Christian Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 I think there might be a '2' missing from the front of your mentioned prices also You would not be wrong to think that, I personally feel that they are under priced but I am certainly not complaining. GW models do attend a couple of shows which does save you the postage, i've wanted to get the rivet press for some time but the other one with the moving table. I know GW Models will be at Railex so I will have to decide which one I buy first I guess it depends on what you are using it for, the moving table and clamp is certainly useful if you are making rivets in blank sheet material, but most kits have half etched holes for pushing out the rivets. The version with the moving table is a fair bit more expensive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale7JB Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 The GW rivet press is only GBP 45 ? I could have sworn they were a lot more than that... JB. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 ..... I personally feel that they are under priced..... For God's sake, nobody tell George Watts! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 The GW rivet press is only GBP 45 ? I could have sworn they were a lot more than that... JB. George (GW) does several versions. There is a cheaper one, then one with an indexing table for about 85 pounds, then a big one for gauge 1 with a much bigger throat and other features for 150 pounds. All very well made. The rolling bars work out at about 60 pounds. Good value for well made tools. Robin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 Scale7JB, on 01 February 2010 - 15:44 , said: The GW rivet press is only GBP 45 ? I could have sworn they were a lot more than that... JB. George (GW) does several versions. There is a cheaper one, then one with an indexing table for about 85 pounds, then a big one for gauge 1 with a much bigger throat and other features for 150 pounds. All very well made. The rolling bars work out at about 60 pounds. Good value for well made tools. Robin Mine will be the cheaper one then. I did have some concerns using the smaller press when doing the A3's frames as the frames are very thick nickel silver, but the cheaper press worked fine with a little extra pressure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon V Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Mine will be the cheaper one then. I did have some concerns using the smaller press when doing the A3's frames as the frames are very thick nickel silver, but the cheaper press worked fine with a little extra pressure. I have the GBP 85.00 rivet tool and last time Christian came up here he came armed with his rolling bars which were very good indeed. The quality of these tools is exceptional and I (and I suspect Christian) would recommend them to anyone. As George doesn't do websites then I feel it is only right to put his contact details here for anyone who my be interested in purchasing items G.W. Models 11 Croshaw Close Lancing West Sussex BN15 9LE Tel 01903 767231 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcazar Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I know GW Models will be at Railex so I will have to decide which one I buy first. Ian G PM sent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigwelsh Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I recollect prices of around 85GBP and 145GBP last year but this may be slightly wrong. I do have a little leaflet somewhere. He does a set of bending bars with the wingnuts welded on for about 7GBP which weren't much more than the material costs and are square together. I use a set in 4mm as they are long enough for coaches and a lot cheaper than a fancy thing while being more substantial than some rulers in a vice.. I probably wouldn't need the more expensive one now i've started etching as I could stick some hole strip on the edge of an etch if really needed. Its a much nicer bit of kit than the drop head riveter I currently attempt to use.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon V Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Mine will be the cheaper one then. I did have some concerns using the smaller press when doing the A3's frames as the frames are very thick nickel silver, but the cheaper press worked fine with a little extra pressure. This is supposed to Christian's A3 thread so I shall let him get back on topic after this. Something you all should know about the GW rivet press is that it does not distort the piece you are working on even if there are no half etch holes marking the rivets. I did all the rivets down the length of a Class 31 body (rivets marked by half etch) and the body remained as flat as when I removed it from the fret. Within 30 min of unpacking mine I had produced a perfect square of rivets on a 1mm pitch on 12 thou plain brass sheet. Also a line of rivets within 0.5mm of the edge with no distortion of the piece. The instructions also show you how to create a circular pattern of rivets if you have the verson with the adjustable tables on it. The tables can be removed and the device then looks like the one Christian posted the photo of. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 After the assembly of the footplate as seen in my earlier post the next logical step is to build the boiler and firebox. Work starts with the firebox and it's internal former where there are several reminders not to remove the cusp from the edges of the formers. This seemed very much the wrong thing to do as I would usually spend considerable time dressing the parts prior to assembly, but the instructions state that the cusp is required in order to ensure a good fit of the firebox wrapper and so the cusp was left on the former parts. There are also a couple of markers on one part of the former which will be for channels for the reversing lever arm and saning control linkage to slide through. Construction of the firebox former was straight forward and included two alignment pins for the attaching to the tappered boiler section. The firebox wrapper was carefully formed using my GW rollers as previously discussed in earlier posts, and then attached to the firebox former. The tappered boiler section proved a little more tricky to form. The tapper is quite steep and even when using the roller with one end clamped down quite tight and the other loose, it was not forming the steep tapper correctly so the wrapper was re-rolled to its original flat state before trying again. This time I rolled the wrapper with one end right up at one end of the roller and with a high degree of pressure and no pressure on the other end, this proved much more successful and made a perfect tapper. Prior to the forming of the main parallel boiler section I had marked out the holes using the paper template provided, for the fitting of the smoke deflector support brackets. The three section are now permenantly solder together and boiler bands have been fitted using phospher bronze strip. The boiler assembly is now test fitted to the footplate assembly prior to removing the footplate from the jig. The rear splashers needed a little attention to ensure they fitted tightly up against the boiler. Now the jig has been removed, this is the first time that I have been able to fit the footplate to the frames. The footplate fitted well although it did foul slightly on one of the front splashers. The boiler assembly again test fitted and this picture really tells the story so far. I am not quite sure what to do next, I could make a start on the cab assembly or continue with the boiler and footplate which require much of the detail still to be fitted. Maybe the cab would be good to start next as it is a larger piece and has to be a good fit on the footplate and up against the firebox, but just for now I think I shall spend the rest of the evening just looking at the build to date and maybe push it up and down my yard of track for a bit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugsley Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 That looks really lovely, and built with real care and attention. It'll almost be a shame to paint it once you're done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale7JB Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 That really is spectacular, and SO clean...! Be careful pushing it up and down the track, I spent hours doing that after I completed my first set of Walschaerts valve gear watching whizzy bits, and nearly didn't finish the build JB. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Much better value than a certain *kof*partwork*kof* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 Thank you all for your kind words, needles to say, I am very pleased with the build so far. Much better value than a certain *kof*partwork*kof* And to think I nearly got involved in that, I did buy the first issue but after doing my sums and looking at the quality and style of construction I deceided not to buy any further issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcazar Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Is the smokebox saddle you picture, the cast one, or the fabricated one? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 Is the smokebox saddle you picture, the cast one, or the fabricated one? I have gone with the etched brass version rather that the lump of white metal. I feel that the etched version is a little better and with finer detail than the cast offerings. I have yet to detail the saddle with all of the rivets yet, more on this later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcazar Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Thanks, Christian. Once you cut off the frame/jig from the footplate, how difficult was it to file, or grind flat all the protrusions that held it in place? And what did you cut it off with? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 Thanks, Christian.Once you cut off the frame/jig from the footplate, how difficult was it to file, or grind flat all the protrusions that held it in place? And what did you cut it off with? Fairly straight forward really. I carefully cut sections of the jig in two to remove the bulk of the material using tin snips, what was left then was smaler sections of half etch fillets that could be folded back and forth until they snapped free from the valance and buffer beams. The remaining cusp could then be filed flush using a selection of needle files before a final rub with some 320 wet and dry paper. With the jig removed I could then tidy up some of the messy soldering that I could not reach with the jig in place. Even on these areas of the underside that knowone would see I still like to spend some time cleaning up areas that have been soldered and why not, they are still soldered joints and should be treated in the same way. Work has now started with the cab and photos will follow in the next day or so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metric Myford Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Christian, I started reading your A3 progress reports today. I have this kit, although still untouched, myself. Perhaps not relevant anymore at this stage, the following might be of interest to other members contemplating to build this wonderful kit. There is a comprehensive account of the A1/3 frames on pages 32-33 in the RCTS publication Locomotives of the LNER part 2A. The frames of these Pacifics gave quite some trouble, cracks also starting from the lightening holes that all A1/3??™s had as built before October 1933. The lightening holes were gradually patched over during repairs. Nigel Gresley decided, in October 1933, that in future the only lightening holes would be those ahead of the cylinders. Spearmint was built in May 1930 and would have had the lightening holes at that time, but certainly in the 1960??™s no trace of them would have been left. Mentioned RCTS publication is, next to Peter Coster??™s A3 book (all of Peter??™s books actually), highly recommended. ISBN 0901115258 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Hi Chrsitian just ordered a bottle of flux to try, sounds great! sorry if youve mentioned it already but what brand of solder are you using? enjoying watching the progress on the A3. Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian G Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 I picked up a tub of the Flux at Telford last year, I have found I need to use less of it than Carrs and its easyer to wash off. Ian G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted February 5, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 5, 2010 and maybe push it up and down my yard of track for a bit. Phew....I am glad I am not the only one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peejay Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Christian A question about the Cartazzi pony truck on your model: does it have outside bearings? I ask this because on Martin Finneys website he makes mention of special wheelsets made by Slaters for his kits and Slaters list them as being for outside bearings, but from your pictures it is not clear to me if the bearings are outside the wheels or between. Does the kit allow for either method of supporting the pony truck wheelset, and tender wheels for that matter? The high quality of your build of this model is simply breathtaking and an example to all of us who wish to kit-build. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 Christian, I started reading your A3 progress reports today. I have this kit, although still untouched, myself. Perhaps not relevant anymore at this stage, the following might be of interest to other members contemplating to build this wonderful kit. There is a comprehensive account of the A1/3 frames on pages 32-33 in the RCTS publication Locomotives of the LNER part 2A. The frames of these Pacifics gave quite some trouble, cracks also starting from the lightening holes that all A1/3?????s had as built before October 1933. The lightening holes were gradually patched over during repairs. Nigel Gresley decided, in October 1933, that in future the only lightening holes would be those ahead of the cylinders. Spearmint was built in May 1930 and would have had the lightening holes at that time, but certainly in the 1960?????s no trace of them would have been left. Mentioned RCTS publication is, next to Peter Coster?????s A3 book (all of Peter?????s books actually), highly recommended. ISBN 0901115258 Thank for the information, obviously a bit late for me now but I am sure it will be of great use to others. The decission whether to have frame lightening holes troubled me for a while. I did as much research as I could and all leads led to the frames on late locos did not have these lightening holes hence the option I went for. There was always the option to open up these holes in the frames should further information come to light. I do have the Peter Coster book of the A3's which has been very useful indeed as it has some great pictures of Spearmint during her later years where she appeared quite shabby. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 Hi Chrsitian just ordered a bottle of flux to try, sounds great! sorry if youve mentioned it already but what brand of solder are you using? enjoying watching the progress on the A3. Mike Hello Mike, I am sure that you will get on well with it, I swear by it. With regards to solder I don't think that brand really comes into it. I don't use many different types of solder in fact more often than not I just use 60/40 tin/lead solder. For more delicate areas I use 145 degree where there is danger of melting the solder on previous joints, and Carr's 100 degree solder for soldering white metal to brass or nickel. I am no expert on soldering and I am sure that many would say I should do things differently, but I am very set in my ways and I am happy with my results. I often put the solder on the tip of my iron first and not on the joint, again this will be alien to many people but it tacks the joint together before using my micro flame torch to finish up the joint. Each to their own. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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