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CF MRC
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It will be No 1, but not as we know it, Jim...

Thank you for all the kind comments, I have enjoyed posting the “how-to” stuff in this thread. Actually, the engine still needed glazing, which was done yesterday at Ally Pally and last night at home. The front windows took three hours to do, they were swines (equivalent to a difficult root treatment in an upper second molar). I made about three times the number of windows required and they are a tight fit, held in place with a bead of varnish. ru9wk6.jpg

I wasn’t happy with the final finish in some areas and so they were rubbed down with a pledget of Duraglit wadding, followed by polishing with a paper towel, especially the smoke box front and tender sides. 2cde35i.jpg

The deliberately reflective photo shows the improved finish; indeed the camera now has difficulty focusing on the black. Judicious weathering will follow.

Tim

a P1?
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It will be the smallest GN engine ever built.

28cljb4.jpg

 

Don’t have many decent original photos yet, but I do have works drawings for the engine. I’m afraid that the valve gear will not be reversible. Paul Craig is currently drawing up artwork for the carriage body.

 

Tim

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I wasn’t happy with the final finish in some areas and so they were rubbed down with a pledget of Duraglit wadding, followed by polishing with a paper towel, especially the smoke box front and tender sides.

 

I must admit that, when I first saw the original photos of the paint job in progress I did think that it seemed "bitty" in some areas; no doubt the huge magnification of the photos on RMWeb don't help.  However, and after seeing it in real life at A.P. on Saturday I can only say that the finished article is excellent - I'd be really pleased if I turned out a similar finish. The lining in particular is just nuts, in the nicest possible way of course :)

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Motor in the carriage? That boiler would struggle to fit a motor and gear box in 4mm let alone 2mm.

Probably a 6mm diameter Maxon with a 1:4 gearbox driving through to the back axle with a carden shaft. Interestingly, I have some wheel blanks that Denys Brownlee made that will serve well for the engine. The sole bars, water and other tanks will mask the motor, although it will slightly intrude in the central gangway of the carriage. Will be perfect for CF; they were shedded at KX.

 

Tim

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Probably a 6mm diameter Maxon with a 1:4 gearbox driving through to the back axle with a carden shaft. Interestingly, I have some wheel blanks that Denys Brownlee made that will serve well for the engine. The sole bars, water and other tanks will mask the motor, although it will slightly intrude in the central gangway of the carriage. Will be perfect for CF; they were shedded at KX.

Tim

Interesting one was sold to the North Somerset Light Railway but for some reason only made very occasional forays out on to the line and was particularly camera shy!

 

MM is staggering Tim. Do you want to pick up the Groves next time you're passing through? :-))

 

Jerry

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Back to metal, Gareth. The cab lining is where most improvement has been made and the numbers have been shifted forwards to clear the vertical handrail. There was a casting defect at the front that had become apparent and I wasn’t happy with the black. The boiler band lining was also inconsistent.

 

Tim

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Apart from fitting loco lamps, final coaling and a fireman, Mons Meg is now complete. The repaint has been worth it, I think, and she is now weathered as if she is newly in use, but still very clean.

 

wludzb.jpg

 

dpvk7a.jpg

 

wmiikz.jpg

 

2hx0mqs.jpg

 

Should look the business storming up Holloway Bank with 16 on.

Tim

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Apart from fitting loco lamps, final coaling and a fireman, Mons Meg is now complete. The repaint has been worth it, I think, and she is now weathered as if she is newly in use, but still very clean.

 

wludzb.jpg

 

dpvk7a.jpg

 

wmiikz.jpg

 

2hx0mqs.jpg

 

Should look the business storming up Holloway Bank with 16 on.

Tim

 

Brilliant - of course !  What was the recipe for the weathering ? It makes a huge difference.

 

Matthew

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After the last lining was complete the engine was sprayed with a very dilute cellulose lacquer, with lots of air to give a satin finish. However, this final coat of lacquer also had some black in it to give an oily sheen and tone down the lining. After this the engine was weathered with ‘Lifecolour’ acrylic weathering paints e.g. weathered black, frame dirt. These were brushed or sprayed and then washed off and rubbed off where the engine would be cleaned. After these were dry the engine was given another very light coat of clear cellulose lacquer, which brought back the shine, especially on the black streamlined front. The secret is probably to make it look as if the engine has been cleaned but the patina is within the paint surface.

 

I think many modellers make engines too matt all over when applying weathering techniques: I have had plenty of practice at trying to keep a real oily, sooty steam engine clean!

 

Tim

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The finishing touches for an express passenger engine must be the fitting of lamps. Alan Butler makes some beautiful little examples in the ModelU range. However, these are plastic and I’m not sure the little handles would stand the hurly burly of an exhibition layout.

 

2uhwnba.jpg

 

However, they are easy to use as patterns for casting. After a little bit of experimentation at work (Guy’s Hospital) we were able to cast them in cobalt chrome alloy; the incredibly hard alloy that hips and dentures are made of.

 

35m408o.jpg

 

The investment needed a lot of heating to ensure that the loop would cast which, in turn, has led to a little bit of surface breakdown (at least it gives the paint something to key onto!). Trimming the lamps was achieved with a diamond bur in a high speed turbine or diamond discs. The back pocket of the lamp casting needed removal, so that the lamp could seat neatly in the bracket.

 

nv1vlc.jpg

 

Tim

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  • 5 months later...

Good afternoon Tim.

 

filthy day , here in East Barnet ;the sort of day to have me wondering . . . what's on your workbench at the mo ???

 

just wondered . . .

 

regards

 

EBA.

Probably a rather large polished trophy - Tim deservedly won the 'Groves Trophy' (best scratchbuilt/kitbuilt locomotive) with 'Mons Meg' at today's 2mm Scale Association AGM.

 

Andy

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Can you tell what it is yet?

2i8jbyh.jpg

 

Well it’s fairly obviously two sets of Association etched rods. The one in the foreground is sold for the modern Farish Jinty conversion, whilst the rather more robust version is also sold for Farish conversions. I think that the one in the foreground is too delicate, being only 10 thou thick across the rods, as it is half etched both sides. Anyway, the thicker ones were used for the Farish Jinty conversion below:

2v8jreq.jpg

 

After one days work, it now needs some couplings and weathering; the chimney has been replaced with a correct shaped casting. Quite ironic that the previous Grafar Jinty had a good chimney and poorly shaped dome. It runs really rather well, although I had to make new plain muffs, as the supplied ones were a touch too loose for my taste. All the running gear was chemically blackened before assembly. All in all, a really good introduction to making finescale locos - who would have thought that thirty years ago we would have such high quality commercial models available?

 

Tim

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- who would have thought that thirty years ago we would have such high quality commercial models available?

I was commenting at the recent AGM what things were like when I joined in 1969. For example, for wagon wheels you got solid moulded discs and 3" lengths of 1mm diameter hard steel rod to make the axles. It was so hard you had to use a stone to create the pin points. There were 5 layouts at the meeting earlier this month. I think we were lucky to have one back then.

 

Jim

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 All the running gear was chemically blackened before assembly. All in all, a really good introduction to making finescale locos.

 

Tim

 

What do you use for chemical blackening and do you have any tips on how to use whatever it is?

 

Regards Roger

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I get my blacking solution from Frosts

https://www.frost.co.uk/frost-metal-blacking-solutions.html

The metal must be completely clean. Dunk the part in the metal black and agitate the solution around it with a brush. Remove from solution once it appears to be going black, rinse it and blot dry the component with a paper towel. If the blacking comes off, then re-immerse it and start again - I sometimes use a fibre glass brush in the solution to really get it to bite. Blacking solutions are toxic, so wear gloves, or don’t touch. Brass & nickel silver will go browny-black, steel will go black. If you aren’t going to paint the item then coating it with light oil will give it a semi matt finish and stop it rusting (a technique used a lot on my traction engine).

 

The chemical blacking acts as a good anti flux when soldering, so bits need to be cleaned up accordingly. Solder does not chemically blacken. Crankpin washers and other soldered bits can then be blacked with a magic marker.

 

Tim

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I thought you were going to say you filed gears from teeth when I first glanced at that!!

 

Jerry

Now there’s a thought. Ivory has similar properties to Tufnol. So we could make muffs from it and I’ve spent the last 30 years developing suitable adhesives for it. Hang on though, wouldn’t look good if 2mm modelling caused the decimation of the world’s elephants, would it?

 

Tim

 

PS (added after Nigel’s comment)

Actually, a correctly sized incisor would even have a pilot hole down the middle and the composite matrix fibres (collagen) optimally aligned for strength.

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