Jump to content
 

G-Train Locomotive Works - LNER B3 'Valour'


Recommended Posts

Well, it's been over a month since my last update but work has been inching along, nonetheless.

 

Front end detail. Always satisfying to bring the thing to life.

409226708_52_Frontenddetail4.JPG.88bf5e6bbbe3d093615b27c5cd27d67c.JPG

 

234586684_52_Frontenddetail2.JPG.7a049fd336284b8ca3223de8b745ee20.JPG

 

Rest of boiler detail, some cab detail ... and I think we're about done.

 

  • Like 11
  • Craftsmanship/clever 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

That really shows the benefits of multi-media design for kits; resin for the chunky shapes, metal where the thickness matters or strength is required.  I think the chimney flange could do with a stroke of the file to thin it a wee bit but it is a lovely model.  Now, what are you going to produce for Shap?  Stanier 2-6-2T?

  • Agree 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 8 months later...

I was supposed to be helping out to a greater extent with the matter of self-trimming tender option to go with the B3, and with the B7 that should follow in due course. Unfortunately, having spent most of the last nine months of restricted modelling time as a lazy slacker messing about making an ECJS clerestory carriage model, I've only just made a start (after some nudging by the etch designer) on some 4mm scale test etches for the GC self-trimming tender. If all works out well enough, then at some point the etches may be made generally available, either in current form with notes for guidance on any inherent problems and the ways in which they can be solved, or in a modified form if a revision to art-work and a new etch tool looks like an economically viable option. 

So far we have a basic inner frame unit, soleplate + sideframes + end beams soldered up, and main parts of the tank body folded and fettled until they are willing to sit, without difficulty, un-soldered, in the correct places. The soldering isn't elegant by any means as Christmas is still in the way of my normal working spaces so I'm using a highly portable set-up of a few hand tools and a small soldering iron, just powerful enough, on a small board that can be packed away between work sessions. I'll attempt to make further progress and post up results, but I'm not sure how quickly that will happen....

1358521352_005basicinnerouterframes.JPG.e41df4504e17644b9d8d86ccacae6df6.JPG650911183_007outerframefromside.JPG.c3a930f0288cbf5b441de707075e6060.JPG1029916171_022tankwithtoploosetrialfit.JPG.e75b92a75d9b5e23dcc18ca9b89b7cdf.JPG

  • Like 15
Link to post
Share on other sites

No pictures ready to upload yet but the cornices and coping plates are now on the tank body, after I'd spent some time thinking about an order of assembly that would actually work out in the end rather than falling to pieces as I tried to solder additional joints. The tank body is not yet soldered in place on the soleplate and although I've folded up the part that is provided for the self-trimming coal bunker that is going to need some further attention before it matches the works drawing reproduced in E.M. Johnson's Locos of the G.C.R. part 2.

 

A happy and very British New Year to all.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Rather more of the self-trimming tender is now in evidence, most of it fully soldered in place rather than just standing loose to check the fit as the main tank body was in the previous picture. I won't pretend that I haven't had to make any adjustments to the test-etch parts, some edges have had to be trimmed (but not be more than half a mil at the most), four missed fold lines have had to be scribed in, and I haven't quite managed to get the flares / cornices to mitre together at the top rear corners, but even as it is now the etch would be perfectly buildable by a modeller who proceeds with proper thought, caution and dry-runs to check fit and size of parts or who heeds instructions produced by a previous successful builder. Although I had been given the impression that the hopper bunker might not fold together as it should and fit the rest of the structure correctly, the way I've done things it does fit...

1619645113_043tackedinotherplatesadded.JPG.8a9edc71f6cbe9bc9a529d6ce18bf60c.JPG

 

Edited by gr.king
Spelling mistake!
  • Like 9
  • Craftsmanship/clever 3
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Brassmasters 6-spoke handwheel for waterscoop control serving temporarily in those pictures by the way, although I know it to be about 30% too large in diameter, and too plain in style. I should be getting something better in due course, and not an incorrect 8-spoke cast brass item.....

Axleboxes are obviously still to be acquired or produced, probably the latter.

Link to post
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Woodcock29 said:

I painted the splasher tops black on my Valour built in 1992. But I've never been 100% sure that was correct? Certainly in some B&W photos they appear quite different to what we know is green.

 

Andrew

Andrew,

 

I am with you. 

 

As an author of the LNER Section of  'The Big Four in Colour', it is one of those questions... Some of the colour images of the time are definitely black. Others, I am not so sure.

 

Having looked at the single splasher GCR types, I think black is correct for the 4-4-0s too, before they became black overall in any case.

 

What must be said is that the finish on 6165 above deserves to stay. Well done to all involved.

 

John

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Every photo I have seen is either inconclusive on the splasher top colour or shows it to be black. I have seen enough evidence over the years, on other GCR classes as well, to say that splasher tops on former GCR types were usually black on LNER green locos. I used to have long discussions with Malcolm Crawley on this subject. We never did find a definitive answer. Even on the same type, Gresley A1/A3 some seem to have had green splasher tops and some black. Did it depend which works they were painted at?  

 

The axle ends were, as far as I can tell, always black.

 

The cylinder front covers seem to vary too. In some photos they look black, in others they look like polished metal. I am not sure about the handrails either. In some photos they stand out against the paint so are probably polished metal. In others, they look as if they match the finish on the loco. 

 

As with many of these things, they may have changed over the years and just because one photo shows a loco in one condition, it can never be the case hat you can say that it always looked like that.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

The lower of the two HE Simmons shots of Valour in Martyn Welch's The Art of Weathering (p21) appears to show the splasher top as black and black wheel centres clearly (1937 condition). The upper 1938 view shows 6165 in too mucky a state to be sure of the splashers top colour.

 

Fantastic model. Looking forward to seeing the B7 in due course.

 

Simon

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Just to illustrate, here is one I found on the web, so hopefully copyright is not an issue.

 

It is early LNER days when the number was on the tender but clearly shows the splasher tops, wheel centres and the polished cylinder cover.

 

1706798895_ValourNottingham.jpg.7997bcc47fd163658e279d76010477c5.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 27/01/2020 at 20:42, LNER4479 said:

A couple of update items following Grantham's visit to the Southampton show:

 

1861292554_ValourcompleteGrantham_2(TW).jpg.050cb8b14197ebb64bc3d9baef780edb.jpg

Well, here she is - looking rather splendiferous in front of Tony Wright's camera lens. I actually picked up the model from Ian Rathbone at the Warley show following his superb paint job. So, in a nutshell, this is what the B3 kit can be made up to look like.

 

Meanwhile, myself and Graeme, met up with the designer of the GC self-trimming tender etch and went through the feedback from Graeme's test build, with the test tender to hand. It was a constructive discussion so, all being well, there should be a finalised etch for one more test build in a few months time.

 

 

Good morning Graham,

 

what an absolute stunner. Looking through my own collection of colour images of LNER green locomotives, every one so far has green tops to the splashers. The tender kit looks fantastic, I would certainly be interested in one, should it be made available.

 

P.s. any news on the B7?

Edited by Headstock
clarify a point
Link to post
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

I don't know about the splasher tops but the axle ends should be black.

Yes, of the two, the axle ends was the one I noticed immediately. 

 

I have done a little bit on the B7 test build recently and will try to give it priority in the first half of this year.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Good morning Graham,

 

what an absolute stunner. Looking through my own collection of colour images of LNER green locomotives, every one so far has green tops to the splashers. The tender kit looks fantastic, I would certainly be interested in one, should it be made available.

 

P.s. any news on the B7?

I think the only LNER locos that probably had black tops to their splashers were the GC locos with long straight splashers, ie the B2s and B3s, possibly D10s and D11s when in green.

 

Andrew

Edited by Woodcock29
Typo
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...