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Highland Bodgery


uax6
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As 4-4-0T are notoriously difficult to balance, and I want 15050 to be able to pull <something>, I looked at places in the frames where i can put lead. As the gearbox is on the frot axle, I made up a block of lead from flashing and shaped it to fit from the rear of the gearbox, over the rear axle, and into the ashpan. Note that I have also added sandboxes and painted the frames black:

SAM_7951.JPG.3c372fb80c5bc69e9d9fb699ccf00a54.JPGSAM_7952.JPG.1c7320e69ace54ee85b8e8401a36e639.JPGSAM_7953.JPG.d1d089f4f07df462a57b2d625a1a8f43.JPGSAM_7954.JPG.adf422bfc50c552de16dac2d65fc4eb9.JPGSAM_7955.JPG.9d4a199fb727d492cb1cba2565041772.JPG

 

Again as such a small loco needs to have as good electrical pick-up as possible I needed to add pick-ups to the bogie. As a matter of course I always replace one side's insulation with shorting bushes, so that the axle is live to one side, which means when it is running in a metal frame, the chassis becomes live too. The other side I add phosphor-bronze pick-ups too. I mounted them on a bit of plasticard with the aid of araldite:

SAM_7956.JPG.9d933196a5ee97d9535cde25e61d4078.JPG

 

Pick-ups added underneath the drivers, the coils aren't the neatest, but they give a bit of spring:

SAM_7957.JPG.35e30fc57fddfb428435d735b724327d.JPG

 

Again, to help the balance, lead was added to the fronts of the tanks and inside the smokebox. There's not masses of room there though:

SAM_7959.JPG.02667df5dfbf6b951a93de4d2a60dce4.JPG

 

It was about this point that I realised that the motor I had originally chosen for her wasn't man enough, so a Mashima can was used instead:

SAM_7960.JPG.f615e6238e1985826bc7d3f8c7d99d98.JPG

 

Andy G

 

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She has some really distinctive break gear, so I thought I'd have a go. The two break cylinders are the ends off a 3amp fuse (blown, I'm too tight to waste a new one!), wire handrail wire soldered into them to make the pull rods:

SAM_7964.JPG.e0b513325f6108645dc3f10f680e1594.JPGSAM_7965.JPG.97ed6329de74b08822fa80912c0a1970.JPGSAM_7966.JPG.702d6fc52b3f6a51f7de5dba3cbb64f4.JPGSAM_7967.JPG.7522e9160721632839ce23f771be68c2.JPG

 

It does restrict the bogie play, and I think its the one thing I'm not really happy with so far, but we'll see what the long turn effects are, it may all get thrown away! The break shoes for the loco are drawn on the computer and cut out with the cutter again.

 

With such an open cab, I decided that it really needed something to fill it, so the floor was laid (scribed plasticard):

SAM_7970.JPG.aef8c279342e449c710e7ee0e855c982.JPG

And then the space at the bottom of the cab was filled in:

SAM_7971.JPG.143a911aa9a277028f6fc04c13262abd.JPG

 

Then a piece of 40 thou was cut to the boiler shape:

SAM_7972.JPG.a8ae0ac3cf1a6e94eedc0fb8eff9a0c5.JPG

And then some fittings made up. I can remember that the hand break wheel was a pest to solder, and it also looks like I made up the regulator handle too, although I have no recollection doing so!

SAM_7974.JPG.4cc0dc224b5f82c584623c5771a9442c.JPG

A locker was also made for the corner:

SAM_7976.JPG.d6871d5eac90dab84ea342e79c51bda6.JPG

 

That would appear to be as far as I have got with this build. The cab roof is probably the only major thing left to make, its a difficult shape to make as its a very low dome. I think it will be a lamination of plasticard carved to shape. Then it will be a case of filling and adding handrails before painting... Full LMS red.

 

Andy

Edit: And bufferbeams, don't forget the bufferbeams!

Edited by uax6
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Lets go back a bit for our nice update. Back to the Barney of before.

Now those that have been following this catalogue of slicing and dicing will remember that I started off with the venerable BEC 700 kit. When Hornby introduced their RTR version, ebay came awash with these kit built ones. So I kept an eye on them and bought cheapie ones. I wasn't that fussed what they looked like, just as long as they were complete. I seem to have acquired about half a dozen of them. Now two have been built with solder, so these will become Jumbos (the LMS were happy to mix stuff from the Caley with the Highland, so thats no great problem for me either). The other four or five will all become Barneys over time. 

 

I had got to the basic stage of having the main parts, with fittings balanced on top:

image.png.fdfaaac6b5f8f02531fb2fb02fb6fe7c.png

 

The next job was to sort the plastic fillers around the cab cut-out:

DSC07988.JPG.be5aac51f740aae6ca2f58f8bfe473cd.JPG

DSC07164.JPG.6902fce15ef70bed595b48ec39f215e6.JPG

 

You will note that the triang chassis (for the BEC kit is designed around this venerable chassis with its odd wheelbase) has been modified to give a bit of a frame shape. I'm keeping the incorrect wheelbase, as it matches the splashers, and only those in the know will notice (and all you lot too!).

I was going to use the same style mode for this chassis as I did for the Caley Tank, ie drive on the rear axle and spring the front, but thought I'd try the next step and go for compensation on the leading two axles. So the chassis was opened out (using  a large drill bit, and files) to give me this:

DSC07167.JPG.37898b0c9a66c02cb49f30b833fff583.JPG

As you can see the X04 lump has been removed, and the hole made to fit a branchlines 8mm wide 2-stage 50:1 gearbox. This gearbox will actually fit in the normal place around the central axle in these chassis.

DSC07168.JPG.2c85b2f380677cf593013479a21c576d.JPG

 

The front frame shape was marked out and then filed to shape. The leading axle hole here has been elongated in its north south direction, to allow some swing of the axle. As I'm using romfords, the fat romford axle is required for these holes.

DSC07169.JPG.bf54171d074a46a6f5029e0c56b37e23.JPG

 

To try front end compensation I cut a slot along the mid line of the chassis, about 2 mm wide. I can't for the life of me remember how I did it, but I think I used two blades in a hacksaw, so getting double the cut. I then made a compensation beam up. A length of rail had a romford spacing bush soldered to its mid point. This was then measured to see where the fulcrum point needed to be. I needed to get the axles level with the beam level, with the pivot on the top of the beam (so the soldered joint was under compression). The chassis was then drilled side to side to take a bit of brass rod the same thickness as a romford crankpin. The set up looked like this:

DSC07940.JPG.0616d266ccb4c92436a6c0a5048b4961.JPG

 

It seems to work:

DSC07943.JPG.73f096ee94c38992c5b4e546be7ff5d4.JPG

 

The footplate was then tried on the chassis, to check clearances all round:

DSC07962.JPG.674382722eeb2abc444df1e2ddd1c0d6.JPGDSC07961.JPG.f4a27983c548305cd81a2338d25322c7.JPG

 

The Barneys have wingplates, which were made from 10 thou, the piano front I think was a Hornby T9 one:

DSC07986.JPG.7cb80e3766c43d6d4e955e9a127c834c.JPG

 

Andy g

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As I have a few of these barneys on the go (well at present its more like stop), and i hate having all my locos look the same, I decided i wanted to have one of the water-tube versions. To that end I made up some water tube end boxes out of laminated plasticard:

DSC07989.JPG.4ae654a35faed13df00a769562a377cb.JPG

 

To take the shape of the firebox they were an odd shape on the back:

DSC07990.JPG.ec80b3e7a231c6920f9ae7c4b3902a7e.JPG

 

And put in place on the firebox:

DSC07991.JPG.7fdabf7076c4fb4c629dc1cbc0ad37bf.JPG

DSC07992.JPG.15a5e2ba8e04622af092f386edb8b7ea.JPG

The 'normal' Barney at the rear:

DSC07994.JPG.cb0ecc62bd1bce70ac6292c4c0b73aca.JPG

DSC07995.JPG.9e4d9047d3b6f9dd6decd69635b4a736.JPG

 

My biggest bug-bear with the BEC kit is the shape of the roof, for some reason it just doesn't look right on the Barney at the rear of the shot. It looks to have a very high forehead! To that end the water tube one was filed down, but I made a template up to try and get them all the same:

DSC07996.JPG.15f94b866a07eeca8dbbeddcb8c58831.JPG

This view shows how much I took off:

DSC07997.JPG.e57065fd9d2dfb13ee1a83ca47e8d09b.JPG

 

In typical fashion I then got bored and started on one of the soldered 700's to make it a 812 jumbo. Here she is just after having the ended smokebox cut off, that odd little box at the bottom of the firebox removed and the cab roof filed down:

DSC08002.JPG.d483eebcb6cdf1ac445a5bc9ab5ba632.JPG

 

Filler (chemical metal was my filler of choice at this time) was applied across all the holes:

DSC08005.JPG.9408a1de4de1b9c25fb3705d8b3f4478.JPG

And then sanded down. I have removed the boiler bands, as they are in different places on the 812. I often have a play with plonking on the boiler fittings to see what the end product will look like:

DSC08006.JPG.fcdc2e6038913104e436dc25420e211a.JPG

DSC08007.JPG.22d5c7c7fca5aa7a7a9f8a231b65c6e9.JPG

DSC08008.JPG.950285e98c1d6a2bebba7130981903fb.JPG

DSC08009.JPG.070542b1571722e2717115e76d225620.JPG

 

Sadly I have no idea where these came from, so when I do my second I'm going to work it out!

Boiler bands were then added. So that I keep them similar to the Barneys I have used 10thou strip, and look etched spectacle plates have been added too:

DSC08013.JPG.285a6297e979e83204440da64bcea423.JPGDSC08015.JPG.d0c26404a801cdcd902b21b261124831.JPG

 

The front wingplate was then added, cut to fit around the piano lid so that the rougth dimensions can be worked out:

DSC08017.JPG.494198a6ee11d7f2662fb992cac030df.JPG

And then trimmed back to shape:

DSC08020.JPG.861462a0e076108042f1104c01e31be1.JPG

The cab area around the roof was next for playing with. A bead added to the front and the top of the cab side sheet cut-out added:

DSC08022.JPG.497f31d835856e9e0bb5d54a077718fc.JPG

DSC08023.JPG.eab359281dc72c35294f9271648b4ad0.JPG

 

And thats as far as I've got with them.

 

Andy G

 

 

 

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These really are old school bodgings really, not exactly fine scale by any lengths, but give a result that is all mine.

To keep on with never finished projects the next one will be a DJH Loch. I've got two unstarted kits, and this made up one:

SAM_7989.JPG.fadb4c37c3536c6add12164c4ca084a8.JPG

 

A lucky job lot purchase via Ebay (I bought this Loch, a Castle, a Big Goods and a 16xx pannier tank) from someone who recognised my uax6 handle. He had bought them with the intention of fixing them up, but never quite got round to it. I've got much further down the line than that for once though! As can bee seen although she is together, she's a bit rough around the edges, and is missing a cylinder on this side. The parts were all in the box fortunately. The wheels are those lovely K's with the D register and when she arrived it was obvious that this register had been lost as she would move and then lock up. So a new set of wheels would be required at the very least, but all very savable.

 

Andy G

Edited by uax6
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3 hours ago, uax6 said:

These really are old school bodgings really, not exactly fine scale by any lengths, but give a result that is all mine.

To keep on with never finished projects the next one will be a DJH Loch. I've got two unstarted kits, and this made up one:

SAM_7989.JPG.fadb4c37c3536c6add12164c4ca084a8.JPG

 

A lucky job lot purchase via Ebay, from someone who recognised my uax6 handle. He had bought them with the intention of fixing them up, but never quite got round to it. I've got much further down the line than that for once though! 

 

Andy G

 

I thought I recognised that old girl! Glad they are now all safely in your hands and that some tlc is imminent. Looking forward to seeing the results. 

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No pressure then!

 

Anyway lets have a bit of a look at how she was when she arrived. You've seen the general look, so here's the chassis:

SAM_7992.JPG.7a6a863b7f68dd4464135eda5ec3844b.JPG

 

Look how far out those cylinders live, not very pleasing. The slide-bar arrangements:

SAM_7993.JPG.0454e92832461b155548daeb4c305be3.JPG

 

The underside of the tender: Nothing is quite square here:

SAM_7997.JPG.25f92d748f9e0b6430fd31fb395dbf86.JPG

 

The first thing I looked at was the coupling rods. These had been filed out to a very sloppy fit, which doesn't do much for good running:

SAM_8023.JPG.2293d6703a7c512912445c77e2f47b12.JPG

 

So a romford crankpin washer is the cure!

SAM_8025.JPG.16eb3d762d338d01e6218b66d2acdcca.JPG

 

Now I forgot to take a photo of the next step, but I dislike having frames that are held together with just screwed spacers, they can work loose and then poor running appears. So I put all three in, line them up on a Poppy's jig, and then solder them in place on the inside of the frames. I then take the screws out and fill the ends with solder too. A very strongly held set of frames result. With the jig axles still in the frames, the coupling rods were slipped on and then cranpin washers was soldered at each end:

SAM_8026.JPG.404d4530decb2a52a180b01ec199f8d8.JPGSAM_8027.JPG.bfbed9ce7c805c869310ab28a7892bbb.JPG

 

You can see the offsettedness of then holes here:

SAM_8028.JPG.7a2be1bb736815ea32f676fca41fd2f0.JPG

 

The con rods were dealt with the same way. Tin the rods first:

SAM_8030.JPG.66aa9a21c8178b89ee7d162537df0d03.JPG

 

Then add the washers and sweat together. You must clean the washers up first, I file them.

SAM_8031.JPG.345e08404e0f0f8ec0f3cbb670e58134.JPG

 

The cylinder that was detached was looked at next:

SAM_8032.JPG.cc882e672d2272873eb853e41e87ef20.JPG

You can see that the slide bars are odd lengths, and are not really held in place by anything. Here you can see the results of my first ever w/metal soldering. I've soldered the slidebars into position into the cylinder, and there is no way that they are going to move now! You can also see that I've soldered the crosshead nut to the bolt holding the con-rod to the piston rod:

SAM_8033.JPG.2a37842e63ea1f5ce8fc98e4d41f416a.JPG

 

Having decided that I want the cylinders at a more realistic spacing I trimmed the mounting tails down on this cylinder and tried it until I was happy that it was about right. Its still a bit wider than it should be, but in this image you can see how much closer it really is:SAM_8034.JPG.d956f8b51d5ea9547a1e37ef4f843f6b.JPG

 These three photos show how the new arrangement looks:

SAM_8035.JPG.45c49fdd20413790a7275090124717e5.JPG

SAM_8036.JPG.0b5cf66033d07ae89203ba94f9601703.JPG

SAM_8037.JPG.f1c1e40231ee55855e6b7982d7f80e82.JPG

 

I have decided to try and standardise on Branchlines gearboxes and Mashima can and flywheels. So a 50:1 two stage gearbox was built up and hung on the leading axle (note the soldered up ends to the frame spacers, that still need filing down). To get it to fit, it was somewhat butchered, removing all sorts of bits of spare etch until it fitted:SAM_8038.JPG.6a0950c6d768dfe22f8efb3bf0915618.JPG

 

Putting Romford drivers on and then the body back on I then had to make a decision on the leading bogie, as the wheelbase wasn't quite right, and I wondered if I could get a few more fractions of a mm clearance. Here she is with a Sutherland HR 0-6-4T bogie and wheels:

SAM_8050.JPG.92b45c7417b349e39edf4e760a2f4c32.JPG

 

With the original bogie (and horrible jackson wheels!):

SAM_8055.JPG.cae253ec6d219fd40461a927081477d8.JPG

And with the better Romford wheels:

SAM_8056.JPG.c2e92181441f807abc51f90f81f12d0c.JPG

 

The two bogies difference in length is seen here:

SAM_8062.JPG.17450f2e8c597b94774abf85e903b292.JPG

 

But in the end I decided that I'd go with the original bogie with the romford wheels. Its a bit tighter on swing, but clears the front guard irons of the kit!

 

Andy G

 

 

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I was musing over the loch  I saw on ebay yonks ago - perhaps this is the one so good for you. 

 

Yesterday I mused more on the news that Dapol/ NRM/rails D project 

https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/rails-of-sheffield-locomotion-models-and-Dapol-team-up-to-release-wain/

The tender is small but has speaker and pickup, and the loco has a 9 foot coupled wheelbase and wheels at 6 foot something.  I wondered if this might fit some of the HR 4-4-0s over the years Or certainly provide  a base for a near(ly) conversion. - I will have to look in the HR loco books in the new year! 

 

I look forward to the Loch  et al as I have a rainy day gloat box of HR locos...  

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I'm sure that chassis would be ideal for no end of Scottish 4-4-0 locos and it says it comes in at under £200 but if the upcoming Caley 812 class is anything to go by that will be £199 then! Or better still let's see the price at its launch.

  Perhaps if enough of us get together and contact Bachmann they will sell a chassis only on its own (dream on)

 

  Anyway keep up the good work Andy I'm very much enjoying the thread.

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I have to say that I wonder actually how much use the D will actually be. The big problem to pre-grouping modellers is the requirement to have the boiler low pitched, so meaning the motor has to be low down, and for the early HR designs it'll probably still be too high, and the later ones, well the T9 can be used... I'm also wary how well the thing will run, some of Dapols locos aren't great runners.  I think that it might be better off being used for G&SWR locos...

And for the cost to butcher, well its miles beyond me!

 

Andy G

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I think your right Andy even as it stands that D has a very strong G&SWR look about it, I would say its the splashers

 If you changed the dome for safety valves new Sterling style cab and some smoke box wing plates and you've already got a very passable G&SWR Smellie 153 class in pretty much as built condition.

 

  But as always its down to the price as no one is going to be mad enough to butcher a £200 rtr model to make a near scale only loco.

   Well maybe Ben Alder he's nutty enough (In a nice way Richard) to chop up a brand new loco to get what he wants lol

 

 Quick look at a G&SWR 153 class

20191205_185527.jpg

Edited by Londontram
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Getting back to the Loch, The chassis is very plain as supplied and although I may not add brake gear (I may, I haven't got that far yet!) I certainly need to add the massive equalisation beam seen here: (picture from Am Baile)

image.png.e5821f946be916bef5294be158299ccc.png

 

The frames (upside down here and out of focus):

SAM_8092.JPG.9279a96bd555c8007ab1613e69b2ddd5.JPG

 

The beams and brackets cut out of 10thou plasticard:

SAM_8095.JPG.6c381dd1fd78ceb21b02f5e11b28acf5.JPG

 

And assembled onto the frames:

SAM_8096.JPG.0b5f700bcefcbd5f067a0be76d29e494.JPG

SAM_8100.JPG.ce682a8ad6dc6812828f4748251c46e6.JPG

 

Ok there is no representation of springs and its all a bit basic, but add wheelsets into the mix, and even with them in white they don't show up much behind the spokes:

SAM_8101.JPG.4c617b789c5748424843ff301d367a6a.JPG

 

The wheels I'm using here are actually Scalelink ones and they are only available as insulated. So to make one side live (I'm old fashioned like that!) they do copper shorting strips that fit on the axle end and then press against the tyre:

SAM_8103.JPG.c58c47325a361815aaf726f89b84f989.JPG

 

Predictably, I got bored with the chassis at this point, and then moved onto the body (I find I need to move to a different problem to allow 'mulling' time). It had been quite poorly put together, so it was taken apart carefully (it was glued which helped) and then I looked at bits to do. The first bits to get attention were the splashers. These had been carved through to get clearance for the rods and then poorly filled again. I first removed the filler, leaving the hole:

SAM_8104.JPG.0a83dc470dbfb541e2ad477eaac9992a.JPG

 

And then cleaned up and got the soldering iron out. Using 9% flux and 70* w/metal solder and guesswork, I set about to do some filling. It actually went surprisingly well, and i found i had both sides filled quite nicely, and when filed back the result was this:

SAM_8106.JPG.e07572eb276584b7a4035aac846bd1ec.JPG

SAM_8107.JPG.bede33a69860fbbeda7ee7d0709f757e.JPG

 (thats not daylight its a glint!)

 

The cabs were then un-filled (is that a word?) and then cleaned and filled with solder, all shown before filing back:

SAM_8108.JPG.f2359febb98ff0cdd07e8617033a952e.JPG

SAM_8109.JPG.560ee901707cf8a390e2a54f21feb0c7.JPG

SAM_8110.JPG.ec0d43b1ccdd47a93c8e2592989b7046.JPG

 

The smokebox front and the back head were then soldered onto the boiler barrel:SAM_8111.JPG.a00a703f8b87ff90e4cb43d28971928c.JPG

SAM_8112.JPG.c61300462e2652048821a59db6853d15.JPG

 

I then put the bits together to see what she was looking like:

SAM_8113.JPG.34b2b234b393380e8e6c0527c96c157e.JPG

SAM_8114.JPG.596ba6eb6b2c3e1214552ac5b15409af.JPG

 

Still more work to do I think!

Andy G

 

 

 

 

Edited by uax6
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It was then time to think about mounting the boiler to the frames, but first I needed to solder a nut into the boiler to act as a front mounting point for the frames. Steel nuts are hard work to use with low melt solder, but after filing the nut to get it clean I did get it to solder. I also made sure the hole in the boiler was a tight fit for the hexagon:

SAM_8158.JPG.0b6e487d78b40285c9a5095aed6877d9.JPG

Not ideal having have the nut in free air....

 

I could then solder the boiler to the footplate and cab assembly:

SAM_8160.JPG.5b6329691e729a8561c47a8c630a7287.JPG

SAM_8161.JPG.cdd34fc3d6e4b4b154afeb0d73632afb.JPG

SAM_8162.JPG.995f476aff0789e2f4388b749b9a15db.JPG

SAM_8163.JPG.cc3f8c1749a5c64ecd05d869da5dcf20.JPG

 

Plenty of dressing back to do there, but it will hold it nicely.

The frames where then put in, and the set screw tried in the nut:

SAM_8167.JPG.a8ccd4fb67bf68d605f32e2dfaf1e7cc.JPG

Its mighty close to the gears, but it works!

 

The cab splashers were then put in place. These will be handy places for lead if i need to help balance a bit more:

SAM_8168.JPG.e636e712a1925b76e19853f898cee722.JPG

 

 

The front bogie, as we have seen has very restricted movement on its central pivot. So with a view to try and get a bit more movement I decided to move the pivot off centre:

SAM_8206.JPG.1c48a9a62fd2d83185651b4da4cb9d1c.JPG

 

The old slot was then soldered up (no photo). This also ment that I would have to do the same on the main frames. Original:

SAM_8064.JPG.af670232f0bf7bb1af54dd4c1b800bd5.JPG

 

with pivot moved back:

SAM_8383.JPG.52e15abdd09d0e64b37ebe08f8c0e883.JPG

 

Again I decided to solder a steel nut (8BA) to the casting. This also meant that I would have to open out the footplate to clear it:

SAM_8384.JPG.8d3992d682329f83643236930221d187.JPG

 

It doesn't give much more turn, but this is it as it stands, without butchering the rear of the cylinders:

SAM_8389.JPG.4017b91580ffe6bf0ed41832bb57144c.JPG

 

Now I fear i will have to carve away at the backs of the cylinders, just to give a tadj more swing, but until I get a crossover set up of the shortest length I want to use I can't tell, it may be ok!

 

I also fitted pick-ups to the bogie, again shorting bushes one side to make the axle live (and therefore the bogie casting) and then the bottom plate was replaced with plasticard and phosphor-bronze pick-up wire araldited in place:

SAM_8387.JPG.5a621496940177affd5606fe346686ee.JPG

 

The pivot being an 8BA set screw and there is a home made spring hiding under the bogie too.

 

I've also added a bit of lead to the frames to try and balance up better:SAM_8385.JPG.6c3bbd70a9238a622d19c7583756998c.JPG

SAM_8386.JPG.826d6e778c70023da9fb82389c668bc1.JPG

 

And a pair of pick-ups. The lead is just wedged in, and needs to have araldite flooded over it to hold it in place, but I want to make sure she can move with it in! The flywheel also needs adding... I need to check I have one in stock.

 

Thats as far as the loco has got, but I then moved onto the tender....

 

Andy g

 

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"I think your right Andy even as it stands that D has a very strong G&SWR look about it, I would say its the splashers

 If you changed the dome for safety valves new Sterling style cab and some smoke box wing plates and you've already got a very passable G&SWR Smellie 153 class in pretty much as built condition.

 

  But as always its down to the price as no one is going to be mad enough to butcher a £200 rtr model to make a near scale only loco.

   Well maybe Ben Alder he's nutty enough (In a nice way Richard) to chop up a brand new loco to get what he wants lol"

 

Even I might baulk at that price :)  -it would have to be something special - most of mine have been done on bargain offers...As for a useful HR type chassis, a more practical one is the Hornby Radial tank. With bits trimmed off and reversed it makes a very nice 4-4-0 that suits the Small Ben and GNSR D40 and probably some others as well. The wheels come out at 6' over the flanges but Black Five drivers can be fitted to give a more prototypical finish. Here is one such converted.

 

20191104_172244.jpg.eabc40c7485a2459e04f9a7dca5e2181.jpg

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15 hours ago, Ben Alder said:

"I think your right Andy even as it stands that D has a very strong G&SWR look about it, I would say its the splashers

 If you changed the dome for safety valves new Sterling style cab and some smoke box wing plates and you've already got a very passable G&SWR Smellie 153 class in pretty much as built condition.

 

  But as always its down to the price as no one is going to be mad enough to butcher a £200 rtr model to make a near scale only loco.

   Well maybe Ben Alder he's nutty enough (In a nice way Richard) to chop up a brand new loco to get what he wants lol"

 

Even I might baulk at that price :)  -it would have to be something special - most of mine have been done on bargain offers...As for a useful HR type chassis, a more practical one is the Hornby Radial tank. With bits trimmed off and reversed it makes a very nice 4-4-0 that suits the Small Ben and GNSR D40 and probably some others as well. The wheels come out at 6' over the flanges but Black Five drivers can be fitted to give a more prototypical finish. Here is one such converted.

 

20191104_172244.jpg.eabc40c7485a2459e04f9a7dca5e2181.jpg

 

Now there's a thought!

I've got two Nucast D40 kits and a Small Ben kit sat in the stash and I was giving thought to them seeing the light of day soon, knowing there's a bodgable chassis will speed things up.

There's Barney and HR castle kits sat in the pile too, and if I can find a reasonable chassis for the former it'll be a goer.

 

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A Bachmann pannier with its motor turned 90° are what my two run with - wheels are a bit small but I can live with that. Can't remember offhand which version it was as I did them some years ago. Nile has also taken a Hornby 700 and lowered the boiler to suit a Barney - it's in his thread not so long ago.

 

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I used a Bachmann Pannier for my Caley 782 class where the motor sits inside the tanks without the need to turn it.

  But used some Hornby 0-6-0 jinty chassis under a couple of Jumbos though as standard the wheels are slightly under sized I've got two more Jumbos in the kit stack and would go that way again though I did come by a Jumbo kit built around an Airfix tender drive and free wheeling loco chassis it actually works surprisingly well.

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34 minutes ago, Ben Alder said:

Nile has also taken a Hornby 700 and lowered the boiler to suit a Barney - it's in his thread not so long ago.

 

 

Halfway down the page that he begins backdating a 700 class.  Only slight problem now is getting a suitable motor for this - one of the stalls at Peterborough two weeks ago had some Mashima motors of around a suitable size

 

 

 

 

Really enjoying your Terrier and 700 kit conversions by the way uax6!   Just that I'm usually not logged in, reading on my phone when I'm on the train or bus.  Wondering if the old Dapol or Hornby Terriers could be used as a basis for the No 13 class, and modified in the same manner as you have done?

 

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The body certainly could be, but the chassis would need throwing away and a new one making. The Dapby chassis is horrid and from memory I don't think you could cut the rear axle away to replace with the bogie. And being plastic getting any weight into it is almost impossible.

 

The K's ones turn up and are quite cheap, I bough all three of mine for less than £30.

 

The Castle chassis will be a problem to find something rtr for, because of the wheelbase, but I can't see it being that difficult to make the DJH ones up. I've got three to make at some point (and an ex Peter K one to repair)...

 

Andy G

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On with the Loch tender. The one which came with the kit was again an ok build, but it suffered with what appears to be a common problem with all in one cast w/metal tenders, that of the axleboxes not lining up when assembled, so that the axles are not square. So I disassembled the ting, and then built it up again with soldering. I also removed the toolbox on the back.

SAM_8247.JPG.cd1b6c4558b27db0792c9f4ed2ee1c80.JPG

 

Now as you can see I have made it up as square as I can, but without the floor or coal plate yet. This was because I am going to put a subframe in, to get the axles square. I choose a Comet 6'6" + 6'6" set of inside frames for LMS tenders. Notice some bits have been removed to make it fit the cast tender. But as I was making up an etched sub frame, I thought I would try using split axles, so that I could collect elastictricky with no extra drag. To do this I got some double sided copperclad pcb board. I scored it twice, so that I had three separate strips of copper:

SAM_8236.JPG.8da0b070e79ffda6d50b82ff0b8efc50.JPG

 

I had measured the copperclad to be the same width as the supplied OO gauge frame spacers (Note to future construction they could do with an extra mm adding to there width!). I also filed out the tab at the top of the centre hornguide. This will allow a bit of slop in the centre axle to stop it rocking on the mid axle. So the next thing to do was to solder one etched side to the copper. The side was soldered top and bottom to the copper, this helps to add much more strength than just soldering to a single side of copper. Using plenty of measurements and axles I then lined up the other side and tacked in place. I then tried three wheelsets to see if it was indeed square, and added a few more tacks underneath and seemed the top:SAM_8245.JPG.cf47b20b13010ea0ada917bad193f012.JPG

SAM_8246.JPG.d561924de6d0c4c0ccc131cc21694d6b.JPG

 

I then put it inside the tender, which helped to show that the wheelbase was indeed out:

SAM_8248.JPG.3aff7e87f09b55e922f407ebfb398c2b.JPG

 

I then got some thinner bits of copperclad, which I drilled in the centre and soldered an 8BA nut to:

SAM_8250.JPG.9dd5c95ef8e1b22a4e7536ec9e257aa0.JPG

 

These are the stretchers to carry the frames. The one on the left doesn't need to have scores in, it was just left overs. The frames copperclad was drilled and then I bolted the cross piece to it, so I could line it up and solder it to the tender body. To get the height right I lined up the top of the cast axleboxes with the bottom of the sticky out bits at the top of the etched horns:SAM_8253.JPG.e23963af740638138e0da34206b48bbc.JPG

SAM_8254.JPG.c854522b1ac7154c5694b065f8c6791e.JPG

 

I then realised that the copper on the bottom would short out the frames so I filed off the copper so it was back to the board:

SAM_8262.JPG.d1345b46cde496a714645efde0356a9f.JPG

 

Now what was needed was some axles. Branchlines do split axles, which you have to assemble yourself. They also do an assembly jig. The axles come in two parts that you have to stick together. You need to drill a hole in the female axle half to allow air out when to glue the two halves together. I put the female parts in the jig, and then measured down inside the axle with a compass point, so I could find the bottom of the hole:

SAM_8238.JPG.f6db7fb7481e4ffc008100db08e2c7e5.JPG

A small flat is then filed in the axle and then drilled with a 0.45mm drill bit which leaves you with this:

SAM_8240.JPG.1d10da763fbb20ac3c185b2460320f5b.JPG

 

To make sure that the hole is beyond the end of the male bit of the axle, I placed them like this to check:

SAM_8241.JPG.9ca93616b25b4d708a6f795081b680e1.JPG

 

An insulating washer is required to seperate the two bits of axle when assembled. I drilled a bit of 10 thou to just clear the male bit:

SAM_8242.JPG.245295060773b5795efa65d86e7c6553.JPG

 

then slipped the washer onto the axle:

SAM_8243.JPG.00e8bc2051a8b7efafbc6c67888fd6ff.JPG

 

I then held the axle together and struck the end with a heavy spanner, which then sort of chopped its way through the plastic, trimming up with a knife:

SAM_8244.JPG.788e27eeaab8afc3fb35214c8c6bd1d7.JPG

 

The jig was then smeared with vasaline, and some araldite was mixed and pushed into the female axles and put around the males bits. Making sure that the washer was in place and having a multimeter to hand to make sure that I could keep checking that they hadn't shorted, they were put in the jig and clamped up and left to set for a day or so:

SAM_8256.JPG.fd2c9b23ae224476e31272fb70c3eed9.JPG

 

The axles were a bit longer than required so while holding them in the jig i filed them down. The wheel pans i had were insulated ones, so the plastic insulators were removed and then Shorting bushes inserted. To get them to fit onto the axles I had to file the bushes out a bit to make them just an interference fit. I didn't quite get it right on one axle:

SAM_8261.JPG.e156765c2f31ecca342edc1356ec0938.JPG

 

But the other two worked ok. Trying them in the frames showed that it should be very free running and pick-up was good too:

SAM_8260.JPG.d4a6dbda36d3c346dd9aea27cef7dabb.JPG

 

As the copperclad was a little narrow I had to bend the horns out a bit to check the slop in the wheels. To make sure that they didn't short out on the tender body, I've had to file the inside of the tender down to stop the wheels touching.

 

So thats how far I've got with the Loch. The replacement axle has been made and awaits the pans pressing on. I need to strip both engine and tender and dress back the soldering, but she is more or less there.

 

We've getting dangerously close to what I'm doing at the minute, but not just yet!

 

Andy G

 

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I have also been building some of the fleet of Straun Bankers that I have got. I loose count of them but it is somewhere in the region of four or five. One is more or less complete except for the chassis, another was purchased as a mass of falling apart bits fit for not much, but would be perfect for making into a G&SWR 0-6-2T, and the rest as kits.

I started out building a pair of kits as per the instructions, again with solder:

DSC08623.JPG.f8221ca51977faba4e2394e67569d271.JPG

DSC08621.JPG.cba6241d85bbf7140835ad2ccc1e283b.JPG

DSC08622.JPG.faae828b0dac1a57a0173d2ee9de2122.JPG

 

Adding in the bunker bottom:

DSC08625.JPG.0809457f3395d4b804d9116633cf9d3b.JPG

DSC08624.JPG.b67d5d979a5d0358707f2e77a640ed0c.JPG

 

Then the boiler and tank tops (one casting):

DSC08628.JPG.832212ff08b223a6a0caf993772fde5d.JPG

 

The under boiler:

DSC08629.JPG.e787fd460d0a56ce76429d4a587088a5.JPG

Then the tubeplate:

DSC08631.JPG.996ccdc3b43ff86c2c31827b688c67fe.JPG

 

At this point my camera went up the swanny, so I got these photos of progress, which are appalling. The smokebox outer is added:

DSC08647.JPG.a79bacf9659b5c934b6838cea95db3b0.JPG

 

Then the cab spectacle plate:

DSC08650.JPG.09b7de4d791f9dbbdf7ae3c124227a32.JPG

 

Construction stopped at that point.

I did a bit of slicing a dicing to the start the G&SW 0-6-2T, but didn't get very far, but id does show that it will be possible with some work:

DSC08658.JPG.7e7855d40c8cb8b79e1aa067e7622d14.JPG

 

The made up one had already been sprayed BMC Damask Red, and had been waiting for lining for years. I needed to have a go doing it, so i got the Bow compass and pen out and put the black on first:

SAM_7980.JPG.8c3ebaaa27a3de824c8f77d9b04ebc71.JPG

SAM_7981.JPG.e8ce3b86b43188cb60a3601661ae4158.JPG

SAM_7978.JPG.f71dfb145e66c46179a85df66037db4e.JPG

SAM_7979.JPG.3f213de85b030398b57d753aee212ccf.JPG

I did most of the lining using the bow compass. The point in the compass leg was replaced with a bit of brass rod with the end rounded off. This allows the bow legs to draw a line following the outline that the leg drags along. It is surprisingly easy! The lining that you see here has been built up over several days. You can only do one side at a time, and even then you can't do it all at once either.

SAM_7986.JPG.6969438dac952b8eb5bc09589d52babe.JPG

SAM_7987.JPG.6c3321d7493fd5109bf63d2971b827a6.JPG

SAM_7984.JPG.e5f255529dcf34732bfd6d2055f0436f.JPG

SAM_7985.JPG.f9635ea02863c3a66348582172293542.JPG

 

The 'gold' has been added here, it being a mix of humbrol yellow colours, (which I can't remember at the minute!) and gives a good result. Again a slow process, mainly done by off setting.

 

Heres a couple of pictures of her more or less finished (that set of front steps need lining mind!

 

In semi darkness showing how the yellow stands out:

SAM_7988.JPG.177591a7f84d6e2686a005a877d0d502.JPG

SAM_8390.JPG.bf5b63961158d8bd48d318fccbf7c48a.JPG

 

I have to say I always smile when I see this!

 

So that's us all upto date, so we will now move onto the present project, which is sorting out a bought Wee Ben and building two others, an old kit made by Sutherland Models, and a new one from the same moulds spun by SE Finecast for me.

 

Andy G

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Hi Andy,

 

I am surprised you did the black first and then edged in the straw; I always found it easier to do it in reverse to you and then lay the black on top?

 

Also, Fox transfers are the only sensible way to go for boiler bands (for me anyway); lining on a cylinder is just too much!

 

Must get on with my Struan banker.............your making me fell guilty!

 

 

Mark

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