A 2mm finescale Black 5 from a Fence Houses kit

[Nig H]

Here are some pics of an almost completed model of a Black 5 built from a Bob Jones Fence Houses kit.

 

 

I added a smokebox ring to the front of the smokebox. It was turned on my lathe, not etched.

 

 

 

I added a smokebox door support bracket. It could do with being a half mil wider really.

 

 

 

I should have tested the fit of the cab doors against the tender front before soldering the cab floor and roof in place!

 

 

 

Two side views showing my attempt to represent the top feed pipework. I soldered some filed down  to D section 0.3mm diameter rod to some strips of 1 thou brass sheet, then bent the pipework to shape as best I could. It came out as well as I could have hoped for.

 

 

 

 

An extra pic for Simon.

 

 

Nig H

 

 

 

 

[Branwell]

Looks good, Nigel.

 

Regards,

 

David V.

[Skinnylinny]

Wow! Colour me very impressed; I'd be delighted to work to that sort of standard in 4mm or 7mm! Absolutely fantastic modelling.

[sej]

Absolutely beautiful Nigel. Could you show us how you did the chassis/motor etc?

 

Regards

Simon

[Tony W]

Hi Nigel

 

Superb modelling as always. I hope we see a picture of it when its finished.

 

Regards

 

Tony

[bigbadbadge]

Wow amazing work, as someone has already said, I also wish I could make my 4mm locos look like that, looks fab.

All the best

Chris

[queensquare]

Beautiful work Nigel. What motor have you used and have you managed to test it's pulling power yet. I have one to build myself, I'd like it to be able to take an eight coach train up Bath bank - a 180 degree 3' radius but, at 1in70, not as steep as the prototype!

 

Jerry

[Kris]

That looks very nice Nig. Massive coincidence as well seeing you post it given that I started one of these yesterday morning. 

[Nig H]

Absolutely beautiful Nigel. Could you show us how you did the chassis/motor etc?

 

Regards

Simon

Thanks Simon.

 

Here are some pics showing the motor and drive arrangement. The Faulhaber 1219 is araldited to the motor mount on the tender chassis. The Bob Jones tender uses brackets or mounting rings to which the motor of choice is attached. The male parts of the U/J are etched housings soldered around a length of 0.3mm spring steel. I found it necessary to file the 'housings' to a taper towards the centre to increase clearance inside the female parts of the U/J.

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Nig H

[Nig H]

Beautiful work Nigel. What motor have you used and have you managed to test it's pulling power yet. I have one to build myself, I'd like it to be able to take an eight coach train up Bath bank - a 180 degree 3' radius but, at 1in70, not as steep as the prototype!

 

Jerry

Hello Jerry, thanks.

 

The loco and tender weigh 86g, the tender probably 24g, so the loco alone 62g. I set up a train of two bogie bolsters and two white metal tar wagons, and I added some brass rod to the bolster wagons. This gave a total weight of 145g which the loco seemed to be happy with, although better going forward. The weight equates to 34 of my mineral wagons, or 7 coaches, all these being largely plastic. I got the impression that adding big lumps of brass rod to the bolster wagons significantly increased the drag on the bogie wheels and that if I had made up a train of reasonably free-running vehicles without weights on them, then the loco would have pulled better. Also my test track was on a slight incline although I attempted to correct this while running the loco.

 

I want to do a bit more fettling to the loco and I hope that this will improve the overall performance. I hope that the loco will cope with 200g loads eventually.

 

Nig H

[Nig H]

On 15/12/2014 at 07:22, Kris said:

That looks very nice Nig. Massive coincidence as well seeing you post it given that I started one of these yesterday morning. 

Thanks Kris. It helps that it's a very good kit. One might say 'its a deuce of a good kit'.

 

Maybe you could keep us informed of your progress.

 

Nig H

Edited May 23, 2020 by Nig H

[queensquare]

Hello Jerry, thanks.

 

The loco and tender weigh 86g, the tender probably 24g, so the loco alone 62g. I set up a train of two bogie bolsters and two white metal tar wagons, and I added some brass rod to the bolster wagons. This gave a total weight of 145g which the loco seemed to be happy with, although better going forward. The weight equates to 34 of my mineral wagons, or 7 coaches, all these being largely plastic. I got the impression that adding big lumps of brass rod to the bolster wagons significantly increased the drag on the bogie wheels and that if I had made up a train of reasonably free-running vehicles without weights on them, then the loco would have pulled better. Also my test track was on a slight incline although I attempted to correct this while running the loco.

 

I want to do a bit more fettling to the loco and I hope that this will improve the overall performance. I hope that the loco will cope with 200g loads eventually.

 

Nig H

Thanks Nigel, that's really useful. The loco is a bit out of period for me but they were iconic on the S&D so I plan to have one on what David Jenkinson used to call 'funny trains'. If it won't take eight up the bank I'll increase the load and double head - that's what they did on the prototype!

 

Jerry

[Kris]

Thanks Chris. It helps that it's a very good kit. One might say 'its a deuce of a good kit'.

 

Maybe you could keep us informed of your progress.

 

Nig H

 

I suspect that progress will be slow, but I shall try. 

[65179]

Looks lovely Nigel.  Thanks for the front end close up.  Much appreciated.  Looking forward to seeing this one painted!

 

Simon

[Focalplane]

As others have said, I would have said this was a 4mm model. When it comes to very small parts on my 4mm kits I have great difficulty working with them, so your modeling would be out of my capabilities. The top feed pipe work looks great to me. Most impressive model! Thank you for the inspiration!

[Nig H]

I've now primed the loco and it should be ready for the top coat soon. I almost ruined the paintwork on the tender side but I think I managed to retrieve the situation. I used Spectra grey primer cellulose paint, which I have had for years without using before. It will be interesting to see how well it adheres to the metal.

 

 

 

The top feed pipework isn't totally spot on but it is quite small and fiddly, and its about the best I could do.

 

Nig H

 

 

[Nig H]

As others have said, I would have said this was a 4mm model. When it comes to very small parts on my 4mm kits I have great difficulty working with them, so your modeling would be out of my capabilities. The top feed pipe work looks great to me. Most impressive model! Thank you for the inspiration!

Thanks for your comments.

 

I think you get used to working with small, fiddly bits. You need to work out how to hold them securely first. They then seem very small when you work on them, then much too big when you come to fit them in place. I think that whatever scale you work in there are small bits that can be added to a model, but in the larger scale many of the small bits are just too small to be modelled in 2mm scale.

 

Nig H

[Atso]

Hi Nigel,

 

That looks really good! It looks like you've primed the whole locomotive without disassembling it, is that the case?

 

Also, how do you line the boiler with the handrails in place? All the N gauge models I do I leave the handrails off until I've completed lining - which can occasionally create some problems...

 

Many thanks

[Nig H]

Hi Nigel,

 

That looks really good! It looks like you've primed the whole locomotive without disassembling it, is that the case?

 

Also, how do you line the boiler with the handrails in place? All the N gauge models I do I leave the handrails off until I've completed lining - which can occasionally create some problems...

 

Many thanks

Hi Atso,

 

Thanks. The loco and tender bodies were painted separately. The chassis were painted as complete units with the wheels and motion in place. I had to rotate the driving wheels after a couple of passes with the airbrush to get at otherwise covered areas. I cleaned paint off wheel rims and gears as soon as the paint was touch dry.

 

I have only lined boilers with transfers so its easy enough to do that with the handrails in place. Ian Rathbone lined City of Birmingham for me with the handrails in place, but he's an expert. I wouldn't fancy fixing the handrails after I'd painted the boiler as I think I'd get glue everywhere. Also, I prefer boilers made from nickel silver or brass, so the handrail knobs are soldered in place prior to painting. I'm not keen on using white metal for boilers but that was what was in the Black 5 kit.

 

Nig H

[Nig H]

Here is a pic of 44888 after lining by Ian Rathbone. He added the transfers too, and I think he's done a great job. I suppose I'd better add cab windows, coal, crew and a bit of weathering.

 

 

Nig H

[Hendreladis]

Wow