Well, I've finally managed to get Pete Harvey's excellent etches soldered together and fitted to the Sentinel, and mighty fine they look too!
Just need to do some final fettling with a glass fibre pencil and then it's primer time. Should have it in satin black for the Member's Day.
The Mansfield Show is fast approaching and Ivor needs another engine to play with as well as the sentinel. So the motor I fitted the last time was unscrewed from the mount/gearbox and the bracket unsoldered. The face of the gearbox was made flat and the new larger motor bonded to it.
After a bit of tweaking to get the mesh right we have a pretty smooth running chassis.
I did say this last time.....
I need to find a spare decoder as the last one is toast, the magic smoke escap
So the Paul Chetter sound chip was duly wired in and a whopping 2200uF capacitor hooked up and lo it did chuff
I know the chuff rate is not right, that's a job for tomorrow
I received the Bachmann class 5 bodyshell from Invicta on Monday so last night I set about persuading it to sit on the Hornby 8F chassis. First obstacle was the lower section of the smokebox which fouled the cylinder block. So out came the hacksaw and slitting wheel!
I cut a slot in the rear of the chassis block to accept the mounting pillar under the cab and fitted the two together, or so I thought .... The terminal block on the motor fouled the extreme back edge of the boiler - s
A coat of varnish or two found it's way onto the coach over the weekend sealing the transfers kindly donated by Larry (Coachmann). So in my world some of the Vintage Trains stock has been sold on to the heritage railway and one FK converted to a camping coach
The remaining Lima coach might end up as W3125 of Riviera Trains and become part of the operating fleet for Fourgig East, although I would rather build a Slater's C10 Clerestory and flog the Lima one on. We shall see.
Anyway here's
Here I go again, dragging a build out with details that hardly anyone will notice, especially when the roof is on!
First glazing bars on the luggage compartment doors. I started with some 0.5mm microstrip, taped it to the bench at 2mm intervals then slid some paper underneath and marked out the horizontals. These were laid and then the area flooded with Plastic Magic.
Once hard, a scalpel blade was slipped underneath to seperate from the paper. After a quick coat of matt black and t
And lo the primer was warmed on the radiator and applied to the shiny brass
There's one or two bits that could do with a touch of filler, so will wait until next week now until after the BRM SHow at Doncaster (see you all there!)
It won't do any harm for the primer to harden off over the weekend anyway
Attention now has moved from the chassis to the body. I've filled in the section of "missing" false chassis ahead of the cylinders with plasticard and fashioned the front sandboxes in the same way as the chassis mounted ones.
I had hoped to pick up some 0.5mm piano wire from Squires at Wycrail, but they hadn't taken any. I'll have to wait until the next order to either them or Eileen's to make the front sand pipes.
Waft of grey primer soon to see how good the moulding is and how muc
After a few productive minutes with some plasticard and copper wire over lunchtime we have a representation of the sandboxes for the Crosti
Next step is to paint it all black and then I can get the Zimo sound chip wired up to the loco and test the fit in the body and of course the sound!
I should have this at least functional for the Weston-on-Trent show on the 10th November
So the Duke is back on it's chassis for the first fit with it's new Golden Arrow rear pony. I have had to move some of the under cab pipework to clear the pony swing bit it's not looking too bad. The front bogie is also attached with a new bracket - this had to be shorter than the one from the current kit again suggesting that the earlier 71000s were made too short!
Note I've fabricated the tender drawbar as per the DJH instructions but have not set the length. I'll attach the tender bo
This was quite satisfying. Most of the external pipework for the firebox end was either missing, mullered or just plain wrong, so armed with my trusty copper stripped from bell wire and some bits from the Crownline detailing kit I have ended up with this
So to the next problem - no backhead was present on the model, so half an hour with a spare Hornby Evening Star bodyshell and a razor saw we have a passable representation of a backhead
Not much else to do now before pain
A commission one this, for our local vicar and follows on from the Golden Arrow Crosti 9F that I did for him. The loco was in a very sorry state, it had not been put together very well, although the finish was not bad. Quite a lot of the original detail parts were never fitted (blower tunnel etc) and It had suffered at the hands of someone else who had attempted to add weight and get it to run on trainset curves.
So the brief was to make it look and run as well as my Golden Arrow 71000.
Sad to say but the final bit of detailing for the 2-8-2 has defeated me.
The 2-8-2 will not have lubricator/slide support brackets. The lubricators will be glued to the bodyshell and so lubricator linkages will not be featured either.
I just don't have the time/patience/skills to fabricate these brackets from scratch, the tolerances involved getting it all to fit are too tight for my rough and ready try it and see approach.
The good news is that the painting can start as soon as I've
Pretty pleased with this wagon now it's painted and got it's numbers etc. A couple of coats of PP satin varnish have been airbrushed on and it's ready for service on the yet to be completed Fourgig East.
I think some coal will be added and maybe a quick waft over the underframe with some sleeper grime to give it that used in preservation look. I'll do this when the airbrush is out to tone down the track, so this will be a bit of a wait!
Now to find a box big enough to store it in ..
Well, after a false start when it all went together crooked I dumped it in boiling water and started again. This time I ignored the instructions and built the body box up first using my nice magnetic corner jigs then fixed the soleplates/W irons on after.
I'm just waiting for some more parts from ABS, mainly the side door bottom planks to make the sackbarrow bottoms and then it's time to start painting.
Thanks to Adrian at ABS for his help and all the guidance and advice offered on
A quick snap before he gets taken apart tomorrow for the start of spraying
Grey primer first, then satin black, over which the green will go on after masking
71000 is getting ready for his before primer photo shoot
I've drilled out the chimney and finally sorted the air bubble holes with some gel type cyano (Screwfix Mitre bond - who says doing the kitchen can't help with the modelling )
and I've bit the bullet and fashioned the cab partitions behind the driver and fireman out of plasticard, also a representation of the fireman's seat. The driver as usual comes with a cast in seat
So, just waiting for the buffers from Golden A
So the much hinted at etched valve chest covers from Pete Harvey of PH Designs arrived on Saturday, I've folded one up as a test and rested it on top of the Golden Arrow resin version for comparison.
Looks like Pete got them spot on, there's even a half etched lip at the rear of the lower edge to allow the cover to sit on the top of the cylinder body to give a slight overhang as the prototype
Big thanks to Pete for offering to do these without me asking, a real credit to Pete and t
Just a quick update today. The deflectors arrived last week and one is assembled. Mods need to be done as the Duke's footplate is further forward than a Brit. Other issue is that CTMB don't supply the handrail knobs, good job I have some in stock.
Better news today was a text from Pete Harvey, etched goodies on the way that will make my Duke unique, well until he does his too.
More to follow
After a short spell with a hacksaw and 8BA tap we have the following arrangement
I've lost the whole section of chassis from underneath where the body fixing sticks out, so the drawbar pin and it's carrying plate plus the whole lump that supported the flangeless pony wheel has gone to make room for the swinging rear pony.
The exisiting pony fixing hole was drilled out 1.8mm and tapped 8BA to take a triang/Hornby bogie screw. A conventional 8BA cheesehead screwed into the tapped hole
Thought I'd check the tender to loco coupling as the extra 4mm length at the back was concerning me. Glad I did before going any further. For those who do not know, the current spec Brit chassis connects to the tender via a pin under the cab fixed to the chassis not the pony as in earlier variants.
Here's the result on the widest setting of the drawbar
and this one shows how it all connects
Fine if I don't expect the loco to go round curves!
The plan is to lose the c
OK, so I was in Mevagissey last week, so HAD to call at the World of Model Railways with #2 son for an hour or two.
Some Spingside BR Head and tail lamps just jumped off the rack at me
Group 4 for the interested -
Well, it is a mixed traffic engine B)
Gives you a good look at the other details added from the Brit detailing pack too
These chaps got painted and made all dirty with black pastel tonight, all ready to crew the good ship Mikado
I've deliberately made the driver cleaner than the fireman and he sports a red neckerchief, the dandy
These are whitemetal (probably pewter) copies of the Hornby offerings that I bought off eBay ages ago. Will add a little more weight to aid traction
