nickd

The week began by closing the tanks. As you can see the RHS tank top has a tool pocket built onto the top of it. It is accessed by an inaccessible door on the footplate. The tool pocket was made from the kit etch for the tank top (it was too short for this purpose) so another part of the kit was used, so not all of the cost of the kit was wasted. I then made the piano front for the valve chest. This was surprisingly difficult to make, it all had to be hand made. It doesn't open as the budgets were getting a bit squeezed by now. Next up was all the plumbing for the vacuum brakes and steam heat. There was virtually nothing of any use in the kit for this. One of the kits had a very poor quality front vacuum pipe, but the other just had some generic hoses. Luckily LGM did a decent casting for the front vac pipes, the rest had to be handmade using odds-and-sods in my bits-box. Jobs like this burn up the budget, and ideally the kit would contain more parts that are useful. I then moved on to the pipework and handrails on the boiler. Again the castings provided were a bit inadequate. I had to make 4 elbows for the ends of the pipes. The pipes themselves are fashioned from 2.0 mm thin walled tube, as it was easier to drill and solder in the handrail knobs. The pipe down the RHS of the loco has some mini pipes and flanges that enter the smokebox. These were the last parts that I made this week. Care had to be taken drilling the holes for the elbow and mounting pegs for the pipes, then they had to be moved about slightly to make them horizontal and straight.....all good fun! I should finish the locos next week, as there's not a lot left to do. I'm going to make a JLTRT 10001 as a palate cleanser next.

Well the over dramatic picture of the cab front (see last week's post) didn't become a problem. The boiler fitted over the raised former.....just! I spent the beginning of the week fitting everything up. First rolling the boiler and fitting the formers, and creating the firebox sides. I know it can't really be seen but it seemed more professional than to just cut a hole for the motor. I put a piece in for the front of the firebox, so that if anyone stares under the boiler with a powerful torch, that area of the boiler will be closed. There were some in-fill pieces to be added around the top of the cylinder block and smokebox rear area. I also added boiler bands, largely because I find it therapeutic, and the cleats at the bottom of the boiler. The L section infill piece between the front of the cab was made in the usual way. I scored the shape of the end of the firebox onto a sheet of thin nickel silver and cut it out. Then scored a line 1.2 mm round this, and carefully cut this out. This produced a thin horseshoe shaped strip of brass that I could solder to the end of the boiler. A thin boiler band was then soldered up to this to replicate the L section. Theres a cover plate at the top of the cab front, that partly covers the L section. I soldered this to the vertical portion of the L section. It'll eventually be soldered to the cab front, so no possibility of the painter breaking it off! I made wash out plugs, and then repeated the whole process again to make a second boiler assembly! Of course it was much quicker second time round! With the boiler fitted up it was time to close up the water tanks. I cut out around 30 panels to do this. The base of the water tanks are raised up 6'' above the footplate top, and the tanks have arc shaped splashers for the driving wheels let into them. If you zoom into the next picture you can see that I have not bothered to clean up my blobby soldering as it will be internal. The inside of the tanks look a bit untidy, and you can see that I have added a couple of lead sheets inside the void for balast. (The client lives in a tropical climate and lines the lead to be painted with an acid etch primer to prevent any corrosion.) The underside of the model looks good though, and the tank splashers are worth the effort I think. The remaining inner panels to close the tank are here ready to go, but I ran out of working week! I should be able to get round to finishing the remaining details next week, now all the main structures are complete. I reckon I've used about 20% of the kit. I used the footplate, body sides, cab front and rear and bunker rear. Most of those parts were heavily modified though.

Since my last post I have moved the build project on by adding the 3D printed balance ducts between the front and bunker tanks. They're behind the cab steps, and also have a pick up pipe for the injectors, which passes round the rear driving wheels, so will have to be attached post-paint. To complete the under-footplate detail I need to add the vacuum pipes and end connectors and possibly the train steam heat pipes. I'm not clear whether Precursor tank locos would have had steam heat equipment fitted from new. These locos were built in 1907, and all the grey works photos of Precursors I have found DO have steam heat pipes on the buffer beams. It was always my understanding that carriages did nor have any provision for steam heating until the 1910s, and often early pre-grouping engines were not equipped with heating equipment from new. If anyone is able to enlighten me about carriage heating on the LNWR I'd be grateful, or maybe the pipe I'm looking at on the buffer beam is for steam brakes or somrthing else? Next up was finishing the portion of the chassis frames sticking up above footplate at the front. The chassis isn't split at footplate level, as is often the case with kit locos. Micks design has an overlay for the outer face of the chassis frames attached to the footplate. These carry the rivet detail, and extend to the front beyond the smokebox front and valve chest. This creates repercussions with the width of the base of the smokebox. The Precursor is unusual in that the frames pass through the smokebox. I decided that the best course of action was to add the overlays, measure up and make custom smokeboxes. Here you can see the front of the loco after the frame overlays have been added. They extend down the insides of the water tanks and stop at the front of the firebox. I can't rule out having to chop the overlays short as they disappear behind the tanks, as I will need to close the water tanks soon, and there's an inner panel that needs to pass between the frame overlay and the back of the wheel. There may not be enough clearance, we will see! With the overlay in place I was able to take measurements and cut parts to make a pair of smokeboxes. I made the smokeboxes and cut away the bottom of the front and rear formers, and the bases, to form a structure that straddled the loco frames. The rivet detail was embossed before forming the parts, and the fake bolts added after. The fake fastners are from this German range https://ghw-modellbau.de/Home The etches for the smokebox in the kit didn't fit, as we've moved so far from the original kit design. I did entertain the idea of modifying them, as it would have avoided a lot of rivet embossing. The problem was that the front of the kit smokebox etch needed narrowing, and I would have lost the line of etched rivets near the bottom. Also I suspect the wrapper would have been too short. The kit boiler etch is just not viable. It was etched in 0.6 mm thick brass plate and is just too thick to manipulate. It also has half etched rebates to drop the boiler bands into. These are just wrong, and I used the boiler bands supplied as beading elsewhere. Into the bin-o'-shame. As a happy aside it turned out that my motorcycle needs sleeves to fit round the exhaust pipe headers as they pass inside the cylinder head castings. They need to be of copper/brass soft material of 0.6 mm thickness, so I have a supply of the correct material for the forseeable. Last job of the week was to cut out all the parts to make boilers. The formers are cut from 0.45 mm brass and the wrappers from 0.3 mm NS sheet. I managed to approximately form one and then ran out of hours in the working week. I sense I will have quite an annoying issue to overcome at the start of next week. The cab front has a boiler shaped former half etched onto it, and I can see that it is going to come into conflict with the boiler I have just made. I think the kit boiler is slightly too large, and mine is correct, and the stupid former will get in the way!! I should have made a bigger boiler and smokebox to overcome the issue, and not read and copied the stupid drawing.

Here's a few snaps of the (nearly) finished loco. Warren Haywood painted it.

I did get a very useful bag of lego from Mick Davies last week and installed it all on the model. Here's the toolboxes and water filler in the coal space. I put some lead sheets inside the bunker. They were painted in an etching primer first and glued in with epoxy resin. I painted the lead sheets first as one of the models is going to a hot tropical climate. The client is worried that the lead will corrode, but painting should prevent this. I closed the coal space with a sheet of brass and sealed round the edge with more epoxy resin. When I glue coal in the bunker I use a thin skim of real coal on the top of the bunker, held in place with acrylic varnish diluted with water. Sealing up the coal space prevents varnish running all over the model. You can see that I coloured-in the bunker in with a Sharpie. This is to check that there's no visible witness marks left over from filling the pre etched handrail holes with solder. This is the cab interior with all the structures in place. You can see the 3D printed front platform, what a time saver. The kit includes this backhead casting. Luckily Laurie Griffin does a good backhead set for large LNWR locos that fits very nicely. A worthwhile upgrade I think. Here's the finished cab. I also made some new cab roofs from 0.3 mm NS sheet, which is much more manageable than the 0.6 mm thick brass ones in the kit. They are detachable so you can marvel at the cab interior.

I began the next week of work on the locos by building the coal rails. The coal rails on the real thing look like they're made from half-round beading-type material. They're certainly not flat like the etchings for them in the kit. The kit etchings also have cusps that are inaccessible to all my files, and don't have the relief between the upstands and rails......and they don't quite fit either. Anyway they're now in my bits-box to be cut up and used elsewhere. The spacings on the drawings scaled out at 1.2 mm half round separated by 0.6 mm gaps. I soldered the upstands into the coal space. I used the water tank top etchings supplied (even though they were slightly too small,) and they have registration marks (possibly in the correct places, as I didn't check!) for the upstands. I laid 0.6 mm rods onto the beading and soldered on a layer of half round strips, made good, and moved upwards. It doesn't take as long as you'd imagine to do this, but you do have to check carefully that all is straight and square and parallel as you go. The corners were formed as each layer was completed. They look miles better than a crappy etch. The tool boxes and water fillers will hopefully arrive this week as 3D prints, and I'll be able to finish the coal spaces. Moving on to the cab. The cab front and rear just about scrape into the 'Acceptable' category. A big failing is that they have a row of etched rivets under the roof beading. The rivets should actually be ventilation holes, and, as there isn't enough budget to make new ones, I modified what I had. I had low expectations that the tank etchings for the inside of the cab would fit, as I have changed so much of the rest of the loco. However, they did without too much cutting. I had to reduce their width and cut away the front to accommodate the backhead casting. The white metal backhead casting in the kit looks like something that fell out of my worm-hole to the 1970s, with all the fittings and pipework pre-cast onto it. I'll melt it down for ballast, or donate it as a fishing weight. Luckily Laurie Griffin does a decent alternative, more about that next week. The cab sides in the kit are part of the tank sides etch. They're half etched onto the top of the tank sides, and the beading strip that you fit to the tank sides is recessed to accommodate it. The original etching doesn't portray the step between the tank and cab sides adequately, so I cut the cab sides off and made some better ones. The cab sides on the real loco look like they overlap with the inside of the tank sides by a couple of inches, and are held in place with a large long plate, hence the row of rivets on the bottom of the cab side. The cab roof etching in the kit is the correct size! But, it is etched in 0.6 mm thick brass (as is the rest of the kit.) This is a bit too thick to be able to form the subtle curves in the edge of the panel without a form-tool and an hydraulic press. I did at least use one of the roof etches. I used the material to cut out the roof ribs for the centre of the cab roof, absent from the kit. Anyway more cab roof forming next week. The last job of this week was making and fitting the cab and tank handrails. I made the taper in the handrails by spinning lengths of 0.8 mm NS rod in a mini drill and filing them on a block of wood. You soon wear a slot in the wood which helps greatly. The handrails are detachable, to make the painter's life easier, and sit in a cup on the footplate made from a short length of 1.0 mm thin walled tube. The holes pre-etched into the ends of the cab and bunker beading, for the tops of the handrails, had to be 'manipulated' to allow the handrails to have even spacing. This is always an issue on tank loco kits. The poor quality of the kit is starting to compromise the cost of building these models to a reasonable budget......as a lot of kits do. More making-good, scratchbuilding and general grumbling next week. I'll be finishing the cabs and having a massive moan about the awful etchings supplied, and 'pre rolled,' for the boilers.

I managed to get both chassis finished for Kettering and had one with me as show and tell. I added all the sand boxes, the operating rods for the sanders, reversing rod and the cylinder drain cocks. I also added a representation of the drag boxes. Reunited with the footplates, I set about making self contained buffers. The buffers in the kit were a bit too chunky for my liking, and the Slater's Cooke type buffers you can see lurking in the background of some of the above pictures were the later types. I had been chatting with Mick Davies about a 3D printed solution, and we hit on an idea to print stocks that could be slid over brass tube attached to the buffer beams and containing the buffer head mechanisms. I used the Slater's buffer heads in the Cooke sets. The buffer heads had to have a brass sleeve fitted over the shafts to fit the brass tube, and the brass tube had an end stop installed inside. This would have been much easier if I had a lathe, and could have turned some bespoke tubes. I think that this method will solve the issue of locating decent buffers, and problems with the badly cast and drilled stocks that some have. I tackled the body parts next. The tank sides and fronts are, in typical Meteor fashion, all one piece. Their front sections are designed to go all the way across the footplate, which of course they did not in real life. Luckily I was able to correct this. I had problems with the tabs not fitting in the slots properly, so had to run a 0.5 mm drill along the slots to give clearance. The bottoms of the tank sides were a bit wobbly, as I suspect they were hand drawn, and had to be adjusted. I also had problems with the bunker. It's designed to be folded into a U shape and the tabs dropped into the slots on the footplate. The fold lines on the etch were too narrow and a 90 deg bend wasn't possible. I had to force them slightly, so inevitably they splayed out a bit and the resulting U shape was too wide for the slots. I had to break one side off and fit separately, adjusting the width of the rear section to suit. Annoyingly, the bunker sides and back had pre etched holes for the handrails and steps that appeared in LMS years. I had to fill them all with solder and make good. It would have been better if there had only been dots on the rear to mark drilling positions if needed, but there you go..... The cab rear was too narrow to fit between the sides (!) so I had to solder thin strips to the front edges of the rear cab openings and file the width of the cab rear to fit. The water tank tops in the coal space were too small as well, but they'll ultimately be covered in coal, so I added strips to fill the gaps. To my complete surprise the beading etches for the tops of the water tanks and bunker fitted perfectly. I was just very lucky I suppose. The etches in this kit are just a bit poor in their execution, and have building standards from the 1980s when they were drawn. Things have moved on a bit since then, but I suspect that it would be possible to build something resembling a Precursor using them as intended. Luckily the etches have generous spacing on the panels, which leaves loads of metal for cutting out replacement pieces. Cab interiors etc next.

Here it is back from paint. The rods are black as it is going to Neil Podbery. He'll be throwing mud and grease at it! When he's finished weathering it, the loco will be going straight to it's owner, so this will be the last I see of it.

Hi Tony I'll bring it along to watch steam come out of his ears. I'll be sharing a stall with Warren H. Nick

It has been about Joy valve gear most of this week. I assembled all the Mick Davies etchings which went together without much trauma. The LGM castings were a different kettle of fish. The reversing shaft had different centres from the cylinders, so needed to be narrowed (shortened?) I did this by drilling through the middle of the joining shaft to allow a rod to be inserted for alignment. Then I could cut out as much as required from the joining shaft. The quadrant blocks needed a lot of fettling before they'd fit inside the reversing shaft, then both guides needed to be widened to accept the lifting links. Quite a lot of modification, but the castings were generic parts, so it was to be expected. I had to make bearings to fit into the 'holes' in the ends of the reversing shafts, the bearings support the outer shafts. I had to massively thin the cast trunnion blocks so that it they would support the reversing shaft inside the frames. After a few days of cutting, fettling and fabricating, I assembled the motion and it worked perfectly first time. I was very smug for several hours. You certainly get more bang-for-your-buck than with Stephenson Link or Walschearts. The rest of the week was spent fabricating brake components from the etches, and fitting Lego to the chassis (a nice easy job for a friday.) Next week will be taken up with reassembling the Stirling Single and GWR 155, which I am expecting back from paint.

The cylinder blocks were a doddle to fit. They just needed a smidge off the sacrificial layers round the sides. The slide bar castings from Laurie Griffin needed a fair bit of fettling and a lot of straightening and realignment. A bit of patience paid off though. I also made the connecting rods supplied as etches from Mick D. The 3D printed cylinder block is pinned in place with brass rods, and glued to the frame with epoxy. The crank castings needed a fair bit of fettling and straightening too. Maybe it's time for some new moulds for the waxes? The crank axle was held in position in the photo shown below. The crankpins on the wheels fall on the points of the square bosses on the axle ends. This means that the crank casting could be carefully measured and positioned for soldering. Usually the crank webs are an interference fit on the axle and will be a push fit for soldering. These were a sliding fit so needed some clamping. The crank castings were soldered one at a time, and then the axle cut and loads of cleaning up carried out. I use electrical solder and Baker's flux. The anchor points for the anchor rod were fixed to the lower slidebars, as were oil pots to the uppers. The rest of the day was taken up with making valve gear rods from the etches Mick produced. The valve gear comprises etched parts and Laurie Griffin castings. I don't hold out much hope for the castings, as they are a generic set and I have concerns that they won't mate with the etched parts copied from the GA. We will see, when work recommences on monday!

If you need some extra Z drawings and info have a look on my flickr albums page, There's loads of stuff there. https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/albums/

The etches for the correct length coupling rods arrived and were quickly assembled. This unlocked loads of back tracking, and I was able to assemble a working chassis. In this pic the axle boxes have been located using the coupling rods as jigs. I cut out the etched holes for top hat bearings, such that a Slater's brass axlebox (available separately) slide loosely in the frames. The frames in this photo had no etched holes for bearings, just gaps to fit the square axleboxes. The square axleboxes are popped in the frames using a jury axle and spring to hold them (brace the chassis with scrap strip if it starts to bow out.) Use the screws in the height adjusters to get the axleboxes in the same positions, it doesn't have to be the correct ride height, just close. One of the axles has 1.5 x 1.5 mm brass angle soldered in place to locate them square to the frame, use a datum point of some type to put them in the correct place. The rods will then place the second axle in a position with the same centres. I use this method every time and it works perfectly, without the need for an expensive chassis jig. It always results in a freely running chassis. If you want to see me doing it in real time check out this video on the GOG's YouTube channel. Michael Davies sent his 3D Lego elves to my house with a big bag of parts, and I was able to complete the front bogies. I quickly had a running chassis with both bogie and radial truck instaled. The bogie has compensation on the rear axle and side control. I concocted a cross beam with two height adjusting screws for the radial truck. Each screw has a small spring over it which prevents the wheels from leaving the rail. To my surprise the whole thing went round a 6' rad curve with only very minor easing. I was surprised because the loco is very long and there is a battle between the radial truck and bogie to see which is forced to swing further. The radial truck always wins though, as it's wheels cannot pass under the chassis frames. A delve further into the Lego set yeilded a pair of ashpan prints. These were lightly modified to fit my choice of pickups and motor/gearbox. I was quickly able to have a pair of chassis motoring along my test track under their own power. I fitted Slater's SG29 units. Tomorrow I'm going to install 3D cylinder blocks, and begin the process of making Joy valve gear. I haven't made a set of Joy rods for ages, so am looking forward to that.

It's a game of two halves. The chassis construction has been very straightforward, resulting in a highly detailed chassis, with all the brackets, gussets etc in the right place. I have taken steps to mate the chassis to the footplate. Obviously I moved away from the basic kit design so a lot of cutting was required......but it did fit quite well. The buffer beams are part of the footplate etch, and designed to be folded down into position with an overlay on the front. The buffer beams, however, are too narrow. They are etched the same width as the footplate and they should be around 0.4 mm wider. I made new ones. The LNWR had a distinctive way of attaching the buffer beam. The underside edge of the footplate is rebated to accept half the thickness of the buffer beam. This gives a distinctive step in the join. I was able to replicate this with the new beams. I also made the radial truck and bogies from the Mick Davies etchings. The bogies need a couple of 3D printed springs to complete. I had a couple of issues with the etches in the kit for the tank and cab sides. The kit etches had the cab sides half etched onto the top of the tank sides. For some reason (poor design) it was impossible to attach the beading etch to the tank sides. The tank top beading etch wouldn't seat in a straight line without cutting off the cab side and rebating the tank side to accept it. I took the 'opportunity' to make some new cab sides, and fitted them with a more appropriate beading etch. The tank front part of the etch is continuous across the footplate of the loco. Of course the tank fronts butt up to the chassis on the real locos, so the kit etches had to be modified to suit the new prototypical chassis. The bunker is formed from one etch that folds to represent the sides and rear. It has pre etched holes for steps and handrail knobs that aren't present on my models, so a bit of filling was required. The last job of the week was to offer the bunker up to the footplate, and (d'oh) the rear was too wide and the tabs didn't fit in the slots. Luckily it was knocking off time for the week so I'll tackle that problem on monday morning. As an aside the kit is etched on 0.6 mm thick brass, for added strength I assume. Unfortunately all the slots are etched at 0.45 mm width, so the tabs are too thick to go in them. Also the etched fold lines on tank and bunker are too narrow to achieve a 90 degree bend without some encouragement. The kit is showing it's age these days, but I'm pretty sure what's there will form the basis of a good model with the incorporation of the newly designed chassis, and some work-arounds. It's the return of the 'Bin-o'-Shame!'

Mickoo (of this parish) had one of these kits to build and me a pair. Mick had discussions with Dave Hill of Gladiator, who told him that the Precursor has it's origins with Meteor, or at least the guy who designed Meteor kits. My experience of building a Meteor Caley 439 was best forgotten https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/nick-dunhills-workshop-meteor-models-caledonian-railway-439-class.11348/#post-269185 so Mick and myself decided it would be best if Mick drew a new chassis, including Joy valve gear. Split over three jobs, the cost would be reasonable. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the body will be ok, and mate perfectly with the upgraded chassis. I suspect that my hopes will be in vain, there may be scrap-bin pictures to come! Anyway, as usual I made the rods first. They were very basic etches, so I added some overlays to thicken the bosses, and made the oil filler necks from nickel silver tube. I congratulated myself on a good job, and casually offered the rods up to the new chassis side frame etch. Aargh, the rod centres were about 1.3 mm too short. 10' wheelbase = 70 mm centres, they were 68.7 mm, perfect for the kit chassis with its short wheelbase, but no use to me. I have plenty of tools that take material away but none that add, so there was a frantic (expletive laden) call with the boy Davies, and an hour or so later PPD Ltd had CAD for new rods. I fell at the first hurdle, not a good start. It will be quicker, easier and neater to make new rods from new etches than to modify what I have. If anyone is planning to make a Gladiator Precursor as the kit designer intended, and want some (free) rods, get in touch, I have 2 pairs. The rest of the chassis fell together. The etches were excellent (as is the Mickoo way) with only a couple of minor, minor errors (pretty good considering this is the beta test!) They're designed as 3 sub assemblies that slot together perfectly. Here's a pic of the kit chassis with one of the upgrades. The kit chassis seems ok, if very, very basic and lacking any finesse, and with the short wheelbase. More next week.

I'm happy with the way it runs. It is fitted with an ECU V5 decoder with a Youchoos LURVE8 speaker.

Earlier this week I got a large bag of castings from Mike Hopkins. They were castings that were derived from 3D prints and the quality was astounding. There were other bits and pieces to be done, such as the whistle, injectors etc etc. The loco is now finished. There's a few more pics from Dunhill HQ here; https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/ I have to take the loco to Modelyard in Leeds to get the decoder tuned and synced, and then strip for paint.

Well today I more or less finished the loco. I added loads of details, some that came in the kit, such as the GWR safety valve cover and tank fillers, and lots that didn't. I sourced replacement parts from other suppliers, such as Laurie Griffin and Warren Shephard. Mick Davies printed me a replacement chimney and smokebox door of much better quality than those in the kit. Talking of the chimney, Mike Hopkins of Scale Factors offered to get a chimney cast in red bronze from Mick's CAD file. The finished loco will have a copper (ish) cap! I was very lucky and someone offered me a set of Reynolds castings for the backhead. They're a big upgrade on the printed one in the kit. There's more pics here; https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/with/53457855274 So my overall impressions of the kit are good. The etches are excellent. It's quite a complex kit, but goes together very nicely with care. The panel for the firebox wrapper is a bit wrong, but easy to replace, and the front tank extension tops need a very minor mod. Oh, and the brackets that support the underside of the tank extensions are designed to go in the wrong place, but that's easy to resolve too. From a commercial point of view it's a nice easy job to build as a commission. There's no horrible mistakes to rectify, that would add significantly to the cost of the job. The kit costs 350 GBP, or thereabouts, which is a decent price for a kit of a very esoteric loco. The designer won't be selling many of these, so the price is very fair considering his developement costs. Actually I would have been prepared to spend another 50 GBP on the kit if it had had all the parts I had to source in the box, as it would have saved time/money tracking all the replacement parts down. The brief was to build the model out-of-the-box. It has quite a basic chassis but has some sensible upgrades to the body, all at relatively low cost....apart from the luxury chimney! It took me 126.5 hours to build, of which 23 hours was the chassis assembly. It is debateable whether the loco would benefit from inside motion, as so little of it is visible. It would have taken IRO 56 hours to fit up, as the chassis would have needed some pretty serious reworking of the frame stays etc.

Although I post most of my more intricate kit or scratchbuilds, I do a whole series of out-of-the-box, budget builds that I rarely post other than, maybe, a pic of a finished loco. This is the kind of kit-build that, as a pro-builder, is my bread and butter. The brief was to build it as the designer intended with some nice upgrades, such as cab interior and some nice pipework. The inside motion is not visible on this loco so we thought it unneccesary to build it. Here's a pic of the finished chassis, there's more here; https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/ It took 23 hours to build. Here are some notes I made during construction. The etches in the kit for the rods made some really nice components. I upgraded them with some oilbox plugs and a nice clevis pin (scratchbuilt.) The chassis etches were also fine, and made a good chassis. I think I would have preferred the FS stays to be slightly wider as the finished chassis is only 25.7 mm wide. This leaves about 2 mm or so between the wheel backs and the outside of the frames. I would have shot for 27.5 mm, or maybe even a bit more, it makes the chassis look more prototypical, and allows fitting of inside motion (if required) without major modification. The rear of the chassis is joggled in, as on the real loco, but again the rear of the chassis is much narrower than needed. This is just a personal preference though, but this model isn’t going to have to go round dinner-plate radius curves, and I can see that the designer wanted to produce etches to suit all needs. As a rule I always locate the axleboxes using jury axles and the coupling rods as a jig. Hence making the coupling rods first. In this way you transfer the rod centres to the axleboxes and the wheels and rods don’t bind. Lots of kits rely on pre etched holes or tabs/slots setting your centres, but it is always good practise to use jury axles or a chassis jig. The kit has tab and slot location for horn guide etches, I filed the tabs off and let the horn guides find their own location. The horn guide etches were modified slightly to hold the axleboxes more snuggly. The radial box 3D prints didn’t fit together and needed a fair bit of fettling. The hole in the centre bit for the axle was too small for both axle and bearings. The outer structure was slightly too wide for the frame stays. I did get a nice working radial truck with a bit of work though. Does anybody any idea what would be a good lubricant for the radial truck? Resin on resin contact may cause excessive wear, we will see in the fullness of time. I would really have liked to have fabricated a better radial box from brass, but budget constraints prevent it. The 3D prints for wheel balance weights that fit between the spokes are a good idea. I've seen some that Mick Davies printed and featured on one of his builds, and they fitted like Lego. These did not and I decided that it would be quicker and neater to make brass overlays than fettle the 3D prints to death. Most of the brake components were 3D printed, they were a bit chunky and layery. However I did fit them after some modification, as the outer faces of the hangers and brake shoes stuck out beyond the wheel rim. I also, therefore, had to alter the cross beams to match. The parts were painted in hi-build primer to disguise the poor finish, and sanded later to a smooth finish. I would have preferred brass etchings for the brake system, but the 3D prints (mods notwithstanding) were quite quick to install, and will look fine when painted. The axle springs and hangers supplied were very poor 3D prints. They are hidden behind the wheels so I fitted them anyway and I saved a bit on the budget for something else. The sand boxes were also a bit iffy, but an application of hi-build primer rescued that and they fitted well to the chassis and were quick to install. The body etches were all well designed and fitted together very well. There is an awful lot of it, as the basic design is to make a skeleton body onto which all the overlays are attached. I was pleased that I didn't have to bop out hundreds and hundreds of rivets, with all the attendant distortion to panels. But at the same time I was a bit worried that, if one of the overlay etches was a bit out, I'd be snookered. I needn't have worried, it all went together very well, with only a couple of minor issues with the tank extension, which were obvious and easy to remedy. The only panel that doesn't quite fit was the firebox crown wrapper. Its about 0.8 mm too short at either side of the rear. The instructions recognise this and suggest that the builder reduces the height of the front of the firebox to compensate. I decided to make a new part (I'd already drawn round the etch, as a precaution, before I started folding!) and extended the part forward so I didn't have to use the 3D printed firebox throat plate. The boiler went together flawlessly. Here's the loco nearly finished. The kit also includes a complete 3D printed backhead and fittings (pic on my Flickr page above) which some might like. It isn't however fit for purpose for a commercial build in my view. I did luck-out though and came across some Tony Reynalds castings for a backhead and fittings as replacements, which will give the loco a nice lift. My overall impression of the kit is very favourable. The etches are very good (although you have to be super-accurate to make it all fit together nicely) let down by some, frankly pants, 3D prints. I have spoken to Mike at 88D and he acknowledges that they could be better. I suspect that the .stl files are fine but the printing would benefit from more care. It's a great kit for a pro-builder as there are no hidden horrors and the client will get a super model on budget. It was a complete contrast to my SECR P Class or NBR Atlantic builds. https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/nick-dunhills-workbench-scratchbuilding-a-reid-nbr-atlantic-from-an-ace-kit.11028/ https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/nick-dunhill’s-workshop-building-a-secr-p-class-from-the-alpha-graphics-kit.11518/ Both of these builds were from kits that were not fit for purpose and the clients picked up a significantly bigger invoice than would have been expected. I really enjoyed building it, and I'm not a GWR fan-boy (but much thanks to big GWR fan-boys Malcolm Mitchell and Steve Fay for their help), and it makes a chunky brute of a loco. Talking of which, Broad Gauge GWR anyone?

(It was Frank Sidebottom in case you were all wondering.) Well here it is nearly finished. I've added tons of small details such as a draw beam and fall plate, the chimney (with lamp iron) etc etc. The cab needs some nice castings for the backhead and the loco needs a pair of injectors. Mike Hopkins from Scale Factor has promised me them early in the new year. Mike has supplied lots of the castings for this model in cast brass and 3D print form, he has them all in his range of castings. There are also some 3D prints from Mick Davies. This model has been a challenge, and the handrail fought me to the end too! Happy Xmas to all and I'll upgrade this blog in the new year when the loco is complete. Mike Morris GWR 155 tank next. Anyone made one?

''It's you Nick in your big shorts!'' Nearly there. (50 credibility points if you get the above ref, and 15 extra if you're not a Mancunian.)

I have now made the cab and splasher assemblies. The etches were spot on and pretty easy to assemble. I took a lot of care when forming the footplate and the splashers therefore fitted without any drama or fakery. Here's everything tacked together. I then made the front guard irons and all the components for the slidebars, piston glands and crossheads. The slidebars are simply cut from brass section, the piston glands are made using telescoping tubing and some left-over flange etchings. The crossheads are made from scrap brass and nickel silver and some rods. You can see in this picture the way I attached them to the piston rear using drills, rods and the crossheads as spacers and jigs. All very satisfactory and not a 3D print in sight! The etches for the rods came from Mick Davies and his magic CAD. Some prototypical looking crankpin nuts were also made. I also worked my way through a fairly lenghty list of other details such as vacuum pipes, assorted lubricators, a couple of long reach rods (reversing and cylinder drain cock.) I added some cast cylinder drain cocks using modified Laurie Griffin castings. Now I just need to put on my Big-Boy's Pants and make the boiler. A lot of the above detail work was really just aversion therapy, as the boiler is going to be very tricky. The boiler clothing on the real loco is flattened as it passes behind the back of the sand boxes and splasher. You can see it here in the drawing. Also if you look at the second boiler band in this photo of no 1008 you can clearly see that the curve flattens out ahead of the sand box. The issues with making a boiler to fit are also exacerbated by the facts that the boiler will be prototypical diameter but the frames, and therefore splashers and sand boxes, will be closer together. I'm fully expecting to have to make a second boiler before I get something that fits nicely. If anyone could tell me what the rivet detail looks like on the top of an atlantic cab (as pic) I'd be grateful for your help.

Lots of significant progress in the last few days. I finished fitting up the impossibly complicated brake system first. Next I made some cylinder heads in nickel-silver as the ones on the etches were in brass. I soldered them to a sheet of NS though and drilled through the half etched 'rivet' holes. I soldered fake fastners into the holes As can be seen, I also added some fake fastners to the cylinder clothing at the bottom of the smokebox. The next step was to make the front footplate, chassis sections and bufferbeam. The buffers were made self contained, and fitted within the plastikard buffer plank. Lots of fake fastners were used on the front of the chassis! The wheels were placed in the chassis and the rear section of footplate fitted up such that it was perfectly level. This was done on a surface plate for accuracy. The footplate was temporarily tacked to the chassis, and the complete smokebox and front chassis soldered to it. Some brass angle was used as a strengthener, and I may add some temporary bracing before the boiler is added to stiffen the structure. On the real loco the bogie splasher is attached to the chassis, and is releaved to fit round the cylinders. On my model the splasher is fixed to the bogie, and I cut away a small section, very similar in shape and size to the real loco, and enlarged it, bit by bit, until the loco went round a 6' rad curve! As you can see it didn't need much grinding. With a rolling chassis complete I thought it would be good to fit up the valve gear and check for free running. I had recieved a pair of 3D printed valve blocks from Mike Hopkins at Scale Factor (he's sent quite a lot of fittings for the build,) and these were fitted to the chassis. The eccentric straps were fitted to the eccentrics on either side of the gearbox. The expansion links were hung on the underslung lifting links. The inside motion worked first try, which made me very happy. I must be getting reasonably good at it! There's a couple of minor things to add to the chassis to complete it, then just the bodywork to complete. Not long now.....

I had a little detour last week finishing this Broad Gauge loco. This week I'm back on the Stirling Single, and will be now until it's completed. I began by fitting up a Slater's SG29 motor, and testing the chassis under it's own power. Happily it went round a 6' radius curve with a little to spare. With the motor in place it seemed like a good time to install the eccentrics for the valve gear. There's just enough room to squeeze a pair of eccentrics and a locating pin between the sides of the SG29 gearbox and the horn blocks. I had some steel eccentrics machined a year or two ago and cleaned 4 of them up. Soldering them directly to the axle, obviously, wasn't an option. I opened up the axle holes in the eccentrics and soldered them onto a short length of brass tube with the same ID as a Slater's axle. I drilled a 0.6 mm hole through the brass tube, up against the outer eccentric, to accept a 0.6 mm driving pin. The assemblies were held in the correct position and the axle drilled, through the holes in the brass tube, to also accept the driving pin. The Stephenson Link motion was assembled from Laurie Griffin castings, and will be fitted up once some cast valve rod supports arrive. The next job was the brake gear. I had already made lots of the components, but could not assemble them until I had made the footplate, but specifically the cab steps. I had already made the footplate, see above. It appears that the Stirling Single brake shaft trunnions are part of the cab step backing plate. Who'd have thought! I made the cab steps and then an inner assembly, attached to the chassis, to support the brake parts. This is how it is arranged More brakes and a footplate to come soon.

I have to say these have come out well after paint by Paul Moore and weathering by Neil Podbery. I want one for myself now.........