Michael Edge's workbench

[t-b-g]

22 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

It's a long time since but my usual method then was to make the splasher tops from brass sheet of the appropriate thickness, leaving it standing proud of the splasher face. Solder up the splashers, clean up the joint and sand it to the thickness of the beading. All these were built before I got into etching but I did do some etched splasher faces for the L&Y Atlantic in 4mm and 7mm.

 

Thanks Mike. That was one of my possible choices. The bit I haven't worked out yet is the beading that goes onto the cab side on the 4-4-0. I have cut the cab side and the splasher sides in one bit. Would you have made the splashers as a separate part and added the cab to the top of the splasher afterwards? 

[Michael Edge]

I would have made the cab sides in two pieces, either side of the splasher top.

[t-b-g]

43 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

I would have made the cab sides in two pieces, either side of the splasher top.

 

Thanks Mike. That certainly gives me a way forward. I had at least 4 different potential ways to go but having seen how well your method worked on the 4 4 0 which has almost identical beading, I thought it was worth asking.

 

The D9 isn't on your list of GCR locos to do an etch for is it? A cab side and splasher with beading etched in brass would make it so easy!

[Michael Edge]

Not yet but I would like one. Locos for Wentworth Junction are taking precedence at the moment though, next on the drawing board will be the Q4 and I've really got to get moving with the EM1.

[t-b-g]

40 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

Not yet but I would like one. Locos for Wentworth Junction are taking precedence at the moment though, next on the drawing board will be the Q4 and I've really got to get moving with the EM1.

 

I already have a Q4 and that is all I need. It is a much modified Millholme kit. You mentioned a J10 some while back. Is that getting near the top of the list yet? That would sell plenty in both 4mm and 7mm. There is a new 7mm kit out there but it doesn't  fill me with confidence!

 

Giving it more thought, your D9 will be the rebuilt one with the big boiler. The cab front and splasher widths will be wrong for my early one in new condition. So I shall carry on with the scratchbuild. I enjoy that sort of modelling and don't do it often enough.

[queensquare]

1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

Not yet but I would like one. Locos for Wentworth Junction are taking precedence at the moment though, next on the drawing board will be the Q4 and I've really got to get moving with the EM1.

 

Id love a set of etchings for a Q4 if a 2mm set could find their way onto a spare corner somewhere. I was only talking about adding a Q4 to my collection of pre-group eight coupled locos with tbg a couple of days ago. Ive just started putting together the bits for a GWR ROD and recently finished this L&Y beast - still awaiting coal, crew and a layer of grot to disguise my iffy lining.

 

Jerry

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

I've really got to get moving with the EM1.

 

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-m&sxsrf=ALeKk00-gpbF8R9IlJk8OFdCtWVyexyDmQ:1589446000932&ei=cAW9XpmrONyGhbIP54-OsAc&q=be+still+my+beating+heart+gif&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZo5ni-7LpAhVcQ0EAHeeHA3YQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1280&bih=624#imgrc=uvWIDfcEXI6YcM%3A

 

Mike.

[t-b-g]

Speaking of such things, I have been having a go at scanning some old slides.

 

[Michael Edge]

4 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

I already have a Q4 and that is all I need. It is a much modified Millholme kit. You mentioned a J10 some while back. Is that getting near the top of the list yet? That would sell plenty in both 4mm and 7mm. There is a new 7mm kit out there but it doesn't  fill me with confidence!

 

Giving it more thought, your D9 will be the rebuilt one with the big boiler. The cab front and splasher widths will be wrong for my early one in new condition. So I shall carry on with the scratchbuild. I enjoy that sort of modelling and don't do it often enough.

Quite so. The J10 is still stalled on the absence of end view drawings with particular reference to the cab spectacles. The variety of MS&L tenders for this is a bit problematical as well.

[Staffordshire]

 

    Mike, 

 

        Is the SR  C14 finished ?   or the status of the Ashford Diesel Shunter 15202 ?

 

       Just to pile on the requests 

 

     Cheers,  Ian

[t-b-g]

1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

Quite so. The J10 is still stalled on the absence of end view drawings with particular reference to the cab spectacles. The variety of MS&L tenders for this is a bit problematical as well.

 

The GC Society have a "large detailed Class 9H drawing" listed in their archives. I haven't seen it so I don't know if it has an end view but it might be worth an ask. I am a member of the GCRS so if you would like me to ask on your behalf, I would be happy to do so.

 

Edit to add they also have tender drawings for 3250 and 4000 gallon tenders for the J10.

Edited May 14, 2020 by t-b-g

[Michael Edge]

3 hours ago, Staffordshire said:

 

    Mike, 

 

        Is the SR  C14 finished ?   or the status of the Ashford Diesel Shunter 15202 ?

 

       Just to pile on the requests 

 

     Cheers,  Ian

C14 is nearly finished but work came to a halt when I found that I'd got the wrong HL gearbox for it. The right one turnec up yesterday so it won't be long now. No further work on the Ashford DE.

[Michael Edge]

Cadbury No.9 back from Dave Studley superbly (and very quickly) painted.

Safely delivered to Don this afternoon, only  a little late for his birthday.

[Pebbles]

Mike,

 

I Never knew a great deal about pre-Robinson locos.  When I did investigate the J9/10 I was quite surprised to read that there were at least three types of cab and who knows how many tenders. Seems to be a bit of a mine field!

[t-b-g]

1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

Cadbury No.9 back from Dave Studley superbly (and very quickly) painted.

Safely delivered to Don this afternoon, only  a little late for his birthday.

 

That, to carry on the chocolate theme, looks sweet! Cracking good model and the paint job really brings out the best in it. 

[Barry O]

Alderman Townsley is a very lucky man. What a beauty!

Baz

[t-b-g]

1 hour ago, Pebbles said:

Mike,

 

I Never knew a great deal about pre-Robinson locos.  When I did investigate the J9/10 I was quite surprised to read that there were at least three types of cab and who knows how many tenders. Seems to be a bit of a mine field!

 

I think the answer with such problems is to choose one version and base the etch on that. The J9/10 were made up from several different GCR/MS&LR classes and trying to do an etch that provides all the variations is very difficult. If other variations can be easily included, such as a tender with or without the coal side raves, then go for it. I don't think that anybody would refuse to buy an etch because it is a slightly different version of a J9/10 to the one they want. I certainly wouldn't and I can be very picky!

[Christopher Townsley]

21 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Cadbury No.9 back from Dave Studley superbly (and very quickly) painted.

Safely delivered to Don this afternoon, only  a little late for his birthday.

Thanks Mike, excellent job.  Cadbury No.9 was on the inspection pit at Hunslet ready to be sent off on the day that Dad visited the works as a prospective apprentice, so it has a special memory for him.

Regards,

 

Christopher

[Corbs]

No.9 looks beautiful, Mike.

[Michael Edge]

Back to the LSW C14 today.

Motion bracket, brakes and crankpins (1mm brass wire) fitted, the slidebars are from .8mm square n/s wire.

View from underneath shows the High Level Roadrunner gearbox, pcb pads soldered on for the pickups. Motor is from China but these don't seem to be available now - pity, these were very good. I ordered 5 in December but they only had 4 left.

Ready for frame painting now, the splashers are a bit difficult to fit and will cause problems with clearance later.

Final assembly under way now, the coupling rods had to be spaced off the wheels to clear the splashers - and this is 00 gauge. The crosshead mostly misses the leading crankpin but the back has had to be cut away quite a bit. Sanding arrangement is a bit unusual - back and front on the same wheel, nothing on the leading one.

[Michael Edge]

View from below shows how little room there is behind the crossheads - and this is 00 gauge. The splashers need a reasonable clearance from the wheel faces to avoid short circuits, full size there seems to be hardly any clearance here, so the coupling rods have to be spaced out to something like the correct spacing. It might not be possible to fit the splashers at all in EM or P4 gauges.

Motion assembly starts with the crossheads and connecting rods, the drop link has to be soldered on after these are fitted because the crosshead won't go back through the motion bracket now. The valve spindle guide is a short length of tube bracketed off the top slidebar, the spindle is fixed but I suppose it could be made to move.

Valve gear added, the link pivot is lined up with a long wire through holes in the frames, this makes it easier and ensures it is in exactly the right position. Pivots in the valve gear are made with Duchess pins, soldered at the back.

The return crank looks wrong, it's set towards the front even though these are outside admission slide valves and the valve rod is pinned to the combining lever below the valve spindle. I'm not an expert on valve gears but I think the effect of this is that when the die block is in the top of the link the loco goes forward rather than the usual backwards. Looking at all the photos I can find of thee locos in use this may be the case - the crew looking forward rather than backwards when the gear is at the top of the link.

All assembled and running on the test track.

With that more or less done I've spent some time back on the 7mm GKN 0-6-0T

Cab tanks and bunker now fitted. Much of the cab itself isn't very clear, I have no photos of the back and nothing on the inside of the cab. The tanks obviously extend into the cab but it isn't at all clear how wide they are, the only clue is the position of the handbrake in the drawing I am using. This is on the LH side so the reverser (which isn't visible in any photos) must be on the right. The handbrake is also shown slightly forward of the front of the cab doorway, it must be just inside the frames as no linkage is visible below the cab. This means that the tank can't be full width inside the cab, at least at handbrake handle height, I'll leave them narrow - easier to widen them than narrow them if more information comes to light. Another difficulty with this sort of detective work is that the two locos (this one, Arthur Keen and Sandyford) swapped identities for the visit of King George V - fairly obvious since Sandyford had a belpaire firebox but confusing all the same. I'll finish the cab detail tomorrow and get on with the boiler.

[Michael Edge]

Arthur Keen's cab more or less finished now.

Buffer beams are wood, sandwiched between two steel plates - the fancy coupler pocket is etched on the outer face, pivoted coupling hooks on this loco.

The reverser is a bit speculative, it's a modified version of our Hunslet etch, fretted out to an open configuration. I can see this in another contemporary GKN loco so it may be correct. One of the snags with the photos of these locos is that there is someone standing in the cab doorway in every one.

The roof overhangs what I take to be a locker on the cab back, beading added round the opening with 26swg soft brass wire. The handbrake is what is shown in the T. L. Jones drawing - they are usually pretty accurate and I certainly don't have anything else.

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

The handbrake is what is shown in the T. L. Jones drawing - they are usually pretty accurate and I certainly don't have anything else.

It's in a very awkward place!

[Michael Edge]

It certainly is - I wouldn't have put it there! However Mr. Jones was usually right as far as I know. I don't know why they put the reverser partly in the doorway either but I can see this in other GKN locos.

[Michael Edge]

Arthur Keen has moved on quite a bit today.

It always seems major progress when the boiler goes on, this one rolled from .010" brass as usual. It looks a bit strange in the firebox area but this loco had a raised round top one, the half etch in the cab front is the shape of this. As usual I had no photos of the top of the tanks so this is also a bit speculative. The fancy plating in front of the smokebox is two layers of etch, interesting how it overhangs the wooden part of the buffer beam. Tank front steps added before the boiler while I could still get to the inside, I put the front handrail on before fitting the boiler as an aid to getting it horizontally aligned. The leading springs are on as well, made up from etched layers, these are on the frames but I wanted to make sure they came through the footplate and looked right under the boiler.

More on the peculiar motion of the LSW C14 - looking at the lifting link the reverser will lift the radius rod when the lever is pushed forward so that might be why it was done the opposite way to conventional. Comparison with the slightly larger S14s shows the lifting link in front of the expansion link - and this time the return crank points the way you would expect.