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Dean Goods finished - well almost!


Brassey

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The subject of my first blog is now nearing completion after only 8 years!  It has been a problem build right from the start.  

 

I also painted it when I was really struggling with my airbrush so the paint is far from perfect.

 

2306 was an early Dean Goods which numbers started at 2301.  In 1912 it was at Pontypool Road by which time it had acquired a B4 Belpaire firebox the Autumn before.

 

This is mainly an old Mallard kit, narrowed footplate with additional spare parts from a Martin Finney Dean Goods including the more pronounced sweep of the cab sides.  It has a Comet chassis, Gibson wheels, High Level gearbox and Mashima motor but is still not too good a runner.  As a working layout loco it will do for the time being.

 

2306.jpg.5554efbfbb648fe0f032e9da5bafa829.jpg

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28 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

A nice green.

 

 

Which one; the loco or tender?  Both are from the same tin of PP pre-1928 great western loco dull but the tender has come out gloss and lighter.

 

When all else fails, read the instructions.  I read on the Phoenix website that Precision Paints should be diluted 80:20 and sprayed with 20 psi.  I had always used a weaker 50:50 solution with less pressure but got runs and sags.  So I tried the new spec with a different, less fine airbrush on something else and it worked!  Have now changed the needle in my Iawata.

 

I also think the pre-1906 PP comes out even lighter but should be darker:

 

2478.jpg.57633632df1f6b2422cfdd379e03f455.jpg

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57 minutes ago, Barry Ten said:

Looks good to me. In what respect is not a good runner?

Despite using a GW wheel press and a B2B gauge, I find that the Gibson wheels can go on a bit tight if you are a bit over zealous with squeezing the wheelset together.  Apart from being undergauge, the wheels are tight against the bearings.  The first set wouldn't move and I broke the spokes trying to get them off with a wheel puller.  The key to Gibson wheels, according to Colin Seymour,  is to twist them off apparently.  However, the Comet chassis is curved behind the wheels so the are a bu66er to get hold of, particularly in P4 with razor sharp flanges.  I resorted to knocking the axle out with a centre punch.  The next set went on almost as tight but would just about move.  Still undergauge, it does run and I guess with a bit more running in it might improve.

 

There are benefits in making all the wheelsets removable but I built this with a fixed driven axle.  2478 above has a High Level Dean Goods chassis whereby all the wheelsets can drop out.  (It also has Ultrascale wheels which is another bonus and runs fine.)

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I hope you get it sorted. Mine uses a rigid Comet chassis and their own gearbox and Mashima motor, with Markits wheels. I had a real struggle getting it to run well until I went up one motor size compared to what was recommended (there was just enough room under the Airfix body), and now it's easily one of my favorite runners, smooth, silent, stall-proof and able to shift a 30 wagon train without slipping. But it was a trial to get there and for most of the time it lived in the tupperware box of doom.

 

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2 minutes ago, Barry Ten said:

I hope you get it sorted. Mine uses a rigid Comet chassis and their own gearbox and Mashima motor, with Markits wheels. I had a real struggle getting it to run well until I went up one motor size compared to what was recommended (there was just enough room under the Airfix body), and now it's easily one of my favorite runners, smooth, silent, stall-proof and able to shift a 30 wagon train without slipping. But it was a trial to get there and for most of the time it lived in the tupperware box of doom.

 

 

Good to hear you sorted it.  Which motor did you have.  As a naive newby when I returned to the hobby, the guy from Comet, alas no longer with us, sold me a Mashima 1015 with the DG chassis!  That's despite me telling him I modelled in P4 and so I had much more room for a bigger motor between the frames.  Mine has a 1224 underslung which was my motor of choice.  I'm yet to build 30 wagons and the current fiddleyard wouldn't' hold that many anyway.  We'll see what it can do when I get that far.

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I have a Ks outside frame 'Dean Goods' to buld in P4.  I plan to use a 10/24, the same as my Ks Mogul (the 12/24 is less powerful and no longer available from Branch!ines).  I will also be adapting the Ks chassis with fixed rear axle and beam compensated middle and front axles......

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My first kit was a K's Dean Goods.  That rapidly got converted to EM at which point I abruptly moved to P4.  During the period when career, marriage and family took over, I seem to have acquired 4 Dean Goods chassis and a load of Mallard etches.  I now have 3 completed Dean Goods and a Martin Finney kit still to build.  Bits of the original K's Dean Goods have been incorporated in most of them.

 

I have recently replaced a 1024 with a High Level coreless 1219 in a Wills Saddle tank mainly because I needed a shorter motor to make room for the DCC decoder.  I am quite happy with it.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Brassey said:

 

Good to hear you sorted it.  Which motor did you have.  As a naive newby when I returned to the hobby, the guy from Comet, alas no longer with us, sold me a Mashima 1015 with the DG chassis! 

 

 

A Mashima 1015 initially, as recommended by Comet, but despite trying several of them, I could never get it to develop enough torque to run well at slow speeds. When I put in a 1024, it was a big improvement.

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21 hours ago, Miss Prism said:

A nice green.

 

21 hours ago, Brassey said:

Which one; the loco or tender?  Both are from the same tin of PP pre-1928 great western loco dull but the tender has come out gloss and lighter.

 

I prefer the shade of the loco colour, although of course very difficult to say from photos. I also have a strong suspicion that - apart from all the other factors - our individual sense of aesthetics means a lot for what we think looks "right". 

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Thanks Mikkel I would agree and the difference in colour is apparent in the flesh.

 

I have different versions of PP loco green, pre 1906 both dull and gloss and the later pre 1928 both dull and gloss.  I always plan to use the gloss on locos that are to be lined as it makes lining easier.  However for me the best shade comes from a couple of very old tins of pre 1928 dull that I have.  The paint looks almost black in the tin and goes on darkest and almost matt.  For me this looks the best shade and looks "right" to me.  Whether it is historically authentic is another matter.

 

The paint in these old tins is like jelly and needs careful stirring and mixing before applying via an airbrush.  Here is an example on 2524:

 

2524.jpg.d2704cfac06ddb25435017920f46f4c0.jpg

 

PS:  At one point in the past I briefly worked on the marketing for Barbour waxed jackets and spent the whole day once in a meeting discussing the shade of green on a shoe polish tin!  Those were the days...

Edited by Brassey
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That's three kit-built Dean Goods you have casually thrown at us in the space of a few posts. Your operating sessions are going to be something special! :locomotive:

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Yes; I just need to finish some more wagons!

 

blake.jpg.84b257112dc11dc0a68c437de58065c2.jpg

 

Edit PS: not to mention the missing dummy chairs on all the track!

Edited by Brassey
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