7mm Diesels

[two tone green]

Hi Lee,

 

The next 7mm show for me is the Bristol one at the end of January. Any chance of you making it?

[HealeyMills]

Hmmmm... I'm not too sure about that.  Work gets in the way a little for that one.... which is a shame as I could do to get to a show to buy bits'n'bobs.

 

I guess there's plenty of time throughout the year.

[blueeighties]

Hey hello TTG,

 

It's nice to see you stopping by.  Thank you for the comments and I hope to be able to catch up with you this year at one of the O gauge shows... perhaps even with OzzyO too!!!

 

 

 

 

Hi Lee,

 

Thank you.  I never quite finished the last 40, and stupidly I sold it too, but I have another one waiting to build so it will be 40118 and it WILL get finished this time.

 

I do find that the biggest stumbling block, certainly at the moment too with this class 20 build, is the spraying of the loco and parts.  I only have a small portable spray booth and I am not sure that it will fit the 20 in let alone a 40.  I guess you have a purpose built spray booth for all your work???

 

 

 

Cheers

Lee

Yes Lee. The one thing I didn't predict or think about when setting the workshop up was the thought of doing a lot of 7mm work. Now I am! The spray booth is fine and accommodates the monstrous 40's and 60's. However, I am really regretting putting a space saving mini sink in, it's no use when rinsing these big after paintstripping.

[Mr Grumpy]

 

 

The headcode discs have been hand painted and I'm not sure I'm that impressed by my non-handy work.  The Railmatch yellow obviously needs quite a few coats over the dark etch primer as it appears green with only one coat.  The discs have just been push fitted but the separate disc catches are fixed in position... oh boy are they difficult to control when cutting from the sprue, filing and fitting.

 

That's it for today.

 

Cheers

Lee

 

Lee,

Use white primer before spraying the yellow on!

[two tone green]

Hi Lee,

 

There is the spring show, summer show ay Donny and then Telford again.

 

Will catch you some place.

 

Keep up the good work and have a happy Christmas and a great new year.

[HealeyMills]

 

The headcode discs have been hand painted and I'm not sure I'm that impressed by my non-handy work.  The Railmatch yellow obviously needs quite a few coats over the dark etch primer as it appears green with only one coat.  The discs have just been push fitted but the separate disc catches are fixed in position... oh boy are they difficult to control when cutting from the sprue, filing and fitting.

 

That's it for today.

 

Cheers

Lee

 

Lee,

Use white primer before spraying the yellow on!

 

Thank you Mr Grumpy, I shall make sure I do that.

 

Hi Lee,

 

There is the spring show, summer show ay Donny and then Telford again.

 

Will catch you some place.

 

Keep up the good work and have a happy Christmas and a great new year.

 

Ok, yes I think Doncaster is more likely.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too.

 

Cheers

Lee

[HealeyMills]

A bit more done this afternoon whilst taking the occasional break to reply to members comments on here. This post is a bit picture intensive as I've photographed things as I have gone along, just so that anyone who has no idea how these kits are assembled understands.

 

Items straight out of the box (sandboxes and sanding valves):

 

 

Fitted together..... note how the valves aren't pushed all the way into the sand boxes - I only spotted this after I took the photo (now corrected  ):

 

 

Then once these bits are assembled, drill out the hole for a small stud on the bogie frame and fit, viola!!:

 

 

(Having taken and looked at the photo I noticed that I had missed a molding line so a quick whizz over with a file and emery paper.... and also the piston casing... how on earth did I miss that   )

 

I now need to work out how to fit the sanding pipes:

 

 

Lots more bits'n'bobs to remove from their sprues and then sand/ smooth.  I have started to use a Dremel (other tools are available ) for some of the items, firstly using a cutting disc to get the parts off the sprue, then use a drum sander fitting to get the items something like smooth and finish with wet and dry paper:

 

 

 

I still need to sort the drivers' seats out as there is a casting line right down the middle of them:

 

 

I have to confess I hate smoothing out white metal components... the stuff gets everywhere

 

...and finally when you're covered in small filings and coated in black dust:

 

 

But it's worth it... or it will be when it's done

 

Cheers

Lee

 

 

 

[boxbrownie]

Going great there Lee.............

 

But now.........................Merry Christmas Peeps..............time for jollity and merriment...........and alcohol 

[HealeyMills]

Going great there Lee.............

 

But now.........................Merry Christmas Peeps..............time for jollity and merriment...........and alcohol 

 

Merry Christmas David... that sounds like a great plan!!

[HealeyMills]

After a day of generating a hang-over and a day of nursing the resultant hang-over I haven't managed to do much recently... oh well it is Christmas

 

This mornings efforts, although there really isn't much to show as I've spent so much time trying to get the correct shape of the tubing that feeds from the sandbox valves to the dispenser.  Eventually I have one of them done and I'm hoping that the other three will be a lot easier now:

 

 

I'm pondering whether to try to solder the wire into the valve and dispenser or should I go for the easy option of super glue?????

 

 

Decisions decisions...

 

Cheers

Lee 

[Mr Grumpy]

Go on ..... Solder it in!! At least if you don't get it exactly how you want, you can apply a little heat and manoeuvre if necessary !

I'm just adding the brake gear to my 47, and if I had glued with epoxy, the brake shoes would still be the wrong way round!!

[boxbrownie]

Super Glue.....if it's wrong you can still apply a little heat to release the bond, neater than a method of joining metals that dates back to the 1800's 

[HealeyMills]

Well I still haven't decided, but I must admit I am not keen on going in close to the resin bogie frames with a soldering iron.

 

It took forever to get the sanding gear sorted out, but I am quite pleased with it.  All I used were some smooth nosed pliers, my drill bit holder to bend curves and lots of patience.  The pipework is merely loose fitted at the moment and not fixed (yet):

 

 

Once these sanding pipes were done I had a go at the pipework on the bogie side frames.  I have not been looking forward to this bit to be honest, but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined... it probably only took 30mins or so to get one of the pipe details done.  There are two per side frame, I think one must provide the air to drive the sand from the boxes onto the track and the other ... erm I am not sure as the other pipework goes to the piston on top of the bogie frame...  Hopefully someone might pop along and tell me (us).  Anyway a pic of the frame detail (which I'm quite pleased with) once the bogie is fitted back to the loco:

 

 

Finally, as it was all back together again (bar one buffer beam pipe which seems insistent on not remaining in situ) a few pics:

 

 

 

 

(Hmmm... I must fill those incorrect holes on the buffer beam that I drilled for the MU housing.... I really should check the correct position of items before drilling holes everywhere unnecessarily)

 

The eagle eyed will notice other items such as wheel guards fitted and the pistons (mentioned earlier) are now smooth and correct.  I guess the next job is to finish off the bogie side frame pipe details then make a start on the electrics.

 

I'm not quite sure how I will get the power up and out from the bogies at the moment.  The class 40 I did allowed me to use the bogie pivot bolt as one point of contact but the class 20 has this embedded in the resin frame so that idea is out as a non-starter.  I'm thinking I may just have to drill a couple of small holes in the bogie frame and pass the wires out that way.

 

All in all, I'm rather pleased with how this is shaping up and I'm looking forward to getting some paint and numbers on it.

 

Thanks for looking in

Cheers

Lee

[boxbrownie]

Looking good there, very much like the detail if the sanding gear, makes all the difference.

[P.C.M]

Well Lee you have been busy,

The class 20 is looking very good. You get some nice detail bits in the kit the bogie detail looks great.

 

All the best Peter.

[brian daniels]

Nearly there. You did ask earlier what size metal I used for the coupler banger guards, it was just what I had lying around that looked ok. Do you want me to get one out and run a measure over one? What one are you doing this as and what era? I guess as built as you have put a steam pipe on there (all be it temporary).

[HealeyMills]

Nearly there. You did ask earlier what size metal I used for the coupler banger guards, it was just what I had lying around that looked ok. Do you want me to get one out and run a measure over one? What one are you doing this as and what era? I guess as built as you have put a steam pipe on there (all be it temporary).

 

Hi Brian,

 

Nice to see you over-seeing my build 

 

If you have the time to measure the brass strip you used for the coupler banger-guard it would be helpful as I keep ordering different sized bits of brass strip only to find it looks over or under sized.

 

I'm surprised no-one else has mentioned the steam heat pipe so far.  That will be staying as I intend to do 20045 which, along with its sister Eastfield loco 20085, carried the through steam heat pipes and were vacuum braked only, circa 1983-4.  I have a couple of photos that I'm working to but they are not the best quality and can be difficult to pick some details out.  Your Flickr site has been invaluable!!

 

I think if this build continues like it is doing I shall be in the market for a pair of Haymarket 20's too (I'll bagsy 20222 and 20224 before you beat me to them) 

 

Cheers

Lee

[HealeyMills]

Quite a productive day as I managed to get four of the main side frame details made using some 0.7mm nickle silver wire.  It takes a little time and patience bending the wire to fit the contours of the bogie side frames and needs constant reference to photos to get it correct, but eventually I had these done:

 

 

Adding them to the bogie sideframes:

 

 

This then allows the second part to be bent/ formed and added (there is still a small section to be added to supply the piston cylinder at the top of the bogie).  The two parts are soldered together where they meet underneath the back of the frame:

 

 

and then finally the last bit is added:

 

 

I'm quite pleased with the result, albeit quite time consuming, but I think you'll agree it's certainly worthwhile.  I need to complete the other three side frames as I have only managed to get one done in total.

 

Oh yes.... I opted to glue the sanding pipes to the sanding gear after a small amount of soldering prior had proved a total waste of time so I figured I wouldn't even try on the detail parts.

 

Thanks for looking in

Cheers

Lee

 

[JeffP]

Why was the soldering a waste of time?

[HealeyMills]

Hi JeffP,

 

The soldering was a waste of time because all I created was an unsightly mess that was not strong enough.  I need to practice of lots of scrap pieces of different types of metal before I attempt anything of note.

 

Cheers

Lee

[brian daniels]

The coupler guards I made are approx .5 by .8 brass rectangle. Those air lines on all diesel bogies try the patience of a saint!

[brian daniels]

Have you got a picture of 20045 you are working from? One I have shows it with solid bogie equalizing beams and bufferbeam airpipes located under the bufferbeam and not in it when fitted with the steam pipe but I see they were changed later..

 

Pic here with steam pipe at St Rolox https://www.flickr.com/photos/16819691@N08/7388361738/in/photolist-cfThxd-9mvnSF-e95iMq-bAZ8cX-deVvoo-bjY9Tq-mJsz3n-dyzFid-i7coSy-dSAAUA-c2s3eL-dU25by-oofshX-auzfgu-9tFbNK-9Dznwm-msbY27-fu34tv-aCj9Pm-tdovAm-6aajB2-9jMug4-v8Uh9B-ni4gbi-65M1V4-efD8CR-BUPbWi-uXjctq-dsHwKU-BaC7MF-nMTCpX-eeMWQk-fAxWjX-6HtseP-efUvNP-bqB1bi-dubLoD-8dDr8t-h8y2fK-ayBAVG-qNhD83-tAVWbe-fj6gAs-eAYCDw-9Jtkim-fj3zSu-fiNrma-fiWsEp-6qDdnr-nXPYct

[HealeyMills]

The coupler guards I made are approx .5 by .8 brass rectangle. Those air lines on all diesel bogies try the patience of a saint!

 

Hi Brian,

 

Thank you for getting the brass dimensions and posting here - I really appreciate your efforts.  I have some brass that is quite close to 0.5mm x 0.8mm on order from Eileens which should be here any day now.  Hopefully included in that order will be some drill bits that I can sort the buffers out with.

 

Overall I didn't mind making the air lines (despite thinking I would) but when I tried to solder the a small part that joins to one of the cylinders/ pistons all that resulted was a mess and the small component falling off.  I guess, to be fair, I had probably not cleaned it sufficiently but hey.  Perhaps I may try again with the other three and just stick the one (shown above) with good old super glue

 

Have you got a picture of 20045 you are working from? One I have shows it with solid bogie equalizing beams and bufferbeam airpipes located under the bufferbeam and not in it when fitted with the steam pipe but I see they were changed later..

 

Pic here with steam pipe at St Rolox https://www.flickr.com/photos/16819691@N08/7388361738/in/photolist-cfThxd-9mvnSF-e95iMq-bAZ8cX-deVvoo-bjY9Tq-mJsz3n-dyzFid-i7coSy-dSAAUA-c2s3eL-dU25by-oofshX-auzfgu-9tFbNK-9Dznwm-msbY27-fu34tv-aCj9Pm-tdovAm-6aajB2-9jMug4-v8Uh9B-ni4gbi-65M1V4-efD8CR-BUPbWi-uXjctq-dsHwKU-BaC7MF-nMTCpX-eeMWQk-fAxWjX-6HtseP-efUvNP-bqB1bi-dubLoD-8dDr8t-h8y2fK-ayBAVG-qNhD83-tAVWbe-fj6gAs-eAYCDw-9Jtkim-fj3zSu-fiNrma-fiWsEp-6qDdnr-nXPYct

 

 

Thank you for that picture... I never knew that the 20's had the air pipes mounted on the underside of the buffer beam and I need to take a closer look at the pictures as I may need to move them. I have just noticed the bogie equalising beam too... so I shall need to fill all those holes in the JLTRT kit!!!

 

Cheers

Lee

[JeffP]

Hi JeffP,

 

The soldering was a waste of time because all I created was an unsightly mess that was not strong enough.  I need to practice of lots of scrap pieces of different types of metal before I attempt anything of note.

 

Cheers

Lee

Two tips: Make sure the hole you are soldering into, and the end of the pipe are clean, (emery cloth, fibreglass brush etc etc).

Dab liquid flux onto the join, (I use this stuff: http://www.7mmlocomotives.co.uk//index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1&category_id=1&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=52),then touch the join with a hot iron with a minimum of solder on it. Can also be used for handrail knobs to handrail joins.

 

Oh..and don't use cored solder, get hold of some 145 deg solder from ebay, Eileens etc.

[HealeyMills]

Two tips: Make sure the hole you are soldering into, and the end of the pipe are clean, (emery cloth, fibreglass brush etc etc).

Dab liquid flux onto the join, (I use this stuff: http://www.7mmlocomotives.co.uk//index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1&category_id=1&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=52),then touch the join with a hot iron with a minimum of solder on it. Can also be used for handrail knobs to handrail joins.

 

Oh..and don't use cored solder, get hold of some 145 deg solder from ebay, Eileens etc.

 

Hi JeffP,

 

Thank you very much for the pointers.  I was using cored solder.... and some additional Carrs flux.  I have some 145 deg solder so perhaps it's about time I started to experiment and practice with this  instead of dismissing it out of hand.

 

Cheers

Lee