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k22009

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  1. Etched list pdf updated with the Gunpowder Van and Stanier Mogul added. Cheers Dave
  2. With a brief spell of fine weather we had a trip up to Assynt which was nice and quiet if a touch breezy on the tops. But back to the Mogul and adding the details and completing the chassis. First up was the valve gear, i usually use lace pins rather than rivets as i find them easier to get a free joint, but ocassionally i do the reverse. As i mentioned earler the frames for OO are 12.1mm apart so a 12 wide motor fits in nicely. I usually use High Level gearboxes but i had a spare Comet 38:1 single stage job to hand that i used, both worm and final drive have grubscrews which is nice. I left the vacuum pump extended drop link on the crosshead, it would fit under the bottom slide bar if fitted. I wanted to make sure it would clear everything. The motion bracket is soldered to the slide bars and so comes away with the cylinder block if removed Most of the detailing parts are from either Andrew at Wizard, Brian at 247 and Colin at Alan Gibson only the Ross Pop safety valves were from the spares box. Some of the items needed a bit of work to fit, steam pipes and smokebox door primarily, the gravity lubricators on the frame extensions are too big, i would use Alan Gibson lost wax ones next time. There are brackets on thetop of the front and rear steam chest but i felt these would get damaged when removing the chassis so they aren't included. The atomiser on the smokebox is a filed down piece of 2.5mm dia brass bar and the lance cock on the other side is from Wizard. The mechanical lubricator operating mechanism is far too flimsy so this will be beefed up a little even though it's only cosmetic. I added AWS and also a vacuum pipe on the left hand side under the footplate. I have a different chimney on order from Dave at LMS in the hope it's a little beefier than the Stanier 2-6-4 Chimney thats shown here. The only item that i have to think about is the tall open dome with safety valves that the earlier half coned boilers had i will see if i can drill out maybe a Fowler dome though and see how it looks. I've not provided a tender with this as both Wizard and Brassmasters sell perfectly good ones, a Bachmann one is pictured with the engine here. The cab roof is just sitting on the sides until it's painted and the chimney casting needs a little persuading to make it sit better. I had omitted any blanking plates for the mudhole doors on the etches so they will be added and will be bigger and oval than those on this model With a Bachmann tender A short video of it on the test track https://youtu.be/-HzOZvc6kOc
  3. A liitle bit more done on the chassis with the valve gear removed and ready for assembly, sandpipes fitted. Spares are to the top right. That just about tidies that up, i'll give it a waft over with some black primer tonight so i can get the wheels on and finish the chassis off. In the meantime i've added 0.4mm copper wire to the mechanical lubricators, the gravity lubricators defeated me so they'll go on as is, all of the other castings and detailing items are ready to add once i'm happy that the chassis is ok.
  4. The cab roof has 3 stiffeners underneath that help to form the profile, each of the front 2 stiffeners have short legs on them too which retains it to a degree when clipped between the cab sides, I've added beading to the rear edge. With the rest of the body. I've added crankpins to the wheels, sometime ago i bought a few M1 x 12 brass countersunk screws, the Alan Gibson crankpin nuts fit these and they are slightly easier to solder to once the chassis is finished. As is my usual practice i also pin the centre axle with some 0.5mm wire. I line the slot of the screw up with the wheel axle and drill through into the plastic , not all the way through though, push home the wire and superglue in place. This will stop any chance of it moving when you attach the return crank. You can't add the chassis with the assembly frame attached so it's time to cut it off. Carefully. The chassis can be built rigid, ther are guides for cut outs for horn blocks and there are also compensation beams, twin beams for the 2 rear axles and arms for the front driver pivotted as far forward as i could with a knife edge on one of the spacers to allow it to rock. There are alternate cylinder sides as some of the earlier Mogul's had a square topped cylinder, these were changed to a more rounded profile for the latter engines. I've used Wizard models castings for the cylinders which are handily sold seperately and with the chassis assembled (the cylinders/motion bracket are removable). Now that the body is free of its support i can also check to see if the chassis fits ok.
  5. Hi Simon, yes you are correct there is a very small overlap but in practice trying to obtain that in a soldered model might be quite diffcult, perhaps i should've clarified that.
  6. There are 2 different configurations of Mogul boiler cladding, the earlier type had the clothing follow the shape of the boiler so that half was tapered and the front part parallel, the later enginers the cladding was tapered all along its length which is what i will be using for this Mogul. The parts for all of the options, there were a few errors on these parts, the holes for the mudhole doors on the firebox should have been just 2 staggered on each side rather than 4 the same, some of the holes for the handrail knobs were too big so needed filling. I started with the firebox, it was half etched but on the revised artwork i will have it full thickness, it was too thin half etched. It's straightforward enough to tack the formers front and rear with a couple of rods to tie them while i formed the firebox shape. there are 3 thicknesses of former at the front as this will need shaping with curved edges. The boiler and smokebox were rolled and the formers fitted, once the rear formers had been soldered in place i cut away the X so that i could have access to solder the front former from the inside, i also soldered a nut on the centreline so that i could bolt the boiler to the smokebox. The front of the smokebox is open and has 2 layers the front slightly protruding at the front and the edges rounded off. I also fitted 2 small pieces of rod at the rear of the boiler which locate in corresponding holes in the front of the firebox. I am hoping that the motor will fit vertically into the firebox, i have designed the chassis frames so that they are 12.1mm wide so enabling a 12mm wide motor to fit between them. Alternately a motor will fit into the firebox and boiler if a larger one is desired. With all 3 parts together. I now made up the saddle and added the frame extensions to the front footplate, the saddle is a snug fit between the frame extensions and the cylinders will sit underneath once assembled. And wit hthe boiler assembly and cab just resting in place to check that it all fits ok. Cab roof and then chassis next.
  7. Because the Mogul cabs have lots of visible rivets the cab sides and front are made up from 2 half etched layers. The rear drivers protrude into the cab slightly so i have added some splasher covers, there is also a mount for the reverser, a reverser with handwheel, seats and damper quadrant with levers. there is also interior window frames which hopefully can be fitted with glazing before the cab roof gets fixed in position after painting. Some of the engines had cinder guards fitted, there are holes provided on the inner cab side to be drilled through if these are to be installed. Boiler assembly next. Cab sides and front with cab base all assembled With the etched cab floor, doors, handrails, beading, cab seats, reverser in place. The cab seat looks a little wonky so i'll need to straighten that.
  8. The footplate on the mogul is supported from the front and at the cab so to give as good a chance to keep things straight and square while the valances are at least attached i decided to add a jig to the etch, this will enable virtually all of the body to be completed on a rigid framework. Some kits i've built come with a fold up jig but i decided to do one in parts that needs assembling first. The parts including the footplate. the ties between the main footplate sides will need to be removed before the boiler assembly can be fitted but until then they add further rigidity. The jig assembled, it all fits together with tans and slots so it's easier to keep everything square. The tops of the valance can now have the remains of the tags filed off before the footplate is fitted and there are rivets to be pressed out before going further. It's important to take time bending the under cab and front parts of the footplate with various bars so they are an exact match to the valences on the jig. Getting everything spot at this stage will make everything else fit more accurately later. it's easy enough to solder the valences through the openings in the jig from the underside, the valence needs to be flush with the footplate edges. Cab assembly next.
  9. Hi Jol, yes it is, at the moment on the test etch it's just OO and EM they use the one spacer but for OO it's a matter of snapping off the excess at the half etched line. But on the revised etch which i've started there will be 3 sets of dedicated spacers for OO, EM and P4. I generally work to the same tolerances, Autocad is far too expensive for most users to contemplate starting with, i'm sure there is plenty of softweare that is either free or with reasonably cheap licences available, i used to use it for work all the time so it's something i'm familiar with.
  10. Hi Deano, The drawings are all done on Autocad, it's far more accurate, whilst it doesn't mean everything will be perfect as you still have to transfer the parts from the overall drawing onto a 2D part drawing, it's much easier to be able to drag and drop parts. The etchers produce the photo etch tool for each sheet which they use to produce the etches. Chassis is Nickel silver and the body is brass.
  11. A good few years back I bought an Airfix Mogul plastic kit once that had been been started along with a chassis kit but when i got it, it had been butchered beyond repair. Something however must've been festering in some black rather than crimson corner of my mind as i recently decided to draw up some etches. I picked up a copy of Ian Sixsmith excellent book of the Stanier 2-6-0's and armed with a couple of drawings i ploughed on. A few notes all gleaned from the book as follows. They were a class of 40 locomotives built at Crewe from 1933 numbered 13245-13284. The boilers to all of the class had its taper in the first section between firebox and to just beyond the dome, the boiler was parallel after this to the smokebox. These were classified 3D boilers and were known as half cone boilers (although not strictly a cone as the boiler bottom was horizontal). The first ten engine numbers 13245-13254 had a tall open dome with safety valves inside and water feed clacks to the sides and the boiler clothing followed the boiler profile. These were replaced by ross pops between 1946 and 1955. The second ten 13255-13264 also had the same half cone boiler clothing arrangement but with ross pops rather than the open dome and with a dome/top feed. The third and fourth ten 13265-3274 and 13275-13284 had the full cone taper clothing from the firebox to the smokebox (the boiler underneath the clothing was still the same however as all 3D boilers). During ongoing maintenance, all of the locomotives eventually received the full cone profile clothing. The firebox had washout plugs only originally, but later gained mudhole doors on the shoulders 2 either side, these had dished covers on some and others blanking plates. Early cylinders (the first 9 engines) had a square topped profile to the cladding with the balance having the more conventional rounded profile. The atomiser valve, covers and pipes on the lefthand side of the smokebox varied with later covers being smaller and with hidden pipework. There was a tube blower lance cock on the righthand side of the smokebox which moved slightly upwards when the superheater tubes were enlarged. The top feed clacks on the top feed varied with some being flatter, some more bulbous, and not all were the same on either side. They carried 2 mechanical lubricators on the righthand side, one was for the coupled axle boxes the other for the valves and cylinders. On the last 5 engines 13280-13284 there was only one for the axle boxes, the cylinder lubricator was replaced by a sight feed lubricator in the cab. Some of the engines had cinder guards to the cab sides others not. The lefthand crosshead had the vacuum pump operating piston attached to a larger bracket but all were removed by the late 1930’s as the small ejector was more than capable of maintaining the vacuum for the brakes. Only the first 10 engines had steam heat pipes on the front and rear but from 13255 the front fitting was removed. Whistles at first were a Midland upright type but the last 10 received a horizontal Stanier whistle. Tenders were all Fowler type and varied between snap head rivetted, flush rivetted, some with edge beading others without. They were not at first fitted with scoops and the vents were originally fitted within the coal rails but gradually moved rearwards. Some tenders had the piping, water deflector dome and vents fitted but with no scoop operating gear fitted. Livery was LMS black with red lining followed by the BR version. Numbers and tender lettering were yellow or gold with red shading. The LMS on the tender was slightly offset and higher to miss the rivets if they were present. In wartime they all received all black livery unlined. In the first years of BR some got British railways on the tenders, later this became the early and then later symbols. The original power classification of 4F was painted above the cab windows but after 1934 the classification 5P4F appeared below the windows. By the war this was 5P5F, and during BR times the power classification was changed again to 6P5F but only just a 5 was marked on the cab sides which stayed until their demise. The numbering scheme was originally 13245-13284 these were eventually revised to 2945-2984 with BR adding 40,000 to become 42945-42984. AWS was introduced in the late 1950’s most of the moguls eventually received the protector plate under the buffer beam, vacuum timing reservoir and battery box on the righthand side with an additional secondary cylinder fitted to the left side. The etches duly arrived Onto the build next
  12. Here are a couple of photos of one of the ex Peter Lawson kits that i bought from Tony a few weeks back. The one Fowler 3P had been started and was about 50% complete so it soon acquired the balance of parts, once finished there were a few spare parts leftover so with a bit of scratchbuilding for mainly the footplate, boiler/firebox and chassis frames another took shape. I used the motion from a Comet Fowler 2-6-4 for this with a few modifications. Both are awaiting some drier waether to get painted and finished off.
  13. Most of the underframe parts shown below The headstock is a laminate of 6 parts located together with 0.5mm wire. Before soldering up ensure everything is square. Once the headstocks are made up the main underframe can be started. The unit itself needs the sides folding up there's a half etched groove for this but i haven't folded over the outer details that are half etched as i don't want to risk bleeding any solder onto them just yet. Because the underframe originally was wooden i needed to make the solebars thicker than you would if it were steel. So there are 3 additional thicknesses to each side that can be located with 0.5m wire, (they will only fit in one orientation) and then i soldered the 4 leaves in 3 positions, both ends and centre before folding over the outer half etched leaf and soldering it all together. The headstocks can be fitted centrally to the ends, the cross beams and spacers can also be folded up. The brake assembly, w irons, coupling hooks, buffers and axle boxes can then be fitted. I've also opened out the holes in both th van base and the underfame to suit 12BA, nuts have been attached to the inside of the van. Then the small bits, the van body was restrained by stops, 2 at each end, these are made up from 4 pieces and again located together with 0.5mm wire. Once made up they fit over the holes/wire locaters in the headstocks. The door hinges can also be bent and fitted before mounting both units. It just leaves the numberplates which are provided for all 5 vans to be fitted after painting and a bit of weight popped inside the van. A quick test run on some track and there we have a pair of MR D384 powder vans ready for warmer weather to be painted. These are coming out at £27.50+ £5 p+p (1st class signed for service) for any number with everything except wheels included, if anyone wants one or more message me please, if you'd like the roof rolling just let me know, i'll probably be ordering towards the ned of the month. Cheers Dave
  14. I'll make up the van itself first. Before i removed anything from the fret i soldered on the rivetted beading strips to the top of the sides and ends. Everything was removed from the fret and the tag edges smoothed over. Because there is so many visible rivets i have made the sides into 2 parts each with an outer wrapper with half etched rivets and the inner. The inner has plenty of slots to allow the outer wrapper to be soldered from the inside and these inner parts also interlock with each other so ensuring you get a nice square van body. The base has 4 stiffeners that need locating into tabs that will provide a starting point as the sides also have tabs that locate onto these stiffeners. The door is made up from a rivetted farme that solders onto the door, handgrab holes are provided and a catch needs making up from scrap etch. By fitting this catch into the hole provided it lines up the door when you need to solder it onto the side piece. With the door fitted to the side. With the 2 sides assembled. The ends can now be fited onto the tabs of the inner sides and we have a nice square unit. The roof needs rolling and the edges folding out (there is a half etched line underneath so the bend forms easily. I use a pair of parallel nosed plier for this. 3 stiffeners are provided one for the centre and 2 at the ends. If you measure the inside of the van body and position the end stiffeners tight up to the ends the roof should clip into place and be retained by the vertical legs on the stiffeners. There are 6 rivetted strips to be soldered onto the roof top. With the roof clipped onto the van. That 2nd strip in needs attaching better to the roof, it's sitting up a little. 2 nuts need soldering onto the base on the inside, but i'll do that when i've removed the underframe and can line up the holes provided to make sure everything is ok. On with the underframe next.
  15. The Midland built 20 gunpowder vans 5 of which were to D384 and 15 to the slightly larger D385 all were classed as Specials. According to Bob Essery's book Midland Wagons Vol 1 the body as shown in the books plate 221 was probably light grey with a slate grey roof and built in 1881. They had one very small doorway @ 2'-6" x 4'-0 with the brake being on the opposite side. It certainly wouldn't have been a pleasant place to have had to enter. The underframe was wooden even though the van was iron and had a 7lbs/ft lead base which extended 8 " up all sides and fastened with copper nails with the iron sheets appearing to be quite slim at 1/8" thick. There were 2 end stops at each end 3" x 1/1/2" x 1'-1 long probably cast iron to retain the body on the underframe. The wooden underframe was from a standard 8 Ton low sided wagon with a 9'-0 wheelbase. With many thanks to @Compound2632 for sending copies of the drawings to me. The etch is from 0.25mm brass and this is what is included. This is a test etch that i'll build and i'll make any changes to the artwork before offering it to members. So i'd better fire up the soldering iron.
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