Motive power for Camden Shed

[Brocp]

Thank you Jamie: very kind. No apology needed whatsoever. I could say exactly the same about your work - the station building and the Crosti in particular.

 

 

Thanks Baz. I've worked out an easy repair for those Scot chassis, but I'm now addicted to building these Comet ones!

I could realistically build Scots, Jubs, and Pats for some years and never have too many for Camden.

 

Iain

 

With that surely an original Pat or Jubilee will be next? Haha keep up the good work mate.

 

With regards to the Scot, is it just the running plate that is lifting the body up? Since it's white metal could you heat it up enough to soften the metal to bend it straight?

[92220]

With that surely an original Pat or Jubilee will be next? Haha keep up the good work mate.

With regards to the Scot, is it just the running plate that is lifting the body up? Since it's white metal could you heat it up enough to soften the metal to bend it straight?

The running plate is straight, but the tops of the cylinders need to be pared down very slightly. The real thing is sheet metal with a valance that the cylinders fit slightly underneath, whereas this is a solid lump of running plate. Not a big issue, really, just the normal fettling of the parts of a kit, I think.

 

I've got a few things I'd like to do on the 6'9" 4-6-0 front:

Original Pat, yes for sure. Bachmann body seems a good start; Comet frames.

Another go at 46170 with Comet frames and cannibalised Hornby Scot and Pat bodies, but getting the feed pipes and smokebox right.

Short and long firebox Jubs - the latter from some sort of bashing.

Rebuilt Jub from a new Bachmann body and a Hornby Pat mated together, plus the now-standard Comet frames.

 

Iain

[Jol Wilkinson]

For flux stains, I try to use a combination of methods that everyone else recommends. Cif, scrubbing, distilled water, white wine vinegar, glass fibre brush - in a different order to that obviously. No real idea whether I'm doing it correctly. It still seems to leave all sorts of stubborn residues and I need to repeat ad nauseam.

I did get excited by the idea of an ultrasonic bath but then read that it's only any good for brass and nickel silver as it pits white metal.

Iain

Iain,

 

we are currently on holiday with friends in Portugal, one of whom is a recently retired industrial chemist, so I challenged him for an answer.

 

If using phosphoric acid flux it is probably creating lead, tin, etc. phosphate. To remove/nutralise that a caustic soda solution should work. Check this with the Head of the Science Department.

 

The late John Hayes, whose work appeared in the early MRJs, used this approach to clean/degrease his work at the end of each session. His models, before painting, were always immaculate - as they were when finished.

[jrg1]

For flux stains, I try to use a combination of methods that everyone else recommends. Cif, scrubbing, distilled water, white wine vinegar, glass fibre brush - in a different order to that obviously. No real idea whether I'm doing it correctly. It still seems to leave all sorts of stubborn residues and I need to repeat ad nauseam.

 

I did get excited by the idea of an ultrasonic bath but then read that it's only any good for brass and nickel silver as it pits white metal.

 

Iain

Thanks, Iain.  I have been using diluted alkaline solution (Bicarb of Soda), and whilst neutralising fluxes, I have to still deal with staining.  I will continue experimenting.  I have started using an ultrasonic cleaner-it seems to have little cleaning effect on WM, apart from producing some sludge residues in the tank

[jrg1]

Iain,

 

we are currently on holiday with friends in Portugal, one of whom is a recently retired industrial chemist, so I challenged him for an answer.

 

If using phosphoric acid flux it is probably creating lead, tin, etc. phosphate. To remove/nutralise that a caustic soda solution should work. Check this with the Head of the Science Department.

 

The late John Hayes, whose work appeared in the early MRJs, used this approach to clean/degrease his work at the end of each session. His models, before painting, were always immaculate - as they were when finished.

I have just noticed your post-can you advise what strength solution, and is it fit for WM?

[Jol Wilkinson]

I have just noticed your post-can you advise what strength solution, and is it fit for WM?

Suggested you try a 5 to 10 percent solution, then rinse thoroughly with clean water (no responsibility taken!).

 

With etched kits the Cif option always works for me. If adding w/m parts I usually use adhesive, but even if soldered on (Carr's 100 deg.) that approach stilll works.

[46256]

RTR chassis...probably create a whole thread if not done already...Hornby Scot chassis....hadnt read your remedy before causing major problems which has resulted in my building a whole new comet chassis..new gearbox..My major gripe with Hornby are their pick ups. For example ..their 264t chassis used on both fowler and stanier...had to fit new pick ups. My Bachmann examples seem to be better...putting this in context I have some 200 locomotives from different sources.My worst buy in terms of RTR ...Heljan Garratt currently being fitted with new chassis and motors. On a positive note great service and products from wizard ( comet) and chris at high level...and underpinning any self built models in 4mm.... markits wheels...apologies to other suppliers but these are my favoured type for any number of reasons...

 

Great models by the way and lovely to see an iconic LMS layout to rival the fantastic LNER ones such as Retford and Little Bytham, Grantham...Gresley beat...ok the list goes on....anyway alays enjoy your work best wishes brian

[92220]

Thanks for the useful help on cleaning. I will try some of

 

A bit more progress on the Scot.

 

 

 

Just struggling to get much time on it at the moment, but good news is that progress on the house is rapid: 5 weeks in and the builder is flying.

 

Iain

[92220]

A few more steps forward with 46145. I might even finish it this week, if all goes well.

 

Tender inner frames completed along with the axleboxes etc on the outer frames. If you use the correct Stanier wheels for the tender, the brake gear doesn't fit, and you also need to cut away part of the superstructure to clear the front wheels. I've made a few of these now and I'm beginning to remember these things!

 

Trimmed brake shoe alongside an original one:

 

 

Loco gradually being detailed:

 

 

 

And further: this tiny etch is for the oilbox on the near side footplate. Eventually I got it to look something like the right thing.

 

 

 

 

Having done so, of course I decided that I couldn't leave the lubricators without their copper oil pipes, so embarked on a project to find the best way to break as many 0.4 mm drill bits as possible.

 

Iain

[Jamiel]

Lovely work Iain.

Is the lubricator box etch part of the kit, or are they available separately?

 

I tried drilling through a white metal one from Comet, and jsut ended up with a 0.2 drill bit broken off inside, getting one etched with holes, even if fiddley to build would make adding the pipes a lot easier and neater.

Inspiring modelling as always.

Jamie

[92220]

Hi Jamie,

Thanks very much.

They are two different things. The oilbox is an etch as part of the kit - brass in mine but new ones may be nickel silver. It looks white metal because of my clumsy soldering! I am pretty sure it is not available separately. The lubricators are white metal and need drilling out, possibly visible in these two slightly-further-along shots

 

 

 

I’ll take a couple of closer shots of the white metal lubricators later. Hope that I might finish the whole thing apart from cleaning, painting, lining etc this evening.

 

It is so filthy that it looks like I’ve tried a different approach here - do the weathering before painting and lining. Not sure it will work.

 

Iain

[92220]

This massively unflattering closeup might make the explanation in the previous post a bit clearer:

 

 

Iain

[92220]

Apart from the cylinder drain cocks, and screw coupling, this is now ready for cleaning (again) and painting. I’m not sure how well it runs except on a shortish length of relatively straight track, but will find out in the next couple of days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added a couple more extra bits that you can see on the prototype, and which also add some strength - a bracket for the exhaust steam injector and struts for the front steps

 

It has been a very enjoyable build. Although an old version of the current kit, it went together well enough, with a few adjustments. The modifications, and hopefully some enhancements, are part of fun though.

 

A year ago, I’d basically only failed to make successfully a proper kit or set of replacement frames. Now I’ve built 3 full kits and 5 sets of Comet frames under rtr bodies, plus the start of a scratch build 2–8–2. Some of them even go quite nicely. Many thanks to everyone for their encouragement and help to acquire this now deep–seated addiction. I’m not sure there’s a cure, so I’ve got 6 more kits and 4 sets of Comet frames in the cupboard.

 

Iain

[jrg1]

Very impressed with the photograph of the Crosti class 5 on Little Bytham-can you describe the weathering, please?

[92220]

I had a wonderful day with Tony Wright and had the opportunity to give a couple of things a decent run.

 

 

 

 

Iain

[92220]

 

Very impressed with the photograph of the Crosti class 5 on Little Bytham-can you describe the weathering, please?

Thank you.

 

It’s fairly simple really, just a waft of Humbrol 33 Matt Black and 62 Matt Leather through the airbrush. More leather in the mix on the underpinnings, and mainly black in the sooty mix on top. Some dabs of satin black with thinners on the oily bits. I watched the Tim Shackleton Right Track dvd, went out and bought a basic airbrush and had a go a few years ago. I’ve a lot to learn, but even at this stage I think some weathering brings things alive.

 

The original Crosti 9Fs were filthy from the side chimneys backwards, but often not too horrific at the front, so I tried to replicate that. I felt that this was a decent base for further weathering in the future, but wanted to leave it for a while until I had a clearer idea of what that might look like. Since I do all painting and weathering outside, it is a bit of a wait until I do more.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Iain

Edited October 27, 2017 by 92220

[92220]

Next project well on the way, started as this:

 

 

Hornby body, Comet frames, gearbox, bogie, trailing truck, complete tender and detailing kit; Markits wheels, Mashima 1628, and some lead.

 

 

With all the chat about the new Hornby Princess Coronation, I’ve got a shed load of the previous version to make into something decent, which I think it does with a bit of work. To be honest, I think even the new one will be a lot better with a set of Comet frames anyway. It’s got the wrong brakes with only one shoe (which were only fitted to 46220-46225), and only the rear 2 sets at that.

 

 

 

This will stay as 46244 King George VI but in my timeframe it needs to be in Crimson Lake with LMS style lining. It was very heavily varnished so stripping was necessary.

 

 

First few steps

 

 

Frames ready for masking and painting. You can see some of the lead I’ve added before painting. I found with 46248, which was made in a similar fashion, that it needed a bit more weight than I could get in post painting, so I’m adding some more earlier.

 

Second third and fourth steps. Getting there:

 

 

 

 

 

Comet deflectors improve any Hornby Coronation, new or old. They take a bit of care to solder the strapping cleanly - and this takes me to the limit of my current soldering ability.

 

 

The tender will be painted Crimson Lake and lined before the axleboxes and sieve boxes are added. I’m reasonably pleased with how neat the ladder is.

 

Iain

[mark axlecounter]

Iain do you ever slow down lol.

Your building a new house designing a new Camden and you are now building another loco keep the pics coming buddy.

Hope you had a good Christmas.

I'm just on with the Mike edge princess kit at the mo.

 

All the best Mark

[ikks]

I had a wonderful day with Tony Wright and had the opportunity to give a couple of things a decent run.

 

 

 

 

Iain

Don't the red un's look so much better than them 'orrible green 'uns       

Sorry Tony.....wonderful layout

 

Mike

[Brocp]

Looks fantastic, as per usual, Iain. Shame you didn't keep that lovely gloss green and make her City of Chester or one of her green sisters.

 

Regarding the new Hornby model, i personally feel it isn't a massive jump forward from the older tooling, yes it is more detailed and refined, but overall, side by side, the difference is minimal. I have a model of 46256 that I'm back dating to LMS days and I'm far from impressed with it, the plastic on the tender feels quite soft compared to the older model, a light rub with very fine wet/dry started to take the rivets away. Lets just say i wasn't overly impressed with that (and i do mean a very light rub) i feel you'd have to change more of the model than the older tooling to make it look finer (ie the newer mechanical lubricators are crap) how the model bolts on to the chassis is poorly designed and apparently prone to breaking.

 

Like you, i have a large stock of the older models, both complete and just bodies, that'll keep me busy for a while. I won't be in any rush to replace them with the newer ones.

 

Makes me wish Hornby did a Princess first.

 

Hope you had a great Christmas and a happy new year mate,

 

Broc.

[cctransuk]

.... a light rub with very fine wet/dry started to take the rivets away. Lets just say i wasn't overly impressed with that (and i do mean a very light rub)...

 

Surely wet  & dry paper is intended to remove material, including plastic rivets? There wouldn't be much point in using it otherwise! Any abrasive applied to plastic will remove detail.

 

I'm not quite sure why you'd be doing that - to remove livery / markings? - but I would have thought that some form of paint stripper would have been more appropriate for that purpose.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Brocp]

Surely wet & dry paper is intended to remove material, including plastic rivets? There wouldn't be much point in using it otherwise! Any abrasive applied to plastic will remove detail.

 

I'm not quite sure why you'd be doing that - to remove livery / markings? - but I would have thought that some form of paint stripper would have been more appropriate for that purpose.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Hi John,

 

I was using it to give a very light rub over where i had taken the BR crest off with microsol, as it leaves a light shadow of the old crest. I've done it dozens of times on the older Stanier tender toolings, for Scots for example with no ill effects, none. When i say it's a light rub, it's basically a couple of passes in a concentrated area with the lightest sand paper i can find available here, maybe 5 seconds if that. Bascially from what i saw the paper that wasn't even touching the model caused it, ie, the piece that was simply resting on my hand brushed against the model. So i tried a smaller area with a soft fibre scratch brush and the same thing started to happen, so i don't think I'd want to use paint stripper on the tender body at least. As i said, the older Stanier tender tooling seems to be of thicker or at least stronger plastic, no issues ever with them like this.

[cctransuk]

Hi John,

 

I was using it to give a very light rub over where i had taken the BR crest off with microsol, as it leaves a light shadow of the old crest. I've done it dozens of times on the older Stanier tender toolings, for Scots for example with no ill effects, none. When i say it's a light rub, it's basically a couple of passes in a concentrated area with the lightest sand paper i can find available here, maybe 5 seconds if that. Bascially from what i saw the paper that wasn't even touching the model caused it, ie, the piece that was simply resting on my hand brushed against the model. So i tried a smaller area with a soft fibre scratch brush and the same thing started to happen, so i don't think I'd want to use paint stripper on the tender body at least. As i said, the older Stanier tender tooling seems to be of thicker or at least stronger plastic, no issues ever with them like this.

 

Scratch brushes and abrasive paper are, in my experience, too aggressive for removing crest 'shadows'. I would simply rub the area with a cocktail stick - assisted by a tiny touch of T-cut if (not usually) necessary.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Edited December 31, 2017 by cctransuk

[Brocp]

T cut leaves, espeically with my experience in the Australian heat, too much of the white powdery residue no matter how well you clean it. As I've already said, I have never had this issue with Hornby's older tooling, I've done at least two dozen models of the rivetted Stanier tender and never had this issue. The newer plastic is softer and more flimsy on my 46256 tender than on the older models, why i don't know.

 

Let's agree to disagree on this and let Iain speak about his models.

[Brocp]

Hi Iain, hope you are well, any updates this year mate?