Small Metro builds 2023

[russell price]

I was looking at a photo of the unique 2-4-2 metro tank in one of my books and the photo was taken at Twyford  with the train headed to Henley.  There’s a scratch build for you after the Wills Metro! Could use the SEF chassis to get you started!! 

[Neal Ball]

4 minutes ago, russell price said:

I was looking at a photo of the unique 2-4-2 metro tank in one of my books and the photo was taken at Twyford  with the train headed to Henley.  There’s a scratch build for you after the Wills Metro! Could use the SEF chassis to get you started!! 

 

What loco is that Russell?

 

The 2 Metro tanks I have seen at Henley are 615 and 616... However a 36xx might be interesting.

 

Sat at the workbench this morning, I looked up at the Mill Lane carriage sidings where my H25 is sitting and thought "carriages are so much easier to make" .... but then 5 minutes later the loco chassis fell into place!

[russell price]

I will look it up later and screenshot it. Can’t even remember the number now. It might have been in  one of the Great Western albums published by Ian Allan  or the GW miscellany books by Bradford Barton.

you will have to look on eBay for Craftsman 3600 , they do come up occasionally. 

[russell price]

Loco was metro no 3593 , I’m sure you will find something on the net! 

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

 

Of course, I forgot to do that, before I cut down the pins - so slow running was very much the order of the day!

 

I am pleased to say after seemingly endless hours of fiddling and fettling the loco is now running very smoothly.... I have also removed the pony wheel at the front, reamed those holes and that now has a nice bit of play to lead the loco into the points etc. It will be sprung by having a pick-up on both wheels.

 

The reversing rod is now being glued back in place.

 

I will next start work on the brake hangers before thinking about spraying the chassis, then I will go back to the body.

 

Thanks again for all the help.

Suggest you do not spray the chassis - try just nickle silver blacking to start with, with it all stripped down - I think @t-b-g said this might be enough and anyway preps the chassis for paint.

Phoenix paints sell the stuff.

[Neal Ball]

30 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

Suggest you do not spray the chassis - try just nickle silver blacking to start with, with it all stripped down - I think @t-b-g said this might be enough and anyway preps the chassis for paint.

Phoenix paints sell the stuff.

Thanks.

 

It will have to be sprayed…. I won’t be able to order any Railmatch as we can’t ship such items into the EU.

 

I was thinking about 2 coats of primer, then a couple of coats of black with red inside the frames.

 

Ive got a spare hour, I was thinking of doing the brake gear… that’s not straightforward eh!

[jamieb]

1 hour ago, russell price said:

Loco was metro no 3593 , I’m sure you will find something on the net! 

It wasn't a looker,from memory I can only recall seeing 2 pictures of it. Not even one on the GWR.org website 

[Andy Keane]

25 minutes ago, jamieb said:

It wasn't a looker,from memory I can only recall seeing 2 pictures of it. Not even one on the GWR.org website 

nothing in GWRJ certainly

[Andy Keane]

27 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

Thanks.

 

It will have to be sprayed…. I won’t be able to order any Railmatch as we can’t ship such items into the EU.

 

I was thinking about 2 coats of primer, then a couple of coats of black with red inside the frames.

 

Ive got a spare hour, I was thinking of doing the brake gear… that’s not straightforward eh!

I expect the German modellers would have an equivalent you could use?

[Andy Keane]

@t-b-g can you please provide any tips on how to bend up the curved handrail that runs around the smoke box door? I have no real idea where even to start!

Andy

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

@t-b-g can you please provide any tips on how to bend up the curved handrail that runs around the smoke box door? I have no real idea where even to start!

Andy

The last one of those I did, I started by bending the wire half way around something that equates to the diameter that it would be if a circle. (pipe, bit of tube etc.) and went from there.

It did need a bit of massaging to get the correct curve.

[MrWolf]

That's how I've done it, both with model locos and with full size things such as motorcycle mudguard stays, home made U bolts etc.

Start in the middle at the 12 o'clock position and work your way around.

If it doesn't look quite right, make another, it's only a bit of wire, so not the end of the world.

[Andy Keane]

32 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

That's how I've done it, both with model locos and with full size things such as motorcycle mudguard stays, home made U bolts etc.

Start in the middle at the 12 o'clock position and work your way around.

If it doesn't look quite right, make another, it's only a bit of wire, so not the end of the world.

Do we think there was a knob at 12 o'clock on the front or is it just a lamp iron I am looking at? The casting has no hole there but it is on the seam between the two halves of the smokebox.

Andy

[1466]

I’m by no means an expert but would add , don’t forget to thread one handrail knob onto the wire first . This is for the front of the handrail  on the boiler front .

I used a bit of gas pipe , same diameter plus a bit  as boiler , and started as Mr Wolf says at 12 o clock .Once I’d got a U shaped and overlong handrail formed  , I grasped one side with flat ended pliers . Then bend a 90 degree right angle bend on one side to form the horizontal leg . Repeat for other side ; add knobs and trim to length. Good luck !

Edited March 14, 2023 by 1466
Added “ plus a bit “ to diameter of pipe

[MrWolf]

When you have bent the "U" over the smoke box, then slide on the centre handrail knob (I'll have a look for a picture?) Before bending the little horizontal part at 3 and 9 o'clock.

 

It looks like the handrail is supported by the oversized lamp bracket. Does anyone know better?

 

3588 Wikipedia 

Edited March 14, 2023 by MrWolf

[1466]

10 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

When you have bent the "U" over the smoke box, then slide on the centre handrail knob (I'll have a look for a picture?) Before bending the little horizontal part at 3 and 9 o'clock.

 

It looks like the handrail is supported by the oversized lamp bracket. Does anyone know better?

 

3588 Wikipedia 

I was dealing with a 14 xx clas engine which has a central handrail knob . Obviously different for the Metro .

[MrWolf]

2 minutes ago, 1466 said:

I was dealing with a 14 xx clas engine which has a central handrail knob . Obviously different for the Metro .

 

Yes, they had a central handrail knob on the smokebox, IIRC the lamp iron was mounted on top of the smokebox wrapper rather than the front ring.

[Andy Keane]

This is what I have managed to get to after my third attempt. I am dreading attempting lamp irons. This is all really beyond my abilities.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Andy Keane

[MrWolf]

That's a very neat job indeed. A new skill learned.

Obviously not beyond your abilities after all!

 

Besides, if we didn't have a go at things, we'd all be sat in the mud wondering why we had so many kids.

 

Though on reflection, I've been to places like that.

 

You have to wonder when your local Halfords has a sign on the door which says "Please dismount from your bicycle before coming into the store".

 

You just know that those people know just enough to breed...

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

Do we think there was a knob at 12 o'clock on the front or is it just a lamp iron I am looking at? The casting has no hole there but it is on the seam between the two halves of the smokebox.

Mine has a hole, and the seam is offset.

The two halves of the smokebox were a pretty poor fit.

This kit is on a par with my Ks 14XX, quality wise.

Many of the parts were poorly finished, with flash or extraneous metal on them, except strangely the two side pieces which were perfect.

The smokebox was dreadful, each piece was twisted and it needed a lot of work to get it to fit together and to the tank/boiler top.

Plenty ofv filler need to hide the poor joins.

[t-b-g]

5 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

@t-b-g can you please provide any tips on how to bend up the curved handrail that runs around the smoke box door? I have no real idea where even to start!

Andy

 

I have been visiting a modelling friend this evening, working on a 2mm finescale mechanism. I come home to find that I am pretty much redundant, as you have done a fine job with the handrail. Only three tries is quite good. I know one very good modeller who once took around 10 attempts!

 

Of course GWR lamp irons are not like "normal" ones that my locos have. I use a long strip, make a short bend in it at one end, tin the short bit and solder it on then snip it to length. Much easier than tiny components pinging away out of tweezers or pliers. If you have some scrap etched thin strip bits with a right angled bend, you could do the same.

[Neal Ball]

9 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

@t-b-g can you please provide any tips on how to bend up the curved handrail that runs around the smoke box door? I have no real idea where even to start!

Andy

Tony Wright had a short section on this when he built the 61xx. There was a video link a few pages ago….

 

8 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

Do we think there was a knob at 12 o'clock on the front or is it just a lamp iron I am looking at? The casting has no hole there but it is on the seam between the two halves of the smokebox.

Andy

Mine has a hole in the centre for a handrail knob…. Im sure I have seen a photo of both the Lamp iron and hand rail knob.

 

6 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

This is what I have managed to get to after my third attempt. I am dreading attempting lamp irons. This is all really beyond my abilities.

Excellent work.

[russell price]

That hand rail looks spot on. 

[Andy Keane]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

Mine has a hole, and the seam is offset.

The two halves of the smokebox were a pretty poor fit.

This kit is on a par with my Ks 14XX, quality wise.

Many of the parts were poorly finished, with flash or extraneous metal on them, except strangely the two side pieces which were perfect.

The smokebox was dreadful, each piece was twisted and it needed a lot of work to get it to fit together and to the tank/boiler top.

Plenty ofv filler need to hide the poor joins.

My smokebox was a bit off centre as well - maybe there was a hole that I simply did not notice when I filled the seam.

One thing I wished I had done was drill small holes in the tank fronts where the wires joining them BEFORE building the model up. In the end I could hardly get in to make any kind of hole and ended up just making a small dillop with a 0.7mm drill bit into which the wire rested while I added superglue to fix things - a full hole would have been much better / stronger.

[Andy Keane]

7 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

I have been visiting a modelling friend this evening, working on a 2mm finescale mechanism. I come home to find that I am pretty much redundant, as you have done a fine job with the handrail. Only three tries is quite good. I know one very good modeller who once took around 10 attempts!

 

Of course GWR lamp irons are not like "normal" ones that my locos have. I use a long strip, make a short bend in it at one end, tin the short bit and solder it on then snip it to length. Much easier than tiny components pinging away out of tweezers or pliers. If you have some scrap etched thin strip bits with a right angled bend, you could do the same.

Thanks Tony, thats encouraging - I would never have the patience for ten tries - it would have been swearing and cursing long before that.

My worry with the irons is it will just be messy after I am done and also very fragile - I tend to pick up my models to work on some part only to notice I have squashed some other fragile part in the process. Brass strip lamp irons look hard but even worse are the three hooks on the back that held fire irons and such like. Do you make those with wire?

Another thing I am mulling over is trying to improve the tank top seam with filler, filing down and replacing the rivets with a waterslide set of rivets from Railtec - has anyone any experience of such things?

I have also not ruled out getting a whole new body kit and trying to do it properly but other bits of the layout are calling.

So I will plug on, since really with this build, as @MrWolf says, I am learning stuff, and see how much I like it at the end. If only high end RTR models were not so damn good.

Andy