DLT's SR Locos - Lord Nelson Craftsman Kit

[Horsetan]

Aha, I get it.

[ozzyo]

? That surely makes the thing asymmetrical.....

 

How does that work out?

 

 

Yes, coz so far I've only done one side!

Perhaps I should have said "The left hand cylinder is NOW about right, the right hand as supplied"

I photographed it like that to show the difference.

 

Hope that explains,

Dave.

 

I knew what Dave meant without having to ask the question. £50 an hour verses £10 per hour. £10 per hour can some times win!

 

OzzyO.

[DLT]

Hi Guys,

 

Sorry for the lack of progress reports on here, lots of outside pressures at the mo, but there is steady (if slow) progress wiht the U.

 

One issue with this chassis kit is the fore & aft positioning of the cast brass motion bracket, relative to the rest of the valve gear.  When I built this chassis for the W some time ago, I realised that the eccentric rod was too long, so this time, when assembling the valvegear,  I started at the cylinder end and worked backwards.   This gave me the correct position for the motion bracket, which did not correspond to the slot for it in the frames.    I lengthened the slot and used a strip of pcb to fix the spacing.  Its Araldited to the motion bracket at one end and drilled for the main chassis/cylinder/body fixing screw at the other.  This ensures that the motion bracket remains in the correct position relative to the cylinders.  

I HOPE the photos make this clear!

Cheers, Dave.

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2018 by DLT

[N15class]

Very nice work. I always think the cylinders and motion brackets are poorly tought out on a lot of kits. I like them to be free of the chassis and built so they can be added as a unit. For me this is the sensable way of doing it as you can work on things without them in the way, and makes maintainance and wheel fitting/removal simpler.

[DLT]

Very nice work. I always think the cylinders and motion brackets are poorly tought out on a lot of kits. I like them to be free of the chassis and built so they can be added as a unit. For me this is the sensable way of doing it as you can work on things without them in the way, and makes maintainance and wheel fitting/removal simpler.

Quite so, I'm a great beleiver in being able to take the working parts to bits again; I don't favour the approach of "fit once, permanently".  How do you go about adjusting fit, testing, cleaning/degreasing and finally painting the thing, if you cant separate the parts?

The pcb strip locates the motion plate in three directions, and the footplate clamps it in place when you screw the body and chassis together. 

 

Cheers, Dave.

Edited February 17, 2013 by DLT

[Michael Edge]

I always put a hole in the frame plate coinciding with the link pivot, a wire through these holes ensures that the bracket can be set in exactly the right position relative to the wheels and cylinders. On many locos this wire can be left in place, on others it can pass through the driving wheel spokes - on the U it looks as though it coincides with the driving wheel tyre but it still helps a lot with setting up.

Michael Edge

[DLT]

Its Alive, Its Alive!  All valvegear assembled and running smoothly, just needs a bit of finishing here and there.

I'll get some photos up later.

Cheers,

Dave.

[DLT]

Valvegear still needs a bit of tidying and cleaning up, but its essentially complete

 

 

Dave.

Edited March 10, 2018 by DLT

[Bluebell Model Railway]

Some lovely work here, something I can only dream about, Ive just brought a U-Class from a well known auction site, although was named as an N-Class which it wasn't, sadly in a bit of a state, if i can get it looking anything like a U-Class I'll be happy...

[DLT]

A quick interim report.  It seems like this has all gone quiet, but I'm doing the brakegear; often a more fiddly job than the valvegear.

I'll do some photos when theres something to show!

Cheers, Dave.

[DLT]

As predicted, the brakegear was a fiddle.  The actual parts are very nice; I soldered the brake blocks on one side to their cross-shafts (.7mm brass wire) and threaded them through the etched pull-rods, having opened up the slots sufficiently.

A small block of wood, filed square and to the correct width was used as a spacer to hold the second brake hanger in place for soldering.

You end up with a loose and floppy assembly that needs to be fitted to the loco.  This was a right fiddle, threading peices of .5mm wire through the brake hangers and the etched holes in the chassis.

Once in place, you can hold the hangers in the right position relative to the wheels and solder the cross-shafts to the pull-rods.  The result, at last, is the single rigid assembly shown, which can be easily fitted and removed from the chassis.  

The pull-rods could do with being a bit longer at the right hand end,  in order to prevent the blocks actually rubbing on the wheels.  You can see where I've bent the cranked ends backwards to increase the length where they attach to the chassis below the cab.

 

 

Cheers, Dave.

Edited September 4, 2022 by DLT

[darren01]

HI DLT

 

This loco is looking very good indeed, Can not wait to see it finished! I have just ordered another kit   

 

Gone for the PDK Drummond 700 black motor, all Ray's fault, KIT BUG!

 

Keep up the good work and see you at Taunton.

 

Darren

 

[DLT]

Hi Darren,

Great, the PDK 700 looks a really nice kit, and chassis-wise, probably simpler than your little HighLevel job

 

As for the U, chassis is pretty much finished, and will need to be chemically blackened before final assembly, when any final adjustments can be made. When building the pony truck, I've realised there were no wheels for it in the kit, I shall have to search my spares box(es).

Moving on to finishing the bodywork, and all the detail of handrails, pipework etc.

Cheers,

Dave.

[tender]

As for the U, chassis is pretty much finished, and will need to be chemically blackened before final assembly, when any final adjustments can be made.

Cheers,Dave.

Hi Dave,

How do you do the chemical blackening? I've had several attempts at this using different formulations but none have been particularly successful.

 

Ray.

[DLT]

Hi Dave,

How do you do the chemical blackening? I've had several attempts at this using different formulations but none have been particularly successful.

 

Ray.

Hi Ray,

 

I've found it very effective on brass and nickel-silver; the metal does have to be clean and shiny, and I dunk it in Carrs Metalblack for Brass, available from C&L 

http://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=57#metalblacks

 

The technique (if you can call it that!) has been discussed on this thread (and others) before, take a look at the finishing of the Z-Class on page 11

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2359-dlts-southern-locos-u-class-mogul-djh-sefinecast/page-11

The metal doesnt go completely "black" but achieves a dark oily sheen that is perfect for valvegear, wheels etc; and provides a good surface for painting.  

It doesnt work anything like as well on whitemetal, but does darken the bright silver appearance.

 

Hope this helps!

Cheers, Dave.

[tender]

Hi Ray,

 

 I dunk it in Carrs Metalblack for Brass, available from C&L 

 

Hope this helps!

Cheers, Dave.

Hi Dave.

 

I have tried the Carrs Range, but i think it may have been the Nickel Silver product and applied with a cotton bud.

 

You say you dunk it in, is that like the whole thing in one go? Presumably you have a far quantity to do this. How long do you leave it?

[DLT]

Hi Dave.

 

I have tried the Carrs Range, but i think it may have been the Nickel Silver product and applied with a cotton bud.

 

You say you dunk it in, is that like the whole thing in one go? Presumably you have a far quantity to do this. How long do you leave it?

Depends which bits I'm doing.  I bought a 250ml botle of Carrs , and its still going strong after a good few years.  Long thin items like coupling rods are simply lowered into the bottle held by a loop or hook on the end of a piece of wire.  I find submerging the item more efficient than trying to brsh the stuff on,  but again, its dependant on the size and shape of the workpeice.  Unless the workpeice if completely clean and degreased, the fluid "beads" on the surface and you get an uneven finish.

Its useful to have a small container or three of different sizes so that you can pour some fluid out and submerge smaller items in it.  The LAST thing you want is to drop small parts into the bottom of the bottle!  

For some items I brush the stuff on, wheels for instance that are already mounted on the loco.  I find a small paintbrush better than a cotton bud for getting the stuff on, the cotton bud is good for cleaning/washing the stuff off afterwards.  For larger items like a loco chassis or body, I pour the whole bottle into a slightly larger container and submerge the job as best I can.  I swill it around and liberally brush over the bits that wont submerge, and whendone then drop it into a bowl of water.  As the fluid is expensive I conserve it as best I can and pour it back into the bottle.

Its a messy business, and you end up with blackened fingers as well, so take care, as the stuff is poisonous.  Whatever you do, theres no substitute for getting the peice as clean shiny and greasefree as possible.

 

Hope this helps!

Dave.

[DLT]

Body detailing of the U is well under way, handrails, ejector pipe, boiler fittings, reversing rod etc.  The supplied etched smoke deflectors are not quite the right pattern; handhold cutouts are in the wrong position, and it might be easier to replace them than make alterations.

I'll put some photos up when theres a bit more to show.

All the best,

Dave.

[ozzyo]

Hello DLT, all,

 

I find that meths is a good cleaner before using metal black. I use Birchwood Casey as I find it better than the Carr's stuff.

 

OzzyO.

[DLT]

Hi Ozzy,

 

Agreed, meths is excellent for cleaning, well worth keeping a bottle to hand.

A worthwhile investment, if you are doing a lot, is an ultrasonic cleaning bath.  Its amazing to see how much more crud comes of a model that you thought was already clean!

 

Just received some tiny and exquisite smokebox numberplates from 247 Developments, superb piece of etching.

247 can be found at  http://247developments.co.uk/  Highly recommended!

 

Cheers, Dave.

[Horsetan]

Oh good, that sounds like 247 have finally got on top of their mail order section. They used to be a bit erratic, especially if you were making an enquiry, which was why I thought it better to catch them at a show. At least you could get what you wanted, off the peg.

[DLT]

At last some more photos of progress on the U, showing the drivers side of the boiler with various fittings added.  The only photo of this loco I have shows it without AWS gear, normally fitted to the drivers side footplate below the reversing rod.  Unless anyone can prove otherwise I shall model it in this condition.

 

 

 

I think I mentioned before, the smoke deflectors are correct for the N footplate dimensions, but I'm making replacements to fit the deeper U footplate drop.  Also the handhold cutout and holes for the handrail are wrong for the U; handrail should be vertical.  Much less work to make new ones that trying to modify the existing!

 

 

 

Cheers, Dave.

Edited March 10, 2018 by DLT

[pete_mcfarlane]

It looks good - I'm impressed by how clean and shiny the model looks! I'm not sure I like the etched smoke deflector - the etched 'beading' round the edge is a bit weird!

[emt_911]

Dave

 

That's looking realy good.

 

I've had a look through all the photos I have of U's and can't find the AWS gear anywhere else. although I will happily be corrected if someone finds otherwise.

 

Looking forward to seeing the smoke deflectors completed.

 

Keep up the good work

 

Duncan

[DLT]

It looks good - I'm impressed by how clean and shiny the model looks! I'm not sure I like the etched smoke deflector - the etched 'beading' round the edge is a bit weird!

Thanks Pete,  You're right about the heavy beading; another reason for replacement.  I will add the beading from fine wire.

Cheers,

Dave.