Just me bored and rambling on a bit, think I've been on holiday to long. I am sort of trying to find the mojo ready for when I get home. But after two years of worth of modelling That did not, I feel, amount to much. I thought I ought to take stock and see where I have got to and where I should be heading. My first pleasure is to build kits or scratch building whether it be locos wagons or anything else. Well I've only managed four locos and a few wagons in the last 2 years. I need to up my game
Well, for my half year update, it is more about life than model making.
The first couple of months were ok for time at the bench. Then in march things changed quite dramatically. Mother in law sadly passed away which was devistating for the family here. After this it was decided we would move to our house and father in law would come with us. Here lies problem one, our house was designed for us to live in as a couple. So although we have 3 bedrooms two were smaller guest rooms. The best opt
It thought I would take stock of what I have achieved model making wise this past 12 months, and what I would like to do in 2016.
Looking back back I do not seem to have made much progress with things completed. I have only finished 3 locos, and I do not think I have done any rolling stock. I did manage to acquire another couple of wagons to build though.
The locos, The first was a LNER V3 from an Ace kit, which was a challenge. Then came a LMS Ivatt class 2 tank. again not the easiest k
After a lot of thought I have decided to move my work from here to a thread, I feel that fewer people are looking at blogs or it feels that way. So to get to a wider audience it is the best move. Itis a shame because I much prefer the blog format I think it works much better with any replies tagged to the post that they relate to. I thought it was a good time to change as I am starting a new build project.
I hope that you all will enjoy the posts that will beher at Not for Peter, Pete's Wor
I am still undecided whether to move the loco building from the blog here to a thread. But in the meantime I have some thinks that I am lining up to build in the future some are ready and others needa few more parts adding.
I have an early Ex LSWR/Southern S15 to do, this will no doubt be a challenge as it is from the ACE range. It now has everything needed for the build except the motor and gearbox, I am actually looking forward to this one. One it is a particular favourite of mine, and I d
Next up will be a Javelin Dukedog.
It has been started and I will make a few modifications mainly to the frames. I think I will do 3 point compensation using the bogie pivot as the cross rocking point. This will at least mean two thirds of the weight will be on the drivers. As you can see it has been around some time.
I am unsure about the body the gaps by the firebox look wrong. It also looks like it was assembled with low melt solder or neat lead, I have yet to check.
Well, I have had a bit of a disaster with the paintwork. After getting the chassis working and the loco reassembled I found a bl@@dy fingerprint in the varnish on one tank. Not sure how it happened. It was a new acrylic varnish I had not used before, it seemed to be dry. I tried a fi but just made a bigger mess of things. So I resigned myself to stripping it down and repainting the body. Having used cellulose paint I thought I would try white spirit first, it may strip the varnish and if removed
The loco has now had the transfers added and has been given a coat of varnish. I am pleased with the way it looks, I decided to use flat varnish on the frames pony, smoke box and cab roof. The rest is all satin, which is a little shiny for my taste.
I also started the reassembly of the frames. It now has it's legs on. The motor in place The pony was only added for the photos as I do not want it damaging anything while the valve gear is put back togeth
The basic painting of this has taken for longer than I thought. I have got some new cellulose primer and black which took a little getting the mix right. Was used to fairly runny paint but this is thick.
I think I got it right in the end. I do need to repaint the cab roof I had some problem with water. I meant to do it after the main body was rubbed down and re coated. But some forgot. So I will have to make a mess just for one item. May try and fit it in when the buffer planks are d
I had a packet today. The long awaited parts from Laurie Griffin.
First up we have the Dome and whistle.
Next it is the water gauge and the vents. Only trouble is the vents are wrong the should be tubes, these are for a 2MT tender, although the packet has the right number. Back to scratch build that I wanted to avoid.
Then we have the tank stays and the chimney.
Alao in the b
Here we are finally at the strip down and big clean up time.
I think it is all done now. The castings have all been added although some are better than others. I am sure there are better ones out there. There is only so much time and effort that can be spent on a project.
I also added a representation of some of the oil pipes at the smokebox end. The roof had it's gutters and vent covers adding. To hold it in place I soldered a two wires at the front one in each corner to
I had a good session fitted a few of the castings and made up the back head.
I was really disappointed with what was in the kit, there was a cast and etched backhead the etched one would of bee even more work. There was two sets of whitemetal casting each containing a hand wheel an undersize boiler feed and a blob. I think the brake valve was in the kit but not sure now. I modified the brake valve, and added the other bits whitemetal scrap bucket that I cast into weights for my locos
I have had a couple of successful sessions, even if they were not overly long.
The rear lamp irons and destination board brackets have been added.
The extra front guard irons and the front steps have been fixed in place. I am not totally happy with the steps I will adjust next time.
The front lamp irons are on now, apart from the one on the door. This will bbe fixed when the low melt comes out. Also fitted are the front destina
The battle has been won. The valve gear has been assembled and is working.
As much as it was a fight I think it looks OK now. I did complicate it by want the front end to look as though it actually does something.
The work required to the kit parts is as follows, You have to remember it came like a 4mm kit, just a single layer etched parts. So very basic for 7mm.
The connecting rod was made three layers rather than two.
I had a bit of a fit with the steam pipes, the cast and etched ones in the kit are no good at all. I took me a couple of goes to get ones that I could use. I think they look OK just need to do some more cleaning up around them.
The wheels which were blackened a little while ago, have had the crank pins fitted and have been refitted in the frames. I have also added a plate on which the cab steps have been mounted. I have done it this way as there is a
Finally done a part that I have been putting of since I started the body build. For some reason I was dreading doing the centre cylinder covers,
I suppose it stems from the fact the etching on the footplate for them was wrong, and the cast ones also supplied bore little resemblance to the real thing. I now just need to finish the steam pipes. These also needed to be remade, I am about half way through them.
You will also see the boiler has been
Just a small update and a question.
Here is the motor and Roxey 26-1 gearbox. You will see the adapter plate as the motor mounting holes are too far apart for the gearbox, also there is a rather large phosphor bronze bearing. Now the Question What is this motor and where can I get some more. 40Long 24 across flats 28 diameter.
I have got on with the cab, adding something to the front. I must admit I got the ideas from the DJH photo's on their we
I have had a poor week at the bench, not sure if it would of made a morning session all added together. Holiday here tomorrow so a weekend at the house lets see if things can be changed around.
I have been mainly messing with the motor gearbox, I needed to make an adapter plate between the motor and the Roxey fold up box. I will be using a 26 to 1 ratio which I think will work quite well.
On the construction side, I when to add the castings to the pony, only to find that
Today I have finished the sides and tack soldered them back onto the footplate. I added a bit of scrap etch to represent the tank inner, But when assembled it was hardly needed. They can on stay I photographed them before adding the handrail. Mainly due to I was unsure of what to do as it is above the coping and handrail knobs need a bigger hole than the thickness of the sides. I came up with filing the shank on them in half and then soldering to the inside edge of the side. It worked well and l
As we were at the house over the weekend I managed to get a little time at the bench. I made a start on the body for the loco.
I made up the smokebox which was ready rolled, but needed a bit of tweaking. The boiler again was prerolled but needed quite a bit of pushing and shoving to get round, There was only a disc for the smokebox front, so I made a couple for the boiler.
Having the smoke box prerolled limits what locos can be built, as all the BR ones have riveted ones.
I did better than I thought I would today with only a short time at the bench.
I manged to get the cylinders done aswell as I could with what is in the kit. I just need to add the drain cocks. I need to study some photo's for that though. It needs a little bit of adjustment and fixing tho the frames. I feel this is a major hurdle past and should or feels like I have cracked the kit.
I have also managed to replace the frame extensions
Whilst scratching my head, I thought I ought to do something.
I made up the brake gear, this was fairly straight forward but quite basic. I will be adding some plastic to the rear of the shoes, one to give them some thickness and to insulate from the wheels.
Now back to the problem in hand. I needed to remake the cylinders. I marked out the new ones on a couple of bits of 0.030" brass. once cut out I made up a u shaped spacer and new wrapp
Well managed to do some with this the last couple of days, but with interruptions and problems with the kit it has been hard to make progress.
It seems that each bit needs thinking about. Maybe once I have the frames done I may find it easier to get enthused in the build.
I have almost finished the footplate, which when done I can start the body, but more over I can check the frames which will need quit a lot of checking.
Niggling things ar
I was good yesterday I managed to keep away from my G6 build.
First job was to untack the rear bushes enlarge the frame holes and solder them to the side beams. I may have to do them the other way around, I will see how it all goes. I also added a narrow bit of etch to all the side beams as there was far to much flex in them. The pony was assembled next, the hole in the spacer was moved and then a nut added. This will have a spring wire added to give downward pressure and side contro
