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First coat of primer on the Buffalo body


buffalo

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With some trepidation I'm starting my first entry in this new style workbench blog. My intention is to continue where I left off in my workbench thread on the old RMweb. I'll have to check that link later as the old forum is offline at the moment :( . As a result, I'm not sure whether my last post at around 6:45 this evening actually reached the old site, so I'll start by repeating it, slightly edited, here.

 

I've spent some of the last couple of days looking at the new RMweb (only as a guest, I haven't dared to log in in case Andy sent the boys round to slap my wrists or worse :unsure: ) and reading the various HowTos in preparation for the great release tonight. I like much of what I've seen but am still uncertain about this blog approach to work bench threads. To me, the reversal of the time dimension in blogs disrupts the normal sequence in telling a story of the building a loco/wagon/coach/building/etc. We'll just have to see how it pans out. Maybe I'll try Martin's transfer program to move the old thread to the new site, but I'm still not clear what it will end up looking like.

 

Anyway, back to the Buffalo. I have managed to complete the detailing of the body and have given it a first coat of primer, followed by a few Archers rivets to represent those not present on the castings or damaged during the build:

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Since the last photos I've added the cab roof and whistles. The whistles were made from brass rod and tube and protrude vertically from the cab roof, although they are hidden by masking tape in the photos. The idea of using the London Road Models LNWR pattern lamp sockets was less successful. Although the footplate mounted sockets could be made by filing off part of the mounting plate, the way the sockets are mounted on the bunker and at the top of the smokebox are quite different from the GWR pattern. In the end, I made my own. Those on the bunker are made from 1mm square brass tubing with a 0.4mm brass rod soldered into a hole on one side. The rod was then low-melt soldered into holes drilled in the bunker. The one at the top of the smokebox incorporates the hand rail knob, so this was milled, drilled and turned from a piece of 2mm round brass rod. The results aren't perfect, but look reasonable from 'normal viewing distance'.

 

Nick

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Hello, I am a little lost as to what to do to reply , I am assuming that this is the correct way to reply to a "Blog", but I do not know who is able to read it, whether it is posted, or confined to this "blog". The new start is just that, reduced to zero, and I do not like it!

Any way nice to see the progress on the Saddle tank.

Stephen.

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Hi Stephen,

Well, you must have done something right because I can read it after clicking on a 'comments' link below my post.

 

Looking forward to more on servos, gearboxes, etc., when you have settled in here :)

 

Nick

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One little addition that I forgot to mention is the coal rails on the bunker. The kit provided these as a sinle part on the etch but, once bent to shape, the ends were overhanging. Rather than shortening the etched part, I decided to make my own. This way I could produce something more prototypical as photos show the original was made from half-round, not flat, bar. This seems to be a common error in kits at this scale, my Finney GWR Dean 2500 gallon tender also had flat coal rails.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't source any suitable half-round wire or a draw plate that would produce any thing small enough. I first tried some 1mm half round brass but this looked far too big so, in the end, I filed down a length of 0.7mm round brass to a suitable shape and made the supports from short lengths of boiler band material.

 

Nick

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Ah ha! Found you Nick! (What a cavernous place this is.) Anyway, excellent to see the loco is now nearing completion, and it looks super in primer. Question: how did you replace the missing rivets on the castings? (I wasn't sure what you meant by 'archer' things.) Are they blobs of plasticard?

 

Like the coal rails, btw. When did the prototype start to fill these in?

 

Miss P

 

P.S. Hope you can manage to pull in the other pages from the old site when they become accessible again.

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Hi Miss P,

Thanks for the comments :) Yes, I'm sure it will take a while to find everything, especially while people are transferring stuff from the old site and getting used to the new ways of doing things.

 

The 'archer' things are transfers, see this link

 

Like the coal rails, btw. When did the prototype start to fill these in?

 

I'm not really sure, but from photos that I've seen it was probably around 1905-10. Russell has a picture of 1176 dated 1910 still with saddle tanks, but with the raised panels on the bunker. Most of the pannier conversions appear with the raised panels. This seems to apply to other saddle/pannier classes as well, although he does show one picture of 1850 as a pannier in 1912 with what appears to be an infill plate attached inside the rails.

 

Hope you can manage to pull in the other pages from the old site when they become accessible again.

I hope to do this over the next few days....

 

Nick

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  • RMweb Gold

What a clean and neat build. I've been following this over on the old RMWeb and happy to see it here too now. Now all we need is to see it in rich GWR green !

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Several attempts to post have failed due to the server issue, but here goes again, I am following this as usual, but it now seems we cannot post pictures to a blog, having a complex cross forum method, to other postings or the gallery, as the only alternative, so all comment has to be that, just comment. If a picture or list is needed in a reply here it has to be posted elsewhere and links to it provided, a time wasting and frustrating and un-needed complexity.

 

My own postings will be on the forum with full access for replies, there is little point in running my own blog if all that can be posted by readers is text. I am afraid this new forum is a sad disappointing one, kept alive in future only by interesting blogs like yours.

 

Stephen

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...My own postings will be on the forum with full access for replies, there is little point in running my own blog if all that can be posted by readers is text. I am afraid this new forum is a sad disappointing one, kept alive in future only by interesting blogs like yours.

 

Almost a month later and I'm still not sure about the blog format. I like the page layout, and indexes do help to provide structure, but it lacks the flow that can be achieved in a forum. Having to go backwards and forwards between different entries breaks the flow -- is it really appropriate to post new comments like this, on an 'old' entry?

 

Anyway, Stephen, thanks for the kind comments. I do, however, think it is possible to add images. They just have to be linked using a URL rather than attached as can be done elsewhere. Nevertheless, I doubt if the structure will really support wide ranging discussions like the one we had on CSB on the old forum :rolleyes:

 

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Nick

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Nick, hi again!

 

I have finally caught up with the 'migration' and am delighted to see the Buffalo progressing brilliantly ... marvellous job. My two remain firmly in their boxes as I am still finishing my pair of 1854s. I have added rear axle coil springs in the cabs and recently a floor ( thanks to Ian Middleditches scratch building course at Phil Atkinson's) Alas no photos as I have still to work out how to rescue my blog from the old site but they are virtually ready for painting - just the lamp irons to sort out

 

All best wishes and thanks for a great set of updated instructions for the kit!!

 

Nick

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