Michael Edge's workbench

[Michael Edge]

It's a bit earlier than that! If you look at the depiction of the Roman god you will see that he faces both ways. YE got stuck on names ending in "us" after that, following on with Taurus and Indus.

[Michael Edge]

Another job finished last week, now packed to go to Ian Rathbone for painting - L&Y 7ft 3in 4-4-0.

This from a 51L kit which had quite a few issues but it has come out very well in the end. P4 gauge with Sharman wheels and a High Level gearbox.

[AlfaZagato]

I appreciate how elegant the pregrouping 4-4-0's all seem to have.   Especially as it seems lost on American 4-4-0's.   What color are you having it painted?   BR Unlined Black?

[Michael Edge]

It's not for me, it will be fully lined L&Y. They had gone long before BR, barely made it to the LMS without rebuilding. Yes I do think these are very elegant though.

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

It's a bit earlier than that! If you look at the depiction of the Roman god you will see that he faces both ways. YE got stuck on names ending in "us" after that, following on with Taurus and Indus.

I wonder what might have come next...

[Michael Edge]

Tagus? Findus? 

Any other suggestions?

[St Enodoc]

4 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

Tagus? Findus? 

Any other suggestions?

Crocus

Porous

Uranus

Detritus

 

I think I'd better stop...

[Michael Edge]

Perhaps it's just as well that YE went bust not long after Taurus and Indus......

[Enterprisingwestern]

6 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Perhaps it's just as well that YE went bust not long after Taurus and Indus......

 

Focus!

 

Mike.

[St Enodoc]

Tinnitus (I 'eard that. Pardon?).

 

Circus

 

I'm definitely stopping now before I cause a Ruckus.

[Enterprisingwestern]

22 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

(I 'eard that. Pardon?).

 

Memories, what a programme, they don't make 'em like that any more.

 

Mike.

[Michael Edge]

A bit more on the Janus

These Yorkshire locos with the fuel tanks incorporated in the footplate are a bit difficult, ours are based on a skeleton  with the end platforms and buffer beams attached. These buffer beams are mighty heavy, three layers of .022" brass laminated together - a little bit under the scale 6in thickness but they look OK. The step plates hold them a bit better and then the fuel tank/footplate top, with the valances soldered on clicks into place round the skeleton.

From the top, the cab base in the Janus is soldered to the fuel tank top, the central rectangle is soldered to the frames leaving access to the interior of the cab from below. The reason for this is that the handrails are attached to the cab sides as well as fitting in the holes in the tank top, the engine casings will be bolted on in the usual way.

 

 

 

[Michael Edge]

This month's test track photo.

7mm Janus is well underway now, the 4mm kit display model at the back for reference, and the Barry 0-8-2T has moved a bit. Completed EM1 on the running line also the NZ loco which is still not finished.

In between another Consett A class for a customer, completed Drewry 0-4-0DM and the slow moving SR 350hp. The two steam Sentinels are still out there while I get the instructions written, the production etches will be here this week.

[JeffP]

On 27/01/2022 at 15:32, Michael Edge said:

It's a bit earlier than that! If you look at the depiction of the Roman god you will see that he faces both ways. YE got stuck on names ending in "us" after that, following on with Taurus and Indus.

My father always said Janus was the god of the doorway, looking both ways.

Hence January, where he looks forwards into the new year, and backwards into the old.

FWIW

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

On 28/01/2022 at 00:26, St Enodoc said:

I wonder what might have come next...

 

Hocus Pocus by Focus

 

 

[St Enodoc]

15 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

 

Hocus Pocus by Focus

 

 

I've still got two Focus albums on vinyl! I ought to dig them out and have a listen!

 

I wonder whether Thijs van Leer ever jammed with Ian Anderson...

[Ruston]

Mike, is this 7mm Janus a scaled-up version of the 4mm kit and goes together in the same way? I would like a 4mm Janus but forming the engine casings has put me off this far. I would like to see how they're done on this larger scale one.

[Enterprisingwestern]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I wonder whether Thijs van Leer ever jammed with Ian Anderson...

 

Only at the 1972 Olympics competing in flute fencing!

 

Mike.

[Michael Edge]

1 hour ago, Ruston said:

Mike, is this 7mm Janus a scaled-up version of the 4mm kit and goes together in the same way? I would like a 4mm Janus but forming the engine casings has put me off this far. I would like to see how they're done on this larger scale one.

Yes the Janus is a simple scale up of the 4mm production etch. As usual with 7mm test etches I alter hole sizes to match bushes and Slater's crankpins but not much else, the frame spacers are the EM ones x1.75. It also needed extra buffer beam layers to allow for the change in relative plate thickness - .015" in 4mm, .022" in 7mm. Engine casings next so watch this space, probably some time next week.

[Sandhole]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I've still got two Focus albums on vinyl! I ought to dig them out and have a listen!

 

I wonder whether Thijs van Leer ever jammed with Ian Anderson...

They are still touring.
Still superb, see them if you get the chance.
Regards,
Chris.

[Michael Edge]

Just completed this Consett A class from one of our kits.

Frames and wheels painted as usual, this is what is inside.

High Level RoadRunner+ with a small Chinese motor - I only had a few of these black ones, they are about the best of this size I've seen. Since this one is 00 gauge I've used the slightly (0.5mm) extended wheelbase frames, there isn't much of a gap between the driving and trailing axles. The springs are a bit awkward in narrow gauge, they are fitted to the frames and have to be cranked out to clear the boiler - the last one of these I built was in P4 and didn't need any of these compromises.

Ready for the paintshop now, it will be NCB Ashington blue, then it's off to Barry Oliver for sound fitting. I did try to make this a bit easier by leaving the boiler empty, filling the tanks with lead before assembly provides enough weight.

Back to the 7mm Janus next week.

[St Enodoc]

26 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

Just completed this Consett A class from one of our kits.

Frames and wheels painted as usual, this is what is inside.

High Level RoadRunner+ with a small Chinese motor - I only had a few of these black ones, they are about the best of this size I've seen. Since this one is 00 gauge I've used the slightly (0.5mm) extended wheelbase frames, there isn't much of a gap between the driving and trailing axles. The springs are a bit awkward in narrow gauge, they are fitted to the frames and have to be cranked out to clear the boiler - the last one of these I built was in P4 and didn't need any of these compromises.

Ready for the paintshop now, it will be NCB Ashington blue, then it's off to Barry Oliver for sound fitting. I did try to make this a bit easier by leaving the boiler empty, filling the tanks with lead before assembly provides enough weight.

Back to the 7mm Janus next week.

You can't go wrong with a pannier.

[Michael Edge]

Just goes to show - not all pannier tanks are from the GWR.

[david65061]

Dear Mike

 

Any chance of a picture which shows how the pipe work and sand box rods are arranged on top of the tanks. I can not find a picture which shows this clearly, and it is preventing me from finishing my A class kit.

 

kind regards

 

David

[Michael Edge]

There were lots of variations in these locos, not least between different builders - Kitson, Hudswell Clarke and RSH - and over the years. The only good top views are of No5 (41), th epreserved example and this may not be typical. The one I have just built is not a model of a particular loco, it will be painted as Ashington No 57, so I may not be absolutely accurate.

This is the top view, you were only just in time to get an unpainted photo, it's been sprayed with primer this morning.

The leading sanding rods come out of the cab front and run along the top of the tanks prominently cranked alongside the safety valves. 

Injector piping is done in copper, the steam feeds come out of the cab front, not attached to anything inside the cab - not much of this can be seen anyway. The water control rods run straight from the cab to the back of the injectors, boiler feed out of the other end to clack valves behind the dome. The overflow pipe comes out of the bottom of the tanks and staright down through the footplate, there are holes in the etch for this.

The injector body is made from turned brass with washers soldered on for flange fittings but it could be done with tube. The safety valve base isn't the moulded one from the kit, it's a modifed version of the one from our J63 kit with the etched double ended lever from the A class etch on top.

The firebox back is quite a long way back in the cab, I made an extension to the boiler from sheet brass to fill the gap. I have no idea how the bunkers (inside the cab) were filled (or emptied) so they are left solid but they must have had openings or doors in them somewhere. The handbrake column is bracketed from the LH bunker and runs down just outside the frames.

The photo shows how I modifed the tank tops to run straight across to the boiler cladding without turning up, as with 41 today. Some photos definitely show the tank top plate curving up to match the curve to the smokebox but 41 seems to have always been like this.

Any more top photos (of other locos) would be very welcome if anyone finds one.