Nile's kitbuilding bench - Midland 1377

[Nile]

Putting the bits done so far together gives this, an almost complete model:

 

After a good clean it will be ready for painting.

Bad news - that won't happen for a while as I need warmer weather.

Good news - another kit has arrived to keep me busy until then.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Nile

[Compound2632]

40 minutes ago, Nile said:

Putting the bits done so far together gives this, an almost complete model:

 

After a good clean it will be ready for painting.

 

looking nice and shiny. What you want now is a rake of Ratio Bain suburbans to go with it!

[Nile]

Next is another kit from Dave, for a Midland 1377 0-6-0T ( see here for Dave's original build ).

Starting with the chassis, I decided to make use of the High Level hornblocks I've had for ages to give it some more compensation.

 

I had an issue with the middle spacer, having to move it forward by 2mm in order to make room for the HL gearbox with drive stretcher.

I'm wondering if this is because my gearbox is a few years old. I can see from the current instructions online that the design has changed a bit.

Edited July 7, 2022 by Nile

[k22009]

17 minutes ago, Nile said:

 

I had an issue with the middle spacer, having to move it forward by 2mm in order to make room for the HL gearbox with drive stretcher.

 

I'm wondering if this is because my gearbox is a few years old. I can see from the current instructions online that the design has changed a bit.

 

Hi  Neil,

 

Is it possible it's a D1 drivetretcher you've used which have centres of 16.6mm rather than 14.6mm for the D2 drivestretcher?

 

[Nile]

Yes that's it. I thought it was the width that varied, not their length. Studying the instructions I can see why they vary in length. I'm using the RoadRunner + D1 combination as I have a few in stock.

[Nile]

Some progress with the body, starting with the tanks and cab front.

 

Test fit of the chassis, so far so good.

Soldering on that front nut was a mistake as it's meant to go inside the smokebox, which has a bottom plate. So off it came.

 

Bunker now added, and gearbox refitted to chassis.

 

Room for a Mitsumi motor.

 

Shortening the rear shaft will make getting it in and out easier as it projects into the front of the boiler.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Nile

[Nile]

More work on the body, more specifically the boiler. I found a small gap at the back of the smokebox just above the splasher.

 

I soldered a small piece from the etch on the inside to act as a support, then made up a wedge shaped piece to go in the gap.

 

At the front I had difficulty forming the cylinder cover to the shape I wanted. In my box of scrap bits I found a piece of 0.15mm N/S big enough to use, I had more success with this.

 

Overall progress so far, not much more to do.

 

Not much progress on the chassis. I've made up the brake shoe/hanger units with the help of a little jig. Only the middle joint is soldered at this stage.

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Nile

[Chas Levin]

On 28/08/2015 at 15:53, Nile said:

Now to apply the handbrake. I'm not going to do anything with the brake shoes themselves as that could get messy, and you can't really see them from the other side anyway. What I have done is move the brake lever down to the on position with a bit of cutting and re-gluing.

 

 

From the other side you can just about see the handle in its lower position.

 

 

Here it is sitting in the siding at Wyndal.

 

I will eventually add more to this scene, but that will be for my Wyndal topic.

Just found this thread Nile, reading through from the start and had to say, this wagon with the open door and the brake on looks superb! I'm going to have to try that myself 😉

[Nile]

Thanks Chas, as it happens I've recently done something similar with some old Airfix kits.

 

Now you've disturbed my slumber I suppose I should post some sort of update. Not that much has been happening here for a while, too many other distractions. But I can report some progress with the Flatiron, I was able to get it sprayed Crimson red last year.

I shall try to progress this further as time allows.

[Nile]

Lining, those long tanks need lots of lining. This was all done with bits from a HMRS press-fix sheet.

 

I thought I'd got away with not having to do the cab front and rear, but closer examination of a photo revealed the presence of the lining, so more to do. At least I didn't have to do the steps or valance.

With more lining plus numbers:

Just the MR on the buffer beams to do, plus lots of other details.....

[farren]

Oh crumbs I missed the cab front! Do you need to do the wheel splasher? Which are a pain! Or was it different on the extended tank engines. 

[Nile]

Not sure about the splashers. In some photos they look lined, but I cant tell if it's actual lining or polished metal that is showing. They aren't lined in the official works (grey) photo.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Nile said:

Not sure about the splashers. In some photos they look lined, but I cant tell if it's actual lining or polished metal that is showing. They aren't lined in the official works (grey) photo.

 

As far as I can make out, the splashers were pressings, or something like that (not sure what technology was available at Derby at the time) with rounded corners. So I think what one sees in many photos is a highlight reflection off the rounded edge. There was certainly no beading to polish; anyway that wasn't a feature of the post-1905 livery - beading was painted over. 

 

But there are a few photos that make me less convinced than I would like to be that the splashers weren't lined...

[TangoOscarMike]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

But there are a few photos that make me less convinced than I would like to be that the splashers weren't lined...

 

I had a little struggle with this. In case anyone else did:

• That the splashers were not lined
• My conviction thereof reduced (to an unpalatable degree)
• By the photos, few in number

It actually makes perfect sense if you take a deep breath and read through steadily without pauses. But that's a risky business for an asthmatic like me.

 

You're welcome!

Tom

 

[Compound2632]

47 minutes ago, TangoOscarMike said:

I had a little struggle with this.

 

Sorry, was the struggle with the lining of your Flatiron or with my convoluted grammar?

 

If the latter, then my apologies, but I wished to communicate not only my doubt about the state of external reality but also my own internal self-doubt.

[Nile]

Well I'm confused, but veering towards lining the splashers.

[Nile]

A little bit of progress on this, mainly the small fiddly bits.

I went ahead and added some lining to the splashers.

 

Some small fiddly things to go on the front of one of the tanks.

 

Something else I built over the last few months, a Midland Gas Tar tank from a LRM kit.

My first attempt at weathering this with a black wash went a bit awry. I managed to remove most of it and had another go with powders.

[LL1060]

The weathering job on that tanker emphasizes the 'beaten' in 'weatherbeaten'! Looks brilliant, Nile. 

[Nile]

The small parts seen above have been assembled onto the front of the tank along with some copper wire for piping.

 

Meanwhile things have been happening at the other end in the bunker.

This was my original plan for the tank vents, based on the limited information I had.

 

A big thanks to @Retro_man for sending me a photo showing the details I needed, the main one is that the vents are further apart.

Rather than start again I modified what I already had, with extra details made from 10thou plastic card added.

 

Painted black and glued in place:

A half load of coal will disguise the fact that the curved parts don't go all the way down to the bottom of the coal space.

[Compound2632]

Interesting that you are modelling No. 2004 as allocated to the LT&S section between 29 Dec 1913 and Feb 1919, when equipped with the Westinghouse brake for working on the LT&S section. (Dates are from Summerson, Midland Railway Locomotives Vol. 4.) Summerson also quotes a 1918 Railway Magazine article as saying that on the LT&S section, the 0-6-4Ts' main work was on goods traffic.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Love the tank vents a very well executed simple solution. 

[Nile]

Some more progress on the small details that help to complete a model.

Lubricator thingys to go on the front of the tanks, made from some brass rod and tube.

The one on the left was displaced by the air pump.

These were removed when the boiler was replaced.

 

Tinned copper wire, straightened and soldered together.

 

Formed into a handbrake.

 

Just visible in the rear view photo I mentioned above is the screw reverser. I made this from brass rod, tube, plastic card and a small handrail knob.

 

Painted and fitted into the cab:

The windows have been glazed with discs of clear plastic cut using a hole punch (standard office type) and fixed with Glue'n'Glaze.

 

Meanwhile under the cab were some air tanks. I made these from Evergreen tube and bits of plastic.

 

After checking clearances with the bogie I glued them in place. Some tinned copper wire was added for pipes.

 

That's all for now, apart from:

On 13/03/2023 at 16:40, Compound2632 said:

Summerson also quotes a 1918 Railway Magazine article as saying that on the LT&S section, the 0-6-4Ts' main work was on goods traffic.

A bit of "not invented here syndrome" going on there I suspect, although others also questioned these locos suitability for passenger trains. The Midland eventually ordered more Tilbury tanks for the LTS, delivered to the LMS.

[Chas Levin]

Lovely work, Neil. Totally agree about the small details that help complete a model...

[Blandford1969]

Love how you have made the lubricators, great work

[Nile]

Hello again, today's episode is about couplings. As I would like this loco to be able to do some work without too much faffing about with couplings I worked out a way to fit NEM362 sockets to it.

The rear end was the most difficult, after much experimenting I ended up using parts from an Oxford wagon. These were glued and pinned (with the aid of heat) to a piece of white plastic, which was glued with epoxy to the bogie. This was later painted black.

 

The front end was easier, using one of the many coupling mounts I seem to have lying around. A small block of wood was glued into the chassis with epoxy.

View from above:

 

View from below:

 

The coupling mount is screwed into this:

 

The view from the front. With the coupling removed the socket is barely visible.