hayfield

Thanks all for your replies,and the photo's show its worthwile. RMweb seems to be busy tonight thats why I am a bit late replying. My locos body paintwork is a bit tired and I paid less than chassis sell for it, so there will be no great loss. I do have a Wills etched replacement chassis (I believe Southeastern Finecast do an even better one now)and spare Romford 18mm wheels if I want to go down that road, I also have a couple of chassis with Romfords fitted. One even has a K's Mk 1 motor with a flywheel and runs surprisingly well, it has homemade brake gear as well (strange what comes up on Ebay). Fitting a new type magnet is worth while, I did this to a Wills GWR U1, with great sucess and this uses the R1 chassis. The idea was to detail the body, I have a spare Westinghouse cylinder, does anyone make the boiler pipework as SEF do not fit these to their model. Also I will try and find a plan as the front windows need to be remodeled and lamp irons etc need to be fitted. The boiler bottom is also a great improvement. Thanks again and if anyone has thoughts or photos please share them

I brought a Hornby Dublo R1 quite cheaply, after waiting some time the Wills version to come up on Ebay at a reasonable price. Thats not happened and I was woundering if its worth the effort of detailing this model up. Hand rails are the 1st thing to come to mind along with Westinghouse pumps and other pluming, perhapps even rounding off the bottom of the boiler. Has anyone done this? tips, suggestions welcomed and if it does not work then chassis sell on Ebay for more than I paid for it.

I have started to build up the cylinders, they are now glued together and I have started the filling process with Milliput. More filling is required along with rebuilding the cylinder fronts. I also need to work out whow high the cylinders should be. They are just a push fit into the chassis / body at the moment. Next job is to rebuild the crossheads

Here is a photo of the Keyser Coral A, a good model when produced. Etched frames would now be much better but that is far beyond my abilities, but would help me restore a second model I have which is a bit bent. Only has the 2 outer frames, I guess 2 thinner inside ones could be fitted and perhapps a glass load. Would the glass be in wooden boxes?

This picture shows the lumps of Milliput which I have used to build up the gap on the corner of the coal rails on one side and level up the poor fit on the other side. Also some other bits filling the joins above the buffer beam. I used a mini drill to level the tender sides on the inside, then I filed the filler flat with the body. I used a razor saw to start the gaps between the coal rails followed by a needle to open up the gap. All looks fine now. Poor picture but shows the cylinders taking shape, should have been 5 parts but ended up as 8 parts. I will fit the slide rods before attaching the cylinder sides. Then try and fathom how the fit the cylinder assembly to the chassis

My camera batteries are on charge so no photos tonight. The Milliput worked very well both as a gap filler and to replace the top curved corner which had been broken off. 1st try on the corner is nearly there, but the outside curve was a little to round. I sanded it to shape and after testing a couple of methods of replicating the coal rail slits, built it up a bit more. I ran out of quick set epoxy last night, so I called in at B&Q and brought some quick set metal epoxy. Its a lot thicker than standard epoxy, so could be used as a gap filler. It states on the box that it can be drilled, sanded, tapped and painted. I have tried it out on repairing the cylinders, glueing a bolt to whitemetal and made a blob to try out the claims on the box. Will have to go back and buy some normal epoxy in the next day or so.

Recently I have used Milliput to fill gaps and build up parts which have broken, it can be shaped to size/design, once cured sticks fast and can be sanded or carved to shape. Stays workable for some time. Tonight I brought some quick set metal epoxy (thought it was quick set epoxy glue).I have tried it on glueing some whitemetal parts together, its quite thick so can be used as a filler. Says on the box it can be drilled, sanded, tapped and painted. I have left a blob on a test piece to try out these claims.

Thanks, but I am a bit fearfull what it will look like with a coat of primer on. This may be the first loco I weather. I do not know what was used to strip the paint off,if it was done by my friend who gave me the model it would have been caustic soda. Whatever it was you can see the tarnish on the tender which has not been cleaned and burnished. But seeing his models he would never had butchered the castings. The tender wheels are quite a tight fit (limited side ways movement), I will pack out the front and rear ones but the centre ones will have to have some side play. I will have to put some insulating tape on the body where they might rub. That also goes for the bogie wheels touching the chassis and the rear trailing wheels.

With the cast part of the chassis unglued, the first (cast) part now fits flush with the footplate when glued to the main part of the chassis. With no cylinders it still looks a bit high, but it now matches up with the tender buffer height as well as other locos buffer heights The 4 sides of the tender have been stuck together and I have just used Milliput to fill the gaps and rebuild a broken corner of the sides. Hopefully I will not make as many mistakes on this part of the build These are the parts of the cylinders, the front parts of the cylinders have been stuck to the chassis block. This was the easy part as it was only in 2 bits. The rear one which is in 3 bits will take a bit more effort in gluing to the block in lineing them up. Recently I have not had much spare time to model, however when driving to and from work and other spare moments I have been able to think about the problems and come up with a solution. Much better than thinking on your feet with the items in front of you. Nice to have a session that has all gone well, normally its 2 steps forward and one back.

Last night I tried to get the chassis working with the front bogies. Those early locos builders never took us 4mm modelers into consideration when designing their locos. There are a lot of wheels to get into a small space. Unlike most kits the front bogie is attached to the chassis from a bolt above the centre of the bogie, there is a cast section which glues to the chassis. It also holds the cylinders. Like everything with this kit nothing seems to fit. On reflection the cylinders or rather the 2 parts which are still left on the casting, stop it from sitting flush with the footplate, I had to pack the back of the chassis by 1mm to level it. The wheels look like they should go into the body a bit more. Luckerly the offending part will come away from the chassis without too much trouble. I will get the casting into some boiling water and hopefully the 2 cylinder parts will fall off. I think the builder either fitted the cylinders up side down or incorectly. Still the first job is to get the chassis fitting snugly with the body and working. Then I can have a go at the cylinders. This afternoon I have made a start with the tender, unfortunatly the builders file has been at the tender parts as well, plenty of filling is required with this item as well.

The second attempt to secure the gear wheel to the axle seems to have worked, as there is no slipping. I took each wheel off in turn, trimmed and adjusted the pickups, greased the bearings and replaced the wheels. As I watched the loco go up and down the track the rear drivers were not turning, the 2 small rear wheels were lower than the rear drivers by a fraction so a small amount of fileing sorted this out. The front bit of the footplate where the cylinders go needs building up,as its been badly filed. So some filler had been added, this needs to dry for a day or so. Tomorrow I will sort out the front bogies, start building the tender and do a bit more to the body

Well I have given the gears 1 more go, I took the 2 wheels off and took the axle out, degreased all the parts including the chassis and motor bearings. Re-drilled the holes, then reassembled the parts. I dropped epoxy down the holes and rotated them hopefully dragging the epoxy down arround the axle. I will now give it a day to cure. Had a few bits arrive in the post yesterday. I brought an old Eames Prairie loco some time ago. Someone decided to rebuild the chassis, well they got as far as fitting a new set of Romfords but lost all the other parts. I notiiced on Ebay an Airfix plastic kit with a motorising chassis on it (minus motor and gears) took a bit of a leap of faith. Well the chassis seems well built and the wheels and motion run freely, the front fixing is in the correct place just need a new rear fixing plate. At the same time brought a Comet coach part built, poor photo and description. Well it turns out to be a BR mk1 compo. Needs buffers roof and underframe details, its been very well put together. Also I brought a Southeastern Finecast M7 with wheels and motor along with a Wills etched M7 chassis (need this to replace an old Wills cast chassis). So been looking at my new bits.

Thanks for the replies, I may try and refit the gears and axles once I have degreased them and the bearings. My drills will not touch Romford axles.

Last night was one step forward and one step back. The good news is that electrically the chassis works on its own and when attached to the loco, no shorts on the bodywork. The bad news is the axle, or rather the gears. The plastic gear which is a pushfit on to the axle slips. I have tried drilling a hole to the axle and filling it with Superglue and epoxy. Neither held.

Very slow progress last week, if any at all. As I have been building turnouts for someone else. I cleaned the chassis, then primed it and sprayed it, but the paint is wearing off at the edges. Should have given it a better clean using Fairy Liquid rather than a wash in white spirit. Still once the chassis is finished I will touch up the parts with a brush. The gear wheel on the axle has lost most of its grip (its a push fit), because of the space between the frames gluing it to the axle first is not an option. I drilled a couple of holes in the side of the gear and dropped superglue into them. It was a bit better then I drilled out one and put some epoxy in it. Its not locked on but a bit tighter. I may have to find another gear set. Glued a PCB board on to the chassis to fit the pickups on to tomorrow night, when I may be able to fit the pickups. Lets hope the heat soldering them on will not effect the glue.

Alan, progress on my Atlantic has been slow as work and gardening have got in the way as well as a hectic social life at the weekends. Now I have a couple of turnouts to build. I have painted the chassis and put it back together, the loco has 25mm Romfords which seem a tad too big, I see it should have 6' 8.5" wheels but as the 00 flanges are over scale I am thinking to either replace them with 24mm ones or cutting back some of the metal (out of sight)on the body and or lowering the chassis by ten or twenty thou. Any thoughts please John

A realy slow week modelling, time has been short during the week and the past 2 weekends, also I have spent a bit of time fitting a motor into a Deelet 999 / class 3 which I won on Ebay. The chassis now works, the body needs rebuilding but that will be another story. I have stripped the Atlantics body and primed it. hopefully will be able to spray it black tomorrow.

Mick thanks I have been sent the Loco Modeller article along with the K's body sheet, a copy of the chassis sheet would be great as I would like to see what the cylinder parts should look like and also how many other parts are missing. Looks like Martin gave me a nice jigsaw to build. Thanks again John

The weekend has been busy, however the bottom of the side has been built up and re-fitted. Its a bit straighter now. The additional filling on the front of the footplate has come off, so I will try again tonight. At some point I will have to address the cylinders, but that will be the last job. There are a couple of bits missing so I will try and check the parts. I now have a copy of the k's body parts sheet, unfortunatly no details of the bogie or cylinders.

Cab side has come off I can now see where the bottom has been filed to fit !!

You are quite correct, one cab side is still leaning forward a bit, the picture is at a angle which highlights it more. Looking closley the right hand cab side has been filed at an angle at the bottom (rear splasher had been attacked on the same side) so the cab is tilting forward at the top. As the kit has been hacked about a bit (may be why it was dismantled)I am not going to dismantle the loco, but will try and refit the cab side. Loads of Nitromores along the joints might do it. The photo magnifies the problem but its anoying me now. Just got the can out and waiting for the glue to soften. I can see the body being stripped down again

All I seem to do is add a bit more filler and sand it. This evening I sanded those parts I filled last night.Pity I had not read the other threads first, however this kit had been hacked about a bit and I might have ruined the footplate had I tried to solder it up on its own. Its not a 100% square, the photos make it worse though Every time I look at the loco I find missing parts, for some reason a lump of the footplate has been sawn off, back with the Milliput. Also you can see the state of the cylinders is a bit of a problem, as they have been hacked about, I will have to think what to do with them. I will now read the info I recieved this morning. I also recieved a Lima Prairie today in the post. It was advertised as a K's kit, the photo was not that good so I took a gamble. I emailed the seller with the problem and he has already sent my money back and will pay for the return postage, can't ask for a better service than that. Pity it stated that it had Romfords as my 44xx has old K's mk2 wheels

Not much done tonight, other than 3 out of the 4 splashers fitted, filler in the roof joins and firebox side. Also I decided to add a bit more filler to the rebuilt splasher to get a smother finish, before that I used a round grinding stone on the mini drill to shape the rear of it.

Martin who gave me the kit had them made, as well as a set in the box Martin a couple of months ago sent me a tin of whitemetal bits. There are another set in the tin. Knowing how generious Martin is he would be very pleased in knowing that they have helped someone else out. I have a left and right hand set in the new casting and a right hand one from the old kit. If anyone had a tender breather pipe spare as it only has 1 I would be gratefull Send me a PM with your details and which ones you want John

Alan I wished I had seen your thread before I started. I would have built the cab first, then fitted it to one half of the broken footplate. Still I am an average modeller and it looks better in the flesh than on screen. Love to have a scan please as I am building this in the dark, no instructions plans or anything. I broke one of the piston rods, and the pistons have been hacked about. Which Comet crosshead is it please so I can buy some. Will have a propper read of the thread over the next few days Thanks for the offer and encouragement. John