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Rich's de-stress project


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  • RMweb Gold

This is my 3rd kit - way back when I glued together a J50 and a J70. The J50 was a DJH - was quite happy with the build but ruined the paintwork. The J70 was a slight improvement. I may still have them somewhere. This is my first real attempt though and the others were 20+ years ago. The A1 I'm still looking at it in a it's a basic kit eye. Yes I've changed the motion to something more modern. It's not going to have rivets etc in line with its origins. The N7 whilst still an old kit (1980s?) Has a lot more etched detail and again that will be built mostly to its origins. I'm not sure I'll ever go down a super detail/accuracy route. These will definitely be layout locos! I do like Tony's V2 though lol. As you hint at, his builds aren't just layout locos!

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  • RMweb Gold

Well soldering the tender dome wasn't pretty. I tried the coal side first in case I made a mess - easier to hide! Glad I did as I flooded too much solder in. The other side is neater but still a lot of cleaning. Unfortunately I've scratched the nickel silver quite a bit being a bit careless with a scraper. Should have stuck to the rather laborious fibreglass brush...

 

post-31681-0-93129600-1515517151.jpg

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  • RMweb Gold

The downside of trying to buy everything as cheaply as possible - Yeadon's book on N7 bought Wednesday last week, still not got it!

 

Meanwhile been paying my penance with the tender dome and have spent rather a long time removing the excess solder. I reckon another couple of hours...

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  • RMweb Gold

Does anyone happen to have the Yeadons N7 book - if so could you PM me a photo of the page(s) that have number 2600? I've been refunded for the missing book and have bought another so the wait starts again and I'm keen to know where the footrests go :)

 

Thanks

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  • RMweb Gold

Many thanks to Gobbler for assisting with photos - I've started on the N7 bunker footsteps. The lost wax castings are, not great, but they will suffice. I'll put the worst ones at the lower position...

 

post-31681-0-91714700-1516007211.jpg

 

The castings aren't rectangular, nor are my poorly filed holes (complete with a couple of scratches, d'oh!) so will need to find a way to hold the steps horizontally when soldering them in.

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Many thanks to Gobbler for assisting with photos - I've started on the N7 bunker footsteps. The lost wax castings are, not great, but they will suffice. I'll put the worst ones at the lower position...

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20180115_090046.jpg

 

The castings aren't rectangular, nor are my poorly filed holes (complete with a couple of scratches, d'oh!) so will need to find a way to hold the steps horizontally when soldering them in.

 

I've found a simple strip of masking tape tends to hold things well enough for you to tack solder things in place to start with. Not sure if they might be a bit small for tack soldering to be effective though!

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  • RMweb Gold

I've been toying with using two strips of masking tape along the top and bottom flange - then I can see if it's still horizontal just before I flip it over to solder.

 

Yes I think tacking might not be something easily achieved on these.

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  • RMweb Gold

Seemed to work OK. These castings could really be a lot better - but way better than I could make so not complaining too much!

 

post-31681-0-30421000-1516041879.jpg

 

I'm not going to do as many photos for this build as I have been and will continue for the Jamieson - it's a normal kit, there's plenty of normal kit builds on here :) Although not seen any Stelfox builds?

 

Once the other side are soldered on I can start building the body :) That scratch is very irritating :(

Edited by Bucoops
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You could try a fibreglass pencil on the scratch, but I suspect once primed and topcoated,it should virtually disappear. Halfords Etch primer hides a multitude of sins..

 

Just a word of caution on using car primer.  By all means use it, but use it very carefully.

 

If you think about it, car primer is designed to fill blemishes so they can be smoothed out.  Which means that it contains quite a bit of filler to bulk it out.  That may allow you to rub it down and make a scratch disappear.  But it will also clog up any etched detailing, and round off the sharpness of any corners.

 

I don't know Halfords Etch Primer as I don't see the need for it, and wouldn't buy a can just to experiment (my car is fibreglass, so any work which I do on it needs different materials anyway).  So I may be doing it an injustice.  However I would not see it as the best tool for the sort of work which we do as modellers.

 

I do use an etch primer myself, but one of the ones specifically designed for modelling so it goes on in a thin coat.  I alternate between the Comet and the Precision ones, depending on what I have to hand.  They don't have an infinite life (only a couple of years, in my experience), but they are worth the investment as they are designed to do the job. These are a couple of pictures of my E22 Buckjumper in primer.  The only visible effect is a slight yellowing from the colour of the primer.  The detail still remains sharp.  The coupling rods are being primed as in GER livery they are painted vermilion.

 

post-3210-0-03717000-1516087225_thumb.jpg

 

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I completely agree with your comment about the fibreglass brush though.  I'm sure that patient use of that would make almost all the scratch disappear, and then you are back to just careful finishing with enamels, acrylics or cellulose.

 

HTH

Flymo

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks - you can see from the picture I've had a start with a fibreglass brush :)

 

On regards to paint - I'm trying to think back to when I built a DJH J50 many (many...) years ago and i think I used car primer and possibly even top coat from aerosol. I do recall it being a bit thick. But what killed the paintjob was after putting the transfers on I then sprayed it with a varnish (I'm thinking railmatch) and it started looking like overcooked cheese on toast. I could have cried - I probably did!

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Everyone has their own views on paint, which is as it should be. I was recommended Halfords Etch by Tony Wright as it makes a chemical bond to the brass.Locobuider on YouTube has a video where he uses it on an LRM J3. Of course,there is a danger in over spraying so care is needed.

I suppose you find what suits and stick with it. When I went back to kit building,I followed a couple of threads on soldering. If I took all the advice, I would have 10 irons, and 100 different solders and fluxes.

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Everyone has their own views on paint, which is as it should be. I was recommended Halfords Etch by Tony Wright as it makes a chemical bond to the brass.Locobuider on YouTube has a video where he uses it on an LRM J3. Of course,there is a danger in over spraying so care is needed.

I suppose you find what suits and stick with it. When I went back to kit building,I followed a couple of threads on soldering. If I took all the advice, I would have 10 irons, and 100 different solders and fluxes.

 

If Tony Wright has tested this etch primer, and it does the job for him, then I would bet money that it is not one of the filler/primers which would be problematic.  I may giveit a try when my existing stocks of self-etch primer run out.  It would certainly be easier to obtain by popping down to the local Halfords.

 

You're right about the multitude of advice available.  The best advice is to find what works for you, and stick to it ;-)

 

Cheers

Flymo

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  • RMweb Gold

I'm a ways off painting anything yet but will be thinking hard about what to use when the time comes!

 

Mental note: When doing a seam on a bit, don't just run the iron along in one go, let the first part go solid first. Tacked the bunker back on, spot on position, then when I ran the seam it promptly fell off and I've ended up with a huge mess to clean up putting it back on. Ugh!

 

For the curved top of the bunker back I tried to fill the gap flush with solder but it just kept wicking away so will try some lower temperature stuff later on, failing that, milliput time...

 

post-31681-0-45289900-1516271222.jpg

 

post-31681-0-01664100-1516271222.jpg

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  • RMweb Gold

Annoyingly the sides are too long at the bunker end (although better than too short!) - the need to line up with the footstep point for the cab door and also the tank front alignment is fiddly as it tries to line up over thin air where the footplate has its cut out.

 

post-31681-0-63220400-1516271598.jpg

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  • RMweb Gold

I've also been looking at motorising the N7. I want to try and squeeze a Mashima 1420 in. With a 54:1 ratio would give a scale top speed of about 50mph. Not really sure what speed an N7 could do but going by this noone seemed to argue with gearing for about this speed (the arguement was the calculation was wrong) - https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2858

 

Squeezing a 1420 in may be interesting but because these locos had to pull 10 coach trains I figure a bit of power would be useful! Fortunately with the whopping great side tanks it might be possible.

Edited by Bucoops
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If you can't get the 1420 to fit, I suggest you drop down to a 1020 rather than 1220. The smaller motor is actually more powerful because of the type of magnet used. Info courtesy of Bill Bedford. I use it on all small locos, and it pulls my 8 coach stock without difficulty. And being small, it fits just about anything. I used it on my N5 build.

John

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  • RMweb Gold

Just out of interest, how did you solve the side at the bunker end being too long? It looked like it was overhanging by quite a long way!

 

 

At the minute I haven't - The overhanging side in the photo is the side I've not fitted yet. Seems the other side is a better fit. So I was a bit premature when I said it wasn't as bad as I thought...

 

I need to "find" about 0.5mm adjustment somewhere.

 

If you can't get the 1420 to fit, I suggest you drop down to a 1020 rather than 1220. The smaller motor is actually more powerful because of the type of magnet used. Info courtesy of Bill Bedford. I use it on all small locos, and it pulls my 8 coach stock without difficulty. And being small, it fits just about anything. I used it on my N5 build.

John

 

 

Interesting info, thank you - that might explain why the 1020 is so hard to find compared to other sizes!

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I've also been looking at motorising the N7. I want to try and squeeze a Mashima 1420 in. With a 54:1 ratio would give a scale top speed of about 50mph. Not really sure what speed an N7 could do but going by this noone seemed to argue with gearing for about this speed (the arguement was the calculation was wrong) - https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2858

 

Squeezing a 1420 in may be interesting but because these locos had to pull 10 coach trains I figure a bit of power would be useful! Fortunately with the whopping great side tanks it might be possible.

 

Richie

 

You have loads of room in the N7 for a decent size motor. You could use a Loadhauler, I prefer the Loadhauler + as its articulated, if its too wide use a Slimliner. This range of gearboxes are superb  

http://173.254.28.51/~highlev3/chris/Pages/gearboxplanningpage.html

 

As for weight, a thin sheet of lead in each tank will solve all problems 

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  • RMweb Gold

Loadhauler won't fit between the frames unfotunately. HIghflier and Roadrunner will. Slimliner of course would as well. I need to make sure there's room for a DCC decoder as well. Maybe one day a speaker.

 

What kind of weight should I be looking for? As you say, plenty of room in the tanks for some weight. 

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The lead sheet builders use, may need a bit of flattening with a hammer to thin it down a bit, but well worth doing. Bags of room for a decent sized motor, London Road Models have a decent supply of Mashimas as does High Level

Edited by hayfield
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  • RMweb Gold

High level have run out of 1020s - I tried to get one for the J15 kit.Or rather he thinks he has enough for fulfiling existing orders. It may after a count-up prove otherwise. But that's where I got the 1420 from.

 

I grabbed a couple of them off ebay when they had the 20% off coupon recently. Although they then got sent to the wrong address so took a while to actually make it!

 

There's a couple of churches nearby I could get some lead from there (joke ;)) - what I meant was how many grams total? :)

Edited by Bucoops
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