Michael Edge's workbench

[New Haven Neil]

Well I can stop hassling the poor feller now......the deed is done.

 

Now I get to make a fool of myself building it.  I haven't made an etched kit for 30 years, and that wasn't very good!  

 

Whoopee!

 

[Michael Edge]

The other side of the S&D 4-4-0 doesn't look so good....

It appears to have got rather badly damaged in the post, I'm still trying to work out how to straighten it without damaging Larry's paintwork. Most of the loco is either brass or more likely nickel silver, although the tender and smokebox wrapper are steel, no kit parts according to my records but it's 32 years since I built it. There's some black paint cracked off the base of the smokebox but this is easily touched in, I'm going to try to bend the footplate and angle back, hoping the paint won't crack off.

[New Haven Neil]

Gosh, what a shame it has been damaged - it looks really nice, especially in the S&D blue. Prussian Blue?  A graceful locomotive.

[Barry O]

a bit of warmth first to make it more easily straightened?

 

Baz

[Sandhole]

22 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Well I can stop hassling the poor feller now......the deed is done.

 

Now I get to make a fool of myself building it.  I haven't made an etched kit for 30 years, and that wasn't very good!  

 

Whoopee!

 

Just love this shot.
My mate Coachbogie, moved up to the north east just too late to see this line in action.
Regards,
Chris.

[New Haven Neil]

29 minutes ago, Sandhole said:

Just love this shot.
My mate Coachbogie, moved up to the north east just too late to see this line in action.
Regards,
Chris.

 

I took that in the roasting hot summer of 76, we were getting No. 11 out to go and look at some track that had kinked in the heat and closed part of the railway - the then electrical engineer, Freddie Bond, was always good to encourage us teenagers with a footplate ride if they weren't busy.  He was worried 2 (or is it 10?) would fall off as the track was so bad in places with the heat.  I was born and lived until my late teens within buffer clanking distance of the south end of the colliery.

[Michael Edge]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

a bit of warmth first to make it more easily straightened?

 

Baz

I want to keep the paint, not burn it off.

[Barry O]

2 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

I want to keep the paint, not burn it off.

I don't mean reallly hot.. just a bit of warmth (body in a tub of warm water temperature).

 

Baz

[queensquare]

6 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

The other side of the S&D 4-4-0 doesn't look so good....

It appears to have got rather badly damaged in the post, I'm still trying to work out how to straighten it without damaging Larry's paintwork. Most of the loco is either brass or more likely nickel silver, although the tender and smokebox wrapper are steel, no kit parts according to my records but it's 32 years since I built it. There's some black paint cracked off the base of the smokebox but this is easily touched in, I'm going to try to bend the footplate and angle back, hoping the paint won't crack off.

Thats a disaster, and an S&D loco at that' she's a real beauty! I hope you manage to get it sorted Mike without too much damage to the paintwork.

 

jerry

[Michael Edge]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

I don't mean reallly hot.. just a bit of warmth (body in a tub of warm water temperature).

 

Baz

I don't think that would make any difference to brass or nickel silver, it will manage with the warmth of my fingers.

[SR71]

8 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

I don't think that would make any difference to brass or nickel silver, it will manage with the warmth of my fingers.

Depending on the paint it might help with that. When popping small dents out of car bodywork a hot air gun is often used to make the paint a bit more forgiving. Wouldn't suggest that a heat gun is used here though as there isn't the rest of a car to act as a heat sink.

[t-b-g]

I achieved a similar repair to a dropped loco a while ago by using a toolmakers clamp with the jaws lined with blocks of plasticard, thick enough to clear the valance. That way I could grip the footplate firmly to re-shape it without risking further damage to the valance and the plastic was kind to the paintwork too.

[Asterix2012]

Is there a bit of a bend in the cab roof as well?

[D-A-T]

On 15/03/2021 at 12:37, Michael Edge said:

Next steam loco is likely to be the LSW C14 but these aren't usually planned as such - more a case of spin off from my own work. There is an overall plan for diesel and electric locos but it is likely to change at any moment depending on all sorts of circumstances.

As a 2-2-0 or an 0-4-0? Or able to be built as both?

Either way put me down for one please. 

[Michael Edge]

It will be the 0-4-0T version.

[Michael Edge]

The 7mm is nearly finished now, seems to have been going on for ever but I have been doing other things.

No smokebox door yet but I have made the pattern for it, tender finished apart from the toolbox. Loco brakes to finish, sanding gear and coupling rods still to do. Very little of this was etched, most of it cut from steel and brass - I though I would have change and build one in the old fashioned way.

Back to Hecate some time next week.

[Sandhole]

Just now, Michael Edge said:

The 7mm is nearly finished now, seems to have been going on for ever but I have been doing other things.

No smokebox door yet but I have made the pattern for it, tender finished apart from the toolbox. Loco brakes to finish, sanding gear and coupling rods still to do. Very little of this was etched, most of it cut from steel and brass - I though I would have change and build one in the old fashioned way.

Back to Hecate some time next week.

You might have answered this already.
Is Hecate a private commission or a set of etches for the loco. Similar to the excellent etches you do already?

[Michael Edge]

It's a commission but it is all etched - the spare set (if it doesn't get used) is already spoken for though.

[Sandhole]

Just now, Michael Edge said:

It's a commission but it is all etched - the spare set (if it doesn't get used) is already spoken for though.

Thank goodness for that.
That keeps me under control.
I'll stick to the MSC Castle, 0-6-0 Sentinel, and the YE 0-4-0 ST .
I'm aware of my own mortality.

[Michael Edge]

The MR 2F is now finished.

just a quick phone photo for now, I'll take some more with the camera when I've cleaned it up properly -  then it's going to Graham Varley for painting.

Dave Studley sent me some photos of Arthur Keen now he's finished painting it, just one here.

I'm really pleased with this, especially the wheels and coupling rods which look very convincing. The T section spoked wheels were a real problem but the eventual solution has come out even better than I hoped.

[AlfaZagato]

Arthur Keen looks very Great Western, at least pre-grouping GW.  I like the look.

[Steamport Southport]

Apart from the livery I reckon it looks very E2 like.

 

 

 

Jason

[Penrhos1920]

I like the GKN wagon as well 

[Michael Edge]

The MR 2F all ready to go now after a thorough scrub - on Sunday after re-assembly I connected up the wires and it ran under power for the first time....

Our glass topped patio table provides some very nice reflections.

The only etched parts in this were the coupling rods, brakes, coal rails and cab front, everything else cut out in the old fashioned way. I did etch some beaded splasher faces but given the choice of loco, these were not needed. Most of the loco is cut from steel shim, .020" for the frames, .010" for the footplate and .012" for the rest, the boiler is .010" brass as usual. The tender beading is etched - but it's actually scrap from LOR structure etches. This was partly an experiment, in the end the time taken to build was much the same as it would have been with most of it etched.

[03060]

2 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

This was partly an experiment, in the end the time taken to build was much the same as it would have been with most of it etched.

 

This is interesting to know, particularly for us working in minority scales where etched kits are unlikely to ever appear for every prototype desired. Looks superb as ever, Mike.