Modbury

[Donw]

5 hours ago, Ian Smith said:

The gap is very tight, but I’ve checked my widest/most over hanging locos and stock and all is good. Luckily as Don mentioned I have no intention of building any Dreadnought coaches (or even Concertina ones for that matter). The only bogie coach I have in a running condition is only a forty footer so not much longer than my 4 or 6 wheelers.

 

If you want a short bogie coach a D15 is pretty good.

[Ian Smith]

A little more progress on the 517...

 

The Bunker has been has been formed from a strip of 0.008" nickel silver, cut over-long, bent as I did with the tanks, and then the sides cut and filed back to length before finally filing the distinctive "chair back" profile.  A strip of 1mm thick brass has also been cut and filed to provide a cab floor, the bunker fits around the back of this floor, which has also been drilled and tapped 14BA to provide the fixing for the chassis/body bolt (this is the way I have built all of my tank engines - I find it a useful dodge to have the bunker as a separate component as it makes painting / lining easier and allows me access into the cab for when I decide to fir a back-head).

 

The Bunker and cab floor.

 

The Bunker and cab floor in place (albeit as a dry run - nothing has been soldered together yet).

 

I've also made a bit of a start on the Boiler assembly.  The main boiler is a piece of brass tube that I turned down a little, a further piece of the same tube has been cut for the Smokebox, but to get it to fit around the main boiler, a slit has been cut across the bottom, allowing it to opened out as it is forced over the end of the boiler.  The raised Firebox was turned down from a suitable piece of brass bar, and was bored out to the same internal diameter as the main boiler, with a 3mm section of the boring at the boiler end opened out to allow the boiler tube to seat inside.  The 3 elements were then soldered together to form a Firebox/Boiler/Smokebox component.  

 

Todays task has been a little more machining - the Smokebox Saddle was formed by fly-cutting a seating for the base of the smokebox tube in a length of 2mm thick brass bar.  Once done, the saddle was separated, filed to width and a section on the end filed to shape to represent the valve chest cover.  Todays other task was to turn the smokebox front/door - a piece of 0.028" nickel silver was soldered onto the end of an arbour, turned down to size so that it fitted snuggly in a rebate bored into the end of the smokebox, then gravers were employed to turn the distinctive door ring and dished profile of the door.

 

The Smokebox/Boiler/Firebox component after soldering the 3 elements together (the rebate for the smokebox door can clearly be seen in the end of the smokebox).

 

The smokebox saddle and smokebox door.  The gap in the smokebox wrapper can be seen in this photo where the piece of tube was slit to allow it to fit over the boiler tube.

 

The boiler components combined for photographic effect.  Unfortunately, I hadn't realised that the smokebox door had fallen out of place when I took the photo - it does actually fit snuggly in the rebate in the end of the smokebox!

 

Hopefully, I will get the smokebox door furniture fabricated and in place tomorrow, then the parts can be soldered together so that I can attack the lower half of the boiler and firebox with a saw and files to get it to fit in place over the tanks.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Ian

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ian Smith
Reinstated all of the photos

[Ian Smith]

A little more progress on the 517 was made yesterday ...

 

The bottom of the firebox and boiler assembly were attacked with a piercing saw and various files to remove the area above the tanks.  Similarly, the bottom of the boiler and rear of the smokebox (and saddle) were removed to clear the motor shaft and worm.  Once I was happy with the fit of the boiler assembly over the tanks, I decided that since the fly-cutter was set up for the smokebox diameter (from making the saddle) it would make sense to knock up the chimney!  So a happy hour or so was spent whittling away at a length of phosphor bronze bar to produce the chimney.  I still need to open out the top of the chimney and file it down a little, but trying to hold it while doing that hurts the fingers so I will solder it in place and try to do it in situ.

 

A couple of photos with everything just plonked in place for the time being :

 

 

Now that I can see where the smokebox comes, I have taken a fine file to the back of the splashers to thin them down a fair bit because I need to put some springs in the gap between splasher and boiler/smokebox before the the boiler assembly is permanently fixed in place.

 

 

Also to be done before the boiler assembly is fixed in place will be the drilling of holes in the firebox for the washout plugs and also holes for the handrail knobs.

 

I feel that she is starting to look like a 517 now, hopefully eventually she will look a bit like this :

 

Thanks for looking

Ian

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ian Smith
Reinstated all of the photos

[richbrummitt]

How has the fit turned out wrt. the drive on the front driver being visible from the side, especially with having to reduce the diameter of the worm gear with the result that the motor shaft sits  lower than originally intended?

[Caley Jim]

Beautifully neat work as always, Ian.

 

Jim

[Ian Smith]

On 28/04/2021 at 11:22, richbrummitt said:

How has the fit turned out wrt. the drive on the front driver being visible from the side, especially with having to reduce the diameter of the worm gear with the result that the motor shaft sits  lower than originally intended?

Rich,

In short the interior gubbins is completely hidden! I was careful to only remove what I needed to to clear the worm and motor shaft (the Tramfabriek 6x15 motor is completely hidden within the tanks).

 

Underside of the boiler assembly to illustrate the areas removed to a) allow it to sit snuggly on top of the tanks and b) to clear the motor shaft and the worm.  The red staining within the boiler tube is evidence of the heat applied when I silver soldered the boiler barrel into the rebate in the firebox.

 

Side on view that shows that the motor shaft is actually a little higher than the bottom of the boiler, and the worm is hidden behind the splashers.  When I have made and fitted the springs that sit behind the splashers the end "shackles" will probably even hide what can be seen of the cutout below the boiler.

 

Just realised that that low down side on shot also gives away my secret - an outside pick-up spring that plugs into the side of my solid chassis.  The plug is usually a bit of 0.5mm phosphor bronze but on this loco it's a piece of 1mm brass wire (in my haste I'd drilled the holes too big by picking up the wrong sized drill! - I had just drilled 12BA tapping holes).  On this side it only goes in 1mm as this is the 1mm strip side of the chassis.  The spring itself is some fine phosphor bronze wire which wraps around the plug once and is soldered to it.  The spring wire is cut to reach the outer extremities of the flange so that there is no chance of it ever catching on the spokes, obviously it bears on the top of the axle like any normal "Simpson" spring.  Looking at this photo on the computer screen I've also just realised that I've put the coupling rod on upside down on the side - that will be addressed when I next warm up my hot stick.

 

Ian

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ian Smith
Reinstated the photos

[Trewisin]

Hi Ian, glad to see you are still at it .I am trying to catch up on your blog ,since watching your video on U-Tube . A master piece.

The 517 is looking really sweet if thats the term that should be used . I hav'nt heard any news about the Uckfield Exihibition if its on or off at the moment .I suppose we will have to wait until 17 th of May for the latest on covid restrictions, bearing in mind it's about 20 miles from me , I will keep my ear to the ground. If i hear anything this end I will let you know. 

 Keep up the splendid work Ian.  Regards Ray.

[Mikkel]

On 28/04/2021 at 11:21, Ian Smith said:

I feel that she is starting to look like a 517 now, hopefully eventually she will look a bit like this :

 

The model is looking superb Ian.

 

I assume that, afterwards, you'll be doing those 5-6 Siphons in the background? 

[bgman]

4 hours ago, Mikkel said:

I assume that, afterwards, you'll be doing those 5-6 Siphons in the background?

 

It'd be rude not too ! 

[Regularity]

4 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

The model is looking superb Ian.

 

I assume that, afterwards, you'll be doing those 5-6 Siphons in the background? 

Forget them" look at the other detail, particularly on the turntable.

Handles for turning it - none of these "agricultural" levers stick out for someone to walk into, and then there's the inspection pit in the well wall for the table locking mechanism - how often do we see that modelled? Details of baulk road, and there appears to be a wooden cover over the "4 foot" approaching the 'table: access for the locking mechanism again, perchance?

[Compound2632]

8 minutes ago, Regularity said:

the inspection pit in the well wall for the table locking mechanism - how often do we see that modelled? 

Brilliant. Now you've got me looking for them.

 

Here's a Great Northern example. 

[Ian Smith]

5 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

The model is looking superb Ian.

 

I assume that, afterwards, you'll be doing those 5-6 Siphons in the background? 

 

1 hour ago, bgman said:

 

It'd be rude not too ! 

Hmmm, 5 or 6 siphons or another loco? Decisions, decisions 

 

Then again, there’s that train of clerestory bogie stock that I keep promising myself that I ought to get on with!

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

Brilliant. Now you've got me looking for them.

They are one of the most easily modelled, yet most frequently overlooked, features of a turntable well.

[Mikkel]

18 hours ago, Ian Smith said:

 

Hmmm, 5 or 6 siphons or another loco? Decisions, decisions 

 

Then again, there’s that train of clerestory bogie stock that I keep promising myself that I ought to get on with!

 

What would Dean do? Well, actually, he would probably build the loco  So let me re-phrase that: What would the Board want you to do? But then, that's just so dull !

[Ian Smith]

Progress on the 517 ...

 

Firstly, the washout plugs have been added to the firebox.  These are simply bits of 0.4mm copper wire with about 1mm of the end squashed square in a pair of pliers, and the end made good with a fine no. 6 cut file.  

 

0.4mm holes were drilled in the side of the firebox, and the outside face opened out to 0.8mm (leaving a 0.4mm hole in the bottom of the 0.8mm depression).  The end of the wire was poked in and then drawn through from the inside until the squared off section was flush with the outside of the firebox.

 

Cruel enlargements of the finished washout plugs.

 

The plugs are tight in their holes, but have been secured with a bit of superglue - on one side I initially tried to solder them in place but the solder wicked through and filled the holes on the outside!!  Oh how I laughed!!  (I actually did, as I couldn't believe that I'd been so daft as to try, as I knew that it would happen!)  More heat was applied, the plugs pushed out and the holes made good again with the relevant drills allowed common sense to prevail and use glue instead.

 

I've also been busy with the bunker, the bunker back being soldered to the cab floor, a piece of 0.010" cut for the bunker front and similarly soldered in place.  Additionally, a length of 5 amp fuse wire has been soldered along the top extremities of the bunker sides and back to represent the beading.  Holes for the handrail knobs have been drilled in the bunker side sheets too.

 

Todays task has been to address the rear of the bunker, the lamp sockets.  A length of 1mm square brass bar was filed down to be 0.8mm square, this was then placed in the lathe and the end couple of mm turned down to 0.4mm diameter.  The work piece was then transferred to the vice where the excess bar was sawn off, and the embryonic lamp socket filed back to leave me with a 0.8mm cube on a stalk.  The cube was then cross-drilled 0.3mm (for the lamp spigot) :

A set of lamp sockets for the rear of the bunker - I only needed 4 but made a couple of spares in case the carpet monster was filing peckish.

 

Four holes were drilled in the rear bunker sheet for the stalks of the lamp sockets.  Initially, these were drilled 0.4mm but had to be further broached until the stalks fitted snuggly.  A little bit of wire was bent up to hold the sockets a consistent distance (and at the correct orientation) from the bunker sheet while they were soldered in place.  The final task while I was at it was to bend up some tool brackets from narrow strips of 0.004" which were soldered in place on the rear of the bunker.

The lamp sockets and tool brackets in place on the rear of the bunker.  I might give each one a wipe with a fine file to further reduce their size, and the top of the furthest tool bracket could certainly do with a wipe or two just to make it more compatible with its fellow.

 

A final shot with everything just plonked together on the chassis to show the current state of play.

 

Thanks for looking.

Ian

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ian Smith
Reinstated all of the photos

[bécasse]

Very impressive. 

 

I have had success in the past in a similar situation to your washout plugs by pre-tinning the wire and then, when they are in place in the hole, just applying flux and heat without any additional solder. If the tinned wire really is a tight fit in the narrow part of the hole there should be enough solder on it to make a sound joint but insufficient to flood the broader part. If the solder on the tinned wire is insufficient for a sound joint, flood the hole (preferably just at the narrow end) with solder and then redrill it, then with both hole and wire effectively pre-tinned you should get a perfect joint.

[Ian Smith]

The 517 Bunker sub-assembly has now been completed ...

 

The handrails are 0.009" guitar nickel plated string, and for the first time I have used the 2mm Association etched handrail knobs rather than my usual twisted wire stanchions.  I must say that I will use these on all future projects!!

 

I have fretted/filed out a representation of the reversing lever from 0.015" brass which has also been adde to the cab floor, and the strengthening ribs for the bunker back sheet have been added from 0.006" nickel silver.  To allow some form of integrity to be maintained in these (and to save my sanity), I simply filed out a squared off U shape with the gap between the legs of the U being the distance apart of the strengthening ribs.  The bit of material where the legs meet the bottom was thinned with a fine 3-square file to allow the legs to be bent 90 degrees to the base more easily.  It was then a fairly simple operation to manoeuvre the ribs into position as it was soldered in place.  As hopefully can be seen in the photo below the ribs were made and positioned so that I could file the tops of the ribs flush with the top of the bunker once this part was secure.

 

The bunker assembly with the reversing lever in place (I must admit that it looks pretty crude in this blow-up, but looks acceptable in real life).  Hopefully, the method of forming the bunker back sheet ribs can also be seen (obviously a lot of it will be hidden by the coal eventually).

 

The final items added to complete the bunker were the sand boxes and brake standard.  I had made all of these a few days ago, the sandboxes being blocks of brass filed down from a bit of 3mm square brass bar.  The tops were drilled to accept the pegs of some little turned lids.  The brake standard is another simple turning, the handle being added from phosphor bronze wire soldered into a little trough filed across the top of the standard, once secure the wire was bent to form the upright handle and excess cut off.  I elected to superglue these items in place for fear of causing damage while wielding the hot stick about - I had to re-attach the top lamp socket after fitting the strengthening ribs as that had become detached!

 

 

A couple of photos of the completed bunker assembly (well complete apart from a bit of cleaning up with a scraper!!)

 

Thanks for looking.

Ian

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ian Smith
Reinstated all of the photos

[Ian Smith]

517 progress ...

 

Todays little exercise has been turning...

 

A set of buffer housings have been turned from brass bar, they will be soldered onto a piece of 0.004" nickel silver which in turn will be cut and filed around the base of the turnings to represent the back plate of the casting which was bolted to the buffer beams.  At the minute they look rather like the splash-down capsule of the NASA Apollo rockets   

 

A set of buffer housings (or NASA Apollo splash-down capsules).  The wire allows them to be kept together, so that if one is lost they all are!  The wire was also used to stop them from flying off into the ether when they were parted off - the wire was poked into the buffer ram hole while the parting off operation was completed.To give an idea of the size of these, the height of each is about 0.090" (2.25mm).

 

Similarly, I have also turned a new chimney from phosphor bronze, and a dome from more brass bar (I've still got the safety valve cover to make).  The other thing I've done over the last couple of days is to make and fit the springs that lie behind the splashers.  These were fretted and filed from a double thickness of 0.015" brass sheet before being separated.  Once the fiddly job of soldering them in place behind the splashers was accomplished, the bit hidden by the splashers was carefully filed away so that they didn't catch on the wheels.  Annoyingly, one of the ends of the springs came adrift right at the end of this operation, and once found on the floor the even more fiddly job of soldering a pretty minute piece back on ensued!! 

 

The current state of play, showing the new chimney and the dome.  The front driver spring can also be seen behind the splasher.  This photo reminds me of the other thing I've done - fitted the handrails on the front of the tanks.  They jury is currently out on the new chimney - having compared the model to the prototype in an earlier posting I felt that the original was a bit too squat, I think this one might be a tad too tall - I've made it a scale 4'0" tall as scaling from the photo seemed to indicate that was about how tall it was.

 

Earlier today, I also repainted the chassis as that was pretty scarred from handling and stripping and rebuilding a week or two ago.

 

Thanks for looking

Ian

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ian Smith
Reinstated the photos

[Ian Morgan]

10 minutes ago, Ian Smith said:

517 progress ...

 

At the minute they look rather like the splash-down capsule of the NASA Apollo rockets  
 

 

Nit-picking, but actually more like Mercury capsules than Apollo ones.

 

 

[Ian Smith]

12 hours ago, Ian Morgan said:

 

Nit-picking, but actually more like Mercury capsules than Apollo ones.

 

 

Ian,

You’re quite right of course, getting my space programs mixed up 

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Ian,

I’ve enjoyed catching up on your work over the last few pages, I have to say that I am in awe!

It’s just lovely to see such craftsmanship.

Cheers,

John 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Allegheny1600

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, Ian Smith said:

You’re quite right of course, getting my space programs mixed up 

Well, space programmes sometimes get their measurements mixed up, with somewhat worse consequences...

[Caley Jim]

And of course there is now the Orion one, which, having seen a test one close up several years ago, looks very similar to the Apollo one.

 

Jim

[Ian Smith]

Not a lot of time for modelling towards the end of the week, so progress on the 517 has slowed a bit.  However, I did manage to fit the buffer housings to the buffer beams and sort out the chimney.

 

The turned buffer housings were soldered onto a piece of 0.006" nickel silver sheet to represent the back plate of the housing.  The 0.8mm hole in each housing was run through to pierce the sheet before each housing was separated and the back plate squared up and filed down to size.  It was then a simple job to solder each housing in place on the buffer beam, holding it in the correct place with the aid of the shank of the 0.8mm drill running down the housing and into the corresponding hole in the beam.

 

The Smokebox/Boiler/Firebox assembly has also been soldered in place.

 

Rather than make a new chimney, I decided to put a piercing saw through the mark 2 version, to remove a little height.  A bit of filing and a short length of 1.5mm brass rod up the hole in the bottom of the chimney to ensure the two parts were held in registration allowed the top and bottom to be reunited with a flash of solder.  Now happy with the size of the reduced chimney I've soldered it in place on the smokebox.

 

Finally, I've made and fitted the 3 lamp sockets that were bolted to the footplate above the buffer beam.

 

The photo below shows the current state of play :

 

I'm starting to get to a place where I need to make a list of all the sundry items that need to be made and fitted to finish her off, but before I do I will turn up the Safety Valve cover and finish the smokebox door!

 

Thanks for looking

Ian

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ian Smith
Reinstated the photo

[Ian Smith]

517 progress...

 

Yesterday I started adding some weight to the model - principally so that I could move onto the next elements of construction!  The reason being that I wanted to fill the smokebox with lead before I fitted the smokebox door, as without the door on I could ensure that the movement of the worm would not be interfered with by any weight added.

 

A view into the smokebox to show how much room there is above the worm within the smokebox and front part of the boiler.

 

A more top down view showing the amount of room for weight in front of the worm (about 2.5mm between end of worm and back of door).

 

A piece of 2mm thick lead sheet was rolled around a 4mm drill shank and cut to size so that it filled the top part of the boiler/smokebox above the worm and motor shaft in the form of a bit more than a U profile, further pieces of lead were then cut to fill the space between the legs of the U but still clear the worm.  Using a spare bit of boiler tube, I then cast a lead plug to fit in the end of the smokebox.  All of this was fixed in place with superglue.

 

The smokebox door was completed with small strips of 0.006" for the hinges (the ends wrapped around a bit of guitar string for the hinge bar), and soldered in place on the face of the door.  A piece of 0.3mm nickel silver wire was soldered into the hole in the door face before a pair of 2mm Association etched handrail knobs were soldered on to represent the door dart handles.  The wire was cut and filed back to the handles to leave a reasonable representation of the dished smokebox door with the handles.

The completed smokebox door assembly with the etched handrail knob door handles.

 

With the weight secure, the smokebox door was then also secured in place with glue, I actually used Loctite thread retainer rather than superglue as I needed the freedom to allow the door to be rotated to ensure that the hinges were horizontal!

 

The current state of play - it may be noticed that I have also added the small steps on the smokebox sides, and the handrail knobs on the smokebox and boiler and finally fitted the handrails by the cab entrance.

 

Next on the list is to make the combined smokebox front handrail knob-come-lamp socket, then the smokebox/boiler handrail can be bent up and fitted.  Then it's that final list of small bits and pieces that need making and fitting to complete her.

 

Finally, a short video of her "running" using a home-made PP3 battery controller - the controller doesn't quite go down to zero volts, so with her wheels in the air she never actually stops, but hopefully it shows that she runs quite nicely!

Thanks for looking,

Ian

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Ian Smith
Reinstated the photos