Kitbuild Challenge- BR Standard Class 5-DJH kit- EM Gauge

[brightspark]

Cheers Mallard. Of course you can. I am attracted to the idea that these loco builds (and other "how I done it's") will remain here for some time and hopefully will be a guide to other users as to how we did it. Hopefully they can make better models based on our experience. That is one reason why I like to try and record my thought process and not only what I felt I got right but also, and perhaps more importantly, what I get wrong and thoughts as to how I could have done it better.

[Mallard60022]

Many thanks sparky. I too like to drop some 'experiences' onto here. Even if many have already had those , there will be many that have not. I like to think that I might occasionally inspire someone to do something or try something, even if it is only a plastic wagon kit.

Looking froward to progress after Le Tour no doubt!

Phil 

Edited July 9, 2015 by Mallard60022

[brightspark]

Hello or should I say Bonjour as I am now back from France and the Tour having seen Froome in Yellow and cheered on the ten British riders. (now down to nine, but still the highest number of Brits to finish).

So now a chance to catch up with progress so far.
Having cut out the frames and at the same time pondering how much room I actually have behind those cylinders and how to actually fix them...It looks like a LOT of filing Horsetan...I thought that I had better look at the whirling iron-work.

After a too briefer look at the etch that contains the coupling rods et al I assumed that it would be the same as more modern kits and that I would have a double thickness coupling rod that I could articulate for the wobbly chassis.

Remember the old adage..."Measure twice and cut once".

So when I came to separate the etches I realised that there are two different lengths of rods. I had wondered why they had fluted both sets. So the intention was to have coupling rods only .020" thick! I guess it was the fashion at the time.

Anyway I used the two different lengths of rods to beef up and make up wobbly rods. After I did the first one I realised that there was an easier method and did this on the other side with much success.
For benefit of anyone who wants to have a go, here are my notes.


And the finished article.

Next up are the frame spacers.

With the luxury of a declared minimum radius of 5’ I can take the frames out as wide as possible. I have gone for 15mm and have used two of the top hat bushes that came with the kit but have reduced them down from 0,75mm to under 0,5mm. This still gives me a very generous sideplay on the drivers. So it will still easily get around tighter curves and that includes the 4’6” which equates to 5 chains minimum radius requirement for the prototype.
The frame spacers are made up by first making a strip of brass to the desired width. Then scribing them at 90 degrees to form bend lines or cut lines. There was a bit of thought as to where these will go. That comes down to body mounts, and pick-up mounts but consideration also has to be given to the compensation beams as well as clearing any bits of the whitemetal body that remain.
Before I assemble the chassis here is a look at the frames that are now separated, cleaned and have had the fixed bearing and detail added.


And here is a picture showing the rear (cab) cut out on the new frames against the running plate. The whole rear end of this casting will have to go.

Another area of minor difficulty will be the front end. The underside of the running plate will foul the cylinder mounting bracket. Caution will be required here as this area also is the front body mounting.

Now where is my frame making jig.

Andy

[Horsetan]

The other option would have been to use the Comet chassis for the BR Std.5, since that has everything in it, and you can specify EM spacers.

[Michael Edge]

Don't follow the width over cylinder dimension from the DJH OO frames. ALL DJH kits have the cylinders pushed out by a millimetre or so - you can usually see the line on the casting where packing has been added. As far as I know there are only two exceptions to this, A4 (7mm scale) has cylinders at correct spacing and the BR 2-6-4T has a footplate way over scale width. I have no idea why they do this, it's completely unnecessary in OO or O gauge.

[brightspark]

Cheers Mike, it actually measures 37mm across so 2mm too big.

[brightspark]

The frames have come out of the erection shop.
They did go together remarkably quickly. I do hope that I haven't built in an error in my haste.
They do seem pretty square though.
 
The hornguides needed a little bit of fettling to line up with the coupling rods. But it was no more than a touch of file on one side.
 
This picture shows the main reason for the new frames. Feel the width!
 
The original DJH frame falls through the new set of frames.
Oh, and the length.

These now go along the whole length of the loco. So no need for fillers.
 
Next up is more fettling to get the body to fit.
So some filing where the cylinder block mounting will go
 
before
 
after
 
It is after this that I realise how much I hate filing white metal. It clogs up every file no matter how course. Gastly stuff.
I am not looking forward to the cylinders.

 

Hi Horsetan, I did have a look at the Comet chassis, but I really fancied having a go at a scratchbuilt chassis. I also suspect that I would have to find more work-arounds as the chassis seems to be for a commercial body (Mainline?) and not the white-metal lump I have in my hand. Scratch-building seemed to reduce the number of potential headaches.

 

Now to hack off big lumps

 

Andy
 

[Horsetan]

....did have a look at the Comet chassis, but I really fancied having a go at a scratchbuilt chassis. I also suspect that I would have to find more work-arounds as the chassis seems to be for a commercial body (Mainline?) .....

It was meant for the Bachmann body, but I seem to recall that the instructions do say they can be adapted for others.

[trustytrev]

Hello Andy,

             

 

It is after this that I realise how much I hate filing white metal. It clogs up every file no matter how course.

 

You might do better using a scraper with a hardened sharp edge.(chisel, stanley blade or old redundant file ground to a sharp edge) It is the way whitemetal bearings are worked by hand.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_scraper

trustytrev.

[brightspark]

Hi Trev, ah bearing scrapping. Yes I done some of that in my time. They are very good for removing small amounts of material very accurately and flat too which is what you need for a bearing surface. There is another factor that I didn't realise until recently, that there are different types and grades of whitemetal. That used on bearings is a different grade to that used in railway kits. One of its properties is to not encourage galling, which is what is effectively happening when you hacksaw/file etc clogs up.

 

I just guess I will have to get on and "lump it". Which how the whitemetal cuts. (Big lumps stuck to the cutting tool).

 

The best method is to find the biggest tooth file/saw to do the bulk of the cut and then finsh with a small file (but not too fine a grade) The papers to get a finish.

 

Andy

[brightspark]

Coo you've done it now!
 
So that is the big lump of whitemetal cut off the back of the running plate. This had to go if you recall because the angled bit was set too far back and came halfway through the cab.

 
Now the clever bit is work out how to get it all back together again. This comes down to planning and measuring. Remember the old adage "Measure twice & cut once".
 
Well here is the plan laid out in front of you dear reader.
 
The cab, if you recall locates by a sliding fit over the running plate casting and is fixed by two screws. So this is why DJH supply a large backhead,  so as to hide these screws. Problem one here is that there will be no casting to locate the cab sides and very little meat to fix the cab to the boiler and running plate. This is going to be critical as the running plate on these beasts only locates onto the frames at the front and at the cab. So this joint is going to have to take the load of the body.
My solution is to solder a lip onto the front of the cab that positively locates inside the firebox section of the boiler.

The plan is that this both locates the cab to the boiler centrally and provides sufficient meat for bonding.

Cutting off the back of the running plate also allows the motor and gear box to fit in better. This will sit in the recess behind the replacement back-head.

Next was to remove and replace the DJH cab floor.
Here is a before and after picture.


It was here that there was an adjustment of the plan. Well two.
The first was that the Gibson backhead, for some reason, I had planned to instal so that it fitted over the frames. But after cutting out a suitable slot for it in the new cab floor that I realised two things.
1. it looks silly.
2. It will foul the rear driving wheel.
So I cut off the excess and left it flush.


The second change concerns the rear frame. This is the vertical plate below the cab. It is provided in the kit as a whitemetal casting that I had considered using by making the chassis a little shorter to accommodate it. But I had decided that a thin sheet of metal would look better and had planned instead to incorporate this into the floor development. But then I realised that I hadn't considered the tender coupling. Now on the tender I put a pin onto the underside of the boy that then goes through the chassis. There is a hole in the front Tender frame that the coupling passes through, so to uncouple the plan is to remove the body. But this will only work if the loco body is also detached as the footplate will foul the tender. Then there is the nice hole in the back plate on the loco for the coupling. I thought, "it would be nice to keep that as a feature. I had at this point already fixed the locating pin to the loco chassis.
After puzzling over this for some time, having considered split pins and clever bits of origami with paper clips that I had the answer already in front of me. Why not have the same arrangement on the loco as on the tender. So the plan is to fix the rear plate onto the chassis and the pin will be fixed to the underside of the cab. So releasing the body also uncouples the tender.
Well that's the plan.

 

As a bonus the plate just locates under the cab so I have another locating point. Hooray.

Here is a shot of the cab assembly hanging off the firebox and positioned onto the frames with the motor and gearbox in postion.

The checkered plate is the one provided in the kit for the cab floor and rear platform. I will fix this on top of the new floor.

 

There are a couple more alterations to be made to the cab. The model as designed has the newer style cab that had the double door and a fall plate on the tender. So I will need to add the rear support and the rear cab handrails. I think that there might have been a triangular plate behind the rear upright. From the pictures and side elevation drawings, it looks the same as the standard class 4 mogul. Does anyone have a picture or drawing that would confirm this?

I will also have to make up a couple of support brackets under the rear platform.

 

So will this work?

 

Only one way to find out.

 

Until next time.

 

Andy

 

 

 

[N15class]

Looks good. I always found once one bit on these kits was changed it just snowballed. The cab firebox unit looks very good.

[brightspark]

Thanks N15, Yes it is a huge improvement on the DJH offering.

[brightspark]

I am minded that time is pressing. Normally I take ages pontificating, waiting for the next model rail show to buy the next bit, followed by a flurry of activity. With this build it has been a steady and continuous process. Time is short because not only does this challenge have to be completed by the end of the year, but also I intend to haveg this loco running as part of the service at the Farnham show in October. Even more pressing is that the powers to be have decided that all stock intending to run must have a proving session in two weeks time.
THe reason is that as Swaynton has been in storage for sometime it is going to be assembled and tested at a rehearsal. At the same time the stock is going to be tested and deemed fit or not. So 73018 has to be in a condition to run on the layout and pull a load.

Looking back at last weeks entry, it seems that progress has been very fast.

The cab. Lacking a good clear drawing is always a worry. However I made an educated guess and cut the checker plate to size and fixed on the rear of the cab. The few drawings (intended for modellers) I have indicates that the rear is square, but photographs suggest otherwise. Oh how I wish for a BR drawing.
On the underside of the cab is now fixed a screw and a 2mm pin for the tender coupling. On top of this I have fixed the back end of the cab soldering it to the doors, that I shortened. Handrails still have to be fitted but now that I can tow a tender and in theory a train, it is time that I got back to the chassis.

The Chassis.
With the body fixings now in place the chassis can continue. A few last nuts were soldered on and with nothing else to add the frames went off to the paint shop.



Black looks so handsome. Paint is out of a Halfords tin and I chose a mix of satin and matt blacks. This is start the contrasts for weathering. I didn't bother with a varnish.
Next in the motor and gearbox. I assembled this while the paint was drying. The only tweak that I do here is to file a flat onto the spur and final axles in an attempt to keep the gear wheels on centre.


The motor has been securely packed with washers. Fortunately DJH supply a lot of 1/8th brass washers on the etch and eight of these plus two fibre washers keep the motor central to the chassis.
By this stage the motor and gearbox assembly has had lots a checks to make sure that it is running smoothly.
Wheels were set onto their axles and hornblocks and put into the chassis for a photo.

At this point I slipped the coupling rods on and applied power.
Would you believe that the beast moved without any binding! (Ah but I have yet to fit the bushes)

Confident that I seem to have got it right I then started on the compensation beams.
In theory I should be using 1mm rod in tube, but I haven't got any so I am using a heavier gauge material. The actual rods though are straightened out paperclips.

So here is a peak inside the frames. I found that I had to do a bit of fettling to make sure that the hornblocks run freely in their guides. The only other area of rework was to fit a fibre washer behind the middle set of drivers as I found that they were hitting the boiler band. (You can see where the paint has come off) I didn't fancy taking the wheels off the axle for this as the interference fit of Gibson wheels is weakened. So I cut each washer at an angle, slipped them on the axle and applied a little bit of cyno to the joint. Of course making sure that the washer wasn't glued to the axle.

The next part of the chassis to work on is the bogie. DJH provide a casting and I think that with a bit of modification I can use this. Now I did have a look at the Comet offering but I decided against it as it still needed some fettling both cosmetically and for the "deviation" that I intend to make. More of that next week...whether it works or not.

The DJH bogies with an EM wheels set in it.

And assembled sans wheels and axles.

Finally, cock-up corner.

You know how I keep banging on about measure twice cut once. Well if only I listened to my own advise. See if you can spot where I got too keen.
The object of the exercise is to make the tender drawbar/coupling. The required gap between tender and loco is 8". The attached notes show my measurements from the outside of the tender and loco bodies. As I did this I was eyeing up the surplus motor mount in the kit. The holes are slightly under 9.2 but I can drag them out to size.
The tender now seems to be slightly under 2mm from the loco. Now where did I go wrong????
(Its OK for the moment as it still goes around a 5' curve, but will have to be fixed)


Finally for this week. A photo of the loco attached to its tender with all the main bits of bodywork hanging in place.


Happy modelling.

Andy


 

[brightspark]

Progress has been a little slow this week and with the opportunity to test the loco on Saturday looming this will be a very short update.
 
Here is a photo progress so far taken this evening.

As you can see the front bogie has now been fitted.
Yes that is white plastic card. These are overlays onto the whitemetal casting. Still to be added is the detail which has been put on hold pending Saturdays test. I will at the next update show a little more of the bogie and the approach that I have taken with this model.
As a teaser I will just say that I have not used the long wobbly arm method.
 
I must have got something very right with the chassis set-up as the coupling rods went straight on and required no adjustment! I was shocked at how free running this loco is.
 
I want to make a serious effort at getting the rest of the motion fitted. Yes I still have to cut down the cylinders. One small area of frustrations has been the expansion link bracket.
 
I didn't get the position quite right and the running plate casting, that also mounts onto this, was sitting on a boiler band and so stuck up at a jaunty angle. I cleared away a small section of the saddle which put the running plate at the correct angle. However when fitted the coupling rods foul it at TDC. In the next picture, I had jacked up the casting to clear the rods but as this affects the body position again, I realised that something was very wrong.

I think that this is some sort of standard casting with the intention that 00 wheels and coupling rods would fit behind it. I did check the throw of the Gibson wheels to make sure that they were not to long and they seem to be OK. Study of prototype photos shows that the bracket does not come down so far. It also has some more detail that is not provided in the kit. I will build up the detail with some plastic card.
 
One other thing that is missing is the linkage to and the lubricator boxes. These strike me as being an essential part of the standard fives character. I am wondering about the best method of modelling this. It will have to be very solid as it is in a position to be easily crushed when the model is picked up.
 
Ok back to the workshop.

Andy
 
ps. By the way the layout test session is in Weybridge. If you wish to pop your head around the door, PM me and will let you know the location and times.

[brightspark]

A short update on progress.
 
The big push on this was to get a fully running chassis assembled and running ready for the test day that was last Saturday. Having got the quartering correct first time I thought that this was achievable, if only just. However the kit got one over on me and so was not quite ready.
There were a couple of clichés.
The first was that the lead wheels crank pin fouls the connecting rod. I tried thinning down the nut to clear. However there is a point of no return where the nut will become so thin that there is no thread left to hold itself in place let alone the wiring metalwork.
The other problem that frustrated me was that the radius rod would not lie in the correct position and insisted on popping up into the air. I found that the combination lever was fouling the front of the valve spindle housing (casting). Something obviously wasn't right in this area so I decided that the best plan of action would be to miss off the connecting rods and just test what I had.


Swaynton for Millcliffe on Sea, being set up.


Its quite a long layout.

So it went into its test sans con rods, the tender half painted and the motor temporarily wired to the tender pick ups. The loco bodywork was half bolted on or held together with tape and bluetack. The plan was to see if;
a. it would haul itself along.
b. the tender pick ups worked.
c. the compensation worked.
d. the front bogies set up worked.
 
Saturday came and the required bits of layout came together at the church hall in Weybridge, having been carried there in a number of different cars. The layout was assembled in a very relaxed fashion, was it the scent of the aromatherapy oils from the previous occupant, or did we just remember how it went together. A loco and few wagons were tested to check that joints had not gone out of line and that all the connections were good. I tested a few other locos and wagons to ensure that they ran ok (or not and required fixing) and then took the opportunity to bring out the embryonic 73018.
 
I guess that in this age of "shake the box" modelling, that people have forgotten what a half built loco looks like. Well that's impression I got when comments were raised about it. What's wrong with the con rods? was one question, and no he wasn't joking. Why are there wires poking out the cab? Is it over head electric?...that's just taking the pee. And finally "it doesn't run too good" with an added, "it only runs good now because you had it flat out". I ask you!


A very blurry picture of 73018 running over the pointwork.


Sitting in the platform with wires coming out everywhere. Hopefully she will eventually be more presentable and at the head of the Bournemouth to Eastleigh stopper.


The signals off and she is ready for another go over the pointwork.

So the results of the tests are that;
a, it can haul itself along providing that the weight is in the right place. Get that wrong and the wheels will spin without the loco moving.
b. The tender pick ups are a bit intermittent and there was a bit of shorting. But nothing that cannot be fixed and I now know where its shorting.
c. The compensation does work. The loco (when weighted correctly) glides over point-work and the little bit of raised track.
d. The front bogie works very well although there was a large shower of sparks as the wheels touched the frame as she was diverted into the goods yard. Again, some deft work with the file should fix that.
 
One area that I hadn't considered that came under (more informed) scrutiny is the height of the guard irons.
Now I had always assumed, and assumed wrong it seems, that these would come down to almost touch the rail. My logic being that these would deflect anything that was lying on the rail. However it seems that these actually sit quite high up in the air. Somebody suggested a matchbox height but subsequent study of photographs suggest to me that these are actually about four inches above the rail. Can anyone confirm?
Looking at the models bought out that day found that these were all over the place. Mine were touching the rails while one had them set in so far and so high that they looked, well, just a bit weird.
 
So after a week of fixing some other minor repairs I am back to working on 73018. It won't go into scheduled service at the next outing, but I am confident that it will run better on its second test.

I am quite pleased at the progress on the loco and only a couple of  little glitches so far.

 

Until next time.

 

Andy

 

 

edit for typo

Edited January 17, 2016 by brightspark

[N15class]

The rear support looks to be in the wrong place it to me should be further forward and on the front hole.

[brightspark]

Hi N15.

I think that you mean the expansion pivot? (with the screw in it)

If so it is in roughly the right position. The hole just forward of that is for the lifting link of the reverser.

The view of her sat in the platform shows the radius rod sat in the air. The second hole down should be out of sight. This makes the angle too sharp.

 

Andy

[Horsetan]

.....I guess that in this age of "shake the box" modelling, that people have forgotten what a half built loco looks like. Well that's impression I got when comments were raised about it. What's wrong with the con rods? was one question, and no he wasn't joking. Why are there wires poking out the cab? Is it over head electric?...that's just taking the pee. And finally "it doesn't run too good" with an added, "it only runs good now because you had it flat out". I ask you!....

 

Some people don't know they're born......

[brightspark]

Work progresses on 73018 and this posting is quite a long update.

Stripped for rework.

A couple of areas needed some rework after the test session. Starting with the tender. There was a little shorting here from the pickups touching the brake gear. Cured by some sticky paper wrapped around the pick-up strips. I also reset the wheel back to backs and reset the pickups to actually touch more of the wheels. I have also made sure that the guard irons have the correct clearance. There was evidence that even though were quite high already that at least one of them had rubbed the rail as paint was missing.
The tender also had a bit more filler added to the corners and some rubbing down of “high spots” in the paint. This can now head back to the paint shop.

The loco itself was as you can guess the main subject of rework. Again the wheels back to back was corrected.
I feel that the reason for this needs a bit more explanation. Those of you who have access to the EMGS manual sheets may have noted that the P4 standards have tolerances where as the EM do not. As I understand it there was never any agreement as what these should be. The back to back measurement is declared as being 16,5mm but with what tolerance?
Richard Stevenson has been doing some research into the history of EM Gauge (see his paper on the EMGS website) and has found that attempts were made to declare a tolerance. There was some thoughts (from Manchester?) that it should be 16,5mm plus 5thou. An engineering statement that you would only find in the UK. This works out as 16,5mm +0,2mm / -0,00mm. Logically the back to back of the wheel set must be 16,5 plus and the check rail must be 16,5 or less. Swaynton has the check rails set very close to 16,5 and it is suspected may even by plus in places especially in warmer weather. So 73018 and a large amount of rolling stock was found to be riding up as they passed over the point-work. In setting the wheel back to back I had just closed the wheels up the EM B-B gauge figuring that a tight fit would be a good thing. Ah, it seems that I, and a few others were wrong. The B-B gauge must be a sloppy fit. So off with the wheels and reset them so that they are now within a gnats of 16,6mm.

At the same time I added a shim washer behind the leading driving wheels as it has become apparent that there is absolutely no clearance behind the con rods and having any side play on this axle will cause the loco to bind. So all the side play on this set of wheels is on the centre axle. This should be enough according to the math I did earlier and proved to be so after the wheels were refitted to the chassis and run around a four and a half foot curve.

I have also worked that I had the cylinder block in the wrong position and have moved it forward by 1mm. This now brings the front of the radius rod into the correct alignment on the valve spindle cross head casting. I have also added the valve spindle, partly to have something in the gap, but the main reason was to keep the front of the radius arm in the correct position. Moving the cylinders forward also allows proper movement of the combination lever which was trying to drive itself into the casting in the full forward position.
Rechecking my work I found that I had been a little sloppy in transferring the dimensions of the DJH frame to the new frame. However 1mm out isn’t bad considering all the other corrections and mods I had to consider.
I had a concern that the crosshead run in the slide-bar was getting too close to the rear. Checking against the drawings I have suggests that the slide-bars may be too short. But the cross head just has enough room to do its thing.

Setting aside the cylinder assembly, it was time to get back to the front bogie. Now in an earlier post N15 suggested that I should consider a pin at the rear of the bogie to give it adequate swing and to allow the bogie to steer. I am dissatisfied with the traditional swing arm method as supplied in the kit as I am convinced that the bogie needs to do its job. Now a pin appeals but I saw something better with the pin in the center. I also couldn't see a good way of using the off set pin method and still get some of the loco weight onto the front bogie. The method that I have used is a bit of a hotch-potch of ideas but seems to work.

So what I have done is arranged the compensation beam that supports the two leading drivers to pivot at the midpoint between the centre of the drivers and the centre of the bogie. So as the bogie lifts it pushes down onto the driving wheels and vis-versa. The pin goes through the centre of the bogie truck, but in a slot and is held in position by washers and a split pin. There are two bits of spring wire that go from the beam to the front and to the back of the bogie truck these act as the side control springs. The rear spring is slightly lower than the front one so that the spring rate is lower at the front thus making more prone to move further here than at the rear. This appears to have a similar effect as N15s suggestion of fitting the pin further back. The bogie wheels are set up with three point support with the front axle having the two points. I have also restricted the side-play on the leading wheels with additional washers.

 

Bogies and leading part of beam showing the pin and rubbing plate.

 

close up of the now detailed bogie, ready for paint.

 

The underside of the bogie showing the slot

 

and finally fixed in with a split pin.

OK the spring thing was a fluke that I evolved into after several attempts. The pin setup using a slot is a method I have seen used by a few modellers but most notably it was used by D.A.Williams on his stock used for Metropolitan Junction and it looks like he used it from quite early on with great effect. The locos are being repaired/restored by members of the local EMGS group and I have had the chance to have a study of the locos and seen how well they run.
Time will tell if I have got this right. However during the tests it ran very well even with the back to backs too close and the wheels touching the frame. So I have faith.

 

Finally before closing I have added a block of lead, approx 30grammes into the ashpan. The motor sits nicely on top of this. I was surprised at how the distribution of weight really affected the locos performance during tests and adding too much weight in the wrong place can get the loco to almost wheel-spin without any load behind it.

Phew, that’s all for the moment. I am now going to focus on the con-rods and the rest of the moving parts. If anyone is going to the Woking show, I shall be on the EMGS stand (probably on the Sunday with number 18. Come along and do have a chat.

 

Andy

Edited September 8, 2015 by brightspark

[brightspark]

Crickey, its been a month since I last posted.

The workbench

I have been beavering away at this loco and in my mind progress has been slow so I didn’t think that there was much to report. But looking back at the previous entry, and I guess that this is where recording your progress helps, it seems that much progress has been made. The little butterfly in me is banging on the bars and wants to set free to alight on another project before this one and all the others are finished. However I will continue as I can see the end now.

So as I left it last month...ah yes corrections. Well they are all done and it was time to start on the motion.
Lets start with the con rods. The only real problem I had here was them fouling the leading crankpin. I guess that I should have known that this was going to happen as even a casual study of photos of the prototype show that the nuts are flush indicating that there is no clearance. I guess that a OO model may have some clearance here especially if you leave the cylinders on the original DJH set centres which are set wide, but in EM or P4 not a chance.
The neat solution is to purchase a special crank pin from the EMGS stores. Except it is no longer listed. Part ????. This had a 14BA pin that fits much the same way as a Gibson pin, but also contains a washer that fits between the wheel and rod and a nut/bearing that fits into the two part coupling rods. It does require some forward planning as the coupling rod needs to have its two parts made with different holes before soldering together.
As I had not done that and required something a bit quicker (and perhaps is no longer available), I modified the Gibson parts. Choosing to counter bore using drills, reamers and various cutting tools to try and create some sort of step in the coupling rod and reducing the height of the bearing and nut so that the nut can be fitted upside down and flush (or as near as I can) to the surface of the rod. The coupling rod now clears.

That should be flush there mate.

That’s better. The leading crank-pin is now reversed and flush. The black is ink from a felt marker pens to check for tight spots.
Then there was the mysterious clunk and tight spot that only appeared when the left con rod was fitted with its return crank. This turned out to be the guide bar coming unsoldered. It was too late to re-solder at this point as it was now firmly glued into the cylinder block. White-metal + soldering iron= no good. This was soon fixed with a blob or araldite. Sure enough the right side came adrift as well so the same fix was applied there.
The rest of the valve gear went together ok. I ran out of Gibson Rivets so resorted to using the DJH ones. The heads are far to big and I found that I got a better result putting them in the wrong way around with head hidden.
Also added are the lubricators and the cylinder behind the right hand lifting link. The DJH instructions, where it does mention these, suggests fixing them to the running plate. These leaves the loco looking rather naked in an area with a lot of detail. So I have opted to replicate as much as possible with plastic strip and for ease of access mount it all to the chassis.
To add some weight behind the wheels I made up some springs again from plastic strip. These were painted and glued onto the inside of the frames.

With these installed I then moved onto the pick-up arrangements. This is the usual phosphor bronze strip soldered onto PCB and then bolted to the chassis. I won’t bore you with a photo of this. But will add that I like to try and get a good length of strip between the mounting point and the wheel so as to ensure that the contact point of the pickup has lots of spring in it without adding any extra drag to the loco. I tend to add a big S bend into the strip as well. The plastic springs helped here in acting as an insulating strip between the pickup and the chassis.
I am going to try out a different method of connecting the tender pick up wires to the loco. There are several methods available from just soldering the wires on to neat little plugs. I have been soldering the wire ends to a brass washer and bolting them to a bus-bar arrangement. However on this loco i have soldered on two 0,5mm wires that project aft from the rear pick up. Onto these I have slide two short brass tubes with a 0,5mm bore that have been soldered to the tender jumper wires.
I will let you know how this works in service. But in tests it seems ok.
The loco chassis and tender seem quite happy running up and down my short test track so it’s time to finish of detailing the chassis and starting on the body.
I have added to the chassis the lubricator arms. I couldn’t make them work so they are just bent wire with blobs of solder to represent the knuckle joints. One thing that I have noticed is that on the later locos the arm that goes to the lubricator seems to be longer. So anyone else following this, look out.

The chassis is now almost complete less a few pipes. I will put them on after the next big test session. That will be a few runs on the layout at the Farnham show this weekend. The tender now has buffers and an AJ fitted. So we can see what it will pull.
With that show in mind, its time I got on with the body.
I have broken down the assembly plan into stages. Stage one being all about soldering, stage two is drilling holes, stage three cementing (there is an old phrase) the main parts together etc.
All of the soldering is to the brass cab. If you recall I replaced the floor with some brass sheet.. While the brass can get hot I have also fixed on the little support brackets at the back of the cab (under the floor). These were on the white-metal casting, but I had to cut that off. I have also soldered on the cab handrails. This seems to have added some strength to the structure.
The cab will be deatailed and already soldered in are some Gibson ashpan damper controls.
I have also installed some Gibson mudhole covers into the firebox. I think that they improve the model considerably.

As I leave the loco to write down this update the glue is drying on stage three. Firebox is being fixed to the cab and hopefully all the little holes are in the right places. Hopefully by Friday there should be enough of the body cemented together to allow this to do a few runs.

If you are attending the Farnham show. Do drop by and say hello. You can peer into the inards of 73018 and judge its performance and progress first hand.

Cheers
Andy

 

Edited October 6, 2015 by brightspark

[brightspark]

Well I just got a quick run with it on the last train of the day at Farnham. Its not scheduled to run as a service loco yet, but can run as part of the fun trains.

Anyway, it did one run quite successfully hauling five coaches. The only problem seemed to be that the tender had a distinct wobble.

I had a look this evening and two of the wheels, one each on the middle and aft axle did have wobble.

So I have had a go at twisting the straight and for good measure turned one of the axles around so the two wobbly wheels are on either side of the tender. Hopefully if the is any wobble left they will cancel each other out.

 

Andy

[brightspark]

Another run on the Sunday and the wobble is still there, though not as bad.

Hmmmm, what I need is something to spin the axle so I can check where the wheel is off centre.

Anyone got any ideas?

[brightspark]

Hello again.

I was asked this week if there had been any update as over a month has passed by without any progress report. It was also pointed out to me how many weeks are left to the end of the year and the challenge.


Progress on the Starboard side.

Well after the Farnham show, I was a “bit trained out”. Plus I have been going at this one project quite intently over the past few months and the butterfly in me is looking for another flower to land on. I have another project that has taken up my time this month so 73018 has had to take a bit of a back seat. Although I should still be able to finish it before year end.


The other side in preparation.

So here is the progress report.

The loco did manage a few runs along Swaynton and pulled a decent load with a smooth take off and stop. I was quite pleased with that.

On return to the works I stripped it apart to check for any inappropriate wear and tear. All looked well apart from some the paint rubbing off the front of the tender. So the first job was to fix the incorrect drawbar. Measuring it again, I found that it was almost 2mm short between the hole centres. It was also wobbling around on the pins a little too much for my liking. The thought of fiddling around with another flat plate and perhaps introducing some better bearings crossed my mind, but then I spied the DJH instructions and thought, what is actually wrong with a paperclip? So 73018 has a new drawbar made from a paperclip that has been wound around each pin twice so that it doesn’t flap around while at the same time maintaining the correct distance between loco and tender during “take off and landing”.

The wobbly wheels have defeated me. I have tried several methods to sort them out from bending them to drilling out the centre and remounting with a glue packing. I have heard tell that a batch of wheels came from Norfolk that were decidedly off centre, and I suspect that this is what I have inherited. So the only way forward is to replace these at some future point.

Meanwhile work has returned to the detail above the waterline. Again it is worth careful planning as regards assembly and adding detail. Reading the MRJ article, it was suggested that the boiler is painted and lined separately to the running plate. After pondering how much detail I should add or miss off to aid this, those boiler bands are fiddly, I decided to follow Mr Shackleton's notes and leave the pipework off but applying the handrails.
And just as well I did because the handrail holes are not in the right place....Arghhh.

Handrails applied. Eagle eyed readers may be able to make out the green putty filling the incorrect hole positions set out by DJH...and some of the addidtional holes drilled out by me. ​

DJH in their wisdom have provided the usual bedknobs but only in one length, short. Of course the asthetic beauty in the machine is that the handrail runs straight at about 3ft above the running plate and has varing lengths of handrail knobs to support it and keep that straight line. So I have had to fiddle around with it. What gets me though is that the two knobs on the horizontal section of the smoke box are still too high even with the short bedknobs. I shall have to study some of those “professionally made” models that appear on a certain online purchasing site to see how they did it. I just re-drilled the holes and used the Gibson knobs. Expensive but closer to scale.

At the front end I have added steps. DJH have provided some nicely cast steps in two sizes. As yet I have still no clue as to the intention as to which size goes where, but wherever you put them you will not have enough. I have used the steps provided in the Branch-Lines pack for the front end and two of the cast steps that live either side of the boiler just in front of the cab.
As we are on steps I have added the front steps, and after reading D.A.Wiliams article in the April 58 MRNI have also added the support rod behind them. You can just make it out in some photos of the prototype. Steps are delicate little things and this may also help stop them breaking off when the loco hits the buffers in Swayntons fiddle yards and when it is being pulled out off its stock box.
The lamp irons have also been added to the front end and not that the two outside ones are opposite handed. While the loco is in paint I shall work up the smokebox door.


The smokebox door as supplied, I have drilled out the pre-marked handrail knob positions. Next job add some garnish.

I was also thinking that the cab could do with some more detail. So to accompany the Gibson Backhead is the Gibson Ashpan controls. Then I thought that a few more embellishments might help. There are a few bits missing, but no one will see these on the finished model. In the photos you can also one of the proposed crew.


So that is progress to date. At the moment the model is in bits being painted. But more on that next time.

Cheers

Andy

Edited November 15, 2015 by brightspark

[brightspark]

I guess that am not so good at making models these days. Once upon a time I could build, paint, apply the transfers and have my Airfix kit flying in one day.

I say this because I have just realised that the total paint time for the body of this loco (the chassis being painted before the wheels went in) has lasted several weeks. Of course I am referring to that old joke, often heard on repeats of Morecombe & Wise and aimed at the like of Andre Previn and Elton John that “he isn’t as good at playing the piano as he used to be because when he started he could play the piano with just one finger. Whereas now he has to use all of them.”

It is often said that the paint can make or break the finished model and no matter how accurately detailed the model is, that bad painting ruins the effect. Perhaps it is maturity and experience that now gives me the patience to at least let the paint dry before adding the transfers. Although on reflection it may that my impatience has been redirected and that now my eagerness to see the finished model as quickly as possible has been replaced with an impatience of seeing poor work. To me the finished model should, or is that must, reach a pleasing standard of finish. The only problem with that is my standard of acceptance keeps raising the bar and that can create a problem if you are trying to produce stock for a layout that has a consistent feel and of course meet a deadline. Anyway the plan was to allow plenty of time between each colour application, by this I include transfers. I had or rather still have as it is overrunning, another project on the go with a deadline of Christmas. My idea was to do a little bit of painting, concentrate of the other thing while the paint dried, apply the next coat and on so that by the first week of December I would have a fully painted loco to assemble and detail.

Paint is my usual choice of Halfords Black. I use a matt or satin paint for the underside and a gloss for the bodywork especially where the transfers go. In those areas particularly I have recently taken to polishing the painted surface with T-Cut to get a high gloss finish as this seems to give a more pleasing effect with the transfer looking painted rather than stuck on.
Varnish, now here I always seem to have a problem. On this model for the underside I used Games Workshop satin varnish, but it seems to have crazed to paint underneath. However this will disappear under layers of grime, that some may refer to as weathering. On the top side I decided to use Mr Halfords Gloss and then after weathering go over that in Games Workshop product. But only in the areas where cleaning has not been done.
However here I hit a snag as on applying the gloss varnish I managed to produce a very blotchy finish. Grrrr.
I had put this down to poor preparation. But eventually came to the conclusion that the can was near empty and it started to blow air through and so pumped through the contents in uneven limps. Moral: - don’t try and save money by using up the last noggins in the tin.

Now there are two possible fixes. One is a big bucket of paint stripper and starting again, the other is careful rubbing down with T-Cut and a cotton bud. It was the latter method that I choose. So there at the beginning of December, instead of ploughing ahead at full steam with the assembly I was instead very gently cutting back the varnish, touching up the paint and eventually re-varnishing. There are still odd areas of rough paint but like the chassis these will be covered by weathering. Finishing this loco by the end of year is beginning to look like a tall order.

So there we have it, 73018 is now out of the paint shop and ready to be put together and fitted out.


'til next time.

 

Andy