I've finally started soldering together the bodywork for the narrow gauge loco. The frame sides, bufferbeams and footplate are made from .016" brass to measurements taken from the Irchester loco. The frame is 12'9" long by 5' wide on the n.g. loco, the standard gauge loco has frames 11'4" long by 6'10" wide (measurements taken from the Chasewater loco). The cab and bonnet dimensions are the same on both locos, which are featured in my gallery. A scale rule proved very usefull when marking out th
Here's a drawing of the chassis frames. Apologies for the quality!
The chassis sides were made from .025" brass strip, chosen over .016" to make filing easier and for a larger bearing area for the front axle.
Spacers for the EM loco are Gibson and for the the OOn3 version I made my own from strip, 7.5mm wide.
Bearings again are Gibson and are only fitted to the rear driven axle, small bearings on the OOn3 and large bearings on the EM version. (Gibson do 2 sizes of 2mm bearing).
Note the co
I replaced the pick-up wires on the EM chassis this afternoon with longer wires which apply less pressure to the rims. The old wires were too short and stiff and prevented the front non-powered wheels from turning. Thanks to Buffalo for the tip (a pint is owed). Here's a photo of the new revised pick-ups;
If only my electrical soldering was as neat as my brass soldering...
And here's a shot of the loco on my test track, actually a piece of old bent C+L, in the kitchen. The running i
Well I've got the EM chassis running. Here's a photo of the motor and gearbox combo;
The motor is a Mashima 1015 and the gearbox a High Level Slimliner Compact+ 54:1 reduction. The same set-up will be fitted to the narrow gauge version when I send of the 1/8 bore gear and bearings and swap them for 2mm bore (I ordered the wrong spec...). Here's a pic of it fitted into the frame;
The motor is mounted on a piece of bicycle inner tube. For pick-ups I've used phospher bronze wire,
I made up the frame spacers for the n.g. chassis today. These were made 7.5mm wide so the gearbox will just fit in. The overall width of the frames is 8.9mm. Wheels will be set to 10.3mm back to back. I've had to work all the dimensions out myself so it could all be completely wrong...
To compensate the front axle I soldered a piece of brass between the frames for the axle to pivot on, most people use a piece of rod for this. The brass was cut deliberatly to tall so I could file it down until a
A number of Ruston 48DS locos were built to narrow gauge, mostly 3'6", 4' or metre gauge. All went overseas except one which was built to 3' gauge and was sold to British Railways for their Beeston sleeper depot and was numbered ED10. BR sold it in 1965 to TW Ward who passed it on to Cleveland Bridge and Engineering, being used on the Tinsley Motorway Viaduct near Sheffield. It went to Shepherd and Hill in 1969 and then to Trackbed Hovercraft where it was fitted with rubber tyres and outriggers
The buffers, Gibson industrial pattern, need a bit of modifying. The base is square when it should be rectangular, easily rectified with a few file strokes. Just keep checking all is square, its too easy to take too much off one side. Here's a piccy, un-modified buffer on the left;
They will be attached after the buffer beam is fully painted, along with the lifting brackets, to make applying the wasp stripes easier. On the subject of the buffer beam I drilled the buffer holes after the beams
Resin mouldings are used for the air filter, radiater filler and fuel filler. These were attached with superglue. I've also soldered lengths of .5mm brass rod onto the roof for the airhorns to be attached to, the airhorns having holes drilled in them for the purpose. Airhorn positions vary between individual locos so beware... The exhaust can be seen in the photo at the front waiting to be attached into the exhaust casing. This was knocked up from 1mm thinwall brass tube and a piece of scrap fre
Resin is used for the axleboxes and the damper brackets and hornstays, as well as other detail parts. The damper brackets sit above the axleboxes in half etched recesses on the frames and need to be superglued in place before the axleboxes are fitted. On the photo below both damper brackets are fitted but only the right hand axlebox. On the left side the hornstay is fitted, the instructions state that these should be fitted between the horns but studying photos shows them to be fitted to the bot
At the moment I'm going to concentrate on the footplate/chassis detailing. So today I've been looking at the bufferbeam pipework. There are 4 pipes each end for air and stuff. I've used Hornby pipes from their class 31, available as spares, part number X5326. Mine came from Abbiegails Hornby Spares, so cheap that I bought 4 packs. Well, they might come in usefull again... The pipes as supplied will not fit, they need bending out away from the buffer beam. Easily done by holding the plug end, the
After watching the Bicester DVD its bacome very obvious that these locos were fitted with flashing beacons on the roof. And there are 2 round vents? up there as well. The vents should be straightforward being just flat discs, the only problem estimating the size and position, but as for the beacon...
There are, as I see it, 4 options;
1, leave it off. Trouble is I've already told you... These seem to have been removed at some stage, possibly when the locos were painted purple with white stripe
Well, after a couple of days thinking, I got the pliers out and attacked the front handrail - here's the result;
Better, but not perfect. However it will do.
I sorted out the sandbox lids today. The etched holes were opened out and .33mm rod soldered in to form handles whilst the lids were still attached to the etch, the half etched side is on the bottom to form a lip. Note the door hinges on the left of the etch.
Then the lids were cut from the etch, held in pliers and cleaned up with a
Not sure what to do about this. If you look at the front handrail you will see that the angles on either side are different due to my dodgy bending.
I could strip it down and start again but I'm worried about messing things up and I've already put a lot of effort in. On the other hand its not particulary noticable from most normal viewing angles. Hmmm.....
Does anyone know what shade of green to use? Brunswick Green is mentioned in the Bicester book but I would like a second opinion. And
I left the bottom steps off until now as they are rather fine. They are sprung into place and soldered in. Here's a pic of one still on the etch, nice!
Onto the handrails. Stanchions are etched and are very fine, luckily spares are provided. Luckily I didn't need any, I have plans for the spares... 2 types of stanchion are provided, one with a hole in the top and one where the handrail sits on the top. Again the photos should make things clearer.
There are also kickplates to be added;
M
Taking a break from the Steelman Royale I glazed the cab of my crane. I used 1mm perspex? laboriously filed to shape. I did scrap a few bits...
The glazing for the cab side (the door and the small windows either side) was prepared before the body was glued together so I could lay the side on a piece of glazing and scribe around the opening, before cutting and shaping the material and storing the finished pieces in a safe place. This was definitely a good move...
Back to the Ste
4 per wheel, 16 in total. The inner ones are attached to a pair of spacers laminated together. To locate everything accuratly the inner horns and spacers are rivetted, the rivets in one part locating in the half etched holes in the other. The frames are also rivetted to locate the outer horns, which aren't rivetted. Perhaps some photos might help...
And an outer horn in place;
A little tricky to position, I used a crocadile clip to hold the outer horns in place. Crude but it worked...
There are 5 handrails attached to the body, 2 at the front, 2 at the back and 1 on the bonnet top. All very straightforward. I differed from the instructions by adding them after the radiater front and fuel tank rear were soldered in place, the instructions reccomend fitting the handrails first. I did get to use my Bil Bedford handrail bending jig for the first time.
The cab roof was formed by rolling it on my thigh with the handle of my 3 sided scraper. Iain Rice describes this method in his '
I fitted the front and rear window surrounds next. Sensible people will fit these last with either superglue or varnish after painting them (they are bare aluminimum on the prototype). I soldered them. I cut them out then tinned the rear (inner) side then sweated them in place. You're supposed to apply heat to the rear or inner when sweating but I applied the iron directly to the frame. Worked for me...
Bonnet catches. Here's the etch;
You can also see the fuel gauge on this etch (part 3
More work on the bonnet. Access doors need to be fitted to the sides before the top is fitted. The front roller shutter doors are, as supplied, too small, being the same size as the opening. An e-mail to Mike Edge resulted in a pair of doors from a Vangaurd, which need cutting down, and an assurance that future kits will have the correct sized doors. This is the only problem that I've had with this kit, my own mistakes not included. While I was waiting for these to arrive I soldered up the rear
A former is soldered onto the cab front and the cab is then greased and bolted to the footplate, as is the front baseplate. The bonnet sides are then soldered to the cab front and the base after riveting the bottom edge.
The bonnet front/radiater is attached at this stage. It is laminated from 2 layers similar to the fuel tank rear except that it's larger and more delicate. So I had the bright idea of cutting it from the fret with a piercing saw which just bent it (my fault!). I straightened
On to the cab.
The sides overlap the front and rear which locate in a half etched area. The sides also need bending to match the profile of the ends. The cab/fuel tank base is first bolted to the footplate, greased underneath to prevent it being soldered in position. This is what the bodywork is built up on as the body is seperate to the footplate which allows access to the Black Beetle securing screw. It'll all make sense later... The rear is tacked in place first followed by one side.
The
The lifting brackets are made up from 2 parts, a backing plate which needs to be 'riveted' and folded 90' and the bit with the hole in. A little fiddly perhaps but quite satisfying once soldered. I will leave these off until the bufferbeams have been painted and striped, then superglue them on.
The top steps were added next. These fit into grooves etched int the frames and are laminated from 2 layers, the top layer having the anti slip checker plate etched in. I held both layers together in s
This is a kit for a Thomas Hill Steelman Royale 4 wheel diesel hydraulic loco. These were built for the MoD.
The kit is etched brass with resin detail parts and sits on a Black Beetle motor bogie (not supplied). You have to supply your own buffers (Gibson).
Prototype photos can be found in 'The Bicester Military Railway' (OPC).
Instructions consist of 3 pages of text, an assembly drawing, a page of detail photos and a parts list.
Construction starts with the platform. The frames and valances
Started this one on the old rmweb. I'll post a link to it if I can find it again.
Anyway, it's almost finished now. Here's a photo of the body in primer (Hycote acrylic white car primer) being prepared for the top coat.
And here's the body finish painted and resting on the chassis:
Jobs left to do are glazing the cab and attaching and rigging the jib. Which leaves me with a dilemma...
The angle/load indicater (semi-circular bit) on the jib needs painting. I've seen a photo of
Flycranks.
Cut them from the etch, soldered them together (laminated from 2 layers), cut an axle from 1/8". Broached out the holes to suit the axle and the crankpins (Romford).
Checked them against the wheels and guess what? The crankpin throw is different from the wheels...
There was no mention in the instructions as to what wheels to use neither are there any alternative cranks to suit different wheels included (which could be easily done...)
Making new cranks should be easy, just a case o
