greenglade

Well, it didn't take me long to clean up the tender, I also put some oil in the axleboxes while I was at it. I have now put the tender and loco together and have to say that I'm very pleased with how she's looking, I'm also very pleased with the model size when compared to full size. A few details: Length is currently 6' 3 3/4", this will increase a little once I have fitted the coupling pin, for now, I have just placed them roughly together. I know it's out a little as I can tell from looking at the distance between cab and tender in a 1928 full-size photo which I'll share in this update today, the photo used is the only one that came easy to hand that is side on for comparison. a few things changed by 1939 but not the overall dimensions, just small details although the cab side sheets are much higher to match the tender and protect the crew in the new high bucket seats (fitted circa 1935) in 1939 and of course far less polished steel components. Height is 14 3/8" or 364 mm, full size scaled-down equates to 359 mm which shows the model is close to being spot on, remember she has a fair bit more weight to add and the springs are not set yet, more importantly the measurement was taken with her sitting on her flanges, full size sitting on the rails comes in at 13' 4" which when scaled down and converted to metric comes in at approx 359 mm, good enough for me.. width is approx 9 1/2". Ok, so on to the photo's, here's the full size, note that I have flipped this image so it's pointing in the same direction as the model. It's also taken at a lower angle but i think it shows what I'm trying to portray. And the model, of course, we have a high sided tender in place of the early corridor type fitted in 1928 but they are similar in overall design. A view from the back... A few close-ups, cab looking to the tender Cab, looking at the backhead... looking forward from the firebox... To conclude, the obligatory 3/4 view from the front... Now I best get on and do some more work on her, thanks for looking in chaps/chapesses... Pete

I have a few more photos than usual for today although perhaps not so much to write up as it's just me getting things ready for next week. There are a few bits that would classify as progress though. First up is some drilling into the boiler foundation ring, when I gave Paul details of what was needed for the ashpan I had only asked for tapped holes for the drop grate bearing block on one side, clearly, I wasn't thinking straight...lol. The first picture shows the foundation rings as done by Paul, note the two extra holes down one side, these, of course, needed to be on both. After checking with Paul for a safe depth to drill, I marked out and drilled tapped the two missing 3mm mounting holes. While in this area I thought that I'd check the grate for size and also the position of the drop grate in relation to the planned bearing blocks to be mounted, looking good so far. talking of the grate, I bought this some years ago as I collected all of the castings required, having spoken to other builders of this design I'm informed that the cast grate only has a few years life in it before needing a replacement. Due to the considerable work involved to do this I may just use the cast as a pattern and weld up some wedged stainless steel bar, I'll probably look at this when I make a start on the ashpan. Having now fitted all of the running boards and associated parts it was time to re-fit the boiler and this time get it sitting level on both axis, last time it was twisted slightly which didn't matter for what I was doing but does now, some may have noticed in the smokebox interior picture the amount of twist involved. I made good use of the hoist to easily lift the boiler up to the frames and carefully slide it into the smokebox, this was a piece of cake in comparison to doing it all by hand last time. Now, I had planned to secure the rear of the boiler how I had described previously but seems I got my measurements a little out, looks about 5mm so perhaps I measured off the wrong digit on the rule? No big deal, I've noted it down and will drill 3 new holes in their correct positions when everything is taken apart again after next weeks event. To get enough height I used the lifting bar to just lift the rear of the loco, if the holes had been in their correct positions it would have been a very easy task to secure the boiler as planned. Such is life... As I was fitting the boiler properly for the first time (as this time the cab would be bolted into place), I did a few checks of the clearance that I had around the various close spots both front and rear. First was the middle cylinder steam connector to see that it wasn't impeding the boiler when entering the smokebox, I hope the picture speaks for itself. This picture may be a little difficult on the eyes, the point to note is the rear foundation ring is sitting squarely onto the rear stay, beforehand it was up one side which was due to it being slightly twisted in the smokebox. For those not sure the art to look at is in focus in the middle of the image. And here we see how close things are around the firebox sides, there is about 1mm clearance either side from the boiler stay outriggers, a damn good fit, thank's to Paul... To show that the boiler is no longer twisted, here's a view inside the smokebox...I tried to take this as square on as I could but alas the hoist pole stops me from doing so, I got reasonably close though. The cab has now been bolted in place for the first time with the boiler fitted, to answer any questions on the gap between boiler and cab, from what I can ascertain from the photo's, the cladding stops at the spectacle plate. There will be a right-angled strip that goes around this joint as per prototype, it will be some time in the future before this is tackled. I also took the opportunity to check for the first time the fit of the brass trims around the splashers, looks pretty good, I have only tacked this on with some masking tape, once the loco is properly painted and lined these will be bonded in place. AFAIK these are unique to 4472 along also with her polished rims for a pacific, I do believe that Cock of the North had polished rims too although stand to be corrected if I have this wrong. A couple of photos to show the general appearance, I'm really beginning to hate the state of the paintwork but see no point in repainting until near completion, I'll just have to hate it quietly and live with it for now... First up looking down it's length, I have now replaced the smokebox 'O' ring for a black silicon version. Lastly, a front 3/4 view, although she's getting very heavy, what is nice is that now all of the wheels are loaded she does roll very nicely, if I can get anyone to help I'll try to get some video of her, perhaps at Bob's do next week. Tomorrow I'll make a start on preparing the tender, if I can do so safely, I may even couple it to the loco, it will be the first time since the boiler has been in play, would be nice to see how it looks... Pete

good evening all I've been a bit quiet of late due to doing other things and due to it being too damn hot in the workshop. I now need to pull my finger out if wanting to get 4472 looking presentable for Bob's memorial. The weather isn't looking too good just now for the week with the 7th but hopefully, the rain will stay away for that day. I left off last time with the work being done on the steam covers, these are now closer to being finished and have a coat of etch primer on them. Work still to do will be the outlets for the oil pipes that enter the rear of the cab side of the covers to connect to the outer steam pipes, I'll leave this until the steam pipes are made so that I can make as small an opening as possible for the oil pipe to enter the cover. I only have the one picture for today which shows that I'm reassembling the various parts ready for the big day, everything is being cleaned with a cloth damped in Wd40 and then dried, it's doing a good job of getting the muck and metal dust off. I mentioned about being in two minds of whether to repaint the running boards/smokebox for the 7th. I have decided not to do so for the reasons given before. What I will do from now on is give each new part a coat of primer, you will see in the picture that the steam cover and the step near the firebox have been painted so. Parts put back on so far are of course the L/H running boards, the curved support for the front running board L/H side, the gravity sandbox backplate (just to the rear of the cylinder) and the centre lower running board. The picture should help show this. Next job will be to lift the model, turn her around and do the same to the other side and to touch in all marks sustained on the frames, I hope to show this in the next couple of days and perhaps even put the boiler back on, this time bolting it down by the rear support that I gave details on a week or two ago. Oh and I mentioned that I will be changing the bolts that mount the cover to the smokebox for smaller 1mm threads. The 5 holes, 4 can just be seen in the picture will have practical bolts with 1.5mm heads rather than the solitary middle bolt seen now that has a 2mm head, I will also add dummies between each to bring the amount of bolts closer to the prototype. I have also slightly changed the profile to match it closer to the prototype, nothing but a little filing to take care of it. Thanks for looking in all Pete

Evening all, just one picture for tonight. I'm basically trying to tie up a few loose ends before this year's Memorial to Bob Todd in just under 3 weeks time and as mentioned in the last update my first job is to finish off the outside steam covers and mount them to the smokebox/running boards. I'm nearly there with the right-hand side as can be seen in tonight's solitary photo. All of the tapped 1.4mm holes in both the smokebox and running boards went without mishap, I am happy with the fit of the bolt heads along the bottom flange but think the flange around the smokebox could do with slightly smaller heads, the next size down 1.2mm has the same size head so think I'll give the 1mm bolts a try, of course, I'll need nuts too as the holes are already tapped for the larger size, no big deal. Due to the harsh environment within the smokebox, these will be sacrificial bolts during maintenance, they are only tin-plated brass and therefore easy to snap/remove. Now that I have got this far I can see that I'll be able to leave the covers attached to the running boards and remove the whole running board assembly as a single piece including the steam covers once the various bolts have been removed. The number of bolts involved has changed a little, I will be adding the cover's 10 bolts (five a side) plus the two 8 BA each side that bolt through the valance into the cylinders. These can be seen in the photo, they are overlength and thus not fully tightened as I just used them to hold the running board in it's correct position for mounting the cover flanges, you will also see one of the screws which hold the upper board to the lower which is only located and not fully screwed down. I will also remove a few bolts from the equation which will help balance things out a little, the top bolts that go through the splasher ends into the various supports will now be dummy as having now test fitted the boiler I can see that getting to these bolts and not damaging the paintwork will be very risky. I will modify these so that the screw threads into the running board but not the support rig below, being cut flush. If the splashers ever need removing the running board will be removed first to do so as was always the plan. Tomorrow I'll get the other side to the same stage, once that's done I have some final finishing work to do to the covers and then perhaps get them into an etch primer. I'm still in two minds whether to repaint all the top blackwork before she's displayed, I may just leave it as-is for now as I'll only end up repainting it again nearer completion due to the work that's still to do. I'll probably touch in the marks on the frames and leave it at that, famous last words... More soon all... Pete

Good morning all, this is the first of many fittings, for those following me on FB, I'll put all into the same album, steam, oil, sand and vacuum as they will invariably cross over. To begin with, I have the middle cylinder steam connector which includes the oil way connection from the lubricator, you see, I've crossed over already... I am doing my own thing here, nothing wrong with Don's which is basically made up from 5/8 hex brass with a boss for the oilway and a 15-degree kink to line up with the steam header as shown here. You'll note in Don's drawing that the 15-degree kink points directly forward, I'm going to bring the steam pipe closer to the smoke tube wall curving around it as on the full size, I'm also going to try and make all 3 steam pipes of the same length rather than the middle being shorter. For no other reason than it seems a better set up in my own head, I'm sure some clever chap/chapess will tell me otherwise if wrong... Here's the beginning partly machined, this PB102 bar will make both parts once it's cut to length and angled. The thread is 1/2" x 32 TPI and the bore is 5/16th or 0.312, the steam pipes themselves will be 3/8 OD x 22swg giving a bore of 0.325 so they are very close to each other to help with flow. The machined step is to give a smaller gap to seal in the saddle hole for a suitable sealant to do its job. I don't need to worry about the exhaust as they are massive being internally cast, the blast pipe setup drawn by Don is 3/4 OD, I'll use a similar bore but follow closer to full size in the shape rather than use commercial copper elbows as suggested/drawn by Don. Once cleaned up, I screwed the part into the cylinder doing it up tightly using mull grips on the unmachined part that had been held in the chuck. Not seen here but I then marked where the oil way would be and also the direction I planned for the kink to follow using a white marker pen. We now have the two parts that make up the connector, you can now see the white marks mentioned before. Note the small lip on the larger section. I then moved on to the tilting vice and set it at 10 degree's using my digital angle scale. Thus giving me a 20 degree kink once both parts had been machined, the angle was decided on by my wish to direct the steam pipe to the side and around the smokebox and also taking into account that once fitted I did not want to have to remove this connector again once in operation, I'll explain that in a minute. You'll see that I have left a small step with most of the lip now gone, this is to help me line the bore up and get the kink in the correct direction for silver soldering together, I also made a small recess in the top section for the lip to fit into, alas I forgot to take a picture of this. The lip seen had some material removed as it was a little high. To finish the machining of the bottom section, I first drilled/tapped 3/16 x 40 TPI where the white dot had been and then machined a flat for the oilway connector to seal against. The last job was to machine 4 flats at 90 degrees allowing a 14mm spanner to be able to tighten the connector to the cylinder. And here's the finished parts ready for heating, I have temporarily fitted the oilway connector to check things are as planned. The small gap is where the step is, showing the rear side of the kink. I had one more job to do before silver soldering the parts and that was to file a small chamfer around the join to get better penetration. Here we have the connector finished and fitted into the cylinder, on final assembly I'll use a thread sealant on both the steam and oil connections as they are unlikely to need removing except for a major overhaul. Lastly, a picture showing the smokebox back in situ, The kink is shallow and clear of the smokebox tube/saddle, this is so that I can remove the entire boiler/smokebox and saddle as one piece without disturbing any of the oilway connections to the 3 cylinders. It also removes the problem of trying to reach the far corner of the saddle when all of the other parts are within, plus the modified routing of the middle steam pipe gives me better access to the fire tubes for cleaning after steaming, all little things that I'm trying to take into consideration as I progress with the build. Today I have received the tiny 1.4mm bolts for the outside steam covers plus a tap set for cutting the threads into the smokebox, I will drill the tapping holes oversize to hopefully make things a little easier when tapping such small holes into stainless steel, wish me luck... More soon all... Pete

Afternoon all, for this update I actually have some work done to the model rather than that boring stuff on the lifting rig, however, I have one last photo to share and that shows the middle 'D' shackle now fitted. Having got the model balanced I think that I'll add a further 'D' shackle in the middle using both to lift with. This will do two things, it will mean there's a second shackle to share the weight adding extra safety but also it will make the balance of the model more stable. Currently, to get her level I have added some chain on the rear, the balance point is going to change each time I add more to the model, I suspect that the front will gain far more than the rear but I have a number of holes for the centre pivot which I can play around with and a second shackle would add diagonals to the setup which will be much more stable. The picture shows the current state of play, for now, you'll also note that I have increased the gap between the model and the lifting beam. I plan to wrap the beam in foam and also cover the lifting chains to protect the paintwork once it's done. Finally, back onto the build, I have taken a look at a way to secure the rear of the boiler, this is something that is omitted from some designs including 'Doncaster' relying on the weight of the boiler alone, I'd prefer to have a little support and have done so. This picture is taken from under the firebox looking forward, the stay immediately in front is the boiler stay, from what I can see on the full size the top of this stay has a wooden strip for the boiler to sit on? not sure how long this would last on a model if indeed it is wood? I had thought that the 3mm tapped holes that Paul kindly drilled into the foundation ring for me would be directly under the square holes in the stay, this was just a guess, there was no way of knowing at the time if this would work or not, clearly the boiler sits a little further back than I had thought, but it's not an issue, I have made a plate to fit. Here's the bracket, the holes have 35mm spacings to match the ones in the foundation ring, I gave this dimension to Paul which fits well. The spacing between the two rows works out at 18mm. The 3 mm slot head screws will be replaced with capped socket head screws later like the larger 5mm bolts used to go through the boiler stay. IIRC the steel plate is 1/16th thick which gives room for some form of rubbing strip if I decided it's needed. As the squares in the boiler stay are larger than the bolts going through them, this will allow for the boiler to expand a little during steaming, these bolts won't be fully tightened to allow for said movement and held in position with some thread sealant. This may change a little once everything is assembled but gives the general idea of what I'm thinking The bracket fitted to the boiler... I made good use of the hoist to lift the boiler off and lower it to the floor for me to fit the bracket. I only used one sling, using my other hand to balance the boiler, I did this as I didn't want to put any stress on the smokebox which is still attached. When all of the smokebox internals are finished I hope to be able to seal the boiler to the smokebox with heat resistant silicon and from then onwards leaving the smokebox attached to the boiler for all further boiler lifts. My next job will be to make the steam connection pipe for the middle cylinder, this requires me to cut away a little of the smokebox shell as can be seen in the next picture... Once that has been done I then need to machine an opening through the rear of the saddle for the oil supply to the middle cylinder which 'T's into the steam connection pipe.. the white marks give a rough idea of where this needs to be. When making the connector I need to bear in mind the height of the oil pipe 'T' so that it can pass through the opening,. IIRC the drawings show a section removed for the saddle for it to fit over the connector and the oil pipe. Hopefully, that gives you folks some idea of what I'm up to next, after that, I think I may have to tidy things up a bit before the first week in August gets here so that she looks good enough to display, fingers crossed I have enough time... Pete

Thank you Richard On to the final stages of building the lifting rig, there is still one more thing to do, hopefully, the last part will be here before the weekend. I think that I mentioned that I wanted to have the support arm fitted higher to give me more lifting height, the tube being just a little too short to give me enough tube above the fitting to mount the bracket. This is the area concerned... I could have replaced the verticle tube for a longer one but that would have meant going to pick it up and dismantling everything that had been done so far, so I went for a (lazy) internal joiner and cut approx 2 inches of one of the cross tubes which was doing nothing. Here's the joiner and tube, the joiner halves are pushed out against the sides by the Allen bolt when tightened. And here we have the bracket and support arm refitted, this change gives me approx another 5 inches in height. I have also added two check strap points to stop any tilt of the model when swinging it out off the bench, I haven't done the mounting points to the beam yet, these will be done at the same time as the last 10mm D shackle is fitted. I'll probably use a couple of small D shackles either end for this. The top of the chains are held by snap hooks, the plan is I can reduce the length to suit whichever height the model has been raised too by placing a chain link through the snaphook which is more suitable leaving the excess chain hanging. I now have 7 inches under the model, once the last D shackle is fitted and the chain is no longer needed I'll gain approx another 5 inches, I think 12 inches is more than enough for me to do what's needed underneath, especially as if I need more I only need to swing the model out a little to the edge of the bench. I am very happy with the rig and feel that the model is very safe while suspended, I just need to make sure I don't do anything silly like what I did today when lowering the model back onto the bench and forgetting that the rear check strap chain was still slipped over the D shackle pin thus holding the rear up. I tell you what, the loco springs work very well, it had less than an inch left to go but makes you realise that you need to check and double check everything that's new to the normal routine. Lesson learned.. I then turned my attention back to the grab hooks on the rear, I wasn't entirely happy with the fit, it was secure enough but the knuckle which the chain is attached too was rubbing against the rear of the cab floor. Not a problem now as the cab is going to be repainted but it would be once finished, also the curve of the hook was too large for my liking and so I have changed things a little. The picture shows the original (unmodified) snap hook on the right and one that I have closed up the hook to bring the straight upright part closer to the model, this now means that the tip of the hook is up against the drag beam inner lower lip and thus far better engaged, it also means that the knuckle which is now higher is now clear of the cab floor. This picture shows the difference between the two hooks, I have also now smoothed off the cut ends. And just for fun, I took a picture from under the model, I won't be doing any real work under here until I have made up some working stands to slide under the model for safety. one thing that I could look at while the model was suspended was to see what is needed to mount the boiler to the boiler stay which sits just forward of the front foundation ring. Looks like it will be a simple bracket which can be bolted through the stay, this will probably be my next job before removing the boiler to continue with other parts. Thanks for looking in guys... Pete

I received more parts today, the steel beam and 2 of the wide 10mm 'D' shackles... I only ordered 2 originally, the other should be here tomorrow, clearly not wearing my thinking cap properly... So this gives me the parts to make the beam, just not the centre lift point, I made a temp for now just to work out the weight distribution. I have to say that the weight of the beam box section surprised me, it's very much up to the job in hand... This picture gives an overall look of what's what. I have used some chain and a snap hook just to get an idea of the midpoint balance wise. The beam is slightly twisted due to the chain being wrapped around the beam not lifting fully centrally, this won't happen once the 3rd 'D' shackle is fitted in it's place, don't worry I won't be fully lifting the loco using the chain, it will be gone tomorrow. BTW this is probably the limit with which these snap hooks will take, well at least the spring loaded type which you can see on the bench. It lifted the weight but was very slightly opening, thus it was quickly exchanged for a screw type hook. This will not be a problem when the last 'D' shackle is fitted (there will be no need for snap-hooks) which is rated for over 4000kgs as are the shackles each end. While testing for balance I took a picture of either end, here's the rear showing the grab hooks lifting the dragbox. There is a lip here which stops the hook from being able to slip out, once loaded with weight it isn't going anywhere. Lastly, a picture giving a better view of the parts that make up this rig, as you can see I've gone a little OTT in regards to load capacity, better safe than sorry I say. There is no real weak link in the rig but if you wanted one it would probably be the small 5mm 'D' shackles which fit through the prototypical lifting holes in the frames... these can only hold 1600kg each.. each corner makes that 6400kgs...I think the steel beam will buckle before anything here has a problem... Pete

Not as such, the hoist fitted can now do all of the lifting...I need to buy a trolley now to move the loco from workshop through the house to the car/van for transporting..I'm going to buy a garden trolly with drop down sides, this can hold up to 300kg so more than up to the job and has 10 inch pneumactic tyres which will cope with steps and uneven surface down the garden. I just need to get some steel to make a length of rail in a cage for securing loco to cage and cage to van floor.. We have one of those engine hoists, it would never get thtoigh the garden/house...:) Cheers Pete

Afternoon all I'm still playing around with the lifting jig, I want to get this sorted before getting on with the loco. BTW, I hope (if I can sort transport) to have the model at my club (NLSME) on both the 3rd and 7th of August, the 7th is this year's Bob todd memorial day to which I recently received my invite.If anyone wants to pop along, give me a shout and I'll keep an eye open for strangers.. So once the rig is sorted, that gives me a couple of weeks to get the model presentable and transport to move it, I would like to get the smokebox and running boards painted but not sure if this is possible, I'm not going to do what I did last year and just throw some paint on them for the day. I also need to source the trolley required to move the model from the workshop to the front of the house, so I do have a number of logistical problems to sort but fingers crossed I'll get there. Anyway, today I made up the 4 lifting chains and the hooks to grab the drag box. For the hook, I have used two snap hooks with the small end encased for more security and a stronger hold, these have been cut to give me the 'hook'. Here's the snap hooks, one before modification and the other ready for use. I have tested the hook and it holds the drag box very securely... Here are the 4 chains all ready for the first lift, the rears are longer for them to get under the drag box, all being well things should work out level when fitted to the support beam which won't be here till the end of the week. Just one of these chains would easily hold the weight of the entire loco, the 4 together will hold a good few thousand kgs. And I have now used the hoist in anger for the first time, only to lift the front but it was very easy for me to remount the front bogie which I had forgotten about when lifting her before. The other parts for the rig will be here over the next few days, once here I'll assemble everything and do a full lift, should be fun......I hope?... Pete

Yes... you can't really see in the picture but the wheels still turned, the sling is under the trailing axle, I did check that there was no pressure where it wasn't wanted. This was just a test of the rig, the loco won't be lifted like this under normal circumstances. I will use the slings to lift the boiler and chassis separately, but there will be a spreader bar between them so the slings are always vertical. The bite was purely due to not having slings of the correct length for the height of the arm and even then I could only lift by a few inches. I'll make a proper lifting rig when I can...:) Pete

Hi guys, to answer some of the questions on other forums re how the model will be lifted, I'll show this... I can't find a better picture but this is how I'll lift the model. There'll be a cross piece along the length of the loco between the chains to spread them to the correct distance apart.. hope that answers some questions... Pete

Today the strops and snap hooks arrived in the post so I 'bit the bullet' and tried a lift. First up is I need strops in between the 1.5 and 1 mtr lengths that I now have, if such a thing exists? The smaller slings are ideal for lifting the boiler off the chassis or chassis alone but too short to lift the loco with the boiler fitted and the 1.5 mtr slings are just too long. I also bought a swivel to allow me to turn the model without putting any stress on the wire but it's too small to fit over the hook so I'll need to get something larger, I was trying to keep the sizes small to not lose too much height, the snap hooks barely fit. As I mentioned a while back I will make up a lifting cradle for when the model is finished as I need to keep any pressure away from paintwork, running boards and motion parts. However, for this stage of the build, the strops will work, more so with the boiler off. The first picture shows the initial 'heart in hand' lift off the bench moment, I could play with the joining strop to balance things better but this was only a test of the weight. I have had to use one of the 1.5mtr slings to join the two smaller as I don't have the height to lift with the longer and nor can I get a hook into both of the shorter slings, hope that makes sense. Here, I'm feeling very brave or is that stupid, I'll let you guys decide which and have swung the model out away from the bench, I won't swing it out all the way and lower it until i have another pair of strong hands nearby just in case of any problems. Oh, you may notice the angle of the front bogie, this is because I don't currently have any bolts holding it to the frames as they are shared with the cylinders which I still need to work on I won't lift the model like this as things progress, I'll make up a cradle with outriggers that has 4 chains hanging from it. The two at the front will have 'D' shackles to fit the prototypical lifting holes in the frames, the rears will have large hooks that grab under the drag beam, all as per full size. The cab roof section will be removed for each lift which as you guys will know is what the hatch is there for as per the prototype, not just for my big hands to get at the controls... I don't need to worry about this rig just yet but will need it for when the running boards are re-fitted. In the meantime, I will see if I can find some more suitably lengthened slings. Pete

Haha...but I did have my new lifting rig to hold on to....:)

Evening all I've been busy but not much metal cut, I have been ordering various bits and pieces over the last week while doing a little more research into what materials I need. I have on order a variety of stainless threaded rod in metric, from 1.6mm up to 4 mm, this is for the studding that needs to be cut and fitted to the boiler. Hopefully, I've ordered enough to cover the dome, ashpan and the drop grate mech and backhead bushes, all M3, M4 for the wet header, M2/2.5 for the regulator and M1.6 for the steam valves, plus lots of nuts to fit. I have also ordered some 1 ton strops, both 1 mtr and 1.5 mtr lengths. In as far as cutting metal is concerned, I have made a start on the steps either side of the firebox. The tread on these is different to elsewhere on the loco being a series of raised dashes which I have tried to replicate although the spacing and amount of lines is slightly less, I have used what I had to hand which was a 2mm endmill and given it spacing of 2.5mm leaving 0.5mm raised pattern, I'll show that in a minute. Here's the full size, it's pretty worn as are most of the tread plates on the loco today, the cab steps having lost most of their rivets/weld spots as mentioned previously. I began with some 16mm square steel tube, machining two pieces to length and square, here I have just finished the first stage. Next job was to cut into the rears a semi-circle (10mm) concave to give me the beginnings of the shape required. I used a stop to get both the same size. I then marked out where I needed to cut to give me the 'U' channel required, I did this with a cutting disk on the Dremel, which then went 'bang' and threw the RCD. The Dremel hasn't been right for some time with the vario vac packing up some weeks back, guess I need a new one now..lol Before machining the tread plate and silver soldering it to the frame I first drilled two mounting holes for 8BA. The full size has the holes diagonally but this would give me issues drilling through the running boards as the 'right-angle' brass is under where the second hole would go. I decided to drill both on the outside edge making life a little easier, especially if I need to remove the step for any reason as the two bolts will be easily assessable from the side. Once I decided on where to place the step I cut a length of paper which was clamped to the running board where it meets the cab floor, the idea being that once marked I can use this to get the step on the other side in the same position. With each step clamped I drilled through the frame 1.8mm holes and then opened them up to 2.3mm for the bolts to clear. with this done I could then tap the frames 8BA. Then on to the tread itself, for this, I held a length of steel slightly wider than the brackets and machined the tread using a 2 mm cutter and as stated earlier with 2.5 mm spacings, the cut is approx 0.5mm deep, the cross pattern I did randomly. next up was to cut the treads roughly to length and silver solder them to their frames. I then set each in the machine vice and machined both square and to the same size. I called it a night at that but tested the fit before closing up the workshop, jobs left to do is to file the under body to match the curve of the running board, it's not far off, just needs a little tweeking. I also need to finish the concave cutout and front edge with a little filing to match the prototype. Anyway, here's a view from the side... And lastly from above... once I've filed down the underbody a little the step will sit slightly lower and lose most of the curve from the square tube, that will be in the next update... Pete

Good afternoon all Continuing on with the outside steam pipe covers but first I'll include a picture that I already posted elsewhere to show the planned rig for lifting the loco. I've included it here as it may be of use to others (if it works.. ). So the first picture is to show said rig, it comprises 1x 7' tube, 2 x 4' tubes and 1 x 2' tube, all 48 mm dia steel. Fitting are, 4 minge clips, 2 swivels, 1 90 degree, 1 wall mount and 1 floor plate. This is rock solid, I can swing from it without any movement although before I lift the loco I'll borrow something heavier to test it, we have an old car engine in the other workshop, that should do. I'll explain the other components and their operation once they have been delivered, which consist of a 180-degree arc support arm capable of lifting 600kg and a small electric hoist capable of lifting 200 kg, both more than enough for the job in hand. here's the rig assembled... On to the covers, a bit later than I hoped as I had other things requiring my attention but now mostly finished. I should have taken this picture from underneath, basically, the cover is held around the former to have the rear section cut to profile using a tool clamp and some oak strips to protect the cover. Here's a front view to show both covers now cut to fit, please ignore what looks like bad fitting running boards, they aren't bolted down, just sitting there. A close up of the right-hand cover before fitting the flanges... The flanges are made from two different thicknesses of brass sheet with the base flange being twice the thickness for rigidity during making although this was later sanded down to make it closer to the other flange. I'm afraid I've forgotten the two sizes used, I can measure the sheet later if anyone wants to know, I would guess that they are 0.8 and 0.4 mm . I cut them into oversized sections and drilled a number of holes in them to make it easier to cut out the middle later. I left the middle section for now to avoid the sides of the flange being pulled in during the soldering process. Here's the first cover after the first heat, I then brushed on more bakers fluid inside and out and reheated to get a nicely flowed fillet both sides of the cover, I mean both outer and inner faces. Here we have both covers ready for the next stage of shaping the flanges. The thinner brass was tinned first before soldering to the cover, I wasn't too bothered as to the alignment of these sheets as they are both oversize for final shaping. Shaping was done by hand using both the belt sander and hand files, the inner sections were cut out using a Dremel cutting disc and sanding drum. I tried to take a picture from the top but it's probably not very clear, it's just to show that both covers are now finished (and opposite each other although only pushed roughly into place) except for the drilling of the flanges which I'll do once I've decided on the size of bolts. I would like to go smaller than 12 BA hex (10BA with smaller head) but not sure if there is anything smaller out there and if there is, whether I'll be able to drill/tap the mounting holes easily. The running boards would be ok, it's the stainless smokebox which might prove a little problematic, it will be bad enough with 10/12BA. Lastly, a close up of the right-hand cover, the flanges should be just a tad smaller but I have left them for now until deciding on suitable bolts, if it's 10BA (smaller head) they will probably need to remain close to how they are, we shall see. There are a few small dinks from the heating/hammering process which will be filled/filed down before painting. Oh , and I will of course need to drill the oilway holes and whatever else full size has going through these covers. Thanks for looking in guys... Pete NB: seem to have a gremlin in the pictures... no idea why...

So onto the outside steam pipe covers, I'm sure glad that I'm posting more regularly as tonight alone there are 10 pictures which takes a fair while to write up. I will cover this in a little more detail than normal. The first picture shows me holding a block of Chemiwood which I'll use for making the pattern/plug, this particular product (IIRC) is from Axon and it's grade is 65 which is one of the denser grains. For those unfamiliar with this product it's what's used widely for pattern making, replacing wood as it has no grain, it's a man-made resin that comes in large slabs, easy to cut/sand and machine. I have some left over from my Film/TV days and glad that I do as it's lovely to work with although you need to be careful of the dust as it's not good for you as I re-realised sanding it today without a mask, a bad idea. Not felt that rough since I retired, best decision I ever made health wise. The block has been squared off in one corner and cut oversize in both height and width. I then made a profile using some card from a cereal box. I then cut out the profile slightly oversized and also cut the block to it's width of 7/8 (just under to allow for the metal thickness) using my small bandsaw. I also cut a small slot on it's back edge so that it cleared the bolts holding the smokebox tube to the saddle. Also at this stage I made a note from my reference photo's of where the top of the cover (not the flange) came to in relation to the smokebox door. You will just see here the arm from the height gauge near the bottom door hinge strap and also a scribed mark on the block at the same height. Also note that the block outer edge is level with the outer edge of the running board, the reason for this will become clear in the next picture. I now marked out the side profile on the block following Don's dimensions which were spot on. The vertical line up the side is 3/16 from the edge, which is how far the cover steps back from the running board edge. Don doesn't so much give a dimension up to where the angle starts but does state that's it's a 3/8 rad and so I measured up 3/8. this was confirmed correct when marking the angled line (25 degrees) as it matches perfectly with the top line that I marked with the height gauge, I do like it when things add up... Next job was to mark out where the curve ends and the flat begins, first marking a centre line and then the rad at the bottom followed by the lines on the sides. I sanded the bottom to shape on the belt sander and finished by hand. After sanding the long curve using the same methods I now had the finished pattern. It took three heatings and hammerings to form the brass around the pattern, here we have the pattern and one cover held in the vice for the base to be filed down to size. The last picture for tonight shows both covers with the fronts formed and the backs cut out roughly 4mm oversize for final fettling to fit. I need to pop out in the morning to collect some scaffold/fittings that I bought on eBay today for building a rig to lift the loco both up to work on and swing off the bench to load, that should be fun...not. So depending on how long that takes I hope tomorrow to finish the rear profile to fit against the smokebox and also take a look at the flanges that go around it to bolt the cover to the smokebox and running board, that will probably take me more than another day, we shall see..... Pete

As I battle through all of the outstanding small jobs, I think that the updates will be much more frequent, some of the jobs take less time to do than actually writing up the details about them and thus if left too long each new update would take an eternity to process, so tonight we have yet another update... hopefully, not a bad thing?... First up is the slot in the right-hand side running board for the reach rod to pass through, I'll show the full size first as I hadn't noticed before that the loco still has the slot for this side, to me this shows that at least the rear section of this running board dates to before 1954, perhaps it's even original? It's interesting to note two things, first, the new slot on the left is much longer and second it looks like it was just hacked out until the reach rod fitted, not much finesse shown there... To get the slot in it's correct position (nothing shown on the drawings) I first calculated the height of the reverser pivot point for the rod and also used the full-size photo as a guide. Here I have finished the slot and placed a length of bar of the correct height (3/8) through the slot and lined it up with the reverser pivot point seen marked on the cab, alas I didn't have any material long enough to meet the cab itself. I have made the slot so that it has a sideplay movement of about 0.5 mm, IIRC the rod is 3.96 wide and the slot is 4.5mm wide, I can always open this up a little further on both axis if required. Here's the slot itself, the reach rod and the gravity sander rod above it both sit behind the cleading, I have looked at this and it will fit, going to be close and interesting making the cleading around the throat plate, but hey, that's why we do these things...isn't it?.. While in this area I decided to plot and drill the pivot point for the gravity rod arm that offsets the rod to go behind the middle and first splashers, I forgot to take a picture but it's only a hole, it's position is 3 3/16 forward from the trailing axle centre and 1 17/32 in from the edge of the running board. I will show this picture of the full-size to give a visual of what's what. Some may recall that I captured this image from the 1929 film 'Flying Scotsman' some years ago when researching whether 4472 had always had the curved right angle bracket along the front face of the rear splasher, I wasn't sure at the time if it may have been something added during preservation, this picture answered that question. As you can see the rod exits the cleading above the reach rod, goes to the arm which offsets the pull rod. I'll take up this explanation in the picture after this one. This picture was really to show where I plan to pass the lubricator oil pipes to the middle and left-hand cylinders but it also serves to show the forward pivot point for the gravity sanding operating linkage. The hole to the right is where the control shaft passes down through the sandbox to open the valve at the bottom of the box to free the sand. Fitted to this above both running boards (both sitting in place here) is a bell crank that controls both this sandbox and the one on the opposite side with a cross rod. This will become clearer when i build these parts but that may be a long way off for now. The square hole in the top running board is where the wakefield lubricator sits. I'll show this picture to give a clearer view of where I intend to take the oil feed through the frames, I won't be using this union, it's just there to identify the position of the hole. Moving to the smokebox, here I needed to drill the two holes for the outside cylinder steampipes. I have followed photo's of 4472 during the 30's rather than Don's words which state and show on his drawing the steam pipe covers being directly under the builder's plates, this is not correct, they are forward of this point. As it happens the hole centre's are directly inline above the centre of the openings in the cylinder chests and you may recall that my smokebox was moved back 1/8 further than Don shows to match the prototype. If I hadn't done this, the steam pipe outlets would have been where Don has drawn them? I think this all leads back to when the swing link bogie was replaced with the side control bogie as this moved the bogie scale wise by 1/8, anyway, I'm very glad that I followed my own nose on this one. A picture to show the drivers side, this close up picture, also shows you why I am repainting the smokebox and running boards ( some have questioned this), spraying them last summer outdoors in high 30c's wasn't my brightest move... The last picture for tonight is just to show the inside of the smokebox and that both holes have no been drilled. Next, I need to make the small rear steps that sit on the running boards (just below the reach rod slot on the driver's side) and also make the outside steam pipe covers. I think that I may do the covers first, these are an important part to get right to help maintain the Gresley look achieved so far, I'm actually looking forward to these, a little carving to do, oh and I will touch up the paint along the tops of the frames which has been knocked while I struggled to get the boiler on and off. I have a plan to cure this, just trying to find some suitable cheap scaffold to build the rig, I'll get there, more soon... Pete

Continuing with the final fit of the running boards, my first task was to remove a strip from the inside edge where it passes the firebox, this was deliberately left oversize until after the boiler had been built, I used the Dremel and some cutting discs to cut the metal and then finish with a file and the sanding drum for the concave curve. The first picture shows the right-hand side now able to fit correctly, the left-hand side is also done. I mentioned that I needed to remove the splashers now that the boiler is in place, this interferes with my plan to keep the running boards and their splashers as a single piece to make life easier during maintenance. I gave this a little thought and decided that it would be best to cut away part of the rear faces to allow the running boards and splashers to be fitted as one. Ok it's stepping away from the prototype but you can not see this at all, it's difficult now and once the cladding is attached you'd never know. The other reason for this decision is that it would be very difficult to reach the small csk screws which hold the splashers down, worse still, if tried it would most certainly mark the paintwork on the cladding around the boiler, that just wouldn't be acceptable so parts of the backs were cut off. The picture shows the right-hand running board completed with the splashers for the other side laid out below it awaiting their turn, alas it was at this point that I ran out of cutting discs...lol Fear not, Amazon same-day delivery will be here later tonight with a new batch.... You can also see where the rear quadrant of the rear splasher has been ground off, Don advises to leave this open as a cover would foul the wheel, which it most certainly would, plus as he states, the cladding will be very close to this and it would never be seen, that's good enough for me. A picture from the side to give an idea of the clearance... And this view from the front quarter, Don states that the cladding/insulation would be compressed to fit, I can well believe it. Lastly, a picture to show the running board back in place with it's splashers attached. I have to say that right now I'm feeling overwhelmed by the number of jobs that now need my attention, there are literally hundreds all lining up shouting at me. Today I wrote out a fairly big list just for what I need to do to the running boards and smokebox before they can be removed and painted. I also have another big issue, any form of lifting this even with two people is a big 'no, no'. This may force me to step back and build something to allow me to continue. I spent some time today looking for an electric hoist, supporting arm (adjustable), hydraulic lifting table, trolley for moving the model for visits, (2 coming up in just over a month) steelwork to build support cradle for lift, trolley and for handling into a van. I think a van is now sorted thanks to my son which I'll be able to make something to secure the model inside, oh and some scaffold tube and fittings to make the hoist support..... Just now I feel like I've got to make a miniature version of 'Doncaster' works,...lol So if there's a break in my updates, don't worry, I'm just making the support system to continue the build...I can at least, for this week get on with the list that I wrote out today... Thanks for looking in Pete

It's been a while since I've done a Monday update, a good sign that things are returning to normal, famous last words.. So, I mentioned that I would sort out the running boards as my first priority but before I can do this I needed to ensure that the boiler was in it's correct location. First, I needed to tackle it's height at the back as it seemed a tad high and would benefit from a little teasing, I already had an idea to tackle this and it proved both successful and easy. In the first picture, you can see how the backhead sits on the rear stay, I had made the stay to drawing but forgot to file the top horizontal and it was this which gave it that extra little bit of height. Here's the stay after being filed horizontal.. I then checked that the front barrel section was running parallel with the top of the frames, which it was so I then moved on to check the overall height of the firebox where it enters the cab. Here's a picture of the drawing which is to scale, as can be seen, I measured to the rail height, approx 340 mm. Next I set up a rule across one of the safety valve bushes with a digital angle gauge attached, once happy it was level I measured the distance from bench to rule, it was a few mm over which is very good as the loco is sitting on it's flanges, I am very happy with that. I now needed to check that the boiler was correct longitudinally, I decided the best way was to check the dome position in relation to the centre driving wheel, as can be seen in this picture I was looking for approx 54 mm. To check the distance on the model, I first established the centre of the dome making a pencil mark on either side. I then laid a rule against this mark and carefully placed a square up against this. hey presto they match, ok I was happy before, now I'm ecstatic, small differences if there, wouldn't be noticed by passers-by but these things are just so important to me, just call me mad, you'd be right.. As a double check I also measured the distance between cab and dome centre, I wasn't disappointed, both reading the same. Last picture was just for fun, I wanted to see how things are looking in the smokebox.... Now that I'm happy with the boiler position I'll remove the remaining 4 splashers from the running boards and trim the boards along their inner edge along the firebox to fit. I'll then file/grind off the top rear quadrant of the rear splashers until I get enough clearance for the boiler and it's cladding, Don had recommended to leave this until after the boiler had been fitted. With that done they will then be ready for stripping the paint off and repainting to a better quality as previously mentioned. I'll do the same to the smokebox while I'm at it. I'll be using different paint this time so we'll see how things turn out. More soon folks Pete

Evening all I promised to show a few pictures with the boiler on the chassis and also give some more details about the boiler. Some details were told to me in confidence and not something paul would wish to pass on to competitors so I'll keep quiet on any of those. Ok. so the boiler is as you'd guess mainly to Don's design but is stronger and has a higher working pressure of 100 PSI vs Don's recommended 90 PSI. The shell is a work of art, with the parallel barrel blending in nicely with the taper and having no step thanks to 'Tig', it really does look like full size in shape and I can share a picture here of 1470 ( first of the class) when built in 1922 to show what I mean. Backhead: Now Don's is pretty good, very close to scale although fittings are slightly larger and spacing between the water gauge bushes is larger. I have kept the water gauge bushes as drawn as scale versions would give too small a window to view the water level. I will make the gauges as close to scale as possible, just with longer glass sections. The steam valves will be to scale and I'll be using Adam's (Cro Fittings) castings to achieve this, the bore sizes for water and steam will follow the normal practice of 5/32 pipe for steam and 3/16 water to match the injectors planned for the model, I can't recall which sizes I have chosen just now but it's written down somewhere. Bore sizes for the mounting pads are 3.2 mm for steam and 3.8 mm for water. I'm undecided on whether to try for working clacks within the steam valves themselves or to fit them independently below the cab floor, I'll see if it's feasible to get the clacks working first. Regulator bush is as drawn by Don. Manifold bush is to scale, this is able to keep the bore size as drawn by Don. Manifold itself will again have castings supplied by Adam. I showed a rendering of this beautiful piece of work previously. Paul has fitted 4 blind bushes into the backhead for me to secure the cladding when done, this will be very much to scale. The everlasting blowdown valve is as drawn by Don. There are two extra water feed bushes along the bottom of the backhead, one of which will be used to fill the boiler using a HP electric, this will be able to feed water against boiler pressure if ever required, something I doubt will ever be needed but it's nice to have a back up when there's no hand pump in the tender which according to Don would be undignified to have on this loco, I agree. I did mention these plans some time ago, some years in fact, think I was still building the tender? There are also 4 washout plugs, 2 on the backhead lower corners and 2 on the front throatplate just above the foundation ring in each corner. Paul has fitted larger tubes for a better tube/grate ratio, as drawn they are 1/2", they are now 9/16 18swg. The steam header as drawn is threaded into a 3/4 x 26tpi bush, Paul has modified this to have an 'O' ring with 8 mounting bolts to secure it. Also the dome bush has an added shelf with 2 holes for mounting the regulator body which otherwise would just be held by the steam pipe. The Blower stay is what I would call a live stay, it's not a permanent fixture as drawn, Paul has followed full-size practice with a removable 1/4" tube that will be furled and beaded in to seal, I'll cover this better when I get around to making the two connections for blower valve and ring later. The upper steam area follows OZ code with doubler plates, butt straps, whichever you prefer, this means rather than being 3mm thick on the tube plates as drawn, it's, in fact, 6mm thickness of material. Last (i think) but not least is the fusible plug bush fitted into the firebox crown. 3 pictures of the model, The boiler is more or less in place, might need to drop a fraction and move back a tad but I won't play around with anything until the chassis is properly sitting horizontal, it's about 2 degrees out in the pictures. close up of the backhead... front three quarter view Lastly, I tried to take a picture square on to show the side profile, this gives a good view of the barrel especially the taper below the running boards and up to the firebox and back down to the cab. I can't fit the running boards as I can't get the splashers over the wheels with the boiler in place and I also still need to trim a little along the inner edge around the firebox. I think before I get back on with the cylinders ( still need materials) I'll get the running boards finished so that they fit properly and perhaps finish them completely along with the splashers so that I can tick another box. More on this next update, thanks for looking in guys... Pete Edit: Forgot to say, all 6 main drivers now sit on the bench, I'm glad that I didn't adjust the trailing springs to being any weaker.

good afternoon all that very special day has arrived and that's to pick up the completed boiler. I will share with you the pictures that Paul posted earlier on FB. over the weekend I'll place the boiler on the chassis and add another picture or two. Can't do it know as I'll be babysitting shortly and plus it's a bit too heavy for me to lift out of the car on my own, old age and all that.. The pictures.... I'll give more details on the boiler when I next post.... Pete

cheers John....

Good morning everyone and a very good morning it is too.... The boiler has just passed it's twice working pressure test and Paul has kindly given me 3 pictures to share. When the boiler is fully completed I'll post some more pictures with more details on the boiler. I must say that I have been very impressed with Paul's work, not only the quality of the build and his knowledge in all things boiler making but also the info passed back to me at each stage and total communication throughout. For anyone wanting a professional boiler made or repaired, he's your man... Here are the pictures... I'll be collecting the boiler on Friday, I can't wait... Pete

I have a picture and it's not of a boiler, yep I'm back in the workshop.. as for the picture, it's just to show that I have now completed all of the 8BA studding for the cylinder steam chest covers, both front and rear on all 3 cylinders. It's good to be back at the bench again after my 4-week hiatus, more soon guys Pete