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Another Beyer Garratt 0-4-4-0


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Sorted the ashpan, again, I think it will now do.  
 

I also soldered some N/S to the inside of the cabsides over the doorways to stiffen them, and prevent damage, and curved some more N/S strip and soldered this to the underside of the cab roof.  The roof now sits nicely in position, I’m not sure whether a clip of some sort will be needed, more pondering required.

 

No photos tonight, nothing much to see!

 

atb

Simon

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Hi Simon,

 

I did the same re cab side reinforcements. In fact,  I soldered some on all 4 sides of the cab, both to reinforce the sides and also to have somewhere to glue the cab roof to.

 

I've been quietly working away on my loco's and am at the stage where I'm about to give both boiler units a good scrub with BKF, sonicate them and let them dry, ready for priming. It has been a long time coming......

 

Love the frames - nice and square and strong. Totally unlike mine........

 

Pix to follow shortly.

 

P

Edited by PhilMortimer
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Well, three forwards and two back...  not really much to report, though the rear bogie pivot is now fixed properly, and the temporary decoder and wiring has been removed.  The ashpan has been removed and refitted AGAIN, and hopefully, for the last time.  It’s now soldered to the main chassis frames, and the cab-firebox-boiler-smokebox assembly is now fixed to the chassis with a couple of 10BA screws.

 

Reflection is a wonderful thing, it suggests points where foresight would have been an advantage, as I’m now thinking of how to build up the engines.  I think the motion brackets will have to be permanently fixed to the frames, as will the cylinders.  The latter can be tacked with a drop of soft solder, but the brackets will have to be cut away, so will be better hard soldered.  That means a full disassembly of the trucks, so I want to do some other soldering at the same time, and then they can be cleaned, and painted.  I have holes for the brake hangers, I’ll need to fit guard irons, the cylinder front covers, steps, and fixations for the bunker and water tank.

 

I also need to sort out some boiler furniture, the chimney & dome aren’t bad, and the clacks are cast brass.  I’ll silver solder some copper wire to them, for the feeds.  The safety valves are not bad, but not great either.  Turned brass beckons..  and the large cylindrical things on the corners of the firebox.  They look too big to be washouts or mud holes.  Whatever they are, brass versions will replace the whitemetal.

 

I need to put handrails and edging strips on the cab entrances, and on the bunker.  Then boiler handrails, and the smokebox door, which looks like it only just covers the bizarrely large etched hole in the front of the smokebox.  Might have to make a large washer to fit the hole, with a locating hole for the cast door (which is a nice w/m casting).

 

anyway, enough blather, here’s a couple of Pix...

 

image.jpg.ccd1dfd9cf5bac19021de1a2e5d50a2f.jpg

 

image.jpg.bcd4f7f2232bc9897c417d36115dcab3.jpg

 

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Atb

Simon

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Hi Simon,

 

Good to see progress on this. I've finally just gotten mine into primer, ready for painting and hopefully the final stetch!

 

With regard to the large round disc like objects on the firebox shoulders (I don't know what they are either!) - note that not all loco's had them. William Francis does, but the Sneyd colliery garratt and the Vivian garrat loco's did not. ot sure about the remaining one.

 

I made replacements for the WM components supplied in the kit for my loco out of brass rod. They look a lot better. the work is decribed here if you haven't already seen it. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/111301-phil-mortimers-7mm-workbench-mercian-vivian-style-garratt/&do=findComment&comment=4109885  In case you are building a loco that does NOT have these fittings, it also describes how I went about plugging the locating holes for these items on the loco that I am building, which does not have them fitted. I'm pleased to say that having now sprayed the loco in primer, these plugs are now invisible!

 

Hope it helps.

 

Cheers,

 

PM

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Ashpan adjusted, rather less of jaunty angle!  Steps also fitted, with reinforcement at the rear.  

 

Hopefully I’ve left enough space, but will have to shorten the screws I put in for the crankpin bearings before I get the motors running again.

 

I’d like to get the upper works more or less done before starting on the details for the engines themselves.  The list will probably grow but hopefully this is most of it - rather more than my previous attempt!

 

Horizontal boiler handrails,

Beading round cab doorway & vertical handrails 

handrails on bunker & tank

safety valves,

clacks & feed,

smokebox door, 

drill out & fit chimney

Fit dome

fit radiused front to upper corners of firebox

backhead & cab details, crew,

sliding vent on cab roof

whistles

reverser

washout plugs & mudholes,

beading on bunker

damper rods

steam pipes

brake linkages

hinge fall plate between front engine & bridge

lubricators & oil pipes,

screws to hold bunker & tanks to engines

paint

windows & window frames after paint.

 

The decoder, keep-alive & speaker will be mounted on a “module” that fits into the firebox from below.  I’ve got all the bits, just need to make it!  Might do that next.
 

the engines themselves need sandboxes & pipes, brakes, slide bars, crossheads, valve gear, drain cocks, cylinder details, and guard irons.  And paint.  Twice. 

 

image.jpg.744fa8492a36b5b714f2e1c25b6e17f4.jpg

Atb

Simon

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Ticking off things in the list...

 

I would like to have a removable, if not opening, smokebox door.  The kit design helps and hinders in equal measure, there is a reasonably good casting, certainly useable, and a hole...

 

image.jpg.ef12f8df854552b1e1ae65c591cceb4d.jpg
 

the hole is 23.5 dia.  The door is 24.1.  This does not offer a lot of overlap, or any sensible way of centering the door in the hole.

 

image.jpg.10b1904f24c6d81ceb20215c59018920.jpg
 

I shall turn up a backing ring, remove the spigot, and fit some kind of locking bar that the dummy dart can screw into.  The moral here is “plan ahead” as it would have been easier to do the locking bar with the smokebox front not soldered to the smokebox.

 

The eagle-eyed will note that the top feeds have been fitted.  I silver-soldered some suitable copper wire to the brass casting, bent it to fit, then soldered the assembly to the boiler, at the clacks and at turn of the pipes behind the frames, just ahead of the firebox.  Soldered the clacks on from within the boiler, and the pipes from below, thus next to no cleaning up to do.

 

more soon

Simon

 

 

 

 

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Found a lovely bit of free-turning ally bar in the bits box, turned down to snug fit in the smokebox, and drilled for the spigot on the door.

 

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Parted it off about 3 mm thick, and glued it to the door.  Minor but annoying cock-up;  epoxy didn’t go off in the expected 5 minutes, so is either 24h stuff, or faulty.  Let’s hope it’ll set by tomorrow evening.  
 

I shortened the crankpins on the trailing axles, but only to the length of the bushes, which are way thicker than the con rods, so the whole shebang will get shortened further when I fit the slide bars, crossheads and rods.  
 

And I re-glued the JST 4-pin socket to its carrier plate, but that’s the same epoxy, so she’s not sitting on her wheels tonight!

 

I might try to do the decoder/KA/speaker module this afternoon, but I’m doing a bit of Cookery and I’m not sure the jobs fit together very well...

 

more soon,

Simon

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Time for a bit of electrikery...

 

Zimo decoder from YouChoos, I spoke to John, who’s super helpful, and told him I was building a Garratt, I think there was a bit of assumption going on, because when the decoder arrived, it’s for a rather larger loco...  which perhaps explains why he was worried about the current consumption!
 

image.jpg.aa3e93df286a26fa6fa01be8c393564f.jpg

 

Here we have the decoder, already fitted with a KA, and a somewhat larger KA cap - not sure how necessary it’ll be given the split axle pick-up, but then again, with two motors, it’ll use a bit more energy for the same distance travelled.  I’m surprised that the decoder was supplied without a shrink-wrap insulator.  I’ll fit one for safety sake.

 

The 644 decoder fits an adaptor plate, which gives two benefits.  It can be fixed in place by the screw holes and the loco wiring is soldered to the plate, which is easier than faffing about with wiring direct to the decoder, and neater than an 8-pin plug waving around in space.  And I can unplug the decoder if required.  The speaker also wires directly to the 21-pin adaptor, shame the KA isn’t.  I believe it can be so I’ll double check that, as it is always better than having wires onto the decoder itself.  The speaker is 2W 8Ohm, and an inch in diameter - I’m going to arrange that it uses the whole boiler as a sound box, and I’m going to hide the big fat cap in there too :)

 

image.jpg.a974abad8942de5d70aae8877060a8e4.jpg

 

I’m going to fit a yellow led to give a good firebox flicker with the firing noise, and a red led to give a dull ashpan glow.  At the moment I have no plans to have working lights, but, well, maybe...  something colonial in front of the chimney and on the back of the cab, perhaps.  Not prototypical, of course, but then the prototypes of this loco never worked in a hypothetical non-existant quarry to the West of Morfa Nefyn, so...


more soon

Simon

 

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Kind-of started on the decoder installation and drifted back to metalwork.  Despite the rain, it wasn’t cold so I headed to the garage and did a bit of milling & turning for the mudholes.  See Phil’s thread for the method, as I basically followed his words and music.  Might have left them a little over long, but they look ok to me.

 

I spent an enjoyable hour or so hinging the fall plate between the bridge and the front engine so it works properly.  Silly, but pleasing.
 

image.jpg.b951fade7611e41348b9c9d3c23825ff.jpg
 

and the To-do List has been amended a bit.

 

Ashpan

Beading round cab doorway 

clacks & feed,

Shorten crankpins on inner axles

Washout Plugs

Turned brass mudholes,

hinge fall plate between front engine & bridge

 

Smokebox door, 

Cab doorway vertical handrails 

 

Handrails on bunker & tank

Horizontal boiler handrails,

Safety valves,

Drill out & fit chimney

Fit dome

Fit radiused front to upper corners of firebox

Backhead & cab details, crew,

Sliding vent on cab roof

Whistles

Reverser & injectors

damper rods

steam pipes

brake linkages

lubricators & oil pipes,

screws to hold bunker & tanks to engines

paint

windows & window frames after paint.

decoder, KA, speaker & firebox lights “module”
sandboxes, sandpipes

guard irons

brake shoes, hangers and cross beams 

cylinder covers

slidebars, crossheads and connecting rods

valve gear

 

might do a bit more over the weekend, as the weather is not exactly inviting for motorcycling or gardening!

 

atb

Simon

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Nice!

 

I made the fall plate hinged as well. Doesen't restrict movement between the main frame and the front power unit. I'm sure i described it somewhere, but can't be bothered to go back and look. basically followed Gile's ideas I think and it is just two pins projecting down from the fall plate.

 

All I've done this week is sit in boring meetings and not had the mojo to tackle much on the locos - basically rub down primmer and touch up various spots in readiness for spraying the main colors.

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Thanks Phil, 

 

the fall plate is “properly” hinged:  having scrawked the underside until it was nearly through, I soldered a tube across the bottom, and then fret-sawed through the tube and the etch to form the hinges.  I then flexed it to break the scrawk, filed the edges clean and then fed a bit of 0.4mm wire through, and bent the end over & soldered it underneath.   It clips onto a bracket soldered to the footplate of the front tank.  
 

It was all totally unnecessary, but very satisfying.  

 

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Don’t fret about the mojo, it’ll come home when it‘s good and ready!
 

keep well!

Simon

 

 

 

 

 

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I thought it was worth while because one day, I might have to do cab doors, so it was a tick in the “can I do xxxx?” column :)

 

given the weather forecast, we might see a bit more progress over the weekend.

 

the milling cutters as recommended by Giles have arrived too.

 

garden steps this morning however before storm whotsisname makes landfall in Hythe bay.

 

cheers

Simon

Edited by Simond
Autocorrect corrected wrongly. It does that.
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Captain Cockup came to call...  I bought 40mm CSK machine screws for the garden steps, and I needed 50mm..  Various imprecations were uttered, but to no avail.  Anyway all the wood is cut, and sitting in place.  And there it will stay til next weekend!  OTOH, it did mean that the staging in the greenhouse has been pretty much completed.  We are waiting for the contractor to do about 15 more paving slabs, and we’ll call the garden refurb a wrap.  Just in time for the winter!

 

Anyway storm Aiden has arrived, so the rugby and a little modelling seem the order of the day, well, probably the whole weekend, since we are promises 35 knots and rain all day tomorrow too.

 

It’s an ill wind...

 

more later

Simon

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This is coming together very nicely Simon! I've been quietly following this for a while now and can't wait to see it finished. Very much admire the way you've battled your way through all the issues with the kit. Looking forwards to the valve gear :rolleyes:

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2 hours ago, jdb82 said:

This is coming together very nicely Simon! I've been quietly following this for a while now and can't wait to see it finished. Very much admire the way you've battled your way through all the issues with the kit. Looking forwards to the valve gear :rolleyes:


Well, that makes one of us then!


:)


thanks for the kind comments. Always appreciated.

 

no progress tonight.  MrsD & I went to the pub for dinner with a couple of close friends.  Hope the pub’s still there at the end of all this.

 

keep well!

Simon

 

Edited by Simond
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  • 2 weeks later...

It’s turning into a frustrating day, latest in a series of (admittedly, minor, first world) issues.

 

image.jpg.4de811b134fe025da705fca779ac6a01.jpg
 

sorted...


image.jpg.fdb27c4cc41a366f6db34ae174e101a2.jpg

 

Result - the bore of the chimney is now circular and just over 5 mm deep.  This is rather better than the indeterminate depression that was there.  I could, potentially, keep going, and drill right through, but the risk of wrecking the skirt puts me off, as I don’t have a spare, nor any enthusiasm for scratch-making one..  

 

EDIT - just for clarity, the axis of the chuck holding the spigot on the bottom of the chimney is eccentric to the axis of the milling cutter (adjust by using the table leadscrews), and setting a very small cut, I turned the chuck by hand to mill the recess.

 

It’ll be the same black inside as Disaster Area’s spaceship anyway, so I’ll call it a wrap.

 

image.jpg.b10c5407540fe29c43ae327892cfa937.jpg
 

next, whistle & safety valves.

 

later...

Simon

 

Edited by Simond
Clarity
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