nickd

'Not a lot left to do.' Famous last words eh? The week started with the addition of the smokebox door, and associated castings and then moving on to the handrails. The handrail round the boiler and over the smokebox front is always a tricky bit. They have to be spot on, they can easily make the loco look wonky if they are.......wonky! Much care was needed. Sorry about the crap photos. The CWM safety valves in the kit looked like they were from the 1980s, so went in the box of other fishing weights. Luckily the kit included some plinths for the later LMS Ross pops, and I made safety valves and a shroud to go on top of them. The balance levers were liberated from my stash of Laurie Griffin castings. Next up was to solder the boiler and piano front to the rest of the body, to make one solid mass. The wheels were cleaned and the decoder fitted. The loco was test run, then taken to Modelyard in Leeds for Rob to Optimise the chip and sync the chuffs. Here's the result. Today the postie delevered some JIT 3D prints of the chimneys, domes and centre bearing for the crank axle, all from Mick Davies. They were fitted up to complete the build. The models are now stripped, washed and boxed up ready for paint. One to Warren Haywood, and the other to Conrad Cooper. There's more pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/with/53680550743/ The Gladiator kit makes a decent 10 ft model that approximates well to the shape of a Precursor tank. I think we had a different view of what was acceptable as a kit in the 1980s, but the bar these days is much, much higher. It did, however, facilitate making a good model of the prototype, but it did need tons of modification which, of course, had a detrimental impact on the budget (sorry clients!) And I will post again in a few weeks when they're painted.

The week began by closing the tanks. As you can see the RHS tank top has a tool pocket built onto the top of it. It is accessed by an inaccessible door on the footplate. The tool pocket was made from the kit etch for the tank top (it was too short for this purpose) so another part of the kit was used, so not all of the cost of the kit was wasted. I then made the piano front for the valve chest. This was surprisingly difficult to make, it all had to be hand made. It doesn't open as the budgets were getting a bit squeezed by now. Next up was all the plumbing for the vacuum brakes and steam heat. There was virtually nothing of any use in the kit for this. One of the kits had a very poor quality front vacuum pipe, but the other just had some generic hoses. Luckily LGM did a decent casting for the front vac pipes, the rest had to be handmade using odds-and-sods in my bits-box. Jobs like this burn up the budget, and ideally the kit would contain more parts that are useful. I then moved on to the pipework and handrails on the boiler. Again the castings provided were a bit inadequate. I had to make 4 elbows for the ends of the pipes. The pipes themselves are fashioned from 2.0 mm thin walled tube, as it was easier to drill and solder in the handrail knobs. The pipe down the RHS of the loco has some mini pipes and flanges that enter the smokebox. These were the last parts that I made this week. Care had to be taken drilling the holes for the elbow and mounting pegs for the pipes, then they had to be moved about slightly to make them horizontal and straight.....all good fun! I should finish the locos next week, as there's not a lot left to do. I'm going to make a JLTRT 10001 as a palate cleanser next.

Well the over dramatic picture of the cab front (see last week's post) didn't become a problem. The boiler fitted over the raised former.....just! I spent the beginning of the week fitting everything up. First rolling the boiler and fitting the formers, and creating the firebox sides. I know it can't really be seen but it seemed more professional than to just cut a hole for the motor. I put a piece in for the front of the firebox, so that if anyone stares under the boiler with a powerful torch, that area of the boiler will be closed. There were some in-fill pieces to be added around the top of the cylinder block and smokebox rear area. I also added boiler bands, largely because I find it therapeutic, and the cleats at the bottom of the boiler. The L section infill piece between the front of the cab was made in the usual way. I scored the shape of the end of the firebox onto a sheet of thin nickel silver and cut it out. Then scored a line 1.2 mm round this, and carefully cut this out. This produced a thin horseshoe shaped strip of brass that I could solder to the end of the boiler. A thin boiler band was then soldered up to this to replicate the L section. Theres a cover plate at the top of the cab front, that partly covers the L section. I soldered this to the vertical portion of the L section. It'll eventually be soldered to the cab front, so no possibility of the painter breaking it off! I made wash out plugs, and then repeated the whole process again to make a second boiler assembly! Of course it was much quicker second time round! With the boiler fitted up it was time to close up the water tanks. I cut out around 30 panels to do this. The base of the water tanks are raised up 6'' above the footplate top, and the tanks have arc shaped splashers for the driving wheels let into them. If you zoom into the next picture you can see that I have not bothered to clean up my blobby soldering as it will be internal. The inside of the tanks look a bit untidy, and you can see that I have added a couple of lead sheets inside the void for balast. (The client lives in a tropical climate and lines the lead to be painted with an acid etch primer to prevent any corrosion.) The underside of the model looks good though, and the tank splashers are worth the effort I think. The remaining inner panels to close the tank are here ready to go, but I ran out of working week! I should be able to get round to finishing the remaining details next week, now all the main structures are complete. I reckon I've used about 20% of the kit. I used the footplate, body sides, cab front and rear and bunker rear. Most of those parts were heavily modified though.

Since my last post I have moved the build project on by adding the 3D printed balance ducts between the front and bunker tanks. They're behind the cab steps, and also have a pick up pipe for the injectors, which passes round the rear driving wheels, so will have to be attached post-paint. To complete the under-footplate detail I need to add the vacuum pipes and end connectors and possibly the train steam heat pipes. I'm not clear whether Precursor tank locos would have had steam heat equipment fitted from new. These locos were built in 1907, and all the grey works photos of Precursors I have found DO have steam heat pipes on the buffer beams. It was always my understanding that carriages did nor have any provision for steam heating until the 1910s, and often early pre-grouping engines were not equipped with heating equipment from new. If anyone is able to enlighten me about carriage heating on the LNWR I'd be grateful, or maybe the pipe I'm looking at on the buffer beam is for steam brakes or somrthing else? Next up was finishing the portion of the chassis frames sticking up above footplate at the front. The chassis isn't split at footplate level, as is often the case with kit locos. Micks design has an overlay for the outer face of the chassis frames attached to the footplate. These carry the rivet detail, and extend to the front beyond the smokebox front and valve chest. This creates repercussions with the width of the base of the smokebox. The Precursor is unusual in that the frames pass through the smokebox. I decided that the best course of action was to add the overlays, measure up and make custom smokeboxes. Here you can see the front of the loco after the frame overlays have been added. They extend down the insides of the water tanks and stop at the front of the firebox. I can't rule out having to chop the overlays short as they disappear behind the tanks, as I will need to close the water tanks soon, and there's an inner panel that needs to pass between the frame overlay and the back of the wheel. There may not be enough clearance, we will see! With the overlay in place I was able to take measurements and cut parts to make a pair of smokeboxes. I made the smokeboxes and cut away the bottom of the front and rear formers, and the bases, to form a structure that straddled the loco frames. The rivet detail was embossed before forming the parts, and the fake bolts added after. The fake fastners are from this German range https://ghw-modellbau.de/Home The etches for the smokebox in the kit didn't fit, as we've moved so far from the original kit design. I did entertain the idea of modifying them, as it would have avoided a lot of rivet embossing. The problem was that the front of the kit smokebox etch needed narrowing, and I would have lost the line of etched rivets near the bottom. Also I suspect the wrapper would have been too short. The kit boiler etch is just not viable. It was etched in 0.6 mm thick brass plate and is just too thick to manipulate. It also has half etched rebates to drop the boiler bands into. These are just wrong, and I used the boiler bands supplied as beading elsewhere. Into the bin-o'-shame. As a happy aside it turned out that my motorcycle needs sleeves to fit round the exhaust pipe headers as they pass inside the cylinder head castings. They need to be of copper/brass soft material of 0.6 mm thickness, so I have a supply of the correct material for the forseeable. Last job of the week was to cut out all the parts to make boilers. The formers are cut from 0.45 mm brass and the wrappers from 0.3 mm NS sheet. I managed to approximately form one and then ran out of hours in the working week. I sense I will have quite an annoying issue to overcome at the start of next week. The cab front has a boiler shaped former half etched onto it, and I can see that it is going to come into conflict with the boiler I have just made. I think the kit boiler is slightly too large, and mine is correct, and the stupid former will get in the way!! I should have made a bigger boiler and smokebox to overcome the issue, and not read and copied the stupid drawing.

Here's a few snaps of the (nearly) finished loco. Warren Haywood painted it.

I did get a very useful bag of lego from Mick Davies last week and installed it all on the model. Here's the toolboxes and water filler in the coal space. I put some lead sheets inside the bunker. They were painted in an etching primer first and glued in with epoxy resin. I painted the lead sheets first as one of the models is going to a hot tropical climate. The client is worried that the lead will corrode, but painting should prevent this. I closed the coal space with a sheet of brass and sealed round the edge with more epoxy resin. When I glue coal in the bunker I use a thin skim of real coal on the top of the bunker, held in place with acrylic varnish diluted with water. Sealing up the coal space prevents varnish running all over the model. You can see that I coloured-in the bunker in with a Sharpie. This is to check that there's no visible witness marks left over from filling the pre etched handrail holes with solder. This is the cab interior with all the structures in place. You can see the 3D printed front platform, what a time saver. The kit includes this backhead casting. Luckily Laurie Griffin does a good backhead set for large LNWR locos that fits very nicely. A worthwhile upgrade I think. Here's the finished cab. I also made some new cab roofs from 0.3 mm NS sheet, which is much more manageable than the 0.6 mm thick brass ones in the kit. They are detachable so you can marvel at the cab interior.

I began the next week of work on the locos by building the coal rails. The coal rails on the real thing look like they're made from half-round beading-type material. They're certainly not flat like the etchings for them in the kit. The kit etchings also have cusps that are inaccessible to all my files, and don't have the relief between the upstands and rails......and they don't quite fit either. Anyway they're now in my bits-box to be cut up and used elsewhere. The spacings on the drawings scaled out at 1.2 mm half round separated by 0.6 mm gaps. I soldered the upstands into the coal space. I used the water tank top etchings supplied (even though they were slightly too small,) and they have registration marks (possibly in the correct places, as I didn't check!) for the upstands. I laid 0.6 mm rods onto the beading and soldered on a layer of half round strips, made good, and moved upwards. It doesn't take as long as you'd imagine to do this, but you do have to check carefully that all is straight and square and parallel as you go. The corners were formed as each layer was completed. They look miles better than a crappy etch. The tool boxes and water fillers will hopefully arrive this week as 3D prints, and I'll be able to finish the coal spaces. Moving on to the cab. The cab front and rear just about scrape into the 'Acceptable' category. A big failing is that they have a row of etched rivets under the roof beading. The rivets should actually be ventilation holes, and, as there isn't enough budget to make new ones, I modified what I had. I had low expectations that the tank etchings for the inside of the cab would fit, as I have changed so much of the rest of the loco. However, they did without too much cutting. I had to reduce their width and cut away the front to accommodate the backhead casting. The white metal backhead casting in the kit looks like something that fell out of my worm-hole to the 1970s, with all the fittings and pipework pre-cast onto it. I'll melt it down for ballast, or donate it as a fishing weight. Luckily Laurie Griffin does a decent alternative, more about that next week. The cab sides in the kit are part of the tank sides etch. They're half etched onto the top of the tank sides, and the beading strip that you fit to the tank sides is recessed to accommodate it. The original etching doesn't portray the step between the tank and cab sides adequately, so I cut the cab sides off and made some better ones. The cab sides on the real loco look like they overlap with the inside of the tank sides by a couple of inches, and are held in place with a large long plate, hence the row of rivets on the bottom of the cab side. The cab roof etching in the kit is the correct size! But, it is etched in 0.6 mm thick brass (as is the rest of the kit.) This is a bit too thick to be able to form the subtle curves in the edge of the panel without a form-tool and an hydraulic press. I did at least use one of the roof etches. I used the material to cut out the roof ribs for the centre of the cab roof, absent from the kit. Anyway more cab roof forming next week. The last job of this week was making and fitting the cab and tank handrails. I made the taper in the handrails by spinning lengths of 0.8 mm NS rod in a mini drill and filing them on a block of wood. You soon wear a slot in the wood which helps greatly. The handrails are detachable, to make the painter's life easier, and sit in a cup on the footplate made from a short length of 1.0 mm thin walled tube. The holes pre-etched into the ends of the cab and bunker beading, for the tops of the handrails, had to be 'manipulated' to allow the handrails to have even spacing. This is always an issue on tank loco kits. The poor quality of the kit is starting to compromise the cost of building these models to a reasonable budget......as a lot of kits do. More making-good, scratchbuilding and general grumbling next week. I'll be finishing the cabs and having a massive moan about the awful etchings supplied, and 'pre rolled,' for the boilers.

I managed to get both chassis finished for Kettering and had one with me as show and tell. I added all the sand boxes, the operating rods for the sanders, reversing rod and the cylinder drain cocks. I also added a representation of the drag boxes. Reunited with the footplates, I set about making self contained buffers. The buffers in the kit were a bit too chunky for my liking, and the Slater's Cooke type buffers you can see lurking in the background of some of the above pictures were the later types. I had been chatting with Mick Davies about a 3D printed solution, and we hit on an idea to print stocks that could be slid over brass tube attached to the buffer beams and containing the buffer head mechanisms. I used the Slater's buffer heads in the Cooke sets. The buffer heads had to have a brass sleeve fitted over the shafts to fit the brass tube, and the brass tube had an end stop installed inside. This would have been much easier if I had a lathe, and could have turned some bespoke tubes. I think that this method will solve the issue of locating decent buffers, and problems with the badly cast and drilled stocks that some have. I tackled the body parts next. The tank sides and fronts are, in typical Meteor fashion, all one piece. Their front sections are designed to go all the way across the footplate, which of course they did not in real life. Luckily I was able to correct this. I had problems with the tabs not fitting in the slots properly, so had to run a 0.5 mm drill along the slots to give clearance. The bottoms of the tank sides were a bit wobbly, as I suspect they were hand drawn, and had to be adjusted. I also had problems with the bunker. It's designed to be folded into a U shape and the tabs dropped into the slots on the footplate. The fold lines on the etch were too narrow and a 90 deg bend wasn't possible. I had to force them slightly, so inevitably they splayed out a bit and the resulting U shape was too wide for the slots. I had to break one side off and fit separately, adjusting the width of the rear section to suit. Annoyingly, the bunker sides and back had pre etched holes for the handrails and steps that appeared in LMS years. I had to fill them all with solder and make good. It would have been better if there had only been dots on the rear to mark drilling positions if needed, but there you go..... The cab rear was too narrow to fit between the sides (!) so I had to solder thin strips to the front edges of the rear cab openings and file the width of the cab rear to fit. The water tank tops in the coal space were too small as well, but they'll ultimately be covered in coal, so I added strips to fill the gaps. To my complete surprise the beading etches for the tops of the water tanks and bunker fitted perfectly. I was just very lucky I suppose. The etches in this kit are just a bit poor in their execution, and have building standards from the 1980s when they were drawn. Things have moved on a bit since then, but I suspect that it would be possible to build something resembling a Precursor using them as intended. Luckily the etches have generous spacing on the panels, which leaves loads of metal for cutting out replacement pieces. Cab interiors etc next.

Here it is back from paint. The rods are black as it is going to Neil Podbery. He'll be throwing mud and grease at it! When he's finished weathering it, the loco will be going straight to it's owner, so this will be the last I see of it.

Hi Tony I'll bring it along to watch steam come out of his ears. I'll be sharing a stall with Warren H. Nick

It has been about Joy valve gear most of this week. I assembled all the Mick Davies etchings which went together without much trauma. The LGM castings were a different kettle of fish. The reversing shaft had different centres from the cylinders, so needed to be narrowed (shortened?) I did this by drilling through the middle of the joining shaft to allow a rod to be inserted for alignment. Then I could cut out as much as required from the joining shaft. The quadrant blocks needed a lot of fettling before they'd fit inside the reversing shaft, then both guides needed to be widened to accept the lifting links. Quite a lot of modification, but the castings were generic parts, so it was to be expected. I had to make bearings to fit into the 'holes' in the ends of the reversing shafts, the bearings support the outer shafts. I had to massively thin the cast trunnion blocks so that it they would support the reversing shaft inside the frames. After a few days of cutting, fettling and fabricating, I assembled the motion and it worked perfectly first time. I was very smug for several hours. You certainly get more bang-for-your-buck than with Stephenson Link or Walschearts. The rest of the week was spent fabricating brake components from the etches, and fitting Lego to the chassis (a nice easy job for a friday.) Next week will be taken up with reassembling the Stirling Single and GWR 155, which I am expecting back from paint.

The cylinder blocks were a doddle to fit. They just needed a smidge off the sacrificial layers round the sides. The slide bar castings from Laurie Griffin needed a fair bit of fettling and a lot of straightening and realignment. A bit of patience paid off though. I also made the connecting rods supplied as etches from Mick D. The 3D printed cylinder block is pinned in place with brass rods, and glued to the frame with epoxy. The crank castings needed a fair bit of fettling and straightening too. Maybe it's time for some new moulds for the waxes? The crank axle was held in position in the photo shown below. The crankpins on the wheels fall on the points of the square bosses on the axle ends. This means that the crank casting could be carefully measured and positioned for soldering. Usually the crank webs are an interference fit on the axle and will be a push fit for soldering. These were a sliding fit so needed some clamping. The crank castings were soldered one at a time, and then the axle cut and loads of cleaning up carried out. I use electrical solder and Baker's flux. The anchor points for the anchor rod were fixed to the lower slidebars, as were oil pots to the uppers. The rest of the day was taken up with making valve gear rods from the etches Mick produced. The valve gear comprises etched parts and Laurie Griffin castings. I don't hold out much hope for the castings, as they are a generic set and I have concerns that they won't mate with the etched parts copied from the GA. We will see, when work recommences on monday!

If you need some extra Z drawings and info have a look on my flickr albums page, There's loads of stuff there. https://www.flickr.com/photos/144381574@N05/albums/

The etches for the correct length coupling rods arrived and were quickly assembled. This unlocked loads of back tracking, and I was able to assemble a working chassis. In this pic the axle boxes have been located using the coupling rods as jigs. I cut out the etched holes for top hat bearings, such that a Slater's brass axlebox (available separately) slide loosely in the frames. The frames in this photo had no etched holes for bearings, just gaps to fit the square axleboxes. The square axleboxes are popped in the frames using a jury axle and spring to hold them (brace the chassis with scrap strip if it starts to bow out.) Use the screws in the height adjusters to get the axleboxes in the same positions, it doesn't have to be the correct ride height, just close. One of the axles has 1.5 x 1.5 mm brass angle soldered in place to locate them square to the frame, use a datum point of some type to put them in the correct place. The rods will then place the second axle in a position with the same centres. I use this method every time and it works perfectly, without the need for an expensive chassis jig. It always results in a freely running chassis. If you want to see me doing it in real time check out this video on the GOG's YouTube channel. Michael Davies sent his 3D Lego elves to my house with a big bag of parts, and I was able to complete the front bogies. I quickly had a running chassis with both bogie and radial truck instaled. The bogie has compensation on the rear axle and side control. I concocted a cross beam with two height adjusting screws for the radial truck. Each screw has a small spring over it which prevents the wheels from leaving the rail. To my surprise the whole thing went round a 6' rad curve with only very minor easing. I was surprised because the loco is very long and there is a battle between the radial truck and bogie to see which is forced to swing further. The radial truck always wins though, as it's wheels cannot pass under the chassis frames. A delve further into the Lego set yeilded a pair of ashpan prints. These were lightly modified to fit my choice of pickups and motor/gearbox. I was quickly able to have a pair of chassis motoring along my test track under their own power. I fitted Slater's SG29 units. Tomorrow I'm going to install 3D cylinder blocks, and begin the process of making Joy valve gear. I haven't made a set of Joy rods for ages, so am looking forward to that.

It's a game of two halves. The chassis construction has been very straightforward, resulting in a highly detailed chassis, with all the brackets, gussets etc in the right place. I have taken steps to mate the chassis to the footplate. Obviously I moved away from the basic kit design so a lot of cutting was required......but it did fit quite well. The buffer beams are part of the footplate etch, and designed to be folded down into position with an overlay on the front. The buffer beams, however, are too narrow. They are etched the same width as the footplate and they should be around 0.4 mm wider. I made new ones. The LNWR had a distinctive way of attaching the buffer beam. The underside edge of the footplate is rebated to accept half the thickness of the buffer beam. This gives a distinctive step in the join. I was able to replicate this with the new beams. I also made the radial truck and bogies from the Mick Davies etchings. The bogies need a couple of 3D printed springs to complete. I had a couple of issues with the etches in the kit for the tank and cab sides. The kit etches had the cab sides half etched onto the top of the tank sides. For some reason (poor design) it was impossible to attach the beading etch to the tank sides. The tank top beading etch wouldn't seat in a straight line without cutting off the cab side and rebating the tank side to accept it. I took the 'opportunity' to make some new cab sides, and fitted them with a more appropriate beading etch. The tank front part of the etch is continuous across the footplate of the loco. Of course the tank fronts butt up to the chassis on the real locos, so the kit etches had to be modified to suit the new prototypical chassis. The bunker is formed from one etch that folds to represent the sides and rear. It has pre etched holes for steps and handrail knobs that aren't present on my models, so a bit of filling was required. The last job of the week was to offer the bunker up to the footplate, and (d'oh) the rear was too wide and the tabs didn't fit in the slots. Luckily it was knocking off time for the week so I'll tackle that problem on monday morning. As an aside the kit is etched on 0.6 mm thick brass, for added strength I assume. Unfortunately all the slots are etched at 0.45 mm width, so the tabs are too thick to go in them. Also the etched fold lines on tank and bunker are too narrow to achieve a 90 degree bend without some encouragement. The kit is showing it's age these days, but I'm pretty sure what's there will form the basis of a good model with the incorporation of the newly designed chassis, and some work-arounds. It's the return of the 'Bin-o'-Shame!'