DLT's NG Workbench - Back to The Hunslets

[mudmagnet]

If you can wait, I can copy a load of photos onto a CD and let you have this when we meet up at Shepton Mallet - only three weeks to go!

 

I haven't uploaded them anywhere else.

[DLT]

If you can wait, I can copy a load of photos onto a CD and let you have this when we meet up at Shepton Mallet - only three weeks to go!

That would be great, I had assumed that you would be there.

Thanks very much, Dave.

[DLT]

A few more bits have been soldered to the chassis, namely bufferbeam assemblies, jackshaft splashers, and the gearbox cover.  This last was awkward job to bend evenly and took quite a bit of tweaking to get right.  Its since occurred to me that I should have sorted out a mounting for the front coupling BEFORE I soldered the cover in place.

 

 

Next job is actually making it go.  Pickups to fit, and outside cranks and rods etc.  

Coupling and connecting rods have been soldered up, each from three layers of nickel-silver etch.  They will probably take longer to clean up than they did to solder.

 

That's all for now,

Cheers, Dave.

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[N15class]

Your narrow gauge stuff makes it very tempting to have a go.

 

Excellent work.

[DLT]

Your narrow gauge stuff makes it very tempting to have a go.

You can't resist the urge Peter...

Dave.

[Mike Boucher]

Your narrow gauge stuff makes it very tempting to have a go.

 

Excellent work.

 

Come to the dark side...   We have cookies!

[DLT]

Rods are now cleaned up and drilled, and the next job is to put all this lot together.  The various cranks supplied in the kit are black plastic, and a force fit on the axle ends.

 

Cheers, Dave.

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

Its running, albeit without any coupling rods in place, and with the addition of a couple of lumps of lead to hold it down.  The motor grinds a bit, I'm not sure its quite right, will investigate further.

The ultra-short wheelbase seems a bit track-sensitive, so I will add a touch of suspension to the non-driven wheels.

Cheers, Dave.

[Kenton]

 

The various cranks supplied in the kit are black plastic

Up to that, I was so impressed - how sad Edited January 31, 2014 by Kenton

[DLT]

Well they look perfect for the job to me!  

I've added a crude but apparently functional (so far) suspension system, and its time to get to grips with the aforementioned cranks.

Hopefully some more photos over the weekend.

Cheers, Dave.

[Mike]

Here's a link to a completed one on White Oak .

Sorry for the highjack:)

[DLT]

Thanks for the link Mike.

 

After a bit of tweaking to various parts, some lubrication, and the addition of cranks and coupling rods, it now runs smoothly, thank goodness!

 

As I thought earlier, I've added some suspension to the front axle.  The protruding screws hold the axlebox assemblies in place, and are normally screwed down tight.  By leaving one loose, the axle can move downwards in its slot to accommodate any dip in a rail.    Its sprung downwards with a bit of nickel-silver wire bearing down in the screwhead slot.  

"Aha" you might say, how does it move upwards to accommodate a rise in one rail?  It doesnt, the whole frame rises to climb over the hump, and the opposite axle drops to compensate.

The second photos should show this more clearly.  It also shows another bit of NS wire soldered to the frame and to the motor terminal.  This not only transmits power but secures the motor and gearbox in position.  Two birds with one stone.

 

The next two photos show the pickup arrangements.  the kit provides a perfectly good pickup arrangement, but it seemed a bit inaccessible to me for cleaning/adjustments.  I've substituted backscratchers made from Phos-bronze strip, soldered to a length of PCB that's screwed to the top of the frame on the right hand side. I THINK the photos are fairly self explanatory!

You can also see the right hand suspension, and the motor connecting/support wire soldered to the pickup plate.

 

 

That's all for now,

Dave.

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

Chassis is now complete and running nicely (with the addition of a couple of lumps of lead to hold it down)  I showed it at the club the other night where it received much comment, mostly of the "What on earth it that?" nature.

 

The crankpins are 14ba screws, with top-hat bushes and nuts, all in brass.  Where the connecting rod passes in front of the leading crankpin there is, as ever, very little clearance.  So instead of fitting the nut and filing it down as far as possible I replaced the bush with a threaded bush from the Romford/Markits De-Luxe Crankpin set, which screws on with the flange on the outside, dispensing with the nut on top.

 

Started on the bodywork, beautifully etched in brass, and first up was the main cab etch.  Care is needed with folding it, as some of the fold lines are very close to an edge.  I have some bending bars, and I also use a Toolmakers clamp,  but a Hold & Fold is probably best for this.  For some reason the etched fold lines are a sort of dotted line rather than a continuous line.  I ran the edge of a needle file along the etched line to deepen it, and it bent beautifully.

 

 

That's all for now,

Dave.

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[Ohmisterporter]

Coming along nicely Dave. Will you have to shorten the motor shaft at the front end? If so will there be room for a flywheel should you wish to use one?

[M Wright]

Hi, very interesting following the lovely job you are making of Neil Sayer's Baldwin gas mechanical (BGM)  I swapped one of mine for one of his so it is invaluable to watch your loco building.  I too found his perforated half-etch bend lines odd.  I have only seen them before on good quality old O gauge kits.  If you try to bend them as etched you can always see the perforations.  Your solution to file them through, judging from the photos is an excellent solution.  For interest I have put on a photo of one of my BGMs.  It is in 16mm to the foot scale. 

The prototype is in a museum near Peronne in France ( Foissy)  I measured it up  in 1991 and developed this from those drawings.  Construction is laser cut steel frames and rods, lost wax brass castings, etched brass and white metal castings,  Lke the prototype it has two speeds.

[DLT]

On 08/02/2014 at 15:23, Ohmisterporter said:

Coming along nicely Dave. Will you have to shorten the motor shaft at the front end? If so will there be room for a flywheel should you wish to use one?

 

Thanks very much Geoff.

 

I will have to shorten the motor shaft in order to fit the resin cast bonnet in place.  As it stands there's no room for a flywheel, but with modification one could be squeezed in.  The curved shape of the gearbox is actually quite wasteful of length (see photo below) as when you fit the worm you're left with nearly 4mm of bare shaft between worm and motor.  Space could be freed if the gearbox was rebuilt to move the motor closer to the gears.  Alternatively, I did consider replacing the gearbox with a Highlevel SlimlinerPlus which is shorter longitudinally. (It also comes with a grubscrew fitted final drive gear, but that's a separate issue)  

 

Cutting a large gap in the front of the resin bonnet would give additional space.  As the radiator casting covers the front, this would not be visible.  These two mods would create enough room for a flywheel.  Having got this far though I don't want to go back and rebuild it, but I'll have another think once I've fitted the bonnet

 

All the best,

Dave.

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[DLT]

 

Hi, very interesting following the lovely job you are making of Neil Sayer's Baldwin gas mechanical (BGM)  I swapped one of mine for one of his so it is invaluable to watch your loco building.

Thanks very much; yours is looking pretty stunning!  I've trawled up a few useful photos of the Froissy example on the web, also the one at Tacot des Lac.

I take it that in the larger scale you've added a lot more detail to yours, particularly of the propshaft, gear linkages etc between the frames?

 

I've got a few photos of my own showing Moelwyn; maybe I'll start a prototype thread.

 

All the best,

Dave.

[mudmagnet]

Hi Dave,

 

I found another photo that I took at the musuem at Haute Somme a few years ago. I forgot that I had this one!

(I'll copy all the other photos on the CD for you)

 

Great built by the way. Are you going to bring along to Shepton on Saturday?

 

[mudmagnet]

A couple more ....

 

 

 

 

[DLT]

Great photos Mudders, thanks very much.

I will bring it along to Shepton, but I'll try and get the bodywork largely complete before then.

Cheers, Dave.

[DLT]

I probably bored everybody rigid at Shepton, showing the half-built Baldwin to anyone who would listen; but in case you were one of the lucky ones that missed it, here's a couple of progress pics.

 

Not a lot to say about the first one, the engine cover is fixed on, and there isn't  lot of space inside.  I had to cut the redundant end of the motor shaft off almost flush with the motor body.  Using a grinding disc in a minidrill, it was cut a little bit at a time to avoid heating up the shaft.

 

 

Cab interior components, all fold-up etches, some more fiddly than others.

Left to right; sandboxes, cab roof, control panels, drivers seat, gear-lever bracket.

 

I'm awaiting a delivery of brass so that I can build a full cab rear and some sliding side-panels, to give the crew a bit more protection from the British weather.

Cheers, Dave.

Edited September 8, 2022 by DLT

[Kenton]

 

Not a lot to say about the first one

Besides it has been spoiled by the use of more resin. I just do not understand the cop out from an otherwise very intricate chassis built in brass to that lump of uncertain detail where a brass etch or two could have provided much crisper detail. Even a white metal cast would have been better and at least contributed some weight. I must admit to having "gone off" this kit entirely. A complete let down AFAIC.

[M Wright]

Hi, I do not think I agree with Kentons opinion about the use of resin.  For the majority of modellers it is much easier to utilise a finely cast resin part than assemble either a set of castings or etch.  In my larger model of the same prototype I rejected etch for the bonnet since without a louvre press tool they are hard to form from any etched slot design.  In making the masters for my whitemetal bonnet my first job was to make all the press tooling to pierce and form the louvers.  I think in the smaller scale of O asking the average modeller to form the bonnet from etch is a bit of an ask.  Neil Sayer has to design a kit that sells and is capable of being built.  I do not think many kits would be as well built  as DLT's and clearly the materials the designer used are fit for purpose in that it goes together and looks like the prototype.  Indeed I admire the light touch of the rivet detail on the resin casting, it captures the prototype well,  The resin front gear box is again an easy, accurate solution to what is a complex object to represent with castings. regards, Malc.

[Kenton]

 

Neil Sayer has to design a kit that sells

Well probably lost one as a result but may well have gained many others from the glue it all together camp.

 

I am in agreement, in part, with you that forming louvres from brass sheet would be difficult (though not impossible and there are harder tasks) but have seen them well represented by half etched sheets. The problem with arguing that a resin cast is more difficult than a whitemetal one is lost on me. In terms of detail the metal one is going to be crisper and at least it can be soldered on.

 

This is no beginner kit - as seen by the chassis construction. Reducing the body to that level without similar compromise of the chassis just seems perverse. As if the designer just gave up on the job and took an easy route out to launch the kit.

[Tigermoth]

Isn't it a case of swing and roundabouts ? It isn't in everyones capabilities to produce the louvres correctly in this scale. There's bound to be some fussy people around who insist on exactness, but going by what i've seen already when it has been done, i think the resin equivalent is a good compromise.

Edited February 21, 2014 by Tigermoth