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GWR Small Metro Tank (6) - Ready for the paint shop


Ian Smith

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blog-0659439001414499461.jpgMore progress has been made on this little project, such that she is now ready for the paint shops.

 

To finish her off, the cab roof needed some detail (the whistles won't be added until she has been painted). There is a rain strip along the back edge of the cab roof, this was added from a single strand of multi-core wire (0.2mm diameter). To get this perfectly straight before attempting to solder it in place it was rolled on a flat surface (a piece of sheet steel) beneath another flat surface (a steel rule) this very quickly straightens a piece of copper wire this thin. Once this was attached, the holes for the two roof handrails were marked up and drilled along with the holes for the whistles. The handrails were formed from some Albion Models 0.2mm diameter nickel silver rod and soldered in place with a slip of card below them to ensure that they were equally spaced off the roof.

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After looking at some photos I realised that I had omitted the sand box lids on the sandboxes that are at the top of the cab steps. Some 1mm rod was quickly turned up and glued into holes to represent these.

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The next part to be manufactured was the smokebox front. On these early engines the smokebox door was of the dished pattern. To turn this up, a brass mandrel was made and a piece of 0.028" nickel silver sheet was soldered on the end of it before mounting in the lathe. After some little time, a smokebox front complete with dished door was formed. While mounted in the lathe, a 1mm hole was drilled in the middle of the door for accommodate the smokebox dart handles. The dart itself was turned up from a piece of nickel silver rod, but before the turning was performed a 0.4mm hole was drilled laterally across the diameter of the rod a couple of millimetres from the end to allow the handles to be threaded through.

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The door hinges were the next item to be tackled, being simply formed from thin strips of 0.004" nickel silver sheet the thicker end of each jingle piece was wrapped around a piece of 0.008" guitar string to represent the hinge itself.

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Once these items were cut to their final size they were soldered in place on the smokebox door/front.

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Once I was happy with the smokebox door/front assembly, it was epoxied in place over the gaping hole in the front of the smokebox. Epoxy was also used as a filler on the front of the smokebox saddle below the turned smokebox front. The following day, once the epoxy had fully cued any excess was trimmed and filed away.

 

The next somewhat daunting task was to make the combined handrail knob/lamp socket that sits at the top of the smokebox above the door. For this a piece of 1mm diameter brass rod was drilled laterally across its diameter with a 0.3mm drill (a small indentation with a wipe or two of a knife edge needle file allowed the drill to start without sliding off to one side or the other). Once this transverse hole had been made, the rod was re-sited within a pin chuck to allow the flats of the lamp socket to be formed on the end mm or so of the rod. Once happy that I had a square section on the rod end, it was transferred to the mini drill and filed to represent the handrail knob and the shaft to attach it to the smokebox front.

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The last little game was to form and fit the boiler/smokebox handrail. A length of 0.008" guitar string was carefully bent to the right shape (far easier and quicker to say than do!), and the repeatedly trial fitted around the smokebox using the previously made knob/lamp socket as a guide. The pair of handrail knobs needed on the smokebox sides were formed using my usual method of using a loop of single strand multi-core wire in the pin chuck, this is spun around a piece of handrail wire until the tails snap off.

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Once I had made sufficient to allow a suitable sacrifice to the carpet god, these threaded onto the handrail and sited in the previously drilled holes in the smokebox sides. After a suitable period of fettling to ensure that I was reasonably happy with the way that the handrail lay, the knobs were touched with a wipe of solder, extra solder was needed where the twisted handrail knobs fitted into the over sized holes to be cleaned up afterwards.

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So there she is. All ready for the sub-assemblies to go to the paint shops.

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And a final photo to show what she looks like with all of the loose parts plonked on in their relevant positions.

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Hopefully, the next few days will see a visit to the paint shops. I suspect with Autumn coming on strong that I will have to employ the de-humidifier and fan heater in the workshop/railway room/shed for a hour or two before breaking out the airbrush.

 

Ian

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  • RMweb Gold

Very nice work Ian. A real sense of achievement hacking stuff like this out of the raw, isn't there?

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That's looking very good, Ian. Having made many of those small parts in 4mm scale, I'm really impressed with what you've done in half the size.

 

I was a little surprised by the sandbox lids set into the floor. Many of the photos and drawings I've looked at show sandboxes between 12" and 16" high sat on the floor immediately inside the cab entrance. You often see crew members standing on them in photos and they must have required climbing over to get in and out.

 

Nick

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I don't know what to say. Fantastic? Outstanding? Something like that.

 

Very impressive, your attention to detail is superb. Looking forward to seeing it all painted up.

Jez & Gareth,

Thank you both.

 

 

Very nice work Ian. A real sense of achievement hacking stuff like this out of the raw, isn't there?

 

Mark,

As a first ever complete scratch build in 2mm I'm really pleased with how it's come out.  I'm sure there are some mistakes and some items that could have been done better.  As a retired software engineer the one thing I used to enjoy about my job was the creation of something that worked and did the job it was meant for, part of the pleasure was in the "getting there" and all that encompassed (the errors encountered included).  Building a working model has really satisfied that engineer in me, and to know that the only bits bought in were the motor, wheels and gears really does give one a sense of achievement :-)

 

That's looking very good, Ian. Having made many of those small parts in 4mm scale, I'm really impressed with what you've done in half the size.

 

I was a little surprised by the sandbox lids set into the floor. Many of the photos and drawings I've looked at show sandboxes between 12" and 16" high sat on the floor immediately inside the cab entrance. You often see crew members standing on them in photos and they must have required climbing over to get in and out.

 

Nick

Nick,

Thank you.

 

Looks like I've made a boo boo then :-)  Because of the lack of photos that I have that actually show the cab interiors (none of the floor area), I have mistakenly thought that the cab floor was some 12" higher than the footplate this belief was supported by seeing crew standing at that height on the sandbox tops.  Unfortunately, the only official drawing I have is one in GWRJ No 4 (of a Large Metro - although I assume the cab design was similar if not the same), and it doesn't really indicate what height the cab floor is.  Never mind, it's a bit late to worry about it now!!  I've also made internal curved splashers inside the cab, although I suspect that the rear driving wheels may well have been boxed in as that would at least provide a "seat" within the cab.  If you (or anyone else) has a more definitive idea of what covered the rear drivers I would be grateful to hear it - I can either replace the existing splashers or box them in with milliput before I start the painting.

 

Ian

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I've never seen a good enough cab view of a real Metro either! Dave (Wenlock) has a 7mm one built from a Roxey kit in the galleries. If anything, that appears to support the raised floor idea, so he may be able to clarify. The only other example I can find is 5" gauge one with Belpaire boiler. That shows the wheels boxed in and I've a recollection of seeing the roxey kit partially built that was similar. Other photos show a variety of sandbox/floor heights so there were probably several variations.

 

Whataever the answer, there seems to have been preceious little foot room in those cabs, and I suspect that when you've got a crew in there it will be all but impossible to tell the difference.

 

Nick

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  • RMweb Gold

Beautiful work Ian, a real achievement. Having had a play with the loco on Tucking Mill I can assure other followers of your blog that she runs as well as she looks.

 

Jerry 

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  • RMweb Gold

Oh what a little Beauty Ian really good work. Regarding the sandbox lids there was some discussion of this on a 1366 thread and a photo here

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/87758-agenoria-wr-1366-pannier-for-pencarrow-bridge/page-27&do=findComment&comment=1597638

 

Now I believe the 1366 does have a raised floor. Its funny but having been on the footplate of a 14xx and a Pannier I cannot remember something sticking up that I had to climb over  but there again it was a while ago. Photos are a bit hard to find and do not seem to show anything much of the cab clearly.

I would leave it until you can find some definite info.

Don

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  • RMweb Gold

That's looking fabulous Ian, all the small details have really brought the model to life!  I think you've excelled yourself with that smokebox socket lamp iron / front handrail knob:-)  I'm not sure I can shed much light on the cab floor issue, but here's a picture of my 7mm versions cab as built from the Roxey kit.

IMG 2475a

 
I'm really looking forward to seeing your loco finished, I hope it's going to have Indian Red frames :-)
 
Best wishes
 
Dave
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Really impressive Ian. Making those curved smokebox handrails consistent in 7mm is hard enough, so hats off to you for the neat result, and I agree with Dave above, the lamp socket/handrail post is excellent.

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Thanks for that photo, Dave. It certainly shows the raised floor, rear of tanks and boxing-in of the drivers. I'm fairly certain that Roxey got that about right. What it doesn't show is the sandbox fillers. Are the sandboxes set into the raised floor? It does look like there would be room for them above and behind the driving wheel.

 

Some photos look like they might show separate sandboxes, e.g.Russell vol 1 figs 374 and 376. The very visible three rivets is a characteristic of the separate floor-mounted sandbox. My only other concern about raised floors, especially the further raised central section as seen here, is that it might require the firebox coal hole to be rather high compared with other GWR designs.

 

Don - sorry, but Collett designs are just a red herring here. You can't remember climbing over anything because, in most cases, the rear sandboxes and their fillers are outside below the running plate. We know the arrangement on most GWR 19th century tanks, certainly once they became fairly standardised from about 1880 onwards. This was to have sandboxes mounted on the floor in front of the bunker, though the floor was not raised. The Metro is unusual in this respect because of the extent to which the drivers impinge on the cab area, in most cases, small splashers were sufficient to cover them.

 

btw, I don't think there is any evidence for red painted regulator and reverser levers before WW1. On the whole, they were polished steel.

 

Nick

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That's looking fabulous Ian, all the small details have really brought the model to life!  I think you've excelled yourself with that smokebox socket lamp iron / front handrail knob:-)  I'm not sure I can shed much light on the cab floor issue, but here's a picture of my 7mm versions cab as built from the Roxey kit.

 
I'm really looking forward to seeing your loco finished, I hope it's going to have Indian Red frames :-)
 
Best wishes
 
Dave

 

Dave,

Thank you.  And also thanks for posting a photo of your cab interior.  I'll redo the cab splashers that I'd turned and fitted, and replace them with some boxed in assemblies instead.  It's also interesting to see how the tanks encroach into the cabs, and also that the tanks don't come all the way back to the cab handrails - Too late for my model, I'll leave mine as it is now!

 

And yes she will have Indian Red frames :-)

 

 

Really impressive Ian. Making those curved smokebox handrails consistent in 7mm is hard enough, so hats off to you for the neat result, and I agree with Dave above, the lamp socket/handrail post is excellent.

 

Thank you.

 

Ian

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  • RMweb Gold

Real craftsmanship Ian, and it already oozes character too, even before being painting.

 

I can't remember if you've turned up the polished dome and safety valve cover yourself? 

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks for that photo, Dave. It certainly shows the raised floor, rear of tanks and boxing-in of the drivers. I'm fairly certain that Roxey got that about right. What it doesn't show is the sandbox fillers. Are the sandboxes set into the raised floor? It does look like there would be room for them above and behind the driving wheel.

 

btw, I don't think there is any evidence for red painted regulator and reverser levers before WW1. On the whole, they were polished steel.

 

Nick

I'm afraid When I built the loco I just followed the Roxey instructions! These unfortunately make no mention of the sandbox filler caps, somy Metro hasn't got any! If any definite information comes to light I'd certainly want to add them.

 

Re painting the regulator and reversing levers are on my "to do list" along with repainting my loco lamps from red to the more appropriate black with the white diamond!

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Real craftsmanship Ian, and it already oozes character too, even before being painting.

 

I can't remember if you've turned up the polished dome and safety valve cover yourself? 

Mikkel,

 

Thank you.  Yes, the dome, safety valve (and chimney which was turned up in phosphor bronze so that I automatically have a copper coloured cap) are all my own work.  If I'm honest I'm not 100% satisfied with the dome or safety valve cover as I don't think that I've got the flare right where they sit on top of the boiler, the flares down the sides as they sit around the boiler are OK though :-(  I may re-make those if I have time before the Warley exhibition.

 

Ian

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Great job Ian.

 

How's the painting going? I don't think that bad weather is going to stand up to scrutiny as a reason for not doing painting today :)

 

Regards, Andy

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks for the info, Ian. They look good to me, but then I've never had a good eye for boiler fittings.

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