Idea: Conversion of Ixion Hudswell Clarke

[Guest Isambarduk]

"I'd love to see a step-by-step photo-journal of how you machine them..."

 

Thank you, David.  Well, next time I do a set (doesn't happen very often!) I'll make a photo-record.  Actually, it's not that difficult in principle it's just that you do have to have the right tackle which you have to use with patience and care; there's also a good deal of checking and double checking what you're upto.  None of it is actually that difficult, except perhaps arranging to get hold of the job as it gets more advanced and its shape is more awkward to support; it can be a bit trying on the nerves though. 

 

David

[hartleymartin]

It seems from my idea of possible conversions (I'm still looking into the possibility of a side-tank conversion), that a few dress-ups and other conversions have been fielded here. Those 16" buffers look particularly nice!

[81A Oldoak]

This an interesting thread. We looked at the feasibility of making the MSLR Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 side tank loco that became LNER J64, which has the same wheelbase and wheel diameter as the Ixion model. Unfortunately, we would have to move the gear train and the motor would emerge into the cab, all of which would have meant a complete re-tooling of the chassis and no economies of scale. Anyway, I have attached a profile of the J64 with a rough outline of the Ixion chassis superimposed to show the problem.

J64 profile with HC ST chassis profile.pdf

[hartleymartin]

How far would the block protrude into the cab? One might be able to get away with it if you don't put in a detailed backhead, and you can obscure it with driver and fireman figurines in the cab doorways. Not up to the usual Ixion standard, I know, but still possible for someone who desperately wanted the side-tank locomotive.

 

I'm going to pester Peter Berg and see if I can get reject castings from his NSWGR R285/Z18 class locomotive (boiler, smokebox, chimney, dome, etc) so as to make up PWD 27/28.

[hartleymartin]

Earlier I said “I’m not sure what I’ll attack next time … maybe the buffer planks, drawgear and buffers.” and, not wishing to start dismantling my loco just yet, whilst I still have other locos in the workshop, I decided to make replacement buffers with larger heads.

 

The Ixion buffers stocks are made of brass and are glued into the buffer planks but, with a bit of bothering, wiggling and turning, they are soon removed to allow you to work on the complete buffer assembly. The buffer shanks are retained in the buffer stocks by a simple crimp in the end of the shank; this is easily removed by filing to separate the shank, spring and stock.

 

GCR278BuffersProgression.jpg

The transformation from 13" to 16" diameter buffer head

 

The Ixion buffer heads are 7.6mm in diameter (13”) and I made replacements of 9.3mm (16”), which is the best estimate that I could make from scaling off two photographs. They are a simple brass turning and are retained by a 12BA cheese head screw in the end of the shank.

 

GCR278BuffersBA.jpg

Crimped original and 12BA srew replacement

 

Reassembly is a matter of moments and I shall be able to dismantle them again when I come to the painting stage.

 

GCR-Humber-BuffersBA.jpg

Before and After

 

Now, I shall get back to the upgrading the rods and valve gear of my Finescale Brass Black Five and Jubilee …

 

David

 

GCR-Humber-Fronts.jpg

 

Check your inbox regarding the buffers.

[Guest Isambarduk]

Back in the spring, I compared the safety valve assembly that I had made for my Easingwold No.2 (based on an Impetus kit) with that on my Ixion HC and I decided that it was rather better and that I might have to make another one for my Ixion model. And so it was; here is the assembly that enticed me into making another one:

 

 

The parts are all relatively simple exercises in turning and drilling and are seen here laid out ready for a trial assembly:

 

 

Although the original Ixion safety valve assembly is made of ‘brass-painted’ plastic, the whistle is actually made of brass but it is also ‘brass-painted’ to match the painted plastic.  However, it cleans up very nicely and I decided to reuse it projecting from the cab roof in GCR fashion and also to make a plain, long, thin whistle to fit in its place on the safety valve turret, as was common on GCR dock locos.  Here is a dry trial assembly of the SV parts before soldering, the cleaned up Ixion whistle and its replacement:

 

 

To be like the prototype, the SV assembly should be projecting through a long hole in the shroud of the turret so the shroud (which is what we actually see on the model) needed to be recessed to represent the hole; this was a simple milling exercise:

 

 

I did, for a second, think about clamping the whole loco to the milling table but I soon thought better of it and that perhaps it was time to find out how this pack of tricks came apart.  It’s rather clever but quite easy:

 

 

My wife’s comment when I was taking this photo was ‘Good value these ready-to-run kits, are they?’  She has a point but I just cannot seem to leave things alone.  So, here we have the finished items in place (not perfectly upright but they will be when they are finally glued in place):

 

 

In summary, the photo below shows (from left to right) i) the original Ixion safety valve assembly  ii) my creation for Easingwold No. 2 that enticed me to make iii) another for GCR No. 278:

 

 

And finally, this is what my Ixion Hudswell Clarke looks like now:

 

 

Next?  Maybe modify those drawhooks and replace the three single links with a D-shackle, a short link and long link.  I had not done this before because I did not know how to get at the back of the drawhooks … but I do now :-)
 
David

[steve fay]

Nice work

[hartleymartin]

Like you, I cannot help but tinker with a perfectly good ready-to-run model.

[81A Oldoak]

Like you, I cannot help but tinker with a perfectly good ready-to-run model.

That's all part of the fun and if you mess it up, as others have done, there's always the possibility of getting a replacement part from my miniature version of Woodham's.

[hartleymartin]

I can only imagine!

 

Do you sort the bits out by what they are (locomotive bits, building bits, wagon bits, etc) or by the materials (brass, plastic, card, etc)?

 

After going through a couple of San Francisco Cable Car kits for parts to make my Sydney D class tram, as well as the conversion of the Minicraft Models Vulcan 2-4-0 to standard gauge, there is a huge amount of plastic components left over. I think perhaps I should build up some of the coaches for On30 and flog them off on ebay.

[Guest Isambarduk]

Earlier I said:

 

“GCR Class 4 No 278 'Humber', later LNER No.5278, appears to have a wheel base of 6' 2" + 5' 8"; I scaled this from a side view photograph, so I don't know for certain but the wheelbase is certainly not equal.”

 

Courtesy of the HMRS GCR Steward, I now have a copy of the drawing of No. 278 that appeared in the HMRS Journal Volume 5, p104.  The wheelbase is actually 5’ 6” + 5’ 0” so, indeed, it is not equal but it also shows that it’s inadvisable to try and scale off a photograph!  (To be fair, it was a small and indistinct photograph and I wouldn’t have used important dimensions gained this way.)

 

David

[Guest Isambarduk]

 

 Looking at my list of mods to make to my model, I decided that I would next work on the smokebox door.  The Ixion model has a very nice representation of the later HC door, with typical steam loco hinges, but Humber was older and had a one-piece hinge on the door. 

 

 

For a short moment, I did consider trying to file the detail off the existing door and smokebox front but I very soon thought better of it as I knew that I would fail.  There was nothing for it but it was going to have to be machined off; to do that the smokebox was going to have to come off the running plate so I sat listening to a radio play and gently ‘bothered’ it for about a quarter of an hour and the glue gradually gave way.  I then put the assembly in the machine vice in the milling machine and used a fly-cutter to remove the door and hinges in thin layers (a sort of 3D unprinting), as you may see on the left hand side in the photo below.

 

 

 

So accurate was the plastic moulding that the finishing cut across the front of the box was almost perfect (on the right side in the photo) and a few figures-of-eight on my emery board was all that was needed to clean up for a flat and smooth surface.  It was a relatively easy, and rather satisfying, job to turn up a new smokebox door from polystyrene card (below, left).

 

 

A little more time on the lathe and drilling machine produced new smokebox darts in brass and then some plastic hinge parts; an entomology pin completed the job. (above, right).

 

Whilst I had the loco apart, I tidied up the draw hooks and replaced the three links of rather disappointing ‘bath plug chain’ with the characteristic D-shackle (two doughnuts silver soldered onto a 0.8mm nickel silver wire and bent around into a D), short and long links from brass wire.

 

 

David

[81A Oldoak]

Nice work David, but the the way you are progressing, I think your Hudswell Clarke cloud end up like Lenin's embalmed corpse in Red Square of which very little apart from the skeleton is original. 

 

I agree that the coupling chain is disappointed. The links on the Fowler diesel are the proper shape, but we had to order a 1 kilometre length of chain, so that should see most of us off. 

[Guest Isambarduk]

Thank you, Chris.

 

"I think your Hudswell Clarke could end up like Lenin's embalmed corpse in Red Square of which very little apart from the skeleton is original."

 

Well maybe ... but what a super skeleton it is!  I wouldn't be putting this much effort into my model if I was having to work with a sow's ear; as it is, all the parts (OK, maybe not the three link coupling chain :-)* are superbly moulded, machined, etc. and the whole model is very skilfully engineered.  Even though it was an RTR model it is a far better complete kit of parts than many 7mm kit that I have worked with, or looked at and decided not to.

 

* I did read about your 1km of the new stuff - brave move but I think there'll be a market for it because there are some pretty terrible offerings in some 7mm kits that modellers will wish to replace.

 

David

[81A Oldoak]

Thank you, Chris.

 

"I think your Hudswell Clarke could end up like Lenin's embalmed corpse in Red Square of which very little apart from the skeleton is original."

 

Well maybe ... but what a super skeleton it is!  I wouldn't be putting this much effort into my model if I was having to work with a sow's ear; as it is, all the parts (OK, maybe not the three link coupling chain :-)* are superbly moulded, machined, etc. and the whole model is very skilfully engineered.  Even though it was an RTR model it is a far better complete kit of parts than many 7mm kit that I have worked with, or looked at and decided not to.

 

* I did read about your 1km of the new stuff - brave move but I think there'll be a market for it because there are some pretty terrible offerings in some 7mm kits that modellers will wish to replace.

 

David

 

Believe it or not, the chain was not expensive. We are thinking about getting some coupling hooks etched and marketing them as an accessory.

[Guest Isambarduk]

"We are thinking about getting some coupling hooks etched and marketing them as an accessory."

 

That sounds like a good plan, Chris.  Just a thought, though: IMHO, the draw hooks on the HC were more substantial and more nicely formed than etchings; I think they were cleanly punched, so how about calling up more of these?  With sufficient success, you may have to order a second km!

 

Other modellers have commented on the two apparent ‘creases’, rather than uniform curves, on each side of the tank of the HC (below left). 

 

 

 

 

I removed these quite easily with files, emery sticks and then a final polish with Duraglit (brass polishing wadding), or equivalent, just to check that the surface is a continuous curve (above right).  Whilst on the tank, I added some additional simulated bolt heads on the tank to smokebox flange.

 

David

[Guest Isambarduk]

My next mod will likely shed more doubt on my sanity: replacement of the buffer planks with new ones to a different profile that extend above the running plate.  I decided to start by making the new planks and this gave me the opportunity to model the characteristically more ornate flanges to the buffers of the earlier locos, rather than the plain square flanges of later ones.

  

On the Ixion model, the buffer stocks are brass turnings but the flanges are cleverly moulded in with the buffer planks (which are an integral moulding with the running plate); I made my new flanges separately and then glued them to the new buffer planks to reproduce the same arrangement.

 

 

 

 

Making the more ornate flanges with corner lugs for each bolt and a curved portion in between was a first for me in many ways but I was very pleased with the result to shape the four flanges, sandwiched together on an arbour, by twiddling the handles on my milling machine and my (relatively) recently acquired rotary table (above).  A few strokes with a fine file cleaned up the sharp edges and a little turning in the lathe produced thinner flanges with a circular boss to match the stocks.
 

 

 

I milled the buffer planks from a sandwich of 3mm and 1mm plastic card (to make up the required 4mm thickness) and simulated the bolts by inserting plastic rod.  The finished item is shown at the bottom of the photo (above) and with buffers and drawhook in place at the top.
 
David

 

[Guest Isambarduk]

So, let’s take a last look at the original buffer planks in place:

 

 

 

 

because I then mounted the running plate in the milling machine and used a 1mm slot drill to cut them off and leave a square and smooth surface, all in one operation.

 

 

 
An application of the solvent united the new buffer planks with the running plate and this was the result for front (upper) and rear (lower).

 

 

 

 

 

The front is complete but I now need to cut some material from the lower back of the cab to accommodate the deeper and raised buffer plank.  And there are still those sandboxes to remove from the frames …

 

David

 

[hartleymartin]

You should consider making up another set of these parts to be used as masters for dress-up/modification kits of the Hudswell Clarke!

 

There are dozens of such kits out for the Bachmann On30 Porter and such. I should imagine that people would like to customise their Ixion HC's!

[Guest Isambarduk]

"You should consider making up another set of these parts to be used as masters for dress-up/modification kits of the Hudswell Clarke!"

 

Well, Martin-with-the-bright-ideas , as you may have gathered, I am quite happy making things 7mm for myself - and for others on odd ocassions (see www.davidlosmith.co.uk/Model-Parts.htm for captioned pictures of examples) - but I'm not into starting a cottage business as I am not really a people-person and I already have far too many things to do!  There are plenty of pattern-makers about the place to make masters, and I could be persuaded, it just needs somebody to take on the job of co-ordinating, promoting, selling, shipping, ... are you looking for an exciting business opportunity?  

 

David  

[hartleymartin]

At the moment I don't have the capital to pay for the replacement clutch on my car let alone a cottage business.

[Guest Isambarduk]

The original sandboxes are neat plastic mouldings, glued over lugs in the diecast chassis, so I prized off the mouldings and milled away most of the lugs, effectively leaving thin brackets to hold the new sandpipes.  In the three-part photo below (left), a plastic moulding is posed below the slot drill, which will remove most of the lug in stages (centre) to leave a little bracket (right).

 

 

 

 

To protect the ‘works’ from the detritus of this operation, I wrapped it in that most handy of modellers commodities: cling film; I understand that it may also be used in the preparation and conservation of food but I have a roll in my workshop to protect things from swarf and (paint) dust.

 

I have been asked about my warranty …

 

 

Looking at the photographs and the drawing of GCR 278, there is no visible means of support for the leading sandpipes but they do appear to be of quite large diameter, so perhaps they were designed to be self-supporting.  I represented these pipes in shaped copper wire soldered to small brass plates, which I screwed (12BA) to the little brackets milled from the core lugs of the original sandboxes (below).

 

 

 

 

I had to cut out part of the lower bunker to accommodate the raised and deeper rear buffer plank and I added the characteristic thin plate that juts out over the buffers.

 

 

 

 

Looking like a brass floor in the cab is actually a temporary spacer (sort of H-shaped with a very thick horizontal bar) to keep the cab opening parallel and the correct width – by original design, this is achieved by the fitted floor but, in cutting out the lower part of the bunker and the rear of the floor (which is in the bunker), the location for the two rear screws was lost and they will need to be relocated.

 

On my model, the fit of the rear part of the bunker to the sides was rather poor; although it is exquisitely moulded, it is slightly undersize (leaving quite sizable gaps either side) so I filled these in with the epoxy glue that I used to reunite the back with the sides and then filed and sanded all smooth.

 

I think this exercise has been enough of a diversion for the time being, and shall now return 278 to the shelf and get back on with my Black Five and Jubilee, but here are two photos to summarize where I am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David

 

 

[81A Oldoak]

I am thoroughly enjoying this thread. I am glad that the loco still largely resembles the original Ixion product.

 

David's fine engineering on this project has inspired me to replace my small Unimat 3 lathe (contact me through the e-mail if you want to know more)  with something more substantial and to acquire a milling machine. All I then need to do is learn how to use them properly. My son-in-law is a marine designer and engineer, but I'm sure he can teach me as he is used to turning ships' propellor shafts etc.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Edited November 5, 2013 by 81A Oldoak

[Guest Isambarduk]

"I am thoroughly enjoying this thread... David's fine engineering on this project has inspired me to replace my small Unimat 3 lathe."

 

Thank you, Chris.  Interestingly, all the work I describe is being done on Unimat 3s, one set up as a lathe:

 

 

 

 

and the other set up as a milling machine:

 

 

 

 

so maybe something "more substantial" is not essential?

 

David

Edited November 5, 2013 by Isambarduk

[81A Oldoak]

"I am thoroughly enjoying this thread... David's fine engineering on this project has inspired me to replace my small Unimat 3 lathe."

 

Thank you, Chris.  Interestingly, all the work I describe is being done on Unimat 3s, one set up as a lathe:

 

 

 

 

and the other set up as a milling machine:

 

 

 

 

so maybe something "more substantial" is not essential?

 

David

 

I think you have just saved me several hundred pounds as I was thinking about the Proxxon PD230. I wonder what loco kit  to buy with the notional money I have just saved.