DLT's SR Locos - Lord Nelson Craftsman Kit

[gz3xzf]

8 hours ago, DLT said:

Getting started on the next job, another Maunsell Z-Class 0-8-0, from the excellent DMR kit.  I probably won't do a blow-by-blow account with this one, (famous last words) as it will be much the same as the Z I built some years ago, and detailed earlier on this thread starting here:  Z-Class, DMR Kit 

Instead I will do some general progress reports and photos, and detail anything that I do differently.  I've ordered one of Highlevel's new 1320 coreless motors, and a Loadhauler-Plus gearbox.

Cheers, Dave.

I've also been looking forward to the "Z" build, I have absolutely no need for such a locomotive on the layout I have, but they look so good. It is definitely on the list of locos I would like to have seen working and possibly even travelled on.

[mattingleycustom]

Very impressive build of a very impressive loco. One small point on the livery, shouldn't the bufferbeam numbers be shaded black not green?

 

Glenn

[DLT]

3 hours ago, mattingleycustom said:

Very impressive build of a very impressive loco. One small point on the livery, shouldn't the bufferbeam numbers be shaded black not green?

 

Glenn

Err, good question, you’ve got me there, I’ve no idea!

[mattingleycustom]

On 02/07/2020 at 11:51, DLT said:

Err, good question, you’ve got me there, I’ve no idea!

I think you'll find it was black shaded numbers for (red) bufferbeams and on the malachite green painted locos and green shaded numbers on the (black) front of the Bulleid Pacifics and on black locos ... time to get the black paint out! ... or replacement transfers.

 

Regards,

 

Glenn

[Jack P]

1 hour ago, mattingleycustom said:

I think you'll find it was black shaded numbers for (red) bufferbeams and on the malachite green painted locos and green shaded numbers on the (black) front of the Bulleid Pacifics and on black locos ... time to get the black paint out! ... or replacement transfers.

 

Regards,

 

Glenn

 

Thanks Glenn, for the longest time I thought that it was based on body colour! 

 

Is that a hard and fast rule, or was it just generally the rule? I only ask because Hornby have often made the bufferbeam numbers on black locos Green shaded.

[Graham_Muz]

15 hours ago, Jack P said:

 

Thanks Glenn, for the longest time I thought that it was based on body colour! 

 

Is that a hard and fast rule, or was it just generally the rule? I only ask because Hornby have often made the bufferbeam numbers on black locos Green shaded.

Just for clarity Buffer beam numbers were always shaded black regardless of loco main body colour.

The exception were the green shaded numbers on the front of the Bulleid pacifics as the numbers were on the black front cladding and not on  the red  buffer beam itself.

[DLT]

Moving on to the Z, I've started with the superstructure; bending up the footplate and soldering on the valences and bufferbeams, followed by the cab and tanks assembly.  The awkward bit here is bending the profile of the cab roof and then getting the cab front and rear to fit.  Took a bit of trial and error and filing, but we got there.  Generally speaking though, the fit of the parts is very good, and the footplate forms a good jig on which to assemble the cab section

I've added a couple of temporary extra cross-members to help keep everything square, and the whole things sits on the cradle I made for the previous Z project.

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

As talked about, the kit allows for teh bunker to taper, which is incorrect.  The bunker rear sheet is a complex etching, with half-etched grooves for bending, and umpteen holes for lampirons, handrails etc; so had to be kept.  Much easier to widen it than replace it!

The internal width of the bodywork is 31.8mm, the width of the bunker rear sheet is 31mm.  So 0.4 needs to be added each side, and this is exactly the thickness of the brass.  Moreover, the edges of the etch where the bunker was attached are the perfect shape!

 

 

Bending the rear sheet probably took the most amount of trial & error, complicated by the need for the double bend.  Its hard to form the second bend without straightening the first one!  Eventually I got it matching the profile of the bunker (both sides!)

 

 

Meanwhile, the extra thickness for teh bunker sides was soldered in place.  When laminating like this, I secure it with as bulldog clip or two while soldering.

 

 

Once done, I filed the edges back to match the bunker side profile, and ended up with this:  a 31mm wide bunker rear, and parallel bunker sides with a 31mm gap between them.

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

With the assembly on the footplate and on the cradle, I very carefully tack-soldered the rear sheet in place, one corner at a time, and constantly checking its position.  The piece of hardboard is to separate my finger from the hot brass while I hold it together.

 

 

Once happy with the positioning, I soldered the rest of the joins making sure there was a substantial bead on the inside, and enough on the outside to fill any gaps.

 

 

And then when filed smooth and generally cleaned up, it should look like this.

 

 

Finally a close up of the corner, showing how accurately the tapered footplate meets the bunker.  And showing what a well-designed kit this is.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by DLT

[Wilton 34041]

Hi Dave, I have one of these Zs in my stash. Please can you show us the wooden jig  you had the footplate mounted on earlier?

I noticed that the bunker sides don't follow the footplate angle, but if the bunker back was fitted on the end of sides rather than between them I think the sides parallel the footplate. Looking at prototype photos it does look like the bunker does parallel the footplate. Do the instructions make it clear?

Looking like another great build on the way.

All the best Phil.

[DLT]

Hi Phil,The bunker sides are straight, and the footplate angles in at both ends, because of the long overhang. 

The kit is designed for the bunker sides to angle inwards, and the work I have done is to keep them straight.  

Hope that clears it up!

 

Here is the jig as I first made it.  Its been hacked about to clear footsteps etc since then, and had a wider base added to make it more stable.

I do this for all my loco builds, as it ensures that the footplate remains flat while you are assembling the bodywork.

 

 

 

Cheers, Dave.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

And what it looks like now; with various corners hacked off to clear footsteps, pipework etc as it was added to the basic footplate.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by DLT

[jukebox]

On 05/07/2020 at 06:31, DLT said:

With the assembly on the footplate and on the cradle, I very carefully tack-soldered the rear sheet in place, one corner at a time, and constantly checking its position.  The piece of hardboard is to separate my finger from the hot brass while I hold it together.

 

 

 

 

A tip you may find useful if you are doing a lot of soldering: here in Oz we can get small leather "muffs" from jeweller's supply stores - cost about ‎£1 each.  They will let you apply finger pressure whilst holding the brass securely right next to the tip of the soldering iron.

 

 

 

 

I like them because they let you keep a sense of tactile pressure as you work.

 

I'm sure you would find them in the UK - if not, they also are on eBay.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

 

[DLT]

Hi Scott, I like that, I will have a search.

Thanks very much, Dave.

[Barry Ten]

I like to have a few wooden clothes pegs on my bench for soldering, both as heat barriers and as clamps for sweating together coupling rods etc.

[DLT]

11 hours ago, jukebox said:

here in Oz we can get small leather "muffs" from jeweller's supply stores - cost about ‎£1 each. 

 

Had a quick search and found these:  https://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Leather-Finger-Protector-Large-----Pack-of-5-prcode-999-0164&query=protective equipment&channel=uk#description

At Cooksongold.  Known as "finger protectors" over here, DO NOT search for "finger muff" on Google!!!

[jukebox]

That should do the trick. 

 

I bought three - stood there in the store, and figured how I might hold something, and that two may not always do the trick.  I found a shot I took a few years back holding my Duke of Gloucester tender with them:

 

 

Having said that, I only use one most of the time - it takes a little getting used to, as they do take away some of your dexterity.  But worth mastering.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[tender]

Found these on Amazon but their not cheap and come from overseas. Look the same as Scott's (Jukebox).

 

https://www.amazon.com/Large-Thumb-Guard-Adult-Male/dp/B003373VXA?ref_=ast_sto_dp

 

or you could buy rigger gloves and cut the thumb/fingers off for about £1.50

 

https://www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/p/9295945/red-rigger-gloves---single-palm---conforms-to-en-388-cat-ii-4144---ht-redrigger.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwl4v4BRDaARIsAFjATPlyRS9bdp6Quti_lYYL8I76w7-5HlPhRx8O67do0m9MvWSlWjO7gdMaAsEfEALw_wcB

 

 

 

[jukebox]

3 hours ago, tender said:

Found these on Amazon but their not cheap and come from overseas. Look the same as Scott's (Jukebox).

 

https://www.amazon.com/Large-Thumb-Guard-Adult-Male/dp/B003373VXA?ref_=ast_sto_dp

 

or you could buy rigger gloves and cut the thumb/fingers off for about £1.50

 

https://www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/p/9295945/red-rigger-gloves---single-palm---conforms-to-en-388-cat-ii-4144---ht-redrigger.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwl4v4BRDaARIsAFjATPlyRS9bdp6Quti_lYYL8I76w7-5HlPhRx8O67do0m9MvWSlWjO7gdMaAsEfEALw_wcB

 

 

 

 

One thought: The elasticated back **might** be important to holding them in place on your fingers.

 

I wouldn't rule out a local jewellery supply store for those of you in the UK.  That was how I found mine - I was buying a piercing saw and they were on display there...

 

 

[cctransuk]

10 hours ago, jukebox said:

 

One thought: The elasticated back **might** be important to holding them in place on your fingers.

 

I wouldn't rule out a local jewellery supply store for those of you in the UK.  That was how I found mine - I was buying a piercing saw and they were on display there...

 

 

 

https://www.cooksongold.com/category_select.jsp?channel=uk&query=finger

 

John Isherwood.

[hayfield]

Buy a pack of thick garden gloves and cut the finger tips off ?

[DLT]

While waiting for the motor and gearbox to arrive, I've got on with the boiler.

Normally you would have one piece of rolled etch the full length, with an overlay or two for the smokebox.  On the Z though, the smokebox is a smaller diameter, so its in two separate parts, with the smokebox sliding into the boiler barrel.  My usual recipe is to file up circular discs to solder inside the barrel to ensure its actually circular in section.  So I did this with the main barrel, and then the smokebox was done to fit.  This took quite a bit of trial and error to get the diameter right.  Starting point is the internal diameter of the boiler barrel, minus double the thickness of the various rolled etches that have to fit in (in this case three) should give you the required diameter of the smokebox discs.  This of course isn't exactly a "real world" solution, as you need room to get it all to fit in.  So the discs ended up slightly smaller.  I have described my boiler soldering method earlier, but it involves thick card wrapped around under finger-pressure to hold everything in place, and soldering a bit at a time so that the boiler (and your fingers) don't heat up too much.

Fitting the etched overlay for the smokebox was done by smearing it with Araldite Rapid, and hold everything in place by hand while it hardened.  This way you can make sure its all in the right place, hold down the edges and corners etc.

Boiler bands were added from etched strip with 145degree solder.

The semicircles in the cutaway section will be filed back to clear the motor.

 

 

And by the way, if you use the Alan Gibson set of etched boiler-bands, DON'T try and cram them back in an overcrowded drawer and expect it to shut.....

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

I've just ordered a Poppy's Woodtech 8-coupled chassis jig:  https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/156485-chassis-jigs/

And I'll let you know how I get on with it.

Cheers, Dave.

[KalKat]

Just as a point of interest, how do they (Poppy's) take payment?

 

 

Emma

[Tim Dubya]

I think you email them with your list and they email you an invoice?