DLT's SR Locos - Lord Nelson Craftsman Kit

[bigbadbadge]

Looking very nice Dave

 

Keep up the good work

Chris

[N15class]

So how is the A12 doing? I am looking forward to seeing int in lined olive :no:

[DLT]

Thanks for the prod Peter,

Sorry for the long gap, this project has stalled while I've been involved with more pressing matters, and fighting a loss of interest.

I have managed a restart, and hope to update this thread soon.

Dave.

[DLT]

I'm trying to locate some missing details from the Nu-Cast Jubilee kit; it all seems to be there except the tender toolboxes.  I've checked some of ther main kit manufacturers (DJH, PDK, SEF) for spare parts.  They all do Drummond locos, but this is an earlier Adams loco, and kits for them seem to be very thin on the ground.

Tender toolboxes are a pretty straightforward scratchbuild, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any available castings for these parts?

 

Thanks very much,

Dave.

[AndyFaulkner]

This refers back to discussion of the FINECAST W class kit back on the first few pages of this thread and issues over accuracy of the kit based on the box photo.  My father as a young man started to build a live steam model of the SR W and procured a blueprint from Southern Railway dated April 1937. He never got very far. But the drawing may be of interest.

Here are the drawing and a version with the FINECAST photo alongside. It seems to me that the main disrepancies are

1/ the FINECAST rear bogie has too short a wheelbase

2/ The chimney on the drawing is wider

3/ The FINECAST picture shows the dome and whistle too far forwards

4/ The FINECAST footplate drops in level above the cylinders in the wrong place.

 

However these discrepancies are in part evident on the box photo only, and not on the actual castings.

Comparing the castings to the drawing scaled to 4mm/ft the footplate level drop is in the right place, and so is the dome position.

The cast bogie wheel base is wrong however. It measures about 23 mm which is a mm short of the correct 6ft dimension, and I can easily believe that chimneys change shape over the years.

 

I am happy to supply a high res scan of the blueprint on request.

 

Also here is a photo of one of the early proyotypes from "British Locomotives Illustrated", by W.J. Bell, published by A & C Black of London, 1933

 

Edited August 21, 2014 by AndyFaulkner

[DLT]

Thanks very much for that Andy, I will have to take a close look.  The build was a good few years ago now and I no longer have the model.  A lot of scaling from photos was done, I wish I had had that drawing at the time!

 

I will get back to you soon.

 

Many thanks,

Dave.

[Graham_Muz]

It should also be noted the that blueprint although of SR official origin (and thankfully not a Skinley version) is of a weight diagram and not a full GA which can also sometimes lead to differences between a drawing and what was actual reality on the final build (although without much more checking of reference material I am not saying is the case in this instance).

[AndyFaulkner]

Thanks very much for that Andy, I will have to take a close look.  The build was a good few years ago now and I no longer have the model.  A lot of scaling from photos was done, I wish I had had that drawing at the time!

 

I will get back to you soon.

 

Many thanks,

Dave.

Hi Dave

I did also check the tank castings against the drawing, and they looked to have the correct height to me - of course the FINECAST patterns may have been changed. I realised while comparing the box pix with the drawing just how much perspective can deceive us unless the photo is dead side on. I am progessing very slowly in the task of completing the job my dad never finished - getting the chassis right (my first attempt) is taking a while.

Andy

[DLT]

Hi Andy, 

 

Thanks very much, I would be interested in having a full scale copy of your drawing.  I will pm you with my contact details.

Perspective can indeed fool you considerably; a lot of very careful scaling from photographs was done while trying to compensate for perspective distortion.

I would be interested in following your construction of this kit, will you be describing it on the forum?

 

If I was starting again I would use (and recomend) the more recently released PDK kit (photo from PDK website)

 

 

PDK Models are at:  http://www.pdkmodels.co.uk/

 

All the best,

Dave.

Edited September 3, 2014 by DLT

[DLT]

Getting back to the Jubilee, progress has been made lately.  Body detailing such as handrails, boiler fittings, reversing rod, sandbox rods etc are appearing.

I filed the rather massive boiler bands away and used some pressfix lining to represent them, covering them with a coat of primer.

So at least its starting to look like a loco now.

 

 

 

 

 

I drew a blank trying to find castings for the Adams tender toolboxes, so I've made some from 1/4inch square brass rod filed to shape, with lids & hinges soldered in place.

They wont be dimensionally accurate, but at least they look the part.

 

 

 

 

 

Thats all for now,

Cheers, Dave.

Edited September 4, 2022 by DLT

[aplinewalker]

Hi Dave ,,, Just been looking at your Loco modelling, im no expert obviously but I can recognize superb craftsmanship and countless hours of patience work when I see it, I would love to have a go at proper loco model engineering,,,,

there must a huge personal satisfaction when you achieve and finish some of the above. Totally Inspiring. incredible work.      

[DLT]

Hi Dave ,,, Just been looking at your Loco modelling, im no expert obviously but I can recognize superb craftsmanship and countless hours of patience work when I see it, I would love to have a go at proper loco model engineering,,,,

there must a huge personal satisfaction when you achieve and finish some of the above. Totally Inspiring. incredible work.      

Thanks very much Alan, and you are quite right, there is an imense amount of satisfaction involved.  I really enjoy kitbuilding (apart from the occasional frustrations) although I rarely build anything exactly as the designer intended.

I sometimes look back and and think "Did I really make that?"

Thanks again,

Dave.

[DLT]

Another of my sporadic updates:

Construction ios pretty much finished on the Jubilee and I've started painting.  Southern black is the general intention, and final assembly will take place once most of the painting is done.

 

This loco will be for sale, as I have no real use for it myself.  |Its a loco I have greatly admired and wanted to build a model of, and the kit came from the modelling clearout of a late freind who had been a long influence on my modelling.

If anyone is interested in it please PM me.

 

 

 

 

 

All the best,

Dave.

Edited September 4, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

Painted overall matt-black with a Halfords spraycan, it now awaits all the pre-prepared detail parts to be fitted, and the non-black bits (buffer beams, cab interior) to be painted

 

 

 

Cheers, Dave.

Edited September 4, 2022 by DLT

[two tone green]

That is very nice. Well done.

[DLT]

Heres a few photos of the Jubilee with some boiler fittings in place, buffer beams painted etc.  This is the bit that always seems to take the longest; finishing off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by DLT

[N15class]

This very nice, it is making me think I ought to get the castings for mine from Slaters.

[DLT]

The plan is to finish it as No.636 with sunshine-lettering, as per the photo (taken at Eastleigh) on page 161 of the Russell Southern Locos book.

I might replace the Romford vaccuum pipe with a cast-brass Branchlines version, and add steam-heat pipes as in the photo.

 

As I said earlier, this loco is for sale; theres an advert in the Classifieds section.

 

Cheers, Dave

[DLT]

At long last the Jubilee appears to be finished: Lettered and numbered and a lightish weathering coat applied, just enough to make it look "lived in" and get rid of the unatural blackness of it all.

There will always be more to be added, further details, more weathering etc, but for now I think its ready for delivery to it's new Home Shed, Fisherton Sarum.

Of course the blown-up photos exagerate the limitations of the old whitemetal castings, and show a dodgy gap or two, but I assure this doesnt show at normal size.

What do you think Graham, does she look acceptable?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Dave.

Edited September 4, 2022 by DLT

[Graham_Muz]

Hi Dave

 

She looks great to me and will make a valued and welcome addition to the fleet on Fisherton Sarum. 652 was a Salisbury based engine until her eventual withdrawal.

[DLT]

Still a couple of finishing touches needed, I've come accross a slight issue with the tender drawbar that needs a mod, but I think thats all.

So theres no couplings, crew in the cab, or coal in the tender.  Theres a slot in the front bufferbeam for a screw-link coupling, and a mounting point under the tender rear.

So to all intents and purposes I guess its finished! 

 

The cab interior is a bit sparse, I've added the (few) bits that were included in the kit, but havent found an Adams backhead kit/casting anywhere (or any information).  There seem to be very few kits of Adams locos around, which is suprising considering their graceful, elegant design.  The only ones I can think of are the PDK Radial and the SEFinecast 02. 

I suppose that as the later Drummond designs lasted longer, most of them well into BR days, they made a better commercial proposition for kit designers.

 

Cheers, Dave.

[Horsetan]

.....There seem to be very few kits of Adams locos around....

Even fewer since Martin Finney wound down.

 

I think there's Peter K as well, but getting anything out of that source seems to involve a wait measured in years (almost reaching Brimalm standards) if past anecdotes are anything to go by.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Horsetan

[DLT]

What was intended as a final test run before dispatch revealed a pick-up problem in the form of a broken solder join on the tender drawbar.  

This was quickly remedied but while the loco was inverted I took some more photos, this one showing the drawbar (made from circuitboard) and the arrangement of wires between loco and tender pickups.

 

 

At the same time I decided to add jumper terminals to the pickup plates, to give a location to clip on jump-leads.  With the other end of the leads clipped to the rails or controller output, this allows the loco to be powered up while inverted for wheel cleaning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

While the camera was powered up, I couldnt resist some more photos of the loco posed on the layout.  

This time from the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by DLT

[Ian Kirk]

Hi,

A lovely job.  Nice to see one of these old style kits still getting built. Let alone to such a good "modern" standard.

 

Longer ago than I care to think I did some sub-contract work for Nu Cast.  I don't know who built the original brass patterns for this one but I did have it in my workshop at one time for repair/refurbishment before it was re-moulded for another run. Bill Stott who owned the range always wanted the patterns made thinner (so that the castings cost less) so some of the things you found to have inconsistent thickness may have been my fault! It had a horrible cast block chassis at this time although the etched rods etc. were I think quite good. When I built one for a customer I milled out my own mainframes but used the etched rods. Nothing like as good as the super chassis you built but probably not bad for the time.

 

best wishes,

 

Ian