Michael Edge's workbench

[Michael Edge]

They are swinging arms for one axle, beams if they are connecting two. Most modern railway rolling stock is suspended this way but with springs and dampers rather than compensation - not many hornblocks around these days. In this case the knife edge is done simply by trial and error until the frame rides level, if I had designed it as a kit the height and position would have been set with the etches.

[Michael Edge]

At the risk of being overoptimistic this is starting to look like a very good kit...

Footplate bolted to the frames and buffer beams prepared, these are a fold up with an overlay for the bolt heads making a reasonable representation of the wooden buffer beams. Buffers provided are Slater's so need the holes opening out considerably, small backing pieces (or filler) will be required at the back but that;s not too much trouble.

Buffer beams attached to the frame ends, this is an industrial loco (acquired from Southampton Docks) and as usual the footplate doesn't overlap the buffer beams.

Cylinder ends fitted in the frame slots, this shows how to set them up so that the piston centre line coincides with the driving axle centre. This is just about universal, the only exceptions I know of are GW 2 cylinder locos with a 2.5in vertical offset, but many builders get this wildly wrong. The kit provides some really nicely machined cylinders as an alternative but I won't use these - cylinders might always round on the inside but they are never round on the outside.

Cab front and sides added, the front locates nicely in two slots but no location provided for the sides, the back is just resting in place for the moment. Next up will be the boiler but I'll leave that until I get the motor/gearbox from High Level.

This is clearly from the same designer as the last Jidenco kit I built (SEC F1), all the parts have fitted perfectly so far. Only two snags so far, the 00 spacers were far too wide at 13mm and like the F1 the parts are separated with very thin gaps on the etch. This prevents me using the Dremel cutting disc  and snips for cutting many of them out, the tags are also full thickness rather than half etched so chisel/chopping methods won't work without a big risk of distorting the parts. In the end I have resorted to using the piercing saw - a 4/0 blade is just thin enough to get in the gaps. These are very minor irritations in what looks like being very good.

[AlfaZagato]

Looking good so far.  I should get back to my Jidenco open.

[Flying Fox 34F]

Hello Mike,

 

Speaking of the (SEC) F1, how do you retain the motor and gearbox,  when you have rocking arms for the coupled wheelbase?

 

Kind regards

 

Paul

[Michael Edge]

I don't think I did in that one, it couldn't move very far - a loose wire strap over the motor is usually enough though, it has to be able to move a bit but not too much.

[The Bigbee Line]

On 22/10/2023 at 13:26, Michael Edge said:

They are swinging arms for one axle, beams if they are connecting two. Most modern railway rolling stock is suspended this way but with springs and dampers rather than compensation - not many hornblocks around these days. In this case the knife edge is done simply by trial and error until the frame rides level, if I had designed it as a kit the height and position would have been set with the etches.

Reading this thread and looking at the images of the 'swinging arms' was a bit of a eureka moment for me.  It completely eliminates the hornblocks.  The biggest shock is that I have been looking at such arrangements for years, at work,  As they say I couldn't see the wood for the trees.......

 

 

[Michael Edge]

Back to the Jidenco kit now.

The boiler was partly rolled but needed a little more work. The opening in the cab front was a bit too low and the bunker fronts needed a bit of filing but otherwise it fits. I am a bit hampered by lack of a proper drawing, the one in the kit is actually printed correct size but it's really not much more than a sketch - I set the boiler position by the back end of the tank. The tank will be built on these formers which neatly peg into the boiler top, I won't use this middle one though, just placed here for illustration.

These two photos show why I waited until I had the motor and gearbox before fitting the boiler. The gearbox is a High Level Roadrunner+ with their 10x15 motor - this articulated box allows the motor to be wriggled into the boiler through the bottom of the firebox, no need to cut away any of the boiler.

Smokebox assembled and fitted, this is a new front, the one in the kit was the wrong size and shape. I fitted the handrail while I could still get to the inside and also the LSW lamp sockets which Ironside seems to have kept all its life. There was nothing in the kit for these, they are some of our own etches modified somewhat.

[Nick C]

15 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

the LSW lamp sockets which Ironside seems to have kept all its life. There was nothing in the kit for these, they are some of our own etches modified somewhat.

Oddly looking at photos, the ones on the buffer beam were replaced with normal irons at some point, but the smokebox ones stayed as sockets - though I guess they weren't needed much as Guildford shed pilot!

[Michael Edge]

Yes, I noticed that, some SR locos had the LSW socket adapted to take lamps but these don't seem to have been done - as you say they wouldn't have seen much use on Ironside.

[Nick C]

55 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

Yes, I noticed that, some SR locos had the LSW socket adapted to take lamps but these don't seem to have been done - as you say they wouldn't have seen much use on Ironside.

I think the adaptation was simply an s-shaped bar that fitted into the socket with the upper part being the shape of a normal lamp bracket - this is the best photo I can find of the one on the tender of 506:

 

 

That's similar in that the headstock and top brackets are normal ones (as are all six on the front), but the two in the middle are sockets.

[Michael Edge]

More work yesterday

The tank goes together quite well, location for the formers is a good idea, I didn't use the middle one - which turned out to be fortunate..

It did require my rolling and bending bars to shape it though.

The completed tank turned out to be shorter than the spacing of the etched slots in the top of the boiler - the extra former was soldered on one end to lengthen it just enough.

There are holes on the top to locate filler and dome - not really needed, I would rather have had the handrail pillar holes etched. The lower handgrabs are a bit awkward, right on the lower curve of the tank.

I usually fill saddle tanks with lead before finally fitting them, also drilled two holes for the balance pipe. This has to be fitted on assembly since it curves round the bottom of the boiler.

[Michael Edge]

Moving on

Fittings added, these machined components are one of the best features of Jidenco/Falcon kits. I can't quite see what the whistle is fastened to so I've attached it to the ejector steam feed pipe.

Cab interior is a bit speculative, full set of SR lamp brackets on the back of the cab.

Minor snag with the cab roof, the etched part was a bit too short, easily replaced with sheet brass, the curved end plates were still used though. No way of avoiding the nut on the cab floor, have to stand a driver or fireman on it. No idea what the handbrake column looked like but it's in the right place here.

Nearly finished now, just cylinder cladding, balance weights (not in the kit) and handbrake linkage to add. The coupling rods matched the frames exactly, con. rods and crossheads left off for painting. The slidebar material provided was 1mm square brass, this looked a bit thick so I replaced it with .8mm square wire - it will need all the clearance I can get behind the slidebars even in 00 gauge with the rather thick Markits wheels.

 

[AlfaZagato]

Charming little thing.

[Chuffer Davies]

7 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

 

 

 

That’s a remarkable overhang at the back.  Looks like enough room for a pony truck. 
 

As always an amazingly clean build. I never get my builds as tidy as yours.

 

Frank

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Meanwhile, in the background, a thing of beauty lurks!

 

Mike.

[Michael Edge]

I do as much of the soldering as I can from the inside (our kits are designed to be built that way) and always clean up as I go along, mostly with various scrapers. Dave Studley's comment when he has painted my locos - "I see you've been using invisible solder again".

[doilum]

That would be an impressive build in 7mm. To achieve it in 4mm is amazing.

[Michael Edge]

On the rollers for a bit of running in.

Ready for a final grit blast and then to the paintshop.

[Michael Edge]

It's been a while since I posted one of these but this is the latest test track photo.

 

The Barry 0-8-2T and EE/HL haven't moved for some time now. Next up is the latest 7mm job, a GW 72xx from a Dave  Andrews design - makes a very pleasant change from wrestling with Jidenco kits! Next along the back is one of my customer's Ebay bargains, I though this was ready to convert EM gauge but it's not quite what it seems. It's a white metal kit finished as Cambrian No.44, however it isn't - it's really GW no. 1192 which was rather different and had much smaller wheels - I don't know what to do with this. The SR Ashford 0-6-0DE is still waiting for the 3rd radiator etch and sandbox patterns, the Hornby 08 is part of the DG coupling hook experiments. Nearer the front, no progress with the 0-8-0 Sentinel and the latest EM1 is still waiting its turn in the paintshop. At the front is a B17 which is going to be 61669 "Barnsley", it's time my layouts had at least one green loco. Frames and tender are etched, the body will be a heavily modified Hornby one. The two wagons at the left are the DG coupling test wagons.

We will be at the Manchester exhibition this weekend with the kit stand if anyone wants to come and talk to us about anything - or buy a kit of course!

[Lee-H]

The 0-8-0 Sentinel - is it one of these locos? Photographed at Ebbw Vale Steel Works.

[Michael Edge]

Not this first one, I have all the etches to cover any of the 0-8-0s but this one is a long wheelbase loco as built for Normanby Park steelworks. I’ve not done any work on it for some time, there rarely seems to be much interest in steelworks locos, they are mostly poor sellers.

[Michael Edge]

7203 now finished.

 

This seems to have been going on for a very long time but eventually only 52 hours - Christmas and New Year get in the way a bit.

No real problems with a Dave Andrews design but one thing was surprising - the cylinders were set on the axle centre line so they needed to be packed up a bit, GW two cylinder locos had the cylinders offset 2.5 inches upwards. This does make the vacuum pump (it is there!) just about invisible, as it should be. The trailing axle has been built with radial axleboxes - seems to work on my 6ft radius test track. I did also modify the cab floor to come away on the frames allowing the cab roof to be soldered on - the instructions somewhat glibly refer to making the roof detachable, easy for the 72s with an overhanging roof but impossible for this one.

Meanwhile the 7mm EE/HL 0-6-0DE has moved on a lot but this will be in the Judith Edge kits thread.

[AlfaZagato]

Now that looks a hefty beast in 7 mil.    I sometimes regret not grabbing a Hornby one when those were around.   I have been considering grabbing the N scale etches from Worsley.   Problem there is getting the chassis.

[Michael Edge]

It certainly is! I've built one before in 3mm scale and I have a scratchbuilt 4mm 42xx of my own but otherwise I've not built any of these big tanks.

[Michael Edge]

Another job finished today, Barry H 0-8-2T

This one is for me although I don't have anywhere for it to run - i built it because I like it. It's a real mixture of techniques from over 30 years, the nickel silver parts were cut out back then, boiler and smokebox more recently from brass and steel while the frames and motion are etched. The massive balance weights on the 2nd and 3rd axles are cut from thick plastikard, leading sandboxes are moulded, I didn't want to make two of them.

I'll finish this in plain green as GWR No 1383.

If anyone wants to build one of these, or the very similar Port Talbot 0-8-2Ts I do have a spare set of frame and motion etches.....