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Ruston's Industrial locomotive and wagon workshop thread.


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The Drewry's frames now have the proper wheels on. It has also had a tethered test run. The jackshaft and cranks are made but have yet to be fitted. Pickups, next.

Drewrybuild-1.jpg.a82e493dd75fcbd898ea085227963195.jpg

Edited by Ruston
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Having the sides open adds to the usual problems of hiding the DCC gear, in addition to adding weight. There are now some cast whitemetal blocks between the frames, which brought the weight up to 75g. I really need it to weight at least 125g, which would make it the same as a Hornby W4 Peckett. With the running plate, made from a great slab of 1.5mm thick brass, it is now up to 101g. I have ordered some 5 thou. etched treadplate to go on this.

Drewrybuild-2.jpg.89b1599cce9fc32c38cea157174962c4.jpg

The speaker is sitting in the position of what I think is the battery box on the prototype. I hope to be able to fit a stay alive in the fuel tank, and the decoder itself will have to go in the cab. By the time it has buffer beams fitted, whitemetal buffers added, and brass air receivers, it ought to be up to the required weight and the rest of the under-bonnet space will be free for me to model the engine.

 

I'm already having second thoughts about what I have only just realised looks like Thomas The Tank Engine blue. :scratchhead:

Edited by Ruston
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The temperature in my shed has been up to 33c, today, and too hot to spend much time in there. I drew up and made the patterns for the buffer beams and milled them in the garage, where it was just a little cooler. But then I wanted to see them on the loco and braved the furnace-like heat of the shed. It didn't help that the only way to solder these massive chunks of brass together is with a blowtorch!

Drewry-003.jpg.c47b2b10b3d9ca8d0f347704f90fd7ae.jpg

The cab has a brass floor, which is glued in using epoxy. The floor is tapped 10BA and is fixed to the running plate by 4 screws. The frames are a snug fit inside the inner faces of the buffer beams but are also fastened to the running plate by two 10BA screws.

 

Current weight 119g.

 

Edited by Ruston
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2 hours ago, Sandhole said:

Why have you replaced 'The Hound' in your icon Dave.?
Good to see the origional back.:heart_mini:

I just felt like bringing Colonel Ruston back but he's gone again. Now you see him, now you don't. :lol:

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It's getting there.

 

The bonnet isn't fixed in place yet, so the gap between it and the running plate should disappear once it is.

Drewryx-002.jpg.32ff4d10b4e35510798d077e41329088.jpg

The fuel tank is in place and is open at the back to allow the stay alive to be fitted inside. All the doors that are to be fitted are now in place and the framing where the other doors should be will be made and fitted next.

 

There may soon be a 3D-printed Gardner 8L3 to go under the bonnet. I'll still have to make some of the under-bonnet details, including the exhaust and silencer.

 

Current weight: 145g.

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On 22/07/2021 at 21:37, Mol_PMB said:

I’m liking this. Potentially I would be interested in doing a similar job on an 88DS in 7mm, so keen to see how it works out. 

I've got Mike's 88DS in 7mm, but it was before N20 gearmotors were "discovered" and I built it with all the panels in place. I've wondered about doing the same but I don't think I could get the panels off now. It would be great to do an engine in 7mm as you can even put all the injector pipes on. Here's a 3VRO for a Wrightlines 33/40HP narrow gauge Ruston that I made from plastic and wire. It's a bit crude, but it was about 20 years ago.

4vro-002.jpg.707ffe53c044b5e345b8af6e12631927.jpg

 

Back to the RSH/Drewry and the DCC kit arrived, this morning. I can't simply fit it as various things have to be done and in place first. The decoder is a Zimo MX649N, which is the version with 6 pins that plug into a socket. The plug is something that I cut off some RTR loco or other. The idea is that the decoder will sit between the motor and the firewall of the cab and be under the control desk. The only visible parts of the set up should be the wires, which I will paint black. A driver figure should camouflage the motor somewhat.

 

The speaker was going to be below the fuel tank but the engine is longer than I thought and won't allow this. Instead the speaker will occupy the fuel tank space, alongside the stay alive.

Drewryx-003.jpg.df16c09a656b13fa62099c3b998262d5.jpg

The sump and lower part of the fluid flywheel casing will all have to be sanded off for the engine to sit at the correct height. This will be the normal viewing side of the loco on the layout, so I'm not even going to attempt to add injector pipes that are all on the other side! The exhaust connects to the manifold at the rear and curves back to a silencer above the engine. I'll probably try and make the cables to the starter motors and maybe a fuel line to the filters.

Edited by Ruston
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It was all going too well.

 

I got the decoder in, which was a faff as it had to be put in place and the cab then had to be screwed to the running plate. The speaker was then soldered to the speaker wires outside the cab. The stay alive went through the hole that I cut in the firewall.

Drewryz-002.jpg.91ac5caaa34d4bd8bcb91ca09d5795ac.jpg

Engine sat, but not yet fixed, in place. Brass tube elbow and solid brass bar silencer fitted. To strengthen the joint where it meets the printed manifold I drilled the manifold for about 5mm. The tube has the same amount of rod sticking out from a soldered joint, which goes into the drilled hole. Joint fixed using superglue. The silencer has had a flat milled along the top due to the thickness of the plastic bonnet top.

 

 

Drewryz-005.jpg.e7c91f90d86003bf79c936b945ba7fae.jpg

Bonnet in place, but not yet fixed.

 

I fired up the sound, which all sounded good, but as soon as it started to move the sound ceased. It sped off and I had to grab it to prevent it from smashing into the rollers on the test track. Then all the smoke escaped from the decoder. As we all know, electronic devices run on smoke and once it gets out they stop working. At least it didn't do it when everything's finished because once the bonnet is glued down it will be very difficult to get at the speaker and stay alive.

Edited by Ruston
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I seem to have dodged a bullet with that one. I took the cab off and had a look at the decoder but couldn't see anything obviously burnt. I tried it again and, again, smoke from the decoder. This time I was able to touch it and I found the heat was from the connections to the stay alive. These connections were soldered on by the supplier of the decoder.

 

I swapped the decoder for a plain non-sound one and this time it started to run and stopped, with the controller flashing up a short circuit. The decoder was swapped for a DC blanking plug and I tried it on DC. It ran but there was arcing between one of the motor wires and the running plate. It appears that when I unsoldered the original wire that was on the motor to fit the new wire from the DCC harness,, the new one was just a few thou. nearer the running plate. I don't know why a short didn't show on the controller when the sound decooder was fitted but at least I know what went wrong now.

 

It's all working again and the decoder didn't let its smoke out. It does all need re-installing but that's a job for another day now. I'm just happy that the decoder hasn't fried.

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"If it was an etched kit I would stick oversize pieces of clear packaging on the inside, but with the thick plastic walls of the cab, this will look naff. I have had to use a thick clear plastic and have had to cut and file each piece to size. It's all very hit and miss. The fact that the apertures taper in doesn't help either."

 

That's how I did it on my 04 back in the dark ages (ie, the late '80's).  It might have been from a Ferrero Rocher box.

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13 hours ago, Ruston said:

The cab roof and bonnet are just resting in place. It has had the first test run on the layout. I was a bit worried about how it would handle switches and crossings as I made an error putting the wheels on. Instead of a 14.6mm back-to-back, it ended up with 15mm. It has all gone well though. Current weight 159g.

Drewryz-008.jpg.1dc04b50ac2f4976aa7c09e29f03d041.jpg

 

The first test with a train on the hook was 10 of my Airfix minerals. These have a slab of lead in the floor, so it was quite a heavy train. It pulled the train from the fiddle yard to the scrapyard headshunt without a problem and then propelled it back. The return trip is on a slight rising gradient.

 

I tried my Bachmann 03 as a comparison, on the same train. It pulled but with a couple of slight slips, but it could not propel the train back up the line and sat unable to move, with wheels spinning. The odd thing is that I added weight to the 03, which weighs 28g more than an out of the box one. The Drewry weighs 10g less than the 03.

 

I still have to build and fit a radiator cowl before the bonnet can be fixed in place. I'm not 100% happy with the windows and may try to make another set. There were none in the kit and I am led to understand that these kits have never had windows. If it was an etched kit I would stick oversize pieces of clear packaging on the inside, but with the thick plastic walls of the cab, this will look naff. I have had to use a thick clear plastic and have had to cut and file each piece to size. It's all very hit and miss. The fact that the apertures taper in doesn't help either.

 

Other small details that I will try to get in are the pipes from the engine to the radiator, and the locomotive brake air pump and intake filter.

That looks fantastic. With the glazing I had the same issue with my Dock Authority shunter. I used the display box that one of my Oxford vehicles had come in. I think it's just a case of practice makes perfect, or I hope it will ! I use 'Glue 'n' Glaze' or similar to fix it into place as it dries clear and makes your cutting and filing look better than it really is...

 

WP_20200331_14_55_29_Pro.jpg.4c00a7f9e872ae70e4eb85635b5256c9.jpg

 

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I use a jar of Humbrol 'Clear Fix' for sticking windows.  It's probably identical in make up to all the other similar products.  I've also used it to attach the builder's plates to my Ruston 165 build.  A lot less messy than glue.

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I don't think the issue is with actually fixing, is it?

 

If you have a spare cab, maybe trace the apertures onto acetate from the inside.  I'd think, if you cut on the outside of your markings, you'd have acetate glass that fit near enough to flush.

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37 minutes ago, AlfaZagato said:

I don't think the issue is with actually fixing, is it?

 

If you have a spare cab, maybe trace the apertures onto acetate from the inside.  I'd think, if you cut on the outside of your markings, you'd have acetate glass that fit near enough to flush.

Correct. It's making the pieces and getting a good fit that's the problem. I've done it before, using the clear plastic from Oxford Diecast car boxes. I did it on the Brush, the Hibberd, and previously on my Dowlais tank engine build. It's a real faff though and I can't believe that in all the years the Airfix kit has been available, no one has made windows for them.

 

9 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said:

On the recommendation of Shawplan I used Kristal Klear for their 08 windows. It's very good, very good indeed

I'd like to see photos of that, if you can, please? In my experience with  Kristal Klear, or Glue n Glaze, the glazing is always warped due to the surface tension making it thicker toward the edges. I use it on spectacles on small steam engines as it doesn't show as much as on a large pane, on a diesel cab that has a lot of light coming through from the other side.

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14 hours ago, Ruston said:

...

I'd like to see photos of that, if you can, please? In my experience with  Kristal Klear, or Glue n Glaze, the glazing is always warped due to the surface tension making it thicker toward the edges. I use it on spectacles on small steam engines as it doesn't show as much as on a large pane, on a diesel cab that has a lot of light coming through from the other side.

Sorry Dave, don't have any photos.

The Shawplan windows are made of a particularly stiff form of plastic so I think the chances of warping are pretty negligible and I don't remember that happening. I applied the Krystal Kleer with a cocktail stick and it cures transparent. I was good deal more sparing with it that the bloke in the video!

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1 hour ago, PenrithBeacon said:

The Shawplan windows are made of a particularly stiff form of plastic so I think the chances of warping are pretty negligible and I don't remember that happening. I applied the Krystal Kleer with a cocktail stick and it cures transparent. I was good deal more sparing with it that the bloke in the video!

My mistake. I thought you meant that you use KK to actually make the windows. I didn't realise you meant only as an adhesive to hold plastic windows in place.

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