Blog- Oswestry Works Motive Power - Dukedog variations part II ? No.9000

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A number of the Dukedog’s had above footplate sandboxes as determined by the frames of the donating Bulldog. No.9000 and No.9005 will feature in the Works, both of which had this particular trait. There is also another slight variation, No.9000 and No.9005 had their pull rods above the filler lids, whereas 9008 had them running along side the sandboxes, in between the wheel splashers and springs (it’s quite hard to make out, but here is a picture courtesy of the GWSR)

 

This evenings task was seeing how the 3D printed sandboxes for 9000 and 9005 would fit. I’ve had to tweak them a few times to deal with the slight lip on running plate near the rear wheel splashers. First job though was to remove the front sandbox lids from the running plate. These are part of the metal chassis and were not going to budge with a knife, so I threaded a piecing saw blade between the boiler and the running plate in order to cut them away.

 

 

First complication was that the front grab rails needed removing in order to get a decent cut. These are also metal and quite hard to remove cleanly, in fact I only successfully pulled one, with the other three snapping off and leaving the peg in the chassis. After taking off the sandbox lids I re-drilled these ready for fitting replacements.

 

The sandboxes ping off their build supports really easily, but they do need a little cleaning up with a knife or needle file to ensure a flush fit. The build support penetration can be configured, in this case it was set to 25 microns, so if you remove the supports carefully they just need a quick once over with a file.

 

I’ve experimented with what angle to build them at quite a bit, the best detail being printing them in the normal orientation, but this does mean the base of them is rather uneven – this is due to the resin dripping away and some of it curing. I’m sure that can be resolved, once I replace the layer of silicone in the printer I should get even sharper prints. But for the time being I’ve rotated the prints 45 degrees which gives best of both worlds.

 

 

On the top of the sandboxes I’d added the short spigots for the pull rods to connect to, more as a test if anything to see if the printer would cope with them. It did, but in practice they are useless, there is nothing for the pull rod to attach to and its too fine a point for glue. These were clipped off and 0.4mm handrail wire used instead, allowing the brass strip pull rods to be soldered to the handrail wire.

 

 

 

With that done the next jobs were to bring No.9000 up to the same basic detailed level of No.9018 – replace all the buffer beam fittings, add the ATC electrical conduit etc. The top feed also needed fixing and the pipework modifying, all tasks which involve a fair bit of handling and not ideal after just fixing the sandbox pull rods! Next time round I’ll put them on last as the pull rod connection to the spigots is quite delicate.

 

For the top feed I started out with some 24 swg (0.559mm) copper wire, taped to the boiler with some Tamiya masking tape to get the right shape.

 

 

With the wire tacked in place it can then bent to shape, with a pair of 16 BA washers added to represent the pipe join before it dips behind the wheel splasher

 

 

I had originally attempted to make the thin metal pipe casing out of Tamiya masking tape, but I couldn't get the right shape. Something to revisit when I've more patience!

 

 

 

 

Last job now is all the smaller tasks, lamp iron on the smoke box door, replace the whistle, screw link couplings, vacuum pipe and checker plate steps on the buffer shanks. That's it for now though, juggling the soldering iron and tweezers trying to make the pull rods has just about finished me off

 

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