JamieR4489's workbench

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Coming on leaps and bounds, so good of Mr Ivatt in using the same chassis for both the C1 and 2.

 

manna

[JamieR4489]

The K3 just requires a few finishing touches now (crew, final weathering details, cylinder drain cocks). I did the lining on the tender using a bow pen for a change as I'd run out of HMRS lining transfers. I don't think it's come out too badly.

 

The PC kits BG is now finished. I had to replace the original wheels as they weren't concentric so the carriage derailed and wobbled badly. With new Hornby wheels it glides along.

 

Last year I bought some Kirk Gresleys off eBay which had been very nicely built and painted but needed the couplings changing and the interiors painting. The builder had made no provision for getting inside the coaches again but luckily the rooves were only held on by a few spots of glue. I've left them loose for now and I'll figure out a method of attachment later. The teak finish was a bit flat so I gave the carriages a few coats of gloss varnish.

 

Jamie

[JamieR4489]

My apologies for such a long gap between updates, A-levels rather took over this year but with those out of the way now I've been able to make some good progress.

 

The C2 sat untouched for several months until the invitation to help on Grantham at the Doncaster show in February gave me the incentive to at least get it presentable in time for the exhibition. The 3D print took quite a bit of filing to fit the K's running plate but I got there in the end. Originally I'd put a Taff Vale motor and Highlevel gearbox in but the motor was too weak so it will be replaced by a Highlevel one. The loco was in plain black and with numbers in time for Doncaster and I lined it with a bow pen shortly afterwards. I then lost motivation so it's still waiting for the finishing touches. I've left it in ex-works condition as 3254 was out-shopped at the start of July 1938 and I'm aiming for July/August '38.

 

 

 

I was given a Hornby Railroad Flying Scotsman a few years ago and I had a static clone of a Hornby A4 so I decided to use the A4 tender to replace the A1's corridor one as no A1s or A3s had corridor tenders in 1938. The streamlined tender meant I was limited to only a handful of A1s and I eventually settled on 2561 Minoru, a long-term King's Cross resident. I had hoped it would be a fairly quick project to replace the moulded handrails and get the loco into 1938 condition (cut the chimney down and reduce the cab cut-outs) but it ended up taking much longer than I thought (as all of my projects seem to do), not helped by problems with the primer cracking twice when it came to repainting the loco. For the apple green I used Tamiya XF-5 after seeing someone on the LNER forum use it. The lining is all HMRS pressfix apart from the red bits and on the wheels which were done with the bow pen. I decided to leave the loco fairly clean as it was only a month or two out of Doncaster in the summer of '38. You can't see it in the photo but there's just a light dusting of grime on top of the boiler.

 

 

For my next project I was thinking of renumbering my Hornby J15 as I believe some were based at Grantham and New England in the 1930s. Does anyone happen to know which ones were allocated to those sheds, please?

 

Regards,

 

Jamie

[jwealleans]

Have you managed to find anything out, Jamie?   I can't comment on New England, but Grantham had 7515 and 7696 in the late 1930s.

 

They had some J21s around then as well.   It would be interesting to know why.

Edited August 15, 2022 by jwealleans

[JamieR4489]

Not yet; I've been away so I haven't really been doing much research. Thank you for those 2 locos. I've found a picture of 7515 but unfortunately it's got the wrong tender for my donor. I haven't been able to find any pictures of 7696.

 

7550 looks like a possibility as I've found pictures of both sides, it fits the donor and according to ShedbashUK it was seen at New England in 1937. However, as the photos of it were taken at Dereham and Norwich, it might not necessarily have been based at New England.

 

Jamie

[jwealleans]

7550 - when I eventually found it (have you tried looking through the Yeadon?) was at Norwich 30-08-30 to 6-2-49.

Edited August 16, 2022 by jwealleans

[JamieR4489]

Thanks for that, Jonathan. Unfortunately I don't have the Yeadons for the J15s but I'll carry on looking for allocations. I might ask over on the LNER forum.

[JamieR4489]

After much tweaking, I've finally finished the C2 more or less exactly a year since I started it.

 

I had intermittent derailments of the front bogie and rear pony truck that I thought at first were caused by the pony not having enough sideplay. It only took me a couple of days of fiddling with springs and back-to-backs and filing away at the cartazzi frames to realise all I had to do was simply extend the slot in the bogie that the pin slides in a few millimetres sideways 🤬. A few washers of 30 thou plasticard between the chassis and body and nibbling away at the cylinders also seemed to help.

 

My phone makes the bow pen lining on the loco appear a lot brighter than it does in reality; to the eye it matches the tender lining (HMRS) much better.

 

I'm still researching J15s. I've narrowed it down to a loco with a Westinghouse pump as my model has one and the pipes for the air brakes and steam heat that run along the metal footplate are cast integrally making them almost impossible to remove. This means I'm looking at 7542-71 and 7640-9, with 7559 being the front runner at the moment as it was seen at March in 1938 and a photo of it shows that it matches my donor's tender and cab cut-out.

 

Regards,

 

Jamie

Edited August 22, 2022 by JamieR4489

[JamieR4489]

A question for the carriage experts.

 

I'm currently building a Comet D155 end door TK but battery boxes were only supplied for one side and the underframe diagram in the instructions only shows boxes on one side. Is this correct? I thought passenger vehicles normally had battery boxes on both sides but I think I've read somewhere that in the late '30s regulators were fitted meaning that one side was sufficient.

 

Thanks,

 

Jamie

[jwealleans]

You're right about the regulator boxes.  I'm not sure when they were introduced but the D210 twins I built (1935) had them.

 

I don't know of anyone producing any either so you might well have to make them.

[JamieR4489]

Thanks Jonathan, I thought you'd probably have the answer. In that case I'll leave it as is and fit a regulator box. Do you know what they looked like?

 

Jamie

[jwealleans]

Mike Trice posted some but I think they've vanished.   I'll check whether I downloaded them.

[JamieR4489]

My apologies for not updating this thread more often, I hadn't realised how long it had been!

 

I quickly realised that the J15 would need more than just a simple renumbering so I decided to do 7515 which according to Jackson and Russell's 'The Great Central in LNER Days' was at Grantham from 1936 to 1937 and then appears to have moved to New England. This was a steam brake only engine whereas my donor had a Westinghouse pump so I took a deep breath and filed the pipes cast into the footplate off. The pump itself came off very easily. I also replaced the cab roof for the original low-arc version and swapped the Ross Pop safety valves for Ramsbottoms on a plinth. I decided that life was too short to worry about the tender underframe being wrong and I found out after I'd finished the model that the wheels shouldn't have balance weights for a non-Westinghouse engine and the smokebox rivets were a post war feature. I won't lose sleep over these issues.

 

 

 

The Comet TK is now complete but I haven't got any recent photos of it so this is how it looked a few months ago.

 

I bought a Hornby B17 Kilverstone Hall to become Doncaster's Belvoir Castle and although I haven't got round to doing this loco yet, it did inspire me to have a look at the 1980s Manchester United I was given a few years ago. It used to belong to my great uncle who was a Spurs supporter so it's become 2870 in its May-September 1937 condition.

 

I cut the huge front coupling and steps off the bogie and added some guard irons. New steps and vacuum pipes came from a Hornby B17 detail pack as will the drain cocks when I remember to fit them. Some front frames were cut from plasticard to fill the space above the bogie and the latter's wheels were replaced with Gibsons. I left most of the moulded handrails as I didn't want to repaint the model but I did replace the smokebox door handles and add lamp irons. The boiler band lining was replaced with HMRS transfers and the wheels lined with a bow pen. I then weathered the loco very slightly.

 

 

As a Christmas present from my parents, I got one of @LNER4479 and @gr.king's B7 kits which I've made a good start on. The kit has gone together really well so far but the motion bracket has taken quite a bit of fiddling. This seems to be due to my hamfistedness rather than the kit, however, and it's now working very smoothly.

 

 

Before someone says it, no I'm not planning on making it as a 4-4-0. I removed the front drivers to give better access to the motion bracket.

 

Lastly, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and I'd like to wish you all a happy New Year.

 

Regards,

 

Jamie 

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by JamieR4489

[LNER4479]

21 minutes ago, JamieR4489 said:

As a Christmas present from my parents, I got one of @LNER4479 and @gr.king's B7 kits which I've made a good start on. The kit has gone together really well so far but the motion bracket has taken quite a bit of fiddling. This seems to be due to my hamfistedness rather than the kit, however, and it's now working very smoothly.

 

 

Yeah - way to go Jamie! Always good to see how folks get on with the kit.

 

Setting up the motion bracket is the key to the whole thing. It's pretty much plain sailing otherwise - unless you plan to install the simplified gear to actuate the outside valve rods?(!)

[JamieR4489]

18 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Yeah - way to go Jamie! Always good to see how folks get on with the kit.

 

Setting up the motion bracket is the key to the whole thing. It's pretty much plain sailing otherwise - unless you plan to install the simplified gear to actuate the outside valve rods?(!)

Thanks Graham,

 

I am planning on having a go at the valve gear but I won't be too upset if I can't get it working.

 

The instructions mention that 0.7mm rod can be used as the valve rod and spindle combined for a simpler approach but is this just for if you make the gear cosmetic only?

 

Jamie

[LNER4479]

Hi Jamie,

 

No, the 0.7mm rod suggestion can be for working valve gear; it just removes one link in the chain (the valve rod to valve spindle joint). This slight disadvantage is that the loss of that final link will impart a very slight up and down motion as the combined rod moves back n forth.

[JamieR4489]

Thanks Graham,

 

In that case I'll go down that route rather than trying to use the separate spindle and rod. I didn't fancy trying to drilling a hole through the 0.8mm rod!

 

Jamie

[JamieR4489]

The bottom-end of the B7 just needs a clean up and then it'll be ready for painting. It's all been fairly plain sailing including the inside valve gear which I've assembled but won't fit permanently until much later on. Today, I assembled the gearbox (a Highlevel Roadrunner+) and got it running sweetly. I'll start on the body next.

 

Regards,

 

Jamie

[Nick Lawson]

On 15/08/2022 at 20:07, jwealleans said:

Have you managed to find anything out, Jamie?   I can't comment on New England, but Grantham had 7515 and 7696 in the late 1930s.

 

They had some J21s around then as well.   It would be interesting to know why.

 

@JamieR4489Apologies for hi-jacking your excellent thread, but responding to @jwealleans:

 

Regarding the J21s - this seems to have been part of the general LNER experimentation to see how pre-grouping classes would fare in other regions. RCTS "Green series" vol 5, P137 says that three J21s were sent to Lincoln in 1931.  Then in 1935 6 ex-GE E4s were drafted north to try the passenger services over Tebay and another 6 J21s were sent to the GE in return. They seem not to have been appreciated by the GE and 8 were sent on to New England & 1 to Doncaster. There were other subsequent shed changes over the years.

 

 

[65179]

Looking good so far. Always nice to see another B7. Are those valve guides the right way round?

 

 

Regards,

 

Simon

Edited January 16, 2023 by 65179

[30368]

29 minutes ago, 65179 said:

Looking good so far. Always nice to see another B7.

 

Good work Jamie - I have one to build too so Simon's close up picture is very useful.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[JamieR4489]

8 hours ago, Nick Lawson said:

 

@JamieR4489Apologies for hi-jacking your excellent thread, but responding to @jwealleans

 

 

No problem, Nick, it's interesting to hear about the J21s as it wasn't a class I'd previously considered getting a model of until I found out about the GN section allocations.

 

8 hours ago, 65179 said:

Looking good so far. Always nice to see another B7. Are those valve guides the right way round?

 

 

Regards,

 

Simon

Thanks Simon, I only dun wot the destructions told me to do! See these photos courtesy of @LNER4479

https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?p=129056#p129056

 

PS, that's a brilliant photo so thank you for sharing it.

 

7 hours ago, 30368 said:

 

Good work Jamie - I have one to build too so Simon's close up picture is very useful.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

Thanks Richard, I look forward to seeing your B7 gracing Basingstoke.

 

Regards,

 

Jamie

 

[JamieR4489]

Just a quick update on the B7.

 

I've made a lot of progress on the bodywork with the footplate formed and the cab started. I did have a bit of a problem with the raised section over the cylinders as the jig didn't seem to make this section high enough for the valence fillers to fit but I got there in the end by tweaking the jig. It's very possible I didn't bend it up accurately enough to start with.

Here I've just plonked the boiler in roughly the right place. It needs a bit of filing at the back to fit properly but the instructions do say that it is produced overlength and needs to be trimmed.

 

Regards,

 

Jamie

 

 

[JamieR4489]

Progress on the B7 slowed a bit a few weeks a go due to a few distractions:

 

Firstly, I've been interested in the Hornby Live Steam range of models ever since I found out about them which was just as Hornby were discontinuing the range. Seeing the OO Live Steam Club at a few shows recently made me think it was time I finally got a set and an affordable, second-hand Mallard was duly bought. The loco had only been lightly used and, after a bit of hesitation, sprung into life.

 

 

It is recommended to learn how to use the loco with it on a rolling road so I set up this makeshift one.

 

The second distraction was the decision to take the Ely Club's new exhibition layout, Wickham Market, to our show this year with the intention of it being, more or less, scenically complete. For my part, this meant finishing the signals. Three of the ones I made several years ago just needed motors fitting so I tackled these first and then built the last signal needed for the layout.

 

 

This signal is now ready for painting.

 

When I got back to the B7 I discovered that the cab roof didn't fit correctly and after a discussion with LNER4479 I realised I'd fitted the cab front too far forwards. Dismantling the cab and rebuilding it sorted the issue and this weekend I've been able to progress with fitting the cab handrails and the splashers. To fit the boiler, you can either file the bottom of the firebox so it sits on top of the splashers or file the tops of the splashers back so the firebox sits between them. I chose the latter option as it will look more prototypical.

 

Here, the boiler and cab roof are just placed loosely on the model. You can also see the signal in the background.

 

Regards,

 

Jamie

[JamieR4489]

I'm pleased to say that the last of the signals for Wickham Market is now finished and waiting to be planted on the layout (which will be at the Ely show on Saturday, by the way)

 

 

Progress on the B7 is still glacial but now that the weather is better, I've been able to spray the chassis and get it running. The tender has also been started. It's a Perseverance kit I got from the late Graham Varley's boxes of scrap etches he donated to the Ely club shortly before he died. There are no instructions but it's fairly easy to work out how it goes together. The kit can be built as either a self trimming or a standard tender and I've gone for the latter as the longer coal plates for the self trimming type were missing from the etches. I'll have to scratchbuild bits like the water scoop mechanism cover.

 

 

The boiler still isn't glued down and the smokebox door is just blu-tacked on hence its slightly jaunty angle. Brakes have been added since I took the photos.

 

Regards,

 

Jamie