Wednesday 26th December 2007: An all day modelling session today saw a bit more progress on the JLTRT Castle. Previous visitors may remember my attempt at modifying the Slater's wheels, specifically, trying to improve the appearance of the balance weights by incorporating a representation of the stays that pass from front to rear. This was the first one I finished....

 

 

Although pleased with the end result, I didn't relish the prospect of doing another five - repetition is not something I'm good at! I decided it would be easier to draw up some artwork and have them etched and this is the result (sorry about the poor focus)....

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised at how well these came out and decided it was time to get stuck in. The front portion was glued to an oversize piece of 30 Thou styrene and the excess removed. Next the holes were opened up with a 0.7mm drill and the assembly was then glued in position on the wheel.

 

The rear portion (no styrene this time), also had it's holes opened up to 0.7mm and short lengths of wire were passed between the spokes and through the corresponding holes in the front portion, finishing just proud of the surface (less cleaning-up later!). Next, a small dab of Superglue was applied where the pieces of wire go through the styrene to secure the front and then some more glue on the rear of the spokes and the rear portion was positioned.

 

The wire was then soldered to the rear and the excess snipped off. (Incidentally, although the front and rear etchings are identical, the holes are etched slightly bigger on one side to allow a little gap for the solder to fill). Here we see a couple of wires in position on the front....

 

 

And a rear view....

 

 

Here we see the rear, part finished....

 

 

Cleaning up the rear was accomplished by placing a 12 Thou packing piece opposite the weight and rotating a few times on some wet & dry paper....

 

 

Here's the finished article....

 

 

And the front, prior to cleaning up....

 

 

This proved to be a little trickier due to the boss sticking out further than the weight. I didn't want to use a file or abrasive paper in backwards/forward motion in case I damaged the wheel rim, so after a little thought, I devised this little gizmo....

 

 

Made from a scrap of brass, a section of tube, a length of bullhead rail and a piece of styrene, it has a piece of wet & dry paper on its underside, held on with double sided tape, as seen here....

 

 

In order to work, the Slater's axle is inserted into the wheel and this handy little thingy replaces the standard retaining screw....

 

 

This is actually from my JLTRT Western kit and is part of the speedometer assembly! Anyway, this is screwed into the wheel and the gizmo is then moved from side to side, pivoting around the spigot without damaging the wheel rim, like so....

 

 

It takes a long time and a few changes of abrasive paper, but this is the end result....

 

 

So, just to recap, here are the Mk 1 and Mk 2 versions together....

 

 

And the Mk 2 on its own....

 

 

Once I'd finished this first one (which is one of the centre drivers), it didn't take very long to do one of the rear drivers, as this has a smaller weight. Here they are together....

 

 

I'm very pleased with the end results so far and am looking forward to the next modelling session.

 

I haven't done much to my Western lately, but once I've finished these wheels and returned the speedo drive thingy to its rightful box, I'll have no excuses!

 

Incidentally, I realise that the pieces I've added to my wheels aren't actually the weights themselves, but are probably best described as retaining plates for the (lead?) fill, though I think most people would be familiar hearing them described as balance weights.

 

I have seen photos where these plates do appear to be filled to the brim with lead or whatever it is (perhaps they need more weight added as the tyres wear down?), but the photo I'm working from (GWR 4-6-0s In Colour, Page 69), shows a "Grange" at Crewe and on the rear wheel, the stays are quite visible, so I thought this would be an unusual thing to try and replicate. Given the amount of time I've spent doing these wheels so far, I'm not sure it was one of my better ideas!

 

To be honest, I wouldn't really expect the stays to be visible on the centre wheels, because there would need to be a lot of weight to counterbalance both the coupling rods and connecting rods. Unfortunately, most of the photos in my books always seem to have the weights in the wrong position or in shadow.

 

I should probably have thicker plates on the middle drivers (as the "Grange" in my photo seems to have), as this seems to be quite a common thing. These would be easy enough to retro fit , but I'll get the coupling rods on first and see what the clearances are like.

 

Thanks again for your input and I hope you will pop back from time to time to check on progress!

 

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New Years Eve, 2007: This being my last day off in the Christmas holidays, I'd promised myself a day of modelling. Unfortunately, I got rather engrossed reading some books and magazines in the modelling cupboard - it's amazing how quickly 4 -5 hours can pass!

 

The paper distractions were put away at about 16:00 hrs and the tools came out. I'd set myself a target to finish off two more "Castle" balance weights, but actually managed to do three. One more to go, then it's time to start work on the coupling rods and connecting rods!

 

Happy New Year to one and all - lets hope 2008 is as productive as we all hope!

 

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Sunday 6th January 2008: Another session at the bench today, saw the final wheel fitted with its balance weight. Having done this, I thought I'd crack on with the coupling rods, because once these are finished, I'll be able to think about fitting the hornblocks into the frames and then getting the rivetted detail overlays in place. Here are a few pictures of progress at the end of the day.

 

Wheels & rods....

 

 

 

 

Rods in close-up....

 

 

 

(I'm quite glad I posted these pictures of the rods, because I've noticed a couple of bits that need a further visit from the files and wet/dry paper!).

 

I couldn't resist laying the rods in position on the finished wheels....

 

 

Once I'd done that, I thought I might as well dig the chassis out and see what they looked like together....

 

 

Here's another view showing the frame extensions/cylinder assembly - these two parts are just held on with tape for the photo....!

 

 

That's all for now - I hope to get some more done next weekend. Thanks for looking.

 

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Sunday 13th January 2008: Today saw saw a bit more progress on the "Castle". I'd decided the time had come to remove the axle hole blanks from the leading and centre axles and fit the etched hornguides, allowing compensation to be fitted. Here are the frames with the axle blanks removed....

 

 

Here are a couple of etched hornguides and a square brass bearing....

 

 

The tab on the side folds up to stop the bearing rotating and also provides a smooth surface for the bearing to slide against - I know I haven't made a decent 90 degree fold, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, because I discovered that there was far too much slop between the bearing and hornguide. The bearing was able to move fore and aft by about 2mm and didn't even make contact with the bearing surface tab! Now, I realise a phone call or e-mail to JLTRT would have replacements on their way by return of post, but this was a Sunday, so nothing could have happened until the following day. Being rather impatient, I decided to utilise the bearings supplied and make some new hornguides from some K&S brass strip I had knocking about. Here we see the first one being marked out....

 

 

Having made the first one, here's a size comparion with the etched version....

 

 

Having established this was going to work OK, I started on the next one....

 

 

A few hours later and we have a full set finished....

 

 

I added some "L" angle on one side to replicate the tab on the etched version and this was pinned as well as soldered, to prevent movement when soldering to the frames. This idea was pinched from John Hayes, who did something similar during the consruction of a Finney "Hall", in a copy of MRJ several years ago (thanks John!)....

 

 

All ready to fit to the frames, but by now it was time for bed....

 

 

 

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Sunday 20th January 2008: Having got the frame cut-outs ready and manufactured some new horn guides the previous Sunday, it was time to unite them and this was achieved with relative ease. Here are a couple of views of the new hornguides fitted to the frames....

 

 

 

I fitted the wheels temporarily and it ran well first time, but to avoid the dragster look, it's time to think about making the compensating beam....

 

 

These two pieces of telescopic tube form the two transverse components....

 

 

The moving outer tube has a small hole drilled in it to enable a drop of lubrication as and when....

 

 

And this is how they'll go together once installed....

 

 

Before installation takes place, a couple of washers are required. Made from cigarette paper, these will fit between the frames and the moving outer tube. Once in position, they'll be given a drop of oil and will hopefully prevent flux and solder finding its way between the tubes and fusing them together....

 

 

Here's everything bar the oil ready for soldering....

 

 

Solder applied - notice the oil soaked washers....

 

 

Soldering was a success! The outer tube rotating freely, so the washers were removed and things cleaned up....

 

 

The final part to add, is the beam that rests on the leading and middle axles. Here it is prior to soldering....

 

 

And after soldering....

 

 

Once the beam was fixed in place, the chassis was now high at the front end. A couple of goes at exerting some downward pressure to distort the beam and the ride height levelled out nicely....

 

 

So, after a most enjoyable workbench session, that's the progress so far. I think the next task will be fitting the brake rigging wires and then the rivetted frame overlays. I'm going to have to bite the bullet soon though and make the con rods and think about slidebars and crossheads. Watch this space....!

 

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Saturday 26th January 2008: A few spare hours today saw a little more progress being made on the Castle, namely the rivetted frame overlays.

 

Here are the cleaned-up etches waiting to be fitted....

 

 

The overlays are held in position by aluminium hair grips, which are available from most chemists. Here are a couple of views before soldering....

 

 

 

And after soldering and cleaning up....

 

 

 

 

The instructions recommend soldering some lengths of 0.9mm wire through the frames and overlays during this operation,

leaving about 10mm sticking out either side. These lengths of wire support the (as yet unmade), brake hangers and are trimmed to length once the brake hangers are in the correct position. Trouble is, until the wires are trimmed, they foul the coupling rods and I'm enjoying pushing my chassis back and forth at the moment, so I thought I'd put the wires in at a later date!

 

That's all for now - I'm off all this week and hope to make some more progress, so be sure to pop back at some point!

 

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Sunday 3rd February 2008: Despite having had a week off, I didn't get a chance to get stuck in again until today, my last day off!

 

Anyway, more work on the chassis was in order so I took the relevent fret from the box to see which parts were required. The fret may look a little daunting, but some of it is alternative parts to cater for the modeller's choice of gauge or prototype variations, so not all of it is needed....

 

 

Here we see the day's intended output. Top left are the connecting rods, to their right, the crosshead components, below these are the inside slide bars and at the bottom, the motion bracket. All I managed to do in the end, was three crossheads!....

 

 

Here are a couple of crosshead outers. The left hand one is as it comes from the fret and the right hand one has been cleaned up and modified. The protruding bit on the left is actually rounded on the prototype and I decided that the flat version as supplied, wasn't doing it for me....

 

 

The rear and middle parts of a crosshead assembled and awaiting fitment of the outer face and piston rod.

The latter has had a couple of short lengths of brass tube attached, to represent the rounded part....

 

 

Some views of the crosshead and piston rod aligned for soldering....

 

 

 

 

There are two spikes on the rear of the crosshead (that will be removed later) and these are pushed through some balsa wood. Lines are then scored at the edges and centre line of the crosshead and the piston rod aligned by eye. Once happy with the positioning, some aluminium hairgrips hold it nicely in position, whilst the 8BA spanner is just the right thickness for keeping the rod parallel to the balsa.

 

A couple of views after soldering/cleaning up, showing the improvement over the rather 2 dimensional raw etch. A final touch is a small brass washer butted up to the brass tube to represent the raised collar. I'm not sure it's 100% accurate, but in my opinion, it looks much better....

 

 

 

The holes in the middle of the crossheads were enlarged on all three components in order to accept some aluminium tube. This was simply to keep the outer face where it needed to be, whilst soldering. I'll have to devise some means of representing what needs to be here at some point!

 

The inner crossheads are made in the same way, but the piston rod is longer and protrudes both front and rear. The small flat next to the brass tubing is necessary to clear the internal part of the crosshead and ensures that the crosshead and the piston rod are in the same plane....

 

 

Here's one inside crosshead finished....

 

 

A couple of views of it in-situ behind the aperture in the frames....

 

 

 

These internal crossheads actually move in synch with the outer ones and is the reason the piston rod protudes both ends (there are holes in the frames, that the rod slides in). When I've established the amount of fore and aft movement, I'll trim the piston rods to length. Unfortunately, there's no mention of this in the instructions, which quite frankly, are extremely vague for such an important area.

 

I still have one inside crosshead to make and can honestly say that I'm not looking forward to it! It took me ages to do the first one, though I admit, it did get a little easier once I knew what I was doing. I just hope I don't forget before I make the final one!

 

That's all for now - stay tuned!

 

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Sunday 9th March 2008: After a distinct lack of recent modelling activity and feeling fired up by the previous day's visit to Kettering, I blew the dust off the toolbox and did some more work to the Castle.

 

A few weeks ago, I borrowed my friend's "Metalsmith" rolling bars. Not wishing to hang onto them for ages, I thought I'd put the chassis aside for the moment and get the smokebox and boiler rolled, so he can have them back.

 

Anyway, here we see the smokebox with its front and rear formers....

 

 

Part way through rolling....

 

 

(The day after I did this, Jazz rolled the smokebox on his 42xx (see Jazz' workbench). He puts a piece of paper between the etch and the rollers to protect the rivets. Seems like a sound idea to me and I wish I'd thought of doing that, but I think I got away with it this time!).

 

Here's the end result....

 

 

When the gap is closed up and soldered, it will look something like this (held together with tape at the moment)....

 

 

Here's a little tip if you're rolling a boiler or whatever - lay the etch over a sheet of paper and cut around the edges to give a paper template. The paper template can then be wrapped around the formers to check that the circumference of the part is correct. If the paper overlaps itself, make a mark with a pencil or point of a scalpel and then trim a corresponding amount from the etch (take half the overlap from each side if possible). I didn't do this with my smokebox and had to trim about 1.5mm overall from the etch. Believe me, it's better to do this before you roll the thing!

 

Having got to this stage, I thought I'd see what it looked like with a chimney and smokebox door....

 

 

The door is held very crudely in place using a piece of wire, so apologies if it looks a bit droopy. I had thought about using Blu Tack, but couldn't find any. Next I thought a piece of chewing gum would do the trick - this turned out to be a very stupid and sticky mistake. It didn't hold the heavy casting at all well and I spent about ten minutes cleaning it all off again. Perhaps if I'd chewed it for about 15 minutes instead of about 45 seconds, it might have worked....

 

Here's a side view....

 

 

I'm not sure of the chimney's exact position yet, but it should be forward of centre, as here.

 

Here's the boiler wrapper....

 

 

After the earlier debacle with the smokebox wrapper having too big a circumference, I made a paper template and this can be seen in the background. It must be a trick of perspective, but it is the same size.

 

A couple of views of the paper boiler in position....

 

 

 

As suspected, the boiler wrapper has too great a circumference as well. Though it can't be seen, the paper edges overlap, so this overlap will be removed from the the etch before rolling. I'll do this during my next workbench session hopefully - stay tuned!

 

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Wednesday 12th March 2008: Having received an unexpected "Not required for duty" message from work, I thought I'd get a fews hours in at the workbench.

 

Having rolled the smokebox during the last session, it was now time to do the boiler. As mentioned previously, the boiler was found to have too great a circumference, so the first thing to do was cut a suitable amount from each side....

 

 

Having done that and cleaned up the edges, I gave the etch a good scrub with a brass bristled suede brush and it was now ready for rolling....

 

 

Here it is part way through the process....

 

 

I must confess, I'd never used rolling bars before starting this project and although I'd already done a successful job on the smokebox, the boiler was a real sod to do! I imagine it's because it's tapered rather than parallel, but I was getting all sorts of bizarre shapes as I tweaked the rollers to try and get the edges to meet. I managed to sort it out in the end though and despite my anxieties along the way, it has to be better than trying to roll by hand on a wad of thick paper or a mouse mat!

 

Anyway, here's the finished article....

 

 

I got a much closer gap this time, so thanks to Jazz for his recent and timely 42xx pictures.

 

Here's the rear former soldered in position and cleaned up....

 

 

This actually took me two attempts, because I discovered that in places, the rear face of the former was protruding beyond the back edge of the boiler (if you see what I mean?). This meant that when the front firebox former was attached later, there would have been some annoying gaps. There was nothing for it, but to try and get it off again. Neither of my soldering irons would do it, so I had to stick it on the electric hob to get enough heat to melt the solder! Having cleaned up the parts, the second attempt came out as it should have.

 

Here's the front former about to go in (the inside of the boiler has been pre-tinned)....

 

 

The front former having been soldered in position....

 

 

I've also soldered some strips of flat lead behind the washout plug holes (which is why they're now blocked with solder). The lead will then be drilled into and short lengths of square wire added to represent the washout plugs themselves. This idea came from the late Guy Williams and will look much better than the etched (and rather 2 dimensional) washout plugs supplied with the kit.

 

Having got to this stage, I couldn't resist plugging the smokebox and chimney in position, to get a feel for the end result....

 

 

 

I just need to do something with the seam at the bottom of the boiler now and as much as I'd like to continue with the upper works, after the seam is done, I need to get back to the chassis again. More pictures as work progresses!

 

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