Steve's Caledonian loco work bench

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Quartering...

 

My method is to have the non insulated wheels fixed to the axles, then putting the crank pointing downwards, the crank pin holes should be visable from the other (insulated) side of the chassis.

 

Keeping the fitted wheel in place by blue tack is a very good idea, I have been holding it manually!

 

The insuated wheels are then fitted pointing forward, or backward, depending on the loco....

 

Also available are wheel presses, that have recess for crank pins (or dummy pins, supplied with the press) and sprung pins for the axle holes.

 

Mine has had some use, but it is best used to fit both wheels to the axle, as otherwise it is difficult to line up (If you follow?)

 

My press is designed to be used in a vice, and is basically two shaped alloy blocks, with steel locating bars. It fits around the Tri-ang type chassis that it was designed for....

 

(Most of my engineering is to Tri-ang and Tri-ang Hornby locos, with the odd Hornby Dublo (Not so easy to "play" with!) for variety!)

[scots region]

Hi Londontram, love the Dunalastairs, I'm looking for an el cheapo way to craft a D34, could a GBL T9 serve as a good base?

 

ScR. 

[Londontram]

For all those that have been following my build of the Caledonian 492 tank that's now about done apart from the crew (Ordered) and some etched number plates (Also ordered from 247 developments) then its the lettering and lining. So as I'm waiting for the last few bits some of you had asked for a bit of Caledonian blue with the next build so I've brought the half completed Dunalastair II to the front of the queue, now this had stalled through not being able to find the correct dome and chimney but a year down the line and the experienced gained with the 492 tank which had the same problem means I can now push on with this one. 

 

   So using the same method of building the chimney on the 492 tank the components were made up from sections of brass tube and washers and soldered together and when done filed and sanded to shape. I have a big roll of plumbers solder which I get on well with and can build up the basic shape with out the whole lot turning to liquid, so workable is this that I can build it up like putty with the tip of the iron like a spreader.

 

  In the first two shots is the dome sat upright and on its side with some of the washers ready for some future jobs.

In the next picture is the components for the chimney cut out and ready to put together, from left to right is the chimney base a washer rolled into a slight curve to the same profile as the smoke box top. Next is the main tube of the chimney and then a ring of brass tube a slide on fit over the first piece this is for the chimneys neck. Then a second washer for the chimneys ring.

The wife wants me to nip to the shops so I'll leave it there for now but I couldn't resist just trying them in place on the loco and they look pretty good even if I say so my self.

When preparing the parts for the chimney the washers are filed out so the tube slides into them if your careful you can get a nice tight fit then you can slide the tube up and down the base washer until you get the height just right before soldering it.

I need to go through my washers and find a slightly smaller one so I can use the same basic method to build the safety valve as well.

Thanks for looking Steve

Edited September 24, 2015 by Londontram

[Northroader]

Yes, yes, yes!

[Londontram]

Quite a productive day, I managed to get the chimney soldered up but then spent the best part of half an hour trying to get it to sit straight in the end I had to tweak the base flange and re-solder the top rim which was out a touch. I also fitted the dome and after a look through my odds and sods box found a nice thick washer that I used for the base of the safety valve it was dressed with the needle files until I was happy with the shape then a short section of brass rod was cut and squeezed into an elongated shape which was soldered on to the washer to give the valve hood which the Caledonian locos had, a short section of brass wire was bent to shape and soldered to the top to make the reset handle (Or what ever its called)

 

   The whistle was a Romford crank pin as was used on the 492 tank with a bit of wire soldered to it for the control rod into the cab. Here's a few pictures the first the safety valve.

and the chimney now soldered

The whistle and safety valve in place

Two final views of all the bits fitted to the boiler

Not seen in these views is a clear shot of the tender which I've fitted a tool box on the front left corner of the coal space. Some of the fittings will need a little filler round there bases but its starting to look like a Dunalastair now.

Thanks for looking chaps Steve

Edited September 24, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

Yes, yes, yes!

Its all your fault mate you set me on the right path. most pleased with the dome but they all look better in the flesh

Edited September 21, 2015 by Londontram

[Northroader]

I was following the 080T thread, then went over to the Dunalister thread as directed, and was knocked out to see this started off as a B12. If you're capable of that, chimneys are a breeze. now some blue paint. do you say to Mrs. LT " I've painted this to match the colour of your eyes, darling "? Using the same line of reasoning, I've got a loco. called "Sylph". Good luck with the rest of it.

[Buhar]

I really admire those fittings, my favorite of yours being the safety valve.  Are you going to have locos in both types of Caley blue?

[Mikkel]

Hi Steve,  I must have missed this thread - this is just the kind of modelling I like, creative use of a variety of materials and components. The chimney and dome are very cleverly done, I had never thought about such an approach.

[Londontram]

I really admire those fittings, my favorite of yours being the safety valve.  Are you going to have locos in both types of Caley blue?

I am indeed if you go back to page two you will see there is a parallel build of a Dunalastair I the one with the sandboxes on the splashers, its a GBL body again on a B 12 chassis, its not as advanced as this one as the body needed more work the Dunny I being a bit shorter than the Dunny III so I had to cut and shut the body but the chassis and body are pretty much done but it will get the same chimney, dome and safety valve additions as the Dunny III but mainly its just the tender that needs work now but that will be in dark blue while the Dunny III will be in light blue. So there will be a bit of variety when done and I've already got both colours in stock. Steve

Edited September 24, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

Hi Steve,  I must have missed this thread - this is just the kind of modelling I like, creative use of a variety of materials and components. The chimney and dome are very cleverly done, I had never thought about such an approach.

Thank Mikkel it was a case of needs must as the supplier who does Cally fitting for some reason took a dislike to me and mostly ignored my attempts to contact him and on the one occasion he did reply was quite rude. I'm still honing the skill but its coming on nicely mind you it does go wrong as when I finished it and took a photo the top rim was defiantly crooked and had to come off and be redone, To be honest it was my own fault and I must work on the quality of my cutting as the short 2mm section of brass tube that I cut for the collar was not squared off and allowed the washer used for the top rim to sit at an angle.

 

     On the first chimney for the 492 tank loco after soldering the rim and base flange washers I chickened out and used filler to form the curves but on this second one I did it all with solder the one I use a plumbers solder can be built up like putty and when enough is built up the round body of the soldering iron tip is perfect to get the rolled shape under the rim and on top of the base the end result needing very little dressing with the needle files.

 

  To be fair the Caledonian chimneys should have a very slight taper to the main body but I decided to for go this in 4mm as when done I reckon it would hardly be worth the effort. 

                                                Thanks again for looking steve

Edited September 23, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

One of the problems I have is every time I look at the model I find another hole or joint that needs a bit of filler and being a cut and shut and at least four different colours ranging from bright metal to black there is a lot of bits that want attention, even though it still needs some jobs doing I decided to give it a blow over with gray primer which should show up the faults that need correcting especially before the hand rails went on then if I needed to sand down any filler the hand rails wouldn't get in the way and trust me the Dunalastair does have a lot of hand rails.

 

 so here's a few shots of a Sexy gray lady

 

In this one picture of the first faults I can see is a poor join line between the tender body and chassis so that's now had some filler.

   One job I did do before spraying it was build and fit the Westinghouse air pump very much a feature of all Caledonian passenger locos. In this first picture are the parts for the air pump cut and laid out, the round discs for each end of the pistons were cut with my trusty set of gasket hole punches and a hole drilled through the center of each disc. The body's of the piston are a bit of plastic tube cut into two short sections, A short section of square section brass tube was cut for the top of the air pump and slid over some thin brass rod this would run through the middle of the body to keep it all straight. The other bits of brass rods will form the pipe work, all this was glued together with super glue and when dry fitted to the loco.

Here is a picture of the air pump parts.

This picture shows the air pump fitted and the pipes fitted.

In this picture you can see another fault that will need filling on the area between the splashers where the body joins the running plate, also the dome needed a little bit of filler as well as several old holes left over from its T9 days.

  

    In this last picture is another look this time down the other side of the loco and tender, although no where near finished she's already starting to show her graceful Scottish heritage. 

      Thanks for looking Steve

 

Edit - looking at the pictures the chimney rim looks a bit out but I think that's more camera angle because you cant see it in the flesh and its nice and straight in the first picture of this thread which is more side on but I can also see the top disk on the air pump is a bit bent so will need tweaking along with 101 other little jobs like fixing the missing bits to the cab steps and all the hand rails etc.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Londontram

[uax6]

Considering that she's a cut and shut jobbie, she looks pretty good. I suppose you have the same problem I do, the more you look at the thing, the more things jump out at you....

 

Can't wait to see her in blue.

 

Andy G

[46256]

sorry got to amend last post....looks blinking marvelous

[Londontram]

Well it seems giving it a coat of gray was a good idea as it let me see no end of things that need sorting so Ive spent the best part of the day filling and sanding until I corrected most of the flaws. I made and fitted the bottom parts to the cab steps which were broken when I got the body - don't get me wrong I knew that when I got it you see the body came free from fellow member Ben Alder and was only meant to be a test body that could be chopped about to test if a B12 chassis could be turned into a 4-4-0 and made to fit.

   So it was never meant to used but so well went the chassis conversion that the body was still OK so I decided to do this build.

  I also fitted the beading around the cab cutouts and the rear most cab hand rail but looking at it from all angles it just didn't sit right so I held it against the plans and realized that when I had shaped the cab cutouts I didn't account for the thickness of the beading, this was only 5 thou plasticard but it just looked wrong. So the beading was stripped off and with needle files and sand paper I worked on the cut outs until I was happy with them. The Dunalastair III has quite a distinctive half heart sort of shape and it took a bit of work to get it right.

Here's a picture of the loco showing the cab steps, beading around the re cut cab cutouts and the hand rail, you can also see where I've been filling and sanding some of the faults like the tender where it fits to the chassis, if you remember the last update in one view there was quite a gap that needed sorting.

In tis picture you can also see the tool box that I fitted a couple of post back and also the tender now has rear buffers which were another set of T9 sprung ones to match the front. The only other job worth a mention was I opened up the slots for the coupling hooks with a pin drill and very small needle file.

                               Thanks for looking in Steve

 

Edit, I tell you what that old tender is a big old b-gger about two thirds the length of the loco and it really gives it a presence just like the originals did

Edited September 25, 2015 by Londontram

[pH]

 I tell you what that old tender is a big old b-gger about two thirds the length of the loco and it really gives it a presence just like the originals did

Those bogie tenders weighed more in working order than a Dunalastair I. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished model.

[Londontram]

Those bogie tenders weighed more in working order than a Dunalastair I. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished model.

Not just the real ones either, when I picked up the tender off ebay it was a full white metal built kit one but was so heavy it was like a brick and the loco being only a 4-4-0 with no traction tyre's I worried it would struggle just to pull the tender which is why I took the body off and grafted on one of the GBL T9 bodies on to the white metal chassis which got rid of about two thirds the weight leaving it about right with a nice bit of low down weight to keep every thing on the track.

[Londontram]

All the final preparation work and detailing seems to take an age but should be worth it in the end. One little job today amongst the many was to make and fit the lids to the two front sand boxes and once again I used one of the gasket hole punches from a set I got of ebay for about £1.99p. Originally for cutting holes in paper and cork gaskets they come in a range of sizes and can cut up to 15 thou plasticard with ease and produce a perfect round disc. Here's a picture of two small 10 thou plasticard discs with the hole punch and to give it some scale a craft knife next to them. These punches have been one of the most useful tools I've ever brought for modeling and the list of things I use them for is endless.

 

As well as this I've pre drilled all the holes for the hand rail knobs and boiler wash out plug holes as well as even more filling and sanding I've also made the reversing rod and linkage out of some thin brass strip, in this picture where the loco is looking like a Swiss cheese you can see the sand box lids fixed in place just by the front steps and behind it the reversing rod. I always wonder which is the best position to set the reversing rods and lever at neutral seems a good bet but as the Dunalastair's almost always ran forward mostly at a good speed I settled for the linkage being in forward gear but quite well notched up

To get the hand rail holes in a straight line I left a few of the original holes from its T9 days and even thought there not in the right position I could hold a small steel rule along them and draw a line with a pencil and mark out the new positions, when the new holes were drilled the old ones were filled and sanded off. I just need to order some hand rail knobs and hand rail wire now as my stock has run out.

 

   Any way that's it for today thanks for looking in, right now I working on an idea for the wash out plugs to go in the holes if the idea works I'll put it in the next update. Steve

Edited September 26, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

Can one be to clever? I've been beavering away on an idea and although it seems to have worked I must ask my self was it worth the effort as now completed me with my aging eye sight can hardly see it and that's before its painted.

   As I said in the last post I had an idea for the wash out plugs and here is the results, I had previously drilled the holes for the plugs of which there was two each side and for the plugs I cut a small bit of brass strip in which I drilled two holes to match the holes in the boiler for the wash out plugs.

    A short bit of brass rod was bent in a U shape like a staple and soldered to the brass strip with each end through the holes as can be seen in this first picture.

Before fitting I made an attempt to square off the ends of the brass rod with a needle file and you can just make it out if you look hard enough.

 

This was then pushed through from the under side of the boiler and super glued in place, once dressed with a file the end result can be seen in this next picture hopefully looking like wash out plugs in recessed holes. See what you think and let me know if you think it was worth the work.

 

   The other job today was to start to fit pick ups to the bogie this being the old style Triang type that came with the B 12 chassis. First a slot was filed in the under side of the bogie between the axles and then a bit of copper clad board was cut, a small section was removed in the middle of the board to allow a couple of very thin wires to pass through the rivet holding the bogie to the arm and up into the locos motor. The wire will be that super thin stuff you get in sterio head phones and that sort of thing, all I need to do when I get the hand rail wire is make up a couple of lightly touching wiper contacts just touching the back of the wheels so they dont cause any drag.

      Here's a couple of pictures the first showing the bogie with the slot cut into it and the second with the copper clad board in place with the hole for the wires to pass through. Note also in this picture I've cut off the horrid Hornby guide irons and coupling hook mount and will make up some new guide irons from brass plate.

That's it for this post but have a look and let me know what you think of the wash out plug idea.

                              Thanks for looking Steve

Edited September 26, 2015 by Londontram

[uax6]

The washout plugs seem very convincing, just becareful not to clog them with paint!

 

Andy G

[Jamie Douglas]

Can one be to clever? I've been beavering away on an idea and although it seems to have worked I must ask my self was it worth the effort as now completed me with my aging eye sight can hardly see it and that's before its painted.

   As I said in the last post I had an idea for the wash out plugs and here is the results, I had previously drilled the holes for the plugs of which there was two each side and for the plugs I cut a small bit of brass strip in which I drilled two holes to match the holes in the boiler for the wash out plugs.

    A short bit of brass rod was bent in a U shape like a staple and soldered to the brass strip with each end through the holes as can be seen in this first picture.

Dunalastair wash out plugs back.jpg

Before fitting I made an attempt to square off the ends of the brass rod with a needle file and you can just make it out if you look hard enough.

 

This was then pushed through from the under side of the boiler and super glued in place, once dressed with a file the end result can be seen in this next picture hopefully looking like wash out plugs in recessed holes. See what you think and let me know if you think it was worth the work.

Dunalastair wash out plugs.jpg

 

   The other job today was to start to fit pick ups to the bogie this being the old style Triang type that came with the B 12 chassis. First a slot was filed in the under side of the bogie between the axles and then a bit of copper clad board was cut, a small section was removed in the middle of the board to allow a couple of very thin wires to pass through the rivet holding the bogie to the arm and up into the locos motor. The wire will be that super thin stuff you get in sterio head phones and that sort of thing, all I need to do when I get the hand rail wire is make up a couple of lightly touching wiper contacts just touching the back of the wheels so they dont cause any drag.

      Here's a couple of pictures the first showing the bogie with the slot cut into it and the second with the copper clad board in place with the hole for the wires to pass through.

Dunalastair bogie.jpg

Dunalastair bogie copper clad board.jpg

That's it for this post but have a look and let me know what you think of the wash out plug idea.

                              Thanks for looking Steve

The devil is always in the detail, so yes it was worth it. Really looking good.

Best wishes

Jamie

[Londontram]

Seem to have had a good day today although we went round the sister in laws for tea Wendy took so long getting ready that I went and did a bit more modeling (I mean just what does a woman do in a bathroom for over two hours)

      Only two jobs the first being the smoke box door handle and wheel which was made in the same way as the 492 class tank  which was a small cog off the fret of cab fittings mounted on a dress makers pin then a spacer and a split pin for the handle. Finally one of the Caledonian smoke box door decorations from a small fret of them that a friend gave me. this was only sat on the smoke box door to trial fit it and take the picture shown here I've taken it off again and wont fix it in place until the locos painted.

      The two holes on the front plate below the smoke box door are for the two Furness type lubricators which I also wont fit until after its been painted but they'll look the same as the ones on the 492 tank.

The other job was the hand brake stanchion which was made in the tried and tested method of a length of brass tube with a hand rail knob on top with a bit of hand rail for the cross bar. Looking at the picture I noticed a little bit of dried glue on the stanchion, the bloody thing wouldn't stick and I got so sick and tired of repeating the tooth pick method of applying glue with out any success I must confess in frustration I but a big dollop of clue on it so it would soak in to every crevice. The excess here I later just scraped off with the tip of a modeling knife blade so trust me it look OK now (The b-gger wont come loose now though that's for sure)

   Thanks again for looking Steve

Edited September 27, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

More detailing work which seems to age as each job is small its also very fiddly, I fitted some hand rails to the tender and also fitted the single lamp iron to the rear of the tender the Caledonian only having one lamp iron to the front and rear and one either side of the cab. The only job to do on the tender other than paint is the tender doors which I'll fit in the open position after its painted. Here's a picture of the tender rear showing the single lamp iron.

I also fitted the lamp iron to the top of the smoke box and if you recall I'd cut the old Triang style bogie guard iron and coupling mount off and today made a new replacement out of brass which you can see in the next picture.

So still progressing but it feels really slow, still I guess that's the nature of the beast I guess. Steve

[Londontram]

Oh dear just looking at the pictures in the last post and I see one of the tender tank fillers needs a spot of filler round its base and the right hand front guide iron needs dressing with a needle file a little bit. The camera is such a cruel tool isn't it oh and that rear lamp iron is straight its just the camera angle.

 

The only other job was to close up the coupling between the loco and tender and to be on the safe side I just rounded off the corners of the loco fall plate so that it wouldn't catch the edge of the tender when negotiating points, the Hornby T9 has a lovely brass checker fall plate and its a shame to have to paint it. any way here's a picture.

 

    Now the other Dunalastair is on the back burner until this one is done but while waiting for some glue to dry I had a play around with the tender. Well the thread is called "Building a brace of Scottish 4-4-0s" after all so I can squeeze it in here. Now if you go back to page two and posts number 45 and 46 you will see the tender for the Dunalastair I in bits, basically its a GBL T9 tender top cut down from an 8 wheeler to a 6 wheeler and the side frames are a set of old midland ones with if you look at those posts have had the oval shaped incorrect cutouts filled with solder. So today while waiting I marked out the new cut outs and drilled them out then used a needle file to get the right shape. The side have also been fitted with pin point bearings. So sorry jumping out of sequence but I thought you might find it interesting. Here's a picture

Thanks for looking. Steve

Edited September 29, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

Today I made the air pipes which were made in the same way as the 492 tank for those of you who followed that thread but for any one who didn't I'll give a quick recap. Starting with a length of fine brass rod for the core I then got some soft wire which I found at the local garden center and soldered the two ends together and the soft wire was wound around the brass rod until I had about 1cm of bound wire. This was soldered at the other end as well to fix it in place then trimmed and a right angle bend put in one end as you can see in this first picture.

On the loco its self there is a hole already on the buffer beam but was in slightly to much to one side so this was filled a new hole drilled nearer the coupling hook position. The air pipe is now just a push in fit but I wont fix it in place until the loco is painted as the Dunalastair's have a complex colour scheme on the buffer beam which is painted black but with a central vermilion panel with letters and numbers on so until that's done I'll leave it off. Here's a picture of the air pipe in place.

Just got to make and trial fit the rear one now. Some of the Dunalastair's did have vacuum brakes as well so would have had a vacuum pipe on a stanchion but I've chosen to model one of the ones with out to keep the buffer beam clear for the lettering. WCJS stock from London coming over the LNWR was duel fitted so the air braked Caledonian locos could take over from the Vacuum fitted LNWR locos at Carlisle.

Thanks for looking again Steve

Edited September 29, 2015 by Londontram