Scale7JB

Yes, ideally the motion bracket wanted to be located without the wheels in place to find the locating holes.. JB.

I seem to recall now looking at your pictures that a bit more of the motion barackets need filing away before the footplate sits at the right level. Just something to keep an eye on when you get to that point. JB.

If anyone goes down this road again, would it be worth using 4mm chairs from one of the build your own track manufacturers?

I'm going to come clean, and I show this with the massive caveat that this is still the faulty etch with a through etch rather than rear etch, so I got the curves as close as I could without having something to truly form against, hence the wonky footplate in the shot of the cab. The foot plate is too long by around 3.5mm which puts everything out of kilter, though I have found the error easy to fix). Also the shelf that the smokebox sits on is too low. Took me a while to find out why, but looks like the frames aren't deep enough around that area, and that has passed through into affecting one or two other areas (this may take a little longer as I need to keep an eye out for a knock-on effect). JB.

Not sure I ever showed the ashpan assembly.. JB.

One of my pet hates with buffer beams is sometimes having to guess where they need to be in relation to valances, especially when they don't reach all the way to the edges of the footplate like those on the D16. Tack them down, check, add heat to remove because they're not quite centre, solder spreads, even more to clean up before you can reattach and try again. These are self locating! JB.

Well, plenty going on with the loco... This is still a speed build rather than a beauty pageant. Shown in the pictures is the ashpan, smokebox, boiler barrel and firebox wrapper. Also I have put together one of the lead driving wheel splashers. JB.

Thanks Ade!! JB.

Superb!! should be extremely happy with that! JB.

Thankyou..! It's only years of building lots of kits and working out how I would design things better though. JB.

Well, the bogie went together better than I could have expected, absolute joy to build. There is a lot of detail missing from this spurring from the rear etch problem on this sheet, but needs to be built to check other clearances. JB.

The bit I've been waiting for.. JB.

Very interesting Michael, in theory so long as one is using layers, it shouldn't matter what colours you use, as the etchers concert it all to black and white in the final process. JB.

One of the trickier parts of designing this kit was the depth of the frames just in front of the lead driving wheels. It's very shallow, and so to split the frames in line with the footplate would have made them quite weak. A massively over-designed solution was required. JB.

Thoughts and opinions please. Proof of concept on this one. Which do you prefer, baring in mind the time taken too. Also, I haven't put the extra laminate on the bosses of the laminated versions, if that makes sense. Standard method of laminated rods - took about 3 minutes. New method involving 13 pieces - about an hour including cleaning up and making pretty. I could have done a better job on the fluting on the ends of the rods. I have put both types of rods on the sheet, though in a perfect world I would scrap one set in favour of a bit more space for something else on the etch (not sure what yet). Or keep both sets so the laminated rods could be used for the less experienced builder? JB.

Main frame overlays on, tabs cleaned up and axleboxes and wheels installed. All nice and square. JB.

Well the long and short of it is that etchers have done me a good deal. Given me the scrap etch gratis, as I thought they would and have said they can either send me a new correct sheet, or will do me a deal for the artwork they will need to do on any modifications that need doing at my end, so I have started a mk 0.5 scrap etch test build of the chassis. I can't go too far with it as a lot of the parts are scrap, including annoyingly the full length footplate which is where any doubt currently lies. However, if things keep fitting together like this, I'll be a very happy chappy... Fingers, toes and any other appendages crossed! Particularly happy with the drag box and motion bracket. Doesn't look much like a 4-4-0 at the moment but will come together in time. JB.

I do have an N7 mostly drawn up... I'll try and find the artwork... Are you modelling stratford ? JB.

Close... but not quite.. There isn't a kit for this one as far as I know, however there is already a particular nice kit for the coffee pot. JB.

No problems Richard, As an aside, i just realised i had these from a few years back... Sadly all of the old RMWeb stuff has been deleted. A great deal of valuable content lost from a lot of people. oh well onwards and upwards. JB.

Can you tell what it is yet ? A loco I'm looking into for no.2, but desperately in need of better drawings. JB.

Richard, I don't believe you want to take the valance and footplate off of the jig until after the boiler and smokebox have been attached. This keeps it all straight flat and square until the boiler holds everything in place. Is there any way you can reattach to the jig? JB.

That's great DAT. As mentioned, so far this is for Scale7, but I'll be able to do a F/S add-on sheet once I know it all works.. JB.

Thanks Doilum! Yes it will have a complete set of directions and map if it goes public. JB.

Well the etches have arrived. Unfortunately the etchers have missed some artwork, so will need I wait for a new sheet to arrive before I can crack on with a test build. JB.