Whats on your 2mm Work bench

[Yorkshire Square]

9 hours ago, richbrummitt said:

At the time the 4000gal cast ones were still available, which would have been roughly the right shape if you were after something with a flattish top to the springs. 

 

They still are: 3-526. We have bucket loads! Buy some at Derby. Please...

Edited May 5 by Yorkshire Square

[richbrummitt]

7 hours ago, Yorkshire Square said:

 

They still are: 3-526. We have bucket loads! Buy some at Derby. Please...

If I needed some I would, but not at Derby; I won’t be able to get there. They are super useful in pairs for anyone putting together one of those 0-4-2T chassis. 

[Matt.S.]

After a busy summer rewiring the real railway three vac braked minerals have got me back in the swing of things... including two flavours of MDV. 

Edited May 8 by Matt.S.

[Nick Mitchell]

5702 Progress Report #8

 

On 18/09/2023 at 22:55, 65179 said:

It looks to me that the yellow is applied on the flat inner edge of the beading itself rather than inside it. 

...

I think that is the way for you to go too if you want to be happy with the finish.

 

Thankyou Simon - as usual you are right when it comes to my Jubilee-related happiness!

 

Below is my second attempt at lining the tender.

Once again it is done with Fox transfer lining, with overlapping yellow and black stripes applied separately and the black edges painted in.

I think the result is probably finer than I could have achieved with any other method, but what a tedious process it has been! Across both sides, steps, frames and rear panel of the tender, I counted 110 separate pieces of lining transfer. The loco steps and cylinders have been lined using the same method... I think I need to build (or rather finish) a couple of unlined black locos to get my sanity back. No, wait...

 

Thankyou also to whoever was behind the 3D printed Fowler axle-boxes now in the Association shop. They're brilliant. (Imagine if I'd finished off this tender 15 years ago when I first built it for an as-yet unfinished 4F and had to put Stanier axle-boxes on it??? Poor Simon might have been compelled to ask me how I could sleep at night! There is a good reason why things take me so long!)

 

In case you're wondering, the white lump in the coal space is a cover for the decoder which sticks up above the motor. It will be covered on coal.

 

 

[65179]

1 hour ago, Nick Mitchell said:

5702 Progress Report #8

 

 

Thankyou Simon - as usual you are right when it comes to my Jubilee-related happiness!

 

Below is my second attempt at lining the tender.

Once again it is done with Fox transfer lining, with overlapping yellow and black stripes applied separately and the black edges painted in.

I think the result is probably finer than I could have achieved with any other method, but what a tedious process it has been! Across both sides, steps, frames and rear panel of the tender, I counted 110 separate pieces of lining transfer. The loco steps and cylinders have been lined using the same method... I think I need to build (or rather finish) a couple of unlined black locos to get my sanity back. No, wait...

 

Thankyou also to whoever was behind the 3D printed Fowler axle-boxes now in the Association shop. They're brilliant. (Imagine if I'd finished off this tender 15 years ago when I first built it for an as-yet unfinished 4F and had to put Stanier axle-boxes on it??? Poor Simon might have been compelled to ask me how I could sleep at night! There is a good reason why things take me so long!)

 

In case you're wondering, the white lump in the coal space is a cover for the decoder which sticks up above the motor. It will be covered on coal.

 

 

 

Happy to act as your Jubilee conscience Nick! That looks fabulous! I don't envy you working out how much of it you now want to cover in muck!

 

You have Nigel to thank for kicking off the 3D printed axleboxes and Tony Simms to thank for the actual drawing/design. He's done a lovely job on those a well as the Johnson and LNER group standard ones.

 

Will you be bringing it as is to Derby?

 

Best wishes,

 

Simon

 

 

 

 

[queensquare]

3 hours ago, Nick Mitchell said:

5702 Progress Report #8

 

 

Thankyou Simon - as usual you are right when it comes to my Jubilee-related happiness!

 

Below is my second attempt at lining the tender.

Once again it is done with Fox transfer lining, with overlapping yellow and black stripes applied separately and the black edges painted in.

I think the result is probably finer than I could have achieved with any other method, but what a tedious process it has been! Across both sides, steps, frames and rear panel of the tender, I counted 110 separate pieces of lining transfer. The loco steps and cylinders have been lined using the same method... I think I need to build (or rather finish) a couple of unlined black locos to get my sanity back. No, wait...

 

Thankyou also to whoever was behind the 3D printed Fowler axle-boxes now in the Association shop. They're brilliant. (Imagine if I'd finished off this tender 15 years ago when I first built it for an as-yet unfinished 4F and had to put Stanier axle-boxes on it??? Poor Simon might have been compelled to ask me how I could sleep at night! There is a good reason why things take me so long!)

 

In case you're wondering, the white lump in the coal space is a cover for the decoder which sticks up above the motor. It will be covered on coal.

 

 

What a gorgeous livery that is. About the only thing to surpass it is S&D blue! Fabulous work Nick.

 

Jerry

[Donw]

Superb work Nick. I look at the size of some of those bits of lining compared to the size of that finger and marvel how you managed to get them into place. You must have a lot of patience. 

 

Don

[yaxxbarl]

16 hours ago, Nick Mitchell said:

5702 Progress Report #8

 

 

Thankyou Simon - as usual you are right when it comes to my Jubilee-related happiness!

 

Below is my second attempt at lining the tender.

Once again it is done with Fox transfer lining, with overlapping yellow and black stripes applied separately and the black edges painted in.

I think the result is probably finer than I could have achieved with any other method, but what a tedious process it has been! Across both sides, steps, frames and rear panel of the tender, I counted 110 separate pieces of lining transfer. The loco steps and cylinders have been lined using the same method... I think I need to build (or rather finish) a couple of unlined black locos to get my sanity back. No, wait...

 

Thankyou also to whoever was behind the 3D printed Fowler axle-boxes now in the Association shop. They're brilliant. (Imagine if I'd finished off this tender 15 years ago when I first built it for an as-yet unfinished 4F and had to put Stanier axle-boxes on it??? Poor Simon might have been compelled to ask me how I could sleep at night! There is a good reason why things take me so long!)

 

In case you're wondering, the white lump in the coal space is a cover for the decoder which sticks up above the motor. It will be covered on coal.

 

 

Nick,

 

That's rather glorious that - I have, probably a few months down the line, the prospect of a LMS tender but this time black with red lining! Also having once, long ago, done a BR Lined black fowler tender to a long sold on N Gauge Crab I do have a sense of how fiddly lining up the bits of transfer can be!

 

Cheers,

 

John

[Nick Mitchell]

21 hours ago, 65179 said:

Will you be bringing it as is to Derby?

 

"As is" is now weathered, and yes, we'll both be taking a detour off the Central Division (hopefully via the coaling stage!) to be at Derby:

 

[yaxxbarl]

So, what has been on my workbench this last few weeks has been NCB No. 8, which is now finished.

 

I brought it along to the Derby Expo on Saturday and Anthony Yeates was kind enough to photograph it along with the competition entries -

 

 

As opposed to the J94 that I entered for the Ballantine Quaich, this one was an experiment in using an association chassis, which I'd previously built for a Farish body and then tried under a 3d print body, to see how it compares with the converted EFE chassis AND to also complete what has been an over 20 year saga to model this particular loco. In the end I thought the other J94 which was a converted EFE chassis just edged it on performance so that was the one that got entered.

 

I started off with a conversion of a Farish chassis using the old Ballantine conversion wheelsets, this then had a updated body with the RT Models etch used to detail it, then a replacement associaiton chassis, then an attempt at a 3d printed body and finally the EFE body has the result I always wanted.

 

The loco is HE3776, as No. 8 it spent the early 70s in Staffordshire before moving to Bickershaw where it was in this livery up to 1977. After that it was painted bright blue and renamed 'Bickershaw' before being renumbered to No. 7 and painted green. It was then preserved, though I believe it is under overhaul at present.

 

[Nick Mitchell]

5702 Progress Report #9 - Finished

So... after the burning of copious quantities of midnight oil (even better than Welsh steam coal), 5702 Colossus finally made it to York only a year behind schedule but not without drama!

 

Having placed the loco on the track before the Derby Expo opened, all we got was a nasty smell and a sinking feeling.

The tender was very hot to the touch, and I'm glad I replaced the plastic Farish one with a lovely metal kit!

 

A convenient windowsill became my impromptu workbench for 20 mins. I wonder when the last time a Jubilee was repaired in an LMS facility at Derby?

Anyway, on opening up the tender, this is what I found:

 

 

One tantalum had evidently had a tantrum, which explained the smell and lack of movement.

Fortunately, it had done no damage to the decoder or any of the other components - and being the end one of the block of four capacitors wired in parallel, I was able to simply snip the electrical connection to just that one, and the loco could rapidly enter service.

 

 

I'm generally pleased with how the loco has turned out. Running is silky smooth, but tractive effort is not everything I'd hoped - something I can't test properly at home. Although I have filled all available space in the body with lead (total weight is 75g ) I suspect the balance is not quite right yet. My PECO-based Jubilee (that will become 45604 Ceylon) weighs less in total but seems more sure-footed. Nonetheless, Colossus looked very much at home drifting up and down the centre roads of York station all day, generally improving the ambience of the place and demonstrating how much prettier Jubilees are than A4s...

 

 

 

A day that could have been a complete disaster (from 5702's perspective) ended in triumph when it was awarded the Groves trophy.

From every other perspective, Expo 2024 was a fantastic day, and I'd like to add my thanks to the organisers, exhibitors and everybody else who helped make it so successful.

 

[65179]

26 minutes ago, Nick Mitchell said:

5702 Progress Report #9 - Finished

So... after the burning of copious quantities of midnight oil (even better than Welsh steam coal), 5702 Colossus finally made it to York only a year behind schedule but not without drama!

 

Having placed the loco on the track before the Derby Expo opened, all we got was a nasty smell and a sinking feeling.

The tender was very hot to the touch, and I'm glad I replaced the plastic Farish one with a lovely metal kit!

 

A convenient windowsill became my impromptu workbench for 20 mins. I wonder when the last time a Jubilee was repaired in an LMS facility at Derby?

Anyway, on opening up the tender, this is what I found:

 

 

One tantalum had evidently had a tantrum, which explained the smell and lack of movement.

Fortunately, it had done no damage to the decoder or any of the other components - and being the end one of the block of four capacitors wired in parallel, I was able to simply snip the electrical connection to just that one, and the loco could rapidly enter service.

 

 

I'm generally pleased with how the loco has turned out. Running is silky smooth, but tractive effort is not everything I'd hoped - something I can't test properly at home. Although I have filled all available space in the body with lead (total weight is 75g ) I suspect the balance is not quite right yet. My PECO-based Jubilee (that will become 45604 Ceylon) weighs less in total but seems more sure-footed. Nonetheless, Colossus looked very much at home drifting up and down the centre roads of York station all day, generally improving the ambience of the place and demonstrating how much prettier Jubilees are than A4s...

 

 

 

A day that could have been a complete disaster (from 5702's perspective) ended in triumph when it was awarded the Groves trophy.

From every other perspective, Expo 2024 was a fantastic day, and I'd like to add my thanks to the organisers, exhibitors and everybody else who helped make it so successful.

 

 

It might be worth trying a weaker spring at the front end Nick, before exploring the more lead in the tender option. When testing 45696 on the bank out of Bath on Jerry Clifford's layout I discovered it was a lot happier pushing up the bank in reverse. I think that's consistent with a loco where the front drivers are just being lifted slightly. 45649 has less lead, but is generally better balanced and didn't show the same tendencies.

 

The alternative is of course to just build another and double head...

 

 

Well done again on the Groves.

 

I'm now going to try and get Indigo by 90s group Moloko out of my head.

 

Simon

Edited May 13 by 65179

[Izzy]

6 hours ago, yaxxbarl said:

I started off with a conversion of a Farish chassis using the old Ballantine conversion wheelsets, this then had a updated body with the RT Models etch used to detail it, then a replacement associaiton chassis, then an attempt at a 3d printed body and finally the EFE body has the result I always wanted.

 

This all sounds rather reminicient of Trigger's broom .......😁

 

Bob

[yaxxbarl]

2 hours ago, Izzy said:

 

This all sounds rather reminicient of Trigger's broom .......😁

 

Bob

Bob,

 

Yes - it's probably worth a retrospective of No. 8, so here we are, first in pictured in 2008 - Farish Chassis and Body with Ballantine wheels, by then it had been like that since about 2001/2002...

 

 

Next to when the RT Models etch had appeared, with a better cab back and etched steps, I also decided to add balance weights to the wheels. Internally a coreless motor replaced the Farish iron cored motor and it had had a new paint job...

 

 

Then the last one with the Farish body - now sporting an association chassis -

 

Finally, the road eventually not taken due to the appearance of the EFE model - a much modified (partly on account of gluing it back together after dropping it with the 3D print being so brittle...) 3D print from Shapeways, with added detail from the RT Etch, handrails, new footplate and buffer beams from the association chassis etch...

 

 

What made me decide to put the chassis under the EFE body was a combination of things - frustration with the body, particularly the brittleness of the print, a conversation at York with Mick Simpson on the possibility of using the association chassis under the body, and the availability of an EFE body where the chassis had donated bearings to my other conversions.

 

Around this time there was also another possible path, that thankfully Jerry Clifford talked me out of by pointing out I'd might as well make a full replacement chassis for all the hassle it would have been, of attaching association chassis side-frames to an EFE chassis block.

 

Once I'd embarked on the EFE body/association chassis route, it didn't take me long to decide it was the right path to take. I still have the 3d print body as it was left so it may yet gain a dummy chassis and appear on a model scrapline somewhere...

 

Cheers,

 

John

Edited May 13 by yaxxbarl

[Izzy]

4 hours ago, Nick Mitchell said:

One tantalum had evidently had a tantrum

 

I wonder what it is with these 16v tantalums. I sorry you have had this experience, a situation I know only too well. Thankfully I have used 25v tantalums in my plastic tender Royal Scot. I'm hoping that combined with getting a Z21 and lowering the track voltage to 12v as you have suggested in the past might just offset any further problems. Do you think that perhaps the track voltage on York might have been a bit too high for comfort as a lot of systems push out 18v by default. The Z21 did until I lowered it. I have read a post where the person stated when designing electronics they never pushed tantalums past half their stated voltage rate to ensure no issues with them.

 

Bob

[tapdieuk]

Its a mixture of things on the workbench at the moment. The yard office, SR concrete hut and Fuel tanks are 3D prints from Mudmagnet models picked up at the SWAG event. I have gradually been painting them up as a alternative to wagon or coupling making. 

 

The L&Y CCT requires some fettling and paint to the chassis, a set of buffers and transfers

 

The Yeoman JHA is the Guinea pig for Finescale wheels sets, it's currently riding on 3 hole wheels.  Annoyingly Dapol have design/used wheels with 12.8mm point width. There is not a direct swap the association have, the point angle are also different. These bogies are rolling a lot freer than the first go, still knocking around options for the 59....