Kitbuild Challenge entry - LSWR 0395 class

[Nile]

My first entry for this years challenge thingy is a Golden Arrow resin kit of a LSWR 395 class 0-6-0 loco in OO gauge.

 

The kit is designed to use the latest Hornby 4F loco-drive chassis. I don't have one of those, and I'm not about to buy one. What I have got is the chassis from an old Wills 4F kit.

 

It's going to need some bits removed to get it to fit, but then so does the Hornby chassis.

I'm going to fit a smaller motor as I'd rather not have it filling the cab.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Nile

[N15class]

I am building a 0395. They are a lovely little loco. Fortunately there are not to many differences. The main one is there are two different length of frame. and later some had round widows with a change of boiler.

[Nile]

Before I carry on here is a brief history of the LSWR 395 class. 70 were built in the 1880s and can be divided into two main groups. As built the later ones had longer frames and larger domes. As time went on and the locos passed through the works the boilers got mixed up between the groups. This is handy as the kit has the larger dome, but can be built as a short frame loco by cutting the front off.

Moving into the 20th century the locos were moved to the duplicate list by adding a zero in front of their numbers, which is why they are also known as the 0395 class. Despite this some remained in service until 1958!

Three received Drummond boilers, the only visual difference being the safety valves moving to the top of the dome.

They originally had stove-pipe chimneys, most had lost these by 1923. Photographic evidence for this is thin on the ground.

The Great War had a big effect on the class, with 50 being sent overseas never to return. This left just 20 to survive into Southern Railway ownership.

In the late 20s the SR fitted three of them with ex LCDR boilers. These are the ones with round cab windows and vertical smokebox door.

The tenders also had some variety through their lifes.  As built they had handrails along their sides and footboards along the bottom of the frame. These seem to have disappeared before 1923, along with the rear toolbox. Coal rails were added around the same time.

Plenty there to trip up the unwary modeller!

Edited April 23, 2015 by Nile

[Nile]

 ​Meddling with the chassis.

I stripped the chassis down to it's component parts, discarding the old pick-ups. This is the chassis block, made of white metal.

 

Putting it alongside the body shows the mods needed. The upward extensions at the front need to go, as does a bit at the rear, and the sandboxes.

 

The chassis after some cutting and filing, which was easy being made of whitemetal.

 

And then I had a rummage through my box of motors and gears to find something that would fit inside the body without intruding into the cab. This was the best find, a 1024 type thingy.

 

To hold it in place I made a mount out of various bits and pieces (that I never throw away).

 

Fitted into the chassis.

 

It's held in place by a nut underneath. There are some packing pieces between the motor and the chassis that will allow some fine tuning of the gear meshing.

Edited May 2, 2015 by Nile

[Nile]

Meanwhile I've been working on the body, removing flash and filling holes left behind by air bubbles in the resin.

I've decided to model a short frame loco, so I had to cut off the front of the running plate using the guide line on the underside. 

The buffer beam has been glued onto the front and buffers from the 'bits box' added. They are not a perfect match but close enough for me.

 

In this underside view you can see the cab insert, which fitted ok after a bit of filing. A large hole in the running plate needed to be filled with some black plastic card. I initially glued the parts together with super-glue gel, then reinforced the joints with epoxy.

 

A view of the other side.

I'm using a photo of no.0397 taken in 1926 as the basis for this model, it's the closest one I've found to my target date of 1920. To match the photo I've shortened the smokebox door hinge straps. I've replaced the upper one with plastic strip as the original was more hole than resin.

[DLT]

Very nice job Nile, on a loco that is sadly neglected (along with a lot of Adams classes) by the kit producers.

All the best, Dave.

Edited April 29, 2015 by DLT

[Graham_Muz]

As Dave says it certainly looks like a good job so far.

 

There is one other kit of the 0395 class from DJH although I am not sure is still available. Below, hopefully to spur you on is my own 0395 class number 3441 (from the aforementioned DJH kit) on Fisherton Sarum

[DLT]

Thanks Muz, I didn't know DJH did one.  I'll have to look out for it.

There was a Jidenco/Falcon Brass version, but I'm not sure if that really qualifies as a "kit".

Cheers, Dave.

[Nile]

Next I've tackled the matter of how I'm going to attach the body to the chassis. At the rear of the chassis I used the 'off-cut' from the original, trimmed and soldered between the sides.

This both strengthens it and provides a mounting point.

 

I've filed another 1mm from the top at the front of the chassis, to get the body level and at the correct height.

There is already a hole here I can use as a mounting point.

 

On the underside of the body I've glued a nut, aligned with the hole at the chassis rear. At the front are some pieces of balsa wood, with a small hole for a self tapping screw.

 

Aft of the wood is a piece of brass shaped to form the boiler underside.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Nile

[Nile]

Being made of whitemetal the chassis is already quite heavy. I've added some lead to the body, a few strips along the top of the boiler and a rolled up piece wedged into the front.

 

Much more time was spent adding details to the outside of the body, handrails etc using Gibson shoulderless knobs.

There will be some more pipework added after it's been painted and varnished.

 

I've fitted wiper pick-ups to one side of the chassis, using 0.35mm phosphor bronze wire soldered to bits of PCB sleeper strip glued to the chassis. These are wired together to one motor terminal.

 

The electrical path to the other side of the motor is through the chassis and motor mount, touching the tag at the top.

And it works, honest! 

Edited May 2, 2015 by Nile

[Nile]

With the loco body ready for some paint I've turned my attention to the tender.

Compared to photos of the real thing I thought the profile of the front wasn't quite right, so I filed it to what I think is a better shape.

The closest side is original, the other has been filed by me.

 

My experience with the SECR O1 kit is that the wheels will roll much better with bearings. The axle slots in the chassis need to be widened for these, this is much easier to do before fitting the side frames. Here the one on the left has been widened to accept a 2mm bearing.

 

With the wheels fitted (for comparison).

 

The side frames were a bit warped. To keep them straight I glued some square nickel silver rods to them. Here is the whole lot glued together.

 

Wheels temporarily fitted to check all is ok.

 

Edited May 4, 2015 by Nile

[Nile]

There has been some progress, on various fronts.

The loco body is now covered in Halfords primer.

 

So I put all the bits together to get an overall impression of the loco.

 

At the back of the tender I've fitted the buffers. These came from the 'bits box', combined with some washers.

 

On the loco chassis I've added brake gear. These are plastic brake shoes that came in a bag of bits, held together by brass rods.

They locate onto brass rods fitted into the chassis.

 

[Mikkel]

Very nice Neil, that loco body is transformed already. I thought the first photo was a CAD image!

[N15class]

Looking very much better, you are making me think about finishing mine.

 

By the way the sanding rod on the left hand side extends all the way to the cab like the reverser on the right hand side. The way it works is the lever is pulled in the cab and the drop down part at the front transfers the pull to the other side. It is sometimes hard to see in photos as it follows the path some of the way as the clack valve piping. I will post the drawing if its of help.

 

What livery will you be finishing this in? Mine will be in Southern black lined green.

[Nile]

Thanks Peter, a drawing would be good. I've been working from photos.

I did think that might be the case with the sanding rod, as you say it can't be seen in the photos. I may get away with it when the pipe is fitted, that won't happen until after painting.

The livery will be unlined LSWR goods green.

Edited May 9, 2015 by Nile

[N15class]

Sent you a PM.

 

It will look good in green.

[Nile]

The first parts to get some paint were the wheels. The coupling rods made the task interesting.

 

The chassis also got some new black paint. When all was dry the wheels were refitted.

The brake gear has been glued in position and rigging added, made from 0.3mm nickel silver rod.

 

Moving onto the tender chassis, I've used Mainly Trains parts for the brake gear.

 

Here I've glued them into small notches cut into the frames.

 

 

[Nile]

More painting, this time the loco body.

 

Reunited with it's chassis.

 

Add in the tender for a sort of before and after comparison.

The tender isn't ready for painting yet, more on that soon.

Edited May 13, 2015 by Nile

[Nile]

The thing holding up the tender was the coal rails. I wasn't happy with the ones in the kit as they have a solid back. Trying to improve them by filing would make them very thin and fragile. So I decided to try and make my own from some square nickel silver rod.

In this first photo the vertical supports have been soldered to the horizontal rails.

 

The horizontal rails have been trimmed and bent to form the ends. above it is a resin one from the kit.

 

As that seemed to work I made another one. Here they are, showing both sides.

 

To fit onto the tender sides the supports need to be bent to match them.

 

These fit into some holes drilled in the tender top.

 

With both fitted.

 

Back with the loco, it's getting there.

 

[DLT]

Brilliant job on the coal-rails Neil, shes really looking good,

 

Cheers, Dave.

[Nile]

Thanks all. They are quite sturdy and withstand handling.

One last thing to do before painting the tender was adding some lamp sockets to the rear. Photos of the rear of this particular tender are so rare that I've not seen any, but I have a few photos of similar ones which I've used for reference. While real sockets in 4mm scale are theoretically possible, you'd have to look very closely to tell the difference from the bits of square plastic rod I've used.

 

Then it was on with the primer.

The body and chassis are still separate, making painting a bit easier.

While the paint was drying I got on with adding some guard irons to the loco chassis. I used bits left over from the Mainly Trains chassis I used under the O1 class (on my workbench topic).

To the right is the other one before cutting to fit on the chassis.

Both of them glued to the chassis.

More paint needed!

[Nile]

Here is the result of my recent painting.

Transfers next.

[Simon Moore]

Looking good that Now Nile

[Nile]

The transfers are on, photo to follow. While the sealing coat of Klear dried I did some more on the tender chassis.

As the tender was a bit light I've glued this old Hornby weight to the chassis.

 

Underneath I've fixed the wheels in place. The outer bearings are held in place with canopy glue, the middle axle can move up and down. Some brass rods, with more canopy glue, will stop it falling out.

I've fitted the bearings 'inside out' to give the wheels a bit more side play. That's why there is some plastic tube over the middle axle, to keep the loose bearings in their slots.

While rummaging in a draw I found a nice hand brake column that looked just right for this tender. I've glued it onto the front platform.

 

[N15class]

Looks very good

 

With such a short wheel base I would of thought no side play was needed. Are you adding a spring to keep the middle wheels in contact with the rails?