Beechnut

Thanks Pinehill, whatever else happens don’t give up. I’ve had my fair share of disasters, still having them, occasionally, Brendan

Solved the crosshead problem..... by soldering 0.5mm brass wire to top and bottom of crosshead. A bit crude but it's increased the top to bottom dimension by 1mm which seems to be enough. It's EM gauge so clearances are tight. The next issue is getting the slidebars into the motion bracket and keeping everything square. The pickups are going on the motor solder tags on top of the wheel treads, I've tack soldered them to the brush holders to prevent movement.

Thanks Frank, I'll give them a call tomorrow. Even if I don't use them I'm sure they'll come in for something else. I've never had much success with cast crossheads much preferring built up types as come with Judith Edge kits. A machined crosshead will be something new to me. Brendan

Thanks Stuart/Frank. Had a look at post 769 and yes they look fine. I'm guessing you used the K's slidebar setup? Just measured mine and its .185" between the bars, probably a bit overscale which would explain why the crossheads are so sloppy? The Markits catalogue is not currently available online so I've no idea what's available. Do they only make the one type? I've also filed the bars flat on the sides making them .055" wide. Brendan

A bit more progress on the Dock Tank. The crosshead is a Comet part, it's not quite right for this loco though, the slide bars are too far apart. The supplied white metal item is similar, not a suitable material in my opinion, plus like the Comet item it's not a very good fit. Can't think of anyone who might supply one so I'll make one up out of scrap etch etc. Not being sure what secures the motion bracket, it seems to be located by the linkage and clamped between the running plate and frames. To get round this I've soldered a frame stretcher in below, drilled and tapped 10BA, with a clearance hole in the centre of the bracket. To locate the bracket fore and aft there's appropriate notches filed into the top of the frames. I've got a High Level Roadrunner Compact + 60:1 and a monster Mashima 1424, bit of overkill with the latter but I happened to have one spare, plus there's plenty of room. A few problems to solve on the horizon, split coupling rods, pickups - I never enjoy them but I'm thinking top scrapers. Brendan

John/John Interesting that you mention the 'D' shaped bore on the gear wheel. The drawing suggests filing a flat on the axle for the grub screw! As you can see from the pic it's definitely a 'D'. The spacers were for OO so I turned a couple of longer ones to suit EM.

Al Agreed about the J94's and lack of vacuum brakes. Looking at my pix only the North London tanks were so fitted. And keep up the good work Brendan

John Two out of the three axles are 'D' throughout their length. I did wonder what the wear characteristics might be, not that any of my locos do any distance. The fact that one axle is only 'D' at the ends demonstrates that K's were quite capable of producing them without. Brendan

I was as surprised to discover the axles were EM, none of the seals were broken on the inner packaging. Could the kits be ordered in EM?

Thought mine was a late one although I'm not sure how you tell the difference. It came in a large flat box. Brendan

Hello Stuart If you're desperate I have three EM K's axles, I was going to use them for my build but one of the plastic 'D's' on the wheels has failed. Although my picture shows an AGW wheel I shall be using Markits. As I said on my earlier post this is my first Keyser kit and after having read lots about the wheels I've got say I was quite impressed with them, self quartering, run true, decent crank pins etc. If I'd tested the fit of the screws in the plastic wheel centres first and relieved the tight fit they would have been perfectly acceptable, to me anyway. Brendan

Just doing one of those myself, my first K's kit. Brendan

Moreton in Marsh for the Cotswolds pic. Brendan

See you there Peter. Brendan

Thanks Mike, yes it has plenty of ballast, both in the bunkers and the tank. It runs quite nicely with the 'knife edge' front axle. It still needs a crew and a bit of local weathering. Brendan

My first Judith Edge kit, well that's built anyway, I've yet to start the Kitson version. No departures from Mike's suggested build, High Level, Mashima, AGW. It's EM gauge so crosshead/crank pin clearance is minimal, as is end float on leading axle. It's quite an improvement on the Crownline version of the same loco although I do like white metal kits if only for their inherent mass. Brendan

A BSA Bantam in the foreground, UK registered too.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/85326-dave-fs-photos-ongoing-more-added-23rd-october/?p=3340931 Brendan

Is it surprising that the cutting sides on the joint line pictures are in better nick than almost any NR equivalents. See you on Saturday Brendan

UKE553 is a June '62 issue, Kent CC. Brendan

Tony It was the Korean War which caused the restrictions on certain metals, chromium was another, with motorcycle wheel rims painted for the duration. Brendan

Thanks Nidge and Mike, should have remembered it had stopped raining by then. Brendan

The 'Celebration Steam Run', remember it well. I think the picture with me, as a sixteen year old, was taken by Dad at Banbury but it could have been Didcot. We picked it up at Tysley, Dad's friend took the picture with the train approaching same. After a visit to the GWS at Didcot it was class 47 haulage to Hereford via the Severn Tunnel and Newport. The train went into Bulmers where KGV was kept and a trip round the cider factory (?) where if I remember correctly the fermentation vessel were named NASA space programs, Apollo etc, strange how I recollect that. Thanks for posting Dave, and all the other images over the years too. Cheers Brendan

Dave That'll be the SSDT, the Scottish Six Day Trial, starts and finishes in Fort William. This year it's 7-12 May. Brendan

Me too, been running for nearly forty years but very much in the twilight now. Had a go at most things over the years but I won't bore you with stats. Rarely do 'races' but I did do a 10k this year in about 49mins, was pleased with that considering. Brendan