jwealleans Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 (edited) Turned out to be an F4 in the end, the only one allocated to Ipswich after the war. A little touching up and this will run at the weekend. New underpinnings will be in order after that, I think. The motor has a tendency to run dry after a short time and screech alarmingly and I can't seem to keep oil in the places it needs to be. Edited September 24, 2018 by jwealleans 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Very nice, I have a Laurie Griffin/Shedmaster F4/5 kit in the stash and I am undecided yet as to which to build. It may even have working inside motion, possibly , maybe.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 (edited) Working inside motion; of course you can. You know you want to. Something else across the bench tonight - an identity swap for a friend from Ormesby. It's the first time I've handled one of these and I can see what the fuss is about. It is exquisite. I have a feeling that once it's had the sealing coats of varnish this may be finding its' way into the stock box for this weekend. I have to be sure the plates won't fall off while in motion..... Edited September 24, 2018 by jwealleans 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 (edited) First update from me in a while.... back from holiday and started something a little different for Scottiedog. There's not much progress for an evening's work, but part of that was spent scrutinising the instructions and part reworking some of the bits after I set off building it for 00 instead of EM. Fortunately I have one of these in my own Strategic Reserve and was able to swap some bits between the two. Mick may recognise this.... anyone else? Edited September 23, 2018 by jwealleans Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 (edited) Blimey, this thing is complicated. I was hoping PT's book might explain what some of the bits were, but it hasn't helped yet. The instructions do suggest making up subassemblies, so that's what I'm doing in the hope having fewer bits might make it more obvious what the remaining ones are for. This is what we've got made up so far: Edited September 24, 2018 by jwealleans 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Ah, the D&S Cowans Sheldon crane. I have one of these to do myself, but I'm awaiting (still!), the Brassmasters etch to produce the example that was based at Newton Abbot. I have the match wagon, I know how to do the riding van (a Ratio GW 4 wheeler - dad did a little work on the real one when it ended up at Buckfastleigh; it's now at Didcot I think), just need the etches. This year, apparently... Adam Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted April 14, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 14, 2013 anyone else? Well it was familiar but couldn't place it, then when I saw your next post I realised I had one... Mine has wheels (it also has the rest of the crane to go on top). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 (edited) I managed to work out what this bit is: Edited September 24, 2018 by jwealleans 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted April 21, 2013 Author Share Posted April 21, 2013 (edited) Well, thanks to some helpful photos from Mick and Peter Tatlow's book, I think I've worked out where all the complicated bits go. For anyone else who might be building one, including me in the future, here it all is balanced in place. If you think it's wrong, please tell me soon as I'm off to square some of those castings up then it's all going together. Edited September 24, 2018 by jwealleans 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted April 21, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 21, 2013 Right or wrong, that's how I did it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted April 21, 2013 Author Share Posted April 21, 2013 (edited) Cheers, Paul. Between you and Mick, we're unanimous. It's starting to look like something recognisable now. I've substituted tapered buffers for the parallel ones supplied. I've also stuck the floor on upside down - plonker. Cylinders and boiler pipework to do and then await the wheels, which I believe are on their way from Scaleforum at the moment. I'm going to have some bits left, so I shall be asking for suggestions on where they go in due course. Edited September 24, 2018 by jwealleans 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted April 23, 2013 Author Share Posted April 23, 2013 (edited) Pretty much there - I will add some more bits and bobs to make to look more like the Sunderland one. Does anyone know of any pictures of the other side of that one? If anyone knows what the two bits in front are for, I'd be much obliged. Edited September 24, 2018 by jwealleans 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted April 23, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 23, 2013 The bit on the right is the support/bearings for the front/jib end wheels, there should be another casting to fit inside with the wheels possibly part of it. Not sure what the other is, I first thought it was one of these wheels but the ones on mine are fairly plain wheels. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted April 23, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 23, 2013 Couldn't find the bit on the left anywhere on my crane so dug out the original box and there it is, sitting there, unused, so still none the wiser! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted April 28, 2013 Author Share Posted April 28, 2013 (edited) Something a little different this evening; at Nottingham Show I was talking to the new owner of the Coopercraft and Blacksmith ranges about his plans for future development. I knew he was looking at reintroducing the loco kits and was very interested specifically in the F3. We will need one of these for Wickham Market as the last of the class was withdrawn from there in 1951 having been the branch engine for some time. I came away from that conversation with a chassis etch in my hand, which was unexpected and very kind. Last night, with the crane on the back burner for a while, I thought it was time it went together. I haven't been able to put my hands on the Isinglass drawing I have, but in terms of the construction the etches were very clean and nicely robust in fairly heavy gauge nickel silver. Spacers are marked so you know which goes where and have a shallow groove etched into the frames to locate them. They're also different sizes so you can't get them in the wrong places. Thoughtful design. All the gubbins for CSBs are present although I imagine you'd need to provide hornblocks if you go that way, which I didn't. It took me about an hour and a quarter to put this together. It needs a bit of fettling to get it rolling freely and the question of corners needs to be addressed. This thing has a long wheelbase if it's completely rigid, so I'm mulling over either tapering or joggling the frames at each end, or biting a larger bullet and making one end (probably the rear) a pony truck. That will probably have to wait until I see the body and how it's fixed. A very encouraging start up to now, though. Paul posts on here as 'Kits from Somerset' if anyone has questions about this or the rest of the range. In other news, I've been getting on with some plastic wagons I started while travelling for work or on holiday. I like to have something to be fiddling with of an evening. Some of these are destined for Thurston. Cambrian RCH 7 plankers. The intention is to finish these similarly to the distressed post war ones I produced last year. Cambrian Midland van, Parkside LNER fitted open. I thought this Parkside kit had been discontinued, but looking at their website they still list this but not the steel one. It's had additional brake rigging, safety loops, vac pipes and new buffers from the Lanarkshire Models range. The Midland van, using Cambrian's one piece underframe, is a very easy kit to assemble. LMS 5 plank, LNER 6 plank opens, both from Cambrian again and both types we've seen on this thread before. Quick dose of 'foreign', for those who like variety in their wagons; these are Coopercraft GW opens, kit 1004 for the 4 plank and 1005 for the 5 plank. They're straightforward to assemble as long as you don't take any additional detailing too far into the unnecessary complexity of Dean-Churchward brakes. They also have their own characteristic of providing a steel weight for the wagon, although I find this is not enough on its own and add lead flashing to it. 1005 came with transfers as well, which is becoming rare these days. Buffers have been replaced with More of the very fine LMS castings. Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 In respect of the F3 chassis, it looks like you could do with radial trucks each end. London Road Models produces an etch for these. That would improve the ability to go round curves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted April 28, 2013 Author Share Posted April 28, 2013 Cheers, Ivan, I hadn't thought of that as an option. Not on their website as far as I can see, though - does Jol ever happen by here? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micklner Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 At the bottom http://www.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/locos-tenders-chassis/lnwr/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 (edited) At the bottom http://www.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/locos-tenders-chassis/lnwr/ ^ What he said. It might also be an idea to suggest to Paul at Coopercraft that he might want to include radial trucks in the amended chassis etch. Edited April 29, 2013 by Horsetan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Cheers, Ivan, I hadn't thought of that as an option. Not on their website as far as I can see, though - does Jol ever happen by here? Yes, but I've been on holiday. The LRM radial trucks were designed for the LNWR Precursor Tank, also used on the Mansion House Tank and the Teutonic. Following popular demand they were produced as a "spare" part. Jol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 (edited) Cheers, Jol. I shall be acquiring a pair as I'm sure I can make use on them, on this or another 2-4-2. I've been getting on with this over the weekend. For some reason after the war the Framlingham Branch brake van was an ex-GC 6 wheeler. Another required item for the Wickham Market layout, I managed to get hold of one from the new owners of the Falcon Brass, ex-Jidenco range. This is not one of the kits they have yet redesigned, but they are supplying the 'quaint' MJT rocking units instead of the vertically challenged original Jidenco arrangement. Graeme King did one of these in his thread on the LNER forum here and was kind enough to send me pictures before he pruned them. This is what came in my packet: No buffers, although they had a very sketchy resemblance to the prototype anyway I gather and a sheet of brass and another of plastic which I'm not sure how to deploy just yet. I found all the issues Graeme mentioned and some; if you choose to follow the instructions they tell you to solder all the handrails on before adding some overlays through which the handrails must pass. There are also some overlays with a partial half-etched fold line on the back - running a knife along this to make it a complete line, some of them had half etched too far and the blade went through the paper-thin remnant of the metal. There's also an apparently random hole in one solebar. I have to say I haven't enjoyed building this as much as I generally do - even the Jidenco Toad E I did last year was a challenge. This feels much more like a chore. On the upside, the new suspension arrangement works and puts the van at the right height, unlike the old idea. Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted May 9, 2013 Author Share Posted May 9, 2013 (edited) Getting there: rivet strip overlays, brakes on the new MJT W iron units (from the Mainly Trains etch - what would I do without those?) and the third axle, which is suspended on thin wire between the other two and so far seems to negotiate pointwork with no problem. Handrails on one side only. The wire in the kit was chunkier than the usual .45/.5 people supply and I had to make all the holes slightly larger than usual. Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom F Posted May 9, 2013 Share Posted May 9, 2013 Looking at that Crane Jonathan. It looks very nice but I'm being put off attempting mine any time soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted May 10, 2013 Author Share Posted May 10, 2013 (edited) If the instructions for the crane were easier to relate to the bits, Tom, it would be fairly straightforward and quite fun to build. Now I've done one, the next one will be much easier. Don't be put off although I'd suggest building a few more simple kits first. Just to move the brake van on a little, I came to the end of what pass for instructions last night. I've also moved the rocking axle to match up with the cutouts in the footboard more closely. Buffers are Dave Franks, modified as Graeme suggested on his thread. There are some quite prominent body brackets which aren't in the kit and when I procure some I will also add some brass square section to reinforce the upper body and verandah edges. Some infill to thicken up the verandah edges will also be worthwhile. The roof will be added after it's had the Sprat & Winkle couplings fitted. Edited September 10, 2018 by jwealleans 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B15nac Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 That cranes instructions are vague an pretty poor really! I've been reading mine an I'm slowly understanding what they mean! One question tho what size wheels does it take? Regards Neil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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