The Longsight Patriot

[david.hill64]

Feeling like we are getting somewhere again.

 

The front and centre spacers were tacked to the left frame and the rear to the right frame. Both sides were then tacked together and wheels fitted temporarily.

 

 

The good news is that all 4 wheels are on the ground at the same time so the spacers were more permanently soldered.

 

The wheels were removed and the remaining spacers formed and added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll now divert to the body for a while so that I can work out the best location for the ABC motor-gearbox combo.

[david.hill64]

It has been a productive day at the bench.

 

First I fitted the buffers to the tender, gave it a good clean and put it out on the balcony to dry prior to painting. More on that later.

 

Then as planned I got on with the body.

 

First job: emboss the rivets on the centre section of the footplate. There are a lot of these!

 

 

Ditto for the front section.

 

 

Footplate sections and valences seen here with the frames.

 

 

The front and rear sections have to be bent to follow the shape of the valances. I used the annealing tool (think creme brulee) to soften the brass first and then formed it round a bar,

 

 

The centre section of the footplate was joined to the valences, followed by the front and rear sections.

 

 

 

 

The instructions say that it may be necessary to file the front extension piece to fit. I think that whenever a designer says that, you can be certain that some fettling is required. In this case I did have to file the front section verticals to get the same height as the main section. The problem is that there is a row of rivets on the main section very close to the joint. My suggestion is to consider leaving that row un-embossed and doing it when the sections are joined. You would have to use a nail or something similar as space is limited.

 

The rivets on the buffer beam were embossed and the beam soldered in place.

 

 

The two drag beam overlays were sweated to the drag beam and the drag beam located.

 

 

The assembly was then test fitted to the frames.

 

 

The instructions call for a thin nut to be soldered to the front of the footplate. It needs to be thin as it has to fit between the footplate and the frames. Unfortunately there wasn't one in the kit and I have none here, so a standard nut was filed down and soldered in place.

 

 

Two screws were added to the rear, the splasher sides folded up and the temporary bridges in the footplate removed.

 

 

 

Much to my surprise, the splasher tops were easy to fit.

 

 

Up to this point all had progressed without much difficulty, but fitting the front frame extensions did require that the nickel silver extensions be filed extensively to fit.

 

The footplate was then refitted to the wheeled frames and clearances checked.

 

 

 

Finally the footplate was removed and given a good wash.

 

Whilst I went out for lunch, leaving the tender to dry on the balcony, the weather changed completely and it poured down, resulting in the tender getting wet and not ready for the spray booth (aka washing machine top).

 

So here they both are drying off in the kitchen.

 

 

Really happy with progress today.

[david.hill64]

The tender is now in the paint shop.

 

I embossed the rivets on the cab sides and front and then soldered the sides to the front.

 

A test fit shows that a little filing will be required to get the cab to sit correctly. This is a beginning of the session job though so will wait.

 

 

I wondered how to laminate the firebox front pieces as you must avoid soldering the edges. The inner is slight;y smaller than the outer to form a location for the wrapper front. I hit on the idea of using the gas flame and soldering in the holes. This worked well.

 

 

I then used the spaces to add the rear piece.

 

 

A test fit of the wrapper showed all seems to be OK. I then used the gas torch to anneal the wrapper as best I could. I suspect the only thing I have done is to stress relieve the brass as it has now taken a curved shape (unfortunately the wrong way). Like fitting the cab, soldering the wrapper is a job that must be correct, so I will wait until I am rested before doing these.

[david.hill64]

Only two jobs tonight, and one of those not completed!

 

First the cab was filed as necessary to get the curve to match the footplate and then soldered in place.

 

 

Then the firebox wrapper was soldered around the formers/end pieces.

 

 

 

This job is not yet complete. The cab end of the wrapper overlaps the former. This was very helpful in forming the shape of the wrapper and soldering in place but following a test fit to the footplate I have a sneaky suspicion that wrapper is too long by the amount it overhangs the rear former (about 1mm). I judge this from the interface with the splashers. Anyway before i do anything irreversible (like shorten the wrapper) I'll assemble the boiler and smokebox and test fit all together.

[N15class]

Nice job. The builds always seem to move on quickly once you get started on the main body. Then the detailing comes along.

 

I hope to make a start on my jubilee soon. But need to find out what firebox my choice has. But first I have to remember which one I am making.

[Horsetan]

.... I hope to make a start on my jubilee soon. But need to find out what firebox my choice has. But first I have to remember which one I am making.

Pick a number, any number...

[david.hill64]

Tonight has been preparation for the boiler and smokebox assemblies. I soldered some locating screws into the front and rear boiler formers. These will be used to locate teh boiler to teh smokebox and firebox.

 

 

 

The rear former was checked for fit against the firebox.

 

 

The the rivets on the smokebox were embossed.

 

 

So not a deal of progress but I spent much of the evening trying to understand what will happen next here now that the King has died. Unfortunately speculation on what happens next is illegal and given that there hasn't been a succession to manage for 70 years few can remember what happened last time.

[Horsetan]

... I spent much of the evening trying to understand what will happen next here now that the King has died. Unfortunately speculation on what happens next is illegal ....

I doubt that Gen. Chan-ocha's military junta reads RMWeb so you're quite safe....

Edited October 13, 2016 by Horsetan

[david.hill64]

As all of the girlie bars and other dens of iniquity are closed until further notice, I have been forced to have a day at the workbench!

 

Not too shabby a day either.

 

First task was to undo one of the jobs done yesterday. On reflection I thought that fitting a pair of locating screws to the front boiler pate was asking for trouble as it would rely on me getting the alignment of the rear smokebox ring absolutely correct. As there isn't a witness mark in the smokebox wrapper, the chance of me getting the alignment correct is zero, so I replace the two offset screws with one central one. I took a chance with the rear plate.

 

First up was to roll the embossed smokebox wrapper.

 

 

 

Then I soldered in place the rear boiler plate. The boiler clamps are very useful for this.

 

 

I then made a test fit against the firebox to check all was well.

 

 

Happy with that I soldered the rear plate form the inside to ensure that it was truly stuck. I then added the front plate and soldered the seam. The front plate can of course be soldered only from the outside.

 

Next up was the smokebox. The instructions say to fit the front whitemetal piece first. I wondered whether this was really the correct thing to do but did follow this instruction. I had to take a little off the diameter of the whitemetal casting and then having marked up the parts to get the orientation correct and having tinned the inside of the wrapper I used the low melt solder from the inside to locate the ring.

 

 

I temporarily fitted a long screw to the smokebox rear plate.

 

 

This was used to guide the plate to its correct location while it was soldered in place. Cue yet another boiler clamp photo.

 

 

I then carved a large opening in the middle of the smokebox front casting and used the 6BA screws and nuts to hold the firebox, boiler and smokebox together to check fit and alignment. I really need a 6BA nut spinner to tighten the nut in the snokebox. I also need a better set of BA spanners. I have a set of what must be Chinese spanners bought cheaply from a well known auction site but in their case the BA stands for B****y Awful as the dimensions bear no resemblance to any British standard.

 

 

A test fit confirmed that the whole assembly was too long, so I shortened the firebox back to the rear former, at which point the firebox lower contours matched the footplate/splashers. That actually took some time to get right: the instructions warn that some filing of the firebox lower will be required.

 

With that done the boiler assembly was screwed to the cab front and put out in the sunshine.

 

 

 

So it's now time to go up the pub to watch the football. The authorities have stopped all entertainment channels on the TV so no films or soaps, but have kept the football. I do feel that a glass or three of ale is in order. (Pubs are open provided patrons don't enjoy themselves).

 

Tomorrow I will start by tidying up the firebox front. Then I can check where to fit the motor and get back to the chassis work.

Edited October 15, 2016 by david.hill64

[Worsdell forever]

(Pubs are open provided patrons don't enjoy themselves).

 

Well, you are watching football...

 

Anyway, the Patriot is looking good.

[david.hill64]

The journey to the pub last night  was  interesting. I go to the Pickled Liver. For those of you that know Bangkok this is on Sukhumvot soi 7-1, which has more than its fair share of naughty establishments. I had expected them all to be closed, but the working girls were still there, only this time dressed in black rather than parading around in red underwear! Ho hum. Anyway as requested I didn't enjoy myself while drinking my Old Speckled Hen.

 

The first job this morning was to see how to fit the gearbox. It will drive off the centre wheel - which I prefer - and i was able to use the ABC gears locating arm. Now I must confess to being rather pleased with myself. I cut some pieces of brass tube and soldered them to the arm. I then drilled through the tube into the arm and tapped the holes M2. I then marked the chassis in the appropriate place and drilled and countersunk two holes for two 10mm M" countersunk screws that hold the arm in place. The photos should show what I mean better than I can explain it.

 

 

 

 

 

I have also started on the brake gear. The only problem was that the rear rod was too long and I had to shorten it.

 

 

I'll post more photos when the brakes are complete.

 

 

 

[Horsetan]

The journey to the pub last night  was  interesting. I go to the Pickled Liver. For those of you that know Bangkok this is on Sukhumvot soi 7-1, which has more than its fair share of naughty establishments. I had expected them all to be closed, but the working girls were still there, only this time dressed in black rather than parading around in red underwear! Ho hum. Anyway as requested I didn't enjoy myself while drinking ....

 

I think we should be grateful to have reports like this from the few modellers in the Far East - they experience bouts of history and surrealism that we don't really get to see.

 

Siam/Thailand is probably the only country never to have been part of anyone else's empire, mainly because it was so adept at playing people off against each other.

[david.hill64]

A couple of evenings working with the brake and sanding gear.

 

The final job on the brakes was to add the support brackets and rivet detail.

 

 

Adding the sandpipes was a long job. They are very prominent on the prototype and run a long way parallel to the rail head. I would have thought that was a recipe for clogging.

 

 

The support brackets (parts 45) have to be shortened.

 

I had not been happy with the location of frame spacer E. This is visible in the first photo above as it has a horizontal part below the frames. I can see no function for this and it interfered with the sandpipes so the horizontal section was removed (and retained in case it is needed). I'll find out later!

 

I may now skip ahead and fit the injector so that I can spray the chassis.

[Worsdell forever]

That spacer shouldn't go the other way up should it?

[david.hill64]

That spacer shouldn't go the other way up should it?

No: it wouldn't fit that way. I did have a good ponder when doing the basic assembly and even though it just looked wrong I stuck it where it would fit. Of course it is entirely possible that I have done something stupid............wouldn't be the first time.

[david.hill64]

I had a frustrating time at the bench the other evening trying to think through the bogie assembly. I gave up and retired before I used the soldering iron.

 

Before returning to the bogie I drilled out the Slater's crankpin bushes and tapped them 10BA. The balance weights were cleaned up and glued to the wheels with quick set eopxy. I find that superglue doesn't stick well to the plastic. I tapped teh wheels 10 BA and fitted screws secured with loctite.10 BA screws.

 

 

 

Returning to the bogie I found that I needed to file quite a lot from the spring to get it to sit correctly. The axle bushes were added to the equalising beams and then beams, springs and frame sides aligned with 0.7mm wire through the holes provided.

 

 

The two sides were then eased out and the bogie spacer located. 3/16" rods were used to align the assembly.

 

 

Starting with the spacer to side frames and working out, the bits were soldered together and the wire cut off. The small brackets were added at the bottom centre.

 

 

 

 

Fitting the wheels and axles confirmed that the assembly is square and free running.

 

 

It might be Saturday but I need to go to the office. There are some documents that must be completed before the end of the week and I will be on the plane Wednesday night returning for the Binfield show this weekend. Drop by the Gladiator stand and say hello!

[N15class]

Looks good.

The bogie looks quite like the LSWR/SR ones I am used to. I use an epoxy putty to fix the weights it fills the space between spokes. Bit fiddly but gives some depth.

Edited October 22, 2016 by N15class

[david.hill64]

Fitting the wheels and bogie showed a problem with the lifeguards. These will be fine for S7 but a bit too long for 0. Easily rectified with snips and a file.

 

 

Gratuitous progress shot next!

 

 

Fitting the coupling rods revealed another problem: the brake hanger brackets were too far out of the frames and interfered with the coupling rods. The slitting wheel was brought out to trim them back. Fortunately the kit includes 100% spares of the rivet detail so I didn't have to worry about salvaging the original. Very happy that with the rods on the chassis rolls freely with no binding. Always a relief! I use a 10BA washer between the rods and the wheel and invert the threaded crankpin bush on the leading and trailing axles. The centre axle omits the washer and uses a bush the 'correct' way round to give the stand-off. A second bush will be used for the con rods.

 

 

The cylinders were formed from the single etch piece.

 

 

 

I have started cleaning up the cylinder castings. The kit must be quite old as they are all nickel silver. The valve guides are brass now. I may replace these as I am not 100% happy with the casting as the flange detail has not formed correctly on one side. ( I might just form it from some scrap strip).

 

It took some time to clean up the slidebars and crossheads but one side is complete.

 

 

 

[david.hill64]

Wow! Page 3: it's been a long time. A return to UK to pack kits ahead of the Binfield show and when I returned here I swapped the jet-lag for a heavy cold.So very little in the way of construction but quite a lot of preparation.

 

One preparation job was to get the cylinder furniture ready. I brought back with me a couple of replacement valve guides but I shall use only one.

 

So after much fettling we are ready to assemble the cylinders.

 

 

For the cylinder fronts I drilled the covers to accept the relief valves and then used the covers as a template to drill the cylinder etch. 

 

 

None of the above is fixed in place yet. I now need to work out hoe to solder the heavy nickel silver and brass castings to the thin cylinder etch without the cylinder wrapper coming loose. I am thinking brass wire - or possible the boiler clamps - and using low melt solder to secure the castings.

 

More tomorrow.

[ozzyo]

A bit late in the day to tell you this, but I normal fit all of the large brass or N/S castings before fitting the cylinder wrappers. Then it's fitting the wrappers and then any W/M parts. If the drain cocks are brass you can fit them last after the W/M bits are fitted as the mass of the cylinders will absorb most of the heat. 

 

ATB

 

OzzyO.

[david.hill64]

A bit late in the day to tell you this, but I normal fit all of the large brass or N/S castings before fitting the cylinder wrappers. Then it's fitting the wrappers and then any W/M parts. If the drain cocks are brass you can fit them last after the W/M bits are fitted as the mass of the cylinders will absorb most of the heat. 

 

ATB

 

OzzyO.

Yep: as usual from you a good suggestion. In my defence I will say that the design of the wrappers is such that you need to file them back after locating and I thought that would be easier before fitting the furniture.

 

I had hoped to do that last night, but a splitting headache meant that I wasn't fit to be let loose with tools. I am going to tie the wrappers together with wire through the holes for the drain castings and hope for the best.

[david.hill64]

A good day at the bench yesterday so many images in this post.

 

I tied the wrappers together and that did indeed serve to keep them in place while the castings were added. Rear first as these are nickel silver and require the most heat.

 

 

Then made sure that the crosshead would still slide freely.

 

 

 

Front furniture added next.

 

 

Tie wire removed and we have all the castings in place.

 

 

The drop links were added to the crossheads.

 

 

The cover plates fitted too the wrappers.

 

 

The motion bracket halves were sweated together and the cylinders and bracket located in the frames so that the joint between the slidebars and motion bracket could be made.

 

 

The assembly was then removed so that the joint could be better made:

 

 

 

With the motion bracket in place the crossheads would no longer fit as the con rod mounting pin was too long. So the con rods were test fitted and happy that all was well were secured using a 4mm crankpin fibre washer and a crankpin spacing washer from the bits box. I thought that the fibre washer would prevent the whole lot getting soldered up when I soldered the brass washer in place and also act as an oil reservoir to lubricated the joint.

 

 

It worked! So the strengthening pieces were filed to fit and added behind the motion bracket.

 

 

The cylinder assembly was then refitted to the chassis to check clearances. Once the leading crankpin is filed down I think all will be well.

 

 

 

 

At the end of the day, Sir Frank Ree basks in the evening sunlight........

 

 

With a following wind I may get the chassis complete today.

Edited November 13, 2016 by david.hill64

[N15class]

Nice work there David. It is taking shape nicely. I like the method of keeping the wrappers in place.

[david.hill64]

A combination of a sore throat, headache, tight chest and one job proving more tricky than expected means that my optimistic hope to complete the chassis today was misplaced. Actually it's only 3pm now but I feel that I have done enough and further jobs may go wrong: not good when dealing with valve gear.

 

The tricky part was the rearmost motion bracket. When put in place it fouled the driving wheels and coupling rods. I will fit a couple of M2 washers under the mounting lugs to lift it slightly. With these in place it looks OK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The combination lever was held in place in the valve rod with some 0.8mm n/s wire and the radius rod located with a 14BA screw, another of the 4mm fibre crankpin washers and one of the small etched washers provided in the kit.

 

 

The radius rod was held in place temporarily with a 12BA screw and the union link added with 14BA screws and nuts. The assembly was then positioned so that the bend in the combination lever could be marked out.

 

 

The assembly was removed, the bend formed and everything put back together. Nice to relate the crosshead slides freely in the slidebars with the valve gear following suit.

 

 

I like using 14BA screws and nuts to make valvegear joints. The joint is temporary and doesn't need to be set until all is shown to be working. Then the screw heads can be filed down and excess threads cut off.

 

I think I will ask Mrs Gladiator if she will sanction the addition of the necessary screws and nuts to the kits.

 

 

 

 

[Sandy Harper]

It is very satisfying when it all moves without jamming up! I'll have to watch out for that fouling of the motion plate though and adjust accordingly. I take it it is the slidebar/front motion bracket joint that has caused the problem?

Still worried about those sand pipes! One 'slightly out of alignment base board joint' and there could be a difficult repair!

 

Sandy

Edited November 13, 2016 by Sandy Harper