly Trains etc - I think it's intended for a Maunsell loco. It replaced the cast DJH brake shoes, which are nice castings but a bit basic. 

Having read DLT's thread about his Southern kitbuilds I decided to make the brake gear removable, so it fits in to 1.5mm tubing attached to the chassis sides.

 

The plastic firebox looks huge but is definitely the correct size - you can see how much empty space DJH left under the chassis, so adding this should improve the look of the loco! I also replaced the sandboxes with plastic ones  DJH only provide 2, which I've used for the front pair (and attached them to the underside of the footplate rather than the chassis). 

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The (Finecast) tender chassis is no so advanced - it comes with some vague looking etched brake shoes, so I've sent off for a set of Brassmasters etched ones intended for the Bachmann C class to rectify this.

 

Pete

 

I am a bit late to the show and I may have skipper over the answer in your posts, I have a couple of questions about the way you do your brake gear

 

Is the tube brass and what is the inside diameter, how far does it stick out

 

As for the wire is it standard brass and what diameter please

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These days I use some 1mm outside diameter/0.5mm inside diameter brass tube from Eileen's Emporium for the brake rods. The brake gear has stubs of 0.4mm or 0.33m wire to soldered to the hangers. 

 

This seems to be the stuff I bought: https://eileensemporium.com/index.php?option=com_hikashop&ctrl=product&task=show&cid=819&name=brass-round-tube-1-0mm-x-0-5mm-x-305mm-mt4&Itemid=189&category_pathway=1085

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Like Pete I also use 1mm tube. The advantage is that you can pre paint the brake blocks and just glue them in after the wheels are in place without fear that flux ends up on the wheel tyres. 

670 c1 .JPG

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Again thank you both I will try this method

 

Is there a recommended length for the tube

Do you fit 1 complete length through the frames and cut out the middle if required

Do you use standard 0.45 brass wire or something stronger?

 

I have just had a DJH E1 arrive in the post today

Edited by hayfield
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I fit a single length of tube through the frames, and solder in place. Sometimes the bit between the frames needs to be cut away to clear the motor or compensation beams, but installing in one piece and cutting is easier and more accurate than trying to solder two little bits of tube in place either side. 

 

I tend to cut the tube to the width of the wheels over their faces, and then use a rat tail needle file to trim it back to the correct length once the wheels are fitted (testing with the brake shoes, to get them in the correct position). 0.45mm wire should be fine. 

 

There's an alternative approach that I haven't tried where short lengths of the tube are fitted to the brake shoes, and these fit over a section of 0.45mm wire soldered to the frames in the usual way. 

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