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Minerva GWR Pannier Tank - open for advanced orders


81A Oldoak
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Just an enquiry, if it would be possible to collect from Telford Guildex?

Yes of course. Please send an email with your request and details of your order to sales@minervamodelrailways.co.uk

 

Regards,

 

Chris

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Hi Chris

Do you know whether there is enough room in the body to convert to scale Severn

John

John,

Do you know Grahame Beare? He has been assessing the convertability with one of the prototypes of the model. From what he reports, the main issue is the thickness of the splashers on the die-cast metal footplate. Milling away some of the metal is apparently not workable so the solution may be  replacement etched splashers. 

Regards,

Chris

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Guest Isambarduk

Milling away some of the metal is apparently not workable so ...

 

Oh, I do like a challenge!   David

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Oh, I do like a challenge!   David

Roughly, the front face of the splashers are 40thou thick with a draw to both sides of the front face.  For S7 at 7' radius (the minimum for a S7 model with 20 thou side play on centre axle) the splasher front needs reducing to about 15 thou  - calculation done by SimonD for a 5700 using data from RCTS/Russell.  I think that the die-casting is in Mazak (a very nice, crisp, casting) and the received wisdom is that there is a better than evens chance of the Mazak ripping whilst machining.  All this requires some method of holding the body / footplate without damage during the machining operation.

 

Overall, my opinion is that to achieve the required clearance between tyres and splashers / footplate one needs to separate the footplate from the tanks / cab / bunker and then mill off the splashers...  replacing the cast items with 12thou etchings.

 

Unless someone has a better suggestion.

 

regards, Graham

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Guest Isambarduk

Sounds a reasonable solution to me, Graham.  However, I would be inclined to have a go at removing the insides of the splashers with a fly-cutter and see how I got on.  If any faces of the splashers are ripped, I would carry on fly cutting and remove the whole face and then replace it with a carefully cut out piece of 10 thou brass (shim stock).  The splashers over the centre wheels would be of most concern (to allow for the 20 thou sideplay), the faces of the other splashers could left thicker as there is negligible endplay in the axles of those wheels, I assume.

 

David

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To add to my earlier post;-

 

1/ the Minerva Pannier tank is a damn fine model and deserves to succeed, go buy one.

 

2/ the S7 Group is very appreciative of the help that Minerva Models has offered to us in regards to our desire to have Minerva Pannier tanks running on S7 layouts.

 

regards, Graham

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I think David's suggestion makes sense. There seems little point in removing the curved top of the splashers, when the issue is the front face, and it would presumably be easier to fit a flat bit of brass into a curved recess than make a whole new splasher.

 

The challenge would be holding it, and being sure that it was all square.

 

My guess is that David knows how to (and has the kit to) do this...

 

Best

Simon

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Guest Isambarduk

I am waiting for that knowledge to be dispensed.

 

Crickey, that's not so easy to do in a posting here!  Perhaps I could just say that, with almost any machining job, twiddling the handles to put on the cut and the feed is the easy (and most enjoyable) bit; the much more challenging and time consuming bit is getting a hold of the job securely and getting it lined up correctly ready for the interesting bit of removing metal.

 

I do not have my pannier yet, so I do not know what might be involved (although I shall not have to pursue this avenue as I am FS man - I have no railway of my own and rely on the offer of running powers from good friends, all of whom (so far) model in FS).  However, I would say that the running plate needs to be supported rigidly on its side and then a fly cutter, set up to the inner radius of a lower splasher, brought in at right angles with rather a shallow cut (say 0.2mm) and a very slow feed (it'll feel right, if you're familiar with the operation). 

 

Although much of my modelling (model engineering, really) is in charted waters, a good deal of it is an adventure and exploration for me (although others may well have been there!).  As an example of my 'sailing into new waters', you may like to look at my reworking of the Ixion Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0PT where I milled off the buffer planks (www.davidlosmith.co.uk/GCR_Humber.htm#BufferPlanks) and milled out the balance weights of the centre wheels (www.davidlosmith.co.uk/GCR_Humber.htm#Wheels); in both cases, the milling didn't take long at all ... once I had the job fasted down to the table in the right place.

 

 

MillingOutBalanceWeight.jpg

'Chopping out' a balance weight

 

I realise that this was probably not the magic answer you were looking for but I am happy to try and answer questions ...

 

David

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Watching David at work on our locomotives is how I think parents must feel when they watch one of their children going in for major surgery and hoping they will emerge better. Fortunately, David is a master surgeon and his results are always impressive.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My Pannier has arrived safe and sound....wonderful stuff!

 

Many, many thanks Chris.

 

Ive sent a quick PM re a technical question. But thought I might Post an abv. version here as it may help others?:-

 

Is it okay to use an ancient H&M Duette to play with the loco on a couple of yards of Peco track for 20 mins or so, or is my newer, 15 yr old (LOL!) GM controller more appropriate? Ive read some horror stories re newer motor types not taking well to H&M and other ancient controllers!? Im no expert on this front, so thought it best to ask.

 

Cracking looking loco, itching to get it out of the box when Im up and about more...

 

ATVB

 

CME

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One of my 8750's arrived today, more on my Tally thread, but a quick picture just for info

 

 

post-14906-0-82786400-1503604491_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

Excellent model, capturing the essence of the Westerns solid little workers perfectly.

Smooth running straight out of the box, a good selection of bits (toolboxes, vac pipes, etc) to add as required.

 

One of the nicest parts of this Pannier (IMO) is the fact that two individuals have shown other (bigger) manufacturers just how to do it!

From announcement to completion within 12 months (Some don't get announcement to catalogue in 12 months!!!!), and an accurate specimen to my eyes as well.

 

Well done Minerva, more power to your elbow!

 

Jinty ;)

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Chris B and Chris K are delighted to announce that Minerva has agreed a special offer with Narrow Planet to supply custom-made etched brass number plates for the forthcoming 7mm scale RTR GWR 57XX/8750 0-6-0 pannier tank locomotives.

British Railways era modellers will be able to buy a set of GWR cabside number plates, a BR smokebox number plate and BR shedcode plate with the number of their choice. The usual prices are £7.50 for unpainted plates and £8.50 for black-painted plates (product code NNP-417). For GWR era modellers the usual prices for a pair of cabside number plates are £4.50 unpainted and £5.00 black painted (product code NNP-409). Minerva customers will be able to claim a discount of 50% against the prices of these sets of plates using a discount code that will be supplied with your order. Please note the discount does not apply to other Narrow Planets products. You can view the products on Narrow Planet’s website: 

 

https://narrowplanet.myshopify.com/collections/number-plate-styles

Hi Chris,

 

Is there a recommended way of fixing the smokebox door number plate to the loco, please?

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Hi Chris,

 

Is there a recommended way of fixing the smokebox door number plate to the loco, please?

The border of the etching from Narrow Planet should contain two half-etched brackets that can be folded into a flat U for mounting the plates. I tend to use superglue to fix a small piece of plasticard between the upper edge of the plate and the smokebox door to ensure that it is vertical.

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My 8750 in GWR green + lettering has just arrived. Looks like another cracking model from Minerva. I've not had chance to test it yet but I'm sure it'll run perfectly.

 

I must also however be the fastest person to damage a model as I've knocked one of the bunker hangers off into the unknowns of my desk. I'm going to say it's 'heavy weathering'. (Or if I can get a spare that'd be great...)

 

Congrats again to all at Minerva and I look forward to future announcements.

 

Martin

Edited by maq1988
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