Nile's Mostly Freelance Bodging Bench - Pre-Grouping Locos

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I don't know how to organise a poll, but who votes for this as Niles' next project....

 

 

[uax6]

Oh I like that, it's a bit M&GNish.

 

Andy g

[James Harrison]

My first thought was that it looks rather like an LSWR T3, albeit with smaller drivers and different splashers.  I agree though it looks very pretty. 

[Compound2632]

Oh I like that, it's a bit M&GNish.

 

Andy g

 

The cab side sheet wants shortening at the front and extending at the back... I think the tender's a bit on the big side - it might look better with the rather dinky tender off No. 123 (the Caley single), suitably lowered (it sits to the old Triang height, buffer centre line 2 mm too high above rail level). Then this tender would give a better balance for those Neilson enlarged singles the LMWR bought in the early 1890s...  

 

This all makes me think I should get on with the Derbyshire & Staffordshire Junction Railway. Its locomotive superintendent was Zebedee Drummond (the third brother), whose express single, four-coupled passenger tank, six-coupled goods tank and wee pug were the actual prototypes for Triang's so-called Caley single, M7, J83 and Nellie... If you don't believe me, check out the HMRS Midland Railway transfer sheet - the D&SJR is there along with other lines the Midland had interests in...

[Nile]

I see he's at it again! As it happens I have a few Adams radials stashed away for such projects. It's mainly a matter of finding the time to do them.

[01001]

A good Idea as we have an over supply of Adams radial tanks . But which will the best to convert the Hornby or the Oxford rail?

[Synch]

Finding this very interesting, was looking into getting a 700 to make one of the Scottish constituents with the chassis but with the boiler being high pitched the mechanism was positioned too high, watching with interest! 

[Ben Alder]

Finding this very interesting, was looking into getting a 700 to make one of the Scottish constituents with the chassis but with the boiler being high pitched the mechanism was positioned too high, watching with interest! 

 

It makes a Macintosh 812, as seen on the Strathspey Railway, and one other which I forget - the CR family of 0-6-0's, lumped together as Jumbos, is a very complicated story and beyond my sphere of interest - ask Londontram for details- but the others do need the boiler lowering, as seen so well done here.

[Nile]

Having lowered most of the boiler there was a gap underneath that needed to be filled. To do this I used a piece of brass curved to the same diameter as the boiler. On the top I glued some plastic spacers, these will be glued to the underside of the original boiler part on the chassis.

 

The underside, sprayed with primer. A boiler band made from sticky tape has been added.

 

Painted dark green and fixed in place.

 

This is what it looks like with the rest of the boiler in place.

[uax6]

Now that is skill, that must have taken hours to get that bit of brass to line up properly....

 

Well done

 

Andy g

[Iain Popplewell]

Now that is skill, that must have taken hours to get that bit of brass to line up properly....

 

Well done

 

Andy g

 

 Every now and then you come across a photo on Rmweb that just blows you away. I agree uax6, Nile's just done it again with that boiler bottom. Unbelievable stuff. When he remounted the motor that can't have been easy either.

Edited January 26, 2017 by iainp

[Nile]

Thanks for all the comments, I'm glad you are enjoying the rebuild.

On with the show, the body parts were painted and lined before being glued together to form a single unit. The boiler bands are Microscale decals, lining around the cab edges was done using a brush. It still has its gloss coat so looks a bit weird here.

 

The 10thou white plastic card (above) was used to make a new smokebox front, incorporating the wing plates, seen here glued in place before final trimming and filing.

 

Rather than try to reuse the original smokebox door, which would need a lot of mods, I found one that is a very close match to the one I am modelling. This came from the LTSR kit that started this workbench topic.

 

A few more bits added here. New and modified lamp sockets, and the original handrail fitted into the new knobs.

The chimney, just resting in place, is a Midland design but close enough to the prototype for me. It just needs the capuchon removed.

[James Harrison]

Stunning how altering the smokebox and chimney can change the look of the whole model.  In that last photo above the loco has a very Victorian look about it.

[Nile]

A bit of plumbing now. The pipes from the clack valves take a different route on this loco, disappearing down behind the front splashers. To achieve this I cut off the original pipe, drilled a hole in the bottom of the valve and glued some copper wire into it.

 

This was then bent to shape and trimmed.

 

Some more details at the front. I've added two 'thingys' just below the door, made from plastic rod and fine brass rod.No idea what they are.

I've removed the rivets (or bolt-heads)  from the buffer beam, as they look smooth in photos.

 

With new chimney glued on and a coat of black paint, the end is in sight now.

[Spitfire2865]

Those "thingies" on the smokebox front might be cylinder lubricators.

[Nile]

After applying transfers and some matt varnish it was time to refit some detail parts. I couldn't find the rod that links to the reverser lever so I made a new one from some microstrip. I gave it a slight taper and glued a piece of rod on the end, then painted it gunmetal to match the original part.

 

Rather than make a hole in the body where it enters the boiler cladding I put a chamfer on the end. Here it is glued in place.

 

The pipes in front of the cab were painted copper before refitting.

 

This is a GIMPed double exposure showing the mods to the backhead so it will fit inside the lowered cab.

 

Here it is in the cab along with the other parts, the seats have also been lowered. I've made the same mod to the fallplate that I did to the previous 700, enabling it to hinge upwards.

 

Here is a better view of the front.

The clack valves aren't fitted yet because the pipes get in the way of the chassis, so they will have to wait until the body is on the chassis.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Nile

[PenrithBeacon]

Drummond's engines were so much more attractive before that Mr Urie got hold of them!

 

Nice modelling!

[Compound2632]

Fortune favours the brave!

 

A superb transformation.

[Nile]

The plumbing on the chassis needed modifying to match that above the running plate. I cut off the unwanted original parts and replaced with some wire, bent to shape. This is a bit of a compromise as it has to look like it lines up with the pipe above while leaving room for the coupling rod. This being OO gauge things tend to be in the wrong place.

 

With the body on the chassis the alignment looks ok from the side.

You may be able to see here that I have modified the footsteps, I've removed the turn-ups from the ends.

 

With the loco now almost complete I took some photos of it with the rebuilt no.316. Almost a before and after comparison.

 

And finally for now a preview of the finished model. I've posed 459 with the tender from 316. It's own tender will have a few small differences.

 

I'll be tackling that tender next.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Nile

[Corbs]

Fantastic work as always Nile

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

I think that's your best one yet - and what a pretty looking thing it is now. 

 

Much nicer than the ungainly superheated version with the high pitched boiler.

 

How close is it now to certain Scottish pre-grouping 0-6-0s?  

[uax6]

It's very close. As I said I'm using the old Becs kits of the 700's to make Highland Barneys, and after the surgery to lower the boiler and sort the cab cut-outs out, then its just boiler fittings.... and tenders. Same goes for the Caley versions too really......

 

Andy G

[chris45lsw]

It's very close. As I said I'm using the old Becs kits of the 700's to make Highland Barneys, and after the surgery to lower the boiler and sort the cab cut-outs out, then its just boiler fittings.... and tenders. Same goes for the Caley versions too really......

 

Andy G

Yes, the 700 and Highland Barneys were dimensionally very similar and both had 7ft 6in + 9ft 0in wheelbase, while the wb of the Caley Standard Goods was only 3in (1mm in 4mm scale) shorter, ie 7ft 6in + 8ft 9in.  All three classes had their boilers pitched at 7ft 3in.

 

Chris Knowles-Thomas

[Londontram]

If the expansion plate along side the fire box ran from the center splasher to the cab you would as near as damn it have a Jumbo, the early Drummond ones had the safety valves on the top of the dome the later Lambie built ones and the reboiled Drummond ones would have had a separate safety valve mounted just in front of the cab.

 

Once again an out standing job and an inspiration to us all as to what can be done, proper modeling.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Londontram

[Nile]

The tender is mostly a repeat of what I did before for no.316. The coal rails were opened out by running a scalpel along their edges to remove the infills. Supports were added from microstrip glued to the rails and trimmed after the glue had fully dried.

 

The big difference this time is the springs, which were smaller before the rebuild. I found some suitable parts in my bits box, with springs the right shape and size.

 

Much carving and cutting was needed to remove the old springs and replace them with new ones. Here just one has been replaced.

The original springs were hollow, resulting in holes in the frames where they have been removed. These had to be filled with bits of plastic and filler, the white bits in the photo below.

I've also filled in the cut-outs for the rear buffers, as before, meaning the buffers won't be sprung.