It has been well over a year since my last blog entry. Life in the interim has been rather hectic. And way back in January 2012 before a rush of other projects I started on a build of a standard class 4 2-6-0 that is going to be numbered 76010.

To recap the model is a Branchlines chassis that will live under a Dapol (ex Airfix & Kitmaster) body. The last entry (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/795/entry-8497-76010-the-start/) found the basic frames of the chassis put together. In the interim I have been pottering around with it so at the end of August it looked like this.

The two important points that I decided on the build and covered in this entry are, how the motor will mount and mounting the body.

Finding the best place to mount the motor and gearbox is a bit of a black art. In the old days it was simple, the centre wheel was driven and the motor, normally a good old X04, would be mounted at a jaunty angle so that its back would be there for all to see in the cab. The front of the motor, on a Riddles locomotive like this would also be there under the boiler. Something that did not seem to bother Messrs Hornby and Triang all those years ago. Todays modellers are a little more refined and if you even want to have a sniff at being called a finescale modeller you should at least keep the cab clear of electric motor. On my model of 76009 I took the guidance of Iain Rice from his Etched loco construction book, and mounted the motor vertically. The Belpaire Firebox and the Branchlines Multi-Box gear box give you enough room. However I had to shorten the motor spindle and wished that I had been able to fit a flywheel. Not that 76009 is a bad runner, but I just felt that I could do things better. All that vacant space in the boiler was filled up with lead which helps give the model good contact with rail that in turn gives good running and excellent haulage, but does make the model very top heavy. This is something I wish to avoid with 76010 and at some point make better use of the boiler space. The solution that I have come up with is to flip the motor so that it is as horizontal as I can get it.

So that I can get the body off I have cut out the underside of the boiler and will fit this to chassis as a separate body part that will live under the motor.

This tray will also allow me to add features at a later date, if I so wish. I am thinking, sound, or even a smoke generator. The lead weights will be mounted much further down into the chassis frames. Although I still have the option of a bit of weight up top.

The other change to the instructions is the way the body is to be mounted. Holding plastic bodies onto chassis is yet another black art. On 76009 I followed Iain Rice’s advice and put a little lip under the front end to catch onto the chassis. I call this a dog catch, for want of a better word. The rear of the body was supposed to be held on by a screw into the moulded plastic tube intended to be used for the tender drawbar fixing. However this had been unsuccessful as plastic really doesn’t like stresses of threaded fasteners and so became brittle and crumbled away. I have since had to make other arrangements to hold the body on. The other problem that I found is that the body fixing screw is now in exactly the same place that the tender mounting screw wants to be, and that when you want to remove the body it is as fiddly as hell not only to get the screw out but damn near impossible to get the thing back in again. This is doubly so when trying to carry out unscheduled maintenance during an exhibition in between operating sessions. The instructions by Andrew Mullins suggested self tapping screws into the plastic body at the front and into the tender coupling tube under the cab. So on 76010 I have installed a clip that hold the body to the chassis under the cab holding onto the rear of the chassis and built up a base around an M2 brass nut out of plastic strip in the smoke box. The slug of plastic should distribute the load. The whole thing looks quite secure and I have tested it enough times to believe that it will not fail. Access is still not brilliant as the front pony truck will have to be removed, but it should be easier than fighting the tender coupling bracket.

The first rather blurry photo shows the rear end of the chassis. You can se the intended hole for the tender coupling/body fixing and the tender coupling on the chassis. Not so clear are the two strips of plastic either side of that bracket that hold the chassis on.

The picture of the tray also shows how I have built up plastic around the front fixing nut.

And here is the access to the screw.

Which shouldn't be too bad if the pony truck is removed first.

Right now I have some time on with the rest of the build.