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Industrial locos and other malarkey.

Entries in this blog

Judith Edge Ruston 48DS - Inner frames 1.

The inner frames are etched in one piece and form the working heart of the loco, holding the axles and gearbox in place. They can be built rigid or compensated. Compensating this loco is so easy that there's little point in building it rigid. The instructions suggest fitting the lead axle bearings in place before folding up, I chose to fit the bearings after folding to make holding the frame sides secure for bending easier;     Not everything goes as planned... Note the section above the b

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Judith Edge Steelman Royale steps and handrails.

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

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RT Models Ruston 48DS Chassis Test Etch

A package arrived in the post a couple of weeks ago from Robert of RT Models containing the test etch for a simple chassis designed to power a Ruston 48DS, either the popular A1Models kit or the rarer Impetus kit. Its designed to be very simple to build and to use a High Level Slimliner+ gearbox with a Mashima motor. Here's the nickel silver etch;     And folded up;     The drive is to one axle only, the other features simple compensation, the axle pivoting on the 'V' and running in

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A1 Models Hunslet - Chassis running.

The chassis for this thing is finally up and running, although I've yet to fit the pick-ups. Before fitting the chassis together I sprayed the wheels and chassis, masking off the important bits, with car primer followed by a coat of Precision 'Frame Dirt'. Wheels are lathe turned Romfords from the West Coast Kit Centre. I've used Markits axle nut covers to improve the appearence of the wheel centres. Gearbox is a High Level Loadhauler+ with 108:1 reduction and the motor is a Mashima 12/24. Whe

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Setting up my RSU.

Last year at ExpoEM North I treated myself to a London Road Models Resistance Soldering Unit. Yesterday I decided that it was about time that I set it up. Opening the box reveals a big grey unit, a couple of leads, some carbon rod and a set of instructions. The big grey, rather heavy, unit has two leads coming out of the back, one with a mains plug on it and the other with a footswitch on the end. The two other leads plug into two of the four sockets on the front of the unit, different combinat

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Judith Edge Ruston 48DS - First look.

I have a pair of Judith Edge Ruston 48DSs on my workbench, one for myself and one for another RMWeb member.   The kit comes complete apart from paint and pick-ups, something unusual for a loco kit but very welcome in my mind.   The main etch is shown below;     This covers all of the main variations of the class, apart from n.g. versions, having alternative cab sides and bufferbeams as well as windows, early locos had square framed widows, on later locos the corners were rounded off.  

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Coopercraft AEC Lorries

These two were built at least 18 years ago. I recently rediscovered them in Mum's attic and now they reside in my display case. I think that the kits need no introduction, there must be thousands of these on layouts up and down the country!         Despite their shortcomings I'm still rather pleased with them, otherwise they'd have been sold on as part of one of my semi-regular purges. The blue one was built first and the red dropside came later, its interesting to see how my modelli

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A1 Models Hunslet Cab part 2.

I haven't touched this one for quite some time. A few 'problems' with it made me put it to one side for a while. However I got fed up with looking at it in the display cabinet unfinished and now I've decided that its time to look at it again. I have most of the parts to finish it so theres really no excuse. I'm not going to be able to make a great model from it but I'll try to make the best of a bad job. Its not going to be an 05, just a generic industrial (the 05's were based on a Hunslet indus

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Judith Edge Ruston 48DS - Bonnet.

I started the bonnet by rolling the top part around a broom handle;     Then I filed a radius on a piece of wood strip to fold the smaller edge radius;     Held in a vice;     I coudn't use the vice to form the other edge so I used my Bug;     Ready to be soldered up;     Bonnet tacked in place;     I bolted the body to the footplate to keep everything square whilst I tacked the assembly together. I then removed the body from the chassis for final soldering.   Wit

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Judith Edge Steelman Royale bonnet.

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

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halfwit

Dapol Austerity - cab modifications.

I've been working on the cab these past few days. An RT Models body detailing etch has been aquired which includes spectacle plates and a new cab rear.   The first job was to hack out the cab rear and bunker top with a piercing saw;     Ready for etched replacements;     The back sheet has had its spectacle plates soldered in place and the cab interior back sheet has been folded to shape and had the coal door soldered on. Before I fitted them I epoxied the replacement spectacle plat

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Austerity Conundrum

I dug out my Dapol Austerity today, quite by accident (I was looking for some wheels...) and found myself working on it for the first time in many years. I fitted the Gibson EM wheelset thats been hanging around with it, lopped off the centre steps and carved off the smokebox door dart and numberplate. Then I looked at the thing and thought 'do I really want to finish this loco?'. (Note that I had that thought AFTER fitting the new wheels!) The thing is, I like Austerities. But I'm not sure if

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OOn3 Ruston 48DS - filler caps and roof.

For the radiater and fuel caps I used some handrail knobs soldered in place but not pushed all the way in so part of the shaft is still showing, as in the photo; Then the top of the knob was cut off with Xuron cutters and filed down to form a cap; The roof was first annealed over the gas hob. Then I clamped the edges to a 2mm drill in a Hold And Fold to form the outer bends. A similar sized drill was used on the opposite side to even out the clamp angle and stop the roof being 'spat out' b

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Judith Edge Steelman Royale pipes, pipes and more pipes.

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

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Judith Edge Steelman Royale cab + fuel tank.

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

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Paint Shop Progress 2.

Still slowly progressing through the paint shop is my Judith Edge Steelman Royale. The black areas of the frame have been sprayed and the whole frame gloss varnished. The bufferbeams have been wasp-stiped, using Fox transfers, and another coat of varnish applied. The loco will be have a gloss finish as these locos were kept extremely clean. A pic;     I still have to start on the bodywork.   My JPG Models dumper truck is finished;     Before weathering I sprayed the model with matt v

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A Ruston rebuild - part 3.

I'm back on track with this one now. I've decided to use a Mashima 10/20 motor coupled to a High Level Slimliner Compact+ gearbox, my previous 48DS's used 10/15 motors. The change of motor was due to a conversation with Chris Gibbons (High Level) whilst ordering the motor and 'box who advised me to use the bigger motor if possible, at the time I was going to stick with a 10/15 + flywheel (I ordered a 10/15, this is now in the spares box). Whilst building up the gearbox I got out my spare 10/20 a

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High Level RSH 'Husky' - Bufferbeams and steps.

The bufferbeams are laminated from 2 layers, the outer layer is half etched with rivet detail, different front and rear. The buffers themselves are lost wax castings and needed a little bit of fettling, I held the shank in a pin chuck for this;     Here's the bufferbeams soldered up with the drawgear surrounds in place;     A bit of filler is needed where I cut the buffer shanks a bit too short in a couple of places. I'll attach these later on after I solder the boonet in place. The

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Nonneminstre Models Fowler Resilient - body.

I've had this kit for over twelve years. Its for Resilient class diesel loco, built by John Fowler in the 40's and powered by either a 3 or 4 cylinder Fowler-Sanders diesel engine. Three 2' gauge locos worked at Alpha Cement at Cliffe-at-Hoo two of which still survive, one at Amberly Museum (the loco this kit was based on) and the other at Armley Mills in Leeds. Some were built to 3' gauge, one worked at Marland in North Devon and another at Dinmor on Anglesey. The Dinmor loco still survives and

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DS1169 part 2 - Bonnet forming.

Forming the bonnet   The first thing I did was to anneal the brass bonnet by heating it until it turned to a straw colour over a gas flame (cooker). I can never remember whether you're supposed to allow the brass to cool naturally or quench it in water, I just go with the former option. Works for me... Then I soldered one edge of the front panel to one side of the bonnet;     Then I rolled the bonnet around the first corner, using a 3.5mm drill as a former;     Gently rolling the bon

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halfwit

Austerity Update.

Inspired by recent posts from 46444 I've dug out my Dapol Austerity and done a little more work on it.   The undersize dome and silly little water filler have been replaced by RT Models castings, as has the chimney as my model came with the fibreglass type that was used on underfeed stoker fitted locos. Other RT Models parts fitted so far are replacement etched bufferbeam overlays, which help reduce the overscale width of the bufferbeams, and coupling rods which complement the Gibson wheels ni

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Dapol Austerity - smokebox door and handrails.

The smokebox door, like the rest of the loco, needs a bit of work. The first job was to carve away the numberplate, not really needed on an industrial loco..., and the moulded dart. The moulded hinge is huge and ugly so that came off as well, leaving a couple of small pads to mount a length of .025" Evergreen rod on, and for some reason there are rivets on the hinge straps which the prototype lacked so they came off as well. The front handrail is set too high so I filled the moulded holes and

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Judith Edge Steelman Royale body detailing.

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

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Judith Edge Steelman Royale handrail, ride height and sandbox lids.

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

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Judith Edge Steelman Royale body handrails and roof.

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 '

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