Entry posted by The Fatadder
1,074 views
Back in 2012 I purchased a Dave Geen kit for a GWR diagram Y3 Fruit C, at the time I opened it up and had a quick look (identifying an issue with the lack of floor) before putting it back in a box for another day.
In the following years I have completely forgotten about it (and managed to lose the instructions). Last night after running out of work to do on my County (given I still cant find the wheels), Instead I dug out the kit for the Fruit C.
First impressions were that the white metal castings were of a very good quality (with next to no flash), so after cleaning up the main parts I got stuck in. I started by soldering the first end to a side, using the technique shown in Tony Wright's loco building DVD applying flux before dropping a lump of white metal solder in place and then melting it.
This was then followed by the other side, before spending ten minutes unsoldering and resoldering the joints until I was happy that the body was perfectly square.
The was followed by adding the "floor" section, little more than a 1 inch square piece of metal which sits in the centre of the chassis in order to provide a base for the brake gear.
I opened up the holes in the buffer beam to accept the buffer castings, before soldering into position. One of the things I am aiming to achieve for this build, is to solder on as much as possible to try and improve my soldering (before eventually returning attention to my Manor and Collett Goods kit builds).
Attention now turned to the wheels, back in 2012 when this van was intended for my Cheddar Valley project I made a start on prepping the W irons to accept Bill Bedford units (so one spring / axlebox is removed ready for use). This posed a bit of an issue was I was now considering building it as the kit intends for Brent. Given I only have 3 W irons available it was a simple decision to go back to plan a, and crack out a pack of Bill Bedford units. The space between the solebars is slightly wider than the etch (given that the cast w irons are much thicker), so I have soldered some scrap fret from a Comet chassis kit into position on the inside of the solebars in order to reduce the width (and give something to solder the Bill Bedford units to when the time comes). This of course was achieved by tinning one side of the brass with regular solder, before soldering in place with the low melt stuff.
The final area of work was the roof, this is the one area I think the kit is rather poorly designed. The thin plastic roof is not keeping its shape well, needs cutting to size (with out loosing the pre rolled bend) and generally doesnt look like it will stand up to much. Id have much preferred a brass etch which could have been soldered on. However as I dont have a suitable brass roof available, I have found an alternative option in the form of a Ratio Toad brake van roof. It needs cutting to length, but the profile is spot on and it has a lot more rigidity than the thin plastic sheet supplied. The brake van its self (half way through the removal of the hand rails) is unlikely to be finished now the Hornby model is coming...
The Remaining Work
> Assemble W Irons and solder into position
> Solder brake gear onto chassis - I have decided that I want all of my freight stock to be interchangeable between OO and P4 by swapping the wheels out, so that when attention returns to P4 steam stock can be moved back across easily. As such brakes will be lined up for the scale position rather than the narrow OO wheels.
> Attach remaining steps / small details (hopefully the majority soldered in place)
> Cut roof to lenght and glue on.
-
5
2 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now