Jon Fitness Posted September 29, 2016 Author Share Posted September 29, 2016 Well, 10001 is now almost done. All paint and transfers back on and restored to its October 1962 condition. There's a few vac and steam pipes to fit and I'll chemically blacken the couplings once I modify them to fit and swivel side to side without twisting. There's also a missing lamp bracket to find that went "P'ting" from the jaws of my pliers during fitment and flew into the darkest recesses of my workbench Now here's a bit of an interesting conundrum; the sunshine has shown something up that doesn't really show up under indoor lighting. The green used to re-spray the end was from the same tin I used when I originally sprayed the whole loco. I opened the tin and stirred it for several minutes making sure it was mixed properly. The consistency was still as I left it many years ago, ready for spraying. I never varnished the loco when I originally painted it. The paint seemed to spray on perfectly, mostly over the original coat, yet the colour is slightly different! The only physical variable is I now use a much better air brush (an Iwata). I suppose there must be a reason but I'm wondering if a quick blow over with satin varnish may "blend" it in... I've never got round to weathering it (thankfully in this case!) as Willesden shed looked after it as a pet engine in the early 60's and kept it fairly clean. I'm sure the roof was a bit grubby though so now I've repaired it I'll give it a blast round the layout with the Stanier coaches to check no mechanical problems occurred during the tumble it took then take it home and add a bit of grot around the exhausts etc. Speaking of grot, there's a 25 here that needs numbering and weathering too! JF 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N15class Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Its not the green on the loco thats changed due to age? Nice repair job. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted September 30, 2016 Author Share Posted September 30, 2016 Its not the green on the loco thats changed due to age? Nice repair job. Possibly as it did do a few miles in the sunshine (yes we do get the odd sunny day here) round our old garden railway. For the most part it's been stored in it's box as my mate I share the layout with is not as keen on the diesels as I am! If I left it there it would mysteriously work it's way to a shelf under the layout when I wasn't there! It's possible I wasn't as careful mixing the paint the first time I sprayed it! At least I didn't have to start from scratch and completely re-new the cab as that would have really meant stripping it back to bare bones. Cheers JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 29, 2017 Author Share Posted January 29, 2017 Well, here goes..I'm attempting my first outside cylinder loco kit. It's a Scorpio GW large prairie tank. As it has been done a few times on here I won't go too deeply into it, suffice to say I'm only half way through the chassis and already thinking I've bitten off more than I can chew! So many things have to be taken into consideration, little modifications and adjustments made etc. I must have assembled/disassembled the bits 20 times so far, mainly just to clean up after soldering. Anyway, the Slaters wheels have been chemically blackened, fitted with 10 BA bolts and the crankpin bushes tapped out to fit. The front ones had to be shortened and 2 little holes drilled in the flange and a special tool made to fit the holes to tighten them up. I also counterbored the hole on the rod to sink the flange of the bush/nut into the rod. All this so the rod/pin doesn't clout the crosshead! The motor/gearbox is one of the large ones from Finescale brass and I had to make a little cradle for it to sit against. I'm not entirely sure it will fit without interfering with the cab/backhead. The spindle will have to be lopped off at the very least... It'll probably take me a while to build this chap as it will have to fit round signal building commitments... More eventually JF 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 link Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Hi Jon, All looks good from the photos, I haven't built the Scorpio kit so I can't offer any tips I'm afraid. But looking at all that hand built track work going on, a mere loco kit will be no problem for you. All the best, Martyn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted January 29, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 29, 2017 Hi Jon, You've obviously not got enough signalling commitments if you've spare time like this ... what was that .. you thought the hobby was about enjoyment? <Capt Mainwaring voice>Stupid Boy!</end voice> Hehe! Looking good mate, anyone who can do anything in brass has my admiration. That chassis looks superb. Glad you also got your 10001 sorted out after its little 'hiccup'. Rich 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 30, 2017 Author Share Posted January 30, 2017 Hi Jon, All looks good from the photos, I haven't built the Scorpio kit so I can't offer any tips I'm afraid. But looking at all that hand built track work going on, a mere loco kit will be no problem for you. All the best, Martyn. Ah, now then. Yes, I'm bashing the chassis together but the trackwork was built by the late Geoff Holt, loco scratch builder extraordinaire. It's seen far better than I'll ever manage! JF 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 30, 2017 Author Share Posted January 30, 2017 Hi Jon, You've obviously not got enough signalling commitments if you've spare time like this ... what was that .. you thought the hobby was about enjoyment? <Capt Mainwaring voice>Stupid Boy!</end voice> Hehe! Looking good mate, anyone who can do anything in brass has my admiration. That chassis looks superb. Glad you also got your 10001 sorted out after its little 'hiccup'. Rich Spare time... Wots that then? LOL! Just needed a bit of a break from signals. I'm OK now, honest! JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted January 30, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 30, 2017 Spare time... Wots that then? LOL! Just needed a bit of a break from signals. I'm OK now, honest! JF Phew! Rich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano747 Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Hi Jon Good to see you attacking a loco kit. Nice build so far! I'm sure you're aware of it, but Jazz built one recently (in about a week!) Might be some useful tips on his Workbench Forum, P29, post 706 onwards. Regards, Deano. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 PAD built one too but with many and wonderful improvements. I'm shamelessly using his superb thread as the finest of instruction manuals. I don't think I will be adding all the upgrades though. It's way too easy to double the cost of the kit with Extras! Cheers JF 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper John Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 That Peter always goes that one step further with every build wish I could follow him Jon, wish I had his skill as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted February 1, 2017 Author Share Posted February 1, 2017 Me too. His work is superb and of a standard I can only as yet dream of aspiring to! I'll be more than happy if mine runs and looks acceptably. JF 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAD Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 Me too. His work is superb and of a standard I can only as yet dream of aspiring to! I'll be more than happy if mine runs and looks acceptably. JF Hi Jon, Thanks to you and John for the kind words. The chassis is looking good so far. If you put some packing across the top of the front and rear cylinder plates before you put the wrapper on you can easily correct the profile. The square appature behind the middle drivers is plated over on both preserved examples at Didcot. I plated mine over mine but I'm not sure if this was standard across the class. Good luck with rest of the build and if I can assist with anything please let me know. I've got lots of photos taken at Didcot and will be happy to send any that might help. Cheers, Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 (edited) Nearly a year since my last update! Sadly the prairie tank has not progressed since the last pic due to other commitments., mostly involving signals. Having retired from Network Rail at the end of May I mistakenly thought I'd have more spare time.. . A move down to the Isle of Wight has provided way too many distractions (Steam Railway, bus museum etc) but I've kept my hand in (just) by building a brass wagon kit for a friend, re-motoring/gearing my L&Y Pug and building a Slaters SR bogie B van (currently working on a real one at the Steam Railway!). So, here goes and I'll try and be a little more fastidious with the updates this year...! Connoiseur kits SPV.. My L&Y pug was a little too high geared and took off like the doggy version rather than the steam version. Re-geared from 30-1 to 40-1. Much better now. A Slaters bogie B van. I'm currently (although I haven't been there for a couple of weeks) helping to repair S210 at the IOW steam railway and once done, both the real thing and the model will be in BR blue! Lovely. Happy new year and I'll try to update this a bit more regularly from now! JF Edited January 8, 2018 by Jon Fitness 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 Got some BR Blue on the Bogie B but I'm a little short on the transfers. I've used up all the useful stuff on my HMRS sheet and I'm not sure if anyone does transfers for these vehicles. Drawn a blank with Fox and Railtec so far.. ☹️ 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N15class Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 I had the same problem since I retired. I used to get 4 hours a day at the bench whilst working and looking after the kids. Now I'm lucky if I get 2 hours a day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 Tell me about it! I used to do all my browsing, RMWeb and WT updating at work between trains! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 A little Christmas project before I start on the signals again! An Ian Kirk LMS P3 brake 3rd non-corridor. I'm trying to keep this a "cheap as chips" project as I had the wheels in stock and made the buffers from scratch. A kind friend also made me a dimmable lighting board with a separate constant feed for a tail lamp. This is how far I got before signal building broke out again... More soon JF 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 I eventually got round to finishing the coach JF 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 My latest Loco finished and having a run round the garden train set. It's a mix of Premier Components chassis, Chowbent etches and JLTRT resin boiler/saddle unit. More eventually.. JF 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted October 27, 2020 Author Share Posted October 27, 2020 Well, having been a little too absorbed with the signals I've neglected my own stash of bits. Having just built a large bracket signal and an even larger structure in the offing I thought I needed a quick diversion. An Ex LMS 20ton coke hopper. I've been wanting to try this one for a while so here we go. The hopper sides and ends being prepared. Loads of rivets to punch out. No idea how many, never count them! Soldering the overlays on with the RSU. 4 sides assembled and only a fag paper off being square too! The central hopper chute seemed too narrow and slightly the wrong shape so I scratched up a slightly bigger version from scrap sheet... All the main chassis bits prepared for assembly The assembled chassis bits and a trial fit of the hopper body. A bit of care should see it balanced well and fitting snugly More soon (honest!) JF 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 The Coke Wagon turned out OK and is now painted and ready for some serious weathering.... Here it is on a running in turn! More Soon JF 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 I recently had the pleasure of test running one of the pre production engineering samples of the Ellis Clark presflo wagon on my garden railway. It has coil sprung axleboxes and ran superbly within a mixed rake of other wagons. Looking forward to these being available next year! JF 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 (edited) I decided to dip into my stash of kits to do a "Lockdown Loco" between all the signal projects This turned out to be a Mercian Fowler Dock Tank 0-6-0T. My last loco was an ex L&Y one and although this one has more Midland influences, they were built at Horwich. This is to be my first loco with Walshaert's valve gear so hopefully it'll be reliable and won't start shedding wibbly bits all over the layout when it's finished. After reading through the instructions I decided to start by modifying a few bits almost straight away. The coupling rods as supplied are jointed so I decided to take advantage of this and add beam compensation on the front two axles. The next modification was the cylinders. The whole cylinder block assembly is designed to be permanently soldered in to form part of the chassis structure. I decided I wanted the cylinder block removeable so I could build up the slidebars and valvegear without struggling to assemble all the various parts on the loco. This meant adding an extra frame stretcher across where the cylinders fit and making up some support for the slidebar/motion bracket assembly. It all worked fine but as this is a slidevalve loco with inside admission the valve gear is a bit odd. I didn't like the look of the valve crosshead so that was altered later and the modification hidden behind an etched representation of the valve crosshead guides. The clearances around the brake gear are very tight and the brake hangers, who's supports are meant to be folded and slotted into the frames actually touched the wheels! This was exacerbated by the fact that the front 2 axles can move up and down so those supports are now purely cosmetic and don't even reach the frames anymore!! At least the front faces are visible I have used an old Finescale Brass or Bachmann motorgearbox on the rear (fixed) axle and tiny plunger pickups from Alan Gibson and after basic testing it seemed to run reasonably well. After painting and re-assembly I discovered that the return cranks were way too long!! The pin for the radius rod to fit on is usually in line with the axle centreline or thereabouts and is swung off centre to provide the action of the union link which in turn can operate the valves. On this one it should lean slightly back from vertical with the big end of the connecting rod at BDC. Had I done that it would have pulled the union link back so far it would have jammed. I shortened the return crank by 1.8mm on each side and all was ok and I could set the offset correctly. Too long! Just Right! More soon JF Edited December 1, 2022 by Jon Fitness Replace missing pix. 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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