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The Derby Line, Four Track LNER J6


dibateg
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I have found that a black marker pen is about the only thing that seems to grip the rims, and you will need a couple of coats just like paint. Could you tell me where you acquired the works plate from ?

 

All the best, Martyn. P.S. Might see you up at Reading.

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I think the works plates are Guilplates - I shall have to ask Steve. All this painting and weathering has produced something, a mixture of Freightman and Parkside wagons:-

 

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The Black 5 has it's initial blowover of filth! Now to add the detailed weathering by brush/finger/etc to finish off...

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Looking spectacular...!

 

Those flanges are a little on the large side though :icon_winker: :lol:

 

JB.

 

LOL, I like the models, but the lining gives me the heebie-jeebies.

 

Good reason to model blue era diesels?

 

Now, why did I buy that Finney A3, the DJH Brit, the David Andrews A1........? :rolleyes:

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Lining is a nightmare Alcazar - thats why all my engines are dirty! They all sound like great kits to build. Lucky that I model the era of grime, so my Finney V2 will be dirty too.

 

One more for luck now the dry brushing is done:-

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Can't believe how good my Black Five is looking now Tony. Thanks so much. :D :) :D

There was interest in what had been done to loco before Tony's magic. Briefly;

horrible gaps around firebox outer frame filled from rear with correctly rivetted firebox lower sides.

Incorrect small cab reverser replaced with Laurie Griffin one.

sheet lead cut & glued discretely around loco so loco still balanced around centre drivers (loco tested & definitely needed extra weight).

new tender tow bar scratch built & fall plate extended to allow 4' 6 curves to be negotiated on various layouts.

loco run in for total 20 mins in each direction on rolling road.

Laurie Griffin chassis springs fitted for driving axles.

Laurie Griffin injector assembly & pipework cut, fettled & fitted behind cab steps (check photos & G.A. drawings as very different each side).

usual odd screw couplings replaced with stout Premier screw couplings that may not look pretty but stand up to heavy use well.

Guilplates plates fitted.

Wild Swan Black Five Loco Profiles were very useful as usual.

Hope this info is useful for someone.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just when I thought I'd done enough lining, it was the Ivatts turn. It takes me at least one panel before I get my eye in with the Fox transfers. This time on the suggestion of a mate ( the reverse to Fox's suggestion ) was to put the red/cream lining on first. Being wider, it keeps it's shape better than the single grey line, especially on the corners. The grey is then added the next day. Now all I have to do is wait for some warmer weather to varnish her! It takes a lot of patience and care, and it's still not perfect. It will do for a weathered engine, as mine all are in any case. It all looks a bit garish before it is weathered.

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Also passing through the works at this time is a Tower J39. An excellent model, but as usual I add my own enhancements. Proncipally, I don't like the exposed cross head screws that feature on the chassis, so the brake hanger ones were replaced with 10BA screws and tapped out 12BA nuts to suit. The frame screws were counterbored, to allow the heads to be filled. I also added 'C' washers to limit the generouse sideplay of the wheels. The lubricator drive was very chunky, I guess it has to be for R-T-R, so I replaced that with a fabrication made up from bits of 4mm 9F valve gear! There was a big spacer across the top of the frames that I cut out to make it more open there. The body is pretty perfect, but features a platform type fall plate, I think ( and I could be wrong ) that that only featured on a few loco's early on and was replaced by a conventional fall plate later. So it was cut off with a slitting disk, and a new fall plate will be made. This also allows the tender to be coupled closer to the loco. Only a few minor jobs to do to finish off, the coupling rode were replaced with premier milled ones and, the crankin bolts will be replaced with CPL crankpin nuts.

 

Early chassis work under way, also the brakes were too far from the wheels, caused by and incorrect orientation of the brake pull arm on the cross shaft being at 180 degrees, it was adjusted with a hot soldering iron to 90, which pulled everything back. The difference can also be seen in the appearance of the brake hanger fixings - left a 12BA nut, right a crosshead screw.

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Platform removed and screw heads filled:-

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The tender has roller bearings, so it rolled away from the loco, but it is definately closer!

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It's a bit nervy taking a disc cutter to a new R-T-R engine, but 64955 ( to be ) is already looking just a bit better ( if possible ) than when she arrived.

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Hi,

 

Nice changes to the J39. Now you've made me think that I should make similar changes to mine. Certainly the link for the mechanical lubricator looks much better. Be nice to see pictures when its completed (numbered and lettered and weathered if you are going to weather - I think mine may stay clean).

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Thanks Dave -

I also replaced the coupling rods with Premier milled ones and made bushes for the M2 screws out of brass tube. The crankpin for the lubricator drive appears to be silver steel, I couldnt get it out of the wheel as I guess it is superglued in, so I ground the end off and soldered the new return crank on - which I made a tight fit. It will be weathered - everything I do is! I also changed the pipe that runs under the boiler by attaching it to the frame cross spaces with spilt pins and bending it into the more 'hump back appearance that it has. MRJ 34 has a good broadside shot of a J39 in Iain Rice's 4mm article on them - which interestingly has the fixed platform fall plate. I also removed the running plate and frame spacer behind the lubricator to give the frames a more open appearance. Some of the valve gear is not there of course, but that is not too obvious from normal viewing angles.

 

Regards

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  • 2 weeks later...

Happy New Year to all RMweb people.

 

With a good number of projects waiting for decent painting weather I didn't want to start another big project, so elected over Xmas to tackle some of the many unbuilt kits in the cupboard, which after a little tidying turned out to be an embarrassing amount. The Slaters Conflat A will be easy I thought - just a flat wagon. Over 130 bits ( and I stopped counting at that point ) later, perhaps not so quick, but while I was at it I batch built another 3. The great thing about wagons is there are so many detail differences to play with. So I mixed 8 and 4 shoe van and Conflat kits parts for some variety. They will become part of my fitted train, and I toyed with the idea of putting a container in an ABS Ex LMS Medfit, But I think that will go in the engineers train and I'l use a Slaters steel open instead. I managed to get the ends the wrong way round on the red container and noticed after it had been painted, so had to rip it apart and re-assemble! D'oh! MRJ 89 has a great article on 7mm containers and Conflats.

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Plenty of gubbins underneath the Conflat A, The safety loops have been added using 0.5mm wire.

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ABS Ex LMS Medfit - a completely different type of kit to the Slaters, but with a little work is fine. I beefed up the floor with the Slaters 8 shoe brass fret after I had finished with it. Soldering it into place to the ends and sides, it sits underneath the plastic floor supplied in the kit. This adds some strength to the model. I used Parkside buffer housings instead of the white metal ones and drawing pins (for buffers!) supplied in the kit.

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Work has progressed on more wagons, sometime ago I acquired a some Freightman sides and ends for various LMS/SR wagons. In the past these have been married up to ABS underframes, but getting hold of those in quantity seems to be difficult these days. So in looking for alternatives I found Parkside underframes for the fitted GW vans would do. Maybe not entirely 100% accurate from a rivet point of view, but near enough to be ok from normal viewing distance. 1mm has to be taken off the top of the solebars, which is easy enough with a sharp craft knife. The SR roofs are also Parkside - Andrew and Richard can be very helpful in supplying various bits from their kits. These will represent LMS Diagrams D2078 ( for the SR style van ) and D2097 fo the plywood van. The roof for the LMS van was made by curling the 30thou plasticard sheet around the bars of the towel radiator in the bathroom, a good thing to do in this cold weather.

 

D2078 I shall have to deal with that gap on the right!

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D2097 Still the vac pipes and coupling to add on.

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When the weather is warm enough - I have a mountain of painting to do!

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  • 2 weeks later...

As Heyside will be in need of big tanks I decided to dig out my DJH Fairburn tank kit to suppliment the fleet. This is another rather dated DJH kit, which could be built reasonably well straight from the box, but to my eye has numerous omissions, difficulties and a just a few errors. These have been documented in BRM in the past, but the main glaring error that is often missed is that the motion bracket is placed too far back. This make the slidebars look far too long. It should be close to the first vertical line of rivets on the tank side. Correcting this will of course mean changes to the motion geometry. As Dikitriki is also building a 'Super' Fairburn, we'll cross that bridge later.

 

My first task was to clean up the frames and cut out for the FourTrack hornblocks. There were also some extra holes in the frames that needed adding.

 

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In the absence of having any drawings I need to have the body constructed, to be able to locate the new position for the motion bracket, so I followed the instructions for a change and began work on the bunker. Scale Hardware rivets were put in for the step mounts, the etching has a tiny dot that facillitates drilling, why were they not on the other side so I could use my rivet press? Griffin LMS lamp irons were added, the Brighton batches have 5 of these, Derby ones have 3 it would appear. That leads to a pretty busy bunker back. In fact the side tank etchings limit the number range to 42107-42146, 42050-42106, due to the rivet pattern. Even with this, the curved join to the cab front has to be changed to a right angle. Mine will be 42092 ( Neasden ) I think. So with still a little tidying to do and a test placing of the side sheets:-

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What I've noticed on the Ivatt kits and the Fairburn, is that a good number of the half etch fold lines are far too narrow to get a decent right angle fold. So they are widened with a knife edge file, and then scored with the back of a craft knife until you can see the bruise on the outside of the brass. Then they can be folded. So this one has yet to be widened:-

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So more to follow at some stage, lots of bits to get, Premier coupling rods, plenty of Griffin fittings, new pony and bogies, injectors andmotion from somewhere.

 

Watch this space!

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A test assembly of the front end. I'm still not sure about the cylinders/smokebox/frames/front platform relationship. There's something that I can't quite get my finger on that is not right. There's bound to be a compromise somewhere. The front frames and platform etching are a little plain so I've added some rivet detail in accordance with one of the preserved engines. Of course the arrangement might be different to when the engines were first built, but at least there is some extra detail. Lamp iron and hand holes have also been relocated, and there is still a slot to cut in the platform above the step... The running plate ahead of the tanks will need building up with a extra layer of brass sheet on the top side, not the underside as per instructions. Yes a JLTRT 40 would be easier!

 

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Dikitriki and I had a peruse of the kits to decide what needed to be done, and what extra parts we would require... a lot! But at least we know what bits we will change. Principally, the cylinders are too small - more like Ivatt class 2 in size, so they will need to be replaced, so before we acquire all the necessary chassis parts I will press on with the body.

 

I came back from the excellent Bristol show with a bag full of bits from Mr Griffin as well as a set of Premier connecting rods.

 

Some time has been spent detailing the area in front of the tanks, the oil feeds ( SansPareil I think ) and lubricators ( Griffin ) have been fitted. Oil pipes are from B&Q picture wire - it is nice and soft brass. Sheet lead has been put inside the tanks and the inner sides soldered into place and some of the top detail added. The running plate has been thickened by adding brass sheet on the top side.

The boiler has had minor detail added, there is a lot of dimples to drill out to add bolt detail. The handrails have distinctive 'stops' on the end. Somewhere on RMWeb I found how to do that, it's done by winding a strand of B&Q picture wire round the end of the handrail - soldering it and snipping off the tails. Then tidying up with a file.

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The cab door openeing needs addressing in the kit, the step at the bottom was built up with some square brass tube and scraps of etch to replace the edge on thickness of the floor. The handrails had to be shortened, I had already put them on, so off they came and were re-worked.

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A couple more sessions should see the body done, but I still havn't decided how to attach the cab roof....wires and tubes, springs? mmm

..

 

Oh Yeah - I'm using that flux as recommended by Christian from 'Building O gauge online'. It seems to work very well drawing the solder nicely and no corrosion. So how does it work? The brass stays nice and shiney, now thats magic! Excellent service too, ordered it and it came next day.

Ah well, time for bed...

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Thanks for sharing all your lovely work Dibateg, I too have been using the water based flux for few months and am about to order my second bottle.

I have noticed a slight difference in behaviour when soldering after switching from Carrs Green but once you get used to it its fine and cleaning up after a session has been as easy as running the components or loco under the tap with no ill effects and a lovely clean joint.:icon_thumbsup2:

I do find that the iron tip does get dirty quicker for which I now have a tendency to keep dipping the tip in the small amount of the water based flux I keep out while working and that seems to do the trick.

 

Darren.

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Always said id get one of these kits one day, a favourite loco (yes i do say that a lot :) ) but feeling a little bit downheartened by the points raised such as the valve gear, if it hadnt of been mentioned id have built it as per kit then would have been frustrated when I found out its wrong . so really looking forward to the additional upgrades and detailing your doing and will save this for future reference,

 

and just ordered a bottle of the flux to have a try of, a few you guys are trying it so thought itd be rude not to have a try myself :)

 

 

Mike

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and just ordered a bottle of the flux to have a try of, a few you guys are trying it so thought itd be rude not to have a try myself :)

 

 

Mike

 

 

Thanks Mike and everyone else who has said good things about the flux.

 

Didn't manage to hit the last post this afternoon but it will go out 1st class Sat morning so you should have it Monday.

 

I have not noticed it making my tips dirty but I always have a damp sponge in my iron holder and tend to wipe the tip out of habbit. I think its a great product but then I would, it's all of you that have the final say. Just wanted to say thanks.

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The cab door openeing needs addressing in the kit, the step at the bottom was built up with some square brass tube and scraps of etch to replace the edge on thickness of the floor. The handrails had to be shortened, I had already put them on, so off they came and were re-worked.

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Hi Tony

 

Fantastically quick work!

 

I think you may wish to rework the bottom of the cab doors though - see attached photo - they are rounded, not square.

 

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Cheers

 

Richard

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