4mm loco building Building an Ace Products N15X 4-6-0

[Jack P]

Beattie certainly was a difficult loco to pin down. I did a lot of research trying to figure out the correct buffers needed for my specific period, it wasn't until I got in contact with John Harvey (HMRS steward for the Southern), and he sent me some photos of the loco in early 1948 condition that I learnt she had Southern pattern buffers fitted post-war. John also mentioned that the smoke deflector braces were an on/off feature of 2331. I'm sure there were other locos in the class that had them at points during their live but now i'm not sure.

 

I sent ACE an email to see if they would just sell me the loco body etches to replace my whitemetal one. DLT did such an amazing job on the chassis for mine, and it runs beautifully. Excuse me for jumping in with pictures of my own 2331, she is still a work in  progress, and currently has the clack valves removed. 

 

 

Your craftsmanship is really inspiring, and you're chewing through the build at a real top speed!

[30368]

Hi Jack,

 

No need to apologise, its great that you also have a model of "Beattie". From the research that I have completed, 331 seems to have had LSWR style front buffers and Smoke-deflector stays in every BR picture I have seen. That is not to say that at some stage things may have changed. Lining looks really good on your loco. I shall be using transfers for the BR Mixed Traffic livery.

 

I have kept going with the model, it is diverting in these difficult times. I would love to visit our daughters, but not possible! We planned to go to the US in June to see one of them, who lives in US, and take in a trip to see UP "Big Boy" 4-8-8-4. Ah well, worse things to deal with for many people than a cancelled trip.

 

Have now moved on to completing the chassis and beefing up the motion although it all works fine. Loco body now painted, Etching Primer then black enamel.

 

Firemans side. Sub- assemblies include the cab roof that is way too wide for the cab so I split the cab to reduce width for final fit. Loco bogie was tricky to get square and solder or solder square if you see what I mean!

 

 

Drivers side.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by 30368

[30368]

Quick update. A 4-6-0 at last!

 

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

[30368]

I have taken Michael Edge's advice and stregnthened the slide bars with a couple of brackets. The valve gear needed some tweeking - the coupling rod fouled the end of the axles on the drivers side. I also added wiper pickups to the leading and middle wheels to suppliment the stud pickups on the leading and trailing wheels. All is now well and the chassis runs reliably.

Another change involves the tender. I have built a number of Drummond and Urie bogie tenders and I'm not sure I wanted to wade through the Ace Products tender kit so I purchased Hornby Urie tender parts (chassis, wheels and bogie frames) from Peters Spares (Excellent next day delivery!) although I will have to build the tender body. An additional benefit of the Hornby bogies is that they are complete with pickups.

 

Some updated pictures follow.

 

 

 

 

Still plenty to do!

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

 

[30368]

Had a bit of a disaster I'm afraid - burnt out the motor while endurance running in the window - overheated and pop! I had an extra coffee should not have done so!

 

New motor fitted and runs event better although gear meshing took a while because I did not wish to disturb the centre wheelset.

 

Moving towards completion - lining etc  applied on drivers side.

 

 

 

May have to re-apply lining to leading splasher! I will try to re-create the look of Beattie around mid 1957, just before she was withdrawn. Basingstoke seemed to keep all of the class fairly clean so they must have been proud of looking afetr the whole class in their final years.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by 30368

[30368]

Locomotive is almost finished so started to look at the tender.

 

 

 

Hornby tender chassis with the main etched parts for building the Urie tender body from the Ace Products kit.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

[30368]

Locomotive bogie is now sorted. Just a few bits and pieces to fit and then we are ready for weathering and cleaning back.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

[30368]

Started weathering/cleaning process. I use washes and powders and then to create the just cleaned look that these loco's often have in the 1950s Pledge Wax floor polish applied with a very, very thin cotton bud thing.

It was as I was cleaning using the floor polish that the fireman's side namplate went "ping" and flew away somewhere!!

 

As usual an extensive search of the workbench revealed so much I had lost over the months and didn't now need but eventually and amazingly, if you knew my workbench, the nameplate!!

 

Anyway a few pics of a work in progress.

 

 

 

Edit - bit closer to completion.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by 30368

[30368]

Still a bit more to do on "Beattie" - fall plate and cab doors but they can wait until the tender is complete.

 

Many of the etches in this Ace Products kit are, I think, tinplate. I am fairly certain the tender sheets are, I have the cuts to proove it!

I have not made a tinplate box (which the tender is really) since 1963 when one of the training excercises in Eastleigh Works Apprentice Training school was just that, "today we have the making of a tin plate box with a sliding lid to keep your drill bits in". We used wacking great gas heated soldering irons with large bits and you soon learned about differing heat conduction rates on various materials

 

I really like the way the kit tender side sheets catered for the flared top to the Urie tender, very easy to get the flare shape right by bending the sheet in a small vice.

 

A few pictures:

Front of tender base cut away to clear Hornby tender footplate platform.

 

 

Tin plate "box" complete except for a few details!

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

 

 

[30368]

Further progress with the tender.

Soldering the beading along the top of the tender is a bit tricky. Starting from the centre and working outwards is the best approach.

 

The tender body attached to the Hornby doner chassis - goes together well.

 

 

And if you will indulge me, a few more shots of 32331 in natural morning light. Looks much more to my liking.

 

 

 

Kind regards, and stay safe,

 

Richard b

[Michael Edge]

I don't know what the wire you are using for the beading is but if it's soft pull it gently to straighten it, then start at one end and move along. I can't see any advantage in starting in the middle.

[30368]

Hi Michael,

 

Yes, get your point but it is not wire but a very, very fine etch that distorted very easily. It seemed sensible to centre the etch to ensure that the curved sections were aligned correctly over the largest centre section of the tender coal rail. It seemed to work like a dream and I was expecting a real struggle. As alway, thanks for the tips.

 

Kind regards, and stay safe,

 

Richard B

 

 

[Guest Jack Benson]

Richard,

 

An excellent build, thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

In the past, I have used ready to run tenders rather than the 'faff' of indifferent kits, the Bachmann Maunsell found use behind a SEF Q class.

 

Cheers

[30368]

Hello Jack,

 

Good to hear from you and sorry this thread is buried where it should not be!

 

Thanks for your kind words. Yes agree, sometimes a bit boring building the tender when so much energy has been spent on, in my case, a very difficult build. Struck me that the Hornby tender chassis was fairly accurate and Peter Spares had them available with next day delivery.

The remaining chassis parts from the Ace Products tender will come in handy on another build perhaps. good to hear that you are doing well and building kits again.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[Michael Edge]

4 hours ago, 30368 said:

Hi Michael,

 

Yes, get your point but it is not wire but a very, very fine etch that distorted very easily. It seemed sensible to centre the etch to ensure that the curved sections were aligned correctly over the largest centre section of the tender coal rail. It seemed to work like a dream and I was expecting a real struggle. As alway, thanks for the tips.

 

Kind regards, and stay safe,

 

Richard B

 

 

Soft brass wire is a lot easier, I mostly use 30swg in 4mm scale.

[30368]

Well "Beattie" 32331 is now completed. It has been a difficult build in some respects, for example. the instructions are really scant. And the design of the kit requires a lot of fabrication on the part of the builder. Rather like the London Road Models K2/2 in that respect and like the K2/2 NOT a kit for beginners! On the positive side, with care it does capture the protype very well and I am just pleased it is available.

 

I notice that Ace Products also list a Drummond/Urie T14 in two of the three versions however it is a 7mm kit! Now if this kit was made in 4mm I think they may sell a good few!

 

"Beattie" images follow

 

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

 

[30368]

Postscipt - A very helpful gent has pointed out that the Lion and Wheel on the tender is too large, most images surviving show 331 and her sisters with the smallest version affixed. This is quite correct and an error on my part which has now been rectified.

In fact I do have an image of 329 "Stephenson" (Page 78, "Steam Around Eastleigh" - Kevin Robertson) that shows the largest BR Lion and Wheel fitted so the class may have had variation throughout the ten years or so of their BR ownership but the safest thing to do was to change "Beattie" to the smallest design as shown in all the surviving images of this loco.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

[30368]

Final final comment.

 

A real devil to fit the chassis to the body so that it does not short out electrically - in particular the leading wheel touching the boiler barrel! This would not be a problem, I suspect, with EM/P4 versions. Runs very nicely and can pull four +  Hornby Maunsells on my test track. More than enough TE they were only 4P!

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[30368]

Just had an email from William Ascough of Ace Products pointing out that all the etches for the N15X were made from Nickel Silver. I did mention that I thought some were "tin plate" and I was wrong about that. I am still learning about loco building and that is one of the reasons it is fun.

 

As I said, I am very pleased that Ace Products had produced an N15X in 4mm and the result of my efforts with the kit are very pleasing to me - it runs well and looks prototypical. Thanks William.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by 30368