timbowilts Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Tim I used the original frame rails. I sold the Romford wheels and Faulhaber motors supplied in the box and replaced them with some better wheels from Alan Gibson and some very nice High Level motor/gearbox combos. All the spacers or stretchers are hand made. I used some of the cylinder etches and all of the castings. All the pony trucks are hand made. I used some parts from the suspension etches, but it's mainly scratchbuilt. The fly cranks are from the kit but very modified and I used the coupling rods supplied but detailed. The buffer beam is the modified kit etch as is the cow catcher. The rest is handmade. Of course when you begin taking measurements off the drawings for the chassis they'll have knock on effects everywhere else. So I anticipate having to scratchbuild all the tanks and bunkers too. I'm hopeful the boiler and cab assemblies will be better..... The locos look pretty awesome on YouTube, where did 138 operate in RSA? Nick Nick, only just seen your question. I saw them mostly at Port Harding on the Natal South Coast and, if I were lucky, on the Umlass Rd to Mid Illovo line. More power to your oiercing saw and soldering iron. Tim T 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted December 4, 2018 Author Share Posted December 4, 2018 ....so having gone through a major life readjustment, and moving the workshop to another room in the house, we're off again. Having finished the new motion brackets it's on to the tortuous process of attaching them to the chassis. Jobs like this are hard. The motion bracket has to be the correct distance from the cylinders and level, and inline with the frame stretcher etc etc. A lot of adjustment was necessary and finally one was in place. I found it a lot easier to attach the second by soldering a length of brass angle to it. I then soldered the angle to the bracket already attached, and a bit of measuring later The con rods were assembled next. They're laminated but should have round and not marine big ends as supplied. They were altered. The slide bars and crossheads were next. The slide bars are made from scrap etch! More soon....... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted December 7, 2018 Author Share Posted December 7, 2018 (edited) ....the motion castings from NGTrains are very good. Thanks Paul. A little bit of fettling and it all fits nicely. More fettling to come.... Edited December 7, 2018 by nickd 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted December 14, 2018 Author Share Posted December 14, 2018 ...busy at work in run up to Christmas so not a huge amount to report. I have fitted up the wheels and all runs well, so happy with that. Next I have fabricated some reversing shaft trunnions, and fitted them to the motion brackets. They were each made of 5 pieces. More on this soon...... 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 Nick, this is a joy to follow. A masterful job of one of my favourite locomotives, I salute you! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted December 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 14, 2018 Fabulous work Nick, and a masterful looking model. I've managed to avoid this kit myself, particularly after building the Backwoods K1 Garratt in 7mm, which was equally unsatisfying. I echo what Paul has said about 4mm kits blown up to larger scales. All the best, Dave.T Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted December 14, 2018 Author Share Posted December 14, 2018 To be fair Dave it's not a bad kit if you're just after a decent model. It goes together ok and isn't too bad on the detail front. The castings are good too. The problems start if you want a specific model. All the survivors are different from the kit and each other, so if you want something authentic you're going to have to scratchbuild. I just got a bit carried away..... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted December 15, 2018 Author Share Posted December 15, 2018 Actually the chassis, especially the motion, is a bit pants. Hoping for better with the cradle/cab/boiler...... Anybody been there already? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 Just as a matter of interest, Nick will you be dismantling the finished loco in order to paint it or are you leaving it in polished brass? It looks almost too nice to paint. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted December 16, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 16, 2018 Just as a matter of interest, Nick will you be dismantling the finished loco in order to paint it or are you leaving it in polished brass? It looks almost too nice to paint. That was another issue with the K1 kit, it was designed to be put together once, and once only. There was very little in the way of sub-assemblies, so painting would have been very awkward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 (edited) Yes Geoff and Dave. The kit isn't designed to come to bits for painting. I suspect it was designed to be painted by hand or airbrushed and then the paint wiped off. The design is such that the chassis folds up round the wheels and then they're captive forever. I have spoken with Warren Haywood (painter) about this at length. The wheelsets do come out for paint but some of the motion is captive (crossheads and expansion link.) We decided to paint the motion a weathered oily finish, as they're cast in brass and it's difficult to make brass look like steel, so painting seemed the best option. Edited December 16, 2018 by nickd 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano747 Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Yes Geoff and Dave. The kit isn't designed to come to bits for painting. I suspect it was designed to be painted by hand or airbrushed and then the paint wiped off. The design is such that the chassis folds up round the wheels and then they're captive forever. I have spoken with Warren Haywood (painter) about this at length. The wheelsets do come out for paint but some of the motion is captive (crossheads and expansion link.) We decided to paint the motion a weathered oily finish, as they're cast in brass and it's difficult to make brass look like steel, so painting seemed the best option. I'm sure Warren will work his magic either way!! Regards, Deano. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted December 19, 2018 Author Share Posted December 19, 2018 .....fair bit of progress considering it's Christmas. I made some lifting links and attached them to the reversing shaft. Then I made some drop links and connected it all up. The return cranks (in the frame) supplied were a bit naff, so I made some better ones (below the frame.) I have to confess to a bit of a cock up. The screws supplied for crankpins were of two different lengths, with longer ones for the return crank. I blindly attached the longer screws to the middle wheels!! I needed a solution for attaching the return cranks to the rear wheels now with the shorter crankpin screw. Bah. I cut and threaded some rod for the con. rod journal, and added an appropriately sized spacer. This was screwed onto the crankpin and the return crank soldered on at a suitable jaunty angle. Actually a bit less than the correct angle so it can be nipped up on final assembly. Must get round to replacing the drill with an eccentric rod pin. Happy Christmas all........... 8 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted December 28, 2018 Author Share Posted December 28, 2018 ...having completed the motion, the logical thing is to dismantle it, clean it up and do a final assembly test with the correct pins etc and have a test run. I thought that this would also be a good time to fit the brake gear, so I have set about making it. A chap from Western Thunder has kindly lazer cut me some plastic brake blocks. Now this was an amazing gesture, so thanks very much Adrian, they were very successful. The 3 layers are stuck together with MEK, allowed to dry and pinned to some hangers cut from scrap nickel-silver strip. I have made some cross beams, also from scrap, and they are now fitted to the brake hangers. Brake linkages next........... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted January 2, 2019 Author Share Posted January 2, 2019 ....the next stage was turning this pile of tiny bits of rod, spacers and other assorted tube into some usable brakes and cross beams. The parts were telescoped together and attached to the brake hangers. The idea is that I will slot the final assembly (when all the rigging has been attached) up into the chassis from the bottom, and pin it all in place with some locating dowels, pushed from the outside of the chassis frames. The hollow locating dowels have a hex formed on the end, and a 0.6 mm rod down the middle to represent the fixing bolt, showing on the outside of the chassis. As can be seen on this picture the locating dowels for the brake hangers double up as pivot bolts for the suspension equalising beams, just as on the real thing. The cross beams have some shackles fitted for the rigging and an interesting pull-beam at the rear. I think this allows the brake rigging pull rods to pivot as the cradle and unit move in relation to each other. I'm sorry about the over complication the build is becoming the 'Project Binky' of loco chassis (see You Tube.) Next a million pull rods.......... 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 ....I have mounted the brake assemblies in the chassis and joined them up with pull rods to make one complete removable brake assembly. These are pinned into the chassis using the method outlined in the previous post. Since then the chassis have been fitted with pick ups and then stripped and cleaned. Next will be the addition of the upper sections of the slide bars and connecting rod safety straps......... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted January 13, 2019 Author Share Posted January 13, 2019 (edited) ...The slide bar uppers have been added as has the con rod safety bracket. The motion has been carefully assembled so it doesn't bind and I had a problem with a short that needed rectifying. After a couple of hours pulling out hair I discovered the short was on the front bogie. Over zealous shimming, the brass shims were replaced with fibre ones and all was well. I added side control to the front and rear bogies and did a test run. Both bogies were cockling over to one side while being pushed. You think there'a a lot of rail to flange slop in 7 mm, 4 mm is much worse! Next I catch the other bogie up..... Edited January 13, 2019 by nickd 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Holt Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Nick, I've been following this build with a feeling of admiration and steadily increasing awe at the level of detail and fidelity to the prototype that you are incorporating into the model. I'm quite familiar with these locos as a regular visitor to, and long term supporter of, the Ff & WHR, including several visits to the shed at Dinas where various parts of the locos have been on display during gala events. So I can vouch for the realism you are achieving. In my opinion, you have elevated this work way beyond normal railway modelling to an exercise in engineering in miniature. Well done. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the ongoing story of your model. Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 (edited) ....assembling the hind unit and I've not had to resort to using my nail-gun yet! [ Edited January 16, 2019 by nickd Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 ...big catch up. I added some vacuum pipes to both units and a representation of the steam and exhaust pipes to the cylinder blocks. The chassis were then largely finished, so work on the superstructure began in haste. The footplates in the kit had lots of holes in the wrong place and the cut-outs for the cylinders didn't match the ones made by the WHR, so new ones were cut out. Similarly the water tank built by the WHR is significantly different from the one in the kit, both in terms of rivets and dimensions. I used the basic dimensions from the etchings supplied to cut out pieces to make a new tank. Looks more like an O gauge loco now! More detail tomorrow...... 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper John Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Strewth Nick Thats taking modelling to a new higher level, superb stuff.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted February 1, 2019 Author Share Posted February 1, 2019 ...well I tarted up the top of the water tank and moved on to the bunker. As with the water tank there are significant differences between the kit parts and the WHR modifications. The most significant being the lack of rivets, so it was out with the piercing saw. The kit parts were modified until they fitted and were as required. They were then flattened out and used as a template for the new parts cut from 0.4 mm sheet. The curve in the front corners of the side sheets were formed round the handle of a needle file, and the structure taped together as a test fit. All was well and the structure was soldered up and fettled. The kit parts for the curved bits on the bunker side did fit, but annoyingly they are half etched on the rear to aid curving. This produces a three-penny bit pattern on the front that looks awful, so they were discarded and new ones cut out. They were formed round a suitably sized bar and added. A floor was made and soldered in, and I went to lie down. More detail tomorrow.... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Beautiful - this is going to be one hell of a fine model. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbowilts Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 Nick, what do you intend to do with the loco when you’ve finished it? It is turning into a museum showcase standard model. Tim T Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickd Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 ....moving swiftly on the bunker has been fully detailed and attached to the footplate. And as you can see I've mocked up the full length of the finished loco. I've made up some lubricators that fit behind the motion bracket, and the units are finished for now pending delivery of some etchings from OZ. Tomorrow we begin the cradle, and initial investigations show that that part will need drastic surgery too. Oh Joy........ 2 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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