Tucking Mill

[queensquare]

I’ve decided to join in Dr Nick’s advent challenge and get something finished. I’ve opted for the O which is well under way but still has lots of detailing  to go as well as needing the UJs and drive shaft fabricating. I also intend to get it painted by Christmas - something the North Somerset Light seems to have gained a reputation for not getting done!

 

Jerry

 

[queensquare]

One step back  and two steps forward this evening. I wasn’t happy with the springs on the tender which were some unidentified brass castings that I found by rummaging  in my gubbins tin so this evening I took them off and replaced them with some chopped from the recently introduced Johnson set which are a vast improvement. The axle boxes are some old Association LMS 2bolt jobs with the bolts cut off and the top filed to more closely resemble the prototype.

I also added the face of the loco - smoke box door, top lamp iron and handrail. The door is a NBrass casting and once cleaned up will look fine. 
 

Whilst I was busy whittling brass, Jazz, the old lady of the pack, was gently snoozing. Winter has its compensations …..!

Jerry

 

[Izzy]

I’ll be interested to see how you make the u/j’s as I’m looking for tips for my exGE J15 build. 
 

Bob

[queensquare]

27 minutes ago, Izzy said:

I’ll be interested to see how you make the u/j’s as I’m looking for tips for my exGE J15 build. 
 

Bob

I’ll take some pictures Bib

 

 Jerry 

[queensquare]

It was the reversing lever and those dinky little splashers in front of the cab this evening - what a fiddle they were. I had to call it a night once they were on!

 

Jerry

 

[queensquare]

Thankfully, other  than the first half hour,  the England- Senegal  game tonight was reasonably stress free (the quarter final against France may not be so straightforward), so I was able to add some of the plumbing to NSLR No 7 (she will be a namer but I’m yet to decide what).

I’m not entirely sure what all the  pipe work sprouting from the front of the cab and the side of the boiler is for but a combination of various sizes of wire, 4mm handrail knobs and etch waste hopefully give a reasonable representation - in 2mm at least!

Club Christmas curry tomorrow  so an evening off the soldering iron.

 

Jerry

 

The girls, as usual, showed no interest in my battles with slivers of brass but were glued to the telly!

Edited December 4, 2022 by queensquare

[Caley Jim]

1 hour ago, queensquare said:

I’m not entirely sure what all the  pipe work sprouting from the front of the cab and the side of the boiler is for but a combination of various sizes of wire, 4mm handrail knobs and etch waste hopefully give a reasonable representation - in 2mm at least!

The paired pipes would appear to be the operating valves for the injectors and the single pipe on the RHS is for the whistle.

 

Jim

[queensquare]

15 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

The paired pipes would appear to be the operating valves for the injectors and the single pipe on the RHS is for the whistle.

 

Jim

Thanks Jim, I think you are correct about the injectors but not sure about the whistle - that is attached to the cab front and looks to have its own, separate, thinner  pipe work.

 

Jerry

[DavidLong]

The North Sunderland had 'The Lady Armstrong', you could have 'The Lady Clifford' 😀

 

I do like the '0'!

 

David

[queensquare]

1 hour ago, DavidLong said:

The North Sunderland had 'The Lady Armstrong', you could have 'The Lady Clifford' 😀

 

I do like the '0'!

 

David

Bob Jones did me several name plates a few years ago, mainly family members past and present, including Holly, Stephanie and Kimberley which are already in service with the NSLR.

‘Lady Clifford’ was asked what the new engine should be called from the selection I have left and she opted for ‘Nancy’, which was her mothers name and I think it will suit the 0.

I still have plates for grandsons Ted and Archie - don’t know what they will be yet but feel  they should be twins a la the Rev Awdry!

 

Jerry 

 

[DavidLong]

Sounds good to me. How is the Lady herself? Thriving, I hope. Missed the hugs over the last couple of years!

 

David

[queensquare]

5 minutes ago, DavidLong said:

Sounds good to me. How is the Lady herself? Thriving, I hope. Missed the hugs over the last couple of years!

 

David

She’s very well thanks David and still, amazingly, tolerating me for which I’m eternally grateful! 😊

 

Jerry

[AY Mod]

7 minutes ago, DavidLong said:

Missed the hugs over the last couple of years!

 

Shhh! Jerry thinks people come to look at the layout.

[2mm Andy]

1 hour ago, DavidLong said:

The North Sunderland had 'The Lady Armstrong', you could have 'The Lady Clifford' 😀

 

I do like the '0'!

 

David

I note that you very diplomatically omitted to mention that 'The Lady Armstrong' was a smelly diesel loco, David....😄

 

Andy

[queensquare]

14 minutes ago, 2mm Andy said:

I note that you very diplomatically omitted to mention that 'The Lady Armstrong' was a smelly diesel loco, David....😄

 

Andy

ooh she wouldn’t like that! 😊

 

Jerry

[65179]

48 minutes ago, queensquare said:

Bob Jones did me several name plates a few years ago, mainly family members past and present, including Holly, Stephanie and Kimberley which are already in service with the NSLR.

‘Lady Clifford’ was asked what the new engine should be called from the selection I have left and she opted for ‘Nancy’, which was her mothers name and I think it will suit the 0.

I still have plates for grandsons Ted and Archie - don’t know what they will be yet but feel  they should be twins a la the Rev Awdry!

 

Jerry 

 

 

How many cornish buildings would it take for John to build you Alfred and Judy/Bill and Ben?

[queensquare]

5 hours ago, 65179 said:

 

How many cornish buildings would it take for John to build you Alfred and Judy/Bill and 

 

Im working on the buildings for Bodmin at the moment so unless John extends the layout which is very unlikely then the Fox Walker saddle tank for Bath will be the last. I shall have to build them myself!

I’m incredibly  lucky to have five locos  John has built for me already.

 

Jerry

[queensquare]

Nothing terribly exciting this evening - a bit of roughly shaped lead, some oddments of wire and a couple of lace pins and we have a fairly crude representation of a backhead. When carefully painted and augmented by a crew these rather rudimentary representations are surprisingly effective.

 

 

 

Tonight’s additional crew member is Mr Chunks - he’s every bit as in different to what I get up to in front of the fire as the dogs!

Jerry

Edited December 7, 2022 by queensquare

[Krusty]

6 hours ago, queensquare said:

we have a fairly crude representation of a blackhead.

 

I'd be very worried if I had a blackhead that looked anything like that.

[queensquare]

1 hour ago, Krusty said:

 

I'd be very worried if I had a blackhead that looked anything like that.

…. well spotted!!

 

Jerry

[queensquare]

Loco detailing is now complete so this evening I made up the loco tender coupling - the photo should be self explanatory. The break cross rods need snipping to maintain electrical isolation then all that’s left to complete the loco is to make up the UJ and drive shaft but that involves a little bit of lathe work and it’s bally cold down the workshop in the evening at the moment so that will have to wait until the weekend!

 

Jerry

 

[Re6/6]

10 hours ago, queensquare said:

....and it’s bally cold down the workshop in the evening at the moment so that will have to wait until the weekend!

 

Jerry

They forecast that it's going to be colder still then Jerry! 😺😺

[queensquare]

11 minutes ago, Re6/6 said:

They forecast that it's going to be colder still then Jerry! 😺😺

Hi John, I can almost hear all my northern mates laughing at us southern softies!

Im hoping to get down there during the day, if not I shall have to find something else to start/finish/move forward in the warm in the evenings. I have plenty of potential projects to choose from!

 

Jerry

[Re6/6]

I've got Tim and Rod coming over for lunch and to play with 'Marsh' which is in the shed. Well, it's a bit brass monkeys in there which I don't mind but I've put a convection heater in there for their benefit!

[queensquare]

Inspired by John Farmer and chums braving the shed to play trains I headed down to the workshop for an hour this afternoon to make up the UJs. As expected it was bally cold, the roof of the chicken run still displaying a hard frost mid afternoon but I was a brave boy and got on with it!

In all seriousness, my reluctance to head down the shed is because the residual heat from the wood burner in the front room means I don’t have to worry about putting the heating on as it remains at a comfortable working temperature all day from the previous evenings fire so I crack on with work I can do at my little bench.

 

Anyway, as I promised Izzy, I took a couple of snaps of the process. Generally speaking, the dimensions aren’t too critical, you just need to make sure it will fit the space available, 8 or 9mm long is typical
I use a bit of 4mm bar which is  centre drilled to fit the shaft - in this case 1.5mm at the loco/gearbox end and .9mm at the tender/motor end.
 

At the loco end I turn a step the depth of the peg which provides a guide to make filing it neatly much easier. I then file the stepped end to a sort of tooth and cross drill it. The drive shaft is threaded through this hole which prevents it falling out.

 

The tender end is centre drilled but then I cut a slot and fit a retaining sleeve using a piece of 4.7mm tube. This is fixed with a spot if solder and the ends faced off in the lathe for a nice, neat finish.

 

 

The end result is seen in the last picture. There are a few little jobs to do before I fit the drive in the loco but that can all be done in the warm!!

 

Jerry

 

Edit to say that before I had a lathe I used to make these up using telescopic tube and a mini drill so a lathe is not essential, it just makes life easier

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by queensquare