Bryan the Snail's workbench.

[gz3xzf]

 

 

First -  locos have brake gear not break gear !

Second -  I have in front of me the BRM magazine of June 2009 which has 8 drawings in 4mm scale by Donald Taylor of the R and R1 class 0-6-0Ts with all the tall and low boiler mounting versions and the Stirling or Pagoda cab versions. 

If you want a copy of a particular version or all of them let me know by PM and I'll send them to you.

Some time ago I compared these drawings with the Hornby Dublo  model  and decided that the latter wasn't worth bothering with 

Ian

 

Thanks Ian, I usually spot things like that!!  

I'll let you know on the kind offer of the drawings.

[DLT]

Thanks Dave.

 

Well and hour or so fettling has meant that the chassis now runs smoothly, I have removed the shrink wrap from the top of the pick-ups (i.e. the bit on the sharp bend over the top of the frames) and more carefully adjusting the pressure of the pick-ups on the back of the wheels, I did this by making sure they are only very lightly touching at the extremes of the axle side play. I then fitted the body only to find that the wheels under the cab were fouling the splashers and therefore shorting, more fettling required. I am going to be looking at this next session.

 

This brings me to another question in dealing with Romford wheels and crank pins, how do people fix the coupling rods, I was considering soldering the brass collars onto the crank pin; how do others do it?

Hi Bryan,

 

I solder the collars to the crankpins, but its usually the last thing I do.  Place a paper washer over the pins first; then the collar, and solder in place.  Once soldered, tear the paper out.  This creates a suitably fine clearance, and prevents the solder reaching the coupling rods. 

 

During construction, when you can be removing a refitting rods umpteen times, I use a short piece of plastic insulation tube, (stripped off a bit of fine electrical wire) push-fitted to the crankpin it makes a temporary removable retaining washer.

Works a treat, here's the Z-class I built a few years back:

 

 

Hope this helps,

Dave.

[gz3xzf]

Hi Bryan,

 

I solder the collars to the crankpins, but its usually the last thing I do.  Place a paper washer over the pins first; then the collar, and solder in place.  Once soldered, tear the paper out.  This creates a suitably fine clearance, and prevents the solder reaching the coupling rods. 

 

During construction, when you can be removing a refitting rods umpteen times, I use a short piece of plastic insulation tube, (stripped off a bit of fine electrical wire) push-fitted to the crankpin it makes a temporary removable retaining washer.

Works a treat, here's the Z-class I built a few years back:

 

IMG_1097 small.jpg

 

Hope this helps,

Dave.

Thanks Dave, love the idea of the piece of insulation as a temporary collar, will help me no end with chassis building as I have always had problems with when to permanently fix the coupling rods in place.

 

Couple of us at Swanage were chatting about locomotives we would like to have experienced and the Z was one near the top of the list, must have been a beast; perhaps a group will do a new build one day!!

[gz3xzf]

Managed to spend a couple of sessions at the modelling table over the weekend so here are a couple of pictures of the results: -

 

 

Managed to fit the tank fillers, front sandbox lids, middle sandboxes & lids, steam reverser, handrail knobs (excepting the smokebox front), chimney, dome, safety valves, smokebox door handles and I have drilled the holes in the handrail supports on the tank front & the cab doors.

 

Thanks to "Off the Rails" (Ian) for some drawings of the R1 which will help no end on the details.

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[gz3xzf]

Spent some time studying the drawings & photos I have found on the web and made a start on the injector pipework, the easy bit was making up the Markits clack valve kits and bending the "pipe" to run over the top of the tanks, I have tried to include the set around the tank filler (which in the photo below looks too big sadly): -

 

Then I came to a bit of a quandary, it appears from the photos and drawings that the loco's were fitted with lifting injectors bolted to the front of the cab. Now I haven't been able to make out what shape the injector body is, so I am wondering if anybody has a more detailed photo of the tank tops and cab, all the photos I have found on the web are looking up at the loco, I really need something looking down from a bridge or taken from a platform, thanks in anticipation.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[gz3xzf]

As I said above, I have been studying the photos & drawings I have and decided that the injectors are bolted to the cab front each side, here are the relevant sections from a selection of the material:-

 

Now I have come up with this, I used a piece of plastic rod from a kit & turned it down in the Dremel with a file, I added two of the round collars left over from the Markits clack valve kit and glued it to the cab front, the wire representing the pipes fit in the collars. It still needs some fettling to get everything fitting correctly: -

 

Things are going to slow down a lot now, as I have managed to fall & do this to my right hand (those with a delicate disposition turn away): -

 

Very sore now (about 4 hours after the stitches were put in) and I am beginning to realise how slow one-handed typing is, thanks for reading.

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[DLT]

Yikes, that looks sore, its right-hand as well isn't it?  You have my sympathies Bryan.  How did you do it?

 

We cant give a post two clicks, I want to give the hand a "friendly/supportive" and the modelling a "craftsmanship/clever"

 

Still, I guess it means you can't do the washing-up!

 

Best wishes,

Dave.

Edited October 13, 2015 by DLT

[gz3xzf]

Yikes, that looks sore, its right-hand as well isn't it?  You have my sympathies Bryan.  How did you do it?

 

We cant give a post two clicks, I want to give the hand a "friendly/supportive" and the modelling a "craftsmanship/clever"

 

Still, I guess it means you can't do the washing-up!

 

Best wishes,

Dave.

Thanks Dave, my wife is a stained glass artist, she uses the garage as her workshop and has a stock of sheet glass in racks, I tripped over my own feet and caught the corner of a sheet with my hand on the way down to the floor. Sad thing is I was rostered at Swanage tomorrow and Friday (tomorrow on the T9 and Friday on 34070), I have had to give up the turns!!

[PenrithBeacon]

Yikes, that looks sore, its right-hand as well ...

 

Still, I guess it means you can't do the washing-up!

 

...

Nasty, but could have been a lot worse. A private and informal H&S review is perhaps in the offing?

 

As to the second sentence, buy a dishwasher!

 

All the best

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey Brian

 

That looks painful, hope it heels soon fella and you can get back onto your awesome builds and driving the trains.

 

All the best

 

Chris

[Horsetan]

....(about 4 hours after the stitches were put in) ....

 

Thought: can the free ends of the stitches be clipped off and reused for modelling purposes to represent short cable runs?

[gz3xzf]

On 13/10/2015 at 19:23, PenrithBeacon said:

Nasty, but could have been a lot worse. A private and informal H&S review is perhaps in the offing?

 

As to the second sentence, buy a dishwasher!

 

All the best

Thanks, yes it could have been, cut didn't reach any tendons or important bits, I will make sure the garage is safer in future!

 

On 15/10/2015 at 17:30, bigbadbadge said:

Crikey Brian

 

That looks painful, hope it heels soon fella and you can get back onto your awesome builds and driving the trains.

 

All the best

 

Chris

Thanks Chris, worst pain was when the nurse injected the local anaesthetic so that she could poke about and see what was damaged, it's OK now but I still cannot grip anything. I am hoping it will be OK for next weekend, time will tell.

 

Popped into Swanage yesterday morning for a couple of hours on the first day of the Autumn Gala, here are a couple of pictures of the visitors, N15 777 Sir Lamiel having just arrived double headed with U Class 31806 at the Town end of platform two: -

 

This is T9 30120 waiting to depart with the "fast" to Corfe Castle from platform one: -

 

 

Thanks everybody else for your comments and ratings.

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[gz3xzf]

Hello All, the damaged hand is still troublesome, I have had the stitches out but the top layers of skin haven't knitted together properly yet, so no big railway action yet; had to give up an afternoon turn at Swanage tomorrow, let's hope hand is better for the next one on 8th Nov.

 

One ray of hope is that the current dressing has the end of my right thumb exposed (although I cannot feel it all yet) so I am able to grip small things, so small update today with some more work on the injectors and pipework. A downside to this though, is I'm back on drying up duties at dinner time!

 

Another arrival (as I was beginning to find seeing small stuff more difficult) is a pair of clip on magnifiers, so far I am really pleased and they only cost around £8.00 on Amazon: -

 

 

Now to the model, I have shaped another plastic injector, so here are the pipes and the two injectors: -

 

I haven't glued anything down yet, but here are a couple of shots of the mock-up as it currently looks, may do some more tinkering as required before permanently fixing everything, but here is the story so far: -

 

 

Thanks for your comments and reading

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Bryan

 

Glad to here the hand is starting to heal, you will soon be back modelling in full soon.  R1 looks great by the way, must crack on with the details on mine soon.

 

Keep up the good work

All the best
Chris

[gz3xzf]

Hi all

 

Sorry no updates since October, but a number of things have happened in life, the worst of which was my Mother passing away in December, other than the work (being an only child) of tidying up her estate my modelling room is currently filled with some of her belongings which haven't found their way to a new use yet.

 

On a lighter note I have completed a number of turns at Swanage since the injury and the wound has knitted together well, but I still have an area of my thumb that has no feeling, so I am hoping in time the nerves will reconnect. Here are a couple of pictures of the last weekend of Santa running at Swanage where three locos were in use to run the Santa train and the dinning train: -

80104 waiting at the coal dock for the Santa train to arrive, this train was running with 5 Mk1s and the Devon Belle observation car so was too long for the run round loop in Swanage, therefore requiring a loco swap each time it arrived (the other loops on the line can accomodate 6 coaches): -

 

Here is me enjoying a cup of tea whilst 30053 arrives with the dinning train: -

 

Lastly the U-boat (31806) waiting to go to the sidings at the end of the day: -

 

Another thing that has occured is that I gave myself a Christmas present of a couple of items of RTR stock, here is a 2-HAL, Drumond 700, Class 15 (just because I like the look of them) and a couple of tube wagons, still in the post and no photographs yet there is a 2-BIL and a Kernow O2: -

 

 

Hopefully after another week or two things will return to normal and I will be able to sit at the modelling table again, it is high time I finished fettling these two SEF kits and get some undercoat on them. I am finding the speed at which others on this forum complete their work frustrating as it has taken me nearly two years to get the H and the R1 to this stage and I think it is still going to be another 6 months before I get them anywhere near finished.

 

Thanks for reading,

 

(Post-Script:- Updating the lost photos in October 2023 I feel I should point out that the H is no nearer complete, the R1 has done a little better, it has had the first top coat of paint; so 6 months was a little hopeful.)

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Bryan

 

Great work so far on the Locos, I am really sorry to hear of the passing of your Mum, please accept my sincere condolences. 

Nice photos and purchases.  My modelling pace is Glacial I think it is because I have to get up in the loft to do it so sometimes just don't feel like it after a day at work (this is soon to be remedied hopefully due to us going to be doing a loft conversion soon so will have a modelling room, bliss!!!).

 

Keep up the good work

All the best
Chris 

 

Edited for a spelling mistake (Long day)

Edited January 20, 2016 by bigbadbadge

[gz3xzf]

I am in danger of actually painting these two locos sometime this year and I have also purchased myself a little project that will need renumbering, so I will be wanting BR numbering, lining & logo transfers. I am wanting to do the H in lined BR black with the early emblem, the R1 & the new side project will be in BR unlined black with an early emblem.

 

Which transfers transfers do people find are best to use?

 

Thanks for reading the thread and for any replies.

 

[DLT]

Hi Bryan,

 

I've always used and been very happy with the HMRS Pressfix range, here is their BR Steam sheet:

http://www.hmrs.org.uk/transfers/transferdetails.php?transferid=1018

 

And the complete list:  http://www.hmrs.org.uk/transfers/list.php

 

Hope this helps,

All the best,

Dave.

[Ian J.]

Personally I prefer the Methfix range from HRMS, as it doesn't use a carrier film.

[DLT]

Personally I prefer the Methfix range from HRMS, as it doesn't use a carrier film.

 

I've never used the Methfix range, how do you apply them?

many thanks,

Dave.

[Ian J.]

Similar to the Pressfix, but instead of using water you use methylated spirits. I believe instructions are included in the transfer pack.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Ian J.

[it's-er]

Have you finished your H class yet? A couple of photos in painted form would be appreciated, especially in view of Hronby's expected announcement or tease tomorrow!

 

John

[gz3xzf]

Have you finished your H class yet? A couple of photos in painted form would be appreciated, especially in view of Hronby's expected announcement or tease tomorrow!

 

John

Hi John

 

I am afraid that I have not moved on any further this year due to various reasons, but I have purchased some Fox's transfers and some painting materials from Precision Paints. Once the weather turns (and I can stop going outside gardening) I will try to get a bit further on with the two locomotives.

 

I am also attempting a motorised turntable using Ray's (tender) description here: -

DCC Controlled (PECO) Turntable Project.

So hopefully there will be some photos soon.

 

I haven't heard of about Hornby's announcement so I will go and look for that in a minute.

[gz3xzf]

Hi everybody, sorry no updates, life has been getting in the way of railways as normal.

 

One thing that I haven't mentioned before is that I managed (accidentally in a way) to retire, my company made me redundant and the sums came out well so I have stopped working for a living!

 

Dave, I have purchased some Fox transfers which I have yet to use, but I have a couple of projects to test them on before the H and R1.

 

John, as you will see, I haven't moved much further forward with the two kits, I am trying to make sure I get all the details done before I apply paint.

 

As I said earlier I have been working on a Dapol turntable, I have created a control panel, written the Arduino sketch to operate it and shortened the table itself, it currently looks like this: -

 

 

The two kits are (minus chassis) currently look like this: -

 

 

I have today fitted the lamp brackets to the R1: -

 

 

I am hoping that I will be able to spend more time working on the models now, although the garden is starting to look unkept so may need attending to.

Edited October 2, 2023 by gz3xzf
Re-adding photos.

[clarkeeboy56]

Good to see you back Bryan! Notebook in hand, I'm ready when you are!