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Steve's Caledonian loco work bench


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I think I'm rapidly approaching a sticking point on the Dunalastair III and need to order some parts mainly hand rail wire and knobs and few other things but will have to wait for funds to improve first but I did make the second air hose and here are a few pictures showing my method for making them. In the first picture is the core of brass rod with me winding the soft wire around it.

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Here's the soft wire I found at the garden center at that price its turned out to be a really handy buy.

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I've been looking at Dunalastair pictures and I've noticed especially in the Caledonian days the front hose is hooked up under the left buffer so for the second one after making it I rolled it round a tool handle so when fitted its in the same position as a hung air pipe. Have a look at this picture showing the hooked up front and the hanging rear air pipes.

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Also here's a picture of the front of a Dunalastair II showing the air pipe on the front buffer beam hung out the way. Note also that the model will need the buffer beam de-riveting as when you look at the picture below the buffer beam is totally smooth, some of you who followed the 492 tank build may recall that I mentioned that the Caledonian didn't like visible rivets and these didn't appear until rebuilt in LMS days who it seems weren't as particular

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   As I'm stuck for bits on the Dunalastair III I did a bit more on the other one and cut out and soldered up a chimney and here it is on the Dunalastair I with the other one sat behind.

     Its an interesting picture as it shows the main differences between the two the Dunalastair I in the fore ground has sand boxes on the splashers and note also the separate splashers for the con rods which on the Dunalastair III are hidden by wider splashers.

      The narrow cab seems to give it a more up right stance which is how the Dunalastair I looked next to the Dunalastair III this is helped by the fact that the Dunny 1 is also 2mm shorter in the boiler and frames than the Dunny 3 very handy having the T9 come in both splasher types makes these jobs that much easier.

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Now I was going to make the dome but after cutting out the two main parts I reached for the soldering iron and when I tried to use it - nothing - yes it was dead. After 30 years together my faithful companion has given up the ghost so another thing to buy now I guess. Any way it gives me a chance to show you the parts which I forgot to do for the other Dome. In this last picture are the two main parts for the dome, a washer that has been rolled into a slight curve to follow the top of the boiler and a short section of brass tube and using a half round file this is filed to fit the washer, this will be soldered onto the washer and then the top filled with solder until a basic dome is formed then its filed and sanded to shape.

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Thanks for looking in again Steve

Edited by Londontram
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At a bit of a sticking point with the Dunalastair III so did some work on the Dunalastair I (I tell you I'm going to build some bloody locos with shorter names next time) The chassis on this although cut down still needed some detail work and the first job was to file a step into the back of the chassis for the back of the body drag box area to sit on. This was a bit trial and error as how much metal you took off governed the position of the wheels in relation to the body, after a bit of work I got a perfect fit with the wheel centers in line with the center of the splashers. Once done a hole was drilled in the back of the body and chassis and a self tapping screw fitted to hold the body in place. The original front mounting was cut down to fit the T9 body as it was if you recall originally for a B12 body, I seem to have done a better job on both this time such is the benefit of experience having learned a lot from the first one.

 

     Now the Dunalastair I was 6in shorter than the Dunalastair III and this should have been in the driver wheel base but for two reasons I elected to leave this alone. One, so I could use a set of T9 connecting rods to help line up the new rear axle hole and Two, buy shortening the driver wheel base it would have the effect of pushing the motor further back into the cab.

 

        So I went for a cosmetic change rather that a technically correct one. I took the 2mm out of the front bogie mounting arm moving the bogie back, OK its a compromise but it shortens the chassis and doesn't seem to be noticeable the loco still having a nice balance to it. Anyway have a look at the pictures and see what you think.

 

   If you look at the two pictures one fault that will become obvious is the 6 wheel tender is to low, this if you recall the marriage of a T9 tank and some white metal frames obviously not a marriage made in heaven so what I've done after these pictures were taken I removed the frames and will insert a strip of plasticard between the frame and the tank which should redress it a bit.

 

  No worries though as I needed to take the wheels off as I intend shorting out one side of the wheel set and picking up through the tender frames I'll also swap one set round so they pick up from both rails (Andy uax6 give me the idea and explained the method so thanks Andy damn good idea) Here's a couple of pictures the first with the two half sisters together the Dunalastair I being the front loco and the second picture showing the now assembled chassis.

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One thing I had intended was to fit a Hornby T9 bogie with the pickups on but found it was about 2mm to long for the Dunalastair so I refitted the Hornby one which like the other one has had the coupling mountings cut away.

    I've ordered a soldering Iron from that well know auction site as I cant seem to find one for love nor money in my home town, I only wanted a 25w one for small detail work but in the whole of the town the closest I could find was a 40w one in  B&Q which I'm not kidding you could have branded cattle with so as soon as that gets here I can carry on with the dome and safety valve for it. Thanks for looking, sorry to go for so long hopefully next time I'll have the tender back together.

                                                       Steve

Edited by Londontram
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The Dunalastair I still had the original T 9 valve chest cover and I was going to live with it but Andy uax6 came to the rescue as he had some and I had a few bits he needed so we arranged to meet in the middle of Sutton bridge at a pre arranged time and make the swap. Sutton bridge is the border point between the the western world and Norfolk (Locals will understand the joke)

   

    Actually we sent them to each other by post and here is a picture of the valve chest cover in place and you can compare it with the picture of the loco in the last post and I think you'll agree it looks much better, you can also see I've drilled the holes for the smoke box door handle, the lubricators and also for the air pipe and coupling on the buffer beam which you can also see has been de-riveted as the Caledonian were adverse to visible rivets.

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I'm at a bit of a sticking point where all the on going projects need money spending on them for parts so I need to desperately raise some funds so I either need to sell some unwanted stock and books or put the wife out on the town hall steps.

 

   Hmm I think I'll sell some stock - there's more chance of a cash return there, hopefully though my new soldering iron will be here either today or tomorrow which will allow me to get on with a few more jobs.

      Mean while any donations too..........

 

                          Steve :derisive:

Edited by Londontram
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The new soldering iron arrived Woo Who just got to get used to it and I think I'll need to invest in a rheostat switch as even though its only 30 w its too bloody hot where I could use the old one to spread solder this is just a touch and go iron so I've been unplugging it today and working with it as it cools for five min before plugging it back in to heat up again.

 

Any way I built up the dome and safety valve from the prepared parts in the same way they were done for the other Dunalastair and here's a picture of the dome under construction with the tube soldered to the base the top will now be infilled then the whole lot was filed and sanded to shape.

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The safety valve was also made in  the same way as the first Dunalastair and the whistle and control rod made from an off cut of brass wire and an old Romford crank pin again in the same way as the other locos. They can all be seen in this picture of the Dunalastair 1 with her half sister sat behind.

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The GBL T9 came with a fall plate molded in plastic which was no where near as good (Or in this case as big) as the Hornby one on the other loco so that was cut back and a new one was cut and shaped from a fret of checker plate and glued in place with super glue as can be seen in this last picture.

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     A few other jobs were done including a hand brake stanchion again made in the same way as the last one with some brass tube a hand rail knob and a little bit of hand rail wire for the cross piece.

 

   But one job I'm doing which is a change in direction from the other Dunalastair where I'm adding pickups to the front bogie as the two white metal tender frames are glued independently to the plastic body the chance arose for a split axle pick up system through the frames.

 

    Again I've got to thank Andy uax6 for this idea, so today I solder tacked the pin point bearings to the frames as they were only super glued in place before and also looked at ideas for shorting out the wheels. More of that next time.

           Thanks for looking again Steve

Edited by Londontram
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Sorry not a direct update but more a general musing on the two sisters (That's a lot easier than writing the bloody name Dunalastair every time) Its going to be really interesting seeing them in the two shades of Caledonian blue as the Dunalastair I will be in the dark blue and the Dunalastair III in the later light blue. As I've been building them I've noticed this though its not really apparent in the pictures but even though there not to exact scale as there both bashed from a T9 I've followed the basic dimensions for things like frame size and boiler length etc so there in proportion to the originals if not exact scale replicas if you see what I mean.

 

So its amazing that even though the originals were only built five years apart and even the models share the same basic starting point how much bigger the Dunalastair III is over the other one, maybe the wider splashers contribute to this but even the extra 2mm in boiler length changes the whole profile of the locos the Dunalastair I having a very much sit up and beg look about her with the big old sandboxes on the splashers but the Dunalastair III - Well she just looks like a real thoroughbred through and through, whether its the  longer eight wheeled tender and sleeker body I dont know but she looks like she could be doing 60mph while just standing still.

 

   So even though doing the second one must seem just like I'm repeating the first to you to me its been fascinating to see them come together and that how each part even though in some cases like the dome for instance which are the same for both locos changes the whole look and stance of the loco.

 

    Any way I'll try not to make the jobs on the locos seem to repetitive and hope your still enjoying the progress

 

PS if any one wonders where the class name Dunalastair comes from The Dunalastair estate is a large estate in the southern part of the highland in Perthshire which at the time was owned my one of the directors of the Caledonain and the class of loco was named in there honer

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In one of the major Caledonian books The Caledonian livery book there are various pictures of Caledonian locos with different degrees of embellishment ranging from smoke box door adornments to burnished steel edges to certain components. Some pictures look at the Westinghouse air pump and how some were customized by the drivers ranging from polished rims on the pumps to the whole pumps being stripped of paint and polished.

 

   I had built the pumps for the 492 tank and the Dunalastair III by hand out of plastic rod and tube but wanted to try having a polished one so thought I would have a go at making this one for the Dunalastair out of brass tube and steel washers, the two parts of the pumps body  were 3mm long bits of brass tube with 4 steel washers for either end with a bit of brass rod through the middle to hold it all together. The center rod was tinned and coated with a thin layer of solder then all the other bits slid on and sweat soldered in place. Holes were drilled with a pin drill for the pipe work and they were soldered in place too the whole lot then being polished with a small wire brush in my dremil to give me what you see here.

 

  It was a fiddly little bu--er and I know you can buy them for only a couple of quid but I found it quite therapeutic and great fun. Here's a couple of pictures the first of the pump on the work bench and the second of it test fitted on the loco.

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As I said its only trial fitted as this one I'll leave off until the locos painted as I might leave it all or part of it unpainted, in this last picture you can get a better look at the whistle and safety valve on the loco too

Thanks for looking Steve

Edited by Londontram
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What did I say a few posts back? Thank Andy for the idea for the split chassis on the Dunalastair 1.... bloody thing its back together now with the axles split and even after about two hours fettling its still not sitting right, I'm getting there but its taking some work.

 

  The other jobs on the Dunalastair 1 today was to make a false chassis under the front running plate so there isn't such a gap. Some thin plastic rod had two short bits cut off to make the tops of the sandbox fillers and these were glued in place and I've drilled out all the hand rail and boiler washout plug holes.

 

On the Dunalastair III I added the last two lamp irons onto the side of the cab made from some off cut of a fret that was around the checker plate that I used to make the fall plate with

 

Two pictures of the loco and tender sat on the test track in the first one you can just see a bit of the false chassis under the front running plate and the sand box fillers.

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Thanks for looking in again Steve

Edited by Londontram
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Well would you Adam and Eve it two hours I spent trying to get the Dunalastair 1 tender to run right after I part stripped it and converted it to split axles for the pick ups Two hours that's TWO HOURS and b-gger me this morning I fixed it in about 30 seconds.

 

    I went back to it this morning with the view of ripping it apart to start again and picking it up I straight away noticed the back to back on the wheels on the center axle was out a fraction on one side so a pair of pin nosed pliers was used to push the wheel back up the axle a fraction.

 

     Also looking at it afresh today I could see that the front axle was out of line slightly which was causing it to steer off to the right every time you pushed it on a flat surface so once again the pin nosed pliers were used to ever so slightly twist the white metal side frame (Brute force and ignorance that's my modeling philosophy) and low and behold giving it a push on a flat service and it ran true and straight on the test track no tight spots or rough running. so drama over it will need more testing through points and such like but it seems like I've got away with it this time.

 

   So now it seems to be OK it was back to working on it, one thing I had done when I stripped it down was put a layer of 20 thou plasticard on each side of the tank so when the frames went back on  it would bring it up slightly and now when placed back to back with the eight wheel tender you can see its now spot on and when painted the strips wont even be seen. Here's a picture.

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Ouch just noticed the bend in the eight wheel tenders running plate, damn cruel tool the camera.

 

    Also added today was the two rear hand rails and the rear lamp bracket as can be seen here.

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The hand brake standard was made the other day but I'd waited to see what I was doing with the tender before fitting it but that's now on.

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 I thought I'd run out of hand rail knobs and hand rail but while looking in the parts box I found six knobs and a length of wire so took advantage and did the hand rails on the cab of the Dunalastair III. Here's a view which also shows the lamp brackets in the position that the Caledonian locos had it high up on the cab side.

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Looking back at these pictures they look a right mess but should look better when they have a coat of paint on them and there all one colour. Thanks for looking again Steve

Edited by Londontram
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Thank you Dave I think they've reached the point where they've gained a sort of perpetual motion so don't worry they will be done the only limiting factor is money for all the bits and bobs so I'll have to trickle that in as and when.

 

     I know there never going to be true scale models but I hope when done they'll past muster with most people at first glance any way its got to be better than a Hornby LMS  compound painted in Caledonian blue that I saw for sale on ebay a while back.

 

Not much doing today I'm afraid the wife's not very well so I'm pampering her today and keeping her company

                                                                                                                                   Steve

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Hi Steve, glad to hear you've solved the probem. It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do. They are right when they say it will look better in the morning.

 

Yep, the camera is a cruel companion. I suppose we should be happy and see it as a tool that can help improve our modelling - but it's still annoying sometimes, especially when it captures something that noone would notice in reality. Best wishes for your wife's recovery.

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Well I didn't think I would get much done today as I've been looking after the wife who's got a raging sore throat but her sister and two of her mates came round to see her and I could escape to my modeling room. Trouble is it was a bit to late to start to much so I settled for just making the guard iron for the front bogie on the Dunalastair 1.

 

    This like the other Dunalastair has had the horrid Hornby coupling cut away as all my locos have three link or screw couplings. The brass for this came from the left over fret of a wagon W iron kit and like the other one was bent up and soldered together before the whole assembly was glued in place. Sorry if this is just repeating what I'd done on the other one.but thats all I've done today any way here's two pictures of the Guard irons n place.

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Just picture the scene its early morning and these two have just brought the night mail in and its been a heavy one tonight with quite a slog over Beattock hence the double heading. There now running light engine to the sheds for servicing.

 

OK OK back to reality and here are the half sisters sat on a length of test track to check there stance and things like buffer height etc but even now there starting to take on a grace and style all there own.

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I'll be pushing them up and down making chew chew noises next (I must confess I already have)

Thanks for looking sorry its been a bit repetitive but tha'ts the nature of the beast when your building a pair I guess.

                               Steve

Edited by Londontram
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I find that when the loco reaches the stage that these have when there is a multitude of colours its hard to spot faults that need correcting so being if not exactly sunny but a nice dry day I took the two Dunalastair's out side and gave the Dunalastair III a second coat of gray primer and the other its first. In the first picture I'm in the spray booth (Back garden) and they've both just had a coat.

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This next is of the Dunalastair 1 now in gray primer

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Then the two together

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Now a rear view

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Doing this has already shown up a few defects on the Dunalastair 1 which has already had some filler added. Steve

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Hi Steve, I've not been on here for a while and I've just caught up. They are nothing short of amazing! I love the way you did your dome and chimney. I'll be a more frequent visitor now i have more time. :)

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Thank you Jason, yes there coming on but looks are deceiving there are still a shed load of jobs to do yet.

 

      The body on the Dunalastair 1 needs to be dropped about 1mm for starters I thought it was in the tender which was a bit low but that's spot on now but no worry's as it is only but a simple job to adjust the mountings though it will only go down about 1mm as the con rods will start bouncing on the underside of the body.

 

      One fault that shows up in the photos is the Dunalastair III chimney which is a little wonky in the band below the top rim but this really only shows up on the photos when you look at it normally with the naked eye it doesn't looks that bad in fact I never even saw it at first until I looked at a picture and saw it and you know what its like now I know its there my eyes will keep getting drawn to it and I bet yours will too, I don't know what do you think is it me just being to fussy?

 

    I might have a go at dressing it slightly with a needle file but most likely when its black you wont even notice it. My fault I'm ashamed to say as when I cut it I didn't check it was straight and square before putting it all together.

 

Damn just noticed I forgot to pop the air pump on the Dunalastair 1 for the photo, any way thanks for looking everyone.

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Made the air pipes for the other Dunalastair and also the smoke box handle both in the same manner as the first one so I wont go into detail as its just repeating what I've done before. but while working at the bench disaster struck as I turned to get something off a shelf behind me and caught the Dunalastair 1 and it went crashing to the floor. The result was that the whole front end came off along a join line, one of the front buffers was broken off and at the other end the draw bar area broke where the chassis securing screw is.

 

Its all repairable and I've already glued the front end back on, I'll most likely swap out the whole front buffer beam with a spare I have in stock rather than try and repair the broken one. But the hardest bit to repair is the mounting point at the rear so what I've done is glue it and re-enforce it with some brass strip.  B-gger but then that's life I guess, here's a picture of the loco just after the accident.

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Edited by Londontram
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Oh its almost back to as it was, the only thing I want to do is swap the buffer beam for one of the Spare GBL ones I have in  stock. I've got a supply of Hornby T9 sprung buffers but as Dunalastair's never ran tender first I like to keep the sprung ones for the tender end. I took advantage of while doing the repair to the rear mounting to lower the back end slightly (front end as well) so the running plate between the tender and loco is now correct, the body wont go down any more as if it did the con rods would start hitting on the underside of the body. A little bit of filler and it will be as good as new (well as good as it was before)

 

   I think this months limited disposable will go on some hand rail knobs, hand rail wire and a fret of brake parts so I can get both Dunalastair's near as I can for painting though the Dunalastair 1 still needs some motor and pick up works to finish the chassis off

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Christ, Steve, up at 2 in the morning gluing? You deserve success. Glad to hear it's back together again.

Well what can I say its just shear dedication to duty.

 

Just One quick picture to show the replacement buffer beam in place and a little bit of filler on the join line where it broke and its almost as good as it was before. I'm afraid I've not had a chance to do any more in the last couple of days

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Looking at the front of the boiler it looks like I'm going to have to have another go at scraping off more of the old molded hand rail as well before I go any further

Edited by Londontram
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