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Modelling a 2mm Finescale Duchess


Nig H

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Things have moved on a bit since my last post - in fact I have now finished all the work I can do until I get the loco back from the painter. Here are some pics of the run up to completion and the finished, unpainted loco.

 

Firstly, a pic I took to check the alignment of the chimney, top feed, and dome. A magnified pic helps spot obvious errors, especially with my poor eyesight.

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Next, the chassis was set up as far as possible to test the running and performance of the U/J on curves. The track gauge adds weight over the drivers to aid adhesion. The pony truck was added next to see how it performed on curves. Without sufficient clearance, it locks the chassis on tighter curves, and I wanted to check it was OK on 3' radius curves. The springs catch on the side and underside of the dummy extended frames, so you need to file a bit of the casting away.

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And now some shots of the completed (in draft) loco. I spent ages fettling the pony truck, bogie, and tender drawbar linkage so that the 3' curve was managed. The main issue was the bogie as the rear wheels can catch on the front brake gear, and the front wheels can short against the front footstep backing plate. I had to move the transverse slot in the bogie to get the right pivot point.

 

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If anyone has any questions, please ask.

 

Nig H

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Hello NigH,

 

please check the L/H side coupling rod as it appears that the joint is in front of the centre axle. 

 

If you think that you have problems now. Wait until you fit the cylinders!

 

Nice looking build.

 

OzzyO.

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Hi NigH,

 

The pictures today are very impressive.  I have not seen any of the previous posts on this loco.  Congratulations on what would be a fine piece of work in any scale, but in 2mm, it is outstanding and I don't know how you can do it!  Especially nice are the hand rails and their knobs, which are usually over-scale even in 4mm.  Could I ask what sort/make of knobs  you have used?

 

All the best,

 

Colin

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Hello NigH,

 

please check the L/H side coupling rod as it appears that the joint is in front of the centre axle. 

 

If you think that you have problems now. Wait until you fit the cylinders!

 

Nice looking build.

 

OzzyO.

 

Thanks OzzyO. As I mentioned, my eyesight isn't great, and the right hand coupling rod is on the left side, back to front, and for variety the left hand coupling rod is on the right hand side but inside out! Thanks for pointing this out, and I'll try to get the rods the right way round when they are attached permanently.

The cylinders and motion are complete, painted and awaiting fitting. Sometimes I've needed to do a bit of tweaking of the valve gear when finally assembled, but the only soldered joint to do is the return crank over the crankpin, so the whole cylinder/ slide bar unit can be removed and adjusted if necessary.

 

 

 

Hi NigH,

 

The pictures today are very impressive.  I have not seen any of the previous posts on this loco.  Congratulations on what would be a fine piece of work in any scale, but in 2mm, it is outstanding and I don't know how you can do it!  Especially nice are the hand rails and their knobs, which are usually over-scale even in 4mm.  Could I ask what sort/make of knobs  you have used?

 

All the best,

 

Colin

 

Thanks Colin. I make my own handrail knobs from fuse wire c. 5 thou. A 20 mm length is bent in half forming a long 'U' shape, and the open end held between finger and thumb. Some 0.3mm n/s as used for the hand rail is fed in through the loop and 'twerdled' round and round until the ends of the fuse wire start to twist round ach other. The process is continued but with the fuse wire held by pliers, the hand rail type wire being turned flush against the plier jaws. You gradually notice the fuse wire tightening so that it forms a small circular loop around the handrail wire. Its easy to go to far and break the top off the fuse wire, so you start again. When done, trim the bottom end off leaving the desired length of stem to be inserted into the boiler (usually c. 0.4mm hole). Individually these knobs are fragile but when soldered up with the handrail, reasonably robust. Also, you can bend them up or down to adjust the handrail level if it's not quite right. I hope my description is understandable, but I'll try again if not. I may have some pics which show part of the process.

 

 

Nig H

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Thats a work of art Nigel! That is an outstanding engine you have there.

 

I especially love the way you have formed the boiler.

 

Missy :)

 

 

Thank you Julia. The boiler/ firebox I used was the master for the whitemetal castings I had done. I thought the master would have a nicer, smoother finish than the castings. Making the boiler/ firebox was hard work, but I don't expect to have to do anything like that again. Sorting out the join between the firebox and boiler at the bottom was especially hard and time-consuming, but I think it turned out reasonably in the end.

 

 

Nig H

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You are a brave man taking photos of a duchess in the nude - and on private property too. I hear this runs you the risk of a year in prison - or is that only in republican France? I hope you are not going to call her "Duchess of Cambridge" ;)

 

Seriously, this looks to be a brilliant model, up with the very best!

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Nigel,

 

What a lovely work of art!

 

Ian

 

 

You are a brave man taking photos of a duchess in the nude - and on private property too. I hear this runs you the risk of a year in prison - or is that only in republican France? I hope you are not going to call her "Duchess of Cambridge" ;)

 

Seriously, this looks to be a brilliant model, up with the very best!

 

 

fantastic work hard to believe its 2mm scale

 

 

Excellent work, especially in 2mm.  I take my hat off to you.

 

How have you found the self made UJ's have worked?  I had not thought to seek to make them myself on the grounds that I doubted I would make a smooothly operated joint?

 

Thanks All for the comments.

 

Concerning the U/Js, they work well on locos I've tried other than pacifics. The proble with the latter is the sideways throw of the U/J housings on curves. Its necessary to taper the body of the U/J shafts towards the centre (see previous posts above) to allow more play. Reducing the length of the housing at the open end also helps. But with a bit of tweaking you can get them to work properly (fingers crossed, but the test running was fine).

 

Nig H

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  • 8 months later...
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Here are some pics of City of Birmingham, now painted for me by Ian Rathbone. Basically now finished apart from attaching a decoder in the tender.

 

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I will never build another pacific!

 

Nig H

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Here are some pics of City of Birmingham, now painted for me by Ian Rathbone. Basically now finished apart from attaching a decoder in the tender.

 

attachicon.gifCoB #3.jpg

 

attachicon.gifCoB #5.jpg

 

I will never build another pacific!

 

Nig H

Well you have made a cracking job of this one so as I have heard never say never again.

Don

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Hello Horsetan and Don,

 

These pacifics take so long to build, and there is so much to sort out/ fettle to get them running satisfactorily. Anyway, I've not got anywhere for them to run, and I started building them just to fulfil a long-held ambition.

 

Thanks for your comments John E., and nice to hear from you again. A Bob Jones 9F is just one of many kits in the gloat box, plus I have several test etches I need to concentrate on. So many locos, so little time!

 

Nig H

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To my shame I've only just found this thread. A great build with a stunning end product. 

Nigel, any chance you could put a note with links to some of your build threads in the 2mm section - what's on my bench for example - as I don't want to miss any more!

 

Jerry

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Had the pleasure of seeing City of Birmingham last night along with 2 other locos and the associated coaches to go with them. Lovely work Nigel and I look forward to seeing how you get on with your next locos. Pity we don't have Chee Tor any more where you can give these a good run.

 

Ralph

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To my shame I've only just found this thread. A great build with a stunning end product. 

Nigel, any chance you could put a note with links to some of your build threads in the 2mm section - what's on my bench for example - as I don't want to miss any more!

 

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

 

Thanks, and will do in future.

 

Nigel

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