LNER Models in 4mm

[Jon4470]

34 minutes ago, micklner said:

A much more "interesting" kit has just been started.

A etches only Falcon Brass J24 sourced via ebay, no instruction or castings or even frame spacers were supplied , luckily it was cheap.

I have made a start on the chassis and naively didnt check the dimensions first.

As you can see the etched holes for the centre drivers are not inline by about 1mm, luckily I checked before going any further. The wayward Axle Bush has now been moved to the correct position.

 

 

The Body etch , one set of tags and two lines for the valances , the rest is guesswork. Luckily as the tags provided are for the Cab Front I can postion the Boiler etc quite easily in due course.

 

 

I have managed to i.d all the Body parts other than the three items on the centre/left in the photo below. Two appear to fold up into two boxes. The other item looks like Cricket Stumps with the centre Stump missing.

 

Anyone have any ideas as what they are ??.

 

 

I was following one of these just recently….possibly the same one?

 

As you say, should be “interesting “ but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

 

As for those pieces…..I’ve checked the instructions for Arthur’s J24, and the only possible options that I could see for the “boxes “ were either the inside valve gear slides or the flanges at the bottom of the firebox (probably too think for these though). As for the “ cricket stumps”….no idea..sorry.

 

[Bucoops]

I don't suppose the boxes are the frame spacers? Depends on width of course and it would be a strange way of doing it. If it was a tank engine I would wonder if the cricket stumps bit was the coal door frame but, I'm, er, stumped...

[micklner]

Just now, Jon4470 said:

 

I was following one of these just recently….possibly the same one?

 

As you say, should be “interesting “ but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

 

As for those pieces…..I’ve checked the instructions for Arthur’s J24, and the only possible options that I could see for the “boxes “ were either the inside valve gear slides or the flanges at the bottom of the firebox (probably too think for these though). As for the “ cricket stumps”….no idea..sorry.

 

I would imagine so re ebay £20 for the etches for Loco and Chassis, at least one more set has been on there since. I have a Oxford J27 tender for it to pull in due course already.

Firebox sides sounds a good idea !! Thanks I will check in due course, once!!  I get the Chassis finished 🤐

[micklner]

1 minute ago, Bucoops said:

I don't suppose the boxes are the frame spacers? Depends on width of course and it would be a strange way of doing it. If it was a tank engine I would wonder if the cricket stumps bit was the coal door frame but, I'm, er, stumped...

Defo not spacers . Thanks

[Nick Lawson]

2 hours ago, micklner said:

Anyone have any ideas as what they are ??.

Could the boxes be the crew seats? I can't find a suitable picture now I want it, but I believe the inside of the cab stepped up twice from the floor, once over the wheels and then again for the seats.

 

The other bit looks like it might go round the fire hole -  if the kit has one!

[micklner]

No not seats, one of the two in the kit, is on the right in the photo. The small boxes have been i.d as fitted too the sides of the Firebox at the base, looking at photos it appears to confirm the earlier post above.

Re the "stumps" The kit had no castings so who knows !

Someone elsewhere has suggested smokebox door straps , they look to big to me.

Edited August 19, 2023 by micklner

[micklner]

J24 finished.

 

The photos show how far out the Boiler Firebox and Smokebox sides were out . They should have been the same height as the Smokebox front. I realised on looking at those photos the Firbox was assembled incorrectly removed and the shape re done in the other photos.

The chassis was another gem, in the end two axle holes were out of line on one side and the other side the other hole was out as well.

Castings are from Arthur Kimber, his daughter was very helpful with all the parts needed. Scratch Cab Interior the seats provide on the etch were totally wrong shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[micklner]

Oxford J27 taken back to LNER version from a lightly damaged ebay BR version buy .

The previous owner was very liberal with Poly Cement when gluing in a crew , he even managed to get Glue on the Tender and Fall Plate and break off two of the Locos Brake Hangers just to finish the job off !.

Dave Bradwell castings for the Boiler fittings including a Smokebox Door , extra Rivets on the Footplate removed. Resprayed and numbered as a J26 as I couldnt find any pre war photos of J27 towing a 2 Rail Tender in the LNER 1928-1939 period. Good value Loco.

 

 

 

[Chas Levin]

Nice work, Mick!

[micklner]

Latest "interesting" kit.

 

A LRM ex Barnfield ex NER LNER B16 kit from originally 30 years ago. So far I am about 3/4 the way through the Locomotive build. The Tender is still in the box smiling at me everytime I look !!

 

The main etches are reasonable, using a the original Boiler Dia 49 you have to cut curved pieces out of the Firebox bottom , strange as no idea how if ever fitted when designed by Barnfield. It now also comes with a new etch of the Dia 40a Boiler which was'nt use before 1939 which is too late for my period of modelling.

Instructions are very vague in places and this is not a beginners kit!!. Some of the detail parts are poorly made/cast or simply ignored e.g the prominent Steam Reverser mechanism on the offside of the Boiler.

 

Chassis was ok no more, none of the body mounting holes matched the ones on the Footplate. Luckily it worked/ran first time when pre assembled before painting.

 

 

Smokebox the Ring should be wider than the Door. No its smaller !! I soldered a circle of  0.45mm wire to the Rings outside, which solved that issue , new  steps made as the kits ones were tiny and useless.

 

 

Boiler rolled ok , other than it has two very thin overlapping sections on the bottom. Sadly it rolled with a prominent crease, hence the filler.

 

Cab a good fit when folded up.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by micklner

[micklner]

Current condtion next up the Roof and the Bolier will soldered to the Footplate. The kit has been designed to allow its removal for painting. As it is all in Black that is not needed.

 

 

 

 

[65179]

 

12 minutes ago, micklner said:

Latest "interesting" kit.

 

A LRM ex Barnfield ex NER LNER B16 kit from originally 30 years ago. So far I am about 3/4 the way through the Locomotive build. The Tender is still in the box smiling at me everytime I look !!

 

The main etches are reasonable, using a the original Boiler Dia 49 you have to cut curved pieces out of the Firebox bottom , strange as no idea how if ever fitted when designed by Barnfield. It now also comes with a new etch of the Dia 40a Boiler which was'nt use before 1939 which is too late for my period of modelling.

Instructions are very vague in places and this is not a beginners kit!!. Some of the detail parts are poorly made/cast or simply ignored e.g the prominent Steam Reverser mechanism on the offside of the Boiler.

 

Chassis was ok no more, none of the body mountning holes matched the ones on the Footplate. Luckily it worked first time when pre assembled before painting

Smokebox the Ring should be wider than the Door. No its smaller !! I soldered a circle of  0.45mm wire to the Rings outside, which solved that issue , new  steps made as the kits ones were tiny.

 

Boiler rolled ok , other than it has two very thin overlapping sections on the bottom. Sadly it rolled with a prominent crease, hence the filler.

 

Cab a good fit when folded up.

 

 

 

 

Very interesting to see your comments on the 4mm kit Mick.

 

I was just glad that Mick Simpson had the etch shot down to 2mm to give me anything to work with!

Looking forward to seeing yours completed.

 

Regards,

Simon

Edited October 16, 2023 by 65179

[30368]

33 minutes ago, micklner said:

Current condtion next up the Roof and the Bolier will soldered to the Footplate. The kit has been designed to allow its removal for painting. As it is all in Black that is not needed.

 

 

Fine work Mick. The B16's were fine looking loco's and given that many of the original loco's survived into the 1960s probably veru useful. I think the original design was the most attractive, both the Gresley and Thompson rebuilds looked rather ungainly. Saw plenty of them on my NE trips in the early 1960s.

 

Kind regards,

 

30368

[Jon4470]

Excellent work! Really like these locos and they are more or less essential for 1930s North Eastern railways.
 

I’m making notes as I have one of these stashed away…. So all the tips and work arounds will help greatly.

 

Jon

[micklner]

On 16/10/2023 at 16:47, Jon4470 said:

Excellent work! Really like these locos and they are more or less essential for 1930s North Eastern railways.
 

I’m making notes as I have one of these stashed away…. So all the tips and work arounds will help greatly.

 

Jon

Better get a pen ready  🫣 there are quite a few pointers so far, just on the Loco alone !!. Dave Bradwell castings will be much in evidence in due course. Some of the Kits ones are wrong sizes, poor detail, or not supplied at all. See below 🤪

 

So far

 

 

Sadly a number of etches on the 7mm Gladiator kit (same basic design) are not on the original etches or on the new Boiler etch.

 Wheel Balance weights, Bottom Washout/Mud Holes surrounds, Splasher Rivet surrounds. Top Washout plugs wrong shape and too small for either Boiler.

 

Neither 4mm and 7mm kits  have  the  following items .No castings for Steam Reverse or any etch for the Cylinder linkage. 

 

Safety valve Casting the base is too small , Safety Valves too high, Oil Box castings oversize and/or wrong shape.

 

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by micklner

[65179]

1 hour ago, micklner said:

Better get a pen ready  🫣 there are quite a few pointers so far, just on the Loco alone !!. Dave Bradwell castings will be much in evidence in due course. Some of the Kits ones are wrong sizes, poor detail, or not supplied at all. See below 🤪

 

So far

 

 

Sadly a number of etches on the 7mm Gladiator kit (same basic design) are not on the original etches or on the new Boiler etch.

 Wheel Balance weights, Bottom Washout/Mud Holes surrounds, Splasher Rivet surrounds. Washout plugs wrong shape and too small for either Boiler.

 

Neither 4mm and 7mm kits  have  the  following items .No castings for Steam Reverse or any etch for the Cylinder linkage. 

 

Safety valve Casting the base is too small , Safety Valves too high, Oil Box castings oversize and/or wrong shape.

 

 

 

Are the correct NER lubricators supplied Mick?

 

Simon

[micklner]

1 hour ago, 65179 said:

 

Are the correct NER lubricators supplied Mick?

 

Simon

It has the Two Footplate lubricators included , there should be Three . LRM has sent another F.O.C.

Edited October 16, 2023 by micklner

[Sasquatch]

Always slow to reply but that J24 is a smashing looking model. Just how a steam locomotive should look! No doubt that you'll solve any issues with the B16 and turn that out equally drool worthy! My wife asked what I'd been staring at for so long. I told her "Nerd Porn".

 

Regards Shaun.

[65179]

You may well have seen the view of the tender front in this link:

 

 

before on mikemeg and Rob Pulham's B16 builds, but it may have been lost along with so many other images elsewhere. I found it invaluable to work out how things should look.

 

Simon 

Edited October 16, 2023 by 65179

[micklner]

1 hour ago, 65179 said:

You may well have seen the view of the tender front in this link:

 

 

before on mikemeg and Rob Pulham's B16 builds, but it may have been lost along with so many other images elsewhere. I found it invaluable to work out how things should look.

 

Simon 

Rob Pulham B16 build with all the photos, is on The Scalefour Society website. He has been very helpful already on this build. Thanks for the info.  Mick.

Edited October 16, 2023 by micklner

[micklner]

B16 ready for paint . Definately not a kit for a beginner. Clearances are all very tight. Its is not going to like curves very much !!!.

 

 

 

 

[Daddyman]

Heroic! 

[micklner]

🤪

1 hour ago, Daddyman said:

Heroic! 

More like a real pain in the rear end !!🫠🙃

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by micklner

[mikemeg]

Mick,

 

You have done an amazing job on this kit. Given its age (drawn and designed over thirty years ago) and given the known omissions,  then the result is a real credit to you.

 

As the original artwork is no longer available, then no changes could be made to the original etchings, so any errors in these etchings cannot be rectified. The introduction of additional options i.e. the later LNER designed boiler, the plain splasher fronts applied to those locos built by the LNER, etc. could only be made by adding new etches.

 

Despite its problems, it's  probably still the best offering for producing a model of a B16/1 or the original NER Class S3.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

  

Edited November 7, 2023 by mikemeg

[micklner]

5 hours ago, mikemeg said:

Mick,

 

You have done an amazing job on this kit. Given its age (drawn and designed over thirty years ago) and given the known omissions,  then the result is a real credit to you.

 

As the original artwork is no longer available, then no changes could be made to the original etchings, so any errors in these etchings cannot be rectified. The introduction of additional options i.e. the later LNER designed boiler, the plain splasher fronts applied to those locos built by the LNER, etc. could only be made by adding new etches.

 

Despite its problems, it's  probably still the best offering for producing a model of a B16/1 or the original NER Class S3.

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

  

I was'nt aware of any of the "omissions"that I have listed earlier in this thread until I bought the kit. None were mentioned on your build thread that I can remember .

The new Footplate was good, until after fitting the Handles and Lubricators that I then found  the holes were 2mm too far forward and the whole lot had to come off redrilled etc.

The main reason I managed to build the Loco was that I had a copy of the 7mm Gladiator B16 instructions sent to me, which has a number of photographs and better written detailed instructions.

I have spoken to John at LRM at length re the kit and he is considering a further etch with the missing parts. It also needs new better castings. I have used some Dave Bradwell parts on mine, which are of a far superior quality.

The Tender on this does'nt even have the Large Round Cover for the Water Scoop supplied. John says he is making a casting for this. He claimed when I asked why none was supplied, he stated no one have ever mentioned it was missing before !!.

The clearance behind the Front Steps and the Con Rods is about 1mm in OO, no idea how EM or P4 versions would ever actually work??. Combined with the lack of sideplay and the front Bogie issues , it is'nt going to like any curves in any gauge.

 

Compared to the DJH offering, it must be better ? I presume and hope!! . The PDK kit does'nt look very good in photos either.

 

 

Someone needs to offer a whole new kit, I doubt if there is the demand however.

 

I cannot ever see a r.t.r version ever being offered.

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by micklner