Idea: Conversion of Ixion Hudswell Clarke

[Giles]

I too have a couple of large lathes (a Colchester Student and a Warco MT500) but nowadays my Unimat 3 probably sees more work, and I wouldn't be without it (and the milling attachment). It's been a cracking little machine for donkeys years.

 

I did however replace the motors with a pair of very nice motors off of sheep-shearing machines, to which I added potentiometers (they were 180v DC, if I remember rightly) so the lathe is a bit more powerful with variable speed.

[81A Oldoak]

I too have a couple of large lathes (a Colchester Student and a Warco MT500) but nowadays my Unimat 3 probably sees more work, and I wouldn't be without it (and the milling attachment). It's been a cracking little machine for donkeys years.

 

I did however replace the motors with a pair of very nice motors off of sheep-shearing machines, to which I added potentiometers (they were 180v DC, if I remember rightly) so the lathe is a bit more powerful with variable speed.

Giles,

I wish I was as skilled as the likes of you and David Smith. The Fowler diesels will be delivered to most of our retailers on Thursday.

Regards,

 

Chris

[Guest Isambarduk]

On my HC converion, I have been making and fitting small parts – and ticking them off the list, one by one until I was at the end.  This is what I did.
 

 
Starting underneath the loco at the rear, I made a representation of the brake cross-shaft, cranks and the rod to the brake standard (partly obscured by a guard-iron in the photo above).  The new links that reach forward to the rear brake hangers are retained by a crossbar between the hangers, which also positively retains the plastic brake linkage to the centre and forward brake hangers (a couple of HC owners have reported that these links can spring loose).  I added similar brass crossbars to the centre and forward hangers.

 

 

The thick keeper plate that retains the wheel bearings make the frames appear rather deeper than they should be so I milled away its edges between the wheels, leaving it full depth behind the wheels where the frames would be deeper anyway.  Whilst I was at it, I milled away the two redundant gear wheel covers associated with the forward axle; as this resulted in two small rectangular holes I milled all round them about 0.5mm deep and glued in a piece of plastic card.  I also milled away a slot in the smaller of the gear wheel covers in front of the centre axle to make clearance for the centre brake crossbar.

 

 

 

 

Inside the cab, I added a reversing leaver and sand operating control to the floor, and I made a finer handle for the brake standard, which also needed lengthening so that the handle would clear the modified lower cab back sheet (see below).

 

 

 

 

On the prototype, the lower back sheet projects above the downward sweep of the upper sheet to provide a useful ‘shelf’ to store things on/in so I made a suitable overlay that also included a slightly raised bunker door.  To the upper back sheet, I added two fire iron brackets and some fire irons made from brass wire (the set provided with the kit were nicely moulded but they looked far too thick to me).

 

 

 

 

I choose to alter the backhead by replacing the sight glass with a more detailed casting and pipework, adding prominent ends to the firebox stays and placing a small shelf above the firebox doors.  The separate insert for the front upper cab sheet is a very clever bit of design, and I had originally intended to modify and reuse it, but I made separate fittings and pipework (shown in front of the wooden prop in the photograph above).

 

I would like to say again at this stage: I would not like my modifications to be seen as a criticism of the original RTR model, because it is a truly fine piece of work, but rather as just my way of being creative and finishing up with a model that is substantially different to other people’s.

 

To be continued ...

 

 

David

Edited December 20, 2013 by Isambarduk

[hartleymartin]

Inspirational stuff! 7mm scale is marvellous for allowing you to do this sort of detailing to a model. You can actually (sort of) see it for a change!

 

I have a feeling that as a popular model, the HC will prove popular for conversations and customisations.

[hartleymartin]

By the way, are there any ready-to-use locomotive lamps im 7mm scale? I've seen 4mm ones, but surely the same would be available in 7mm. The sort with a little LED inside and wires trailing out of the rear or bottom.

[81A Oldoak]

On my HC converion, I have been making and fitting small parts – and ticking them off the list, one by one until I was at the end.  This is what I did.

 

 

Starting underneath the loco at the rear, I made a representation of the brake cross-shaft, cranks and the rod to the brake standard (partly obscured by a guard-iron in the photo above).  The new links that reach forward to the rear brake hangers are retained by a crossbar between the hangers, which also positively retains the plastic brake linkage to the centre and forward brake hangers (a couple of HC owners have reported that these links can spring loose).  I added similar brass crossbars to the centre and forward hangers.

 

 

The thick keeper plate that retains the wheel bearings make the frames appear rather deeper than they should be so I milled away its edges between the wheels, leaving it full depth behind the wheels where the frames would be deeper anyway.  Whilst I was at it, I milled away the two redundant gear wheel covers associated with the forward axle; as this resulted in two small rectangular holes I milled all round them about 0.5mm deep and glued in a piece of plastic card.  I also milled away a slot in the smaller of the gear wheel covers in front of the centre axle to make clearance for the centre brake crossbar.

 

 

 

 

Inside the cab, I added a reversing leaver and sand operating control to the floor, and I made a finer handle for the brake standard, which also needed lengthening so that the handle would clear the modified lower cab back sheet (see below).

 

 

 

 

On the prototype, the lower back sheet projects above the downward sweep of the upper sheet to provide a useful ‘shelf’ to store things on/in so I made a suitable overlay that also included a slightly raised bunker door.  To the upper back sheet, I added two fire iron brackets and some fire irons made from brass wire (the set provided with the kit were nicely moulded but they looked far too thick to me).

 

 

 

 

I choose to alter the backhead by replacing the sight glass with a more detailed casting and pipework, adding prominent ends to the firebox stays and placing a small shelf above the firebox doors.  The separate insert for the front upper cab sheet is a very clever bit of design, and I had originally intended to modify and reuse it, but I made separate fittings and pipework (shown in front of the wooden prop in the photograph above).

 

I would like to say again at this stage: I would not like my modifications to be seen as a criticism of the original RTR model, because it is a truly fine piece of work, but rather as just my way of being creative and finishing up with a model that is substantially different to other people’s.

 

To be continued ...

 

 

David

 

 

Inspirational David. Stocks of green Hudswell Clarkes are running low with fewer than 50 left.  

[Guest Isambarduk]

"Inspirational stuff!"  Thank you for the encouragement; on that basis, I offer a bit more:

 

 

The arrangements for the injector on the LHS of No 278 (photo below, upper) was just as portrayed by the Ixion model but that on the RHS (lower) was appreciably different.  However, I was able to use most of the live steam pipe from the manifold behind the safety valves, the water valve on the tank and its control, and the clack valve on the boiler, although I added a larger flange.  I made up a new injector body and pipe flanges in brass, and replacement pipework from copper wire.

 

 

 

 

278 was originally a contractor’s locomotive and, unlike most similar Hudswell Clark locomotives, it was fitted with flange washers that it retained in GCR ownership; the valves are located either side on the lower edge of the saddle tank.  I made the valve bodies and operating linkages from brass (the control rod from 0.5mm brass wire flattened to 0.65 x 0.35 with rolls) and the pipes from copper wire.

 

Other details include boiler bands (white plastic strip), a polished steel reach rod and the filled-in recesses intended to locate the makers’ plates but which are absent on 278.
 

 
Unlike the Ixion model, many locos did not have a cover over the reversing lever in the RHS cab extension so the handle was in ‘fresh air’ when in forward gear.  To remove the cover and the top to the cab extension required some delicate milling and much calmness in the workshop.  From the photographs that I have seen of preserved locos, there was no top to the LHS cab extension either, which appears to have been used as an auxiliary coal bunker, so I milled that away as well.

 

 

I did consider retaining the clear plastic windows with their painted simulated brass surrounds but the windows were slightly opaque and not optically ‘flat’ (ie you could not see clearly through them and there was some distortion of what you could see) and I thought that the ‘brass’ surrounds were a bit on the skinny side.  I turned up brass rings that are a push fit in the window apertures and cut glazing from microscope cover slides that will be retained with varnish in the deep recesses on the inside of the cab.  I use a diamond scriber (as sold with a number and letter template to etch registration numbers into car windows) to cut the glass (0.15 to 0.25mm thick, typically) but I have only ever cut straight lines before; to cut the circular windows, I scribed circles using a draftsman’s template and made four windows straight off without any failures, which was very pleasing – and quite surprising!

 

 

 

 

In the photographs above, as well as some of the modifications that I have already described, you may see the replacement steel handrails at the entrance to the cab and along the side of the tank. 

 

The moulded half-round handrails at the cab were neatly executed but I wanted polished steel finish so I turned up some little plastic ferules to glue to the edge of the floor (exposed as pink plastic) and carefully drilled 0.5mm holes in the projecting beading at the top.  The handrails are made from 0.8mm diameter mild steel with the upper ends shouldered down to 0.5mm to fit in the holes in the beading.

 

 

 

 

Similarly, I replaced the moulded plastic handrails around the tank (assembly as removed from the loco shown in the photograph above) with the finer 0.8mm diameter steel and turned up some replacement handrail knobs to suit but I did reuse the lamp iron on top of the smokebox.

 

To be continued ...

 

 

David

 

 

[Guest Isambarduk]

OK, here's the final installment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made some lamps and lamp irons for the front and rear buffer planks and for the upper cab back sheet; the Ixion model had a good representation of the latter but I modelled the older, more ornate version with three fixing bolts.  I milled the lamp bodies and turned the lenses in clear acrylic, they look rather ghostly in the photographs but they will be fine once they are painted.

 

 

I think I have described all the mods and, apart from refitting the front guard irons (one was damaged but Chris Klein has kindly offered to try to find one for me in his Ixion Barry Island), all is ready for painting.  For the photographs, many of the parts were just resting in place but they will be screwed or glued squarely during final assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you believe that I have missed anything, please let me know and I’ll fill in the gaps.

 

David

[81A Oldoak]

Looking forward to seeing it painted. 

[81A Oldoak]

A brace of guard irons will be sent by Royal Snail Mail First Class post tomorrow. Sadly, the donor chassis would only willingly give up a brace. 

[Guest Isambarduk]

Painting will have to wait until some more settle weather, probably in the spring.

 

I realise now that I missed the description on the front sandboxes, above the running plate:

 

On the Ixion model, the front sandboxes are below the running plate but earlier locos, such as No. 278 and Easingwold No.2, had theirs above so I made new ones from clear acrylic (marketed variously as Perspex, Plexiglas and Lucite), which is a much underused material, in my opinion: it is usually free (quite large off-cuts appear in skips and waste bins), is very easy to machine, drill, file, etc. and it takes glue and paint well – OK, I agree, you cannot solder to it!

 

 

 

 

The main bodies are a simple exercise in milling but I was quite tickled by the bases (in black plastic card) that have ‘moulded’ concave edges, produced with a ball-nosed milling cutter.  The I turned up the rather ornate sandbox filler lids from brass.

 

Before the sandboxes could be screwed to the running plate with 12BA screws from below, the projections of the original sandbox filler lids needed to be removed.  Now I could probably have done this with a small chisel, given that the surface doesn’t need to be flush as it will be underneath the new sandboxes, but it suited me better to remove them with an endmill

 

 

 

 

David

[ixionmodels]

Brilliant job, David. Who knew, when we chose this loco, that it would provide so much enjoyment not only for buyers-and-runners, but kit-bashes too. I have loved following this series since Chris pointed it out to Ixion's Australian arm. I look forward to seeing it painted, too.

I don't know why you can't paint it now. It was 35 degrees C at my place today!

 

Cheers,

Lindsay O'Reilly, Ixion Model Railways Ltd.

[Guest Isambarduk]

Thank you, Lindsay. 

 

Yes, I suppose I did treat your excellent RTR model as a kit but the USP of this 'kit' was that all the parts were there, they were of high quality and you could test before you started that it all worked smoothly and you could see that It looked superb.

 

Reworking the HC has been a pleasant and very welcome gentle change - I'm sure that we all find at one time or another that other things happen around us in life that we find unsettling to the point that we cannot really even enjoy the things that we can usually do easily for pleasure, even when they are not life-threatening.  Ixion and 278 came to the rescue :-) but I have also enjoyed sharing my journey with others and I appreciate their encouraging comments.

 

 

"It was 35 degrees C at my place today!"

 

Well, lucky you!  It's not been cold here today either actually (around 10 C) and, if I opened the workshop window there would have plenty of ventilation ... from the Atlantic gale but I don't need any more water inside and I think the ventilating air would have needed drying.  No, I must be patient and wait for a more suitable day.

 

David

[Guest Isambarduk]

All done!  As you may see below, the professional painters have no worry about competition from me.

 

 

 

 

In the end, I applied GCR goods livery without the ‘Great Central’ branding but I etched some ‘Humber’ nameplates in brass.  I enlisted a bit of modellers’ licence here by adopting the GCR goods lining and the number of 278 but I also retained the name bestowed by the building contractor at Immingham Docks; there has been much speculation about the livery carried by 278 in GCR days but, from the two known photographs, it was probably very grubby black with vestigial lining from contractor days plus the number 278 on the front buffer plank, bunker rear and both cabsides, but no name.

 

 

 

 

There is nothing special to say about the painting and lining; I used Humbrol enamels with a Badger 150 airbrush and a Haff bow pen and compass with a final, overall coat of Floquil Flat Finish.

 

 

 

 

It has been a long haul although that is mainly because I seem to make things take time – and I do other things apart from 0 gauge – but I am pleased with the result: an Ixion HC with a bit of a difference.

 

 

 

 

In any exercise such as this there is some ‘collateral damage’, that is there are some original parts that are no longer needed on the model; here they are:

 

 

 

 

Working all the parts into the cab was a bit of a ship-in-a-bottle sort of exercise but, with a pair of long, fine-nosed tweezers, all the painted parts went back in their places.  This rather cruel close-up looks in towards the rear and towards the front.

 

 

 

 

… and another cruel close-up shows the modified injector and pipework on the RHS.

 

 

 

 

The colours have not been reproduced terribly faithfully, as I have no special arrangement for photography (just a inexpensive digital camera on a tripod and two small 12V table lamps on my machine bench); the handrails and the reversing rod are polished steel, rather than painted grey, and the numbers are very cream, rather than the white that they appear here.

 

If there is anything specific that you would like to see, or if you have any questions, please just ask.

 

David

Edited February 25, 2014 by Isambarduk

[Giles]

A simply stunning job, David - and you do yourself down regarding the paint job and lining...... Absolutely lovely, from top to bottom.

 

(I only hope for your sanity, that you don't get too many people at exhibitions saying 'those Ixion's are nice....' ). Which of course they are, Chris........!!! :-)

[81A Oldoak]

David,

I agree with Giles. You have done such a good job that I won't be surprised if you receive some commissions. On the photography front, if your camera can't be adjusted for white-balance, you may want to consider getting some daylight balanced bulbs.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[ixionmodels]

 

David,

And a big "Bravo" from Newcastle, NSW. It is a very cool thing to make something that gives other people pleasure. That's why Ixion makes locos, and I hope you get that same buzz when you read the comments on this excellent series in the days and weeks to come, recognising the pleasure that this construction record has given your readers. The model is a triumph.

 

I don't suppose you're going to Railex in Aylesbury in May? Chris and I will be there on the Saturday - I'd love to shake you by the hand in person.

 

Lindsay O'Reilly

Ixion Models Australia.

[hartleymartin]

 

 

 

 

Wow... Just wow.

[flexible_coupling]

Just as a really simple "tweak" for bog-standard models that haven't had anywhere near as much work done to them as this one, giving a matte black finish to the smokebox and chimney sure seems offers a pleasant contrast. Excellent job!!

Edited February 25, 2014 by flexible_coupling

[Fettster42]

Nothing cruel about the close ups of the finished model. The work is stunning.

 

Leigh

[Guest Isambarduk]

Gosh!  Thanks chaps – I am seriously blushing now :-)

 

“I won't be surprised if you receive some commissions.”

 

Ah well, Chris, whereas I am more than happy to help people on their way again with stalled projects by turning up bushes, removing broken crank pins, re-profiling wheels … (see www.davidlosmith.co.uk/Model-Parts.htm), I take far too long on a job like this remodelling to make it worth it for either side.  I did once have my arm twisted (see www.davidlosmith.co.uk/LSWR_C14.htm) to rework a model but, as you may see from the table at the bottom of the page, it zonked up a fair amount of quality modelling time; the owner was very pleased with the result, though, and added quite a few quid to the agreed price, which was very good of him.

 

“… if your camera can't be adjusted for white-balance, you may want to consider getting some daylight balanced bulbs.”

 

Indeed, somebody on the G0G Forum suggested that I delve into the camera to see if I could adjust the white balance.  I shall look into that but, in the meantime, I'll accept its photos as adequate to show the idea.

 

“… I hope you get that same buzz when you read the comments on this excellent series …”

 

Indeed, Lindsay.  However, I am almost embarrassed to read them but I am delighted that so many people have enjoyed reading about my ‘journey’ with the Ixion HC.  Now, I also have a Fowler …

 

“I don't suppose you're going to Railex in Aylesbury in May?”

 

I haven’t done before now but I have recently joined a local group of railway modellers and they seem to go everywhere so I may be on to give it a go this year – let’s keep in touch as I’d be delighted to meet you.

 

“… giving a matte black finish to the smokebox and chimney sure seems offers a pleasant contrast”

 

Thank you, f-c.  I discovered this trick for all-black locos some time ago but actually the whole model is varnished with the same  Floquil Flat Finish; the smokebox, chimney, frames, brake gear and other lower detail are sprayed with an ‘off-black’ (Humbrol Coal Black [No. 85] + white), which is really a very dark grey but is a good match to the Floquil Dirty Black that I also use (but it’s starting to run low and is not easily replaced these days).

 

Thank you again for all the compliments, much appreciated – they reassure me that the time and effort in taking the pictures and writing about them has given others pleasure and so was worthwhile :-)

 

David

 

 

[David Siddall]

David, your craftsmanship and vision has resulted in another outstanding model. However, with this one, I think you've moved on to capturing something that's much harder to invoke... character and presence. :-) 

 

David

[hartleymartin]

It looks good. Would almost be shame to weather it.

[hartleymartin]

What colour paint did you use for the inside of the cab? I've got mine apart at the moment and I want to paint the inside of the cab the light-buff sort of colour that they used on the prototype.

[Guest Isambarduk]

"What colour paint did you use for the inside of the cab?"

 

Well, it was a very old Humbrol cream (in a bottle from the 1950s).  I didn't need to match anything so I just used this old paint as I had it to hand.

 

David