MPR

Given the volume and weight, it can only be cast aluminium - and therefore a replica. (Nice, though!)

A few from the early 1990s in Devon and of course positioning moves for railtours

I've been scanning some old negatives - from IAT Fairford 1989

There are handrail knobs on the side of the smokebox, so not a 57xx (could be 97xx/94xx/15xx. But looks more like a std 1 to me.

I used a little tacky wax to hold the chimney in place.

I'm starting to scan old negatives - I have some way to go with learning the software, but here is an early effort - a photograph taken on 7th July 1985 next to the Teign estuary.

A few more...

Starting to scan some of my old BW negatives - from mid-1980s - I'll update the details later when I've found my notes.

I found it a very imposing aircraft on display (RIAT, 2007)

D1015 Western Champion

Here, please! (also, if you have any of Torre, I would be especially interested to see them)

Speaking of Scaleforum 2019, John...

That’s a lovely addition - it fits the overall look and feel of the 3D parts of the railway so well.

Moving on to the cosmetic parts between the frames, the first step was to add the slide bars. These fitted well, but needed to be filed to remove the etch cusp to fit into place - a 0.5mm drill bit was used to poke at the edges of the slots they fitted into as well. These parts are handed, but have been thoughtfully marked “L” and R,” so there is no excuse for getting the wrong way round. They are inserted into the rear slot, pushed as far as they will go, then slid forward until engaged in the front slot too and soldered into place. The top piece is then added in the same way, followed by the middle packing piece. The process is then repeated for the other upper slide bar. Next step is the valve linkages, which will require some thought and even more fiddling to assemble.

The axle boxes are finally in place! I followed the instructions for this, starting with one of the centre horn-blocks. The surfaces to be soldered were cleaned up and tinned, then the axle boxes were carefully oiled. There is a 0.5mm hole etched into the centre of the top of the hornguide, with a corresponding hole in the mainframes. A piece of wire was pushed through to ensure alignment, then a lump of blutak was used to hold the block temporarily in position. The opposite side axlebox was similarly located and finally the spring was compressed and fitted, pressing both axle boxes against the hornguides/frames. A long piece of 1/8” bar was then used to check that all was aligned and each side of the hornguides was checked for parallelism, then reflowed with a lot of flux and a little extra solder. The extended axle was then fitted in place of the long bar and the exercise repeated with the front pair, slipping the coupling rods over the pair of extended axles to ensure the correct spacing before soldering. The coupling rod holes were deliberately left very tight to minimise error - they will be opened up to “not-quite-sloppy” later on.

Hi Tim, Yes, the requirement for this modification and the amount to be removed are explicitly stated in the instructions, which I have found comprehensive and helpful (and can now be downloaded from the website free of charge). Soldering the two layers together was definitely helpful in keeping everything straight when filing down the edges.

The coupling rods were now assembled, they are double layer, with the fronts being half-etched and rather delicate - I distorted one of them slightly when cutting out. Fortunately, it was easy to bend roughly back to shape and as it is etched slightly over width, it could be filed back later on. I drilled out the holes somewhat undersized at 1.4mm and used the drill bit to align one end, aligning the other end by eye, before soldering. Each side was cleaned, lightly tinned and fluxed, then tacked together by applying a freshly tinned bit to the sides, applying pressure from the top with tweezers. I worked my way round until I was sure that the joint was solid over the whole area. I now opened the hole up to 1.5mm, still slightly undersized. Finally, a tapered broach (thanks CK!) was used to ease each hole until it just fitted over the axle jig ends. This allowed me to check that the centres were spot on and held them neatly so the sides could be filed to shape. The front hornguides were modified to clear the inside cylinder etch by removing a slice 1mm wide at top, tapering to 0mm at the bottom. I used an indelible marker on the surface, then scribed it with a compass point, just more than 1mm wide. Needle files were then employed to cut back to just before the line, checking the fit in the frames regularly. Marked… …and cut. The next step will be to clean the parts up ready to align and assemble to the mainframes.

Accidental, or not?

One last time… these are small…. the Lionheart coaches out there are far away…

The hornguides have now been soldered to make them more robust - the front (left of image) parts are going to be filed to fit around the inside motion. I also added a little solder to the fold of the bearing surfaces, just to be sure. The rear axle boxes have had the circular bosses removed to give clearance for the gearbox. I then fitted each axle box, gently rubbing down the bearing surfaces with 600 grade until I obtained an easy sliding fit with no slop. Lastly I marked up each axlebox with one or two dots on the upper surface (left and right, respectively) and similarly with the hornguides. As the front hornguides and rear boxes are modified, that will be sufficient to ensure identification when assembling everything.

I only managed a flying visit to the show, just a quick tour and a brief chat with Re6/6 and CK, but grabbed a few phone images -mostly of the NG exhibits rather than the excellent Wearde- to review at my leisure - I’ve accumulated quite a few narrow gauge bits and pieces over the last few years, but still haven’t got round to even settling on a layout plan. I found the whole thing very inspirational, with oodles of creativity, TARDIS like space planning and, well, good honest fun on show. There was a lot on display - and the show seemed very well attended. I will definitely attend again if or when another one is put on and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. An oval of track a siding, a small England, fully developed scenically. What’s not to like? Less is Moor! A reproach to all of us who claim not to have space for a layout. A work in progress - I’m looking forward to see how this develops. Exquisite! Exquisiter! A PQR Hunslet closely observed in its natural habitat. PECO were in attendance and didn’t come empty-handed either.

https://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/suspension Standard width are supplied with the kits, my kit is being built to P4, but the driven axle bearings will still need to be thinned down.

I bought them years ago and can't remember who the manufacturer was*. One set are in steel, with springs and with the ends turned down to 1.5mm, the others are aluminium, with tapered ends. (I much prefer the steel ones) * Puffers / LRM respectively (IIRC).

I have a couple of sets of horn-block alignment jigs, one of which has springs to compress the axle boxes against the frames - I’ll try these first. Also, the etched hole on the frame has a corresponding one at the correct height on the horn-block - I think they are for 0.4mm, so once you have put a pin through them, all you have to to is to tweak the angle at which the horn-block sits.