Nu-Cast Sentinel Steam Railcars x 2

[34016]

Hi Folks, This is my first topic on RM web and I'm going to do two Nu-Cast sentinel railcars to begin. One is a refurb of an existing model which I've stripped right back so that it is a kit again. The first two pictures are show the contents of the kit.

 

 

 

 

Now I need to decide what to keep and what to discard. The seats will go as will the whitemetal base. I'll make the base from brass, in one piece and saving weight as well. The rest I'll sort as I go along.

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by 34016

[34016]

 

I've cut the main underframe from .015" brass along with two lengths of 1/8th channel which are slightly over length.

[DOCJACOB]

Built mine years ago before converting to O gauge. 
 

As recall the power bogie was the issue. A K’s mark 2 motor and mounting bracket pivoted on a boss on roof moulding. 
 

Designed to drive on one set of wheels and getting decent traction was thus a challenge. 
 

Roof & base joints needed work blend and to look nice. 

[34016]

34 minutes ago, DOCJACOB said:

Built mine years ago before converting to O gauge. 
 

As recall the power bogie was the issue. A K’s mark 2 motor and mounting bracket pivoted on a boss on roof moulding. 
 

Designed to drive on one set of wheels and getting decent traction was thus a challenge. 
 

Roof & base joints needed work blend and to look nice. 

I'll be using tenshodo motor bogies, which takes away many of the issues. The join in the base was another reason to discard it, no choice with the roof though.

[micklner]

I will be very surprised if even Two Tenshodo's  will be able to move a Sentinel Railcar. They are horrid weak things !! I had one in my Sentinel which stripped its gears after about six inches of movement.

 

Mine has a much much better Black Beetle fitted, sadly I dont think they are still available ?.

[micklner]

I have used this site, and he is very helpful .

 

https://www.locosnstuff.com/Motor-Bogie-and-Chassis-kits.php

[Michael Hodgson]

31 minutes ago, 34016 said:

I'll be using tenshodo motor bogies, which takes away many of the issues. The join in the base was another reason to discard it, no choice with the roof though.

 

Mine ran OK on one tenshodo, I should still have it buried away somewhere but haven't seen it for some years.  I didn't have any serious inclines to worry about though.  I think some black beetles are avilable from time to time but only in very small numbers, and quite a lot more expensive, probably not helped by brexit rules

[34016]

18 hours ago, micklner said:

I have used this site, and he is very helpful .

 

https://www.locosnstuff.com/Motor-Bogie-and-Chassis-kits.php

The built model that I've stripped down had a tenshodo and seemed to work fine. Making the base from brass has saved a lot of weight which will help.

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by 34016

[micklner]

20 minutes ago, 34016 said:

The built model that I've stripped down had a tenshodo and seemed to work fine. Making the base from brass has saved a lot of weight which will help.

 

 

Good luck, mine was from about ten or more years ago. Hopefully the design has improved since then.

[34016]

I've now soldered the the brass channel to the base, level with the edge.

 

 

With the ends of the channel filed down the buffer beams are fitted using some scrap nickel silver.

 

 

I used a pair of tin snips to remove most of the excess and then filed them flush.

 

 

The pilot holes for the bogies are now marked and drilled and I've marked each end 'Motor' and 'Trailing' as the bogies are different distances from each end.

 

[34016]

Onto the body for the moment. The two cab ends have had .5mm removed at the bottom so that they fit over the base. The two sides are now soldered together and the joints cleaned up. The pictures make the sides look a bit wonky, but that's the result of a phone camera.

 

 

The two ends are then tacked with solder to one of the sides. I've used 145 degree solder for this as its more malleable than low melt. The trick here is to have a decent dollop of solder on the iron and just touch the solder to the joint, without the tip making contact with the whitemetal.

 

 

The second side is now added in the same way. Making sure the ends sit square is a bit tricky because of the bow ends but I think they're ok. The joints have been soldered properly and cleaned up. I lost the cab dials that were moulded on in the process, so I'll have to make some replacements.

 

 

[t-b-g]

I built one of these many years ago, probably around 40 or so.

 

The motor was provided in the kit and was designed to drive on one axle only. When completed, driving it required a great deal of skill. You put the power on and the vehicle would sit there with the wheel spinning. It would gradually grip and then it would shoot off at a great rate and so you had to know just how far to turn the controller up and then get it back down again as it started moving.

 

We used to mess around a bit and the top speed was pretty scary with the fast motor and small gear ratio. Once you got it up to speed, you could take the power off and it would slide. The record was around 5ft. Which when your platform is 4ft 6ins long and it is a terminus, was not good news for the buffers, which suffered greatly as the operators would take turns to get it to slide until the buffers on the railcar just "kissed" the stops in the station. I still have it and it still has the same motor and battered buffers but it doesn't come out nowadays as my modelling period has shifted back in time before they appeared. I keep it for sentimental reasons.

 

It is lovely to see these on RMWeb. It brings back happy memories of when I was young and daft, instead of just being daft now.

Edited January 3, 2023 by t-b-g
typo

[34016]

Now the two bodies are basically together I need to fashion a method of fixing them to the base and make them easy to disassemble. First I drilled two holes at each end of the base 7mm from the end and 20mm apart at one end and 16mm at the other end. The reason for setting the screws differently is so that I can't put the body on the wrong way round.

 

 

I then cut some pieces of scrap brass to fit at either end of the bodies and soldered them so that they are flush with the bottom of the cab front. I then laid the bases in position so that could mark the screw holes. 2mm screws are soldered into the holes from the inside and trimmed to about 4mm long.

 

 

As you can see, the body and the base fit together nicely. I now have to fashion a floor for the passenger area and fit the internal partitions. So far so good.

 

[D5158]

Progressing very nicely.  I like your idea of building a brass chassis.

[34016]

I've cut three lengths of rectangular brass 'tube' to just under the width of the base, these form the supports for the floor. The end ones are soldered just inside the lines of the partitions and the third centrally between the two.

 

 

The floor is cut form .015" brass again, to the same width as the base, and then soldered in place. The cut out is required so that it fits around the doors. 

 

 

The two main partitions needed to be filed to the correct width, then soldered in place. I came close to disaster, nearly melting through one of them, but I got away with it. I've also soldered a stretcher between the two sides to hold them at the right width. It should fall between the seats assuming I've measured correctly. The next job will be detailing the underframe.

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by 34016

[34016]

I had to trim the battery boxes by 3mm because of the difference in height of the brass underframe. I've also soldered some scrap brass to the battery boxes to fill the backs in.

 

 

 

The positions of the battery boxes are marked and a couple of air holes drilled.

 

 

The battery boxes are then soldered in place, along with the gearbox and some etched V hangers obtained from Wizard Models.

 

[34016]

The V hangers are now all in position, I had to cut the ones behind the battery boxes to fit them. 

 

 

I've cut the levers arms from some scrap fret and filed the taper on them.

 

 

And then used .6mm wire to attach them to the V hangers. They are hanging loose at the moment.

 

[Suffolk Dave]

I have one of these beauties on my 'to do' list, so I'm watching your thread with considerable interest. Many thanks for sharing your construction of the railcar. 

[34016]

3 hours ago, Suffolk Dave said:

I have one of these beauties on my 'to do' list, so I'm watching your thread with considerable interest. Many thanks for sharing your construction of the railcar. 

No problem, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

[34016]

I've soldered some .7mm brass wire into the vacuum cylinders. Setting them at the right angle was fiddly, but I got near enough that I tweak them a bit.

 

 

Next I positioned them so that the brass wire is at the extent of the levers, which are soldered at a slight angle. The brass wire is soldered to the levers and the cylinders to the base. The cylinders sit at an angle. Incidentally I used the isinglass drawing I have to position all the parts. You can also see the dynamo, which I strengthened by drilling through its base and into the dynamo. I then inserted some .9mm wire through and added some solder. I left a bit of the wire out of the base and drilled a hole for it to fit in. I forgot to photograph that process, so apologies for that.

 

[34016]

I decided to fit a floor in the motor end, actually fitted to the body, unlike the passenger floor. It will also add to the strength of the body. I cut a piece of scrap brass for each model.

 

 

I then soldered a couple of pieces of rectangular brass 'tube' to the underside of the floor. These keep the floor flat.

 

 

With the underframe fitted into the body dropped the floor in and tacked it place with 145 degree solder. The brass rectangle tube also make the floor the right height.

 

 

I've soldered the floor firmly in place and just need to clean it with a fibre glass pen. 

 

[micklner]

How are you mounting the motor bogie ?

[34016]

16 hours ago, micklner said:

How are you mounting the motor bogie ?

It'll fit directly to the underframe.

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by 34016

[34016]

I've cut the steps that fit to the sole bar from 3mm strips of brass. The ones for the larger doors are the same length, but the ones for the driver compartment doors are different.

 

 

They're soldered in place first and then I added some .45mm wire under each step to add strength to the joint.

 

[34016]

I needed to add an extra bulkhead in the motor end, one wasn't supplied in the kit, so I cut a paper template and glued it to a piece of brass. Once cut out I soldered it to another piece of brass and cut out the second one. Both fitted nicely in position.

 

 

Now on to the roof. The lugs moulded on the roof were set too wide, so I filed them down, measured and drilled holes for brass wire. By adjusting the wire I got the roof sitting central.

 

 

I've decided to make the roof removable. To do this I first soldered a piece of brass across the underside of the roof in line with the bunker opening.

 

 

Next I soldered another piece of brass between the body sides and against the bulkhead just fitted. I then placed the roof on the body and drilled through the two bits of brass to take a 2mm screw.

 

 

I then soldered a 2mm nut over the hole in the body mounting.

 

 

The other end is a bit trickier. I soldered a 'tongue' to the front bulkhead and a piece of scrap nickel to the inside of the roof. Lining these up was fiddly, but it seems to have worked ok.

 

 

The roof now slides and locks into place at one end and screws down at the other end. The coal bunker doors will be a push fit allowing access to the screw. You'll notice that I'll need to repair the rainstrip. It was impossible to keep intact when tidying the joint.