On the Captain's Workbench - more panniers

[Brinkly]

A very enjoyable read, Tim. I've only just come across this.  

 

Best wishes,

 

Nick

[Captain Kernow]

There's been a bit of a hiatus with this project, while I got to the bottom of some unsatisfactory running. I have the answer now, even if the answer itself is equally unsatisfactory - 

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

The new chassis having a bit of a running in session:

 

Posing with a couple of other panniers:

 

 

[hayfield]

Looking an exceptionally nice loco

[Captain Kernow]

A bit of footage of trial running taken yesterday. I haven't put the brake gear back on yet:

 

[chuffinghell]

Smooth as silk!

[Captain Kernow]

Thanks, Chris, not quite there yet, a bit more tweaking of the pick ups and probably a flywheel to be installed on the motor shaft.

 

[hayfield]

47 minutes ago, chuffinghell said:

Smooth as silk!

 Exactly what I was thinking, then I saw your post

[Captain Kernow]

I've now installed a flywheel:

 

Now that the chassis is running satisfactorily, I hope that I am now on the 'home straight'. Here's the almost completed loco:

 

Lamp irons, fire irons and buffer beam pipework, plus screw couplings have still to be added. I'll probably not add the safety valve and whistle assembly until I have restored a line of lost rivets from the cab front, just below the roof line. I may also leave them off until after painting, when I plan to install the glazing.

 

[Captain Kernow]

Ready for painting:

 

 

 

[gwrrob]

What a beauty darling.

[Captain Kernow]

38 minutes ago, gwrrob said:

What a beauty darling.

Thank you, lovely.

 

[hayfield]

Nice job you have made of that kit, splendid looking loco

[tomparryharry]

Very nice Tim. I have a couple of old 2021 kits stowed away somewhere, so just the inspiration I'll need.

[Captain Kernow]

Ready for weathering (loco body, chassis is already weathered):

 

 

 

Axle nut covers are also being fitted to the wheels.

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

Of late I've also been assisting Jack Benson with the partial construction of a DJH whitemetal kit for an L&SWR 0395 goods loco. More info here - 

 

 

[hayfield]

On 14/09/2020 at 16:02, Captain Kernow said:

Ready for weathering (loco body, chassis is already weathered):

 

 

 

Axle nut covers are also being fitted to the wheels.

 

 

 

I managed to find an unbuilt kit on eBay with an (older) etched brass chassis and a set of 16mm Romford wheels. Towards the upper end that I am happy paying for a s/h kit but still far cheaper than a new kit without wheels. Chassis started but that's all

 

As it happens I also bought another etched chassis similar size and design but with 18mm wheels. Strangely chassis built to 00 gauge, but axles are EM gauge. 

[Captain Kernow]

35 minutes ago, hayfield said:

As it happens I also bought another etched chassis similar size and design but with 18mm wheels. Strangely chassis built to 00 gauge, but axles are EM gauge. 

Don't know why chassis built to OO gauge but with EM axles, but could the 18mm wheels possibly be explained by an attempt to build the chassis for a 64XX or 74XX, as they have the same wheelbase as a 16XX?

 

[hayfield]

3 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

Don't know why chassis built to OO gauge but with EM axles, but could the 18mm wheels possibly be explained by an attempt to build the chassis for a 64XX or 74XX, as they have the same wheelbase as a 16XX?

 

 

The strange thing about EM axles with 00 gauge spacers is there are not even any axle spacers, still saved me buying EM axles and I have plenty of EM chassis spacers. Its also been adapted, as one axle in fixed bearings and has two axles with hornblocks, initially looks like twin beam, then outer hornblocks soldered up central axle has 2 sprung wires

 

Back to the size the 64/74xx are 5mm longer where as this chassis is 2 mm shorter than the 15xx chassis, it is in a Perseverance design style. Its similar to the 1804 Wills loco, the frame is silgtly too long at the front, and a tad short at the rear

[Captain Kernow]

I have now completed the planned work on the 0395 goods engine for Jack Benson and it is now ready to be handed over.

 

The chassis is a somewhat modified Comet 4F chassis (as recommended by the manufacturer of a different kit to the one used), a High Level gearbox and one of the Mashima replacement motors now sold by High Level:

 

I also built the tender chassis and matched it to the tender footplate and sideframe castings:

 

 

The loco was tested on 'Bethesda Sidings' one last time:

 

Some footage of the test running:

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

I've also been planning to do some more P4 wagons, in connection with re-starting work on Callow Lane in the near future and also for John F's (Re6/6) layout of Parkend Marsh Sidings. It's been a few years since I last did any P4 wagons, so I first of all reacquainted myself with the conversion of a Bachmann 16t mineral wagon. This one actually belongs to John and was acquired from Ebay, having already been weathered by someone else and fitted with 3-link couplings.

 

With basic RTR wagon conversions, unless I am planning on a fairly major chassis rebuilt to install springing, I tend these days to either fit internal rocker compensation or just convert the wagon rigid. In this case, I have fitted some MJT internal rocking compensation.

 

Here is the Bachmann underframe, with a hole I have cut out for the compensation unit:

 

This is the compensation unit. Note that for an open wagon like this 16t mineral, even though I've cut a hole in the underframe and the compensation unit will rest of the underside of the actual wagon floor, the ride height is still too high, so the simple thing was to just file a suitable slot in the rocker unit. This brought the ride height down to the correct level:

 

The completed compensation now fitted to the wagon:

 

 

 

 

[5050]

On 17/07/2020 at 18:19, hayfield said:

Captain

 

A stunning bit of removable brake gear, what size and type of tube and wire do you use please

Just seen this!  I use 0.8/0.45mm brass tube.  0.45mm wire is used in the frame and the brake hanger top holes drilled out to 0.8mm.  The length of the wire projection can be slightly shorter than the length of the tube to make it easier to clip in place.

[Captain Kernow]

On 17/07/2020 at 18:19, hayfield said:

Captain

 

A stunning bit of removable brake gear, what size and type of tube and wire do you use please

My apologies for not replying at the time, John.

 

To be honest, it wasn't that dissimilar from what 5050 describes, although I think I configured the tube and 0.45mm wire a little differently from him.

 

 

 

[Captain Kernow]

Recently, I've been working on some ballast hoppers in P4, which will run both on Callow Lane and also on Re6/6's Marsh Sidings.

 

I had already converted a Heljan Dogfish and a Hornby Trout a few years ago and also built a Cambrian Catfish.

 

I'm now building myself a short rake (5) of Cambrian Herring and have also recently converted another four (factory weathered) Heljan Dogfish.

 

Trout (far from home). Packed with lead underneath:

 

 

Dogfish, also not yet weathered, with a kind of loose-ish axle at one end and a single beam to provide some measure of compensation:

 

 

More to follow.

 

[Captain Kernow]

The Dogfish was a fairly early conversion to P4 for me, certainly done over 10 years ago.

 

The Heljan axles are 25mm, instead of the more usual 26mm and together with the limited space between the plastic W irons, make fitting P4 wheelsets a little more challenging than is often the case.

 

In this instance, I didn't put any brass pinpoint bearings in the Dogfish. What I did have to do, was to effectively discard the Heljan OO wheels and use Alan Gibson ones. This, however, required the AG wheelset to be initially dismantled, so that the pin point axle could be reduced in length by 1mm in the drill, using a file to create a new pin point axle. I then expoxied the wheels in place on the axle, although I haven't glued them back on for subsequent Dogfish conversions.

 

The Trout was a later conversion, shortly after the wagon was released. By this time, I was finding that wagons with sufficient weight and which sat evenly on all four wheels on a sheet of glass, could generally be trusted not to derail on the layout, so this Trout has no compensation or springing.