Kerr Stuart ‘Victory’ Class – A 7mm RTR Makeover

[Guest Isambarduk]

I have collated this write-up on my website at: www.davidlosmith.co.uk/KerrStuartVictoryNo41.htm

 

I have started working on another of my ready-to-run kits (as my wife once so aptly described them).
 

A perfectly good RTR Victory class loco​

 

As many of you may know, I seem unable to buy a RTR loco and just run it so I have reduced a Kerr Stuart 'Victory' by Minerva to a kit of parts to rebuild it as the one of the class that worked on the Lambton Hetton & Joicey Colliery Railway and that had its cab 'rounded off' to enable it to work down the narrow bored tunnel to Lambton Drops (coal staiths) at the Port of Sunderland. No. 41 no longer exists but the cab of No. 29, an 0-6-2T built by Kitson and Company of Leeds in 1904, was similarly profiled and it is preserved on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
 

No. 29 on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway​

 

As one of the last two of the Victory class to be built, No. 41 did not have the thick wooden buffer planks in front of the steel ones like the others in the class and as modelled by Minerva. It seemed to me to be more psychologically sound to make the replacement buffer beams before I set to with the miller to remove the perfectly good ones.
 

 

I was able to reuse the buffer heads and shanks (I slightly reduced the diameter of the former and made some collars to increase their diameter of the latter) but I made new buffer stocks, drawplates and I reworked the coupling with more accurate hooks and links.
 

Head reduced in diameter (left) and diameter of shank increased with collar (right)​

 

An embryo buffer shank appearing from a piece of hex bar

(because I have many such off-cuts)

 

Holding the buffer shanks using a bespoke split collet to reduce their length (upper and middle),

the finished buffer and component parts along with a new drawplate, draw hook and links (lower)

 

I milled the dumb buffers from aluminium and used 12BA screws to fasten them from behind the buffer plank.
 

Milling a representation of the steel plate that faces the dumb buffer

 

With this all at hand, for a second time I milled off perfectly good representations of buffer planks and buffers (for the first time see: www.davidlosmith.co.uk/GCR_Humber.htm#BufferPlanks).

 

I attached the new front buffer plank with steel pins and epoxy resin to the machined end of the diecast running plate.

 

To allow for the thinner buffer plank, the running plate is extended under the bunker at the rear. I represented this by laminating some waste etches, as I had no suitable brass stock of the correct thickness, and I milled the edges to match the existing running plate. I then soldered the new rear buffer plank to the extension piece and screwed and glued the assembly to the running plate.

 

 

More to follow ...

 

David

Edited October 17, 2018 by Isambarduk

[Western Star]

I have started working on another of my ready-to-run kits...

 

... I made new buffer stocks, drawplates and I reworked the coupling with more accurate hooks and links.

The photos suggest that you have represented the "flattened" portion of the top link so that the coupling can be fitted to the Gedge hook.  Please tell us more about what you have done for the couplings.

 

Thank you, Graham Beare

[Guest Isambarduk]

The photos suggest that you have represented the "flattened" portion of the top link so that the coupling can be fitted to the Gedge hook.

 

Yes, just so, Graham; a small detail but well spotted.

 

The hook: I find that some kits and many  RTR models have rather two-dimensional representations of the drawhook, some are just stampings, others are cast but do not look like anything I have seen on UK locomotives or rolling stock. 

 

So, some time ago, I bought several sets of sprues of ten wagon drawhooks from CPL Products (www.cplproducts.net/temporary-catalogue.html bottom of the page, item No. 39) and I rework them a bit to look something more like the prototype in question.  This may mean adding some material and a little reshaping but, in the case of my Victory class, I needed only to clean up a bit and then open up the slot so that the upper link would slide in.

 

As an example, on the left is the original FineScaleBrass draw hook and to the right is the replacement

(See: www.davidlosmith.co.uk/LMS_8F.htm for more details of reworking a RTR LMS 8F)

 

The links: Similarly, I have found that links, as supplied, are often a bit disappointing.  Sometimes they are not much like the prototype (particularly the upper link of a screw-link coupling, which is not always a D-shackle but two separate links, as in the LMS example above) and other times they are poorly formed from steel wire.  Although I rework and use the supplied links if I can, I have replaced steel links with links that I have made from brass wire, or copper wire as it is rather easier to work without leaving marks, and I solder the links closed; it one of my pet hates, seeing open or crudely closed links on models, and it's so easy to close them with solder.

 

As you may see, on this occasion, I made the upper and middle links from copper wire and I filed 'notches' front and back in one side of the upper one to allow it to be manipulated into the slot of the drawhook (two flats would have been forged on the prototype as this would have been easier and would have maintained the full cross-section of the link); it was easy enough to fit them and, as a test, no amount of handling, inverting or shaking them will dislodge them.  I was quite pleased with that.

 

As a first, I have purposely fitted a steel lower link.  Until very recently I would have fitted another copper link but, as the 'co-inventor' of a magnetic shunters pole (www.marshlanemodels.co.uk) with surrounding shield to concentrate the magnetic field to where it is needed, I have made the lower link of steel so that I shall be able to use one of my own poles!  Nearly all my models have non-ferrous links so I have been unable to use one.

 

I hope this answer it.  David

Edited December 21, 2017 by Isambarduk

[81A Oldoak]

David,

Another superb job, though it can be a little painful to watch what you do to our babies.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[3 link]

Hi David,

 

Lovely crisp work as usual, I enjoy following your model engineering topics and look forward to the next instalment.

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

[hartleymartin]

After following you GCR "Humber" thread a few years back, I have been eagerly awaiting further RTR-Kit work from you.

[Corbs]

Watching with interest, I do like the distinctive Lambton locos.

 

Pic found on google

http://www.sunderland-antiquarians.org/assets/Uploads/OPGM/DRS/DRS008.jpg

 

Edited December 1, 2017 by Corbs

[Guest Isambarduk]

Watching with interest, I do like the distinctive Lambton locos.  Pic found on google  http://www.sunderland-antiquarians.org/assets/Uploads/OPGM/DRS/DRS008.jpg

 

Thank you, Corbs.  Yes, that's the first image I found but then others followed for more inspiration, although not off the internet.  Now, in fact, the chimney ... but I am in danger of getting ahead of myself.  Await my next post.     David

[Guest Isambarduk]

After following you GCR "Humber" thread a few years back, I have been eagerly awaiting further RTR-Kit work from you.

 

Thank you, Martin.

 

Well-wishers (at least, I suppose they are) have enquired if I am alright as I seem to have stopped building 7mm models. Well, no, I am still building.

Until a few weeks ago, I was ‘doing battle’ with a kit of Hudswell Clarke industrial 0-6-0DM, NCB ‘David No. 58’. My wife bought me one of the prototype’s nameplates as a birthday present so, to build a 7mm model to go with it, seemed like a good idea ... but it’s now finished and is waiting in the paint shop ... that might be the subject of another story, if there's any interest.

 

David

[Guest Isambarduk]

The chimney is a rather prominent feature of a steam loco so, as contributes greatly to its ‘character’, I set about modifying the existing chimney. The upper part is a brass turning and is easily removed with a twist and a pull, whereas the lower part (the flared base) is moulded integrally with the smokebox. The several photographs that I had of this LH&JC loco all showed a chimney with a quite different profile (below) but with a secondary flange between the flare and the smokebox.
 

Chimneys: model (left) and No. 41 (right)

I reckoned that, by removing most of the flare on the model, what remained would represent the flange. I set up the smokebox moulding in a chuck on the rotary table and, in the time honoured fashion of twiddling the right handles in the right order by the right amount, I milled away all but about 0.5mm of the lower part of the chimney.
 

Milling away the integrally moulded flare to leave a flange

I could have machined a replacement chimney but making the flare requires a fair amount of tedious work with a file (I do know, I have done it) so I decided to use the flare from a white metal chimney casting that I had to hand and to turn an upper part to fit it.

 

 White metal casting (left), machined flare (centre) and flare placed on the flange (right)

 
Less than twenty four hours after I had reached this point, a friend emailed me an image of No. 41 in its original LH&JC livery, just as I wished to model it. Yes, this is what good friends are for: the image clearly showed that, at the time, No. 41 still had its more elegant Kerr Stuart chimney.

 

David

Edited December 2, 2017 by Isambarduk

[81A Oldoak]

 

Thank you, Martin.

 

Well-wishers (at least, I suppose they are) have enquired if I am alright as I seem to have stopped building 7mm models. Well, no, I am still building.

Until a few weeks ago, I was ‘doing battle’ with a kit of Hudswell Clarke industrial 0-6-0DM, NCB ‘David No. 58’. My wife bought me one of the prototype’s nameplates as a birthday present so, to build a 7mm model to go with it, seemed like a good idea ... but it’s now finished and is waiting in the paint shop ... that might be the subject of another story, if there's any interest.

 

David

David,

There is always interest in what you do. Post away.

 

Chris

[Osgood]

 ... that might be the subject of another story, if there's any interest....

 

[Guest Isambarduk]

David, There is always interest in what you do. Post away.  Chris

 

smiley_waiting.gif

 

Thanks, chaps. 

 

Fair enough, as I dismantle the loco for painting, I shall take some photos to illustrate a write-up.  I used most of the parts of a kit (DL 3 Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0DM [industrial]) from Mercian Model Rail (www.modelrailways.tv) as a basis for a scratch-build, for there is relatively little that is as described in the instructions.  Here is a rear view of the prototype.

 

 

David

[Guest Isambarduk]

Back to the main plot ...

I visited my good friend a few days later so I was able to thank him for the image that he had sent and to explain what I’d done. Now this was what good friends are for: he gave me a replacement white metal casting for the chimney and also one for the dome, which very neatly solved another problem that I had spotted early on.

Oval plastic dome (left) and replacement circular white metal casing (right)

The plastic dome on the model (left, above) is perfectly formed and clips very neatly into the boiler to give a very good representation of a sheet metal dome sitting on sheet metal boiler cladding. The problem is that, although perfectly formed, the main body is far from circular; it is 18.0mm front to back (as it should be) but 20.0mm from side to side, which is rather noticeable (anybody else noticed this?). My friend’s donated white metal casting needed a bit of filling with low melt solder and a bit of fettling but it is very nearly a uniform 18.0 mm in diameter.

Chimneys: prototype (left) and model (right)

 

Although the replacement chimney is a fair representation of that of the prototype, I must concede that it is not as faithful as the original integral moulding and brass turning but I did not consider it worth altering and/or adapting its base to take the brass turning.

 

I blanked off the hole left by the dome with 0.5mm plastic card and I screwed both castings in place with nuts on studs that I soldered into the castings. I used epoxy resin to blend in the flare of the chimney casting with the integral flange and then cleaned it up.

Smokebox door before (left) and after (right)

 

As the with the buffer planks, the smokebox on No. 41 was fabricated with flush rivets so I sanded off the nice representations of snap head  that were moulded on the model.  I moved the door hinges (smokebox parts between the door parts) and made up a headed nickel silver pin to replace the integral moulding. I made the door handle/darts as three simple turnings and soldered them together into an assembly that fits in the central hole in the door.

More to follow …

David

Edited December 3, 2017 by Isambarduk

[Guest Isambarduk]

Well, has nobody else noticed that their Victory has an oval dome ... or was mine unusual?

The safety valves are well depicted in a plastic moulding but I decided to make up new ones in brass. I should make it clear at this point that this replacement is not intended as a criticism of this excellent RTR model but merely my choice; there is a great deal of difference between what may be tackled in a modeller's workshop and what may be achieved at an economic price on a production run.

 

The valve casings are simple turnings, a turned down 12BA thread represents a square-section spring and I filed the handle from a piece of nickel silver. To solder the four components together, I assembled them in a little jig that held the two casings and the spring at the correct distances to fit in the holes that I had drilled in the cover on the firebox.

 

Original plastic mouldings (left), jig for assembling the replacements (centre) and the final replacement assembly (right)

 
In reality, the safety valves do not sit on top of the cover on the firebox, the cover fits over them; I milled a slot on the cover to represent this so that the valves appear to be coming through the cover rather than sitting on top.

 

 

More to follow …

David

Edited December 15, 2017 by Isambarduk

[hartleymartin]

The detail work that you do makes me think that perhaps the manufacturers should send you an engineering prototype and let you figure out all the final refinements!

[Guest Isambarduk]

The detail work that you do makes me think that perhaps the manufacturers should send you an engineering prototype and let you figure out all the final refinements!

 

Martin, Ha ha, but as I said "... there is a great deal of difference between what may be tackled in a modeller's workshop and what may be achieved at an economic price on a production run."  These manufacturers do a great job for us as it is but each of us may elect to make refinements ... or not, it's really up to us.   David

[Night Train]

Stunning work David. 

[Osgood]

Well, has nobody else noticed that their Victory has an oval dome ... or was mine unusual?

 

The dome on my Victory is just the same David - I confess I hadn't noticed it until your post.  Now that I've stuck a vernier caliper onto it I can't take my eyes off it - most odd.

 

Reckon that'll be a great sales opportunity for Paul at EDM Models, to follow on from his cast brass Peckett domes!

Edited December 17, 2017 by Osgood

[Guest Isambarduk]

I tackled the cylinders and the rods next.

The cylinder covers on the prototype are retained by twelve rather prominent bolts or screws whereas the covers on the model are provided with eighteen small representations, which I removed and replaced with inserts of styrene rod.

 

Cylinder cover before (left) and after (right)

The diecast rods on the model are finished in shiny nickel plating and they do benefit from a bit of fettling with a file to remove moulding lines and the draft. In doing this, I removed the nickel and underlying copper plating to reveal the base metal, which looks rather more like steel than the nickel plating.

Coupling rods and conrods before (above) and after fettling and with additions (below)

I took the opportunity to add ‘brasses’, a cotter and retaining screws (on the big end), a cotter on the crosshead (to retain the piston rod) and to replace the gudgeon pin and knuckle joint pin with something a little more realistic.

The slidebars are similarly finished in shiny nickel and they also benefit from cleaning up by draw filing. The prototype has two oil pots on the upper slide bar and both slide bars are attached to the motion bracket with a bolts through a rectangular block. These small component are easily machined … if you can just get hold of them. I used the convenient expedient of a solder chuck: solder the blank to a mandrel, machine the component, unsolder it from the mandrel.

Machining an oil pot. The mandrel with a hole and a turned blank with a spigot (left), the blank soldered to the mandrel (centre) and machining the blank (right)

The motion plates are painted black but are etched from nickel silver so I stripped them of paint, tinned them all over and then stroked them with a Garryflex abrasive block to represent steel.

Reworked conrod, crosshead, slidebars and cylinder

David

Edited December 21, 2017 by Isambarduk

[Guest Isambarduk]

The fillers for the sand boxes have the traditional lids with a handle above a recess and this is represented in half relief in the die cast footplate but it seems to be reversed from what would be expected (ie the surround and handle are depressions and the recess is two raised nearly semi-circles). I decided to machine away these impressions with a 3/16” slot drill and to make replacements that projected slightly above the footplate, as they appeared in my photograph.

 

Half relief sandbox lid (left) and machined replacement (right)

 

The process was quite simple, if a bit delicate. First, I turned a piece of stock brass to diameter and made the depression with a bull nose slot drill. I then transferred the job to the milling machine and milled two short slots (0.5mm wide, 0.25mm deep) in the rim, working outwards from the depression, to accept the handle. I made the handle from a short length of 0.5mm diameter brass wire, which I soldered into the two shallow slots. As half the diameter is above the original turning, I had only to return the job to the lathe and very carefully, with light cuts and a slow feed, remove half the diameter of the wire to leave a semi-circular (half-round) handle.

 

Partway through machining the depression (left), milling the shallow slots to accept the wire handle (centre) and machining away the outer half of the wire (right)

 

David

Edited December 25, 2017 by Isambarduk

[Simond]

Exquisite work, as always, David.

 

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

Merry Christmas!

Simon

[Guest Isambarduk]

I have been having difficulty photographing my replacement sandbox lids but I have tried again:

Half relief sandbox lid (left) and machined replacement (right)

It's still not brilliant but it does give a better idea. I think part of the problem is that my camera cannot expose for the bright brass fabrication and the matt black running plate, but it's having trouble with focussing, too.

David

[dajt]

Very inspirational, as always!

 

Why would a safety valve have a square section spring - what benefit does that provide?

 

Regards, David.

[Osgood]

27% greater cross-section area than a round section of similar outside dimension - so proportionally stronger for the same overall size.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Osgood