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Captain Kernow

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  1. Captain Kernow

    A new-old pannier for Bethesda Sidings

    By Captain Kernow,


    A new-old pannier for Bethesda Sidings
    Some folk may be aware that I recently bought two whitemetal kit panniers from @Tony Wright, which he was selling on behalf of the builder and previous owner, Peter Lawson. I understand that the ex-GW locos listed on Tony's thread are only a small selection from a much larger collection, most of which (if not all?) I gather are to be sold, due to the unfortunate ill health of the owner.
     
    Anyway, the two panniers arrived here at Kernow Towers a few weeks ago and were posed on the layout:

     
    I understand that the right-hand loco was built from a K's kit, albeit with more a more modern etched chassis, a decent (open frame Anchorage) motor and Gibson wheels. The left-hand pannier was built from a NuCast kit (which was probably derived from the original K's moulds, I think) and also has an etched and compensated chassis, Romford wheels and another Anchorage motor.
     
    Both locos were numbered as examples of panniers that were allocated to South Wales sheds at the time that Bethesda is set in, so I decided to renumber them. The K's one was to become 9629, allocated to Oswestry for a while (Pannier Papers) and the NuCast one will become 9741, allocated for a short time to Shrewsbury (Pannier Papers).
     
    I have also decided to add a small amount of extra detail, such as lamp irons, sand pipes and injector overflow pipes, which were not originally featured on either loco. 
     
    Both locos were also single manned at the time they arrived here, both with a fireman, clearly awaiting the driver to turn up from the mess room, so a driver from the ModelU agency has also taken up duty on the footplate.
     
    Both locos are extremely well built and run well. Peter Lawson certainly knows how to build a loco kit properly.
     
    It is my intention, however, not to alter Peter's work any more that I need to and importantly, to retain the original character of the locos.
     
    So far, I have worked on the K's one, which has now become 9269. I am extremely pleased with the result and the loco is now officially listed on the roster for Bethesda Sidings.
     

     

     

     
    I've also uploaded a short piece of footage of 9629 working in Bethesda yard today:
     
    These locos are probably around 50 years old and whilst it is true to say that they don't have quite the level of detail that their more modern RTR counterparts have, I do think they still stand up very well. What they certainly have is a definite presence (they are heavy when compared to a Bachmann one, especially one of my Bachmann bodied panniers with an etched chassis) and loads of character.
     
  2. Captain Kernow

    'Sir Harry'

    By Captain Kernow,


    'Sir Harry'
    Recently, I decided to treat myself.
     
    When the Hornby W4 Peckett came out, like some of us, I went a little mad and ended up buying four examples, over a period of time. Not all at once, you understand, that really would be silly.
     
    I thought that at least one could be converted to P4, seeings as I model in both OO and P4. One I would fit scale couplings to, weather and allocate to one of the outrageously improbable OO light railways that I'm rather fond of modelling.
     
    One eventually got sold, leaving three. One of those got weathered and put into service as 'Brynllefrith' of the Vale of Radnor Light Railway, seen here in Bethesda Yard:

     
    That left two, one of which is still awaiting the excellent Gordon Ashton etched chassis, which will be built in P4.
     
    So, just 'Dodo' remained. This was always a good runner, but the thought of a second W4 on an already outrageously improbable light railway just seemed unlikely, even for me.
     
    Late last year I was looking through the Planet Industrials website and was reminded of their two conversion kits for the W4 Peckett - available from Light Railway Stores here - https://www.lightrailwaystores.co.uk/collections/locomotives
     
    At the same time, I decided to contact @James Hilton and enquire about a commission to convert 'Dodo' into something slightly more interesting, namely a 'Greenhithe' sub-class. This type of Peckett, with its low-slung cab, was originally designed for use in industrial settings with low clearances. James accepted the commission and 'Dodo' was duly posted off to Wales.
     
    He recently completed the work and posted the loco back to me a few days ago. I had some spare plates from 247 Developments for 'Sir Harry', which I had also sent him.
     
    James has done an outstanding job on the conversion and I am very, very pleased with the result, so many thanks, James!
     
    And now, the guff....
     
    It’s early summer in 1962 and the Vale of Radnor Light Railway has taken delivery of a new loco. Well, new for it but the loco itself isn’t new.
     
    ‘Sir Harry’ is a ‘Greenhithe’ type of Peckett and was originally delivered new in 1947 to a gas works in the West Midlands and carried the name ‘Wednesbury Park No.3’. Apparently, the nameplates only just fitted the saddle tanks.
     
    After the closure of the gas works in 1959, the loco was sold to the Cuthbertson Chocolate Company for use in their Callow Lane works, in South Gloucestershire. It was here that it acquired its new name ‘Sir Harry’, in recognition of the long-standing nickname given by the workers to the works Chairman, the Hon. Tarquin Ffitch-Cuthbertson. The Hon. Tarquin was evidently a man of large bulk and was said to walk with a pronounced waddling gait, not unlike the motion of the Peckett along the works track.
     
    The works staff did not get on with the Peckett and it was eventually laid aside in favour of a small Ruston diesel, purchased in 1961 from a local civil engineering contractor.
     
    A few short weeks later, ‘Sir Harry’ was spotted by wealthy railway enthusiast P.B. Greenhouse, who had arrived at Callow Lane on a rail tour. He contacted the chocolate factory and arranged to purchase the Peckett on behalf of the Association of Independent Light Railways, of which he was a director. He also paid for the loco to have a light overhaul at BRs Oswestry works, following which it was transferred down to Capel Bethesda by way of local goods services, to fill in for one of the resident locos on the Vale of Radnor Light Railway, which was having an overhaul.
     
    Here we see 'Sir Harry' arriving on the local goods service from Leominster, hauled by 1458:

     
    The loco was shunted and left in the yard for the Light Railway to send something to haul it back up the valley to Llanddewi:

     
    Eventually, the Light Railway's 'Planet' diesel wheezed into the yard with an ancient brake van and formed up a train:

     

     
    Once up at the Light Railway's depot, the loco will be checked over by the fitter and will then enter service. Given the amount of traffic remaining on the Vale of Radnor Light Railway by then, 'Sir Harry' will have plenty of leisure time...
     
  3. Captain Kernow
    There was quite a lot of debate on the Class 22 thread a while back about how one might convert it to EM or P4. I think that the EM gauge fraternity generally decided that the existing wheels could be pulled out slightly on their existing axles, and I hope that this has worked out for them.
     
    This wasn't going to work in P4, and the original wheels could only have been used if they were turned down to P4 profiles. Some folk have suggested fitting P4 tyres to the existing Dapol wheels, and good luck to them, too.
     
    The issue is that the Dapol Class 22 uses a split axle and associated pick up, as my photos will make clear. This means that the wheel tyres and axles have to be electrically connected. This wasn't a problem for Dapol, obviously, as they have mass produced a decent OO metal wheel for their model, which fits onto stub half-axles, that in turn fit into a central gear assembly.
     
    Ultrascale considered doing a 'drop-in' wheel set for a while, but technical issues, which I understand were essentially associated with the fact that they didn't have an all-metal spoked wheel available, meant that they did not proceed with the project, although they do offer a bespoke wheel producing service for P4 modellers, albeit the price is very high and almost as much as the locomotive itself.
     
    My method does use Ultrascale wheels, but an existing wheel from their range, namely a 3' 7" 10-spoked Southern tender wheel, which has one less spoke than the Class 22, but is the correct diameter. Each pair of wheels comes with a P4 axle.
     
    Here is the Dapol motor bogie, with the keeper plate and one of the OO axles removed (I might add that despite being told how to remove the keeper plate by friends at DRAG, and the fact that it was 'easy', I didn't find it easy at all, and was in constant fear that I was going to break something with the amount of controlled force I was trying to apply at times). In the end, each keeper plate came away intact and without damage. The keeper plates are attached to the bogie side frames, as other photos will show.

     
    An OO wheelset, with a pair of Ultrascale P4 tender wheels:

     

     
     
    Dismantled OO wheelset:

     
    The P4 axles need to be cut into two 10.5mm lengths. If you just cut them in half, there is the risk that the two pieces might meet inside the nylon worm housing and cause a short that you really don't want:

     
    After removing the first 10.5mm section, simply remove a further 1mm (or slightly under, to allow for the width of the piercing saw blade).

     
    I then spun the rough end I had just cut in an electric drill and filed smooth:

     
     
     
     
     
    The next activity involves creating an electrical pathway from the wheel rim, over the nylon wheel centre, to the half axle. I chose to solder a piece of 0.3mm brass wire over the outside front of one of the spokes. The theory was that when the wheel is hidden behind the bogie side frames and painted & weathered, you simply won't notice it, and it saves messing around with the rear of the wheel and the back of the flange.
     
    First, I cut groove in the outer end of each half axle and filed a groove big enough for the brass wire (in some cases, I over-did the filing a bit, but it doesn't matter, as the whole thing will be completely hidden afterwards):

     
     
    Checking the fit of the 0.3mm brass wire:

     
    Returning to the axle and worm, for each wheelset you are left with the central worm component and two half axles, each with a groove filed in the outer end:

     
    What happens next was different for the first wheelset as compared with the other three, but the method adopted for the remaining 3 wheelsets was much easier and quicker, so..
     
    Measure and mark a point 6mm from the outer end of each half axle and super-glue one half axle per wheel set into the worm assembly:

     
    Do NOT glue the other half axle in! The worm assembly is actually hollow right the way through, so if you are not using the split axle method, you could use a complete 2mm diameter axle with the worm assembly mounted centrally, but this would require seperate pick ups and more modifications to the Dapol motor bogies than I felt was necessary.
     
    Next is the really barbaric bit. It you love the excellent and well-engineered finish of an Ultrascale wheel set, look away now....
     
    To secure the 0.3mm brass wire in the wheel rim, I first cut, then filed, a groove in the rim:

     
    A length of 0.3mm brass wire is then put into the groove on the rim, and soldered to the wheel rim. The wire should be pre-trimmed so that the opposite end reaches just as far as the opposite side of the axle hole (ie. reaches from the outer race of the rim, along one spoke, and across the width of the 2mm axle.
     
    I would then recommend temporarily mounting each wheel in the other half axle and removing the surplus solder carefully. I filed most of the unwanted material off with a needle file, then mounted the wheel in the electric drill and used two grades of fine wet & dry paper, then a glass fibre pen.
     
    The first wheel of the pair is set aside and the second wheel can also have the brass wire soldered to the axle and cleaned up, as per these two photos:

     

     
    It's then a matter of assembling the components to make a viable P4 wheelset. These photos were taken of the first wheelset. First on each axle is a 1mm wide brass sleeve, cut from 2mm internal diameter brass tube:

     
    Then the Dapol brass bearings are added to each half-axle:

     
    Finally, the assembled P4 wheelset:

     
    Old and new:

     
    NOTE DATED 06-02-23 - MORE PHOTOS TO BE RESTORED IN DUE COURSE
     
    What I did for the last three wheelsets, was to assemble the bearing, 1mm brass slieve and wheel to the axle already super-glued to the worm, solder the 0.3mm brass wire from that wheel rim to the steel axle, and then assemble the other side, bringing the whole lot carefully together using a GW Models wheel press and a back-to-back gauge.
     
    The first wheelset in the motorbogie:
     
     
    With the P4 wheelsets, there's not quite enough room inside the bogie frames, so some material was removed in the area of each wheel with a piercing saw and cleaned up:
     
     
    This is the amount of plastic that needs to be removed from each corner of the bogie frame:
     
     
    First wheelset sitting inside bogie frame, to check that there's enough room:
     
     
    First bogie with both wheelsets fitted and keeper plate/side frames re-attached:
     
     
    Second bogie with replacement wheelsets fitted, being test run, prior to it's keeper plate being re-fitted:
     
     
    Completed conversion running on 'Callow Lane'. The side skirts and other bits now need to be fitted and the loco weathered:
     
     
     
  4. Captain Kernow

    More wagons.

    By Captain Kernow,


    More wagons.
    I like building wagons and converting RTR ones to P4. I find it quite relaxing, in modelling terms. You can do as much or as little as you like in one sitting at the work bench.
     
    I've also been reviewing the collection of OO wagons that I have. Since I sold 'Engine Wood' a few years ago, some of the rolling stock that I have acquired isn't really needed any longer, so some of it will be sold and a few items converted to P4, especially as they will already have been weathered.
     
    Until recently, most of the P4 rolling stock I've built or converted for 'Callow Lane' has been done from scratch, in other words I didn't converted any of my existing OO stuff.
     
    Now that 'Engine Wood' has gone to pastures new, I've realised that I don't need anything like as many 16t minerals in OO, but that I do need more in P4, so it was an easy decision to convert some of the existing weathered OO ones.
     
    I've also been undertaking an extensive programme of fettling and converting a batch of mineral wagons for Re6/6. Most of these are Bachmann 16 tonners, although there is also a batch of 3 Accurascale bauxite 21 tonners in the mix.
     
    When I speak of converting these RTR OO wagons to P4, I'm not talking about installing any fancy compensation or spring systems. I realised some time ago that provided the track is well laid and level and that the wagons is suitably weighted and sits '4 square' on it's wheels, then it should be sufficient to just fit the P4 wheels in the existing OO bearings.
     
    When undertaking such conversions, I used to fit brass bearings to the RTR axle guards, which would normally ensure a very free running wagon, but I've since realised that the amount of mileage that these wagons are likely to clock up on 'Callow Lane' or Re6/6's layouts is so small, that using the existing RTR plastic bearings is quite sufficient.
     
    All these conversions also end up being fitted with 3-link or screw-link couplings. I always use Smiths ones, because although the hooks are a bit overscale, they are considerably easier to use under exhibition conditions. For the last few years, I have also been fitting steel final links and using a magnetic shunters pole. I've found that this is a game-changer when using these couplings in 4mm scale.
     
    Here are some photos of recent work. All the wagons shown have still to be weathered.
     
    First off, a set of three bauxite 16 tonners for Re6/6, behind 'Lord Salisbury'. These have had brass tie-bars added between the axle guards.

     
    With the Bachmann 16 tonners, it's necessary to remove a bit of plastic from the inside of each of the axleguards. This was accomplished using a Rolson rotary tool. The right hand side shows how much plastic is necessary to take out.

     
    P4 wheels in place:

     
    Here are Re6/6's Accurascale 21 tonners. These are really lovely wagons 'straight out of the box' and pretty straightforward to convert to P4:

     
    The unfitted 16 tonners are slightly quicker to convert that the fitted ones, in that they don't require a tie bar or any vacuum pipes.
     
    I'd already done this batch of (mainly) 16 tonners for Re6/6. Some of these are Bachmann ones, some are fettles Parkside kits:

     
    There is now this set of 4 factory-weathered ones, currently in the process of being converted. I've noticed that the factory-applied rust patches are the same on each of the four wagons (!), so I will try to customise the weathering in due course:

     
    I've also done a couple of conversions for myself, as I was getting tired of 16 tonners!
     
    First of all, this Bachmann pipe wagon. In order to reduce the amount of fettling of the RTR brake gear, I have used 12mm Black Beetle wheels, instead of 12.5mm 3-hole disc ones. The P4 wheels pretty much fitted straight in, without any serious fettling required at all. The price of this heinous lack of prototype fidelity is that there are no holes in the (very slightly smaller) wheels, but once they are painted and weathered and the wagon is in service, I doubt that I will even notice.

     

     
    'Callow Lane' was always conceived as having a pre-TOPS BR corporate blue operating sequence, so I also converted this Hornby SPV parcels van. This required a little more work on the brake gear. The 'D' end link on the screw-link couplings seems a bit long to me, but that is because I used Ambis steel links. I've almost run out of the excellent Exactoscale ones, which are no longer in production (if anyone has any Exactoscale ones for sale, please do let me know!):

     
    At the moment, I've also converting an old MAJ van kit to P4, which was also part of the OO stock, but there are no photos at the moment, because it's resting on it's roof to enable the glue holding the lead weights to the underside of the chassis to go off.
     
  5. Captain Kernow

    'The Other House'

    By Captain Kernow,


    Stone cottage
    This cottage in Parkend is, I believe, known these days as 'The Nook'. Certainly this is the name given to it by John Stretton in 'The Dean Forest Railway, a Past & Present Companion', Volume 2 (Silver Link Publishing).

     
    This cottage, plus the house to it's left (the former Police House and Police Station for Parkend and currently known as 'Hazledene') are very close to the end of the Marsh branch at Parkend, which is the subject of Re6/6's current P4 project - 
    However, for the purposes of this blog and all subsequent entries, I will be referring to it as 'The Other House'.
     
    Both cottages are required for John's layout, although the Police House will need to be cut down slightly, to fit with the backscene and the rear edge of the layout.
     
    I agreed to build both cottages for John and am hoping to get them finished in time for the 'mini-Scaleforum local show for local people' type event that is taking place at our Area Group's (aka 'D.R.A.G.') normal venue near Teignmouth on the Saturday of what would have been the Scaleforum weekend (25th September coming).
     
    There aren't a whole lot of published photos of either cottage, although the Police House does admittedly feature in rather more photos than 'The Other House'.
     
    We know that the Police House had a rendered cement-coloured finish for much of it's life (and certainly during the period that the layout is set in). Apart from modern Google-type photos of The Other House, there is hardly anything published. What would have been a good view in the above John Stretton book, taken in the 1960s, is mostly hidden by a rather inconsiderate pannier tank.
     
    As such, the best we can do is to decide that The Other House was built of local stone, in a style that more or less matches other stone dwellings further up the Marsh branch, opposite The Fountain Inn, including the famous 'half house' that does feature in a number of contemporary photos.
     
    I was then given a free hand to decide on the exact materials to use and the colour scheme.
     
    Being a fan of the Scalescenes range of downloadable printed brick papers and building kits, I decided to use their 'TX48' sheet 'Squared Rubble' for The Other House - https://scalescenes.com/product/tx48-squared-rubble/
     
    The first thing was to produce a scale drawing to 4mm scale. As this was started when pandemic restrictions were still in place, the dimensions had to be estimated from what photographic evidence was to hand. A drawing was produced and a few copies taken. One of the copies was used to cut out the main wall elevations and lightly tape to a piece of Dalerboard (stout card, coloured on one side and 1.5mm thick):

     

     
    A 4mm 'plinth' was left, so that the building could be slightly sunk into the ground.
     
    The outline of the elevations and the window and door apertures were then carefully drawn around with a sharp pencil:

     
    The five wall sections (including the end wall of the 'lean to' were then cut out.
     
    At this point, I forgot to take any photos for a while.
     
    I had the stone paper printed off by a local printer on his fancy laser jet, not trusting my aged ink jet to produce the kind of quality I was looking for.
     
    The stone paper was then cut approximately to size and glued to the respective Dalerboard components and the resulting wall sections placed together for a photo:

     
    The stone paper is overlapping at the corners and would be carefully trimmed back and coloured with a soft pencil, once the wall sections were glued together.
     
    Next was to fit windows and doors. We had planned to use York Modelmaking products, but we couldn't find anything that matched the necessary window and door dimensions, so I made up window frames and sash units in the same way that I have for the Callow Lane cottages, namely individual strips of painted plasticard, which are glued in place behind the window openings and individual sash sections, with the glazing bars applied using a Bob Moore lining pen and enamel paints.
     
    Some flat sections of plastic strip were primed and sprayed with a dark green:

     
    A front door and also a side door to the 'lean to' were made up from plasticard:

     
    In reality, the 'lean to' of 'The Nook' these days appears to function as a garage, with an entrance slightly lower than the front door, but for the sake of a quiet life, I have kept everything on the same level and assumed that in the 1950s and 1960s, the 'lean to' was simply a store of some kind.
     
    Window frames and front door in place:

     
    Sash window sections being prepared:

     
    Windows and doors now glued in place. Front wall is still not attached to the rest of the building at this time, to aid fitting the windows and doors:

     
    Now it's all glued together:

     

     

     
    Next, a 'false roof' was glued between the various wall sections. At 1.5mm thick, Dalerboard is really too thick to stand proud of the walls:

     
    Top roof sections were then cut out of much thinner card ('postcard' thickness) and parallel lines drawn on, 5mm apart:

     
    Scalescenes individual slate strips (from one of their terraced cottages kits, which I already had) were cut out, the edges coloured with a grey felt tip pen and glued in place, using Prittstick, one at a time. When each roof section had all it's slate strips in place, they were placed between two sheets of clean paper and left overnight under a pile of heavy Ian Allen railway photo albums (other publishers will also do):

     

     
    The finished roof sections are then turned upside down and the slate strips trimmed very carefully along the edges, using a very sharp scalpel and are then glued to the 'false roof' sections using Evostick Impact adhesive:

     

     
    Guttering was made up from Wills half down pipes (finer section than their actual guttering) and spigots of 0.5mm brass rod epoxied in place. Also chimney pots were made up from Wills components and left overnight to harden off:

     
    Down pipes were then made up from 0.8mm brass rod, with fuse wire wrapped around in a couple of places and soldered on. This and the guttering was sprayed the same green and holes drilled in the Dalerboard to match the spacing of the respective spigots and the whole lot then epoxied in place:

     
    At this stage, I popped over to John's and posed the cottage in it's planned location on the layout:

     

     

     
    John then posed some of the resin walling that he's going to use, in front of the cottage:

     
    I then took the cottage back home to finish the roof flashing. The building then had the windows and the front door blanked off and the whole thing was given a light waft-over with Humbrol Matt Acrylic varnish, to take the printer's sheen off the stone paper.
     
    I then posed the building for some arty shots in the garden:

     

     

     

     

     
    It's just about done now, a little light weathering with some powders will be done in due course, particularly around the chimneys, but it's now time to think about making a start on the Police House.
     
  6. Captain Kernow

    56XX chassis repairs in P4

    By Captain Kernow,


    56XX chassis repairs in P4
    A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to buy a Mainline 56XX at a show, that had been converted to P4 by a well-known professional modelmaker, from the man himself. The loco features a scratchbuilt chassis (with single rocker compensation), Ultrascale wheels and a Portescap motor.
     
    When I first bought it, it ran really smoothly. The chassis needed a little paint re-touching and the body has been waiting for a few additional details, but it is essentially a nice and useful loco.
     
    When I last ran it, prior to the current lockdown on Re6/6's Marsh Sidings layout, I noticed that it had developed a slight hesitation, so I put it to one side, intending to investigate and hopefully rectify the problem.
     
    Having looked at it recently, the hesitation was still there, albeit only in reverse direction.
     
    I decided to give it a spell on the rolling road, but that made matters significantly worse.
     
    It was time to dismantle the chassis and find out exactly what had happened.
     
    Well, the nature of the problem soon became evident, although dismantling the chassis turned out to be a little harder than I had anticipated.
     
    The problem was due to the amount of lubrication (applied by the previous owner) had evidently managed to affect the grip that the Ultrascale driving wheels had on the axles, as the driven set of drivers appeared to have gone out of quarter.
     
    The loco is driven on the rear axle and I wanted to drop the leading and middle drivers out, for cleaning and inspection. To do this, I wanted to remove the coupling rods, but turned out to be a bit more challenging. Ultrascale use a round nut to secure the rods, which had evidently been glued in position on the 14BA thread of the crankpin. Each time I gripped the round nut in a pair of pliers and turned, the whole crankpin turned with it.
     
    Eventually, the driving wheel that had gone out of quarter, just fell off the axle! At least that made it easier to get at the screw head for the crankpins behind the driving wheels.
     

     
    I subsequently managed to get the remaining rods from the other wheels off, although a driving wheel from the leading wheel set also came loose.
     
    I think I am going to have to completely re-secure and re-quarter the lot, before I re-assemble the chassis.
     
  7. Captain Kernow

    New OO wheelsets for Heljan diesels

    By Captain Kernow,


    New OO wheelsets for Heljan diesels
    One of the reasons for building 'Bethesda Sidings', was to be able to run some of my existing OO stock, without having to put 'Bleakhouse Road' up, the latter being too big to leave set up at home for any length of time.
     
    I like to operate a green diesel sequence on my layouts, so I decided to test my Hymek and Class 33 on 'Bethesda Sidings' recently. To my irritation, I found that the Heljan wheelsets didn't like the OO-SF points on the layout.
     
    Both locos are original issue Heljan models and both had those coppery coloured wheels, on which the treads gave the appearance of being dirty. More importantly, the flanges are relatively thick, resulting in the wheelsets not running smoothly through my OO-SF A5 points, even though the back-to-back was correctly set at 14.5mm.
     
    The solution was to replace the Heljan wheels with Black Beetle wheels, which I obtained from Branchlines recently. These are turned and have a much finer flange.
     
    The old Heljan wheelsets were removed and the wheels pressed off their axles. I would be re-using the Heljan axles with the gear wheels on them. Both the Black Beetle and Heljan wheelsets use 2mm axles.
     
    The Black Beetle wheels were then pressed of their axles and pressed onto the Heljan axles and replaced in the two locos.
     
    The result was two locos that now ran very happily through the OO-SF points.
     
    Here one bogie on the Class 33 has had it's wheels replaced:

     
    Here is the Hymek with it's new wheels, being test run on the layout, before I replaced the bogie side frames:

     
    Completed locos:

     

     
     
  8. Captain Kernow

    Recent work - wagons and weathering

    By Captain Kernow,


    Recent work
    Recent work includes the completion of four Cambrian 'Herring' ballast hoppers in P4, which will be used on 'Callow Lane' (and in due course, my planned Forest of Dean cameo layout) and also on Re6/6's 'Parkend Marsh Sidings' layout:
     

     

     

    Here are the four Herring so far completed. All are unsprung and uncompensated, having established (prior to recent lockdowns) that this format runs OK on Re6/6's Marsh Sidings layout.
     
    As 'Callow Lane' isn't set up at the moment and as I can't visit Re6/6 to pose them on 'Marsh Sidings' either, here they are precariously balanced on my OO layout 'Bethesda Sidings':

     
    The part-loads visible in one of the above photos hide the fact that there is a quantity of liquid lead in the bottom of the hoppers of each wagon. There really isn't anywhere else on these wagons to put sufficient weight, in order to aid road-holding in P4. Without it, they would just be too lightweight and would probably keep derailing. I wouldn't even run such lightweight wagons in OO, to be honest. The two left hand wagons have removable 'full loads' of Whitecliff Quarry ballast and the two on the right will be similarly fitted in due course. Each wagon now averages 45 grams.
     
    I've also built a Chivers 'Ling', also in P4 and also not compensated or sprung, but also with a decent amount of weight underneath.

     

     

     
    Also posed on 'Bethesda Sidings':

     
    Also converted to P4 recently is this Hornby 'Toad'. Apart from a small amount of plastic that needs to be removed from the brake gear assemblies on each wheel, it was a pretty straightforward conversion, although I've also done this one rigid. A hole was also cut in the floor of the van area and a decent amount of lead glued inside, to bring the weight up to 50 grams. It's still awaiting weathering at the moment:

     

     

     
    Since the above photo was taken, the brake van has been re-lettered (using Cambridge Custom Transfers excellent product) to a Lydney van.
     
    Whilst I had the transfers and weathering powders out, I also lettered and weathered a couple of OO Grampuses and an old ex-GW 3-plank wagon (all built many, many years ago):

     

     

     
    Finally, I've recently had four P4 converted diesels back from Tom Foster, who has done an utterly brilliant job weathering them for me. Here they are, again posed precariously on 'Bethesda Sidings':

     

     

     

     
    All the diesels will be used on 'Callow Lane' in due course.
     
  9. Captain Kernow

    16XX (P4) running in

    By Captain Kernow,


    Running in P4 16XX pannier
    Having been granted a further day to keep the P4 circuit in place, I've been making the most of it, with further running in activity taking place. This time, it's the turn of my P4 16XX pannier, 1650. Here's a rather wobbly panned photo:

     
    This loco was built as a commission for me several years ago, when I thought that I would have a completed P4 layout to take to shows, so it was a means of saving me some modelling time, as I needed to work on the layout itself ('Callow Lane').
     
    As things turned out, the layout still isn't finished, but I do hope to start work on it again soon.
     
    The loco features modified milled Alan Gibson 64XX frames (same wheelbase), with Gibson wheels, the usual High Level and Mashima drive and a whitemetal Cotswold body.
     
    Unfortunately, the slow running qualities of this loco never came up to scratch as far as I was concerned.
     
    These days, I would do things differently. For a start, I'd almost certainly make the loco myself now and I'd obviously use the lovely NuCast Partners 16XX chassis kit, designed by Justin Newitt, which was exactly what I did when I built one of these in OO a few months ago.
     
    I had put the loco away for a while and was contemplating building a completely new chassis for it, especially once said NuCast Partners chassis became available in recent times.
     
    However, I decided to put it on the rolling road for some extended running-in and was pleased to note, a year or so ago, that the running did seem to have improved somewhat. As such, I am going to try to give it a lot more running in, in order to improve it sufficiently, so that I don't have to build another chassis for it.
     
    Here is some footage of 1650 running on the highly sophisticated Kernow test facility this afternoon:
     
  10. Captain Kernow

    RTR running in (P4)

    By Captain Kernow,


    P4 running in
    I am currently running another RTR loco in, this time a Class 24 in P4, which is destined for use on 'Callow Lane'.
     
    Although I do use a rolling road, I prefer, where possible, to undertake running in on actual track.
     
    The P4 circuit is 7' 6" in diameter and is effectively a circle of 'P4 set track', made up from sections of C&L flexi track, curved and held in the correct radius by copper clad sleepers.
     
    I wish I had a permanent space for this, but the dining room floor is currently the only location where I can set it up and close the door on it, to ensure that inquisitive felines don't get too interested!
     
    Here's a bit of footage:
     
     
    I've now given the Class 24 a rest and am running the Judith Edge Kitson in:
     
     
  11. Captain Kernow
    This is the model of a passenger train of the South Polden Light Railway, seen here visiting Combwich at the High Wycombe show a few weeks ago (photo by Chris Nevard):
     

     
    The moribund coaches and Peckett normally work occasional services between Burrowbridge and Bleakhouse Road...
     
    Then, the other day, I found this ensemble at Buckfastleigh:
     

     

     
    Clearly, someone felt the SPLR was worth preserving!!
  12. Captain Kernow
    Whilst I am waiting for the weathering paint on the 74XX chassis to harden off, together with the matt varnish on the loco body, I've set up my circle of Lima track again, to run a few RTR offerings in.
     
    Yesterday I gave a Hornby W4 Peckett (PoLA blue livery) and a Model Rail Sentinel (WD livery) a good few hours stretch each. Both are destined to be 'military' locos on 'Bethesda Sidings', making occasional trips down the light railway to Bethesda yard. New nameplates were obtained from Narrow Planet some time ago.
     
    Currently on the circuit is this B2 Peckett (sorry for poor focus):

     

     
    I'm not sure what to do with this one. I had originally planned to keep it as an OO model and run it on both 'Bethesda Sidings' and 'Bleakhouse Road', but I have a feeling that the flanges on the B2 are (for some reason) very slighly larger than on the W4. The reason for saying this, is that the W4s all run very happily through my 'OO-SF' A5 crossover on 'Bethesda Sidings', whereas the B2 doesn't seem to like it as much and I get flanges impacting on the chaired track.
     
    If I'm right about this (I haven't measured the flanges as yet or compared them in close up), then it's likely that the B2 will have to be converted to P4 and used on 'Callow Lane' as an NCB loco. Whether that involves waiting for a replacement chassis kit or perhaps scratchbuilding a chassis, I don't know either, although quite possibly the former, given that converting it to P4 isn't very high on the priority list (pity, as it runs rather sweetly on the Lima circle of track).
     
    Next up after the B2 will be a Hornby 'Terrier', on which I suspect the slightly larger flanges are also present. This one didn't run quite as sweetly as the B2, so if running in doesn't improve it, a replacement chassis might be the order of the day.
     
  13. Captain Kernow
    My current project is the conversion of a Bachmann 64XX pannier tank to a 74XX (almost identical, but not auto-fitted and thus much more suited for a goods-only branch in the Welsh borders), which will be used on my new OO layout 'Bethesda Sidings'. I've been posting occasion updates on the project on my layout thread here - 
    Being generally far too fussy and anal about smooth, slow running for my own good, I have once again found that the Bachmann RTR chassis just doesn't 'cut the mustard' in terms of controlability. I appreciate that others have had better luck, but  (and I suspect part of this is just me), I frequently seem to find the RTR chassis unsatisfactory.
     
    What I have done in the past, is to replace the RTR chassis with an etched kit, normally using Romford or Markits wheels. I've done this a number of times, in some cases where the old Mainline split chassis has given up the ghost or, more recently, because the RTR chassis runs poorly and no amount of tweaking and running-in seems to improve it. Two recent examples have been my Hattons/DJM 14XX and (a few years ago) a Bachmann Standard Class 3 2-6-2T.
     
    I had run the Bachmann chassis in for several hours back in 2017:

     
    I had got it just about running well enough, to consider it suitable for slow speed shunting etc. on the new layout.
     
    A few weeks ago, I started the body modifications to convert the 64XX to a 74XX, at our Scalefour area group's 'Indulgence Day' (the most obvious work involves modifications to the bunker and cab roof).
     
    A little while later, having more or less completed the layout, I gave it another trial, which was when I encountered what I considered to be the final straw. The Bachmann chassis didn't like running through the A5 crossover, which had been built (most carefully) to OO-SF standards. This corresponded with an emerging theme, namely that some RTR chassis with 3 axles (or more) didn't like running smoothly through the crossover (oddly enough, a Bachmann 8750 pannier and an 08 diesel shunter are fine).
     
    What did stand out, though, was that all my locos fitted with etched chassis and Romford or Markits wheels ran through with no problem.
     
    As such, I decided that there was now no alternative but to replace the chassis with an etched kit. In terms of the smaller 54XX, 64XX and 74XX panniers, there is really only one option, namely the excellent kit by High Level, which gives you the option to build the variants suitable for any of the above three types of pannier loco.
     
    The kit is highly detailed and certainly the most complex chassis kit I have yet assembled. However, the detailed instructions are extremely thorough and the fit of the etched components is excellent, a tribute to the quality of the product. I found that I just had to take my time and methodically follow the sequence outlined in the instructions to the letter (which is what Chris Gibbon of High Level recommends) and the chassis slowly started to take shape.
     
    Once I had fitted the hornblocks, with their sliding brass bearings and the twin-beam compensation, however, it began to dawn on me that there might be a problem.
     
    The chassis is designed to be built in either OO, EM or P4, of course, and the issue I encountered would not affect EM or P4 modellers.
     
    The kit comes with it's own gearbox, the parts for which are included on the main chassis etch. In all other respects, it is typical of the excellent gearbox design that High Level have been producing for many years now, etched in nickel silver, with plastic gears, brass worm and brass final drive gear (with grub screw). It is also quite a narrow gearbox when assembled, being approx 7.5mm wide (some of High Level's other designs can be up to 11mm in width, in my experience).
     
    When looking at the amount of space between the hornblocks and brass bearings for the drive axle (rear axle), it seemed to me that the distance available would mean the gearbox was a very tight fit indeed, which might compromise the ability of the compensation to work properly.
     
    Once I had folded up the main gearbox and offered it up to the chassis, the problem was confirmed, the gearbox was too wide:

     
    I felt that I would need to reduce the width by at least 1mm or so, in order to give sufficient free movement to the compensation.
     
    The first action was to remove one side of the gearbox, easily done by bending the side to and fro a little:

     
    I then fitted a couple of 10BA bolts, with nuts set to the new spacing:

     
     
     
    Once I was happy with the alignment, the gearbox side was soldered back on, with a small piece of scrap etch for additional strength:

     
    Once the nuts and bolts were removed, the gearbox now fitted between the brass bearings, with about 0.5mm or so clearance, which should be sufficient:

     

     
    A small bit of scrap etch was soldered in place to provide some additional strength:

     
    The gearbox with the motor and gears fitted:

     
    In hindsight, it would have been easier to thin down the sliding brass bearings. These do come with a raised, circular ridge on the inner face, that High Level recommend you remove for the front and rear axles, to clear the dummy valve gear and the gearbox respectively, but with an OO chassis, further brass would need to be removed to allow the gearbox to fit.
     
    I have shared my thoughts with Chris Gibbon of High Level.
     
     
  14. Captain Kernow

    Loco changes

    By Captain Kernow,

    Following the sale of my first layout 'Engine Wood' in 2018, there is little, if any work for the large tender engines that used to work on that layout. Most of them are really too large for my remaining S&D layout 'Bleakhouse Road' and aren't suitable for 'Bethesda Sidings' either.
     
    With no realistic prospect of another 'main line' type S&D layout in the offing, I have decided to dispose of one of the largest tender locos, West Country No. 34001 'Exeter'. I am keeping the other large tender locos, because they are my own work, but 'Exeter' was built by a former work colleague (from a Crownline kit) some years ago. It was originally built to EM gauge, but he asked me to re-gauge it to OO, so that we could run it on 'Engine Wood'. Eventually, he decided to sell it to me and at the time I was happy to buy it.
     
    Now, it's found a new home with Re6/6, where it will be converted to P4 and used to haul expresses over an extremely long viaduct in a model of the Sussex countryside. Yes, it's going to 'Balcombe!'
     
    In exchange, John has agreed to let me have his small prairie 4558 in part-exchange. This will be used on 'Bethesda Sidings' and is virtually ready for service.
     
    4558 has already arrived at it's new home, in company with resident 1458:

     
    The first and only time that a Bulleid pacific is likely to visit 'Bethesda Sidings':

     

     

     
     
  15. Captain Kernow
    I was at Scaleforum last weekend, helping Rod C (10800) and John F (Re6/6) with the massive Ouse Valley Viaduct and Balcombe station layout, representing a chunk of the Brighton main line in P4. It is truly a project on an epic scale, both in size and the understandable gestation period of the layout.
     
    Also of this parish, Brian H (Taz) and Nick R (Brinkly) were also on the team. Although the layout itself is essentially the work of the first two gentlemen (John and Rod) only, both Brian and Nick have made very significant contributions in terms of rolling stock for the layout, with construction having taken place over the last 12 months or so.
     
    Others have also made important contributions, either in terms of building stuff or (eg. Mike A of the Kent Area Group) bringing superb locos and stock for the show and attending same.
     
    Although I have been involved (rather casually, by my own admission) with the project since the early site visits to Sussex in 2009 (10 years ago, for goodness sake!), for a variety of reasons, my own contributions have unfortunately not been on the above scale.
     
    That said, for the last few weeks at least, I suspended work on 'Bethesda Sidings', to allow me to complete one or two items for the layout, in time for the show last weekend.
     
    The first item was a small building for Balcombe station. Rod made all the other buildings and structures for the station and did a splendid job, as evidenced by photos posted on this forum and also on the Scalefour Society forum. My contribution was to build the Gents toilet! (no comments, please, Stubby).
     
    This is the prototype, the photos taken way back in 2009:
     

     

     

     

     
    Although I took detailed photos and measurements during a subsequent site visit the following year, it took me until 2018 to actually produce the scale drawing, necessary for me to build the thing (from plasticard).
     
    This is the Gents part-way through construction:

     

     

     
    The roof slates are the old Exactoscale self-adhesive ones, which were designed to be painted over with a dirty enamel wash.
     
    This is the finished building, prior to having signage and advert hoardings added (which it had in the 1950s 7 1960s):

     

     

     

     
    After taking these photos, I added the 'Gents' sign and also two period adverts. Here is the building in place on the layout (please note that the station area scenery is not yet completed, including the station garden adjacent to the Gents):

     

     
    I also built most of the buffer stops for the layout. Nick (Brinkly) built a couple of Southern examples from Dave Franks kits, which I then put on copper clad sleepers, added cosmetic chairs and then painted and weathered.
     
    I also built a lost wax SR buffer stop and another Dave Franks whitemetal example.
     
    Finally I built a sleeper-built buffer stop from balsa wood and also painted and weathered a Bachmann sleeper-built example. All buffer stops were sprayed with red oxide (Halfords) primer, then 'Rail Dirt' by Railmatch and then weathered with Mig and Abteilung 502 powders.

     

     

     

     

     
     
  16. Captain Kernow
    I've now finished weathering 1458 and the loco is now considered 'ready for service'.
     
    1458 and 1420 were the two regular locos on the Kington and Presteigne goods services in the early 1960s, until the lines finally closed in 1964. Both continued in service for a few months, with 1420 getting preserved by the Dart Valley Railway and 1458 seeing her days out on the Chalford auto trains, shedded at Gloucester.
     
    In my timeline, the railway beyond Kington to New Radnor was not closed in 1951, together with the extension to Rhyadar, so the 14XXs would have worked beyond Kington to Capel Bethesda, where goods traffic with the Vale of Radnor Light Railway was exchanged.
     
    Due to the extension beyond New Radnor to Rhayadar (which was initially meant to be part of a through route from the Midlands to the Welsh coast), the line was upgraded to take heavier locos, so we now see various types of pannier tanks appearing at Capel Bethesda, together with 22XXs and the occasional larger loco.
     
    It's nice, though, to have a couple of 14XXs available, though, as a nod to the real life lines that closed in 1964.
     
    Although I have some quite dirty and heavily-weathered locos, I wanted 1458 to represent a loco that had been looked after and was kept relatively clean by the local crews (a nod, perhaps, to the almost fanatical cleaning regime applied to the regular loco on the Golden Valley line a few miles away and a few years earlier).
     
    The loco was sprayed with a weathering mix of diluted Humbrol enamels, based on the methods described by Martyn Welch. The first layer was largely rubbed off again, when touch-dry and a second mix applied, leaving the original dirt lodged in the nooks and crannies. A bit of brush weathering followed, together with a final 'blow over' from the airbrush.
     
    (The other 14XX is one of the Hattons factory-weathered examples and I've yet to decide what to do about that, as it's really a bit too dirty!).
     

     

     

     

     
    And finally, a kind and observant soul has pointed out something that I already knew, namely that the really 1458 retained the early crest right until the end. I only realised myself a few weeks ago, but decided that as my layout's whole 'raison d'etre' is really rather outrageously improbable, then I could get away with saying that the loco acquired the later crest when it was reboilered in the late 1950s (earlier photos show 1458 with a top feed, later ones show her without).
     
    And I'm not messing with it now that it's finished!
     
  17. Captain Kernow

    A Dean Goods

    By Captain Kernow,

    Whilst the 14XX 0-4-2 is more closely associated with the last years of goods services to Kington and Presteigne, Dean Goods locos did once work through from Rhayader to Leominster, when the through route via Capel Bethesda, New Radnor and Kington was open. It seemed appropriate, therefore, to have an example on the roster for 'Bethesda Sidings', working the occasional goods train from Leominster and back.
     
    I am aware that much has been written about the Oxford Rail model, not all of it good and in truth, I probably wouldn't have bothered with a Dean Goods, had this RTR model not been available, but I had the opportunity to acquire one as a birthday present last year, so I thought I would.

    Whilst an etched kit or even a thorough upgrade of the old Mainline body might have 'put right' the various faults that some have pointed out, I decided that the model passed the Captain's 'Black 5' test (if it looks like a Black 5, then it must be a Black 5).
     
    I was fortunate to end up with a decent-running example in BR black and am happy to report that the gaps in my knowledge about the class mean that I am content enough to give it house room on the layout.
     
    I decided that my Dean Goods would be one of the last ones in BR service, namely 2538, which was allocated to 89A Oswestry prior to withdrawal on 31st May 1957. Although that date falls within my somewhat flexible operating period on 'Bethesda Sidings', I might perhaps pretend that it's usefulness on the Bethesda goods allowed it to survive a little longer.
     
    The loco is, of course, far too clean and needs weathering, before it can be put into service. Although I am normally happy to weather my own locos and stock, I decided that I would ask Tom Foster - https://tomfosterweathering.wordpress.com/ - to weather 2538, which would save me a lot of time and hopefully enable 2538 to be used on the layout at it's first booked show next year. I really like Tom's work and would recommend him to anyone wanting a good weathering job done.
     
    Before the loco could go off to Tom, though, I needed to do a small number of little jobs, namely make up and attach screw link couplings, fit the smokebox door plate and remove the moulded plastic cabside number plates and fit replacement brass ones, with the correct number on. Why do manufacturers think that it's clever to mould a number plate onto a cab side, by the way?
     
    The plates were supplied by the ever-helpful Brian Moseby at 247 developments:

     
    I attached the smokebox door number first. I wanted to try to see if I could have it standing slightly 'proud' of the smokebox door, as they do in reality, rather than gluing the number plate directly to the front of the loco, so I soldered a couple of 0.5mm p/b spigots to the back of the plate and glued them into some corresponding holes, drilled in the smokebox door, working from a photograph to ensure that it went at exactly the correct height (see photo below).
     
    I then had to remove the moulded cabside plates. This is the original (apologies for being slightly out of focus):

     
    I considered just gluing the new plate on top of the old one, but I felt it didn't lie flat enough:

     
    So, it was out with a curved scalpel blade (a brand new, very sharp one is required) and the old plates were carefully pared away:

     
    The new plates were then glued in place. Full marks to 247 Developments for getting the correct brown background colour, too:

     
    I had already made up the screw couplings (mainly Smiths, with a home-made brass 'dangling shackle' and Exactoscale steel end links. I use the overscale Smiths hooks, because they are much easier to use under exhibition conditions.
     
    The loco was finally reassembled and tested on the layout again. I had to remove one of the tender wheel sets, which had a back-to-back of 15mm (the rest of the wheels were the correct 14.5mm) and re-set the back-to-back.
     
    Here is the loco posing on 'Bethesda Sidings', before being sent off to Tom for weathering:

     

     
     
     
  18. Captain Kernow
    The project to replace the chassis on my first Hattons/DJM 14XX is now almost complete.
     
    Following the replacement of the number plates and the minor repair to the steam heating pipe arrangements mentioned in previous blogs, I have now painted and weathered the chassis and re-assembled it.
     
    The chassis, minus the driving wheels, was first brush painted with Halfords red oxide primer (sprayed into the aerosol lid). I didn't want to remove the motor and all the associated hassle of excessive handling, as I'd already got the pick-ups in exactly the position I wanted them, so I generally prefer to brush-paint the chassis.
     
    Once the primer had dried, I then painted weathering colours directly onto the chassis, from a mix of Humbrol enamel colours, such as No.62 Matt Leather, a Metalcote black, a dark/mid-grey, dark brown etc.
     
    Then the wheels were sprayed with red primer, then matt black and finally given a light dusting of a track colour or sleeper grime type aerosol, to give them a base weathering colour.
     
    The chassis components then looked like this:

     
    Other paint was then dry-brushed on to the wheels, which were then temporarily attached to an axle and given a spin in an electric drill, whilst a cotton bud, soaked (but not soaking) in cellulose thinners, was held against the wheel treads and flanges to clean them off:

     
    I also primed and painted the coupling rods.
     
    Once the enamel paints had thoroughly dried (for various reasons this ended up being three or four days), I carefully cleaned the business end of the pick-ups with cellulose thinners on a cotton bud, where some enamel paint had accidentally gone, and re-assembled the chassis:

     
    Once satisfactory test running had taken place (which it now has done), I will lightly glue some etched overlays on top of the Romford axle nuts, to give a more prototypical portrayal of an axle end.
     
    The chassis was re-lubricated, where necessary, and test run, which was fine. It was then re-united with the loco body and is seen here posing on 'Bethesda Sidings', alongside the much more recently bought second 14XX, which will be re-numbered to 1420 in due course:

     
    Here is 1458 next to 4406, which is one of my oldest locos and one of the very few to retain GW livery from a much earlier project:

     
    I am finally happy with the running of 1458, The high gearing and quality of the High Level gearbox give it good controllability for all the shunting that will be indulged in on 'Bethesda Sidings'. Here are a couple of clips of it running this afternoon:
     

     

     

    One final word on the subject of the second (weathered) Hattons/DJM 14XX. From the outset, it seemed a better runner than the first two that I had from Hattons (the second of which became 1458), but still wasn't sufficiently good to keep the Comet chassis kit in my 'unmakde kits' box.
     
    Following a prolonged amount of running in on a rolling road and latterly on a circle of set-track, it was with some trepidation that I tested it on 'Bethesda Sidings' yesterday afternoon, using my AMR slow speed controller.
     
    Whilst not quite as responsive as 1458, it nonetheless surprised me and was, in fact, sufficiently controllable to warrant the chassis being kept and not requiring replacement. Good news and one less job to do!
  19. Captain Kernow
    Although I have complained about the Hattons/DJM mechanism and chassis at length, I have never had any major criticisms of the body on this model and this remains the case, apart from the fact that you have to dismantle the body, in order to get the Hattons/DJM motor out, without resorting to the use of a mains Dremel.
     
    The level of detailing is very fine and some of the components are, by their very nature, somewhat delicate.
     
    The pipe runs along the edge of the footplate are a case in point.
     
    The pipes themselves are formed of steel rod, which is rather unyielding as is usually the case with steel. The end of the steam heating pipe, which runs along the left-hand edge of the footplate, actually fits into a corresponding hole in the rear of the plastic steam pipe moulding, which comes in a small bag for the owner to fit themselves.
     
    The steel rods are held in place along the edge of the footplate by small plastic clips, which are the vulnerable component here.
     
    The steam heating pipe on my model needed to be bent back slightly, in order not to place too much pressure on the plastic steam pipe (which you have to glue onto the buffer beam, fortunately Butanone seems to work OK for this).
     
    When bending this steel rod back a little, it popped out of the leading plastic clip on the side of the footplate, which in any case had, I suspect, been compromised during previous work on the loco. As a result, the plastic clip was broken and wouldn't hold the pipe securely any longer.
     
    My solution to this was what I have done before, when fitting similar pipework to kitbuilt locos.
     
    Two 0.5mm holes were drilled into the side of the footplate valancing, one on top of the other and by necessity, very close together. 0.5mm is somewhat too large but with a smaller drill, there is an increased risk of the drill breaking off, which wouldn't have been very helpful. Both holes are hidden behind the pipework when all is done, in any case.
     
    The first thing is then to epoxy a short length of 5 amp fuse wire into the top hole, having previously drawn the wire through some fine wet & dry paper to roughen the surface up to key to the glue:

     
    The top 0.5mm hole just goes right into the plastic of the footplate moulding, to a depth of about 5mm, enough to let the epoxy hold the fuse wire nicely. This is left to harden overnight.
     
    The next stage is to use a fine pair of tweezers to feed the other end of the fuse wire into the lower hole. This lower hole emerges on the underside of the footplate moulding. The fuse wire is then carefully pulled taught and some more epoxy applied to the underside of the footplate:

     
    The result looks like this - the fuse wire forms a very small little loop, that holds the steel steam pipe run in place and will disappear when dabbed with a black permanent marker or a bit of black paint:

     
    I would add, however, that the above process was rather fraught, as the threading of the fuse wire into the lower hole proved a lot more difficult than I had envisaged. I wouldn't do it in that order again, but would instead put the wire in the lower hole first, but not glue it, then thread the other end into the upper hole, glue it and leave it to harden. I would then draw the wire already in the lower hole tight and glue.
     
    I think I was lucky not to have broken the fuse wire off with the initial fumbling with the tweezers!
  20. Captain Kernow
    Further work on the chassis has seen a rolling chassis, now powered by a Mashima 1220 and a slim flywheel and the High Level gearbox 'lash-up' that I described earlier.
     
    Pick ups haven't been fitted yet, so the chassis has been tested on the still-embryonic 'Bethesda Sidings' with some very thin wander leads attached directly to a hand-held controller:

     

     

     
    I'm pleased to say that I have now finally got the nice, smooth, slow speed control that I have always wanted for this loco. The mechanical aspects of the chassis fortunately seem to work OK, so as long as I can fit decent pick ups, we should have a properly functioning loco.
     
    I then kept the wander leads in place and fitted the body to the new chassis, using the fixing points that I had selected fore and aft:

     
    I had taken about 0.5mm too much off the tops of the frames at the front end, so the above photo shows the position after I had glued two small slivers of plasticard in place, to level the body off. The footplate is now the same height at either end, indicating to me that it's now sitting level on the chassis.
     
    I've also started to glue some lead inside the body. Having removed the nasty lump of mazak, there is quite a lot of room in the side tanks for additional lead weights. As I want to keep most of the weight above the two driving axles, I'm only gluing in pieces of lead that are 12mm x 12mm, so as not to extend the weight behind the second driven axle:

     
    Next jobs are to fit the brake gear, balance weights and any other detailing parts, together with the pick ups and then give the loco a further test on the layout.
  21. Captain Kernow
    I decided to re-number my Hattons/DJM 14XX today.
     
    Much has been said about the 'sunken' number plates adopted by DJ Models for GW prototypes (14XX, 1363) and I have to say that I have yet to meet anyone who likes them.
     
    Some folk have decided that they're happy to live with the 'sunken' plates, which is fine.
     
    Those who need to re-number their model, however, have a choice - either remove the existing 'sunken' plates or simply stick new ones over the top of them.
     
    It's been said by some that the 'sunken' plates are effectively level with the rest of the body work, thus making the gluing of a replacement plate on top a simple job. I'm not so convinced that no part of the 'sunken' plate rose above the level of the body work and when looking at examples of replacement plates glued on top of the old ones, I felt that a small gap could be discerned.
     
    I decided, therefore, to remove the old plates and fit a small sliver of 5 thou plasticard in the resulting 'hole', to bring it up to the level of the rest of the body work.
     
    For me, the clean removal of the old plate, without damaging the surrounding paint finish, was paramount, so not knowing how solidly they were fixed in place, I didn't want to risk trying to prise them out from the side with a small screwdriver or scalpel blade.
     
    This is the original plate in situ:

     
    To effect a 'clean' removal of the DJM plates, I decided that they would become 'sacrificial', so I drilled into them with a 0.7mm drill:

     
    They actually came off pretty easily:

     
    This is the resulting 'hole' after the residual glue had been carefully removed with a No.15 curved scalpel blade:

     
    Two 'blanking pieces' from black 5 thou plasticard were then made up, about 3.8mm x 7.8mm:

     
    These were then glued in place by applying small amounts of MekPak to the loco body and the 5 thou plasticard:

     
    This pretty much brought the number plate 'hole' up to the level of the surrounding bodywork. I then glued the replacement plates for 1458 by 247 Developments in place:

     
    I'm not a huge fan of etched smokebox door number plates and I normally prefer to use transfers. As the Hattons/DJM model came as 1450, I had hoped to merely replace the 0 with an 8, from a sheet of waterslide smokebox door numbers, but unfortunately the replacement 8 wasn't quite big enough, so I had to gently scrape the rest of the number off with a curved scalpel blade and start from scratch:

     
    I have a sheet of ModelMaster ex-GWR smokebox door numbers, but not one for 1458, so 1437 and 5810 were used to provide the right combination of numbers:

     
    I shall seal the transfers in with some matt varnish next and then continue with the last few jobs on the body, before painting and weathering both chassis and loco body.
  22. Captain Kernow
    It's been a while since the last blog entry and part of the reason for that has been my having to devote time to a fairly major DIY job at home, which is thankfully now more or less completed.
     
    The previous entry had concluded with a virtually operational chassis, which required detailing.
     
    The brake gear was indeed added at this stage:

     
    By this stage, all the work involved in modifying the Hattons/DJM body to fit the (also modified) Perseverance chassis had been done and in many ways, this now just became another routine chassis building project.
     
    The loco was then given extensive testing on the rolling road:

     
    However, even after all that testing and 'running in', I still wasn't satisfied with the running qualities and I spent a lot of what modelling time I did have, looking at pick up options.
     
    I was also concerned that, having build the chassis 'rigid' (ie. without compensation or springing), I had compromised on the running qualities. It was evident that some kind of springing (or at least adjustment) was required for the rear pony wheels. I also wasn't satisfied with just one set of pick ups on each wheel.
     
    A fairly major problem at the same time was the fact that I had inadvertently got some flux on the 2mm steel shafts that carry the plastic gears in the High Level gearbox. I had thought that I had been sufficiently careful to avoid this and had cleaned them up at the time. The outcome of this error on my part was that the High Level gearbox 'lash up' driving the front axle more or less seized up and was really straining the motor just to move the loco along slowly (and annoyingly jerkily).
     
    As such, the whole motor/gearbox was removed and dismantled and a replacement High Level LoadHauler+ (still at 90:1 gear ratio) was installed on the rear driven axle instead.
     
    By angling the drive extender round behind the gearbox 'tower', I could still keep the motor in more or less the same position and retain the small flywheel. I made sure this time that the previous problem with the steel shafts would not recur.
     
    There was still an annoying and mysterious tight spot, which I eventually traced to one of the brake shoes being too close to the wheel, which with a slight 'wobble' that isn't uncommon with this kind of wheel, was causing the wheel to rub slightly on the brake shoe. A gentle tweak with a small pair of pliers sorted that matter out.
     
    The new motor/gearbox combination now ran nice and smoothly when directly wired to a power source. Pick ups were fitted and tweaked and still I wasn't quite happy with the way the loco ran. It was, by now, considerably better than the original Hattons/DJM chassis, but still not quite what I had hoped for. The problem seemed to be exacerbated with the loco body attached to the chassis, so I felt that more lead weight over the two driving axles might help.
     
    More lead was added to the front of the inside of the side tanks:

     
    I also added a small 'cube' of lead between the frames, located mid-way between the two driven axles and glued to a piece of copper-clad paxolin, glued to the underside of the chassis:

     

     
    The top-of-the-wheel pick-up arrangement seen in the above two photos proved to be unsatisfactory and has since been changed, whereby the pick ups on the leading driven axle have been removed and that on the rear driven axle and the pony wheels modified to act on the flange, rather than the wheel treads.
     
    The loco was run-in some more on the rolling road and then tested on the layout. Finally, finally I have got it running to my satisfaction and it 'passed the test' of running nice and slowly over all parts of the layout:

     

     
    The next jobs will be to sort out a few minor things on the loco body, such as permanently attaching the replacement nickel silver front step, removing the Hattons/DJM number plate, putting a thin piece of plasticard to bring the numberplate depression to the same level as the body and then attaching a replacement 247 Developments number plate for 1458 in its place.
     
    The chassis will then be painted and weathered and the loco body weathered.
  23. Captain Kernow
    I concluded the previous blog entry on this subject by saying that the next job would be to fettle the Perseverance frames to fit the Hattons/DJM body. These are the frames as provided on the Perseverance etch:

     
    And separated from the fret:

     
    The 'topography' of the underside of the Hattons/DJM footplate moulding called for some initial modifications to the tops of the Perseverance frames:

     
    Further adjustments were subsequently made, particularly with regard to removing additional metal from the frames above the leading driving axle bearing holes.
     
    The small piece of brass soldered to the rear of the lower side frame was due to concerns that the cut line was too close to the etched slot, but this didn't prove to be an issue.
     
    In the meantime, the Mashima 1015 motor (which is all that would fit inside the mazak block) was given some gentle running in, prior to being fitted to the High Level gearbox:

     
    The Markits wheels were also prepared to be attached to their axles. I find these days that I have to very carefully remove a bit of metal from the centres of Markits wheels, to get them to fit on their axles. I do this using a small, 4-sided needle file, which is fortunately a snug fit inside the wheel centre. Only a very few light passes with this file are necessary to get the axle to fit and I usually do one pass at a time and offer up the axle each time, until it fits OK:

     
    I then put the High Level gearbox together. This consists of a special 'lash up', using components provided by Chris Gibbon. These are:
     
    1 x LoadHauler Compact + gearbox, but not including the small drive extension that comes with the gearbox kit
    1 x D2 DriveStretcher attached to the bottom of the LoadHauler Compact+, but with one third of the DriveStretcher removed
    1 x D1 DriveStretcher attached to the end of the modified D2 DriveStretcher
     
    The above then gave me sufficient distance to drive the leading axle and have room for the vertical part of the gearbox, plus the 1015 motor, within the space afforded inside the mazak block.
     
    This is the gearbox 'lash up' before I soldered a 'stabilising' bar between the main gearbox and final DriveStretcher:

     
    Some additional pieces of 2mm inside diameter tube needed to be cut to length, in order to keep the gears in the DriveStretchers on the correct side:

     
    The completed 'lash up':

     
    The gearbox under test:

     
    And in the chassis:

     
    Since taking the above photos, a number of c*ck ups (of my own making) have come to light. First of all, the whole reason for driving the leading axle was to enable me to fit single beam compensation on the rear driven axle and the pony axle. Unfortunately this wasn't possible, because I failed to allow sufficient space around the rear driven axle for the hornblocks, which inevitably intrude into the area occupied by the bottom of the main part of the LoadHauler Compact+ gearbox. The gearbox is a tad under 11 mm wide and the Perseverance OO framespacers are 11.5 mm wide, which just isn't enough room, so I decided to built the chassis rigid, albeit with some springing on the rear pony axle.
     
    Unfortunately, in building the chassis rigid, I didn't use the chassis building jig to my advantage and resulted in the axle spacing on one side being very slightly longer than the other. As such, the chassis has been dismantled since the above photos were taken and is in the process of being soldered back together with more care.
     
    In the meantime, I was beginning to have misgivings about the ability of the little 1015 motor to power the loco nice and smoothly, driving all those gearwheels in the process.
     
    The stumbling block was the horrible lump of mazak, trapped inside the loco body. Removal of the side tanks/cab moulding from the plastic footplate moulding is necessary in order to remove it in a civilised manner, but that will break one or more of the lovely conduits arranged at the bottom of and the front of the side tanks, which then run down and along the footplate. The use of the 'soldering iron blade' to cut the plastic motor cradle out (as mentioned in the first part of this blog) had resulted in the plastic of the side tank/cab moulding and that of the footplate moulding getting fused together (in an area you won't see when the loco is completed), so having removed all the visible screws, including the two in the coal bunker, I didn't want to force the issue, for fear of causing irreparable damage to the loco body.
     
    I had tried using my 12v mini drill, with appropriate burrs, to remove the mazak, but this didn't have enough 'grunt' to make a difference.
     
    At this point, my good friend John F (Re6/6) came to the rescue and offered the use of his mains Dremel, so yesterday I went round to his place and together we wrapped the loco body up and masked it off, to try to keep it as clear as possible from 'mazak dust':

     
    Well, the mains-powered Dremel certainly made a difference. One thing I hadn't anticipated (why, I don't know, because it is obvious when you think about it) is the amount of heat that the burr will make at high and sustained speed. I have John to thank entirely for bringing my attention to this and suggesting a coffee pause, to let the metal cool down, prior to the next session. This is what it looked like while we were having a break:

     
    After a bit more attention, the mazak proved no match for the Dremel and the burrs and this is what we were eventually faced with when it was all over:

     

     
    When we removed the paper wrapping the loco body, I was dismayed at the amount of 'mazak dust' that had found its way into the rest of the body, but this was easily removed in the end.
     
    One casualty, though, due to my inattention, was one of the leading steps, where the rotating Dremel caught it:

     
    I cleaned this up and made up a replacement lower step from nickel silver sheet last night:

     
    The removal of the mazak block has now given a cavity about 23mm above the footplate and 35mm in length. That should be enough room for a 1020 and a slim flywheel, all being well. Here is a 1020 on test with the gearbox 'lash-up' this afternoon:

     
    On the scale drawing, this is now the cavity that is available for a motor/gearbox combination:

     
    Next steps will be to re-assemble the chassis and re-fit the motor/gearbox, see how that runs and see if there is room for a slim flywheel.
  24. Captain Kernow
    I've been expressing my dissatisfaction with the chassis and mechanism of the Hattons/DJM 14XX for some time now and I have finally started to do something about it.
     
    The background to this is that I need a 14XX as the 'signature' loco for my new 'cameo' shunting layout 'Bethesda Sidings', which is a fictitious location on a proposed-but-never-built GW route between New Radnor and Rhyader in Mid-Wales. With the addition of the outrageously improbable 'Vale of Radnor Light Railway' joining the 'main line' off scene, I have sometimes described this layout as 'the Prestigne goods with added Pecketts'.
     
    Back to the Hattons 14XX. The body work looked quite exquisite and on the basis of that alone, I ordered a BR lined green version, which would be renumbered to 1420, one of the Presteigne regulars towards the end of that service.
     
    The first example from Hattons looked lovely, but ran very badly, as I couldn't get it to run smoothly at low, shunting speeds. In fact, the more I ran it in, the worse the running got. It quickly went back to Hattons, who efficiently changed it for another, identical example with no fuss or bother.
     
    The second one seemed to be a better runner, upon initial checking, so I put it away and did some work on the layout for a few weeks. When it came to giving it some serious running in and checking how it was on the layout, it failed to live up to my initial, hopeful expectations. Once again, despite seeming to improve with the slow speed running, it eventually got worse after further running in, so I decided to cut my losses and provide it with a new chassis.
     
    Having already heard some accounts of problematical running with this design of loco, I had already obtained a Perseverance chassis and the necessary Markits wheels. If the Hattons/DJM loco had settled down properly, these would have gone under an old Airfix body.
     
    However, this was not to be and so the etched chassis is to go under the Hattons/DJM body.
     
    I will re-iterate that, in my view, Hattons/DJM have got the looks of the 14XX just right, especially the smokebox end and the finish is exemplary. The lining is nicely done and the overall effect is very pleasing.
     
    Hattons/DJM helpfully provide a 'components' list, should any spares be needed, which helped me subsequently in terms of identifying how things might come apart.
     
    Unfortunately, having now separated the chassis block from the body, it is my distinct impression that such an activity was never meant to be encouraged and some moderate force was eventually required, once the requisite screws had been undone.
     
    But what you are left with then is this bizarre arrangement, where the motor and worm remain ensconced in the body, with just the chassis block and wheels having come free:

     
    I tried unscrewing some of the remaining screws and found that the smokebox/boiler assembly will come away from the footplate, or at least mine did at the front end, but the cab-end remained firmly in one piece, which was probably just as well.
     
    What I couldn't work out how to do, was to remove the plastic bracket that held the tiny, coreless motor in place.
     
    The 'components list' referred to earlier clearly show that the cab and side tanks are a separate moulding, as are front and rear spectacle plates (there are actually an inner and an outer front spectacle plate, would you believe!), together with the smokebox/boiler/firebox being another separate piece.
     
    The problem with separating the cab and side tanks from the footplate seemed to me to be two-fold:
     
    i) I suspect that they may have been partially glued together. I certainly couldn't see how to simply unscrew them and I didn't want to risk damaging either the individual mouldings or the lovely paint finish
     
    ii) there are some (nicely done) pipe runs that attach to both the side tanks and the footplate mouldings and which would have to be reinstated by the modeller once the parts were separated, something else that I didn't really want to have to do.
     
    So, I resorted to drastic action and produced this from an old soldering iron tip:

     
    This acted like a 4mm scale 'oxy-acetylene' cutting torch and made short work of the plastic bracket that held the motor in place, which was partially cut up in situ and the remains removed with pliers. It wasn't gentle or genteel but I wasn't in the mood to be all sensitive with this and the loco had had it coming for a long time.
     
    The small motor was removed unscathed and all superfluous wire runs also removed.
     
    It was then that I peered inside the body and saw that there was another unexpected obstacle to my planned installation of a High Level LoadHauler+ gearbox - a lump of mazak:

     
    This lump of mazak, which clearly acts as a weight for the plastic body, can only be removed by separating the cab from the footplate, which I had already decided I didn't want to do.
     
    I then wasted some time trying to cut it up on the spot using some burrs in a mini-drill, but that clearly wasn't going to be effective and only made a load of mess.
     
    So, I reviewed what space I now had available, as any replacement motor and gearbox would have to fit in the (approx) 30mm x 18mm space afforded by the inside of the mazak block. I sketched the available space on a scale drawing:

     
    By overlaying the gearbox planner thoughtfully provided by Chris Gibbon of High Level on top of the scale drawing, I was able to calculate that either a LoadHauler Compact+ or a RoadRunner+ would fit, with the 'drive extender' arranged back underneath the motor, which would have to be a Mashima 1015, with probably insufficient room for the flywheel that I might otherwise have fitted.
     
    A call to the ever-helpful Chris at High Level has resulted in both types of gearbox being ordered and an interesting discussion on how other customers of his might fare, should they try to fit one of his 14XX chassis kits to this body (short answer - you've got to remove the cab from the footplate!).
     
    The next job will be to fettle the Perseverance frames to fit the profile of the Hattons/DJM footplate underside.
  25. Captain Kernow
    One thing I will say about the Roxey 'Planet' kit, is that is relatively easy to build, especially if you are happy to stick with the Tenshodo 'Spud' motor bogie option. Being whitemetal gives it the advantages of having some decent weight about it and also giving the builder the option to glue the main body components together, instead of soldering.
     
    It is arguably a good 'starter kit' for someone wanting an industrial diesel and something with a bit of character. DJH do a 'starter kit' for an 02 0-4-0 diesel, which is pretty straightforward to put together and is also whitemetal, but might look, to some, as having a bit too much 'muscle' for a small industrial system or an impecunious light railway. There are plenty of other options available if you are happy to build an etched kit, and the ranges of Judith Edge Kits and High Level Kits offer much inspiration in that regard.
     
    Anyway, back to the loco. Given that I wasn't using a 'Spud', I needed to build a basic 0-4-0 chassis to accommodate the High Level 'Quad Driver' gearbox and carry the weight of the loco body. A couple of bits of brass were cut to size, axle holes drilled out and some spare Comet frame spacers used:

     
    In this photo, you can see that I've inked in the outline of the High Level gearbox, just to make sure everything fitted OK:

     
    I put some wheels on the chassis and test fitted it to the loco body:

     
    By this time I had just about worked out where the respective gear wheels went in the chassis and had also test fitted the motor to the gearbox:

     
    At this point, and remembering a comment on one of the other threads on the building of this kit, I had to put one of the driving gear wheels on the rear driven axle. The axles are 2mm, and the driving gear wheels are a rather tight force fit, so lining every thing up, including axle washers to reduce slop and some 2mm internal diameter brass tubing to keep the gear wheels in their correct positions within the gearbox and drive extension, was going to be interesting. This is what it looked like with just the rear axle drive in place:

     
    Having established that the motor would drive the rear axle and the adjacent gear wheels nice and smoothly, it was time for a further trial fit of the chassis to the body, this time with the motor attached, to enable the radiator front and top of the bonnet to be glued on, without fouling the Mashima 1020 motor inside:

     

     
    Time now to glue the top of the bonnet on with 5 minute epoxy. My left hand acted as a clamp for around 10 minutes or so:

     
    With the glue having set, I put the body aside for the glue to really harden and went back to the chassis.
     
    I put the remaining driven gearwheel on the leading axle and wired the motor up to test run the whole assembly:

     

     

     
    It ran pretty well, in fact, thanks to the excellent design and engineering of the High Level product.
     
    A bit more work saw the Maygib industrial buffer shanks glued in place. The kit comes with a cast oval buffer, but I felt that some large, round industrial buffers were what I really needed:

     

     
    Next was to get the loco running properly 'under its own power', ie. on some track with the pick ups fitted.
     
    My first attempt at gluing some copper clad sleeper onto the chassis, to mount the pick-ups on, didn't work:

     
    The copper clad sleeper stuck out too far from the sides of the chassis and prevented the body from sitting back on the chassis, so that came off and smaller bits were glued on the side of each frame, and pick ups soldered on:

     
    The pick ups in the photo above were from 0.5mm phosphor bronze wire. This was another 're-learning' point. I had forgotten how relatively unyielding that diameter of wire is, when configured like that, so these were replaced with thinner p/b wire (0.4mm, I think), and that made a big difference.
     
    The loco was then put on the test track for further testing:

     
    I had built the chassis as uncompensated, as I reasoned that by building it square, so that all wheels were on the track at the same time, the pick ups should work OK off all four wheels. This proved to be rather idealistic, as in practice there are often tiny imperfections that inhibit current collection, so I had to dismantle the chassis more or less completely, and provide some basic compensation, which took the form of slight vertical ovals in the axle holds at one end, together with a bar for the centre of the axle to rest on. The other driven axle remained fixed. The compensated end is the left hand end in this photo:

     
    After that, the loco ran much more smoothly, especially after I had applied a small amount of Carr's Microgrease to the gear wheels (not really necessary with Delrin gears, but there you go), and some lubrication to the axle holes. There were still some minor hesitations, though, so I then installed some additional wiper pick-ups, acting on the edges of the wheel flanges, plus I ran the whole chassis on a rolling road for a couple of hours. That bedded it all in nicely and I was now happy with the running.

     

     

     
    One more installment to follow.
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