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7mm Gladiator Royal Scot build


Tim2014
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  • 4 weeks later...

I've found some solid hours to spend on modelling and have progress to report!  The kit comes with etched handrail brackets for the smoke deflectors and a warning along the lines of 'these parts are small and fiddly and it may be preferred to leave them off', but they worked quite well for me - and I think are along the lines of the boiler band method you suggested Peter.  Loco Profiles No1 has some great detail of the prototype deflectors and attachments which were a great help: I rolled one end up around a handrail wire, bent to shape, soldered it on and it was pretty close.  A small increase in the lower bend was all the deflector needed to sit in the right spot above the buffer beam.  Still a bit of work to do adding details, but at least I know it works now.  It's an ugly photo, but gives the idea:

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Onto the next unknown: the ejector piping and mounting.  I want to be able to paint and line before finally assembling this so have decided to fix the ejector to the footplate (I think on the prototype it mounts to the firebox, but I'm not going to bother with that bracket, it's pretty hidden).  The Laurie Griffin pipe mounts will be soldered onto the boiler, but the piping will be threaded through after lining as part of final assembly.  I've drilled the injector and the union at the smokebox to take it and It is a nice snug fit (and you can see the first handrail bracket on the inside of the smoke deflector):

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I will have to hand paint the pipe - or do some good masking, but I think the plan will work.  Here's a loose dry fit that led me to that conclusion.

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I'm planning to finish both smoke deflectors, then do the front end of the loco.  It's very encouraging to see holes disappearing and the classic look of the loco emerging. Richard's Seven Valley photos again came in extremely useful as good close-ups of the injector area are hard (impossible!) to find in my reference material.

Edited by Tim2014
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  • 3 weeks later...

A bit more progress. The smoke deflectors are fiddly enough that I considered moving it into the early BR years!  In hindsight, it would be worth cutting them out to aid in shaping the front drop plate.  I found both need a shim under the front lower section to fill a small gap between the bottom of the deflector and the drop plate.  You can see the flux stains where I soldered some thin sheet and then filed it to the profile of the deflector.

 

My other trauma was the front steps. I spent ages studying photos and diagrams determining how high they should sit and then a fair while readjusting their position to get them both at exactly the same height.  Finally satisfied - I remembered to look at my pics of 46159 at the time I'm modelling it (which generally lack sufficient detail to see exactly how things line up.  Damn it, they aren't aligned at all! :banghead:  And then I find other pics like that of other scots in the later years.  I guess by the end having the step firmly riveted on was enough, exact placement was a secondary consideration.  Oh well. Who says I'm a rivet counter: mine aren't moving now.

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Question: should I file off the cast step plates on the buffer and replace them with etched ones, solder the etch to the platform, or leave them as they are?  I'll do the same to the tender of course.
 

PS the handrails, couplings and buffers aren't fixed yet - the purpose of these posed shots was to decide if I'm happy to solder the deflectors to the footplate.  You may also notice the top smokebox hinge has lost a mount which is a little annoying. Too many accidental openings - it's heavy.

Edited by Tim2014
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  • 2 weeks later...

It doesn't look like a lot of work - but everything you can see at the front is now done - except for soldering the deflectors to the footplate and a bit of clean-up.  I filed most of the cast step plates off and soldered the etches to what was left, they match the other step etches better than the castings.  The smokebox hand-rail ended up a bit squiff, so that needs adjusting. I have to decide if I can live with the cast vacuum brake pipes or whether to wind my own round some copper wire. 

I decided - perhaps unwisely - to solder the numberplate to the smokebox.  I will paint it white and let it cure before overspraying in black.  I figure a quick solvent wipe before the black fully hardens should reveal the white.  I'm planning to use a similar process with the nameplates, black background to brass, so please tell me if you can foresee major problems.

There are still a few bits and bobs to add which I'm not going to get done for a while so I thought I'd post this in lieu of doing any real work on it!

 

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Edited by Tim2014
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  • 3 months later...

Happy New Year all! The last year of this build - I promise!  I have done quite a bit of work on the front (scuse not cleaning up please), but would like some pointers on the ?steam, lance? fitted to the front smokebox of the Scots shortly after the rebuilds.  I can't find a decent protoptype drawing or photograph, but I think the casting hooked thru the vac pipe in this rather dodgy pic is probably pretty close - perhaps intended to capture the item when it was fitted to the side of the smokebox.  A bit of filing, a small shim of brass for a backing plate and a bit of tubing between the two ought to more or less pass?

Curious as to what it was actually used for too - cleaning out the smokebox?  Looks like it can't have been vital, Scot's Guardsman's seems to have been removed in some preservation photos.

 

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Edited by Tim2014
deleted duplicate pic!
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  • 3 weeks later...

I have done a lot of work on little details.  Cut off and replaced the cylinder drain pipes with tubing, added some covers that are part of the valve gear assembly, a couple of oil boxes and other bits and bobs I'm sure I've forgotten.  I'm not entirely sure which style of flange was fitted to this loco.  The kit supplies one with a very prominent central rivet, and one with no central detail at all.  From what I could see, there is a flush bushing so I decided to drill a hole and fit one from a short stub of tube and rod.  It took two passes with the soldering iron and a bit of filing, but I think it looks OK. The green glittery nail polish threadlocker I may keep in situ... :rofl:

 

The front of the loco is now finished barring some short bits of wire to simulate hinges, although I didn't quite get the steam lance thing centered on it's backplate so may try moving it - but hopefully it looks about right in terms of dimensions?  Still some cleaning and filing to do of course.

 

I think I'm doing the nameplates next and need to figure out a neat way of bolting the injector to the footplate as I want it removable so I can attach it after painting and lining.  There's wheel balance weights, I probably should actually solder up the front bogie and finish the valve gear and there's the whistle and cab sight deflectors and cab doors.  The prominent top flange on the top feed is bugging me too.  Then there's the ejector pipework, but I think that's it. And with warm, dry, still air over here, we're getting into a good time to start painting, so it may never sit as a complete, working naked model...

 

Nearly Done (3).jpg

Nearly Done (2).jpg

Nearly Done (1).jpg

Edited by Tim2014
Injector/ejector...meh!
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I've struck a snag!  A long time ago when I made the top-feed pipes, I knew it would be fiddly to hook them up.  By using steel nuts and bolts for the footplate attachment points I've made things harder, as I found they had rusted together, probably because I didn't adequately clean ALL the flux off them.  Even with penetrant, the rust was stronger than the solder to the above footplate fitting.  But that aside, I didn't consider the nameplate in the reassembly sequence.  To add to the problem, I have confirmed the diameter of copper wire I used is almost HALF what it should be to be scale.  I thought they looked a bit weedy and now I know how far off they are, I will have to redo them, hopefully without denting the copper this time.  A larger diameter will make fitting the painted, lined sections together for final assembly even harder.

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So now I'm thinking I may do the sensible thing and do them in two sections, with a gap just in front of the boiler band. I could then solder both ends, one to the boiler and one to the footplate.  That will also allow me to more closely match the profile of the whitemetal boiler fairings) which in photos are almost exactly the same size as the bare pipe.

 

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I am very pleased with how the nameplates look (great job Severn Mill) :sungum: and the injector assembly will not need a nut underneath, it will just rest on the top of a pipe leading down to the 'whatever it is - please help! - on the back of footplate steps.  I'm close to needing to figure out the spaghetti down there. :)

Edited by Tim2014
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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally, after lots of bending, annealing and rebending, then some filing and soldering to make the footplate fittings, I have something that will work.  Still need a little tweaking, but I can fit them after the boiler is fitted and the bolts through the footplate hold them up against the boiler top feed pipe casting (there is a hole with around 2mm inside the boiler). So I don't need to cut the copper behind the nameplates after all.

TopFeedsAgain (1).jpg

TopFeedsAgain (2).jpg

Edited by Tim2014
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Thank you Richard, I had forgotten you'd posted those helpful and descriptive views! I think my only remaining query is whether/when they blanked off the large pipe from the front of the loco to the exhaust injector (the grease separator?).  I've seen a couple of photos of my loco and it looks like it's a flat plate on the forward face.  But the blank only appears late on when I suspect the loco had been withdrawn.  I don't actually have a pic from the exact time I'm modelling: pre AWS and post deflector hand rails, but there is a pic post my modelling date (with AWS) and it shows that large pipe, so I hope its safe to assume it would be on my loco in 1959. it's certainly there in pre AWS shots.

Post AWS with pipe:

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And with blanking plate, but out of service by now I think:

image.png.bfbee55da4f48719c5a5352c100b5cf9.png

Have you finished yours off now?

Edited by Tim2014
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  • 2 years later...
  • 3 months later...

It's not looking good so far!  But am in new house and at least thinking about building and painting.  Glad this thread is still here, even if some pics appear to be missing.

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