Mercian 7mm Midland 1F Kit

[Ray H]

Thanks for that snippet of information as there were only a few of us at the club yesterday. There were all sorts of guesses but nothing concrete so your information came just at the right time. I have a couple of pictures showing the toolbox on the footplate so it will probably end up with it there.

 

I've also decided to raise the back of the motor to stop it fouling the bottom part of the cab front. That's probably tomorrow (or Sunday's) job

 

Thanks once again.

 

Thanks also to Duncan who posted whilst I was responding to Malcolm's post.

[K14]

With reference to your query about the toolbox, the Midland era loco's were fitted with a toolbox between the frames at the rear (there is a good photo in Midland Locomotives volume 3, p 91 Wild Swan.

Found this on the superb Warwickshire Railways site:

 

 

Source: https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/mrb8.htm

 

Pete S.

[Ray H]

I've not been too successful in getting routinely reliable action from the chassis for a few weeks now. This has included the motor and worm spinning happily and the gear wheel remaining stationary! A Google search returned a link to RMweb and a post from several years back that suggested opening out the motor fixing holes in the Markits gearbox. I tried this today with some initial success - see below.

 

Anyway, back to the model for the time being.

 

The rear of the motor has been raised enough for the cab front not to make contact with it when the body is being/has been put on. However, one element that didn't go away was the potential for conflict between the bottom edge of the cab front and the flange tips of the wheels on the rear axle. I took a file (or two) to the said cab front and erased the area where this conflict might occur as can (just) be seen below..

 

 

Today was decision day - I had to decide whether I wanted a full or half cab. I opted for the former as can be seen from the following image. The cab & tank sides and tank tops are now in place as can be seen.

 

 

Interestingly, just before the body was refitted for this portrait shot (!), the chassis was happily wheel turning against an immovable object at the end on the test track. However, that all changed once the body was on so my next job (tomorrow?) will be to try and find out why.

[Shez]

Just keep pegging away at it and eliminating faults as you go. The fact that the chassis was working on its own shows there is no problem there. My first efforts to get anything running were pretty shambolic, but its all part of the learning process. 

[Fastdax]

 

Interestingly, just before the body was refitted for this portrait shot (!), the chassis was happily wheel turning against an immovable object at the end on the test track. However, that all changed once the body was on so my next job (tomorrow?) will be to try and find out why.

 

Try fixing the body to the chassis loosely.

 

If there's a very slight twist to the body, tightening it to the chassis could twist the chassis a bit and undo your careful work in getting it all running with the chassis on its own.

 

I often leave the body mounting screws only just "nipped up" enough to stop them coming loose by themselves.

[Ray H]

Thanks for the responses.

 

I've just checked the combination again and think I have found the problem (although I haven't fixed it yet!).

 

One of my frame spacers - that I re-positioned to adjust the motor's movement so as it didn't impact on the cab front - is slightly proud of the frame sides and probably affecting the alignment of both body and chassis when one is clamped to the other.

 

I'm assuming that normal running will be resumed once I re-locate said spacer and will report back having made the adjustment.

 

Happy New Year to everyone.

[Ray H]

Indeed, the problem was as suspected (or I've unexpectedly hit the jackpot with the positioning of the body on the chassis!).

 

Lowering the spacer so that it was definitely clear of the frame tops has made all the difference. Body and chassis have been (happily?) running back and forth on my two yard long test track initially at DCC speed step 2 out of 28 and, latterly, at speed step 1 in the same range.

 

And so to the next step which the instructions say is "Take bunker, drill out holes, lamp irons, raise rivet detail, fold down sides and solder bunker front in place. Take bunker door, raise rivets, add door handle from the 0.7mm wire provided, fold-up door runners and solder in place on bunker front. Fix completed assembly to footplate."

 

I've raised the rivet detail and drilled out what I believe are the only holes required - i.e. those for the lamp irons. I've started small - about 0.45mm although I didn't actually measure them. At least that will give me a head start if once I find out where said lamp irons are and what size the holes for them need to be. I suspect they may be yet something further made from scrap etch although I haven't looked through the remaining parts more than a couple of times trying to find them.

 

I've folded down the sides and removed the bunker front from the etch, ready for it to be soldered in place. The bunker door is also ready for fitting save that it still needs its handle adding.

 

I've also go to ". . . . solder shelf in place and cab rear." These too have been liberated from the etch, edges cleaned and are ready to be fitted (hopefully) tomorrow.

 

I haven't looked closely at the footplate yet so may be a little over concerned but I note that there is no indication of how to align both the bunker and the cab rear although the latter may become more obvious once the former is in place.

 

That's it for 2018, more next year (and thanks once again for all the responses so far).

[Ray H]

A little more done today. The bunker, cab back and cab shelf are now in position and judging by the instructions, things now move forward on the footplate.

 

The cab shelf or what I took to be the cab shelf because its length equalled the width of the cab, turned out to be a couple of millimetres too narrow so I had to cut a replacement out of a piece of scrap etch.

 

I have so far left body and chassis united so that I didn't damage the valances & buffer beams. However, this does appear to have re-introduced some erratic running, resolution of which will be my first task tomorrow.

 

I spent part of the morning hunting around the Internet for images of closed cab versions of this class of loco. I found a few but perhaps not unsurprisingly they only show distant detail so I'm none the wiser when it comes to finding a particular loco to base my model on. This isn't helped by the number of pictures of the half-cab variants appearing to far exceed the number of closed cab locos.

 

I'm also beginning to think about painting of the model - something I'm hoping I might be able to out source to a colleague in return for me fitting DCC sound decoders to his growing fleet of locos! I'm leaving the cab roof off for a while as suggested in the instructions as this will facilitate adding detail to the cab as well as being able to paint the interior of the can more easily. Is there any point at which I should pause in the kit's construction to make the painting job easier?

[Ray H]

I'm creeping slowly towards the front of the model with the top of the firebox now affixed to the outside of the cab front and the sides towards the rear of the two tanks. It wasn't the easiest thing to shape and solder but we got there in the end. Fixing to the body was assisted by matching convenient minuscule holes in both the cab front and the larger of the three associated formers.

 

 

 

And whilst I was assembling said firebox - for which I'd (this time) removed body from chassis - I left the chassis to either saunter back and forth on my test track at DCC speed step 2 or at gradually reducing speeds in both directions using a fixed object at the end of the test rack for the chassis to lean against. The result is the chassis running reliably for around 99% of the time and the performance is improving the longer the running in goes on.

 

The next steps are to:

 

"Add firebox casting to front. Solder the pre-rolled boiler together using the boiler forming rings. Fix smokebox inner wrapper, smokebox front and smokebox outer wrapper in position. Fix completed assembly in place on the footplate. Add additional boiler band as per drawings."

 

That seems fairly straightforward to interpret  - I assume the boiler's position is determined by the position of the firebox and the side tanks. This is then followed by:

"Solder frame extensions (choice of two) to the sides of the smokebox. Form cylinder cover and solder in place."

 

I think I can identify the frame extensions but I fear that I shall struggle with the (assumed single) cylinder cover and where it goes. Luckily it is club night again tomorrow so I can but hope that I can persuade some poor unsuspecting member to point me in the right direction.

 

 

[Ray H]

That's the cylinder cover sorted thanks to fellow club members although it does appear that I am beginning to drift into the area of specific locomotives as some covers were flat and others shaped hence the two types of frame extensions.

 

I also learned last evening that the front top of the firebox needs to be rounded rather than left square so that will be done over the weekend.

 

I'd also note in passing that especially at the bunker end of a full cab model, the fixing nut (on the bunker floor) needs to be soldered to the footplate (preferably) before the bunker is soldered in place and almost definitely before the cab back and shelf are added otherwise it will be (totally?) inaccessible to an iron once these rear end fittings are in place. That said, I suspect it might just be possible to glue the nut in place afterwards but I wouldn't want to rely on doing that.

[Ray H]

OK, so it took more than the (first) weekend to get back to the model!

 

I managed to round the top and side corners of the firebox using a mixture of files and a rotary tool with a sanding disc. This may just be visible in the first image.

 

And so to the next stage which as indicated above says:

 

"Add firebox casting to front. Solder the pre-rolled boiler together using the boiler forming rings. Fix smokebox inner wrapper, smokebox front and smokebox outer wrapper in position. Fix completed assembly in place on the footplate. Add additional boiler band as per drawings."

 

The firebox casting was reasonably straight forward to attach although it would have been even easier to do this before the cab back was added. I also had to remove a small section in one bottom corner to keep it clear of the wheel flange.

 

The pre-rolled boiler and associated forming rings are easy to locate in the box but they don't look that way as far as their fitment to the footplate is concerned as the following picture shows:

 

 

I can understand why the pre-rolled boiler has the dimensions it has - in case one models a loco without the Belpaire firebox - but it would be useful if the instructions indicated that a slight re-shaping is required if the Belpaire firebox is modelled. The question on my lips is "Does all the re-shaping just occur at the rear of the boiler - i.e. cut away the rear of the smaller area until it mates with the front of the firebox, or is it necessary to remove some metal from both ends?"

 

You might be able to guess my next question. "How the h*ll do you cut across the pre-formed boiler and manage to keep the cut square!

 

Fix smokebox inner wrapper, smokebox front and smokebox outer wrapper in position. Fix completed assembly in place on the footplate.

 

 

I think that I can work out the outer wrapper - the one with the raised rivets. I presume one of the remaining two pre-formed pieces is the inner wrapper? Why is a third piece supplied and which of the two remaining pieces on the etch is the one to be used?

 

Finally (for now) I show an aerial view of the body/footplate as it currently is:

 

 

I have placed one each of the two different splashers (?) alongside where I believe the front ones go. I think that the one on the left of the footplate (facing forward) is supposed to go at the front although the opening around which it is positioned is almost as large as the splasher itself so I doubt it will be easy to fix in place.

 

The instructions indicate that the cab floor should added (in due course) from the wood provided - except there's no wood in the box! The rear splashers - in the cab - are also going to be a blighter to fit because not only are they of a similar size relative to the hole over which they should be placed, they will also need a small operation because their forward end fouls the firebox casting that has already been fitted.

 

Is anyone able to indicate whether the (wooden) floor is just one solid piece or is it slatted (or some other design)? Would any slats run back to front or across the cab if it is slatted?

 

[Fastdax]

Looks like front-to-back planks but with a metal plate set under the firebox mouth.

 

 

 

 

Also a picture of a splasher, since you mentioned them:

 

 

Still following with interest!

 

[90164]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fix smokebox inner wrapper, smokebox front and smokebox outer wrapper in position. Fix completed assembly in place on the footplate.

 

140119_2.jpg

 

I think that I can work out the outer wrapper - the one with the raised rivets. I presume one of the remaining two pre-formed pieces is the inner wrapper? Why is a third piece supplied and which of the two remaining pieces on the etch is the one to be used?

 

I think you would use all 3 parts, as the smokebox has a noticeably larger diameter than the boiler.

 

Frank

[Ray H]

Looks like front-to-back planks but with a metal plate set under the firebox mouth.

 

P1050925.JPG

 

P1050922.JPG

 

P1050973.JPG

 

Also a picture of a splasher, since you mentioned them:

 

P1050954.JPG

 

Still following with interest!

 

Thanks for those photos, they'll be especially useful when I come to add other cab fittings. Interestingly, I'd say that all the (metal) floor fitments ought to be added before the (wooden) floor is fitted so I think I'll do that.

[Ray H]

I think you would use all 3 parts, as the smokebox has a noticeably larger diameter than the boiler.

 

Frank

Thanks.

 

I thought that was a possibility.

[Fastdax]

Thanks for those photos, they'll be especially useful when I come to add other cab fittings. Interestingly, I'd say that all the (metal) floor fitments ought to be added before the (wooden) floor is fitted so I think I'll do that.

 

I've got plenty more photos of the backhead and other cab details. Just shout when you are ready for them.

[Ray H]

Thanks Duncan.
 
My other problem is identifying which casting is a model of what component on the loco. I could recognise a shovel and a gauge glass assembly and I think I can recognise a washout plug but I think that's my limit.
 
Fortunately there are a few of my fellow club members that are more knowledgeable than me in this respect so I shall tap their brains.
 
Looking again at the first image in Post 61 I think that  I've got to trim the rear off the boiler but move the boiler slightly forward before doing so otherwise there'll be an over scale (and un-prototypical) nut visible on the front of the footplate. It does look as though the smoke box does need to be further forward based the few pictures that I have.

[brossard]

Those pics from Fastdax are incredibly useful.  I have the Slaters kit to do at some point.

 

John

[Ray H]

Duncan

 

Your pictures are a life saver for which I am eternally grateful.

 

Would you by any chance have a side on view of the smokebox so that I can try to estimate the distance between the front of the footplate and the front of the smokebox?

 

I'd like to check that if at all possible before I cut the back of the boiler so that it nestles up against the firebox front.

 

I'm just hoping that said front of smokebox clears the fixing nut into which the chassis fixing bolt is secured - and by how much.

[Fastdax]

Hi Ray,

 

Hmmm, I can't find one exactly like that. I think the best one I have of the front of the foot plate is this:

 

 

It sounds like the full set of photos would be useful to you. Accordingly I've put them all on Dropbox for you (or anyone else!) to download.

 

Please follow this link and download the zip file to your computer (use the "Download" button at top right then "Direct download") then unzip it. I'll have to remove the originals from Dropbox sometime when I need the space:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/195aohdrt83aiv8/Midland1F.zip?dl=0

 

I hope they show what you need.

 

[Ray H]

That is wonderful. Thank you very much.

 

I'd guess that the lamp bracket is probably a shade under halfway between the front edge of the footplate and the front of the smokebox frame. That should at least give me something to aim for.

 

Thanks once again.

[doilum]

I hadn't really thought any further than working on the chassis so was a bit surprised at the relatively short time it has taken me to move forward with work on the body.

 

271218_3.jpg

 

The valances took a few attempts to get them vertical, something that I did by eye because I reckoned (accurately or otherwise) that using an engineer's square would sap to much heat and make soldering difficult.

 

I also soldered the buffer beam in place both to the end of the valances and to the underside of the footplate. There isn't any indication in the instructions when this task should be carried out.

 

The footplate will only fit one way round - the wheels foul the footplate the other way round.

 

I also lightly soldered the two fixing nuts to the top of the footplate as indicated in the (exploded body) drawing that comes with the instructions. Again there's nothing in the instructions to say when this should be done either.

 

I should also add that a colleague lent me his rivet press last week so I've raised all of them whilst I had the press.

 

The next instruction says to "Take the cab front and solder in the position marked by the half-etched lines."  The cab front (at least where it is to be soldered to the footplate) is a piece of brass almost the full width of the footplate. The half-etched lines can be seen in the image below. The lines don't extend to the full width of the cab (front) and as can (just) be seen even if they did the base of the cab front would likely foul the flanges of the rear wheels. Not only that but the aforementioned cab front - being a piece of brass with no cut-outs or relief - can't fit where it is supposed to go because it fouls the shaft at the rear of the motor together with the raised area also on the rear of the motor through which the shaft protrudes.

 

271218_2.jpg

 

I can probably remove the majority of the protruding shaft carefully with a cutting disc but that still leaves the raised area on the motor housing.

 

One way to make the cab front fit onto the footplate is to cut away the bottom of the cab front so that it no longer fouls the motor or flanges. My concern then would be that the body/footplate assembly will need to be manoeuvred into position rather than drop straight onto the chassis.

 

Another option seems to be to modify the angle at which the motor sits in the chassis. A disadvantage here is that I may start to find it difficult to fit a decoder and speaker if I raise the rear end of the motor.

 

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

There is a firebox to go in the cab. I always cut out the cab front to allow me to steal that extra few mm if need be. If it is a solid casting a space can be created with a dremel or similar tool. Worst case scenario, scratch build a firebox backhead. In extreme cases an extra

[doilum]

mm or so can be added...........

[Ray H]

Thanks for your observations.

 

The firebox front was added over the weekend, the "problems" with the motor having been overcome shortly after the post you've responded to was penned.

 

I'm trying to work through the instructions in the order they're presented although I may deviate slightly if I see mention or lack of something that seems easier to do in a different order.

[Ray H]

 

The boiler come smokebox (area) has been trimmed to length and was fitted this afternoon. There was a small amount of gap filling (with solder) required.

 

As will be seen, the front chassis fixing nut towards the front of the footplate is the resting place for the smokebox.

 

I have to decide whether to trim the fixing bolt so that it isn't prevented from being tightened by the smokebox or whether to cut away a little bit of the underside of the smokebox and leave the bolt's length alone (at least for the time being). I think I prefer the latter in case the current bolt gets mislaid.

 

That way I won't have to worry too much about the replacement bolt's length.

 

I'm hoping to finish off the smokebox area tomorrow.