Wright writes.....

[Headstock]

I have a bit of a soft spot for the O4/8's. 63853 was an Annesley engine in 1949, it was very much a contemporary of the two A3's seen in the post by Phil.

 

Photo taken before the addition of smoke box number plates, crew, coal and all the rest.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Headstock
typo on taken

[davidw]

31 minutes ago, Headstock said:

I have a bit of a soft spot for the O4/8's. 63853 was an Annesley engine in 1949, it was very much a contemporary of the two A3's seen in the post by Phil.

 

Photo tacken before the addition of smoke box number plates, crew, coal and all the rest.

That looks a beaut. What's the parentage.

[Michael Delamar]

I’m in the middle of building an 04/8 in 4mm and the next thing is the smoke box saddle. Just wondering how you guys have done yours? 

[robertcwp]

5 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

I know I might have to build replacement Comet chassis for Gilbert Barnatt's ailing studs of split chassis Bachmann B1s and V2s. Oh for the time! 

 

A much better solution for the B1 is to buy the Hornby one, which is a very good model. For the V2, if you want RTR, wait until the all-new Bachmann one appears, if you live that long that is...

[davidw]

14 minutes ago, robertcwp said:

A much better solution for the B1 is to buy the Hornby one, which is a very good model. For the V2, if you want RTR, wait until the all-new Bachmann one appears, if you live that long that is...

Projected RRP £220.00. Kit building looks more attractive by the day.

[robertcwp]

12 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

The mazak 'rot' and split gears on (some) Hornby locos are problems I've encountered quite frequently of late during my loco-doctoring sessions. I can't fix them. Is there a cure?

 

My rebuilt West Country Plymouth had its split gearwheel cut in half and glued back together by Brian Kirby a few years ago. It worked the last time I ran it. However, I now have some spare sets from Peters Spares so replacement is possible if the repair fails. 

 

Mazak rot is more difficult but, as noted elsewhere, there are some solutions in certain cases. I had a Royal Scot that disintegrated so completely as to be a write-off. I have kept the bits as spares as the motor still works. Hopefully someone will make replacement pony trucks and bogies for the L1. One of mine is fine but the other is not. Truth is the L1 is peripheral so the one that works is enough. The worst problems with Hornby seem to be products of around 10 years ago. It could be that the problems with the newer ones simply have not manifested themselves yet. Having said that, I have plenty of other Hornby locos that are fine. Bachmann is not immune from Mazak rot but seems much less affected. Their mechanisms are much sturdier too. 

[robertcwp]

3 minutes ago, davidw said:

Projected RRP £220.00. Kit building looks more attractive by the day.

Hence why I wrote "If you want RTR". If engine kit building is beyond you, £220 is a lot less than you would pay to have a kit built. 

[Headstock]

51 minutes ago, davidw said:

That looks a beaut. What's the parentage.

 

Thanks for the interest, it's a bit of a potpourri

 

The cab and tender are from a little engines kit, the cab side sheets were extended for and aft. New roof required as a result. Firebox shortened, I filed up my own dome and a Bradwell B1 chimney was used, cut in two and extended to the right height. An old style Hornby B17 smoke box door is mounted up front. The cab and boiler are white metal so were soldered up and made so that they can be screwed on and off the footplate.

 

The footplate is Bachmann with the following modifications. The large block between the left and right footplates and stretching their length, was cut out and dummy frames made so that you can look down and see between the boiler and the footplate. The step out over the cylinders was corrected by filing off the valance and the re-profiling the platform to the correct shape and then re inserting a new valance.

 

The Bachmann chassis was altered as follows. The cylinders were rearranged so that the piston rod lines up with the centre of the crank axle, the cylinders were also moved slightly further forwards to their correct position. The front truck was rebuilt to more reassemble the prototype, it was also shortened as Bachmann have mounted it much further forwards than the real engine, presumably to negotiate tiny curves. Rear sandbox fillers and injectors were added to the back of the chassis and frame extensions above the bogie wheels. Lots and lots of little archers rivets all over the place and my own hand made rivets on the front frame extensions above the platform, also a scratch built reverser.

 

A new chassis is under construction that will replace the Bachmann one. However, I will keep the modified pony truck and running board and possibly the cylinders.

[davidw]

3 minutes ago, robertcwp said:

Hence why I wrote "If you want RTR". If engine kit building is beyond you, £220 is a lot less than you would pay to have a kit built. 

Touché 

[robertcwp]

1 minute ago, davidw said:

Touché 

 

1 minute ago, davidw said:

Touché 

I trained with a firm that was called Touche Ross!

[micklner]

Edited April 18, 2019 by micklner

[micklner]

O4/8 using a modified Bachmann B1 body and a Bachmann LNER version of the O4 , this was built before the ROD version was available. 

 

 

How do you enter text and photos on the same post ?? Every time it keeps putting text to the right of left side of the photo!!.

[Chamby]

27 minutes ago, davidw said:

Projected RRP £220.00. Kit building looks more attractive by the day.

 

Hornby B1 early BR, currently in stock at £135

 

New version V2 available to pre-order at £187

 

At a well known retailer in Sheffield, now.  

 

But look around...  I picked up a couple of brand new Apple green Hornby B1’s for under £80 late last year.  Some still available in Hereford for £128.  Don’t be rushed, and shop around, there are excellent deals to be had, especially if you are willing to do a bit of repainting and/or re-lettering.

 

Phil.

[davidw]

6 minutes ago, micklner said:

O4/8 using a modified Bachmann B1 body and a Bachmann LNER version of the O4 , this was built before the ROD version was available. 

 

 

How do you enter text and photos on the same post ?? Every time it keeps putting text to the right of left side of the photo!!.

Thanks Mick. I'd forgotten yours. 

[Headstock]

34 minutes ago, micklner said:

O4/8 using a modified Bachmann B1 body and a Bachmann LNER version of the O4 , this was built before the ROD version was available. 

 

 

How do you enter text and photos on the same post ?? Every time it keeps putting text to the right of left side of the photo!!.

 

Evening Mick,

 

great to see your work as usual, I especially like the tender mods. I didn't go the B1 cab route, partly because I wanted the weight, the loco is on a forty wagon freight, also because the B1 spectacle plate windows are mounted to high for the lower pitch of the O4/8 boiler. A lot of the mods I've seen using the Bachmann B1 components either have the boiler pitched too high or a gap between the boiler and the spectacle plate windows, as the latter are up under the cab roof. Contrary to popular belief, the O4/8 cab was not identical to the B1, the spectacle plate windows were mounted much lower.

 

One small criticism but one for the rivet counters. You have done the rivet arrangement on the cab side as per the O1, a left hand drive engine. The O4/8 was right hand drive and had a different style of riveting to accommodate the reverser on that side. The loco was handed, so the style of riveting on the  left hand cab side sheet was a mirror image and correct for that on the right hand side of the O1 cab and vise versa.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Headstock
add vice versa

[sdmjsmith]

15 hours ago, Clem said:

Hi Matthew. As someone who is also doing  a layout based on a line running Colwick locos, I thought i'd just post a message to a fellow Colwick lover. The two O4s are looking good. Did you bash the O4/8 from B1 parts as well as the GW ROD? Also I thought I'd add a quick photo. Taken by my brother at Awsworth Junction in 1957. I was with him at the time, aged 6. You'll recognise the engine from your post... I too will be modelling this engine when I get to it, mainly due to this photo.

 

 

Clem,

 

I figured it out!

 

I used a pre-loved Bachmann B1 boiler and cab for the O4/8.

 

Thanks so much for posting the picture.  These O4s are like mongrel dogs - dirty and unkempt but really tough and hardworking.  I luv 'em!

 

Matthew

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks John,

 

It's the axles which give the trouble. The split chassis seems fine as it is, as do the motors, but the wheels on the half-axles are all over the place. Often the motion is at angles only a contortionist could achieve, and I'm incapable of fixing the darn things. 

 

I've taken the things apart and invariably the plastic 'muffs' have split. They're supposed to hold the axles together, at the right quartering but, by splitting, they fail - completely! Gluing isn't an option (not that I know of), so, perhaps, Graeme King's idea of making resin replacements might work.

 

From what I can surmise, it would appear to have nothing to do with use. Some brought to me have had hard lives (which might indicate a reason for failure), but others seem to have done no hard work at all. One brought was effectively brand new - not even run. Yet, it still fell to bits. 

 

I know I might have to build replacement Comet chassis for Gilbert Barnatt's ailing studs of split chassis Bachmann B1s and V2s. Oh for the time! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

That's exactly my experience Tony. Thanks.

[jukebox]

2 hours ago, micklner said:

O4/8 using a modified Bachmann B1 body and a Bachmann LNER version of the O4 , this was built before the ROD version was available. 

 

 

How do you enter text and photos on the same post ?? Every time it keeps putting text to the right of left side of the photo!!.

 

I had the same post composition problems at first, too Mick.

 

The way I tackle it under the new forum, is to write all my text, and leave a three line space where I want a photo.

 

Then choose and upload the photos - you'll have thumbnails at the bottom of the page.

 

Move your cursor to the middle of those three empty lines within the post, then click on the "+" in the bottom left corner of the photo thumbnail you want to use.

 

Presto - it is in position, and the text is unmolested

 

If you don't like the size/centreing, double click the photo, you can then edit its properties within the post.

 

Remember to delete any photos you don't use - or they appear at the end of the post.

 

I do miss having the ability to "preview" to check I got it right before I publish....

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Scott 

Edited April 18, 2019 by jukebox

[St Enodoc]

10 minutes ago, jukebox said:

 

I had the same post composition problems at first, too Mick.

 

The way I tackle it under the new forum, is to write all my text, and leave a three line space where I want a photo.

 

Then choose and upload the photos - you'll have thumbnails at the bottom of the page.

 

Move your cursor to the middle of those three empty lines within the post, then click on the "+" in the bottom left corner of the photo thumbnail you want to use.

 

Presto - it is in position, and the text is unmolested

 

If you don't like the size/centreing, double click the photo, you can then edit its properties within the post.

 

Remember to delete any photos you don't use - or they appear at the end of the post.

 

I do miss having the ability to "preview" to check I got it right before I publish....

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Scott 

I enter something like [1] as a placeholder for where I want each photo to go, otherwise exactly as you say Scott.

 

You can preview - there's a button second from the right on the bar at the top of the reply box (it looks like a sheet of paper with a magnifying glass)

[jukebox]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

I enter something like [1] as a placeholder for where I want each photo to go, otherwise exactly as you say Scott.

 

You can preview - there's a button second from the right on the bar at the top of the reply box (it looks like a sheet of paper with a magnifying glass)

 

 

I never noticed that preview button!  Thanks for that.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[Tony Wright]

11 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

At one time I looked into bashing Hornby models to get the 4 Carlisle machines circa 1959/60.

Sorting out donors and cross matching tenders was OK. Until I came to Flamingo, which as all readers of this column will know sported an ex A4 tender in her last years. Hornby conversions suddenly become a much more expensive option.

I have never seen a model of Humorist with the A1 style smoke deflectors to mention another odd ball machine. No doubt Tony will come up with a photo of this machine in all it's glory, real or model.

I fancy having a go at Humorist as that horse and also Sunstar were born a few miles from where I live.

Bernard

My pleasure, Bernard,

 

 

This is the occasion of HUMORIST's last overhaul at Doncaster. It has all the 'final' A3 modifications, though retains those unique, A1-style smoke deflectors. She's got an A4 boiler (which not all A3s received), AWS (only the Canal quartet were never fitted with this device), split handrail on the smokebox door (consequent on the top lamp bracket being lowered - not on all A3s), a Smith Stone speedo and electric warning flashes. The front 'plate retains the incorrect styles of '6' and '9'.

 

Though I never saw this loco (as didn't legions of southern 'spotters!), from a personal point of view those deflectors look 'clumsy', especially in comparison with the German-style fitted latterly to most other A3s (not the Canal quartet, though). Though those deflectors suited the A1s, the A3's smokebox is further forward and the relationship isn't 'right' in my view - entirely subjective, of course. 

 

I know Eric Kidd (Merlin) has made a very fine model of this loco, and I once took its picture, but that's now in BRM's archive. Perhaps Eric might show us.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[micklner]

9 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Evening Mick,

 

great to see your work as usual, I especially like the tender mods. I didn't go the B1 cab route, partly because I wanted the weight, the loco is on a forty wagon freight, also because the B1 spectacle plate windows are mounted to high for the lower pitch of the O4/8 boiler. A lot of the mods I've seen using the Bachmann B1 components either have the boiler pitched too high or a gap between the boiler and the spectacle plate windows, as the latter are up under the cab roof. Contrary to popular belief, the O4/8 cab was not identical to the B1, the spectacle plate windows were mounted much lower.

 

One small criticism but one for the rivet counters. You have done the rivet arrangement on the cab side as per the O1, a left hand drive engine. The O4/8 was right hand drive and had a different style of riveting to accommodate the reverser on that side. The loco was handed, so the style of riveting on the  left hand cab side sheet was a mirror image and correct for that on the right hand side of the O1 cab and vise versa.

Strange as I used a O4/8 photo for the Cab rivet layout . I will try and find the photo again !! Luckily after paint and muck they are barely visible now !!

[micklner]

13 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Evening Mick,

 

great to see your work as usual, I especially like the tender mods. I didn't go the B1 cab route, partly because I wanted the weight, the loco is on a forty wagon freight, also because the B1 spectacle plate windows are mounted to high for the lower pitch of the O4/8 boiler. A lot of the mods I've seen using the Bachmann B1 components either have the boiler pitched too high or a gap between the boiler and the spectacle plate windows, as the latter are up under the cab roof. Contrary to popular belief, the O4/8 cab was not identical to the B1, the spectacle plate windows were mounted much lower.

 

One small criticism but one for the rivet counters. You have done the rivet arrangement on the cab side as per the O1, a left hand drive engine. The O4/8 was right hand drive and had a different style of riveting to accommodate the reverser on that side. The loco was handed, so the style of riveting on the  left hand cab side sheet was a mirror image and correct for that on the right hand side of the O1 cab and vise versa.

These are the photos from Yeadon I based the Cab rivets on . Looks like I missed 4 vertical ones, in the centre ?

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2019 by micklner

[micklner]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

My pleasure, Bernard,

 

 

This is the occasion of HUMORIST's last overhaul at Doncaster. It has all the 'final' A3 modifications, though retains those unique, A1-style smoke deflectors. She's got an A4 boiler (which not all A3s received), AWS (only the Canal quartet were never fitted with this device), split handrail on the smokebox door (consequent on the top lamp bracket being lowered - not on all A3s), a Smith Stone speedo and electric warning flashes. The front 'plate retains the incorrect styles of '6' and '9'.

 

Though I never saw this loco (as didn't legions of southern 'spotters!), from a personal point of view those deflectors look 'clumsy', especially in comparison with the German-style fitted latterly to most other A3s (not the Canal quartet, though). Though those deflectors suited the A1s, the A3's smokebox is further forward and the relationship isn't 'right' in my view - entirely subjective, of course. 

 

I know Eric Kidd (Merlin) has made a very fine model of this loco, and I once took its picture, but that's now in BRM's archive. Perhaps Eric might show us.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

My Hornby based Humorist. Couple of rushed photos taken this morning .

 

 

 

[APOLLO]

Liverpool Exchange to Preston via Ormskirk. Some video of the last steam expresses here (from 19.36). Black 5's and mixed rakes of Mk1 Blue/Grey & maroon - 1965/6/7 The era I (try) to model.

 

 

Brit15