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Phil Mortimers 7mm WorkBench - Mercian Vivian Style Garratt


PhilMortimer
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  • 2 weeks later...

Construction of the chassis units is now finished. The final unit had its lubrication pipework fitted the week before Christmas and on the evening of Christmas Eve, the rounded finials were soldered to the vertical hand holds on the front of each chassis unit. This completes the construction of these units. Although they have been detailed beyond that supplied in the original kit, at some point, you have to draw the line and stop, otherwise you can keep adding details for ever.

 

So, here are some pictures of the lubrication pipework on one of the rear bunker units.

 

Over view

 

46480830831_21b01c2b26_o.jpg. by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

 

Detail view

 

32608097468_35cd88bd48_o.jpg. by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

 

And 3/4 view

 

44663718000_20cdbba02e_o.jpg. by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

 

The next steps will be to remove the tanks and bunkers, as well as all the wheels, axles, valve gear and motor / gear drives. The chassis units will then be cleaned, dried, masked (the slidebars and crossheads / piston rods) and painted, before re-assembly, fitting of pickups and testing. This will probably occur in the New Year. The actual lubricators will be glued in after painting

 

In the meantime, work will concentrate on finishing the tanks and bunkers. A couple of concerted days effort should see this done. I just really need to finish up producing acceptable rivet strips to do so.

 

Finally, a picture showing the bunker unit with the completed vertical hand hold. The decorative round top was made from a tiny copper bead 1.5mm diameter that came pre-drilled with a hole drilled in it. These are sold for fishing lines, but fitted onto the tapered brass rod that forms the vertical stanchion. After soldering in situ, a bit of sanding and job done!

 

32608097538_733d5b631e_o.jpg. by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Please note that the tank vent pipe seen in the pictures of the rear bunker is not yet soldered into place and the vertical part that attaches to the bunker rear sheet will be trimmed to the correct length when it is!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Chassis units are now being dismantled, with removal of all axles, wheels and VG, in preparation for cleaning, masking and painting. This will be a slow chore that will probably take up most of the week.

 

My client sent me the following colour picture of Sneyd Colliery #3 in daily use. Sorry, no idea who the photographer is - if anyone knows, I will credit accordingly.

 

39674016163_f726fd2df9_o.jpgWF_Garratt_259 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

This is how my client remembers the loco running past the back of his house when he was a lad.

 

It gives me an idea as to the paint scheme - madder lake on tank, bunker and cab. The boiler unit looks like it is black, but I suspect it is just grime. More importantly, there is obviously a second (possibly locally made) tool box on the front unit. This is not present on William Francis and is not catered for in the kit, so obviously some scratch building will be necessary.

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I've found a slightly different version of exactly the same photo, and it hints that the boiler is the same coulour as the rest - which of course is entirely logical and in keeping with normal practise - I'll post a section of it when Flickr is up and running!

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Great photograph, especially being in colour.

 

There are some useful  black and white shots of Baddesley Colliery's 'William Francis' from 1966, in the December 2018 edition of 'Railway Bylines'.  Includes detail views of the 'Sterling' steam reversing gear and surrounding machinery, as well as of the valve gear on one of the units, the handbrake operating shaft and the ash pan area, plus a view into the cab from each side, showing glimpses of the backhead area.

 

 

 

Steve

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looks like a clip from the same picture!  Compare dome and chmney with roof behind.

 

Which I suspect proves that whilst there is no subjective "correct colour" because everyone's perceptions vary, there's possibly no digital correct colour either!

 

I do agree though that there are hints of colour under the filth on the boiler!

 

atb

Simon

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Thanks Both.

 

It is interesting how the same picture shows things differently. I think the one I have is much darker than the one Giles posted. I agree with the conclusion that the loco is in overall red / Lake or similar color, but the boiler is filthy. I understand that the loco was worked hard up an incline, so expect it to have grown dirty., But I'm surprised that the demarcation between boiler and cab is as clear as it is.(although I guess the cab involves vertical surfaces and the boiler is more horizontal, with the latter allowing a greater probability of filth and particulates to accumulate on it). One thing to note is that the rear bunker appears to be of a similar shade to the boiler, and is darker than the front tank. This again suggests that the loco was painted overall red and different components weathered differently. The alternative is that the loco was painted harlequin style!

 

One other interesting thing is that it appears that the cylinder fronts appear to be the same colour as the cladding and the rest of the loco, I would have expected them to be black.

 

I'm not yet at the stage of painting this loco, as i have to find a good match for the correct shade of paint, but all of this is fascinating and useful none the less.

 

Steve, I will have to see if I can track down a copy of dec '18 Railway bylines. Not so easy being over here, but sounds useful.

 

Cheers all,

 

P

 

Thanks for all the help guys.

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Got the chassis unit frames into primer last night. Awaiting topcoating in black tonight.

 

However, a question for those who know. Does anyone know the colour of the buffer beams on the Baddesley colliery garratt? I can't find many colour photo's of it, but from everyone I've seen (admittedly taken after withdrawal), they appear to be black. However, all models I've seen of it have them red! (Never build a model of a model). Does anyone know the real colour? I know that Sneyd No 3 DID have red buffer beams.

 

Many Thanks,

 

P

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OK, I think I've answered my own question.

 

Looking at the Ivo Peters Film of the loco in action at the end of its working life, the buffer beams do appear to be a very dark red. However, they may also have an accumulation of grime.

 

Hope to get the chassis sprayed black tonight. Will probably use a flat black, as these loco's got quite dirty and I find flat give a better relief on the details. The alternative is to use flat black for the foot plate and satin for the frames.

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Ho hum...

 

Never mind, they’re fated these locos...

 

Mine is still in a selection of boxes. The efforts to design & mill chassis have not been hugely successful so far, but I’m not giving up, just “doing something else”...

 

Fingers crossed, paint’ll be ok next time!

Good luck!

Simon

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I hate painting! I hate painting models! I hate painting the house! I hate painting the fence! I hate painting the garden furniture. I just can never get it to go quite right on the first attempt, and about 50% of the time things get stripped and redone. Not for lack of correct preparation either. Painting is just one of those things where I find its really easy for it to go pear shaped. Much prefer building things than painting them. I really should send models to be done proffesionally, but a) I don't have the cash, b), it is a long way to send them.back to the UK for painting and c), painting these units needs to be done as part of the build and the times involved can get quite long. 

 

Right, now I've gotten that off my chest, back to work!

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  • 1 month later...

Finally got the red on the buffer beams last night, but not happy with it. had to use Humbrol acrylic and it didn't spray well. Lots of touching up, rubbing down and cleaning up to do. Removed most of the over spray with a cocktail stick last night, but need to flatten the beams down. However, will let things harden up a bit before starting that. Need to find a better source of bufferbeam red.

 

P

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  • 3 weeks later...

WooHoo! I have finally finished painting the chassis units.

 

Couple of pictures. First, showing work in progress.

 

32402355627_1d021eb4a2_o.jpgWF_Garratt_260 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

 

Finally, the completed units.

 

47291659632_f847fa393d_o.jpgWF_Garratt_261 by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

Things I have learnt from this - I still hate painting. I'm not really happy with Humbrol acrylics, especially when spraying. I now prefer ModelMaster acrylics. And red is not an easy colour to spray evenly. I have now however found an equivalent red paint for for bufferbeams - ModelMaster Caboose red.

 

Now, to put the chassis's back together and make them work again......

Edited by PhilMortimer
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  • 3 weeks later...

Slowly working on these. Putting the power units back together and checking the valve gear still works. 3 units done, 4th to be completed tonight (hopefully). The wheels were cleaned off, reblackened and then oiled again. They had been done in the past, but the rust still got to them in this humid climate. I used some much thicker oil this time to hopefully prevent further rusting. Buffers still to be done.

 

The etched rivet strips have arrived from wizard, so it will be back to soldering again - good!

 

I must say that these loco's are starting to get tedious now!

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  • 1 month later...

Been a bit quiet on this topic recently. But I have been plugging on fitting the internal strapping and details to the bunkers, as seen below.

 

32857453407_b74b40f61b_o.jpgUntitled by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

46884581775_01ca2fa56f_o.jpgUntitled by Phil Mortimer, on Flickr

 

OK, the bunkers need a bit of cleaning, but you can should be able to see the internal strapping added, especially around the sand boxes and the joints between the bottom and side sheets. Took a while to do and some of it is a bit of a guesstimate. Basically I did the same as Phil Parker did with his loco's, but in metal, using etched brass 4 mm scale wagon strapping from Wizard models (Thanks Andrew), instead of embossed plasticard as Phil did. 

 

http://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2009/08/now-youve-made-them-its-time-to-use.html

 

3872301376_13d8886c9c_o.jpgTank top with rivets by Phil Parker, on Flickr

(Picture copyright Phil Parker)

 

The right angle strapping was made from 2 pieces of wagon strapping on my locos, butted up against each other. This all took a while to add. And much of it will probably not be seen once coal is added to the bunker....... But I know its there.

 

The cast whitemetal sandbox fillers are fitted using 2 part epoxy. Too risky to try and solder them. To date, these are the only pieces glued on these locos!

 

Started manufacturing the lifting brackets last night. However, I made a mistake on the dimensions and so will have to start again. I tried scaling off the diagram I have, but they looked wrong (too large) compared to the picture in the bunker from Phil Parker.

 

3856809604_5b8645a172_o.jpgInside Garratt Bunker by Phil Parker, on Flickr

 

(Picture copyright Phil Parker)

 

The diagram I have is for the 1st Vivian garratt, so there are detail differences between that loco and the ones I'm building. Anyhow, need to check the dimensions again and start over.......

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A rainy day yesterday meant that I was able to work on making up the lifting brackets. Based on the experience from the first attempt, this has gone a lot better and they are almost finished. I hope to get them done tonight.

 

Unfortunately, one of my furry quality control supervisors passed away on Friday morning. Frances was almost 20 and could usually be found asleep at my feet when I was at the workbench working on some models. It feels rather odd that she's not there these days. The others are not quite a s diligent and we will miss her.

 

 

Francis_1.jpg

Francis_2.jpg

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