Nick Dunhill's workbench CR 0-4-4T Wrexham Tanks

[nickd]

.....Well here's a picture of the completed cylinder drain cocks and all the plumbing, including that to the sanders.

 

 

I found a pack of 4 mm Alan Gibson plunger pick ups in an old, old box from my OO days.  They looked small and discrete so I decided to fit them.  I decided plunger pick ups would disappear in the cylinder block and ashpan, but I didn't want them to interfere with the layshaft gearbox.  So next I made the layshaft gearbox.

 

 

It is quite a simple assembly, but it does allow the gears to mesh very nicely.

 

 

 

The gears stay in mesh as the compensation moves the crank axle and gear up and down slightly.  Engineers comment here; 

 

Sorry about R4!

 

Oh, and here's the Gibson pick ups installed

 

 

Next I did a test fit of everything to make sure there were no conflicts of parts.

 

 

 

Next it was time to tackle the body, so I made some splashers.  16 crescent shaped front plus 4 for the coupling rod bosses.  The front driving wheel splashers have brass beading so...

 

 

 

 

So here we are at the close of play today.

 

 

Next I'll make splashers for the rear drivers and start the bodywork..........

Edited June 26, 2020 by nickd

[nickd]

.....I fitted up all the splashers and pre prepared the body parts.

 

 

 

 

 

Then there's the hour when the model comes together in leaps and bounds.  It mainly involves lots of measuring and so on.

 

 

If you look carefully you can see that I solder short strips of waste etch to the footplate to position the body before soldering, and yes it's a bit blobby on the inside.

 

 

I rounded the week off with some wobbly vacuum stanchions and lamp irons.  The Cambrian wasn't big on lamp irons!

 

 

Next week bunker and cab interior........

[nickd]

....so this week I have done a fair bit of fabrication work.  It began with coal rails.  These look very simple but were a to get straight and square  and parallel etc.  The corner supports are made from brass angle and the rest from waste strip.  When I say waste I mean the original Redcraft etchings that were recycled to make them look better.

 

 

 

I then turned my attention to the cab floor.  It was a simple sheet with some upstands.  Next I made the rear of the cab.  The bunker part is stepped into the cab and meets the cab door openings.

 

 

I thought it would be easier to make the structure outside the model.  It was certainly easier to make the shovel plate door remotely.

 

 

 

The rest of the week was taken up cutting out dozens of carefully shaped rectangles of nickel silver to form the water tanks, firstly the portions inside the cab and later the portions alongside the boiler.  This is where the etching process comes into it's own!  But I had no etchings so they were cut by hand and checked for size and squareness.  It takes ages to cut them but accuracy helps greatly in the fitting up process.  I form them round some machined aluminium blocks that one of the Brummies gave me (thanks Nigel or John, can't remember which one of you it was!)

 

 

 

 

And more.

 

 

Then a final fit up to make sure all was well.

 

 

 

 

Finally this week I made up some lubricators for the horn blocks.  I'll instal them when the painting is done.

 

 

Next week I'll hopefully finish the cab interior and roof.....

[nickd]

Final pictures of my Whitby Tank build, taken by Warren Haywood.

 

 

 

 

I couldn't have done this without help from Mick Davies, Warren Haywood, Tom Burnham, Evan Davies, NRM staff, Diane Carney,Jonathan Bushell,  Jonathan Marcus, Stuart Tebbett, Dave Chapman, Laurie Griffin and everyone who contributed through this thread.  Thank you very much.

Edited July 14, 2020 by nickd

[t-b-g]

8 minutes ago, nickd said:

Final pictures of my Whitby Tank build, taken by Warren Haywood.

 

 

 

 

I couldn't have done this without help from Mick Davies, Warren Haywood, Tom Burnham, Evan Davies, NRM staff, Diane Carney, Jonathan Marcus, Stuart Tebbett, Dave Chapman, Laurie Griffin and everyone who contributed through this thread.  Thank you very much.

 

Simply gorgeous Nick. A lovely model, a cracking paint job and a handsome prototype!

 

Nice one!

 

Tony Gee 

[30368]

Really lovely work Nick. The NER 4-6-2T looks resplendent and the inside valve gear on the exCR 0-4-4T is first class.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[DLT]

Stunning stuff Nick,

Thanks for sharing.

Dave.

[nickd]

Well this week's efforts began by catching the second loco up.  Then I looked at the Redcraft etching for the roof and it was too small!  I cut out some of the correct size (how hard is it to measure the drawing) and indented all the rivets and attached all the brackets and angle iron.

 

 

 

The roof was drilled for a whistle!

 

 

I spent nearly a whole day fettling Laurie Griffin tapered handrails and attaching them to the loco bodies.

 

 

Next up was the backheads.  I tried to raid Laurie's parts bin to no avail, so it was out with the piercing saw again.

 

 

 

 

 

Today I just fancied a nice easy day assembling steps from the Redcraft etches.  Ooooh no, they were the wrong shape and size so it was back to renew my acquantance with the saw!

 

 

Well at least I thought I'd be able to repurpose the treads from the Redcraft etches.  Oh no you won't....

 

 

Luckily the end of the working week came to my rescue.  I'll return to battle with the steps on Monday.......

[nickd]

....I did get all the steps and their brackets attached, but it was a surprisingly tedious job.

 

 

Then it was on to the cab detail.  I scratchbuilt reversers and handbrake stanchions.

 

 

 

Next I did my usual modification to the water sight glasses.

 

 

 

Then I ploughed my way through the rest of the backhead gubbins.  The castings are mainly from Laurie Griffin, but the steam fountain is scratchbuilt.

 

 

 

Next week I'll finish the cab and then there's just the boiler to be made.........

[nickd]

....this week I laid some planks on the cab floor and finished off one or two other details.

 

 

 

 

I just need a fire hole door casting and a lubricator for the cab front and the cab is finished.  The last job is the boiler so I cut out a lot of formers.  I tried to repurpose as much of the Redcraft etches as possible, so I got a former and the smokebox 'floor' out of the roof etchings etc.

 

 

 

I made the skeletons for the smokeboxes and fireboxes ready for wrappers.  A much needed holiday next week and on my return we should be able to finish the boiler/firebox/smokebox assembly.....

Edited August 1, 2020 by nickd

[nickd]

...back from hols and on with the show.  I have scratch built some tank fillers, but cheated slightly and robbed the latches and hinges from some similar castings.  The bodies are made from tube and slabs of 1.0 mm brass plate turned in a drill and shaped with files.

 

 

 

 

Next I made skins for the skeletons for the smokebox boiler and firebox.

 

 

 

The wrappers for the firebox and smokeboxes were formed round a large rod and the boiler clothing in my trusty slip rollers.

 

 

 

If you put the wrapper backwards through the rollers and pre form the ends first you don't get any flat spots.

 

 

Just need to bang on and finish the boilers now......

[nickd]

....so I levelled and centred the boiler/smokebox and firebox assemblies and soldered the three sections together.  Both joins have a brass finishing strip between them, the one between the boiler and smokebox was done before the firebox was attached..  The one between boiler and firebox was easy to make by passing a 1 x 1 mm brass square rod through the rolling bars to produce a ring of the correct diameter.  The outside corner was radiused suitably.

 

The join between boiler and firebox was a lot more tricky as the firebox is egg shaped in profile so the brass finishing cover has to be gradually cut to shape.  A length of 2 x 2 mm square rod was shaped in the rolling bars to the correct diameter so that it snapped over boiler like a circlip.  The boiler band at the end of the firebox was added as a height guide and the profile of the firebox scribed in the brass ring.  This was sawed and filed and sanded (hewn) into the correct shape.

 

 

Boiler bands were added.

 

 

 

The boiler to water tank stays were another awkward little job.  Slots were cut in the boiler using a 0.7 mm drill as a slot drill (nothing to see here engineers!)  A small plate with a slot cut in it were soldered inside the boiler clothing (as that is what we model) to represent the boiler under.  A piece of waste strip was forced into the slot in the plate first to locate it in the slot in the boiler.  The waste strip was withdrawn and a tinned stay forced into both slots and soldered in place.  Awkward awkward awkward, looks ok though.

 

 

Now when the boiler is separated from the loco for paint the stays are part of the boiler.

 

Next I tackle a dozen awkward jobs to finish.........

 

 

[nickd]

.....so lots of little jobs this week but I started with fitting up the motors.  I used a Roxey moulding fold up gearbox, folded up inside out, so that the centre line of the motor is offset towards the centre line of the chassis.  The motor is a copy of a Mashima and is small enough to fit fairly snuggly.  I had to make a distance piece to stop the motor case and spur gear coming into conflicy.

 

 

 

 

It looks a bit contrived but it works!

 

 

Next I ploughed my way through some boiler details, safety valves, chimney, plate join on boiler clothing, ejector pipe and handrails.

 

 

 

I also have a pair of rather nice 3D printed smokebox doors.  thanks to Mick Davies.

 

This week's awkward job was the toolboxes.  They're in different positions on each loco and chopped into the front wheel splashers.  Quite satisfying to fabricate, but a bit time consuming.

 

 

 

 

 

The toolbox lids are subtly different too.  So there we are, I reckon a day next week will finish them off...............

[nickd]

.....so the small number of jobs to be done are now indeed done!  The locos sits waiting for domes, numbers for the bunker side and a small etching for the cab rear.  Will be off to the painters soon.

 

 

 

 

 

The dome in the last shot is now in the recycling bin!  We wait.............

[nickd]

.....just a quickie, a magnificent pair of domes arrived today from Melbourne.  I must give a massive shout-out to Frazer who made them.  Lovely.

 

I wait for etchings/plates.......

 

[nickd]

...well louvred panel in cab has arrived and is installed.  Locos test built and test run for a final time, stripped, washed and packed off to Ian Rathbone for paint.  I'm sure it'll be ready by next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nickd]

Before I went on my hols I had collected the painted models from Ian Rathbone.  So now begins the terrifying and painstaking process of putting it all together.  Ian has made a fab job of the paint so I am determined not to scratch it anywhere.

 

I began by assembling the chassis.  these have to run perfectly so a lot of care was taken to remove all the paint from the bearing surfaces.

 

 

As you can see from this YouTube clip I did manage to get it running nicely.  I had some problems with pick ups.  The springs in the plungers introduced too much resistance in the wheel rotation.  This caused the axleboxes to try and climb out of the guides, whilst being bench tested upside down, in one direction.  I stripped the 4 mm Alan Gibson plungers and fitted softer springs.  This of course caused the wires to limit the movement of the plunger.  I tried wipers, but there wasn't enough space to get a long run of phosphour bronze wire so they were too stiff too.  I eventually got the plungers to work nicely by anchoring a length of wire on a bit of PCB glued to the chassis side.

 

 

As you can see the motor is mounted on a layshaft in the ashpan and drives the crank axle via a set of watch makers gears.  DLOS helped me design the system and got one of his horologist mates to make the gears.  They have a clock style tooth pattern that is very forgiving of movement in the application.  David then built crank assemblies for me substituting one of the webs for a gear, genius!  I wish David was still alive to see the fruits of his efforts, I'm sure he would have enjoyed seeing it in action.

 

 

Then the body assembly.  The crew are Andy Stadden figures expertly painted by Evan Davies.

 

 

 

 

 

More pics here;  https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/with/51378236580/

 

I'll hopefully finish assembly early next week and crack on with the Z.

Edited August 14, 2021 by nickd

[nickd]

And here they are finished, plunger pick up issues resolved (hopefully, they really are my Kryptonite!)  The DCC stuff needs tuning up when the De Boer (Modelyard of Leeds) household is free of Coronavirus, then they can go off to their new home.

 

 

 

 

 

There's more of my awful pictures here;  https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/with/51386990652/

 

Why does every particle of dust appear like a pebble in photography?  Anyway hopefully I'll be able to post some of Ian Rathbone's studio shots when he gets the locos back.

[nickd]

Here's a few pics of the finished models taken by Ian Rathbone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are more pics here;  https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/with/51413671035/

 

Thanks to Richard Abbey, Mick Davies, Ian Rathbone, Frazer Brown and Laurie Griffin.

[Quarryscapes]

Absolutely Gorgeous! Very much in awe of these.