Gravy Train Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Hi Rob, that's some very tidy work going on there, love the coach, very tidy job :-) Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted April 25, 2014 Author Share Posted April 25, 2014 I managed to shoot a couple more videos last night before stripping down and doing the work described above. http://youtu.be/umqvFYnPSUI http://youtu.be/pvPcQLgArNs Again if you don't like classic Fm you might want to turn the sound off - the squeaking noise is the pick ups for the lights in the the BG. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted April 26, 2014 Author Share Posted April 26, 2014 I took the A3 along to the O Gauge North West show at Leigh today for a run on the test track. The optimistic gents on the test track hitched her up to 44 wagons and she sailed away beautifully. Quite surprisingly they let me run her for around half an hour or so (I had expected a few laps at best). So I came away with a much inflated chest. I also managed to pick up a bargain from the Bring and Buy stall (which overall was a bit sparse) in the guise of a Connoisseur LNER J71 tank complete with a Mashima motor and gears and some additional plungers pickups for the princely sum of £69 All in all a good day out! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted April 26, 2014 Author Share Posted April 26, 2014 Some rather dodgy photos of Papyrus in action.... But giving some idea of the length of the train. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 I took the opportunity this morning to take some posed photos of Papyrus after her day out yesterday. I took them with and without artificial lighting. - She's a little long for my photo plank! and lastly the damper lever now it's fitted... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaScala Posted April 27, 2014 Share Posted April 27, 2014 I took the opportunity this morning to take some posed photos of Papyrus after her day out yesterday. I took them with and without artificial lighting. - She's a little long for my photo plank! and lastly the damper lever now it's fitted... Just a very light weathering, oil stains, brake dust, matting down smokebox needed and you have a wonderful model Rob. Now to contrive a layout that justifies "Severn", a tram and the Gresley sprinter.............. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted April 27, 2014 Author Share Posted April 27, 2014 Thanks Hugh, Having been bitten quite badly with the weathering bug I certainly intend to apply some but the key I think will be restraint! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Papyrus is officially finished Yeay! Last night I fitted the buffers that arrived true to their word earlier in the week. I don't plan on any photos since nothing much has changed until I get the opportunity to give her a run in the garden. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibateg Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Hurrah! Well done Rob - it's a smashing model. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Wow, what a good job! I also love the choice of loco (2750 is one of my favourites). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 The next project from the depths of the shelf queen cupboard is the 06. Over the last couple of weeks in between tinkering with Papyrus and weathering cattle wagons I have remade a start on this. In an effort to get back into the thinking without having to pick my way through where on the loco I have got to at this stage, I decided to start on the tender. So far I have made up the outer frames and the compensation beams for the inner frames. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 link Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Hi Rob, Congratulations on finishing Papyrus, she looks great you have done a lovely job there. Gosh nothing like breaking her in gently with 44 wagons on, no wonder you look a bit apprehensive in the photo, still glad she passed with flying colours . ATB, Martyn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 I managed to crack on and get a smoothly rolling inner chassis yesterday. I bought this kit in 2010 and the instructions are dated much older than that, however the last revision of the etches is dated 2007. This makes for an interesting time in places. - For example, on the section of the instructions dealing with the assembly of the compensation beams it mentions using alternate parts from a 15 "thou" supplementary etch which is now one of the main etches - quite easy to work out as the parts are quite distinctive and are clearly duplicated (I just ran the digital caliper over them to find out which ones were 15 "thou"). The next little bit that could trap the unwary is the next page which covers the assembly of the inner chassis is text wrapped around a drawing so it takes a bit of following but the key is that the drawing is in fact of a different bit entirely that isn't mentioned in the text and I almost moved onto the next section without assembling it. I was just double checking and ticking off what I had done when I noticed it. Hopefully this might help someone else when they come to build one. This last photo highlights one of the rare bits where a couple of the tabs don't align. Again this is highlighted to assist future builders rather than being a criticism of the kit. As I understand it Dave Sharpe (MOK) withdrew it for a while to correct the few minor errors but there wasn't enough interest to warrant the time so he re-released it unchanged. The fact that these two tabs don't align makes no difference to the accuracy or ease of going together of this section because all the other bits that interlock with this (whose tabs do align), mean that once you snip these two off it goes together nicely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 Life has got in the way of any modelling for the last couple of weeks or so but a little progress has been made on the brakes and water scoop gear. Starting with the brakes. I had a proper DOH! moment with these when fitting the crank I read the instructions and worked out where it all went but for some reason I didn't start on it for a couple of days and foolishly didn't re-read the instructions... As I was fitting it the crank should have fitted as it is in the red square but initially I worked on fitting the end of the shaft through the etched holes which I had enlarged before realizing (red curved line). The next bit of the instructions says words to the effect of assemble the water scoop gear using the 1/32 brass pins provided. Which at the outset doesn't seem very helpful, however there are a couple of isometric drawings, and a couple of prototype photos in the main instructions and a supplement to the instructions which has a useful photo of a made up model and another drawing. Careful study of these allows you to work out what goes where. Thankfully I was also able to confirm my workings out were correct by asking Tony Geary who build one recently. In the last photo once I had worked out that the two long operating rods (part 16 for anyone building one) needed to be soldered together I also decided to beef up the two end links that were half etched. I soldered them to a bit of scrap nickel fret, drilled them out and filed them to shape. The prototype photos show balance weights for parts 14 but the photo of the made up kit didn't have them. I couldn't find any castings for them so I made them up from some brass rod that I had in stock. I drilled through the middle and soldered a brass pin in to give some end definition (Tony suggested that I ask Dave Sharp for castings but by the time I saw his note I was well on with making them). All I need to do now is put it all together....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 1, 2017 Author Share Posted November 1, 2017 Now that the B16/1 is finished I thought I would share with a you a little distraction that I had a couple of weeks ago. I had a few days off after my birthday and wanted to spend it working on something for me. I really should have spent the time working on my MOK 8F kit but I didn't instead I made a good start on the J79. Jim's kits are great in that you can build them as supplied and have a lovely model or you can go to town and have an even better model. I chose to not only raid the spares box but to do some scratch building as well. This is where I got to during the 4 days that I spent on it. First of all I built the chassis. I decided I wanted something a little more 3D for the loco springs and after raiding a few of my kit stock to see if I could borrow anything that might be suitable I ended up making some from scrap etch, nickel rod and some 12ba nuts The centre axle holes have been elongated downwards and sprung with a piece of 0.8mm piano wire which sits into a dimple drilled in the bearing. The lovely brake castings are from Ragstone Models and were bought originally for my A3 but there wasn't enough clearance to use them so they were sat in the spares box and matched the etches perfectly so it made sense to use them. The J79 (NER H2) has quite distinctive couplings which again are made up from bits in the spares box While at Guildex was enquiring as to the availability of coupling rods for the N2 etches that I picked up from the E&T and noted that they had a table at the side of the stand which had boxes of castings of various descriptions at quite silly prices. Apparently they had cleared out their workshop and they were all part used sprues of lost wax castings most were at £1 or £2 per bag and I got quite a few for about £12 in total. Some of these were lamp Irons. I made use of them on the bunker rear To make them even more secure I drilled through and attached them via the spigots too. The coupling rods in this kit are brass etches and Jim helpfully suggests tinning them to make them look like dirty steel rods. I have used this tactic in the past and it does work. Finally I blackened the wheels, tapped the crank pin bushes 10ba and fitted 10ba steel Counter Sunk screws to the wheels. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 3, 2017 Author Share Posted November 3, 2017 Work has progressed a little this week with me adding the cab beading and fitting the cab/bunker/tank sides to the footplate. I took a bit of care to make sure that I got the sides to the outer edge of the etched slots in the footplate - this is an older kit and some of the slots are slightly over etched. I then looked to fit the bunker rear and found that there is a slight gap at one side so I am probably going to have to adjust the left hand side as you view it from the rear. that may mean that I need to fill a small gap in the footplate top time will tell. It was getting late by the time I discovered that so I moved onto something a little easier for my last 15 minutes or so. Namely the cab roof. I am quite impressed by Jim's design for this because it's usually a bit of a fiddle to get it to sit square and be retained in the cab. Jim's answer is a nifty fold up etch. A note to anyone building one of these, there are half etched curves in the roof for locating the rain strips (the idea is that you solder in a length of thin wire and it becomes a half round rain strip). when rolling, the roof has a tendency to fold rather than roll smoothly. Backing it with a bit of card as it goes through the rollers would probably help with this. Having none to hand I didn't bother, I just stopped passing it through the rollers right to the ends of the roof and effectively just rolled the middle section. I also replaced the wire with some small square section rod that I had in stock. Lastly in true Blue Peter fashion, here's a bit that I did earlier. I had previously added the spacers and the boiler bands to the boiler but had popped it back in the kit box so missed taking any photos of it when I took the photos that I shared the other day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 6, 2017 Author Share Posted November 6, 2017 A weekend at home has seen much progress on the J79. The chimney and safety valve cover are just posed for the photo I want add more detail before fixing them in place. The cab is still loose at this point too. This is the reason that it's still loose, although at an oblique angle one of the photos that I have seems to show bars on over the rear windows which I have added - suitably distressed too. Since taking this shot on Sunday morning I have made up the vacuum ejector pipe and soldered the rear of the cab in place. There is a lot going on for such a diminutive little loco Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 8, 2017 Author Share Posted November 8, 2017 The last couple of evenings have seen more details added to the body of the J79 It now sports Clack valves, the safety valve bonnet, a front lamp iron on the smokebox and finally a connection and pipe to the tops of the firebox. I am not certain what this is exactly but noticed it on a recent photo posted by Mick Roffe of the preserved J72 too. In the box were a nice pair of brass brake standards, one for the loco one for the spares box - the spares box has been heavily raided for this build. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall5 Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Steam supply for the vac brake ejector? Ray. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Bucoops Posted November 8, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 8, 2017 Looks great! I have a 4mm J50 from Jim *somewhere*... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 8, 2017 Author Share Posted November 8, 2017 Looks great! I have a 4mm J50 from Jim *somewhere*... Thanks Bucoops, I have a 7mm J50 in the stash too Steam supply for the vac brake ejector? Ray. Brilliant, thanks Ray Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 15, 2017 Author Share Posted November 15, 2017 A session last night saw further details added to the body. The coal rails were fitted and a plated infill added. My reading on the subject has revealed that they were plated over right from being built. Jim supplies them as open rails. A piece of scrap etch provided the infill. Handrails both sides were fitted but they needed bushing with a bit of tube over the base of the handrail knob to fill the slightly oversized holes - of course I then had to enlarge the holes again to get them to fit with the tube in place. In the instructions (like many of his kits) Jim suggests the use of split pins instead of handrail knobs. For the J79, looking at the photos I have, it seems that handrail knobs are a better fit to the real thing than split pins would be. Finally the piano front was fitted after filing a piece of rod in the Dremel to make the quite visible knob for it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 As a bit of a distraction while painting other bit's and pieces, I primed and topcoated the Backhead. Over the weekend I picked out the details and added a bit of weathering. Although I am not sure that the photos do the quality of Jim's little backhead for this loco, justice - what you see is all cast on the backhead with no additional pipework or castings. I was so impressed that I thought it would pass muster inside a closed cab without resorting to removing and re-adding details as I might have done with other backhead castings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 23, 2017 Author Share Posted November 23, 2017 Steady progress this week has seen more details added to the body. The buffers all needed drilling out for the bolt heads - because I had them I used some of the rather nice Scale Hardware items I also added the front lamp irons (Laurie Griffin castings) and the bracket on the front buffer plank which is visible in the photos that I have and Yeadon speculates that it was used for shunting locos/tenders when separated from each other. This was made from scrap nickel etch soldered together with 295 degree solder so it stayed together when I used 145 to add it to the buffer plank. - again a few more Scale Hardware items to finish it. - The eagle eyed amongst you will note that one went missing while washing it too... The hand rail on the fireman's side has a fitting that incorporates the support for the end of the handrail on the smokebox this was made up using some small bore tube, a disk of scrap etch and a 14BA nut. The tube sealed with the scrap etch was slid onto a stub of handrail protruding forward of the hand rail knob with the nut at the other side and all soldered in place. It's not strictly accurate but it will pas must once painted and is better than just a plain handrail knob. It was discretely pointed out that the coal rails were plated right to the bottom and it for me it was a wood and trees moment because all my photos show it but it hadn't sunk in. Remedying it involved taking the rails off again because try as I might I couldn't get the extra strip to stay in place while I soldered it while it was in situ. The same discussion concluded that being vacuum fitted it probably had an upper rear lamp iron too. Scrap etch to the rescue. This was the second attempt because having made a lovely job of the first which was made from conveniently shaped bit of etch I realised that I had the slope rising up above the horizontal rather than below it as it should be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Pulham Posted November 27, 2017 Author Share Posted November 27, 2017 A weekend at home in Wakefield for a family event has mean't extra time to crack on with the J71 which is almost there now. Like most classes of locomotive, the J79's had a wealth of details over their life. a couple were Westinghouse fitted but 1662 was vacuum fitted in later life (it retained the steam brake for the loco braking) and the vacuum pipes were the under buffer plank hanging type rather than the more common upright variety. The pipe rang down the bottom of the valance on the right had side of the engine and the mounting brackets looked quite substantial. Initially I made my usual mounts from scrap etch folded in 'P' shape but they just didn't look right. After a rummage in the box that I keep all my rod and strip sections in I came up at a loss and it wasn't until looking in a drawer for something else that I chanced upon some short lengths of bullhead rail. They seemed perfect from an edge on view so a couple of attempts to get the right length later and I had 4 mounting brackets. To make them I drilled a hole through the web and then cut the from the back through the web like this I also drilled a hole in the roof and filed it square for the roof ventilator then cut a scrap of etch for the cover. To get it to sit at such a jaunty angle I popped a bit of thich scrap etch under it at one end then gripped the other with a pair of self locking tweezers. turn it over and touch the soldering iron inside the hole for the ventilator and its firmly held in place at an angle. The remaining whitemetal body details were then fixed in place with epoxy and thoughts returned to the chassis. Not included in the kit but very visible on the sides of the chassis are a couple of injectors. A search through Laurie Griffins site didn't reveal any that looked remotely suitable so I decided to make my own from brass tube, rod and some 14BA nuts with copper wire for the pipes. And of course the photo has revealed that I need to nudge one of the nuts to close the gap... Finally a shot with a 5p coin to show how big they aren't Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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