This is where I have got to so far. Been a bit of a pain, SWMBO is only working half days this month although it is nice we get more time together my work time is reduce.
I have discovered another more major problem I have no small BR totems for the Ivatt, so have ordered some from Fox. I am hoping these do not take more than 4 weeks to get here.
I have some LNER Fox transfers for the V3 I have never actually built enough north eastern to buy my usual HMRS ones.
Just a quick update. I have painted the loco and now will give it a few days to cure. Then I will close the doors and put the aircon on and do the lining on this and the V3.
Here it is in black.
A bit of a picture overload. But it's easier than typing.
Finally finished all the constructional work. Well almost I have not added the covers to the firebox shoulders.
The jobs since the last update
First off was to add the firebox washout plugs, no holes or plugs were in the kit so I fortunately had some nice brass ones.
The rear buffers were the first of the white metal castings to be added.
The top feed was then soldered in place with some copper wire for the p
I started todays session by fitting the hand rails to the smokebox. After marking out and drilling new holes for the knobs. I filled the etched ones with brass wire soldered in and filed smooth.
The can floor was next. After trimming to fit the packers were soldered underneath, unfortunately the wheels rubbed on it, so after rereading the instructions to see what I had missed. They just say put the floor in out of level to miss them. Not liking this I cut a slot and adde
Some more done on the Ivatt, not as much as I hoped but not much time At the bench.
I had to make some washout plugs for the boiler, which have duly been added. The method is on my Scratch building thread.
I also remade the tank breather pipes. I started off by doing the one I had to remove, but then the other one look odd. At the same time I added the brackets to hold them to the front spectacle plate.
I decided to be a good boy and try and get the Ivatt and the V3 finished. After being disheartened buy the wrong castings I am now going to knuckle down and frget the episode for now.
All started well I made up the two air vents, they just need a clip to hold them to the spectacle plate. I made up the two missing tank stays. they are pretty close and when under paint will be fine. The tank gauge was also added.
Then things go down hill aga
I think we have made a land mark with this.
The Frames as far as I can tell are finished except for painting, and reassembly. the jobs done today were adding the white metal castings, this was fairly straight forward apart from the main springs. These were a squeeze between not fowling the compensation or the wheels. You will also see in the pictures the centralising springs for the ponies, these also apply a little downward pressure. I just need to do a bit more cleaning and smoothi
Just a short update.
I got on with the valve gear today. I was not overly impressed with it. But I got it all to work in the end. Some of the pivot holes were etched 1.2mm. I Had a couple of cast eccentrics which are better than the etched ones supplied.
I am looking forward to putting the motor in and seeing if it works as it should.
Each time I look at this loco I find something else that needs making or adding.
Both sid
I have gone back to the chassis. There is a lot of bits that needed to be added.
I fitted Laurie Griffins injectors and scratch built water filters. Once these were in place I could add the rear sandboxes and pipes.
It was then on with the front platform to which I added the front steps and hand rail. The two small oilers were also fitted aswell as the lamp irons. The front sanding pipe.
I think apart from the
It has been slow progress mainly because detailing is like that.
Here are some of the parts. First off is the injectors. It helps to do a left and right instead of two lefts.
The next is the steam exhaust ejector. This I found is too long. It needs the pipe between the elbow and the ejector about half it's length.
Then it is the two small oil pots fro the front platform step. Also there is a pear shaped fitting for
Had a go at the final piece of major fabrication. The roof which needs to be removable.
First problem which is my fault for not checking. The cab front and rear were different to each other and each side was also different. I normally check bits like this with each other before assembly. I made a pair of formers and adjusted the cab front and rear to fit better. The formers were assembled with two bits of tube and a bar of nickel silver.
The gutter was made from 0,8mm wire, and
You have a couple of extra hours at the bench and you seem to get loads more done.
First thing I did today was to tack in place the inner parts of the tanks. These made the whole thing a bit more rigid as the attach to both front and rear footplates.
It was then a case of fitting the firebox in place, this then meant I could check the fit of the boiler, and the smokebox on the front of the saddle. Once all was level, I built the rest of the saddle.
I have done some more to the body. It seems to be going ok at the moment the only problem I can see coming up is the roof is too small. When the bunker section is attached I will see if I need to make a new one or if I can extend the one in the kit.
The bunker went together quite well I tack it and will run the solder joints later. The footplate was a little wide for the bunker back plate, or that was slightly small, a couple of rubs with the file sorted it anyway. The cab front and
After finishing the second pony on Friday. I spent the rest of my time sorting out most of the body etches. I had already done the side. But the rest needed the awful riveting redoing.
I needed to ease the frames for the ponies to swing properly along with a bit of adjustment to get the wheels in the right place. I just need to add wire spring to centralize and add a little downward pressure.
The bunker etches had no provision for ri
We have had some success today. I tackled the ponies the front one is done and the rear one is almost there.
Needless to say the first one took most of the morning the other about half an hour so far. During the process I did come up with a way of making two springs that look the same. It also turned out to be as quick as making them the way I used to.
The Ponies are pretty basic, in this kit, whether the newer ones are different I do not know, this is what I had. The sam
Now the carnival is over and almost a week of not being near the bench. I managed to get the brakes for the loco sorted out.
The hangers to my mind were too wide so I narrowed them a bit. I also had to move where they are hung. I also had to make up the linkage for the hand and power brake. You will see this in the photos. I am thinking of lining the shoes with plasticard one to close up the gap and the other to stop shorts.
I also had to improvise the brake pulls as there is n
I finally feel as though I am getting somewhere at last. I am actually doing more putting together than taking apart. As you will know from the last post, I said I had the motion bracket too high, well, it was the cylinder angle not the motion bracket. Once that was remedied, everything went together very.
As you will see I have got both the crossheads and valve supports in place aswell as the motion brackets. These needed a little more work to clear the screws.
I had a good day today. I have assembled all the valve gear I even managed to make two rods that do not belong to to the 2mt even though they were on the fret.
I just need to put it all together in a manner that works.
The motion brackets were cleaned up on Friday, They are not too bad I still need to repair the hole in one of them. I was lucky as they are slightly different to each other, fortunately I was checking all the time whilst filing or I would
I actually had a good morning at the bench today.
The frames now actually stand on their own two feet. Well six wheels really. I needed to do a bit of fitting to get the bushes to fit the coupling rods. First job was to solder a pin into the hinge on the coupling rods. The compensation works well. I also quite like the way I did like the way the front drivers pivot worked out, may well do it again it saves on expensive horn guides and blocks. From the photos you will see the arrangem
Struggling to get things done, yesterday was an odd day as the courts where SWMBO works had a new president sworn in. which meant I did not get much time at the house, and then today I had to collect her early as she is poorly, sick and not well.
I did manage to get the frames back together with the cylinders and the front end. I will now solder all the necessary joints properly now. I am pleased how this has worked out. I have also remade but not fitted the cover between the
Just a small update to show the re manufacture of the front end.
I needed to remake the buffer as the original did not survive the re riveting. I have assembled the front frames, front footplate and the buffer beam. This will be fixed to the cylinders when I have them fitted to the main frames.
Having made the cylinder profiles. I decided to make new covers as I did not like the etched ones with the kit. There were to many rivets, and the straps down each sid
Here we are at the end of another adventure. The Ivatt has now been finished apart from glazing.
I was very pleasantly surprised the transfers from Fox arrived in 22 days, for mail not tracked it must be a record. It normally just never arrives. The emblem is from Fox and the numbers from HMRS. As usual I had to use 3 of the lovely emblems to get two. But never mind.
I think the lining looks a lot better now coated with some black tinted varnished.
All in all
I have done a little to this in the last couple of days, mainly metal bashing to get myself in to a place where I can start putting it together.
I made new cylinder front and back so I have something solid to work with when it comes to screwing it all together. The front of the frames where cut off, a new buffer beam was made as I ruined the original re riveting it. These will all be soldered to the front of the cylinders once they are assembled. You will see how the cylinder frame h
Today I got down to some serious thinking about the frames.
To start with I need to widen them in front of the cylinders. I have marked where the cylinders will go. S I will remove the front of the frame at the front mark. I may well cut the frames again just behind the cylinder to make them removable, this may require a new front and back for them. Sorry about the second photo I was in a rush and only took one so it had to do.
I also checked where the brake
Time to start a new project. Sometime ago I bought an ACME Ivatt 2mt tank. It was sold having been started. The only thing done was some very poor riveting. I think most can be over come, a few small parts may need replacing but that is no hardship really. It is all etched in Nickel silver, so will stand a little more punishment putting the riveting to rights.
I have added the necessary bits to build the loco, and also a few bits to improve it. There are not the parts to build a push
