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Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.


jamie92208
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27 minutes ago, Regularity said:

Obviously.

I mean, what kind of idiot would carry on looking for something after they had found it?

 

There is always that practical person who says:

"Try to remember where you last had it..."

The correct response to which is:

"If I knew where I last had it, I wouldn't have @#£&ing lost it!"

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The badger incident doesn't sound nice. They are powerful creatures. Fortunately  the sanglier( wild boar) don't come near us and we very rarely see them when driving. We see more deer around. We do however have a variety of rodents, most are harmless but I don't want them nesting in my modelling room. Outside the whip snakes (harmless to us) and various airborne predators keep their numbers down. Owls, Buzzards and Hen Harriers that our neighbours call White Kites do a good control job. The Harriers are marvellous to watch as thet quarter the fields. When picking sloes, for gin production, we usually hear the buzzards mewing.  There are badgers and foxesx around as well.

 

Jamie

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We had wild boar issues where I lived in Provance. St Raphael. Very nice but lots of wild boars and even bears, not very large bears but bears nonetheless.  Extensive scrub and forests of Mediterranean pine along with vineyards and Olives. Big ants were also a bit of an issue, colonies would have big soldier ants guarding its flanks sending out large foraging parties. Most of the workers were about the same size of ants you find in Britain but they had big soldiers who were much bigger about 10 times the size of the workers. First time I saw them I thought the soldiers belonged to a different species but they were pointed outwards and moved with the workers I'd never seen soldier ants before I thought they were all the same size but if you look hard at ants here they do have soldiers as well but the size difference isn't so pronounced. In ants in around the med the queens are much bigger as well and the difference in types of ants is much more pronounced than in British ants. 

Regards Lez.      

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On 09/10/2020 at 06:36, jamie92208 said:

The usual way to find something is to discover you need it, fail to find it then buy another. It then turns up whilst the new one is in the post.

The other way this works is the replacement arrives, and you need to put it somewhere nice and obvious for just a short time until you're ready to do the task. And the obvious place is occupied. Of the original item you bought this to replace.

... Now why couldn't I find it first time?

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A bit more work today and quite productive. I started by spending some time drilling out all the holes in the various levers and links to 0.85mm to take brass pins of which I have a stock.  Some of the links needed to be filed down at the ends to fit in the clevis's.   Then I spent nearly half an hour drilling out one of the valve glands o take the valve spindle.  This needed to be 1.4mm and I gradually opened it out using, and breaking (some) , a succession of drills.  At one point the little rascal of a casting pinged off into space and landed somewhere on a shelf of unbuilt kits with a broken drill in side it.   I managed to find it after 10 minutes at the bottom of a box with a part built 2F in it.  Anyway I then started a trial assembly of a valve linkage. This was the result.

 

The linkage is at the bottom with the bracket casting underneath the motion bracket. The errant gland is to the right on the valve spindle.   All this has to be fitted above the slide bars.  A problem emerged that with the narrow frames the slide bars are too close together for the links to fit between.  I now need to file the centre boss on the brass bracket casting to allow me to mount the valve linkages close together. I need to find at least 2mm. This photo shows the bracket a little more clearly.

PA110803_exposure.JPG.8169157be0a1179d4d7f08a370faf0b6.JPG

I was quite pleased with the progress and left it at that for the day.

PA110804.JPG.8594ffaeafe3b89691a627fe77d9651e.JPG

I plan to get all the linkages made up and mounted before soldering the bracket to the motion bracket. I have also marked up the valve chest for mounting the glands.  It's almost starting to make sense and I've had some ideas about how to secure everything so that it can be taken out as a unit,

 

Jamie

 

Edited by jamie92208
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I had a good session in the shed on Thursday evening.   I managed to assemble all the valve gear components.  The resultant dummy block looked like this.

PA160817.JPG.1cab944db9f80ec8394ae80ed4653a3f.JPG

There isn't much room between the slide bars and as you can see the nearest rocker arm won't go into place. This photo shows it a little better.

PA160818.JPG.9d251400571d8ebdd2f1ff1bd7e3ea8a.JPG

The problem is the narrowness between the inner slidebars which shows in this picture from the underside

PA160819.JPG.cf5c213e09ee6865d629458b472b12e4.JPG

I need to fit the two rocker arms and the two push rods into that narrow space and at the moment there isn't enough room.   I'm back off to the shed shortly to do battle.  A file on the heads of the brass pins will get me some room and also I can take at least 0/5 mm off eacj of the inner slide bars.

 

Once more into the breach dear friends ere will fill the wall with English dead.

 

Jamie

 

Edited by jamie92208
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Progressing well Jamie. Fettling the components so that it all lines up always takes a bit of time and effort. It'll all be worth it in the end mate.

Regards Lez.

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Thanks Lez.  I've just had 2 hours over in the shed and think that I've created enough space for everything to move. The inner upper slidebars are now only half their normal thickness for the first 10mm and everything on that side of the motion bracket just fits and moves.  The clevis's that attach to the die block are now the problem as they are in conflict but I'll probably joggle them and then try and fit everything together.  Coffee time now.

 

Jamie

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Looking nice Jamie. With regards to things pinging off the desk, I have often considered laying very powerful magnet on my ceiling, a bit like like James May did in ManLab. But the again that would also make everything else stick to the ceiling I suppose. 
 

Douglas

Edited by Florence Locomotive Works
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5 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Looking nice Jamie. With regards to things pinging off the desk, I have often considered laying very powerful magnet on my ceiling, a bit like like James may did in ManLab. But the again that would also make everything else stick to the ceiling I suppose. 
 

Douglas

 

 If I did that it would ensure that the only things pinging off would be non-ferrous.

 

Dave

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Good evening.  The planets must have been in line tonight.  I've just spent an hour and a bit over in the shed and lo and behold most of the valve gear has gone into place. The valves even move.

PA190820.JPG.b8d2ff0de03ae1830a56044de89514ba.JPG

The rocking levers are in place and I've even attached, loosely, the first die block and lifting link.  It needs a lot of cleaning up but I'm rather happy with this.

 

The apparent curve in the slidebars has been exaggerated by the lens .  

PA190821.JPG.7db945abeac568bba5252bc89eebae93.JPG

My plan is to keep this unit together and build the rest of the valve gear onto it.  I now need to get the unit installed in the frames and get them all straightened up.   However after several months of effort there is at last some light at the end of the tunnel.   It's probably a train coming the other way but things are moving.

 

Jamie

 

Edited by jamie92208
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Good morning from what may well be a temporarily sunlit village, judging by the view to the southwest of dark grey clouds.  Yesterday We had great success with French bureaucracy, in the form of making progress towards getting our post Brexit residency cards. When we got home I celebrated by heading for the shed in the evening.  

 

After the good progress the other  day I was worrying about how to fit the motion unit into the frames and then join it up with the footplate and boiler/smokebox unit.   As with most problems, I often find that it is best to have a think about it, then procrastinate for a while, before having a go.   Anyway I picked the various pieces up and tried to fit things together but with a drawing in font of me a plan formed in the porridge that is between my ears.  After I'd found the mandrel for the slitting disc I measured, marked, check, remeasured and then attacked the dummy cylinder block until most of it ended level with the frames, apart from the rear plate with the cylinder and valve guide castings on it.   This was then trial fitted and the footplate, firebox and cab assembly placed on the frames.

 

The next step was to then try to fit the boiler/smokebox unit over everything else.   Various parts of the smokebox saddle interfered with the rear plate of the cylinder block so the whole unit sat about 6mm too far forward.  Much head scratching took place, the vernier's were deployed and eventually a plan emerged.  The rear of the cylinder block was being held in place by the nylon hornblocks.  I therefore marked, etc and enlarged existing cutouts that allowed me to move the motion unit rearwards.  Measured again and removed another 3mm and hey presto when I put it back and then tried the boiler unit on everything seemed to be in the right place.

 

Thus is what it looked like on the chassis jig.

PA210823.JPG.6b30c211d2ed5f110b41cd10218b1c15.JPG

Success.  A few minor tweaks needed, but the main aim of filling the very visible void below the boiler has been achieved.  Here's a slightly different view.

PA210824.JPG.46b2d47ef04e740ee72ac46ee1283583.JPG

Overall I'm very pleased with the work.  It's been a faff but is worth the effort I think.  I still need to connect it all to the crank axle via the con rods and eccentric straps and also secure the unit into the frames.  I'm thinking of using some 12BA bolts through the frames with captive nuts inside the cylinder block.  2 each side to give registration.  There will also be a vertical 8BA bolt that goes through the cylinders and footplate and then into an existing captive nut below the smokebox.  

 

After that I worked out how to attach a die block so that it can move and that was enough for the evening.  I can really see progress to the extent that I've started the detailed research for the 0-4-4 tank kit that I inherited.

 

Jamie

 

Edited by jamie92208
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6 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

It's been a faff but is worth the effort I think.

The problem is that now you have it on this, you will notice the absence of it on the rest of your locos.

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1 hour ago, Regularity said:

The problem is that now you have it on this, you will notice the absence of it on the rest of your locos.

Yes, I doubt that I will ever build another loco without sone form of valve gear either dummy or working. I do have several castings that represent the upper slidebars and motion brackets can be fitted. The 0-4-4T thatvI'm looking at, an ancient M.S.C kit will probably have a dummy set with some additiobs to lok like the slide valves. However due to the side tanks the gaping voud isn't as visible as the 4F.

 

Jamie

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Jas Millham has moving connecting rods and cross heads, but not the valve gear. The amount of travel for Stephenson motion, except in full gear, is fairly small and barely noticeable on a model.

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Just had a good look through the 0-4-4 kit. It appears that it is from the 1833 class so a look through the reference  books and post 1907 no's 1351 to 1260 were at Manningham in 1921, presumably for the Aire Valley services. That would fit very nicely as an excursion train to Morecambe with my 5 car close coupled clerestory set. A look through both Summerson and Jenkinson and Essery, found a nice picture of 1841, which became 1359, sitting at Leeds. So 1359 it will be.

 

Jamie

Edited by jamie92208
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I normally put working inside motion in my models but the 0-4-4T got the better of me and only has dummy gear. I was operating at Guildex one year when two chaps stood watching and one said, "This chap puts working motion on his models, look out for it," or words to that effect. The 0-4-4T came past and both viewers peered at it closely. "See what I mean," asked the first. "Ah, yes," replied his mate, "Makes a lot of difference doesn't it?" I didn't have the heart to tell them that nothing moved between the frames...

 

Dave

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Good morning, it's bright and sunny here but that may not last, however progress has been made.   

 

For the last few nights I've been working to secure the cylinder block/motion plate/valve gear unit in place between the frames.  Last night I managed it.  Six 12 BA bolts now hold it in place and all the frame stretchers have been removed but the frames are still solid. After finally getting all the holes drilled, tapped and aligned I celebrated by trial fitting the crank axle.

PB010831.JPG.55f8c0d2c2f72ff868c634a7b7fd0071.JPG

As you can see I still need to cut the eccentric rods to length and solder them to their other ends that are attached to the die bocks.

PB010832.JPG.accd4bfea20c15acd7ba31ef5e945143.JPG

I had worried about how to attach the motion plate but in the end soldered a strip of scrap brass across the bottom and bent the ends in to make a bracket.  The two securing bolts can be seen here.  I need to shorten all the bolts.

 

I was able to measure up for getting the con rods cut to length so they will be fitted next.  My plan is that the whole axle motion and cylinder block assembly will be able to be removed as one unit. I now need to sort out the weigh shaft which may also end up being bolted on.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by jamie92208
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Thanks for that Lez.  The original chassis is now more of a Scatchbuilding aid rather than a kit. I think I've replaced or removed all the frame spacers now.  I've got 4 more Midland tender locos to build still. The Gibson 2P is at a similar state to how the 4F was. I'm not going to try and squeeze a crank axle plus gubbins into such narrow frames again. I'll put some dummy gear in to fill the void. The unstarted Gibson 2P will probably have new frame spacers made and working gear fitted.  The Slaters Compound will have the full working gear using the special set that Larie Griffin sells.  The 2F will probably get some dummy gear along with the 0-4-4T.  Happy days.

 

Jamie

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I picked up a 0-4-4T on ebay and it arrived today. It's part built and the chassis runs along well but it's been glued and it's 00. I mean who glues a NS chassis together? Luckily it has a complete fret as a spare and I have EM gauge axles for the romfords in stock. I'll be building the spare in EM and putting in a Mashima motor and a good gear box. It's the first step towards Tewkesbury shed so I'm very happy with it. 

Regards Lez.

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